Commentary on Isaiah

The vision of Isaiah, son of Amos, which he saw concerning Judah and Jerusalem, in the days of Uzziah, Jotham, Ahaz, and Hezekiah, kings of Judah. For "Judah," in which the two tribes are signified, the Septuagint and Theodotion put "Judea," which denotes the whole land of the twelve tribes. And for what we have translated from the Hebrew, "concerning Judah and Jerusalem," they have interpreted, "against Judea and Jerusalem." Symmachus, more clearly according to his custom, says "of Judah and Jerusalem"; so that he would not have either prosperous or adverse things indicated by the title, but those things which the prophetic word had foretold concerning Judah and Jerusalem in either direction. Therefore Isaiah speaks principally concerning the two tribes, Judah and Benjamin, excepting the ten which were in Samaria and were called Ephraim and Israel; and which, under Uzziah king of Judah and Jerusalem, Phul king of the Assyrians had already begun to lay waste.

Finally, in the fifty-second year of his reign, while Pekah son of Remaliah reigned in Samaria, Tiglath-pileser king of the Assyrians came, and took Ijon and Abel-beth-maachah, and Janoah and Kedesh and Hazor and Gilead and Galilee, all the land of Naphtali, and carried them away into Assyria. By this it is shown that, near the overthrow of Samaria, all these things are told as a warning to the two tribes. Now Uzziah is the same who is also called Azariah, by a double name. And we know, from the kings set in the title, that Isaiah, Hosea, Joel, and Amos prophesied at one and the same time: but the beginning of the word of the Lord was in Hosea son of Beeri. Amos, however, the father of Isaiah, is not, as many suppose, the third of the twelve Prophets, but another; and they are written among the Hebrews with different letters.

This one has for its first and last letters ALEPH and SADE (אמוץ); that one, AYIN and SAMEKH (עמוס): and this one, according to some, is interpreted "strength" or "the strong one"; that one, "a hard or heavy people": concerning which we have spoken more fully in Amos. Moreover, not only this prophet, but others also, though they have in the title, "The vision which Isaiah saw," or "Obadiah," do not then state what they saw. For example: I saw the Lord of Sabaoth sitting upon a throne high and lifted up, and two Seraphim round about him; but they tell what was said, that is: Hear, O heavens, and give ear, O earth. And: Thus saith the Lord God to Edom. We have heard a rumor from the Lord, and he hath sent a messenger to the nations. For the Prophets were formerly called "seers," who could say: Our eyes are ever toward the Lord. And: To thee have I lifted up my eyes, who dwellest in heaven.

Whence also the Apostles were commanded by the Saviour: Lift up your eyes, and see the regions: for they are already white for the harvest. These eyes of the heart the bride also had in the Song of Songs, to whom the bridegroom says: Thou hast wounded my heart, my sister, my spouse, with one of thine eyes. And in the Gospel we read: The lamp of thy body is thine eye. In the Old Testament likewise it is said that the people saw the voice of God. By this let the ravings of Montanus be silenced, who thinks that the Prophets spoke of things to come in ecstasy and madness of heart: for they could not see what they did not know. I know that some interpret Judea and Jerusalem as referring to heavenly things, and Isaiah under the person of the Lord Saviour: that he foretells the captivity of that province in our land, and afterward the return and the gathering to the holy mountain in the last days.

These things we, judging them contrary to the faith of Christians, utterly despise, and, following the truth of history, interpret them spiritually in such a way that whatever they dream concerning the heavenly Jerusalem, we refer to the Church of Christ, and to those who either go out from her on account of sins, or return, through penance, to their former seat; of which also we think that saying in this same Prophet is spoken: Arise, be enlightened, O Jerusalem: for thy light is come, and the glory of the Lord is risen upon thee: and, In thee shall the Lord appear, and his glory shall be seen upon thee: and kings shall walk in thy light, and nations in thy brightness: when all her sons shall come from afar, and her daughters shall be carried on the shoulders, and the camels of Midian and Ephah shall cover her, bringing gold and frankincense: and the flocks of Kedar shall be gathered together in Jerusalem, and the rams of Nebaioth shall come speedily, and they shall be acceptable sacrifices upon the altar of the Lord And whereas it is set down in the title that he prophesied under Uzziah, and Jotham, and Ahaz, and Hezekiah, kings of Judah, this is not to be understood confusedly as in the other Prophets, so that we do not know what was said specifically under which king: but it is recorded up to the end of the volume what was revealed to him by the Lord separately under Uzziah, and what under Jotham, and what under Ahaz, and what under Hezekiah.

Let us also know that Hezekiah began to reign in Jerusalem in the twelfth year of Romulus, who founded in Italy the city of his own name: that it may plainly appear how much more ancient our histories are than those of the other nations. Now Isaiah is interpreted "the saved of the Lord"; Judah, "confession"; Jerusalem, "vision of peace"; Uzziah, "strength of the Lord"; Jotham, "the perfection of the Lord"; Ahaz, "holding" or "strong"; Hezekiah, "the dominion of the Lord." He therefore who is saved with the Lord presiding, and is the son of Amos, that is, of the strong and robust one, beholds spiritually the vision of confession, while he laments his ancient sins: and of peace, while after penance he passes over to the light, and rests in eternal peace: and all his times pass under the strength of the Lord, and his perfection and might.

That saying of the Gospel: We are unprofitable servants: for we have done that which we ought to have done. (Verse 2.) Hear, O heavens, and give ear, O earth: for the Lord hath spoken. Above, it was shown by the title who the prophet is, whose son he is, what against Judah and Jerusalem, or concerning Judah and Jerusalem, and at what time he saw it: now he summons heaven and earth to hearken. By heaven he signifies the supernal and angelic powers; by earth, the race of mortals, μετωνυμικῶς (by metonymy) naming, from the things that contain, the things that are contained. Or else, because through Moses the Lord had called heaven and earth as witnesses, when he gave to the people of Israel his law, and had said: Give ear, O heaven, and I will speak: let the earth hear the words of my mouth: after the people's transgression he again calls the same to witness, that all the elements may know that God has been justly stirred to anger for the avenging of his commandments.

Instead of "heaven," the Hebrew "samaim" (שמים) sounds "heavens," in the plural number: especially since he has said "hear," that is, "semu" (שמעו), which is uttered in the plural, not the singular. But some wish that, although "heavens" is said in the plural, it be understood in the singular, according to that custom by which we call single cities "Thebes" and "Athens." And it is an idiom of the Hebrew character, that all words ending in the syllable "im" (ים) are masculine and plural, as Cherubim and Seraphim. And those ending in "oth" (ות) are feminine and plural, as Sabaoth. And this is to be noted, that to the heavens it is said, "hear," to the earth, "give ear"; for those things which are lofty have greater understanding, while those things which are lowlier are wrapped up in earthly senses. Whence also the Savior says in the Gospel: He that hath ears to hear, let him hear. If, then, anyone is heaven, and has his citizenship among heavenly things, let him hear mystically what is said.

If anyone is earthly, let him follow the simple history. This too must be noted, that he did not say: Hear, O heaven, and give ear, O earth, what the Lord has spoken to you; but what he has spoken to me, so that what I have heard in the spirit, I might report to you, who do not deserve to hear him speaking himself. Certain persons (the Origenists) think that heaven and earth are summoned to hear as though they were living beings, according to that which is said elsewhere of the earth: Who looketh upon the earth, and maketh it tremble: though this belongs to the power of God, not to earthly understanding.

I have begotten and exalted sons, but they have despised me. In place of which Symmachus and Theodotion translated thus: I have nourished sons, and exalted them. From this point the Prophet narrates what the Lord has spoken, namely that the people of Israel, whom he had created servants by a common law, he turned into sons, and said: Israel is my firstborn son. Finally, the Lord too in the Gospel promises to the Apostles, that if they do his will, he will no longer call them servants, but friends. But if Israel should grow proud, hearing that he is the firstborn, let him understand that he is called firstborn for this reason: that the second sons are signified from the Gentiles. For he is not called only-begotten, so as to exclude other brothers; but firstborn, so as to show that others will follow: and yet, according to the mysteries of the Scriptures, it is not the firstborn who receive the inheritance, but the second. Cain was firstborn, but Abel's gifts were pleasing to God.

Ishmael was firstborn, but Isaac received the inheritance. Esau was firstborn, but the supplanter snatched away his father's blessing for Jacob. Reuben was firstborn, but nonetheless the blessing of the seed of Christ is transferred to Judah. And so they, according to the order of calling, were first, and were called the head; we, second, who were called the tail, have been turned into the head, and are called children of God. For as many as received him, he gave them power to become the sons of God. We have not received the spirit of bondage again in fear, but the spirit of adoption, in which we cry: Abba, Father: because perfect love casts out fear. It is better, however, to read according to the Hebrew, "I have nourished sons," rather than "begotten," lest it seem to be contrary to that saying which we read in the Epistle of John: Whosoever is born of God, sinneth not.

Therefore if these were born of God, how could they sin, since everyone who is born of God cannot sin? (Verse 3.) The ox knoweth his owner, and the ass his master's crib. Israel hath not known me, my people hath not understood. In place of which the LXX alone translated: But Israel hath not known me, and the people hath not understood me. So that, according to the others and the Hebrew, Israel has not known his possessor, and the people has not understood the crib of his Lord. And the sense is plain: I adopted them as sons, and made them a peculiar people, and my portion and the cord of my inheritance, and I called them firstborn; but they did not do even what brute animals do, so as to be won over by benefits, and to recognize their shepherd and their nourisher.

Nor did he compare them to dogs, which is the most sagacious kind of animal, and for a little food defends the roofs of its masters; but to the duller sense of the ox and the ass, of which the one, drawing carts, turns the hardest clods of earth with the plowshare, the other bears burdens, and eases the labor of men in walking; whence beasts of burden (jumenta) are also so called, from the fact that they aid (juvent) men. This passage can also be understood of God the Father; but it refers rather to the Son, that the people of Israel did not know him, nor receive him—whose day Abraham saw, and was glad, and toward whose coming the hopes of all the Prophets were directed. He who also in the Gospel speaks to Jerusalem: How often would I have gathered thy children, as a hen doth gather her chickens under her wings, and thou wouldest not! We ask, where have we read of ox and ass together elsewhere?

In Deuteronomy it is written: Thou shalt not plow with an ox and an ass together. And in this same Isaiah: Blessed is he who sows upon every water, where the ox and the ass tread. Ebion plows together with ox and ass—a meaning fitting for the lowliness, the poverty, of his name; who so receives the Gospel that he does not abandon the ceremonies of Jewish superstitions, which went before in shadow and image. But blessed is he who sows in the words of the Scriptures, both of the Old and of the New Instrument, and treads the waters of the letter that kills, so that he may reap the fruit of the life-giving spirit. The ox, according to anagogy, refers to Israel, who bore the yoke of the Law, and is a clean animal. The ass, weighed down with the burden of sins, is taken as the people of the Gentiles, to whom the Lord was speaking: Come to me, all ye that labor and are burdened, and I will refresh you.

Therefore, while the Pharisees and Scribes, who had the key and knowledge of the Law, and were truly called Israel, that is, "mind seeing God," did not believe, a part of the Jewish people believed, so that on one day three thousand believed together, and on another day five thousand. Likewise, while the wise of the world did not receive the cross of Christ, the unlearned crowd of the nations took it up. Whence the Apostle also said: Behold your calling, brethren: for not many wise according to the flesh, not many mighty, not many noble; but the foolish things of the world hath God chosen, that he may confound the wise; and the weak things of the world hath God chosen, that he may confound the strong. But this is a forced interpretation; the former is the true one. (Verse 4.) Woe to a sinful nation, a people laden with iniquity, a wicked seed, ungracious children: they have forsaken the Lord: they have blasphemed the Holy One of Israel: they are turned away backward.

This which I have placed last: "they are turned away backward," the LXX translators do not have; and instead of "blasphemed," it is written among them, "they have provoked to wrath"; and instead of "wicked seed," "worst seed." Which the others, following the Hebrew MEREIM (מרעים), rendered "of the worst," so that it should not be so much a fault of the seed (lest good and evil be thought to be of a diverse nature) as of the malice of those who by their own will forsook the Lord.

At the beginning of the volume there is a title, recalling the person, the cause, and the time: in the second, he makes the hearers attentive: in the third, he narrates what the Lord has spoken: in the fourth, as it were in a digression, he rebukes the sinful nation, and the people full of, or laden with, iniquity. Not that it is one nation and another people, as some think, but Israel himself is called both nation and people, and wicked or unrighteous children; so that those who at first were called sons of the Lord by benefit, were afterward called children of iniquity by their own fault; or, as the rest with one voice said, "children corrupting," that is, διαφθείροντες, who by their own fault destroyed the good of nature. And what is added: "They have blasphemed the Holy One of Israel," is properly said of the Jews crying out: We have no king but Caesar; and: Is not this the carpenter's son; and: He hath a devil, and is a Samaritan.

Because, therefore, they forsook Christ, and blasphemed the Holy One of Israel, they are therefore turned away backward, so that those who were called a portion and sons of God should afterward be called: Strange children have lied to me. The Savior commanded that, having put our hand to the plow, we should not look back, lest we imitate the wife of Lot. Whence the Apostle too, reaching forth unto those things which are before, forgets those things which are behind. But when he says according to the LXX, "a people full of sins", he shows that there was no kind of sin absent from the people of Israel. But if we read, as it is in the Hebrew, "a people laden with iniquity," let us recall that testimony, that iniquity sits upon a talent of lead, and is spoken from the person of the sinner in the thirty-seventh Psalm: My iniquities are gone over my head: as a heavy burden they are become heavy upon me.

We pass quickly over what is plain, that we may dwell on the more obscure things, and on those which need explanation. (Verse 5). In what shall I strike you further, adding transgression? By this testimony we learn that the Lord strikes those who sin for this reason, that He may correct those struck, and that it is not so much punishment as it is correction. And the sense is: I find no place where I may apply medicine to your wounds: all your members are full of wounds: I find no part of the body that has not already been struck. Or certainly in this way: I find no more blows by which I might break your hardness. For the greater the torments, the more impiety and iniquity increase; or, as Theodotion translated, "turning aside," that you may withdraw and turn away from the Lord. Such is that saying of Jeremiah: In vain have I struck your children: you have not received discipline.

Whence also, being angry, He speaks through Hosea: I will not visit upon your daughters when they shall have played the harlot; nor upon your daughters-in-law when they shall have committed adultery. And through Ezekiel: My zeal shall depart from you: and I will be angry with you no more. Concerning these we also read in the Psalms: There is no steadfastness in their stroke; and they are not in the labors of men, nor shall they be scourged with men. Every head is faint, and every heart mourning. Joy of soul sometimes eases the pain of the body: but if sickness of soul be added to sickness of body, the weakness is doubled. Among the senses themselves too, and all the members of the body, the head holds the chief place, in which are sight and smell, hearing and taste. When, therefore, the head aches, all the members are weak.

And by metaphor he teaches that from the princes even to the lowest of the people, from the teachers even to the unlearned crowd, there is no soundness anywhere: but all agree together with equal ardor in impiety. From the sole of the foot even to the crown of the head, there is no soundness in it: wound, and bruise, and swelling sore. He keeps the metaphor begun: from the feet even to the crown, that is, from the lowest to the highest, from the extremities to the foremost parts, they are pierced through in the whole body. Wound, he says, and bruise, and swelling sore: for either bodies are livid with blows, or swollen with stripes, or gaping with wounds. We ask to what time these things are to be fitted. After the Babylonian captivity, under Zerubbabel, and Ezra, and Nehemiah, Israel returned into Judea, and recovered its ancient condition.

Under various rulers and kings also the temple, though built in more restricted form, reached such a state that they even merited the friendship of foreign nations—the Lacedaemonians, the Athenians, and the Romans. Therefore what he says: There is no soundness in it, refers to the final captivity: when after Titus and Vespasian, and the final overthrow of Jerusalem, under Aelius Hadrian, there has been no remedy up to the present time: and that is fulfilled which is written: All have turned aside: together they have become unprofitable: There is none that does good, no, not one. And what is added: there is no soundness in it, understand either of the people, or of the body, or of the head. (Verse 6). It is not bound up, nor dressed with medicine, nor fomented with oil. For which the LXX translated: There is no poultice to apply, nor oil, nor bandages. Up to this day the wound and bruise and swelling sore of the people of Israel has not been bound up with little bandages, nor dressed with medicine.

Which Aquila interpreted as "motosis," namely little linen cloths, which are applied to wounds to dry up the corrupt matter and draw out the pus. Nor fomented with oil: that their hardness might be softened by the tears of repentance. Instead of "little bandages," with which Israel's wounds are by no means bound up, the LXX translated "poultice." Israel therefore lies pierced through and slaughtered, because he has killed the physician who had come to heal the house of Israel. Whence also in Jeremiah, figuratively, under the person of Babylon, the angels speak: We have healed Babylon, and she is not healed—that is, the city of confusion and of vices. And in the Gospel we read of one going down from Jerusalem to Jericho, wounded by robbers, and healed by the Samaritan; and after the harshness of wine, the softness of oil poured into his wounds.

From that place, then, where above He had said: In what shall I strike you; and: every head is faint, up to what follows: It is not dressed with medicine, nor fomented with oil, the likeness of the metaphor is maintained, and the description of incurable wounds expresses the eternal captivity of the Jews. (Verse 7). Your land is desolate: your cities are burned with fire: strangers devour your country in your sight, and it shall be desolate as in the overthrow by enemies. These things were fulfilled in part under the Babylonians, when the temple was burned, Jerusalem overthrown, when the Samaritans possessed the region of the ten tribes, and the land of promise was reduced to such solitude that it was laid waste by lions. But what is to happen more fully and perfectly is described as under the Roman captivity: when the Roman army laid waste the whole of Judea, and the cities were burned, and strangers presently devour their region, and the desolation of the Jews shall persist even to the end of the world.

We may also take these things tropologically of sinners, who have fallen from their former holiness, after they have been handed over to contrary powers: that all their goods come to desolation: and God remembers not their former righteousness: and all things are set on fire by the devil's fire; and they become fodder for beasts, of whom it is also written elsewhere: Deliver not up to the beasts the soul that confesses to Thee. (Verse 8). The daughter of Zion shall be left as a booth in a vineyard, and as a lodge in a garden of cucumbers. That all Israel is called a vineyard, the Prophet himself testifies in what follows, saying: For the vineyard of the Lord of hosts is the house of Israel: and the man of Judah his new and beloved plantation: and in the Psalm: Thou hast brought a vineyard out of Egypt: Thou hast cast out the nations, and planted it.

This vineyard, as long as it brought forth abundant fruit, had God as its keeper, of whom it is written: He that keeps Israel shall neither slumber nor sleep. But after all who passed by the way plundered it, and the boar out of the wood laid it waste, the Lord left His temple, and rising up in anger said: Arise, let us go hence; and: Your house shall be left to you desolate. And through Jeremiah: I have left my house: I have forsaken my heritage. My heritage has become to me as a lion in the forest: it has uttered its voice against me, therefore have I hated it. The likeness, moreover, of the devastation of the Temple and Jerusalem is taken from farmers, who, as long as the vineyard is full of grapes, place watchmen in booths.

In the cucumber garden also, which the LXX call the "keeping of fruits," small huts are made to ward off the heat and rays of the sun: and from there they drive away either men, or the small beasts that are wont to lie in wait for the growing crops. But when such produce has been taken away, there remain the withered shelters of the bushes, and the huts, the keeper having withdrawn, because he has no longer anything to guard. So also almighty God has forsaken the Temple, and made the city to be desolate: which there is no need to prove with words, especially for us, who see Zion deserted, and Jerusalem overthrown, and the Temple razed to the ground. That He calls her the daughter of Zion shows the affection of a most tender parent. Nor is it strange if Zion is called a daughter, since Babylon too is very often named a daughter. For we are all by nature children of God, but by our own fault we become estranged.

According to the anagogical sense, the vineyard of God and the paradise of fruits may be called our soul: over which, if the mind—that is, the nous, mind—presides, it has God as the keeper of the mind; but if the vices, like certain beasts, have plundered us, we are left by God our keeper, and all our things shall be reduced to solitude.

Unless the Lord of hosts had left us seed, we should have been as Sodom, and we should have been like unto Gomorrah. This passage the apostle Paul discusses more fully in the Epistle to the Romans, writing: I say then, has God cast away his people? God forbid: for I also am an Israelite, of the seed of Abraham, of the tribe of Benjamin. God has not cast away his people whom he foreknew. And a little after: So then at this present time also there is a remnant saved according to the election of grace. From which it is shown that the words above, which the prophetic discourse threatened against Jerusalem and Judah, are to be referred not to the time of the Babylonian captivity, but to the final one of the Romans, when in the Apostles the remnant of the Jewish people were saved; and in one day three thousand believed, and on another five thousand, and the Gospel was sown throughout the whole world.

Instead of "Lord of hosts," which we, following Aquila, have rendered into Latin, in the Hebrew is read "Dominus sabaoth," which the LXX interpreters, according to the character of the passages, translate in two ways, either "Lord of powers," or "Lord Almighty." And it must be asked whether this is said of the Father, or of the Son. Nor is there doubt but that what is read in the twenty-third Psalm: Lift up your gates, O ye princes, and be ye lifted up, ye everlasting gates, and the King of glory shall come in. Who is this King of glory? The Lord of hosts—that is, the Lord of powers, He Himself is the King of glory—is to be referred to Christ, who after the triumph of His passion ascended victorious to the heavens. And in another place it is said of the Lord, that He is the King of glory: For had they known it, they would never have crucified the Lord of glory.

Therefore not only according to the Apocalypse of John, and the apostle Paul; but in the Old Testament also, the Lord of hosts, that is, the Almighty, is called Christ. For if all things of the Father are the Son's; and as He Himself says in the Gospel: All power is given to me in heaven and in earth; and: All mine are thine, and I am glorified in them; why should not the name of the Almighty also be referred to Christ, so that as He is God of God, and Lord of Lord, so He, the Almighty, may be the Son of the Almighty? (Verse 10.) Hear the word of the Lord, ye princes of Sodom: give ear to the law of our God, ye people of Gomorrah.

The remnant of the people of Israel having been saved through the Apostles, the prophetic discourse turns against the Scribes and Pharisees, and the people crying out: Crucify, crucify such a one; and calls them princes of Sodom, and people of Gomorrah, according to that which we read in what follows: They have declared their sin as Sodom, and have not hidden it. Woe to their soul: for they have devised a most wicked counsel against themselves, saying: Let us bind the just man, for he is unprofitable to us. Therefore they are called princes of Sodom, and people of Gomorrah, because they devised a most wicked counsel, and bound the just man, and said, We have no king but Caesar.

And again: We know that God spoke to Moses; but as for this man, we know not whence he is. And likewise, boasting in the Gospel: We are the seed of Abraham, and have never served anyone; they hear from the Lord Savior: If you were the children of Abraham, you would surely do the works of Abraham; and again: You are born of your father the devil, and the works of your father you will do.

Something similar Ezekiel also says to Jerusalem: Your father was an Amorite, and your mother a Hittite. The Hebrews say that Isaiah was killed for two reasons: because he called them princes of Sodom and people of Gomorrah, and because, when the Lord said to Moses: You shall not be able to see my face, this man dared to say: I saw the Lord sitting upon a throne high and lifted up; not considering that the Seraphim covered the face and feet of God, or their own—since in the Hebrew it is read ambiguously—and that Isaiah writes that he saw only the middle parts of Him. Man, therefore, cannot see the face of God. But the angels, even of the least in the Church, always see the face of God.

And, Now we see through a glass, in a dark manner, but then face to face: when we shall have advanced from men into angels, and shall be able to say with the Apostle: But we all, with open face beholding the glory of the Lord, are transformed into the same image from glory to glory, as by the Spirit of the Lord. Although no creature can see the face of God according to the property of His nature: and He is then perceived by the mind when He is believed to be invisible.

Verse 11. To what purpose is the multitude of your victims to me, saith the Lord? I am full. I desired not the holocausts of rams, and the fat of fed beasts, and the blood of calves, and lambs, and buck-goats. For what is said, "I desired not," the LXX translated "I desire not," a present tense for a past. Moreover, according to the Hebrew, God shows that he never desired the sacrifices of the Jews: which also we read in the forty-ninth psalm: I will not accept calves out of thy house, nor buck-goats out of thy flocks: for all the beasts of the forest are mine: the cattle on the mountains and the oxen. I know all the fowls of the air: and the beauty of the field is with me. If I should be hungry, I would not tell thee: for the world is mine, and the fullness thereof. Shall I eat the flesh of bulls, or drink the blood of goats?

And when he had rejected the ceremonies of the old Law, he passes over to Evangelical purity: and shows what he desires instead of these: Offer to God the sacrifice of praise, and pay thy vows to the most high. And call upon me in the day of trouble: and I will deliver thee, and thou shalt glorify me. Therefore the whole tenor of this chapter, down to that place where he says: Judge for the fatherless, defend the widow, and come, and let us plead together: rejects the sacrifices of victims, and teaches that the obedience of the Gospel is above sacrifice. And what he adds: I am full, is to be understood in this sense: I lack nothing: The earth is the Lord's, and the fullness thereof. Whence also we all have received of his fullness.

This can also be understood of those who, though they do not do God's precepts, believe that they can buy off God with gifts and offerings: or who offer at the altar and to the poor what has been seized by plunder and avarice.

Verse 12. For who hath required these things at your hands? Let the Ebionites hear, who think that after the passion of Christ the Law which was abolished is still to be kept. Let the associates of the Ebionites hear, who decree that these things are to be observed only by the Jews and by those of the stock of Israelite descent. Sacrifices then and the immolation of victims were not principally required by God; but lest they should be offered to idols: and that from carnal victims, as by a type and image, we might pass over to spiritual sacrifices. But in saying that he had not required sacrifices, he shows that the Law is spiritual: and that all things which the Jews do carnally, are to be fulfilled by us spiritually.

Verse 13. To tread my court, ye shall add no more.

Observe that after the Babylonian devastation, the Temple was again built by Zorobabel: and through a long series of years sacrifices were offered in the Temple. Therefore he indicates the last destruction of the Temple under Vespasian and Titus, which is to endure until the consummation of the world. Verse 14. Your new moons, and your sabbaths, and other feasts I will not abide: your assemblies are wicked. Every assembly which does not offer spiritual sacrifices, nor hearkens to that which is sung in the fiftieth psalm: A sacrifice to God is a troubled spirit: a contrite and humbled heart God will not despise, is abominable to God. And therefore he joins and says: your calends and your solemnities. That he may not call them his own feasts: but those of them who wickedly abuse them. And what the LXX translated, fasting and idleness: we may say that fast is accepted by God which has no idleness of good works. My soul hates.

Speaking after the manner of men, not that God has a soul; but he speaks according to our own affection. Verse 15. You have become to me a weariness: I will by no means forgive your sins. For which Aquila interpreted, I have labored bearing it. Symmachus: "I have grown weary in showing mercy," which is, I have failed in pitying; to show that he will no longer have mercy: because it is one thing to slay servants sent to him; another to slay the Son. This sense we also read in the prophet Hosea: Destruction is thine, O Israel: only in me is thy help (Hosea xiii, 9). Which is thus understood: Mayst thou perish, O Israel, for thou art saved not by thine own merit, but only by my help. Your hands are full of blood. He reveals the reason why God turns away his eyes from them, and does not hear their multiplied prayer: because they have shed the blood of the just; and, most wicked husbandmen, have slain the heir sent to them.

Whence also the Savior speaks to them: And you fill up the measure of your fathers. For these slew the Prophets sent to them: you slaughter the Son of the Father of the household. This testimony is also to be used against those who, while their hands are full of blood from their daily deeds, join together day and night in prayer. Verse 16. Wash yourselves, be clean. Instead of the aforesaid victims, and holocausts, and the fat of fed beasts, and the blood of bulls and goats: and instead of incense and new moons, sabbath, feast day and fasts, calends and other solemnities, the religion of the Gospel pleases me: that you may be baptized in my blood through the laver of regeneration, which alone can remit sins. For unless a man be born again of water and the Spirit, he shall not enter into the kingdom of heaven.

The Lord himself also, ascending to the Father, says: Going therefore, teach ye all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost. Take away the evil of your thoughts from before my eyes. What John the Baptist said: Ye brood of vipers, who hath shown you to flee from the wrath to come? Bring forth therefore fruits worthy of penance: that he who has obtained the baptism of Christ may take away evil from his heart, and cease to act perversely, and afterward learn to do good, according to that which is elsewhere commanded: Turn away from evil and do good. Learn to do good. Virtue therefore must be learned, nor is the good of nature alone sufficient for justice, unless one be trained by fitting disciplines. Jesus the son of Sirach also says something of this sort: Hast thou desired wisdom, keep the commandments, and the Lord will give it to thee.

And in what follows the same Isaiah records: Every one who has not learned righteousness upon the earth will not do truth (Chap. Xxvi, 10, according to the LXX). Righteousness therefore must be learned, and the thresholds of the teachers of wisdom must be worn down by treading. Verse 18. Seek judgment, relieve the oppressed, judge for the fatherless, defend the widow: and come, and accuse me, saith the Lord. To the sacrifices of the Jews succeed the commands of the Gospel, and therefore provision is made for orphans and widows, that being secure as to the guardianship of their spouses and children, the martyrs may go forth to war. But when, he says, you shall have done these things, accuse me, if I do not render the rewards which I have promised. But when he says, Seek judgment, he shows that it is not for all to judge rightly, but for those who are prudent. Finally Solomon also, in a vision through a dream, asked this of the Lord, that having received wisdom, he might justly judge the people.

If your sins be as scarlet, they shall be made white as snow: and if they be red as crimson, they shall be white as wool. The order is notable: for it does not suffice to have said, Wash yourselves, unless he joins, be clean: that after the washing of water they may have purity of heart. For blessed are the clean of heart, for they shall see God. And when they have had purity of heart, they ought to remove evil from their minds, not in the sight of men, but in the sight of God, from whom nothing can be hidden. And what he joins: Cease to act perversely, echoes that saying of the Gospel: Behold, thou art made whole: sin no more, lest something worse befall thee.

Departing therefore from vices, let him learn good, and seek judgment, relieve the oppressed, sustain the orphan and the widow: and if he shall have done this, then the sins which before were bloody like scarlet shall be forgiven: and the works of blood and gore shall be changed for the garment of the Lord, which is made of the fleece of the lamb, whom they follow in the Apocalypse, who shine with the brightness of virginity.

Verse 19. If you be willing, and will hearken to me, you shall eat the good things of the land: but if you will not, and will provoke me to wrath (or as the Hebrew has it, and will provoke me to anger), the sword shall devour you. Because the mouth of the Lord hath spoken it. He preserves free will, so that on either side, it is not from a prejudgment of God, but from the merits of individuals, that either punishment or reward comes. But I think these good things of the land are spoken of, of which we read in the psalm: I believe to see the good things of the Lord in the land of the living; and: Blessed are the meek, for they shall possess the land. Or certainly, because he was speaking to the Jews, who were not yet able to grasp spiritual things, he promises them the good things of the present age, so that, invited at least by present things, they might do what was commanded.

And because they were unwilling to hear: but on the contrary provoked the Holy One of Israel to wrath: therefore the sword devoured them, that is, the Roman army destroyed them. And all these things, he says, shall come to pass: Because the mouth of the Lord hath spoken it. Whose sentence, while men's sins persist, cannot be changed.

Verse 21. How is the faithful city become a harlot, full of judgment: justice hath lodged in it: but now murderers. The Hebrew word JALIN (ילין), for which the LXX translated, "slept"; also "hath rested," and "shall rest," that is, it signifies both the past and the future tense. Whence Aquila and Theodotion likewise speak as of the future. He marvels then by the prophetic spirit, that the city which was once faithful, or a refuge of the faithful, suddenly became a harlot. This indeed can be understood also of the times of Isaiah: but more fully it is referred to the passion of Christ, when all turned aside, together they became unprofitable. And although Sion is not found in the Hebrew: yet the LXX, in order to make the sense clearer, added it. Now Sion is the mountain on which the city of Jerusalem was founded: which after it was taken by David, was called the city of David.

Nor do I doubt that there were holy men in it, when it had the tabernacle of God, and afterward the Temple was built: when Nathan and Gad prophesied: and over the choirs (who are more fully described in the book of Chronicles) Asaph, and Idithun, and Eman, and the sons of Chore were appointed, that religion might pass by degrees from the sacrifices of victims to the praises of the Lord (1 Chron. Xxv). The city of the faithful, then, which formerly was full of judgment, and justice rested in it, is now full of murderers: who slew the prophets, and the Lord the Savior himself. But the fornication of Jerusalem, how she spread her legs to every passer-by, under the name of Ooliba, Ezekiel pursues: which is interpreted, my tabernacle is in her: which is now said in other words, justice rested in her.

For "justice" is written in the Hebrew SEDEC (צדק), which sounds more like "just" than "justice": so that we understand that the Lord had previously dwelt in her, of whom it is said elsewhere: But what has the just one done? The Lord is in his holy temple: the Lord, his throne is in heaven. All these things we may refer, according to the Anagoge, to the soul of a formerly holy man, in which the justice of God formerly dwelt, if afterward he shall have sinned, and instead of God as guest, murderous demons shall have dwelt in it.

Verse 22. Thy silver is turned into dross. He speaks to the city Sion, in which justice formerly rested: that her silver, namely the doctrine of the Scriptures, of which we read in the Psalms: The words of the Lord are pure words: silver tried by the fire, purged from the earth, refined seven times, has been turned into dross, which in Hebrew is called SIGIM (סיגים): namely the rust of metals, or the refuse and filth which are burned away by fire, so that, since he had named silver, he preserves the metaphor. It can also be said, that the just and holy men who formerly lived in the city, afterward were turned into the filth of sins.

Thy wine-sellers mingle wine with water. For which Symmachus translated, Thy wine is mixed with water. And the sense is: the Law of God, pure and sincere, and (so to speak) grounded in mere truth, has been violated by the traditions of the Pharisees: which the Lord teaches more fully in the Gospel, that they had abandoned the law of God and followed the commandments of men. And every teacher who turns the severity of the Scriptures, by which he could correct his hearers, into indulgence: and so speaks that he may not correct, but delight, his hearers: violates and corrupts the wine of the holy Scriptures by his own sense. Heretics also corrupt the evangelical truth by depraved understanding, and are the worst wine-sellers, making water out of wine, whereas on the contrary our Lord turned water into wine, and such wine as the master of the feast marveled at: such as the queen of Sheba also marveled at, at the banquet of Solomon, praising his cupbearers and ministers of wine with her own voice.

But Ecclesiastes also describes the ministries of wine, and of his banquet, in mystical speech. Whence for "wine" Aquila translated συμπόσιον, that is, "banquet," which among the Greeks is called ἀπὸ τοῦ πότου (from drinking), and among us is more correctly called from "living together" (convictus). (Verse 23.) Thy princes are disobedient, companions of thieves. For "disobedient," Aquila interpreted "withdrawing," Symmachus "declining." Now he calls the Scribes and Pharisees "princes," who, withdrawing from the Lord, or rather abandoning the path of truth, walked in a perverse way, and were companions of the betrayer and thief Judas. This indeed we too ought to beware of, lest, by accepting gifts from the men of this world, who gather riches through plunder and the tears of the wretched, we be called not so much thieves ourselves as companions of thieves; and lest it be said of us, "Thou sawest a thief, and didst run with him, and hast been partaker with adulterers".

All love gifts, they follow after rewards. Among the catalogue of vices are numbered also those who love gifts. He did not say "who receive," for this often happens out of necessity; but those who consider no one their friends except those from whom they have received gifts; and who regard not the mouths of their friends but their hands; and who judge those to be holy whose purse they empty: of whom Ecclesiastes also speaks: "He that loveth money shall not be filled with money". Such men follow after rewards, so that they praise those from whom they have received something, or at least give nothing to anyone except from whom they think they will receive in return.

For "rewards," Symmachus interpreted "recompenses" or "vengeances," so that these too are in fault who render evil for evil, and tooth for tooth, eye for eye; and do not imitate that saying of David: "If I have rendered evil to them that rewarded me"; and of Jeremiah speaking of the just man: "He will give his cheek to him that smiteth him, he will be filled with reproaches": so that he may fulfill the man of the Gospel, to whom it is said: "Whosoever shall strike thee on the cheek, offer him also the other". (Verse 24.) Therefore saith the Lord of hosts, the Mighty One of Israel: For "the Mighty One of Israel," which all the others translated similarly, only the LXX set down something else, I know not why: "Woe, ye mighty ones of Israel"; which we can explain thus, that we may say that even the princes are rebuked, and the strong, of whom it is written: "The mighty shall be mightily tormented"; and: "To whom more is given, more shall be required of him".

And we make use of this testimony, whenever occasion arises, against the princes of the Church, who destroy their own dignity by their deeds.

Ah, I will comfort myself over my adversaries, and I will be avenged of my enemies. Again in this also, which is not found in the Hebrew, the LXX add: "For my fury has not ceased against my enemies." Now he rebukes the Scribes and Pharisees, of whom he also speaks in the Gospel: "Woe unto you, Scribes and Pharisees". And in another place: "An adulterous and perverse generation seeketh a sign; and a sign shall not be given to it, but the sign of Jonah the prophet". Now the most merciful Father laments over the offending princes, and calls them his enemies, and terms them adversaries, because they perish, in that they will not do penance, because they did not receive him when he came.

For drawing near to Jerusalem, he wept, and said: "Jerusalem, Jerusalem, thou that killest the prophets, and stonest them that are sent unto thee, how often would I have gathered thy children together, as a hen gathereth her chickens, and thou wouldest not!" Therefore the consolation of God over his adversaries and enemies is this: that those who did not perceive his benefits may be corrected by punishments. (Verse 25.) And I will turn my hand to thee, and I will thoroughly purge away thy dross, and take away all thy tin. For "dross," which Symmachus interpreted, Aquila interpreted στέμφυλα, that is, the refuse of the grape-press, Theodotion γιγαρτῶδες, that is, the grape-stone; the LXX alone interpreted "unbelieving" or "disobedient," rendering the sense rather than the words.

For since he had said above, "Thy silver is become dross," he now preserves the metaphor, so that he turns his hand upon it, that is, extends his hand for punishing and purging, and burns away all the filth and vices of sins; so that, the tin being separated, pure silver may remain, which cannot be done without fire; by which he signifies that they are to suffer torments. We read also in Malachi concerning the Lord: "He shall go forth as a refiner's fire, and as fullers' herb, and he shall sit refining and purifying as it were silver and gold; and he shall purify the sons of Levi"; so that after they have been purified, it may be said of them: "And they shall offer sacrifices to the Lord in justice." Ezekiel also says that the whole house of Israel is mixed with brass, and iron, and lead, and tin, and afterward is to be purified; so that after it has been purified, it may know that he is the Lord.

But in the Gospel, under another metaphor, the same sense is shown: "Whose fan is in his hand, and he will thoroughly cleanse his floor, and gather his wheat into the barn; but the chaff he will burn with unquenchable fire." (Verse 26.) And I will restore thy judges as they were before, and thy counsellors as in ancient time. In the faithful city of Sion, which afterward became a harlot; and in place of justice, or righteousness, murderers dwelt in it. Therefore the Lord turns his hand, that he may purge it thoroughly and take away all its tin, and restore its judges as they were from the beginning, and its counsellors as in ancient time. The earlier judges were Moses, and Joshua the son of Nun, and the others from whom the book of Holy Scripture also received its name; and afterward David and the other just kings.

He will therefore restore the likeness of the Judges: either, as the Jews will have it, after the Babylonian captivity, Zerubbabel, Ezra, and Nehemiah, and the other princes who ruled the people down to Hyrcanus, whom Herod succeeded in the kingdom; or indeed, more truly and rightly, the Apostles, and those who through the Apostles believed and were appointed rulers of the Churches, as we said at the beginning of this vision, that both the threat and the promise pertain to the time of the Lord's passion, and to the faith which after his passion founded the Church.

After this thou shalt be called the city of the just, the faithful city. This prophetic word plainly comprehends the Church, which is to believe in the Lord, both from the Jews and from the Gentiles. Now the "city of the just," that is, of the Lord the Saviour, shall itself be called just, of which it is said: "A city set upon a mountain cannot be hid." Calling it also "faithful," or according to the LXX "metropolis," he shows that it is to be so named by those who are to believe in the Lord. (Verses 27-29.) Sion shall be redeemed in judgment, and they shall bring her back in righteousness, and he shall crush the wicked and sinners together; and they that have forsaken the Lord shall be consumed; for they shall be confounded because of the idols to which they have sacrificed, and you shall blush for the gardens which you had chosen. Not all shall be redeemed, nor shall all be saved, but the remnant, of whom mention was made above also.

They shall be brought back in righteousness, when the wicked and sinners have been crushed, and those who forsook the Lord, consumed. And when they have been saved, those who formerly sacrificed to idols shall be confounded; and they shall blush in the gardens which they had chosen. Now he signifies the places of luxury, groves and woodlands. (Verse 30.) For they shall be as a terebinth with falling leaves; and as a garden, or paradise, without water.

Even to this day the Jews, reading the Holy Scriptures, are a terebinth, or an oak, as Symmachus interpreted. And according to the Gospel, they are the fig tree which withered, in which the Lord, having sought fruit and not found it, cursed it with eternal barrenness. But even the leaves and fruit of words have now ceased among them: the watered garden also, that is, the knowledge of the Scriptures, or paradise of diverse trees, which is without spiritual grace, does not even bring forth vegetables, of which the Apostle speaks: "He that is weak, let him eat vegetables"; and the roots being dried up, all greenness has turned to aridity and squalor. (Verse 31.) And your strength shall be as the ash of tow. For "ash," Symmachus interpreted ἀποτίναγμα: when tow is combed, and whatever filth it has is thrown off.

All the strength therefore and pride of the sinners and wicked of Israel, who forsook the Lord, and were therefore consumed, and sacrificed to idols, and shall blush in the gardens which they chose, shall be reduced to the sweepings of tow, which are devoured by a light fire. For it follows: And its work, that is, of your strength, or of the idolatry in which you had erred, a tiny spark shall consume.

And both shall be burned together, and there shall be none to quench it. Both the knowledge of the Jews, and all the works which they do, or both the idol and Jerusalem, in which the idol was: and when the Lord kindles the fire, no one will be able to quench it. All these things we can also understand of contrary doctrines: that both teachers and disciples perish alike, and all their work be fuel for the fire.

(Verse 1.) The word that Isaiah the son of Amoz saw concerning Judah and Jerusalem. And in the earlier Vision, which we have already expounded, where the LXX interpreted "which he saw against Judea and against Jerusalem," in the Hebrew it is written Al juda ujerusalem (על יהודה וירושלם); and in this, which is the second, it is likewise contained in the Hebrew.

And I wonder why the LXX Interpreters in that place said "against Judea and Jerusalem," and here "concerning Judea and concerning Jerusalem"; unless perhaps because there the nation is called sinful, a people full of sins, a most wicked seed, children of iniquity, and princes of Sodom, and people of Gomorrah, and a harlot city, and other such things, they interpreted the sense rather than the word; and here, because prosperous things are immediately promised: "It shall come to pass in the last days that the mountain of the Lord shall be manifest, and the house of God on the top of the mountains," they understood the prophecy to be not against Judea and Jerusalem, but concerning Judea and Jerusalem: since in that former passage also we read, after the threat, prosperous things: "I will restore thy judges as they were before, and thy counsellors as in ancient time: after this thou shalt be called the city of the just, the faithful city"; whereas in this one, after the prosperous things, the threat is harsh:

"Behold the Lord the Ruler of hosts shall take away from Jerusalem and from Judah the strong and the mighty, all strength of bread, and all strength of water," and so on. Therefore according to the Hebrew, both in that vision, and in this discourse which Isaiah the son of Amoz saw, it is to be understood "concerning Judah and Jerusalem": not "against Judah and Jerusalem"; or "for Judah and Jerusalem," as Symmachus translated; but absolutely, "concerning Judah and Jerusalem," in which both joyful and sorrowful things can be contained.

And this is to be considered, that there he sees a vision; here, a Word, which was in the beginning with God; and in that one, threatening the Jews, he comes to the salvation of the Gentiles; in this one, beginning from the salvation of the Gentiles, once Israel has been punished, he gathers together, from both callings, the believers into the Church of Christ. (Verse 2.) And it shall come to pass in the last days that the mountain of the house of the Lord shall be prepared on the top of the mountains. We read of the last days also in Genesis, that when Jacob was calling his sons and saying: Come, that I may tell you what shall befall you in the last days: he afterwards said to Judah, from whose seed Christ arose: The sceptre shall not depart from Judah, nor a ruler from between his feet, until he come to whom it is laid up; and he shall be the expectation of the nations.

In these last days shall be the last hour, of which John the Apostle speaks: My little children, it is the last hour; in which the stone cut out of the mountain without hands grew into a great mountain, and filled the whole earth: by which the prince of Tyre is said in Ezekiel to have been wounded. This mountain is in the house of the Lord, for which the Prophet sighs, saying: One thing have I asked of the Lord, this will I seek: that I may dwell in the house of the Lord all the days of my life; and of which Paul writes to Timothy: But if I tarry long, that thou mayest know how thou oughtest to behave thyself in the house of God, which is the church of the living God, the pillar and ground of the truth. This house is built upon the foundation of the apostles and prophets, who are themselves also mountains, as imitators of Christ.

Of this house, Jerusalem, the Psalmist cries out, saying: They that trust in the Lord shall be as mount Sion, which cannot be moved for ever, he that dwells in Jerusalem. Mountains are round about it: and the Lord is round about his people. Whence also Christ founds his Church upon one of the mountains, and says to him: Thou art Peter, and upon this rock I will build my church: and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it. Something similar the saint speaks, longing for his own soul, and impatiently desiring to see the house of God: Why art thou sad, O my soul, and why dost thou disquiet me? And again: These things I remembered, and poured out my soul in me: for I shall pass into the place of the wonderful tabernacle, even to the house of God: with the voice of joy and praise, the sound of them that keep festival. The LXX rendered: the manifest mountain of the Lord, and the house of God upon the tops of the mountains.

This same testimony, in the same words, the prophet Micah also set down; which I have expounded in its own place (Micah I). And it shall be exalted above the hills. That which was shown and prepared on the tops of the mountains shall be exalted above the hills. Of these mountains and hills the bride also speaks in the Song of Songs: The voice of my kinsman: behold, he comes leaping upon the mountains, skipping over the hills: my kinsman is like a roe or a young hart upon the mountains of Bethel. And all nations shall flow unto him: and many peoples shall go. For all nations shall serve him, to whom it was said: Ask of me, and I will give thee the nations for thine inheritance, and the ends of the earth for thy possession: that they may serve him under one yoke, according to Zephaniah, of whom the same prophet testifies: From beyond the rivers of Ethiopia they shall bring thee offerings.

And in the seventy-first psalm we read: Before him the Ethiopians shall fall down. For in the name of Jesus every knee shall bow, of things in heaven, of things on earth, and of things under the earth. (Verse 3.) And they shall say: Come, let us go up to the mountain of the Lord, and to the house of the God of Jacob: and he shall teach us his ways: and we shall walk in his paths. The nations and many peoples, by no means content with their own salvation, shall exhort one another mutually, and shall say: Come, let us go up to the mountain of the Lord, and to the house of the God of Jacob.

Concerning these we have said above, what the mountain of the Lord, prepared, is, and what the house of the Lord on the top of the mountains is. Now the house of the Lord is called the house of the God of Jacob, that we may receive the Old Testament, and not, according to Manichaeus, seek another house apart from the house of the God of Jacob. But when we shall have been in the house of the God of Jacob, then he will teach us his ways, by which we may walk toward him, and we shall walk in his paths, which others also have handed down. Finally, Jesus also, going up into a mountain, taught his disciples the eight beatitudes, and the other things which the Gospel discourse comprises. Therefore the ways of the Lord must first be learned; and afterwards one must walk in his paths. For out of Sion shall go forth the law, and the word of the Lord from Jerusalem.

All the nations and many peoples shall therefore exhort one another mutually, and shall say: Come, let us go up to the mountain of the Lord, and the rest that follows: For out of Sion shall go forth the law, and the word of the Lord from Jerusalem: by no means from Sinai, and from the wilderness, and from mount Horeb: but from mount Sion, on which Jerusalem is built: and from Jerusalem, in which is the Temple and the religion of God. We read that the Lord often taught in the Temple: and that it was not fitting for a Prophet to die outside Jerusalem: and above, the word and the law are named together. The rulers are bidden to hear the word: the people to receive the law with their ears. For whoever first fulfills the law afterwards comes to the word of God. But also, the Church being first founded in Jerusalem, sowed the churches of the whole world.

And this must be said, that whosoever shall be in the watchtower and in the vision of peace, in him also the law and the word of the Lord are established. And beautifully he did not say: in Sion and in Jerusalem shall be, and shall remain, the word and the law of the Lord; but shall go forth, that it might signify that from that fountain all nations are to be watered by the doctrine of God. And he shall judge among the nations, and shall rebuke many peoples. Therefore judgment is to be made even among the nations: nor are all unbelievers to be condemned by the same sentence, but they shall suffer differently according to the diversity of their deserts. But after he shall have judged the nations, then he will rebuke many peoples, or, as the LXX rendered, a great people. And note the order: the nations shall be judged, because they are to believe: for he that believeth not is already judged.

But the great people, which is understood to be Israel, shall by no means be judged, but shall be rebuked, because it did not receive the Son of God sent to it. (Verse 4.) And they shall beat their swords into ploughshares, and their spears into pruning-hooks. All zeal for warfare shall be turned to peace, and instead of discord there shall be concord in the whole world. Swords shall be changed into ploughshares, and spears into pruning-hooks, so that, warlike fury being laid aside, they may serve agriculture, and reap most abundant harvests with the sickles. This indeed can also be understood spiritually, when all the hardness of our heart is broken by the ploughshare of Christ, and the thorns of vices are uprooted, so that the sowing of the word of God may grow into fruits: and afterwards we may eat the labors of our hands, when those coming shall come with exultation, bearing their sheaves. Nation shall not lift up sword against nation, neither shall they be exercised any more to war.

Let us unroll the ancient histories, and we shall find that up to the twenty-eighth year of Caesar Augustus (in whose forty-first year Christ was born in Judaea), there was discord in the whole world, and each nation burned with zeal for warring against its neighboring peoples, so that they slew and were slain.

But when the Lord and Savior arose, when, under Cyrinus, governor of Syria, the first census was made in the whole world, and peace was prepared for the Gospel teaching by the Roman empire; then all wars ceased, and men were no longer exercised for battles throughout the towns and villages; but only the Roman soldiers and legions were assigned to the zeal of warring against barbarian nations: when that concert of Angels was fulfilled: Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace to men of good will; and in his days righteousness arose, and abundance of peace. (Verses 5, 6.) O house of Jacob, come ye, and let us walk in the light of the Lord: for thou hast cast off thy people, the house of Jacob.

After the calling of the nations, and the showing of the mountain of the Lord upon the top of the mountains, the Prophet turns to his own people, that is, the people of the Jews, who are called the house of Jacob, and exhorts them, that they who dwell in the darkness of error may receive the light of truth, and walk in the light of the Lord. And in a certain way he sings that saying of David: Come unto him, and be enlightened: and your faces shall not be confounded. For everyone that doth evil hateth the light, and cometh not to the light, lest his deeds should be reproved. But you, O house of Jacob, house of my people, come with me, and let us walk together in the light of the Lord: let us receive the Gospel of Christ, let us be enlightened by him who says: I am the light of the world.

And when he had said this to the people of the Jews, seeing their impenitent heart, and their soul most hardened by unbelief, he makes an apostrophe to the Lord, and says: Therefore I exhort them to come to thee, and to enjoy thy light together with me, because, on account of the merit of their sins, thou hast forsaken thy people, once the house of Jacob. (Verse 7.) Because they are filled as of old, and have had soothsayers, as the Philistines. For "Philistines" the LXX have always translated "foreigners," a common name for a proper one, which is today the people of the Palestinians, as it were Philistinians, because the Hebrew tongue has no letter P; but for it the Greek uses PHI. Whence that which is said in the Psalms, in the enumeration of the other nations: The foreigners are subject unto me, does not signify all foreign nations, but properly the Palestinians.

And he gives the reasons why God cast off his people, the house of Jacob: because, he says, they were filled, as they were in the beginning, with soothsayers, and omens, and all the filth of idolatry. That omens and auguries are not to be regarded, we know from the writing of Moses, which the nations had, whom the Lord cast out from before the face of Israel, the Canaanites, the Amorites, and the Hittites. This passage the expositors of the Church explain variously. For some wish it to signify that, the people of the Jews being cast off, the Roman army entered the land once of promise; and the Jews being cast out, foreigners dwelt in Judaea, who are inhabitants from the whole world of various nations, brought in by Titus, and Vespasian, and Hadrian, and the other emperors. But others think that this does not pertain to Roman times, but to earlier ones, before they were laid waste by the Babylonians, which is narrated to have happened under impious kings, and they were forsaken by the Lord.

And they have joined hands with the children of strangers. For which the LXX translated: And many alien children were born to them. Symmachus: and with alien children they applauded. For which it is written in the Hebrew JESPHICU (ישפיקו), which the Hebrews interpret ἐσμηνώθησαν, and we have translated "have joined," that the turpitude of vices in the Jewish nation might be shown. And to such a degree did the Greeks and the Romans once labor under this vice, that even the most illustrious of the philosophers of Greece kept concubines publicly: and Hadrian, learned in the arts of philosophy, consecrated Antinous as a god, and instituted a temple and sacrifices and priests for him, and from him a city and region of Egypt took its name. Also among the prostitutes in the vaults of the theaters, boys stood exposed to public lust: until, under the emperor Constantine, the Gospel of Christ shining forth, both the infidelity of all nations and this turpitude were destroyed.

Furthermore, the LXX signify that their wives were violated, in that they begot alien children for the Jews. Symmachus, by a certain circumlocution and decent speech of "applauding," showed the same turpitude as with the boys. (Verse 8.) And their land is filled with silver and gold, and there is no end of their treasures. Among the other vices of the land of the house of Jacob, the multitude of gold and silver is also numbered. Among omens and soothsayers, horses and chariots, which God forbade to be multiplied to the kings of Israel: among idols, which are the works of men's hands, avarice is condemned. Whence the Lord commanded in the Gospel, that we should not lay up for ourselves treasures on earth, and that we should not make treasures, from which a thief might steal, adding at the end: Ye cannot serve God and mammon. But that clause of the verse: The covetous man is always in want, the Prophet beautifully signified in other words, saying: And there is no end of his treasures.

Not that treasures have no end, but that the mind of those possessing them is not filled. But both nations, of the Jews and of the Romans, are censured for avarice by these words. This histories also relate, both Greek and Latin, that no nation is more avaricious than that of the Jews and the Romans. Whence also the law of extortion was established, and daily we see that saying of the Apostle fulfilled: Thou that preachest a man should not steal, dost thou steal? The judge, more thievish, hears and condemns the thief, pronouncing sentence upon himself in another.

And his land is filled with horses, and his chariots are innumerable. For that which is possessed against the command of God is not worthy of being counted. Hence it is also said in the Psalms: A horse is a vain thing for safety. And in Exodus: Horse and rider he has thrown into the sea. And in another psalm: These in chariots, and these in horses; but we will call upon the name of the Lord our God. Now both may be understood: that the people of the Jews multiplied for themselves horses and chariots against the precept of God, and that the land of Judaea was filled with the horses and chariots of the conquerors. Verse 9. And his land is filled with idols; they have adored the work of their own hands, which their fingers have made, and man has bowed himself down, and man has been humbled. Where once the Temple and the worship of God had been, there was set up the statue of Hadrian and the idol of Jupiter.

Many interpret this in reference to that testimony which we read in the Gospel: But when you shall see the abomination of desolation standing in the holy place. And they have bowed down before the work of their own hands; and man, a rational animal, has adored bronze and stone. There are, however, those who interpret these things of the Jews, that before they were taken captive by the Babylonians they had done all these things, and therefore were forsaken by God. Whence also at the end of the chapter it is set down: Therefore forgive them not.

We can also say this according to anagoge, that every doctrine contrary to truth adores the works of its own hands, and sets up idols in its own land, and man is bowed down, and man is humbled, and cannot raise himself up; because he is bound by the devil, unless the Lord shall raise him up, after the example of that woman whom Satan had bound for eighteen years, so that she could never look at heaven, but always at the earth. Therefore forgive them not. For which the Seventy have translated: And I will not forgive them. If God is speaking, it must be understood thus: Because they have done such things, I will not spare them, nor will I forgive so many innumerable sins. If the Prophet is speaking, it is to be understood thus: therefore forgive them not, who have committed such crimes. But if we understand this of the Romans, the interpretation is truer: who, overthrowing the temple of God, did not adore Him who granted the victory, but the idols of their own hands.

But if it is understood of the Jews, it is a harsh sentence of the Prophet, so that he seems to pray against his own people, to whom he had said above: House of Jacob, come, and let us walk in the light of the Lord. Verse 10. Enter into the rock, hide yourself in a pit dug in the earth from before the fear of the Lord, and from the glory of his majesty. I indeed have exhorted the people, saying, House of Jacob, come, and let us walk in the light of the Lord.

But because the Lord has cast off the people of Jacob—and He cast them off because they either did or suffered the things which we have explained above—therefore I foretell to you the evils that are to come, and I exhort you to enter into the rocks, and to hide yourselves in caves, from before the Babylonian or Roman army, when all things shall be laid waste, according to that which we read in the Gospel: Then shall they say to the mountains, Fall on us; and to the rocks, Hide us. But according to anagoge, we are commanded, from before the Lord's majesty, to take up the strength of the rock, of which it is said: The rock is a refuge for the hares; and, Thou hast exalted me upon a rock. Moses too is placed in a cleft of the rock, that he might see the hinder parts of God. And, The people drank of the spiritual rock that followed them.

And he who enters his chamber, and shuts the door and worships the Father, is hidden in the rock, so that, though placed in an earthly body, he may not feel the passing storm of the world.

Verse 11. The lofty eyes of man have been humbled, and the haughtiness of men shall be bowed down; and the Lord alone shall be exalted in that day. When enemies shall come, and the Babylonian or Roman sword shall have laid waste the whole province, and the ranks of warriors shall have surrounded Jerusalem: then neither riches, nor nobility of birth, nor the power of dignities will be able to defend anyone; but there will be one captivity for all, and God alone will be exalted, whose wrath no one will be able to escape. Many understand these things of the day of judgment, that every creature, in comparison with the divine glory, shall be humbled and bowed down, and shall perceive itself to be nothing. Verse 12. For the day of the Lord of hosts shall come upon every proud and lofty one, and upon every one that is arrogant. And these things are joined to what precedes.

In that day, he says, in which the Lord alone shall be exalted, that is, in the day of the Lord's vengeance, all the lofty and arrogant and exalted shall be subject to captivity and the sword. Now the speech is metaphorical concerning the great and the princes: that the more they have been proud, the more they shall be brought low. For God resists the proud, and gives grace to the humble. Those who understand this of the day of judgment think that the proud and lofty and exalted and arrogant one spoken of is the devil. Who, boasting, says: I will set my throne above the stars of heaven; I will sit upon the mount of the congregation, in the sides of the north; I will ascend above the clouds; I will be like the Most High: when out of the mouth of infants and sucklings praise shall be perfected, that the enemy and the avenger may be destroyed. Verse 13.

And upon all the cedars of Lebanon that are high and lifted up, and upon all the oaks of Bashan. And in the twenty-eighth psalm it is sung: The voice of the Lord breaking the cedars: the Lord shall break the cedars of Lebanon, and shall reduce them to pieces, like a calf of Lebanon. And in the thirty-sixth psalm: I have seen the wicked highly exalted, and lifted up like the cedars of Lebanon; and I passed by, and lo, he was not; and I sought him, and his place was not found. The oaks of Bashan also, which Aquila translated δρύας, Symmachus and Theodotion βαλάνους, we know to be acorn-bearing, which, even if they bear fruit, are food for swine, not for men. Bashan is a region of Arabia, over which Og, king of Bashan, ruled, and it is interpreted αἰσχύνη, that is, shame, which, if we wish to translate it as "confusion," signifies rather σύγχυσιν, that is, Babylon, than Bashan.

Therefore upon all who are lifted up in pride, and do works of shame, and wallow in the mire of lusts, the vengeance of the Lord shall arise. But if a careful reader should ask why cedar wood was placed in the temple of the Lord, and why we read in the hundred and third psalm, according to the Hebrew truth, The trees of the Lord shall be filled, and the cedars of Lebanon which thou hast planted; there the sparrows will make their nests; and why, among other trees, even the cedars are summoned to the praises of the Lord; and why, at the coming of the Saviour, when all trees and the wood of the field shall clap their branches, it is written: I will plant in the waterless land the cedar and the box tree, and the cypress and the pine (according to the Seventy): and yet now the prophetic word threatens the day of the Lord upon the cedars of Lebanon?

This must be said, that from the same kind of men, some are exalted to the kingdom, others are dragged down to punishment; and the cedars of Lebanon, which shall be broken for their pride, are also chosen, since they are of good odor, and can say with the Apostle: We are the good odor of Christ.

Verse 14. And upon all the high mountains, and upon all the hills that are lifted up. As, in a good sense, mountains and hills are named according to the variety of virtues, so also among the wicked, according to the diversity of vices and of the greatest pride, some are mountains, others hills, upon whom the day of the Lord shall come, of whom it is written in Ezekiel: Thus says the Lord Adonai to the mountains and the hills: behold, I will bring a sword upon you, and your high places shall be destroyed, and your altars shall be broken, and so forth.

Verse 15. And upon every high tower, and upon every fortified wall. Those who refer these things to the times of Vespasian and Hadrian say that what is written was fulfilled bodily, in that neither a lofty tower, nor the strongest wall, nor any multitude of ships, nor the industry of commerce, could prevail against the force of the Roman army; but that the inhabitants of Judaea came to such terror that they themselves, with their wives and children, together with the gold and silver which they thought would be of help to them, plunged themselves into pits in the earth, and sought out the deepest caverns. For if the belly of the gluttonous and luxurious is called their god, why should not gold and silver be called the god of the miser? Others refer these things to the times of Babylon. Therefore, according to the rules of tropology, I will run through each point. A tower is built either for the defense of a city, or as a watchtower, so that an enemy coming from afar may be seen.

Each one of us, then, ought to build a tower, having first reckoned the cost, lest, according to the Gospel parable, when he is unable to finish the work, he be mocked. This tower, well built, endures. But if, built up in pride, it does not have firm foundations, it will fall upon him by whom it was built: as did that tower in Siloam, which killed eighteen men. Whence also the Lord speaks to those who heard him: And you, unless you do penance, shall likewise perish. In what follows we shall also read that the Lord built a tower in his vineyard, and made a winepress, and put a hedge around it, but all these things were destroyed and laid waste, because they had swelled with the vain arrogance of pride. Walls too are built high, lest the city be quickly destroyed, lest it lie open to enemies, because the Churches are surrounded by most wise men, and are strengthened by every reasoning, lest any perverse doctrine prevail against the truth.

Of walls of this kind God speaks to Jerusalem: Behold, I have painted your walls upon my hands, and they are always before my eyes (below, xlv, 16, according to the Seventy). But if those who had formerly assaulted the Church, having come to know the truth, should pass over to the faith, and should fight for that which before they had assaulted, then that shall be fulfilled: You shall quickly be built up by those by whom you were destroyed. In Leviticus also we read that a house which is in a walled city, if it is not redeemed within a year, is confirmed to the buyer as an everlasting possession; but if it is in villages and hamlets which have no walls, it can always be redeemed, and the buyer's price is uncertain.

Verse 16. And upon all the ships of Tarshish, and upon all that is fair to behold. For "Tarshish," which all the others translated in like manner, only the Seventy have translated as "sea." The Hebrews think that, in their own proper tongue, the sea is called THARSIS (תרשיש), but that when it is called JAM (ים), it is called not in the Hebrew tongue, but in the Syriac. Jehoshaphat also had ships, which he sent to Tarshish, but they were wrecked at Ezion-geber. Solomon too had ships that went to Tarshish, and returned after three years, bringing to the king silver and gold, ivory and apes.

But because each king had sinned—the one given to pleasure, and loving the women of foreign nations; the other allying himself with the king of Samaria—both of which things are referred to the pagans and heretics, in whom there is nothing else but the glitter of eloquence, and a meaning constructed by diabolical art, and dead speech (which is signified by "ivory teeth"), and a likeness of human reason (which is perceived in apes); therefore we read in the Psalms, With a vehement wind thou shalt break the ships of Tarshish. And of these ships the same Isaiah speaks: Woe to the wings of the ships, which are beyond Ethiopia (below, chap. Xviii, 1, according to the Seventy). But there are also, on the contrary, good ships, of which it is said in the same psalms: They that go down to the sea in ships, and do business in the great waters. These have seen the works of the Lord, and his wonders in the deep.

For those who are not idle in the waves of this world, but labor, and carry the merchandise of the Lord, and hasten to come to the harbor of rest, these see the works of the Lord, and his wonders in the deep, when they have come to a deep knowledge, and, searching all things, that is, have beheld even the deep things of God and his wonders. Josephus thinks that Tarshish is the city Tarsus in Cilicia; others think it a region of India, and that by this name, among the twelve gems, that stone is also called which among us is named Chrysolite, on account of its resemblance to the color of the sea. It is better, however, to understand Tarshish simply as "sea" or "the deep." For Jonah, sailing from Joppa, could not have reached India, to which one cannot sail by that sea; but simply he went out to sea, and to whatever islands he might come.

And what follows: And upon all that is fair to behold; or, as the Seventy translated, And upon every fair appearance of ships, is to be understood in the same sense, that whatever seems beautiful in words, and constructed by human reasoning, shall be destroyed in the day of the Lord, if it raises itself up against the knowledge of God. (Verse 18.) And the loftiness of men shall be bowed down, and the height of men shall be humbled, and the Lord alone shall be exalted in that day, and the idols shall be utterly broken to pieces. Human speech seems to have reason for so long as it has not been compared with divine knowledge.

But when falsehood approaches truth, as stubble approaches fire, it is quickly consumed and perishes, and all the dogmas of falsity, which are now called idols, shall be utterly broken to pieces, from the fact that they are feigned and fabricated. (Verse 19.) In that day a man shall cast away his idols of silver, and the images of his gold, which he had made for himself, that he might worship them, to the moles and to the bats, and he shall enter into the clefts of the rocks, and into the caverns of the stones, from before the fear of the Lord, and from the glory of his majesty: when he shall arise to strike the earth.

We have often said that silver and gold are taken for speech and understanding, which, since they were given to men by God, that they might either speak of God or understand him, and praise their creator, men abuse this gift for the making of idols; according to that which is written: I gave them silver and gold; but they made Baal of my silver and gold. Therefore when someone, terrified by fear of the Lord, has first hidden idols in the cave of his own breast, and concealed them in the pits of the earth, not daring to bring forth what he had wickedly formed: he has advanced to a second stage, so that he now casts away what he had previously carved, and no longer allows it to remain within himself. For "moles," which we have translated so, the Septuagint has "vain things," Aquila ὀρυκτά, Symmachus "unfruitful things," Theodotion put the Hebrew word itself, PHARPHAROTH (פרפרות).

Now this is an animal without eyes, which always digs the earth and casts up soil, and eating roots beneath, is harmful to crops: which the Greeks call ἀσπάλαξ. The bat, moreover, is a nocturnal bird, which has received a fitting name from them, νυκτερίς, because it flies about at night; it is a small animal, similar to mice, resounding not so much with voice and song as with a shrill cry: which, though it seems to fly, shuns the light, and cannot bear to see the sun. To such creatures the idols are compared, which are worshipped by the blind and in darkness. By the blind: and all dogmas contrary to truth.

When these have been abandoned in the day of the Lord, those who have cast them away shall enter into the clefts of the rocks and the caverns of the stones, so that they may dwell not in the dust of the earth and vile mud, but in firm reason, and may find for themselves various openings of the virtues, through which they may be able to arrive at truth. These things I have touched upon briefly according to the anagogical sense, as I was able, which the Hebrews refer to the times of Babylon and the overthrow of Jerusalem, when the Lord arose to strike the land of the Jews. (Verse 20.) Cease ye therefore from man, whose spirit is in his nostrils: for he himself has been reckoned exalted. This the Septuagint omitted, and in the Greek copies it has been added by Origen under asterisks from the edition of Aquila, which in the Hebrew reads thus: Hedalu lachem men aadam aser nasama baaphpho chi bama nesae hu.

Where we have said, "he himself has been reckoned exalted," Aquila translated, "in whom he has been reckoned, that one." The Hebrew word BAMA (במה) is also called ὕψωμα, that is, "a height," which we also read in the books of Kings and in Ezekiel: or certainly "in whom," and it is written with the same letters, BETH, MEM, HE: and according to the character of the passages, if we wish to read "in whom," we say BAMMA; but if otherwise, "height" or "exalted," we read BAMA. The Jews, therefore, understanding that the prophecy was about Christ, interpreted the ambiguous word in the worse sense, so that they might seem not to praise Christ, but to count him as nothing.

For what consistency of words is there, and what order of reason and sense, that we should say: Since these things are so, and the day of the Lord is coming, in which the whole state of Judea is to be overthrown, and all things are to be crushed: I warn and command you to cease from the man who so breathes and lives as we men do, because he is to be reckoned as nothing? Would any man so praise someone as to say: Beware lest you offend him, who is altogether nothing? Therefore, on the contrary, it must be understood thus: Since all these things are to come upon you, and are foretold by the prophetic spirit, I warn and command that you cease from him who, according to the flesh indeed, is man, and has a soul, and so breathes, and draws breath through his nostrils, as we men breathe and live: but according to divine majesty is exalted, and is reckoned and believed to be so.

Pondering this silently in my mind, I cannot find the reason why the Septuagint were unwilling to translate into Greek so clear a prophecy about Christ. As for the others, who indeed translated, but drew the ambiguous expression to a sense of impiety, it is no wonder that they interpreted it badly, nor wished to say anything glorious about Christ, in whom they did not believe: namely the Jews, or the half-Jews, that is, the Ebionites. But that Christ is exalted, or most high, who among the Hebrews is called by another word, ELION (עליון), we read in the eighty-sixth psalm: Shall not man say of Sion, and a man is born in her; and the Most High himself has founded her? And in the Gospel: And thou, child, shalt be called the prophet of the Most High.

And lest I draw out a long thread (for in the exposition of the sacred Scriptures we ought to follow truth, not contention), in this passage BAMA among the Hebrews is not said as "exalted one," but "exaltedness," that is, the very height and sublimity itself: as if we should say of someone, not "he is divine," but "divinity"; not "he is a stream," but "a spring"; not "he is a man," but "humanity itself." Origen interpreted this passage thus: Since it is said in the singular of one man, it can be referred to the Lord Savior: the Prophet bidding them cease from him who has been reckoned as something great, although for the present he seems to be a man, and to have breath in his nostrils, as other men also breathe.

Having finished the first volume on Isaiah, which I dictated in a hasty style, as I was able, not as I wished—seeking rather the sense of the Scriptures than the words of a composed oration—I now pass on to the second; and whatever strength is in me, and readiness of will toward the Lord, I offer to him who spoke through the Prophet: I have multiplied visions, and by the hands of the prophets I have been likened. Wherefore I beg you, virgin of Christ, Eustochium, that as we strive in the explanation of the Scriptures, you, together with Moses, may raise your hands to the Lord: so that we, having gone out of Egypt, having crossed the Red Sea, may overcome Amalek, whose name is interpreted "devouring and licking away"; and may be able to say with you: Blessed be the Lord my God, who teaches my hands to war, and my fingers to fight.

(Verse 1.) For behold the Lord, the ruler, of hosts, will take away from Jerusalem, and from Judah, the strong and the mighty man: all the strength of bread, and all the strength of water. Up to this point it is thought to be said concerning judgment. What follows concerns the coming captivity, which some refer to the Babylonians, others to the Romans. But it is better, as we have said above, that all things be referred to the Lord's Passion. For indeed, after his slaying, all graces and gifts were taken away from the Jews: according to what is written in the Gospel: The Law and the Prophets were until John the Baptist.

And the order is this: Since you were unwilling to cease from the man whose spirit is in his nostrils, who was reckoned exalted: but on the contrary you shed the blood of the just one, and devised a most wicked counsel, saying: Let us bind the just man, for he is useless to us; therefore you shall eat the fruit of your own devisings. Nothing among the Jews is strong after the Lord's Passion, nothing is mighty: but all things are weak and languishing. Nor can anyone among them say: I can do all things in him who strengthens me, Christ Jesus our Lord. And because according to the Septuagint we read "strong" (masculine) and "strong" (feminine), we can fit the masculine to this: Until we all meet in a perfect man, unto the measure of the age of the fullness of Christ. And the feminine to this: I wish, he says, to present all of you as a chaste virgin to Christ.

Now the "strength of bread," and the "strength of water," is taken for all food and drink. We read that Moses was on Mount Sinai, and for forty days ate no bread and drank no water. That too which is said to Adam should be heard likewise: In the sweat of your face you shall eat your bread, until you return to the earth from which you were taken. And also what is said by the Savior: Man does not live by bread alone, but by every word that proceeds through the mouth of God. The strength of bread, therefore, shall be taken away from them—from him who says: I am the living bread, who came down from heaven. And the strength of water, of which the same Lord spoke: Whoever drinks of this water shall thirst again: but whoever drinks of the water that I shall give him, shall not thirst forever: but the water that I shall give him shall become in him a fountain of water springing up into eternal life.

Of such breads we also read in Proverbs: Open your eyes, and be filled with breads. The Jews have bread, but without strength; they have waters, but without vigor. For they read the Scriptures, but do not understand; they hold the parchments, and have lost Christ, who is written upon the parchments. For they are nourished with milk, like little children, and not with solid food. And because they have lost strength, and are weak, therefore they eat herbs. But the solid food is for athletes, which both sustains human life, and gives strength to the living. Concerning such bread and water, that they are taken away from the Jews, another prophet also testifies, saying: Behold the days shall come, says the Lord, and I will send a famine upon the land: not a famine of bread, nor a thirst of water, but a famine of hearing the words of the Lord. (Verse 2.) The strong man and the man of war, the judge and the prophet, and the diviner, and the elder.

For "strong," which alone is in the Hebrew, the Seventy translated two words together, giant and strong, wishing the giant to be the same as the strong man. Of the strong man it has been said above. But "giant" is taken in a good sense, that is, of the Lord the Saviour, in the eighteenth psalm we read: He rejoiced as a giant to run his way: his going out is from the highest heaven, and his meeting even to the height thereof. But if we read of Nemrod the giant, who was a hunter before the Lord, and the giants, on account of whom the flood came upon the earth, these are to be taken in the contrary sense. The man of war also, according to the history, we understand thus, that they have been taken captive, and even to this day serve, and have not laid down the yoke of servitude.

But that they may not even have judges of their own, but be subject to Roman judges: so much so that concerning their princes, who seem to be among the people, Roman princes give judgment. But this too must be said, that there is among them no warrior in the law, having the skill of judging: but all things are vain, and fleeting, and full of folly. Concerning the prophet, moreover, that it has ceased to exist among them, no one doubts. We inquire, following the Hebrew, how we should translate "hariolus" diviner, which all have rendered as "divinus" soothsayer: except the Seventy, who for this rendered "conjector" interpreter of omens. And it must be said that often the future is told even through diviners, as we read concerning the diviner Balaam, and concerning the diviners of the five cities of Palestine, Gaza and Ascalon, Gath, and Accaron, and Azotus, who gave counsel how the ark of the Lord should be sent back. And the sense is: Both true and false things alike shall be taken away from the Jews.

The elder also, whom the Seventy translated as "presbyter," he understands to be taken away from the Jews, who knew that in the holy Scriptures presbyters are chosen by merit and wisdom, not by age. For elders have not ceased to exist among the Jews, whom we often see coming even to decrepit old age. And we read, according to Theodotion, of two elders "grown old in evil days," at the beginning of Daniel. For Moses too was commanded to choose elders, whom he knew to be elders. And the apostle Paul writes most fully to Timothy what sort of man ought to be chosen as an elder. Whence also it is said in Proverbs: The glory of old men is grey hair. What is this grey hair? Doubtless wisdom, of which it is written: The grey hair of men is prudence. And though we read that men lived nine hundred years and more from Adam to Abraham, no one else before was called presbyter, that is, elder, except Abraham, who is shown to have lived far fewer years.

Whence also John writes, after boys and young men, even to elders, saying: I have written to you, fathers, because you have known him who is from the beginning. And Roboam the son of Solomon lost his kingdom for this reason, because he was unwilling to hear the elders. (Verse 3.) The captain over fifty. Συνεκδοχικῶς by synecdoche, the whole from a part. For just as those who command a hundred soldiers are called centurions, and those who command a thousand, whom we call tribunes, from their commanding a tribe, are called chiliarchs: so in the Israelite army those who were at the head of fifty soldiers were called "quinquagenarii" captains of fifty. Whence also we speak of "decani," who are set over ten men. Nor is it any wonder if among the Jews all the dignity of warriors has perished, since they have no power of serving under the sword, or of bearing arms.

But because the number fifty is always referred to repentance, and Christ is the prince of repentance, and the head of those who are saved through repentance, let us briefly unfold the mysteries of this number. We read in Genesis, when Abraham was speaking to the Lord, that he first said the city would be saved if fifty just men were found in it. And of the seven weeks in Numbers, that is, the most celebrated festival of Pentecost. The Jubilee too, that is, the year of remission, which is woven of seven weeks of years, that is, forty-nine years, in which the trumpets sound, and to all their ancient possession returns, contains this mystery. Whence also David writes a psalm of repentance under the number fifty. We read too in the same book of Numbers, that of the prey and the spoils, the priests received the fiftieth part, both of men and of cattle, and the Levites who guarded the doors of the tabernacle received the fiftieth.

That parable of the Gospel also, in which two debtors are spoken of, one who owed five hundred denarii, and the other fifty, is referred to this understanding. Whence also the Apostle, writing to the Ephesians, to whom he had unfolded each mystical thing, wishes to remain until Pentecost, until they are perfectly converted to the Lord, saying: For a great door and evident is opened to me, but there are many adversaries. The devil also imitates the Israelite army, concerning which Jethro had given counsel to Moses according to his own kin, that he should set over the people tribunes and centurions and captains of fifty. Whence the impious king sends two captains of fifty with the soldiers subject to them, to bring forth Elijah: who were consumed by divine fire. But the third of them is saved, who, turning to prayers, had come to know the mysteries of repentance.

Whence also the Jews, unwilling that the Lord should be perfect, nor a captain of fifty, say to him: Thou art not yet fifty years old, and hast thou seen Abraham? And he, knowing himself to be the prince not only of penitents, but also of the just, answered: Before Abraham was, I am. But that the Lord is the Prince of Fifty, we may understand from one festival, concerning which he says: The Lord of the Sabbath is the Son of man. But if of the Sabbath, then also of the Kalends. If of the Kalends, then also of the Passover, that is, of the Unleavened Bread. If of the Passover, then also of the Jubilee. If of the Jubilee, then also of the Tabernacles. If of the Tabernacles, then also of Pentecost, which is referred to the number fifty. And the honourable in countenance, and the counsellor. For these two, that is, honourable in countenance, and counsellor, the Seventy translated as one: the admirable man, the counsellor.

Among the other graces, the Lord will also take this away from Judea, that they have no counsellor: but do all things without counsel. And there is that praiseworthy and admirable saying of the Greek poets: that the first blessed man is he who is wise of himself; the second, he who hears the wise man. But he who lacks both is useless, both to himself and to all others. Whence also we read this in our own books: Let there be many friends to thee, but one counsellor of a thousand. And again: Do all things with counsel: and prudence shall give thee an admirable counsellor. The Senate too is so called from "consulere" to take counsel, and the ancient Roman princes were called consuls, either from taking counsel for the citizens, or from ruling all things by counsel. And we too have our senate in the Church, the assembly of presbyters. Since, then, among other things Judea has also lost its elders, how shall it be able to have counsel, which properly belongs to elders?

And the wise architect. For which Aquila translated "the most skilled of craftsmen," to show that they once had more craftsmen: such as was that Bezaleel, son of Uri, son of Ur, of the tribe of Judah, whom God filled with the spirit of wisdom, and understanding, and skill, so that he was a most perfect craftsman in every work, not only in gold and silver, but also in bronze, and the other things which Moses enumerates, who built the Tabernacle of God. Since they, then, were losing their architects, all the grace of building was transferred to the Church. Whence the apostle Paul says: As a wise architect I have laid the foundation. And Jeremiah was an architect, who not only rooted up, and dug down, and destroyed, but also built. Whence the same Apostle says: We are God's husbandry, God's building. Our Lord too is called the builder of the wall. And in the Gospel the son of the carpenter is derided, who established all things.

In the book of Kings too we read that King Solomon sent and brought Hiram of Tyre, the son of a widow woman, who was of the tribe of Naphtali, and had a Tyrian father, a craftsman in bronze. And he came in to the king, and did all the works for King Solomon: in which there is a type of the building of the Church, which was begotten not only of the tribe of Judah, but also of Naphtali, and of a Tyrian father, having had a widowed mother; because she had lost her former husband. And more are the children of the desolate than of her that has a husband. But also in the book of Chronicles we read of the valley of craftsmen: "And Saraiah begot Joab, the father of the valley of craftsmen: for there were craftsmen there" (1 Chron. Iv, 14).

And they are said to dwell in the valley for this reason, that knowledge did not puff them up, but they followed the humble and gentle Jesus, and could say with the Apostle: For I am the least of the apostles, who am not worthy to be called an apostle. And elsewhere: We know in part, and we prophesy in part, and now we see through a glass in a riddle. And the prudent one of mystic speech. For which the Seventy translated "prudent hearer"; Theodotion, "prudent enchanter"; Aquila, "prudent whisperer"; Symmachus, "prudent one of mystic speech," whom we too have followed in this passage. It must first be said, according to the Seventy, that among the other spiritual graces, a prudent hearer also is necessary in the Church. For to one is given prophecy: to another the discernment of spirits. Whence there were also established among the people of the Jews priestly ranks, whose task was to discern prophets from false prophets: that is, to understand who spoke from the Spirit of God, and who from the contrary spirit.

Let us read Jeremiah. "But the prudent one of mystic speech", or whisperer, and as Theodotion would have it, enchanter, seems to me to be a man learned and practiced both in the Law and the Prophets, and in the Gospel and the Apostles, who is able to heal each disturbance of the soul by his teaching, and bring it back to a settled state of mind: so that the fornicator receives chastity, and the glutton frugality, and one who was once avaricious gives alms. Search out all the synagogues of the Jews, and you will not be able to find a teacher who commands holy things, and, having despised riches, teaches that poverty is to be pursued. Of enchanters of this sort against serpents and asps, that is, against sinners, who have abandoned the justice of God, David spoke in the Psalm: "The wicked are estranged from the womb: they have gone astray from the belly, they have spoken falsehoods.

Their fury is according to the likeness of a serpent: like the deaf asp that stops her ears, which does not hear the voice of enchanters, and of the sorcerer skillfully casting spells". All the speech of the Apostle against serpents and asps is an enchantment, which sinners and heretics do not hear, because they stop their ears, lest they hear the truth. (v. 4.) And I will give boys as their princes. If this is spoken from the person of the Prophet: "For behold the Lord, the Ruler of hosts, will take away from Jerusalem and from Judah the strong man and the strong woman: all strength of bread, and all strength of water," and so on: how does the same prophet now speak: "I will give boys as their princes, and effeminate ones shall rule over them"?

Therefore, according to the prophetic custom, while the Prophet is speaking, God suddenly speaks through the Prophet in his own person, and says: "I will give boys as their princes"; for, those things being taken away which I had before given, and which, being angry, I took away as if they were good things, now on the contrary I will give evil ones. I took away the old man and the man of fifty years, and the admirable counselor, and the wise architect and the prudent hearer. Instead of these I will give boys as princes. For those who have lost the presbyter, such as the preceding discourse showed, such as Abraham also was first called a presbyter, rightly receive young men as princes. Of whom we also read in Ecclesiastes: "Woe to you, O city, whose king is a youth, and whose princes eat in the morning. Blessed is the land whose king is the son of nobles". Such was the young king Rehoboam, son of Solomon, who followed the counsels of the young men.

Not that he was young in age, but in wisdom. Otherwise he is recorded to have received the kingdom at forty years and more. And on the contrary, Solomon was twelve years old when he took up the government, and because he had wisdom, he was therefore not called a youth. For there was in him breadth of heart, and an amplitude of wisdom as great as the sand on the seashores. Whence also the Apostle writes to Timothy: Let no man despise your youth. For he who is young in age is old in maturity. And Daniel, according to Theodotion, before he judged, was called a boy. But after God had stirred up in him His spirit, and he had judged the elders, he received the dignity of the presbyterate.

To Jeremiah too, who had said to the Lord sending him, "Who art thou, O Ruler, O Lord: behold I know not how to speak, for I am a youth", the Lord answered, "Do not say, I am a youth; for before I formed you in the womb, I knew you, and before you came out of your mother's womb, I sanctified you, and appointed you a prophet to the nations." For this reason, I think, young widows also are commanded by the Apostle to take husbands, and be mothers of families, and bring up their children, because many have already gone back after Satan. And when they have grown wanton against Christ, they wish to marry, incurring condemnation, because they have made void their first faith. Nor is a widow supported with the Church's provisions, unless she is sixty years old, and has maturity of character equally with age.

One might think that also what the Apostle forbids, that a neophyte be made bishop, pertains to this, because he is a little one in the faith, lest, being lifted up into pride, he fall into the judgment of the devil. But the judgment of the devil is nothing other than pride, on account of which he fell from the heavens. Whence also the Savior says: "I was watching Satan fall like lightning from heaven". And effeminates shall rule over them. For which in the Hebrew is written THALULIM (תעלולים), which the Seventy and Theodotion have translated as "mockers," Aquila as ἐναλλάκτας, those who change themselves, and practice the alternations of shamefulness. Such as we read of in the book of Judges, concerning the concubine of the Levite in Gibeah. Let us consider the patriarchs of the Jews, and the young men or boys, effeminate and overflowing with delights, and we shall discern that the prophecy has been fulfilled.

We may also call mockers the teachers of the people of Israel, who devour the people of God as they eat bread, and who wrongly interpret the sacred Scriptures, and mock the foolishness of their disciples. (v. 5.) And the people shall fall, man against man, each one against his neighbor: the boy shall rise up tumultuously against the old man, and the base against the noble. When young men shall be princes, and mockers of the Lord, such as the prophetic word describes, then no order will be preserved, either of dignity, or of age, or of knowledge; but boys will rebel against the old, and the ignoble against the noble, and they will mutually fall; and that saying of the Apostle will be fulfilled: "Biting one another, you have been consumed by one another".

Josephus writes that these things happened to the people of the Jews under Titus, son of Vespasian: and that, when they were being stormed by the Romans, sedition divided Jerusalem into three parts: some holding the citadel and the Temple, others the lower part of the city, and others the upper part. (v. 6.) For a man shall take hold of his brother, one of his father's household. You have a garment, be our prince; and let this ruin be under your hand. Instead of "ruin," Symmachus and Theodotion translated "weakness." The Seventy, "food." It signifies the scarcity of men, and above all the want of all things, so that whoever has food and clothing is believed to be powerful, and rich, and famous. But what it says according to the Hebrew: "and let this ruin be under your hand," has this sense: Let our misery and calamity be sustained and protected by your help.

And this must be noted, that individuals choose individual princes for themselves, and that in the choosing of princes there is sedition, while some think others worthy of the principate. Nor do they say to them, your possessions, and riches, and revenues will be able to sustain us, but this our weakness, or my food, shall be healed and shall hang upon your judgment. (v. 7.) And he shall answer in that day, saying, I am not a physician, and in my house there is neither bread nor clothing; do not make me a prince of the people. Instead of "physician," Symmachus and the Seventy translated "prince": Theodotion, ὁ ἐπιδεσμεύοντα, one who binds up wounds, and provides for health. "He shall answer" is not in the Hebrew, but was added from the Seventy. For in the Hebrew it is joined to what was written above thus: "In that day he shall say, I am not a physician," and so forth. And he shall say this who has been chosen prince.

And just as the people, understanding him whom they choose to be wealthier than themselves in comparison, desire to have him as prince, so he who is chosen, considering his own poverty and weakness, testifies that he is unworthy of the honor conferred, and unable to heal vices, that is, to cure the sick, to give food to the hungry, to clothe the naked, he who is scarcely able to sustain himself. Therefore let us not immediately acquiesce in the judgment of the multitude, but, being chosen into the principate, let us know our own measure, and let us humble ourselves under the mighty hand of God: because God resists the proud, and gives grace to the humble.

How many, not having bread and clothing, though they themselves hunger and are naked, and have no spiritual food, nor have kept the tunic of Christ whole, yet promise both nourishment and clothing to others, and, full of wounds, boast that they are physicians: and do not keep that saying of Moses: "Provide another whom you may send"; and that other commandment: "Do not seek to become a judge, lest perhaps you be not able to take away iniquities". Jesus alone heals all languors and infirmities, of whom it is written: "Who heals the brokenhearted, and binds up their wounds". (v. 8, 9.) For Jerusalem is ruined, and Judah is fallen: because their tongue, and their devices, are against the Lord, to provoke the eyes of his majesty. The knowledge of their countenance has answered them: and they have proclaimed their sin as Sodom, and have not hidden it. This the Prophet speaks, not, as many suppose, he who had been chosen prince.

And he says that no one wishes to be set over a sinning people for this reason, that both Judah and Jerusalem, and the city, and the province of Judea, or the tribe of Judah, have equally fallen. And he gives the causes of their impiety, that they blasphemed against the Lord, and said: Away with him, away with him, crucify such a one, we have no king but Caesar: and by the fury of their tongue they provoked the most merciful Lord to bitterness. The knowledge of their countenance shall answer them: that is, they have received back their own sins, or as the Seventy translated: "the confusion of their countenance has stood against them": that is, they have always had their own offenses before their eyes. And just as the Sodomites, sinning with full liberty, and having not even any shame in their crime, said to Lot: "Bring out the men, that we may lie with them": so also these, proclaiming publicly, made known their sin, nor had any shame in blaspheming.

For it is the second plank after shipwreck, and a consolation of miseries, to hide one's impiety. Whence they are also called the princes of Sodom, because they had the sins of Sodom.

Verse 10. Woe to their soul: for evils have been rendered unto them. Say ye to the just, that it is well, that they eat the fruit of their inventions. Woe to the wicked unto evil: for the retribution of his hands shall be done to him. According to the Hebrew and the other translators, this has the sense: Woe to them, for they have received back their own crimes. Wherefore you who hear, or who read the book of the Prophet, praise the justice of God, because he has done well: because the wicked have eaten the labors of their own hands. And woe to the wicked people unto evil: for it has received what it deserved. And he who delivered his prince to the Roman power, himself lies subject to Roman servitude.

But according to the LXX interpreters, who said: Woe to their soul: for they have devised a most evil counsel against themselves, saying: Let us bind the just man, for he is unprofitable to us: therefore they shall eat the fruit of their own works—this is clearly said of the passion of Christ, that they entered into a most evil counsel, not so much against the just man, as against themselves and their own soul: and now let them eat the fruit of their own works. For whatsoever a man shall sow, that also shall he reap, and each one shall bear his own burden.

Verse 12. My people, their exactors have spoiled them: and women have ruled over them. For "women," which only Symmachus interpreted, and which in Hebrew are called NASIM (נשים), Aquila and the LXX translated as ἀπαιτοῦντας, which signify exactors; Theodotion, δανειστὰς, that is, moneylenders. Now the prophetic word speaks against the Scribes and Pharisees, who, for the sake of base gain, in order that they might receive tithes and firstfruits, denied the Son of God. And it does not call them teachers, scribes, and doctors, but exactors, who think piety to be a means of gain; and they devour, not according to the Apostle, only the houses of widows, but the whole people; and accusing their luxury and shameful manner of life, it calls them not only exactors, so that they seem to exact money from unwilling people, but also women: because for the sake of lust they do all things, and are given over to pleasures.

Let us therefore also take heed, lest we be exactors among the people; lest, as the impious Porphyry said, matrons and women be our senate, who rule in the churches, and the favor of women decide upon the priestly rank.

Verse 13. My people, they who call thee blessed, the same deceive thee, and destroy, or trouble, the way of thy steps. He had called the Scribes and Pharisees exactors, not teachers; and above, deceivers, who, on account of gifts, which blind the eyes even of the wise, not only did not rebuke sinners among the people, but for the sake of riches and profits extolled them with praises: calling them blessed, and pillars of the house of God, and the other things which flatterers are wont to say. He, therefore, is the teacher of the Church, who moves tears, not laughter, who rebukes sinners, who calls no one blessed, no one happy: nor does he anticipate the sentence of his judge, as sacred Scripture says: Call no man blessed before death. But also in another place we read: He who blesses his friend in the morning with a loud voice does not differ from one who curses.

Wherefore, despising the judgments of men, let us neither be lifted up by their praises, nor be saddened by their detractions: but let us walk in the straight way, and in the paths trodden by the holy prophets; and let us hear the prophet Jeremiah saying: Stand in the ways, and see: and ask for the everlasting paths of the Lord, which is the good way: and walk in it. But if at any time we should err, and, like men, proceed by a perverse path, let us await the promises of the Lord through Ezekiel, saying: I will give them another way, and another heart. But the exactors perverted and troubled the way of the Lord: so that, having the key of knowledge, they neither entered themselves, nor allowed the people to enter; but caused them to lose the way of truth, which speaks in the Gospel: I am the way, and the life, and the truth. Verse 13. The Lord standeth up to judge: and standeth to judge the peoples.

The Lord will come to judgment with the elders of his people, and with its princes. The people, who through simplicity and inexperience were deceived, is still called the people of God: and therefore is judged, that it may be saved. Nor does the Lord sit in the posture of one judging, as we read in Daniel: The thrones were set, and the books were opened: but he stands to judge; and he stands, in order that the people may stand, willing that those whose way had been troubled should stand. But against the princes and the elders of his people he comes to judgment, not that he may judge, but that he may equally be judged; giving them opportunity for defense, if they can have anything to answer, according to that which is said in the fiftieth psalm: That thou mayest be justified in thy words, and mayest overcome when thou art judged. In the prophet Micah also we read something of the same kind, which we have interpreted in its place.

Therefore the present passage is taken against the Pharisees and the Deuterotae. And I think that what was between the elders and the princes in the old people, is now between the presbyters and the bishops. For you have devoured my vineyard: the spoil of the poor is in your house. Why do you crush my people, and grind, or, as the LXX have interpreted, confound the faces of the poor? He keeps to the prophetic custom, of changing persons suddenly: for above the Lord himself had said: My people, they who call thee blessed, the same deceive thee: and afterward the Prophet had added: The Lord standeth up to judge: the Lord will come to judgment. Therefore, after the prophet, the Lord himself, who had come to judgment with the elders of his people and its princes, speaks to them, and rebukes the transgressors: Why do you devour my vineyard? Of which it is written: Thou hast brought a vineyard out of Egypt.

And in this same prophet: The vineyard of the Lord of hosts is the house of Israel. This vineyard also the Lord, in the Gospel, let out to most wicked husbandmen, who killed the son of the householder sent to them. The spoil, he says, of the poor is in your houses. Take "the poor" either simply, as one who needs alms; or certainly the poor in spirit, of whom it is written: Blessed is he who understands concerning the needy and poor. And the Apostle Paul says: Only that we should be mindful of the poor. And what follows: Why do you crush my people, and grind, or confound the faces of the poor, is manifestly said against the princes of the Jews. But it can also be referred to our own princes, if they crush the people subject to them, and publicly accuse and confound the poor who sin, while against the rich who sin worse they dare not so much as mutter.

And the spoil of the poor is in their houses, when they fill their own treasuries, and abuse the riches of the Church for luxuries, and either reserve for themselves, or distribute to their kinsmen, the public alms which were given for the support of the poor, and make another's poverty to be their own riches and that of their relatives.

Verse 15. And the Lord said: Because the daughters of Sion are haughty, and have walked with stretched-out necks, and going with nods of their eyes, and made a noise as they went with their feet, and moved in a set pace. Above, both the prophet and the Lord had rebuked the people and the princes; now the prophetic word turns to the women, of whom he had said before: And women have ruled over them, lest they should think themselves strangers to the crime, on account of whose delicacies and luxury the exactors devoured the vineyard of the Lord, and the spoil of the poor is in their houses, and they have crushed his people, and confounded the faces of the poor. Some think these to be truly the women of the Jews; others think that this is said metaphorically of the cities of Judea, which are called the daughters of Sion: namely, the lesser cities, villages and towns.

Whence also in the book of Joshua the names of the cities are set down under each tribe, and afterward the villages and hamlets are described, and called daughters. Others, according to the tropological sense, think the women to be souls, which, if they have walked with stretched-out neck, and lifted themselves up in pride, and followed not manly firmness, but the dissoluteness of women, are rebuked by the prophetic word, and lose all the ornaments of virtues, which are described under the little moons, and necklaces, and jewels, and bracelets, tiaras and hairbands, and the other such things. This testimony must also be applied against the women of the Church, who walk with stretched-out neck, and speak with nods of their eyes, and clap both with hands and feet, and, in order to walk with a measured step, do not follow nature as their guide, but buy players as their teachers.

Verse 16. The Lord will make bald the crown of the head of the daughters of Sion, and will discover their hair, and instead of ornament there shall be ignominy. This will happen also to us, whose sins are hidden, when that shall be fulfilled which is written: Nothing hidden which shall not be revealed. For as long as we are covered by the hair, and the garment, of ignorance, and men think us to be whited sepulchres, we who within are full of the bones of the dead, we seem to have some cleanness. But when what is hidden shall be laid open, all the hair shall be taken away, and a foul baldness shall appear to all.

Verse 17. In that day the Lord shall take away the ornament of shoes. On what day? The Jews think it is the day of the Babylonian captivity. We more truly prove it to be when they were captured by the Romans, and lost all the ornaments of garments and jewels, and gold and necklaces, and various furnishings. Or by the metaphor of women, all the adornment of the cities is said to have been destroyed. Understand the ornaments of cities as being in the streets and porticoes, the forum and the gymnasiums and the public walls. But if we refer this to the state of souls, let us recall that we have read of the feet of him who is to eat the flesh of the lamb, and celebrate the Passover, being shod, and that during the passage through the wilderness, neither garments nor shoes were worn out. What are these shoes? Those of which the Apostle writes to the Ephesians: Your feet shod with the preparation of the gospel of peace.

These are the shoes which souls will lose, when they walk with stretched-out neck, and drag their garments with their feet, and, instead of matronly cleanliness, sweep the filth of the earth.

(Verses 18-21.) And the little moons, and the necklaces, and the jewels, and the bracelets, and the tiaras, and the hairbands, and the leg ornaments, and the little chains, and the perfume boxes, and the earrings, and the rings and the jewels hanging on the forehead. He describes the jewelry of women, and through these the insignia of cities; or, according to the anagogical sense, the ornaments of various virtues. Women have little pendants in the likeness of the moon, which we transfer to the ornaments of the Church, which is illumined by the sun of justice. The necklaces too, which hang down to the breast, show forth the understanding, and the ruling principle (hegemonikon, ruling faculty) of the mind in the heart.

And the jewels, which in one word signify all ornaments; and the bracelets, good works; such as Rebecca received at her betrothal; and the tiaras, ornaments of the head; the hairbands, that one may have discernment of each thing; and the leg ornaments, by which our step is adorned, so that we may hear: Thy foot shall not stumble; and: He shall pluck my feet out of the snare; and the little chains, which are woven of small rods of gold and silver, namely, of the sense and the words of the Scriptures; and the perfume boxes, that we may be the good odor of Christ; and the earrings, lest we hear the judgment of blood, but the words of the Lord saying: He that hath ears to hear, let him hear; and the rings, by which we are sealed for the service of the Lord, whom God the Father has sealed. Whence it is said to the prince of Tyre: Thou art the seal of resemblance.

The prodigal son also, with the robe, received a ring, and shoes, and jewels hanging on the forehead, by which our faces are adorned. Of the adornment of whose head we also read in the psalm: Like the ointment upon the head, which ran down upon the beard, the beard of Aaron. All these things, although the LXX interpreters, Aquila, and Symmachus, and Theodotion, translate in different ways, we have woven together as best we could, either from the Hebrew, or from their translation; nor do we wish to linger any longer upon each item, lest the exposition be frivolous, and cause distaste to the prudent reader.

Verse 22. And the changes of raiment, and the mantles, and the fine linen garments. For "fine linen garments," the LXX interpreted "transparent Laconian garments": wishing to signify the very thin garments with which the bodies of the Lacedaemonians, who were most ready for wars and of a more austere life, were covered: although "Laconian" is found neither in the Hebrew, nor in any other translator. But the changes of raiment and the mantles, which Symmachus translated more expressively as ἀναβολαία, are ornaments of women's garments, by which the shoulders and breasts are covered. The changes of raiment, according to the anagogical sense, are those of which it is said: They shall go from strength to strength; and the fine linen garments, that, washed in the Lord, we may fully enjoy delights, according to that which is written in the Psalms: Thou shalt make them drink of the torrent of thy pleasure.

But all these things the daughters of Sion have lost, who walked with stretched-out neck, and gloried in pride with the nods of their eyes: thinking that what they had was of their own power, and not of the grace of the Lord. (Verse 23.) And needles, and mirrors, and fine linens, and headbands, and summer-cloaks. Women have needles, by which the arrangement of their braided hair is held together, lest it flow too loosely and be scattered into disheveled locks. They also have mirrors, in which they examine their countenance, and if they see anything lacking, they add to their adornment. They have fine linens, which are called wraps: and headbands, with which the hair is bound, which they call ταινίας. They also have summer-cloaks, which we may call mantles: with which Rebecca too was wrapped. And even today the women of Arabia and Mesopotamia are covered with these, which in Hebrew are called ARDIDIM, in Greek θέριστρα: from the fact that in θέρει, that is, in summer and heat, they protect the bodies of women.

The daughters of Sion, therefore, on account of their pride, lost the needles by which the rule of all the commandments was held fast. They lost the mirrors, which the women who remained at the doors of the tabernacle offered in Exodus, for the making of the Lord's laver: concerning which the Apostle Paul also spoke: But now we see through a mirror in an enigma. They lost the fine linens and the headbands, with which they covered their shoulders and bound their mind, wandering here and there: and the summer-cloaks, by which they were covered as by a most secure shelter in the heat. We say these things lest we seem entirely to flee from the tropological sense of this passage. But it is a labor of the greatest kind to dwell upon each point and seek a full explanation. (Verse 24.) And instead of sweet odor, there shall be stench: and instead of a girdle, a cord. The penitent speaks of sins stinking: My scars have festered and become corrupt because of my folly.

The Apostle commanded that the loins be girded with a belt, saying: Stand, having your loins girded in truth. And concerning the sinner we read: Each one is bound by the cords of his own sins. Therefore, instead of the good odor of virtues, the daughters of Sion will have the stench of sins: and instead of the girdle of truth, they will be bound with the cords of falsehood, which those had upon their heads who begged for life from the king of Syria with rags and filth.

And instead of a breast-band, sackcloth. Instead of "breast-band," which Symmachus interpreted, the Seventy translated a tunic μεσοπορφύραν, that is, striped with purple: which Aquila rendered as "girdle of exultation." Theodotion set down the Hebrew word itself, PETHIGIL (פתיגיל), which is a kind of feminine ornament. The band covers the breast, and holds among women the place that the Rationale holds among the High Priests. Concerning this breast-band Jeremiah also spoke in a mystical utterance: If a bride can forget her adornment, or a virgin the band of her breast, yet I will not forget you, says the Lord. The virgin, such as the Apostle desires to present us to Christ, as long as she is not corrupted in Egypt, nor her breasts broken, which are bound by the breast-band, is joined to the bridegroom: and though she daily bring forth sons of virtues, she never ceases to be a virgin.

But if at some time she should spread her feet to every passer-by, and follow her lovers: and, according to the prophecy of Hosea, the Lord should hedge her ways and block her paths, she will return to her former husband, and will hear: Put off the garments of mourning, and put on the garments of your glory. (Verse 25.) Your fairest men also shall fall by the sword: and your mighty men in battle. Instead of "fairest men," the Seventy interpreted: and your son, most beautiful, whom you love, shall fall by the sword. If we understand this of the state of the soul which has sinned after virtues, let us take her fairest son as the good works which have fallen by the enemy's sword: and likewise the mighty men perishing in battle, because the righteousness of the righteous man will not deliver him on the day he strays.

But if we follow the historical sense, from these words we shall learn that the prophet's speech is not about women, whose husbands fell in battle; but about the cities of Judea, which he called daughters of Sion, and whose warriors fell in the struggle. Indeed, the following verse speaks concerning that same Sion. (Verse 26.) And her gates shall mourn and lament, and the city itself, laid waste, shall sit upon the ground. This we see with our own eyes even to this day. The interpretation according to the tropological sense is easy: that whoever gives place to the devil, and does not guard his heart with all watchfulness, will have his gates mourning: and, the bridegroom being absent, will always be in mourning, and, falling from the heights, will sit in the dust of the earth.

(Verse 1.) And seven women shall take hold of one man in that day, saying: We will eat our own bread, and be clothed with our own garments; only let your name be called upon us: take away our reproach. When the fairest men of the city of Jerusalem have fallen by the sword, and the mighty have perished in battle; and her gates have mourned and lamented; and she herself has been made desolate through the excessive scarcity of men, her warriors having been slain, seven women will take hold of one man, desiring to have seed in Sion, and household members in Jerusalem: saying that they have food and clothing of their own; only let them not seem to be without a husband, and thus subject to that curse which is written: Cursed is the barren woman, and she who bears no seed in Israel.

Zechariah also agrees with this sense: In those days ten men out of all the languages of the nations shall take hold of the hem of a Jewish man, saying: We will go with you, for we have heard that God is with you. The number seven and the number ten are familiar to the Jews, on account of the sabbath and the ten precepts of the law: and therefore they frequently make use of these numbers. Although, owing to the ambiguity of the Hebrew word SABA (שבע), which is interpreted now as "seven," now as "many," now as "an oath," it may be that in this place it signifies not seven but many. This is according to the letter.

But as for the coming of the Lord Savior, the seven women are the seven Churches, of which John also writes in the Apocalypse, and of which Hannah in the first book of Kings says: For the barren has borne seven, and in the Psalms it is sung: Who makes the barren woman to dwell in a house, a joyful mother of children. These will take hold of the one man, of whom it is written: Husbands, love your wives, and: For I have betrothed you to one husband, to present you as a chaste virgin to Christ. And they will say: We will eat our own bread, and be clothed with our own garments.

We do not want your bread, of which it is written: I am the living bread, which came down from heaven; nor your garment, of which it is said: As many of you as have been baptized into Christ have put on Christ; but we will be content with our own, only let your name be called upon us, that we may be named Christians, and may you take away our reproach, by which we formerly served idols. Let this be said of the heretics, who have neither the bread of God nor his garment, but follow their own errors, and glory only in the name of Christ. But the Church says: Give us this day our daily bread, and: He has clothed me with the garment of salvation.

The seven women, that is, the seven graces of the Holy Spirit, concerning which the same Prophet will say in what follows: There shall come forth a rod from the root of Jesse, and a flower shall rise from his root: and the Spirit of the Lord shall rest upon him, the spirit of wisdom and understanding, the spirit of counsel and might, the spirit of knowledge and godliness: and the spirit of the fear of the Lord shall fill him; shall take hold of Jesus, whom they had long desired, because they had been able to find no other in whom to rest in an eternal abode. Whence also John the Baptist reports in the Gospel: And he who sent me, he said to me: Upon whom you shall see the Spirit descending and remaining upon him, he it is. In Zechariah also we read of seven eyes upon one stone, and seven lamps upon one golden candlestick, and seven pipes, and two olive trees on either side of the lamp, founded upon a firm root.

That the grace of the Holy Spirit possesses all things needs no explanation. But because among men reproach was always suffered, no one living who might seek the gifts of the Holy Spirit: therefore they desire that the name of Jesus be called upon them, so that what was imperfect in the Law might be fulfilled in the Gospel. (Verses 2, 3.) In that day the branch of the Lord shall be in magnificence and glory: and the fruit of the earth shall be exalted, and there shall be rejoicing for those who shall be saved of Israel. And it shall come to pass, that everyone who is left in Sion, and remains in Jerusalem, shall be called holy, everyone who is written among the living in Jerusalem.

When the daughters of Sion, on account of their pride, have lost all their adornment: and her gates have mourned and lamented, and she herself, laid waste, has fallen, and all her warriors have perished in battle, to such a degree that many women can scarcely have one husband: then the branch of the Christian name shall arise, and the earth shall give its fruit: and there shall be rejoicing for those who shall be saved of Israel, concerning whom it was also said above: Unless the Lord of hosts had left us a seed, we would have been as Sodom, and would have been like Gomorrah. And note that not all Israel shall be saved, but the remnant of the people of Sion, and the remainder in Jerusalem: everyone who is written among the living in Jerusalem, to whom also the Lord spoke: Rejoice, because your names are written in heaven.

This signifies the Apostles, and those who believed through the Apostles. (Verse 4.) When the Lord shall have washed away the filth of the daughters of Sion, and shall have cleansed the blood of Jerusalem from her midst by the spirit of judgment and the spirit of burning. Then the remnant of Israel shall be saved, when in the baptism of the Savior their sins shall have been forgiven them, and that blood washed away, which the erring people called down upon themselves: His blood be upon us, and upon our children. Whence we read above: When you stretch out your hands, I will not hear you: for your hands are full of blood. And afterward, calling them to repentance, he adds: Wash yourselves, be clean. And note that he washes the filth of the daughters of Sion by the spirit of judgment, but the blood of Jerusalem by the spirit of burning. For what is light is washed; what is heavier, is burned away.

Concerning this spirit of judgment and spirit of burning, John the Baptist spoke in the Gospel: I baptize you with water, but he who comes after me shall baptize you with the Holy Spirit and with fire. From which we learn that man supplies only water: but God the Holy Spirit, by whom both filth is washed away and the sins of blood are purged. (Verse 5.) And the Lord will create over every place of mount Sion, and where he was invoked, a cloud by day, and smoke and the brightness of flaming fire by night. For in Christ there is a new creation, concerning which we read elsewhere: Old things have passed away: behold, all things have become new. For which the Seventy translated: And he shall come, and every place of mount Sion shall be, and all that is round about it, the cloud shall protect by day, and the light of flaming fire by night. But who shall come, except he of whom it is written: There shall come out of Sion he who delivers.

And of whom another prophet recalls: Yet a little while, he who is to come will come, and will not tarry. When he has come, the former happiness shall be restored to the people, which they once had in the wilderness; the Lord going before them by day in a pillar of cloud, and by night in a pillar of fire: so that they may never be troubled, whether in prosperity or adversity. This is also said in the psalm: The sun shall not burn you by day, nor the moon by night. But smoke in this passage signifies not error and ignorance, but glory, according to what is read in this same prophet, according to the opinion of some, whom we shall meet below (Below, chap. 6): And the house was filled with smoke. And in Joel, concerning the grace of the Holy Spirit which descended upon the apostles, it is said: I will pour out of my spirit, and they shall prophesy.

And: I will give wonders in heaven above, and signs on earth beneath, blood and fire and vapor of smoke. I think the same thing is signified also by that verse in the Psalms: Who touches the mountains, and they shall smoke.

Verse 6. But over all glory there shall be a protection. And there shall be a tabernacle for a shade in the daytime from the heat, and for a security and covert from the whirlwind and from rain. The Jews refer this passage to the Antichrist, whom they suppose to be signified by the whirlwind and storm, at the time when the Lord is to defend them from a most powerful adversary. But let us refer all this to the first advent of Christ, of whom also we read in the Psalms: He protected me in the secret of his tabernacle; on a rock he exalted me: upon which rock the Church, being founded, is shaken by no tempest, overturned by no whirlwind and winds. Very many of the Jews understand this and all the things joined with it as referring to the Babylonian captivity and the return into Jerusalem under Zorobabel and Ezra and Nehemiah.

(Verse 1.) I will sing now to my beloved a song of my cousin, of his vineyard.

The prophet sings a lamentable song to the people Israel, which he composed of whom it is written in the Gospel: But when he had seen it (no doubt Jerusalem) he wept over it, and said: If thou also hadst known, and that in this thy day, the things that are to thy peace, for the days shall come upon thee, and thine enemies shall cast a trench about thee, and compass thee round, and straiten thee on every side, and shall lay thee even with the ground, and thy children. And again: How often would I have gathered together thy children, as the hen doth gather her chickens under her wings, and thou wouldest not? Behold, your house shall be left to you desolate: to which is similar what is now said in this song: I will forsake my vineyard. Now that Christ is called beloved and most dear, whom Aquila interpreted πατράδελφον, that is, uncle, or cousin, the title of the forty-fourth psalm teaches us: A song for the beloved.

And the voice of God the Father in the Gospel: This is my beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased. And in the sixty-seventh psalm we read: The Lord shall give the word to them that preach good tidings with great power. The King of virtues of the beloved. This Beloved, therefore, made a mournful song of his vineyard, which I will sing to my beloved and pitiable people. Or certainly it is to be understood thus: I will sing to God the Father Almighty a song of Christ, who is my cousin, that is, born of my own race. Now that the people Israel is called the vineyard of God, we read also at the end of this song: The vineyard of the Lord of hosts is the house of Israel, and the man of Judah his pleasant plant. And in the seventy-ninth psalm (Ver. 9): Thou hast brought a vine out of Egypt: thou hast cast out the heathen, and planted it.

In the Gospel too, in almost the same words with which the Prophet now speaks, the Lord wove a parable: There was a certain householder, which planted a vineyard, and hedged it round about, and digged a winepress in it, and built a tower, and let it out to husbandmen. And in Jeremiah we read: Yet I had planted thee a noble vine, wholly a right seed: how then art thou turned into the degenerate plant of a strange vine unto me? Thus, as we have said, Jerusalem is bewailed: and her ruin is sung in prophetic speech. But for the Church, and for the people once of the Gentiles, another song has been composed, of which we read in the Psalms: Sing unto the Lord, all the earth; shew forth his salvation from day to day. Declare his glory among the heathen, his wonders among all people. And again: Sing unto the Lord a new song; for he hath done marvellous things.

The Lord hath made known his salvation: his righteousness hath he openly shewed in the sight of the heathen.

My beloved hath a vineyard in a horn, a son of oil. This Theodotion and Aquila have translated according to the Hebrew: but Symmachus, in his own manner, more plainly: A vineyard was made for my beloved in a horn, in the midst of olive trees. Now the Seventy have interpreted the sense rather than the word: A vineyard was made for my beloved in a horn, in a fat place, or a rich one, for πίων signifies both. And indeed nothing is richer than the land of Promise, if you consider not merely its mountainous and desert parts, but the whole breadth of it, from the river of Egypt to the great river Euphrates toward the East, and toward the northern region as far as Mount Taurus and the Zephyrium of Cilicia, which overlooks the sea. Now we often read that a horn signifies kingdom and power, as that in the Gospel: He hath raised up a horn of salvation for us in the house of his servant David.

And, Through thee we will push down our enemies with the horn. And in Zechariah the four horns signify four most powerful kingdoms. The Hebrews explain this passage thus: A vineyard was planted for Christ in a horn, that is, in a strong and lofty place, which is called a son of oil, either because it needs the mercy of God, and is sustained by his help; or because it has furnished to all nations the clear light of the knowledge of God.

Verse 2. And he fenced it, and gathered out the stones thereof, and planted it with the vine of Sorec, and built a tower in the midst thereof, and also made a winepress therein. By the metaphor, as we said before, of a vineyard, he describes the people of the Jews, whom he fenced by the help of Angels. And he gathered out the stones from it, either the idols, or all things which could hinder the worship of God. And he planted it with the vine Sorec, which Symmachus alone interpreted "chosen," not, as it seems to me, rendering word for word, but the sense which is contained in the word. For the Hebrews say that Sorec is a kind of most excellent vine, which produces abundant and continual fruits. Indeed Sorec is interpreted by some as καλλίκαρπος, which we may render "of most beautiful fruits." He also built a tower in the midst of it, namely, the temple in the midst of the city: and made a winepress therein, which some think signifies the altar.

For as all the grapes are brought to the winepress and trodden, so that wine may be pressed out of them, so the altar receives the fruits of all the people, and consumes the sacrificed victims; according to that which we read of Benjamin, in whose tribe the temple and altar were: Benjamin shall ravin as a wolf: in the morning he shall devour the prey, and at night he shall divide the spoil. All that is said of the vineyard can also be referred to the state of the human soul, which, planted by God for good, brought forth not grapes but wild grapes; and afterwards was delivered to the beasts to be trodden down; nor did it receive the divine rain of doctrines, because it had despised the gifts formerly bestowed.

And I looked that it should bring forth grapes, and it brought forth wild grapes. Instead of "wild grapes," which we have rendered, in the Hebrew is written BUSIM (באשים): which Aquila has interpreted σαπρίας, that is, rotten fruits: Symmachus, ἀτελῆ, that is, imperfect: the Seventy and Theodotion, thorns: with which the Jews crowned the Lord. For while he was waiting that at vintage time they would bring grapes to the winepresses, for which the eighth and eighty-third psalms bear titles, they, plunging themselves into the cares and vices of the world, which in the Gospel are interpreted as thorns, offered him the goads of blasphemies. But I think it better that Busim be understood as wild grapes rather than thorns, so that the likeness of the translation begun may be preserved. Whence also the Saviour says in the Gospel: Do men gather grapes of thorns, or figs of thistles?

Verse 3. And now, O inhabitants of Jerusalem, and men of Judah, judge, I pray you, betwixt me and my vineyard. What could have been done more to my vineyard, that I have not done in it? Wherefore, when I looked that it should bring forth grapes, brought it forth wild grapes? I have done, he says, all things that I ought to have done: I planted the vineyard in a most rich place, I surrounded it with a hedge, I gathered out the stones, and I propped up its shoots with stakes and poles. Nor was the vine itself one of many, but chosen and καλλίκαρπος. I built a most firm tower, in which I might store the fruits, and from which I might watch for beasts lying in wait for the fruits. I built a winepress, so that in that very place chiefly the grapes might be pressed, and might pour forth wine.

Since I have done these things which I ought to have done, let the inhabitants of Jerusalem and of Judah answer me: nay, let them judge between me and my vineyard, what is it that I ought to have done, and have not done? And when they are silent, he answers for himself: Unless perhaps in this I erred, that for my labour I expected it should bring forth grapes, not wild grapes, which an untilled and deserted vineyard is wont to bear. Something like this the Prophet Nathan, sent to David, also speaks, and questions him by a parable, that while he judges concerning another, he might pronounce sentence concerning himself. So here too the people is questioned as it were concerning a vineyard, that it might answer against itself. This passage the Saviour more fully carries out in the Gospel, and what is here omitted, he asks of the Scribes and Pharisees.

For in Isaiah nothing is said of husbandmen, nor is it indicated what they are to suffer; but there is speech only of the vineyard: but there, as though it were another vineyard and other husbandmen, he speaks thus of the people and of the teachers, that he may destroy the wicked wickedly, and let out the vineyard to other husbandmen; signifying the apostles and those who are to succeed the apostles. Nor indeed is it a ταυτολογία (tautology), as many suppose, in that he says: Wherefore, when I looked that it should bring forth grapes, brought it forth wild grapes? For above he speaks silently within himself, but here he asks others what he had been thinking.

Verse 5. And now I will shew you what I will do to my vineyard: I will take away the hedge thereof, and it shall be eaten up; I will break down the wall thereof, and it shall be trodden down: And I will lay it waste: it shall not be pruned, nor digged; but there shall come up briers and thorns. I provoked you above, he says, O inhabitants of Jerusalem, and men of the tribe of Judah, to judge between me and my vineyard, and I asked that you would say what I ought to have done that I have not done. And because, according to the parable of the Gospel, you will not answer what I ask, I will answer for you myself, indicating what I am about to do: since I have done for my vineyard all that I ought, and instead of grapes it has brought forth wild grapes, I will take away all things that I had given.

I will remove the help of the angels, of whom it is written in the Psalms: The angel of the Lord encampeth round about them that fear him, and delivereth them: and it shall be plundered by adversaries. I will destroy the walls, and it shall be subject to hostile nations, and it shall be desert and shall not be pruned forever, nor digged, so that it be reduced to briers: and thorns shall grow up in it. Now these things are said under the metaphor of a vineyard, concerning the desolation of Jerusalem and Judea, which many of the Jews think happened under the Babylonians: which also we cannot in part deny to have happened. But because it follows: And I will command the clouds that they rain no rain upon it, this cannot be understood of that captivity.

Since Jeremiah prophesied among the people even after the city was already taken; and Ezekiel, Daniel too, and the three youths, are related either to have prophesied, or to have wrought wondrous signs even in the captivity: and afterward Haggai and Zechariah spoke of things to come for the consolation of the servant people. Now God's help is taken away from those who are unworthy: so that, because they did not perceive God through benefits, they may perceive him through punishments. Or he threatens certain harsh and cruel things for this reason, that being converted to repentance they might avoid the impending torments. The Hebrew word SAITH (שמיר) all have interpreted with a similar word, "thorns." If then Saith is here called "thorns" according to Aquila and Theodotion and the Seventy, let them answer how above they translated Busim not as wild grapes but as thorns.

And I will command the clouds that they rain no rain upon it. These are the clouds which the Lord brought up from the end of the earth, of which we also read in the Psalm: Thy truth reacheth unto the clouds. These clouds, since under Elijah all were idolaters, rained not upon the land of Israel for three years and six months. This indeed we can understand not only of the prophets but of the apostles, that after the passion of the Lord the Jews had neither prophets nor apostles, lest instead of grapes they should bring forth thorns, but that for their barrenness and dryness they should entreat him who is able to furnish showers of virtues. Whence also in Leviticus he speaks to them: I will make your heaven as iron, and your earth as brass. And in Deuteronomy: Thy heaven that is over thy head shall be brass, and the earth that is under thee shall be iron. And again, The Lord shall give rain unto thy land.

And, Ashes shall come down from heaven upon thee, until it root thee out and destroy thee; because the earth which frequently receives upon itself the falling rain, and brings forth no crop, but thorns and thistles, is rejected, and near unto cursing, whose end is to be burned. (Verse 7.) For the vineyard of the Lord of hosts is the house of Israel: and the men of Judah his delightful shoot. That is, from God: or as the LXX translated, most beloved new plantation. Israel and Judah differ from one another in this, that at first the whole people was called Israel, and afterward, when David reigned over the tribe of Judah, and Rehoboam the son of Solomon over the two tribes, Judah and Benjamin, those who were in Samaria, that is, the ten tribes, were called Israel; and those over whom the descendants of David ruled were called Judah.

And since among Israel calves were worshiped in Dan and in Bethel, therefore Samaria was first taken by the Assyrians; and much later Judah was led away captive to Babylon by the Chaldeans, because they had sinned less. Whence also in Ezekiel, for the purging of the sins of both peoples, Israel is set on the left side, according to the Septuagint, for a hundred and ninety days, or as is more truly contained in the Hebrew, three hundred and ninety; but for Judah, forty days. I say this in order to show, by comparison with Israel, that is, the ten tribes, that Judah was loved and delightful, in whom were the priests and Levites, and where the religion of God was practiced at the time when the prophet Isaiah was speaking to the people. And fittingly Israel, that is, the whole people, is called a house: but Judah, which afterward sprang up when the tribes were separated, is called a delightful new shoot.

But this too must be noted, that according to the prophetic custom, things which were said first by metaphor or by parable are afterward explained more plainly: that the vineyard and the new plantation are Israel and Judah.

And I waited that it should do judgment, and behold iniquity: and justice, and behold a cry; or as the LXX translated, I waited that it should do judgment, and it did iniquity, and not justice, but a cry. We wish to convey to Latin ears what we have learned from the Hebrews: Judgment among them is called MESPHAT (משפט); iniquity, or dissipation, as Aquila interpreted it, MESPHAA (משפח). Again, justice is called SADACA (צדקה); but cry is called SAACA (צעקה). Thus, by adding or changing a single letter, he so tempered the similarity of the words, that instead of MESPHAT he put MESPHAA, and instead of SADACA he put SAACA, and rendered an elegant structure and sound of words according to the Hebrew tongue.

Now God waited that the people of the Jews should do judgment, that is, grapes: and it did iniquity, that is, wild grapes: and he waited for justice, that they might receive the giver of such great gifts sent from the Father, and it made a cry, with which it shouted against the Lord, and cried out, saying: Away with him, away with him, crucify such a one. Whence also the apostle Paul writes: Let all anger and clamor, and blasphemy be put away from you with all malice. Or certainly, since they had shed the blood of the just one, the blood of the Lord's passion cried out to the Lord: therefore they gave a cry in place of justice, according to that which we read in Genesis, The voice of the blood of Abel your brother cries out to me. (Verse 8.) Woe to you who join house to house, and couple field to field even to the limit of the place: Shall you dwell alone upon the earth?

For what we have said, "even to the limit of the place," the LXX translated, "or take away from your neighbor": Symmachus and Theodotion: "until it fail, or there be no place"; so that, the land failing, avarice may in no way be satisfied. This I think was said both generally against all those for whom nothing is enough, and specifically against the vineyard of the Lord, which for grapes produced wild grapes, that is, iniquity instead of judgment, and a cry instead of justice. For what madness is it, when houses and fields ought to be had for keeping off rains and for sowing crops, to desire to have those things in all of which you cannot dwell, and which you are not able to cultivate; and to make another's necessity your pleasure?

According to the tropology, some think this was said against heretics: who, when they moved their feet from the East, come into the plain of Shinar, which is interpreted "shaking out of teeth"; and they build the city of confusion, and the tower of pride, and hear under other words: Hear this, you leaders of the house of Jacob, and the rest of the house of Israel, who abhor judgment, and pervert all that is right, who build Zion with blood, and Jerusalem with iniquity (Micah 3:9-10). These join houses to houses, that is, dogmas to dogmas; to whom it is said through Micah, "Do not build in the house of derision" (Micah 2), lest, upon the foundation of Christ, which the apostle Paul laid, and upon which they ought to have built gold, silver, precious stones, they build instead wood, hay, stubble, whose end is burning.

Concerning houses of this kind the Savior speaks in the Gospel: Everyone who hears my words and does not do them shall be likened to a foolish man who built his house upon the sand. The rain descended, the floods came, the winds blew and beat upon that house, and it fell: and great was the fall of that house. Meanwhile heretics keep seeking to join new things to old, and to change the same things by more recent ones, until both human sense and speech fail. (Verse 9.) In my ears are these words of the Lord of hosts: Unless many houses shall be desolate, great and beautiful, without an inhabitant.

For what we, according to the Hebrew, have rendered, "In my ears are these words of the Lord of hosts," that is, the words which the Lord has spoken still resound in my ears: the LXX translated, "These things were heard in the ears of the Lord Sabaoth." Not that the Prophet heard the words of the Lord, but that what the Prophet is about to say was heard in the ears of the Lord: though it is more consistent to understand that the Prophet heard what the Lord had spoken. Now the Lord spoke that, after the captivity, great and most beautiful houses should be deserted, having no inhabitant. (Verse 10.) For ten acres of vineyards shall make one small flask, and thirty measures of seed shall make three measures. For "flask," which only the LXX translated so, all the others rendered as "bath," which in Hebrew is called BETH (בת).

And for "thirty measures," which we have rendered as "cor," which in Hebrew is called omer (חמר), the LXX rendered as "six artabas": which is an Egyptian measure, and makes twenty measures. In the great sterility, then, which follows the captivity, ten acres of vineyards shall make a bath, that is, three amphorae: and thirty measures of seed, that is, a cor, shall make an ephah, which the LXX interpreted as three measures, that is, three modii. Now "bath" is used for liquid kinds, and "ephah," or epha, of the same measure for dry goods. As in Ezekiel we read according to the Hebrew: The ephah shall be just, and the bath shall be just for you. The ephah and the bath shall be equal and of one measure, so that the bath may contain the tenth part of a cor, and the ephah the tenth part of a cor: according to the measure of the cor shall their equal weighing be.

We ask according to the anagogical sense, how the houses of heretics are great and beautiful, which, when the time of judgment comes, have no inhabitant. For all the pomp and structure of words, and dialectical arguments, will be reduced to nothing. And because, according to the apostle Paul, we are not only God's building, but also His farming, which the heretics, imitating, undermine and are rooted out by Jeremiah: therefore where ten acres of vineyards, or where ten yoke of oxen work, shall make one bath, and thirty measures of seed shall make an ephah, so that from the number ten, which in the holy Scriptures is mystical and perfect, and from the number thirty, in which Ezekiel prophesied, and the Lord was baptized, they may be reduced to the ephah, which, in comparison to the manifold number, is bound together into unity. Now that building and farming refer to spiritual understanding, the apostle Paul teaches also in another place, testifying that believers are founded and rooted in charity.

Whence also Ecclesiastes not only built houses for himself, but planted vineyards, and made gardens and orchards, and set out all kinds of fruit trees, and built pools, that he might water the grove. But heretics, having only the image and shadow of virtues, and not the truth itself, promise leaves of words without the fruit of works. Of whose trees the Lord says: Every plant which my heavenly Father has not planted shall be uprooted. For their vine is of the vine of Sodom, and their branch is of Gomorrah: their grape is a grape of gall, and their cluster one of bitterness for them; their wine is the fury of dragons, and the incurable rage of asps. (Verses 11, 12.) Woe to you who rise up early in the morning to pursue drunkenness, and to drink until evening, so that you may burn with wine. The harp, and the lyre, the timbrel, and the pipe, and wine are in your feasts: and you do not regard the work of the Lord, nor consider the works of his hands.

For "drunkenness," which Aquila and Symmachus interpreted, the LXX put the very Hebrew word "sicera" (שכר), which signifies every drink which can inebriate, and overturn the state of the mind. Now he rebukes, following the order of the exposition already begun, the tillers of the vineyard, who, with sterility impending, and the burning near at hand by which briars and thorns are to be consumed, have given themselves over to luxury and pleasures: not only in eating and drinking, but also in the delight of the ears, and in various kinds of the musical art. Those who do these things do not regard the work of the Lord, nor consider what is to come. Some misuse this testimony against the princes of the Church, who from morning rise up to pursue strong drink, and to drink until evening: of whom it is said in another place: Woe to you, city, whose king is a youth, and whose princes eat in the morning.

Occupied with delights, they do not understand the Creator from His creatures, nor consider the works of His hands, of which we read: By the word of the Lord the heavens were established, and by the spirit of his mouth all their power. According to a deeper understanding, every disturbance of the soul can be called drunkenness, which is conceived from the wine of the fury of dragons, and from the incurable venom of asps, which some drink from adolescence to old age, that is, from morning until evening. Others, however, are roused from the banquet at the third, sixth, or ninth hour, and the eleventh, and it is said to them: Awake, you who are drunk with wine. Upon this wine, and upon such grapes and vineyards, the Lord rains sulfur and fire from the Lord: and whoever drinks of their wine burns and is consumed.

He seeks the harp and the psaltery, whose inventor is Jubal, born of the line of Cain, and does not hear the Lord saying to Aaron: You and your sons shall not drink wine or strong drink, when you enter into the tabernacle of the testimony, or approach the altar. These harps, and lyres, and timbrels, and pipes the king of Babylon had, at whose sounding the peoples of all the nations prostrated themselves on the ground, and worshiped the golden statue. Now that the first period of human wisdom, when we come out of childhood and arrive at the age of reason, is understood in Scripture as "morning," many testimonies can teach us: of which, for example's sake, a few must be set down: In the morning I sent the Prophets; and: In the morning you shall hear my prayer.

In the morning I will stand before you, and will see; and: In the night my spirit shall arise; and: God, my God, at dawn I watch for you; and: In the mornings I destroyed all the sinners of the earth, that I might cut off from the city of the Lord all who work iniquity; and in another place: In the evening weeping shall tarry, and in the morning joy, and other things like these. Now we rise up in the morning when we leave behind vices in childhood, and can say: Remember not the sins of my youth and my ignorance. And when the sun of justice has risen for us, the darkness is put to flight, and we immediately slay all the thoughts which provoke us to sins, and from the city of our mind we destroy those sinners of whom the Savior speaks: Out of the heart come evil thoughts, murders, adulteries, fornications, thefts, false witness, blasphemies, and the rest.

But most wretched are those who from morning until evening, occupied with drunkenness, gluttony, and various pleasures, do not understand in themselves the works of the Lord, nor consider why they were created. (Verse 13.) Therefore my people is led captive, because it had not knowledge: and its nobles have perished with hunger, and its multitude has been parched with thirst. These things, both Greek and Latin history relate as having happened according to the letter to the people of the Jews under the Roman emperors Vespasian and Titus. Which indeed they also suffer spiritually today, enduring not hunger for bread, nor thirst for water, but hunger for hearing the word of God: because they had neither regarded the work of the Lord, nor considered the works of his hands, nor had knowledge of him who had always spoken through the Prophets. Whence also it is said of them in the Psalms: They shall return at evening, and shall suffer hunger like dogs, and shall go round about the city.

And that every discourse of doctrine is called bread and water, the Gospel teaches this: Man does not live by bread alone, but by every word that proceeds from the mouth of God: And, Whoever shall drink of the water which I shall give him, shall not thirst forever. And in the psalm it is said: He brought me up beside the waters of refreshment. Whence also the Lord does not wish to send away the hungry in the desert, lest they faint, and fall down, and be killed by hunger. And of the righteous man it is said: I have been young, and now am old, and I have not seen the righteous forsaken, nor his seed seeking bread.

Some wish to interpret this that is said: My people is led captive, because it had not knowledge, and its nobles have perished with hunger, and its multitude has been parched with thirst, generally of the underworld and of gehenna, in which everyone who has not had knowledge of God shall be punished. (Verses 14, 15.) Therefore hell has enlarged its soul, and opened its mouth without any limit, and its strong ones shall descend, and its people, and its lofty and glorious ones shall go down to it. And man shall be bowed down, and the man shall be humbled, and the eyes of the lofty shall be brought low.

They who rose up early in the morning to follow strong drink, and continued in drunkenness even until evening, and being occupied with pleasure and delights, were unwilling to regard the work of the Lord, nor did they contemplate the works of his hands, therefore they were led into captivity, because they had not knowledge of the Son of God, he himself saying to them, Neither do you know me, nor him who sent me, and in that very captivity they perished with hunger, and were parched with thirst. Whence hell and death have enlarged their soul, and opened their mouth, and without any number, and without satiety, have devoured those to be punished forever: so that the princes and the people, and the lofty and glorious ones of the land of Judah descended to it, and all pride was humbled, and the eyes of the lofty were brought low, understanding themselves to be mortal; and everything was fulfilled which the Lord had announced through the Prophets as to come.

Hell, however, is said to have a soul, not because it is an animal, according to the error of certain persons; but because we express the affection of insensible things by the words of human custom, namely, that it is insatiable, and is never filled by the multitude of the dead. In the same way death also is said to be in the hand of the tongue, and Almighty God says that he hates the sabbaths and new moons of the Jews, his own soul.

Whatever we have said concerning the people of the Jews can be referred tropologically to those who, occupied with the delights of the world, and not regarding the works of God, are led captive into sin, and have not the knowledge of God: and therefore they perish of hunger and thirst for good works and virtues, and are dragged down into gehenna, and there, consigned to eternal torments, they will see power and pride changed into misery and humility. (Verse 16.) And the Lord of hosts shall be exalted in judgment: and the holy God shall be sanctified in righteousness.

When the people has been led captive, because it had not knowledge, and has perished with hunger, and been parched with thirst, and hell has enlarged its soul: and the strong and lofty and glorious ones have descended into the deep, and man has been bowed down, and the man humbled, and all have received according to their deserts: then the Lord shall be exalted in judgment, whose judgment before seemed unjust, and the holy God shall be sanctified by all in righteousness, that what is said in the Gospel may be fulfilled: Our Father who art in heaven, hallowed be thy name; and: Righteous Father, the world has not known thee. Whence we ought to beware lest we anticipate the judgment of God, whose judgments are great and unutterable, and of whom the Apostle speaks: How unsearchable are his judgments, and his ways past finding out, until he shall illumine the hidden things of darkness, and disclose the thoughts of hearts, he who says in the Gospel: Judge not, that you be not judged.

In agreement with this sentence the apostle Paul commanded: Who are you that judge another's servant? To his own master he stands or falls. And he shall stand: for God is able to make him stand. (Verse 17.) And the lambs shall feed according to their order: and the deserts turned into fruitfulness, strangers shall eat.

Instead of "the lambs feeding according to their order," which is taken in a good sense, the Seventy, wishing something or other, translated, "they shall be fed, being torn away, like bulls"; understanding bulls instead of lambs, and again interpreting "lambs" instead of "strangers." But when the Lord shall have been exalted in judgment, and the holy one sanctified in his own righteousness, so that the wicked husbandmen may perish wickedly, and the exalted cedar be cut down by the axe of the Lord; then those who shall be of the number of the lambs, not of the kids, shall feed in the meadows of the Church, and shall say: The Lord feeds me, and I shall lack nothing; and what has been abandoned by the Jews, turned into fruitfulness, the people of the Gentiles shall eat. These things according to tropology. But, that we may complete the order of the history, the same thing is said in other words, of which we read above: Strangers devour your land in your presence, and it is desolate, as overthrown by strangers.

For a multitude of Gentiles gathered from the whole world dwells in Judea, and the former peoples having been cast out, therefore blindness in part has happened to the house of Israel, that the fullness of the Gentiles might come in. And beautifully, according to the Seventy, they were torn away and laid waste and led into captivity like bulls, of whom the Lord had said: Fat bulls have besieged me, so that the lambs might occupy the places of the bulls. (Verses 18, 19.) Woe to you who draw iniquity with cords of vanity, and sin as it were with a cart rope. Who say: Let him hasten and let his work come quickly, that we may see it, and let the counsel of the Holy One of Israel draw near and come, and let us know it. Instead of "cart rope," the Seventy translated "the strap of the yoke of a heifer, or cow." That sins, moreover, are said to be bonds, we read rather frequently.

Of which this is one: Every man is bound with the cords of his own sins. And the Lord, rebuking the sinning people, who had joined sins to sins, made a scourge of small cords, showing them how they had made the house of God a den of thieves, and had turned the house of prayer into a house of merchandise. Likewise a guest at the Lord's supper, not having a wedding garment, is bound hand and foot and cast into outer darkness. And the Lord came, that he might say to those who were in bonds: Go forth; and to those who dwelt in darkness, Show yourselves. For he himself looses those bound, and gives light to the blind: whom Jeremiah calls the bound of the earth. Nor does he mourn those who have begun to sin, if they cease at once: for there is not a just man upon earth who does good and never sins; but those who have drawn out their sins by a long cord.

Whence also we read in Numbers, that the red heifer, whose ashes are the expiation of the people, is offered and immolated at the altar of the Lord only if it has not done earthly works, nor drawn the yoke, nor been bound with the bonds of the yoke of Nebuchadnezzar. And in this same prophet, instead of the girdle of truth, the daughters of Sion are girded with a cord. Ahithophel also and Judas, drawing their sins with a very long rope, perished by hanging; thinking that the evil of conscience would be ended by present death, and that there is nothing after death. But that, according to the Hebrew and all the other translators, they are called "cords of vanity," this signifies that for those who commit sin it is easily woven, and is as empty and easy as the weaving of spiders' webs: but when we wish to go out from it, we are bound with the most solid bonds.

Those understand the cart more easily as full and laden with sins, who remember that it is written in Zechariah, that impiety sits upon a talent of lead: and that the Egyptians, who were weighed down by the heavy burden of their sins, were sunk like lead into the Red Sea. And in another place the sinner speaks: My iniquities are gone over my head: like a heavy burden they are become heavy upon me. These things, moreover, are said to the princes of the Jews, who above were accused in avarice and luxury: because, though called by the Lord to penitence, and afterward by his Apostles, they persist even to this day in blasphemies, and three times each day in all the synagogues, under the name of Nazarenes, anathematize the name of Christian. The sense, however, is this: Woe to you who think that the day of judgment will not be, or that the captivity which the prophetic word foretells will not come: who say to the Prophet: How long will you threaten us with the wrath of God?

We wish to know it, let it come now. But they say this by irony, since they do not think it will come, but suppose it is being feigned by the Prophet. (Verse 20.) Woe to you who call evil good, and good evil: putting darkness for light, and light for darkness: putting bitter for sweet, and sweet for bitter. It is of the same crime to call good, light, and sweet by contrary names, as to call the virtues by the names of evil, darkness, and bitterness. This is against those who do not think it a sin, if they detract from what is good, and do not consider it a fault, if they praise what is evil. Now the Jews put good for evil, and light for darkness, and sweet for bitter, receiving Barabbas, a robber and author of sedition, and crucifying Jesus, who had come only to the lost sheep of the house of Israel, that he might save what had perished.

In Barabbas let us understand the devil, who, though he is night and darkness, is transfigured into an angel of light. Whence also the Apostle speaks: What participation has righteousness with iniquity? What fellowship has light with darkness? What agreement has Christ with Belial? For neither is a lamp to be taken away and put under a bushel, or under a bed, but upon a lampstand, that it may give light to all. Nor is a tree bearing evil fruits to be called by the name of a good tree. Whence also in Genesis it is told in mystic speech, that God divided between the light and the darkness, which in the beginning were borne over the abyss. That the good Savior is so called, he himself says in the Gospel: The good shepherd lays down his life for his sheep.

He also says that he is light: I am the light of the world, and daily, being filled with heavenly bread, we say: Taste and see how sweet the Lord is. On the other hand, when we say: Deliver us from evil; and: The whole world is placed in the evil one, we desire to be freed from the snares of the devil. That he himself is signified by the names of darkness and bitterness, we read rather frequently. But we can also say this, that all doctrines contrary to the truth are bitter, and truth alone is sweet. Whence it must be guarded against, that we do not follow a lie instead of the truth, nor darkness instead of light. For there are many ways that seem right to men, but the ends thereof reach into the depth of hell. There is also the just man perishing in his justice, to whom it is said: Be not overly just.

For which reasons Israel promises that he will walk in the king's highway, and will turn aside neither to the left nor to the right. And, to say what I think: it is difficult for anyone to be free of this curse, since we frequently flatter the wicked on account of their power, and despise the good on account of their poverty. Whence Aquila translated more significantly: Woe to him who says to the evil man, You are good, and to the good man, You are evil. And with this agrees what Solomon says in Proverbs: He who judges the just unjust, and the unjust just, is abominable to God, both of them. The scribes also and Pharisees, not receiving the words of the Savior, but the traditions of men, and old wives' fables, made good evil, and evil good. (Verse 21.) Woe to you who are wise in your own eyes, and prudent in your own sight.

He means: You who seem wise to yourselves, who follow prudence, not of God, but of men: and since you do not receive the power of God and the wisdom of God, you think yourselves to be wise. The Stoics say this is the difference between wisdom and prudence: that wisdom is the knowledge of things divine and human, but prudence only of mortal things. Consequently these words are spoken against the Scribes and Pharisees, who, having the key of knowledge, neither themselves enter to Christ nor allow others to enter. (Verse 22.) Woe to you who are mighty to drink wine, and men strong to mix strong drink, that is, drunkenness. To those of whom he had said above: Woe to you who rise up early in the morning to pursue drunkenness, and to drink until evening, that you may be inflamed with wine, he speaks now also: who are mighty to drink wine, and men strong to mix strong drink.

These, inebriated with the wine of the dragon, and with the incurable poison of asps, slandered the power of the Lord. And being themselves drunk, they made the peoples drunk, so that, raging with equal frenzy, they cried out against the Lord. In accordance with the tropology we have already said above that the priests, about to enter the Tabernacle of God, ought not to drink wine and strong drink. To which we now add, that it was likewise commanded to the Nazirites, who consecrate themselves to the Lord, that they should not drink wine and strong drink, nor anything that comes from grapes, nor even eat a dried grape, nor vinegar made from wine. But also in Proverbs it is commanded: Let not the mighty who are given to wrath drink wine, lest when they have drunk they forget wisdom. Between wine and strong drink, I think, according to the anagogical sense, this is the difference: that wine is one disturbance out of many—for example, of lust, avarice, gluttony, and envy.

But strong drink, that is, drunkenness, contains in itself all the passions of the vices, which we may more properly call, in Latin speech, disturbances, because they overturn the state of the mind, and make the drunk not know what they are doing. Those, therefore, who are set over others ought most of all to be free from vices, and especially from anger, which is nearest to madness: lest, the more power they have, the more they harm those subject to them. He mixes strong drink who, though full of drunkenness, feigns, in order to deceive men, to possess certain shadows and images of virtues. (Verse 23.) Who justify the wicked for gifts, and take away the justice of the just from him. This too is part of the vices of the vineyard, which brought forth wild grapes instead of grapes, and, while the Lord waited for it to do judgment, it did iniquity, justifying the wicked for gifts, and considering not the merits of the case, but the gifts, which blind even the eyes of the wise.

Wherefore we must beware lest we be made drunk with wine, in which is luxury, and our shameful nakedness be uncovered, and lest we flatter the wicked for gifts, and despise the justice of the just because of his poverty. This too is commanded in the Epistle of James: that, honoring wicked rich men, and despising holy poor men, we should not become judges of iniquity. (Verse 24.) Therefore, as the tongue of fire devours the stubble, and the heat of the flame burns it up: so their root shall be as ashes, and their bud shall go up like dust. For they have cast away the law of the Lord of hosts, and blasphemed the word of the Holy One of Israel. Because of the above-mentioned causes—pride, and drunkenness, and avarice—since they brought forth thorns and hay instead of grapes, wood, stubble, and briers destined to burn; therefore the root of their wickedness shall be reduced to ashes, and every flower and beauty of riches and of the body shall be compared to dust.

For they did not only do these things, but by these steps arrived at blasphemy, so that they did not receive the law of the Lord, and blasphemed the word of the Holy One of Israel; concerning whom we read above: Out of Sion shall go forth the law, and the word of the Lord from Jerusalem. The root may be understood as evil thoughts, and the fruit and the bud as evil deeds and words, so that what lies hidden in the root is shown in the bud: both of which shall be devoured by the fire of the Lord. Whence also the Apostle speaks of the root of bitterness of evils springing up. (Verse 25.) Therefore has the fury of the Lord been kindled against his people, and he has stretched out his hand upon them, and struck them, and the mountains were troubled, and their carcasses became as dung in the midst of the streets.

In all this his fury has not turned away, but his hand is still stretched out: Because they have cast away the law of the Lord of hosts, which the Lord promises he will give through Jeremiah, saying: Behold the days come, says the Lord, and I will make with the house of Israel and the house of Judah a new covenant, not according to the covenant which I made with your fathers, in the day when I took them by the hand to lead them out of the land of Egypt. And they have blasphemed the word of the Holy One of Israel, saying: He has a devil, and is a Samaritan; and: Is not this the carpenter’s son?

Therefore the fury of the Lord was kindled against his people—he who had first been angry against the rulers and the powerful, who were wise in their own eyes, and justified the wicked for gifts, and had devoured them like stubble by the tongue of fire, and the heat of the flame had burned them up, so that the mighty might mightily suffer torments. And he stretched out his hand against him whom he calls his people: because he was the portion of his inheritance, and the lot of his possession. But he stretches out his hand in order to strike, and his fury is angry, concerning which we read also elsewhere: O Lord, rebuke me not in your fury, neither chasten me in your wrath. And Jeremiah says: Correct us, O Lord, but in judgment, and not in fury. But the Lord is said to be furious, not because he is subject to human disturbances, but because we who sin, unless we hear him as one enraged, do not fear the Lord.

Whence also the Apostle writes that the goodness of God, and his patience, call us to repentance: but we, according to our hardness and impenitent heart, treasure up for ourselves wrath against the day of wrath and revelation of the just judgment of God. But what the hand is which is stretched out, or lifted up, over the sinning people, Job speaks more plainly: For the hand of the Lord has touched me. Whence also the devil, knowing the mighty hand of the Lord, and the arm which has been revealed to all nations, says to the Lord: Put forth your hand, and touch all that he has: he will surely bless you to your face. But that which is spoken as if in the past, though it is future, follows the prophetic custom, in which things that are to come are so certain that they are thought to be already past. This too is sung in the Psalms: They gave gall for my food, and in my thirst they gave me vinegar to drink.

And again: They parted my garments among them, and cast lots upon my vesture. And that which follows: And he struck him, that is, his people, and the mountains were troubled: some think the mountains signify contrary powers; or those spirits who are in the ministry of God, and to whom sinners are handed over for punishment. But we think it is spoken hyperbolically, that, because of the greatness of the evils impending, even the mountains are moved, and all the streets of the cities are filled with the corpses of the dead. That this happened to the Jews after the Passion of the Lord under Vespasian and Hadrian, no one doubts. And though these things have come to pass, his fury has not turned away, but his hand is still stretched out, or lifted up, which shows the posture of one angry and striking.

And it must be noted in all these things, that he does not reproach them with idolatry, nor with other sins, for which they offended God, but because they cast away the law of the Gospel, and blasphemed the word of the Lord. (Verses 26 and following.) And he will lift up a sign to the nations afar off, and will hiss to him from the ends of the earth: and behold, he will come with speed swiftly. There shall be none fainting nor labouring among them: none shall slumber nor sleep, neither shall the girdle of his loins be loosed, nor the latchet of his shoes be broken. His arrows are sharp, and all his bows bent: the hoofs of his horses shall be like flint, and his wheels like the whirlwind. His roaring like a lion, he shall roar like the young lions: and he shall roar and lay hold of the prey, and shall embrace it, and there shall be none to deliver it.

And in that day there shall be a sounding upon him like the sounding of the sea: we shall look toward the land, and behold darkness of tribulation, and the light is darkened in the obscurity thereof. The Hebrews understand this passage to prophesy of the Babylonians and Nebuchadnezzar, that by the will of God he was brought into Judea and Jerusalem, and overthrew the temple. But we, following the order, and connecting what follows with what precedes, say that the sign was raised up to the nations afar off, and that the Lord hissed, or drew them from the ends of the earth, because they cast away the law of the Gospel, and blasphemed the holy word. For if the discourse were about the Babylonians, according to prophetic custom he would have said: I will call him who is from the north, since, situated near Judea, the Assyrians and Chaldeans are in the northern region. Or certainly he would have described the Babylonians and Assyrians more openly.

But now, by saying: He will lift up a sign to the nations afar off, and will hiss to him from the ends of the earth, he signifies peoples set far away, and dwelling at the ends of the earth: doubtless the Romans, and all the peoples of Italy, and of the Gauls and Spain, who under Vespasian and Hadrian were subject to the Roman empire. Whence also Italy, from the fact that Hesperus sets there, was formerly called Hesperia. And by his coming they were struck, and all the mountains of Judea were troubled, as Theodotion and Symmachus interpreted, or moved, as Aquila rendered, or embittered, as the Seventy translated, so that by the onslaught of the enemy all the streets were filled with the corpses of the dead.

The divine word therefore describes the swiftness of the coming army, which came not by its own will, but by the will of the Lord; nay rather, was drawn on, and provoked by his hiss, so that it did not fail, nor grow weary from so great a march, and by the desire of plunder did not admit sleep to its eyes, and its shoes were not worn out; the multitude of archers, the squadrons of horsemen, the ardor of chariots and four-horse teams, that, like a lion, it came not so much to fight as to plunder and devour, and the howling of the conquering army is compared to the waves of the sea. From which it should be noted, wherever the sound of the sea is mentioned in the Scriptures, what it signifies. When, therefore, the Roman army shall have come, and held its prey, and there shall be none to deliver, the Prophet, with a feeling of compassion, joins himself to the people, and says: We shall look toward the land, and behold darkness of tribulation.

For we shall not dare to look toward heaven, whose Inhabitant we have offended: and our light, which we always had in God, is darkened with the gloom of tribulations. I have read in the Commentaries of a certain writer, that this saying: He will lift up a sign to the nations afar off, and will hiss to him from the ends of the earth, ought to be understood of the calling of the Gentiles, that, the sign of the Cross being lifted up, and the burdens of sins laid down, they came swiftly and believed. But I do not know how what follows can be made to agree with this meaning.

The great size of the volumes which is woven together in the exposition of the prophet Isaiah is enough for me, where to omit anything is a loss to the understanding. Wherefore in each several book, which only indicate number and order, I have placed brief little prefaces. And you, virgin of Christ, Eustochium, I beg, that in the exposition of this most difficult vision you may assist me with your prayers: in which Almighty God is beheld in his majesty; and two Seraphim standing round about him and crying out: Holy, Holy, Holy is the Lord of hosts, the whole earth is full of his glory; and the lintel of the temple shaken and struck, and the house of Judah filled with the darkness of error. And the Prophet, by comparison with the divine glory, says that he has unclean lips, and dwells in the midst of a people of blasphemers, who with a voice consonant with impiety cried out: Crucify, crucify such a one; and, We have no king but Caesar.

And one of the Seraphim was sent to Isaiah, who, taking a coal from the altar with tongs, purged the lips of the prophet, while the people remained unclean. This, then, is the beginning of the third book on Isaiah.

In the year that King Uzziah died, I saw the Lord sitting upon a throne high and lifted up. That Isaiah prophesied under four kings, concerning Judah and Jerusalem, was shown in the title of the first vision; that is, under Uzziah, Jotham, Ahaz, and Hezekiah. Uzziah, then, having died, under whom all the things we have expounded above were spoken, his son Jotham succeeded him, who reigned sixteen years, and did that which was right in the sight of the Lord, and built the high gate of the temple. While he was reigning, Isaiah saw the Lord sitting upon a throne high and lifted up, to show the posture of one who reigns.

And those things which were under him, filled the Temple, or as Theodotion and Symmachus translated: And those things which were under his feet, filled the Temple. In place of which the LXX translated: And the house was full of his glory. Concerning this vision, about thirty years ago, when I was at Constantinople, and was being instructed in the studies of the sacred Scriptures by that most eloquent man Gregory Nazianzen, then bishop of that same city, I know that I dictated a short and hastily composed treatise, both that I might make trial of my little talent, and that I might obey friends who bade me. To that little book, then, I send the reader, and I pray that he be content with the brief exposition of this present time.

Sacred history relates that Uzziah, because he claimed for himself a priesthood not lawful to him, was struck with leprosy; and when he had died, the Lord is seen in the Temple, which he had polluted. From which we observe that, while a leprous king reigns over us, we cannot see the Lord reigning in his majesty, nor know the mysteries of the holy Trinity. Whence also in Exodus, after Pharaoh died, who oppressed Israel with mud and straw and bricks, the people cried out to the Lord, which, while he lived, they could not cry out. And Ezekiel, after Pelatiah son of Benaiah, a most wicked prince, had died, falls upon his face, and cries with a loud voice to the Lord.

And beautifully, according to the Hebrew, it is not the Lord himself who filled the Temple—he whose throne is heaven, and the earth the footstool of his feet; and of whom we read elsewhere: The Lord is in his holy Temple, the Lord, his seat is in heaven—but those things which were under his feet filled the Temple. But who this Lord is who is seen, we learn more fully in the evangelist John, and in the Acts of the Apostles. Of whom John says: These things said Isaiah, when he saw his glory, and spoke of him—there is no doubt that he signifies Christ.

Again Paul, in the Acts of the Apostles, where he speaks at Rome to the Jews, says: Well did the Holy Spirit speak through Isaiah the prophet to our fathers, saying: Go to this people, and say: With the ear you shall hear, and shall not understand; and seeing you shall see, and shall not perceive; for the heart of this people is grown fat, and their ears are dull of hearing, and they have closed their eyes; lest at any time they should see with their eyes, and hear with their ears, and understand with their heart, and should be converted, and I should heal them. Now the Son was seen in the guise of one reigning, and the Holy Spirit spoke, on account of the fellowship of majesty and the unity of substance. Someone might ask, how the Prophet now says he saw the Lord, and not the Lord absolutely, but the Lord of Sabaoth, as he himself testifies in what follows; when the evangelist John has said: No man has ever seen God.

And God says to Moses: You cannot see my face: for man shall not see my face, and live. To which we shall reply, that not only the divinity of the Father, but not even that of the Son and the Holy Spirit—because there is one nature in the Trinity—can be beheld by the eyes of the flesh; but by the eyes of the mind, of which the Savior himself says: Blessed are the pure in heart, for they shall see God. We read that the Lord was seen by Abraham in the figure of a man; and that he, who was God, wrestled with Jacob as a man. Whence also that place itself was called Phanuel, that is, the face of God: For I have seen, he says, the Lord face to face, and my soul has been saved. Ezekiel too saw the Lord in the form of a man sitting upon the Cherubim, from his loins downward there was as it were fire, and the upper parts had the appearance of amber.

Therefore the nature of God is not perceived, but is seen by men, as he has willed. (Verse 2.) Seraphim stood above it, six wings to the one, and six wings to the other: with two they covered his face, and with two they covered his feet, and with two they flew. And they cried one to another, and said: Holy, Holy, Holy, the Lord of hosts; the whole earth is full of his glory. This, which we, following other interpreters and the Hebrew truth—in which it is written MEMMAALO ממעלו, that is, ἐπάνω αὐτοῦ, which in Latin is said, above it—have rendered thus: the LXX translated in circuitu ejus (round about him), so that the Seraphim are described not as standing above the Temple, but round about the Lord.

Again, where we said that one of the Seraphim covered his face and his feet, by which is understood God's face and feet: in the Hebrew it is written PHANAU פניו and REGLAU רגליו, which can be interpreted both as "his" and "its own": so that the Seraphim, according to the ambiguity of the Hebrew tongue, are said to cover both the face and feet of God, and their own face and feet. In the seventy-ninth psalm we read: You who sit upon the Cherubim, show yourself: which in our language is interpreted "abundance of knowledge." Whence also the Lord is shown to sit openly upon the Cherubim after the manner of a charioteer. But I do not know that I have read of the Seraphim, apart from this passage, elsewhere in the canonical Scriptures, who are said to stand above the Temple, or round about the Lord. Therefore those err who are wont to say in their prayers: You who sit upon the Cherubim and Seraphim, which Scripture has not taught.

Now Seraphim is interpreted ἐμπρησταί, which we may render as "those who set on fire," or "those who burn," according to that which we read elsewhere: Who makes his angels spirits, and his ministers a burning fire. Whence also the Apostle Paul, in the Epistle to the Hebrews, which Latin custom does not receive, says: Are they not all ministering spirits, sent to minister for them who shall receive the inheritance of salvation? Daniel too, when he had described the Lord in the guise of one reigning, added: Thousands of thousands ministered to him, and ten thousand times a hundred thousand stood before him. In the Cherubim, then, the Lord is shown; in the Seraphim he is shown in part, and in part concealed. For they cover his face and his feet, because we cannot know the things before the world, nor the things after the world; but we contemplate only the intermediate things which were made in six days.

Nor is it strange to believe this of the Seraphim, since the apostles also disclose the Savior to believers, and hide him from unbelievers: and there was a veil before the Ark of the Testament. They are also said to have wings, on account of their swiftness, and their running to and fro through all things; or because they always dwell in the higher regions. For that which is said of the winds: Who walks upon the wings of the winds, does not truly attest that the winds have wings, according to the fables of the poets and the license of painters; but signifies swift movement through all things. And each one had six wings; because we know only of the making of the world and of the present age.

Now that they cry, one to another, or, according to the Hebrews, this one to that one, that is, one to one, they exhort each other mutually to the praises of the Lord, and say: Holy, Holy, Holy, the Lord of hosts, so as to show the mystery of the Trinity in one Godhead: and they testify that no longer the Temple of the Jews, as before, but the whole earth is full of his glory—he who, for our salvation, deigned to assume a human body, and to descend to the earth. Finally, also to Moses, when he prayed to the Lord on behalf of the people who had adored the calf, that he would spare the sinning people, the Lord answered: I will be propitious to them. Nevertheless, as I live, and as my name lives: for my glory shall fill the whole earth. And the seventy-first psalm sings: His glory shall fill the whole earth.

Whence also the Angels cried to the shepherds: Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace to men of good will. Impiously, therefore, do certain ones understand the two Seraphim as the Son and the Holy Spirit: whereas we teach that the evangelist John and the apostle Paul show that the Son of God was seen in the majesty of one reigning, and that the Holy Spirit spoke. Certain of the Latins understand the two Seraphim as the Old and New Testament, which speak only of the present age. Whence also they are said to have six wings, and to veil the face and feet of God, and eagerly to bring forth the testimony of truth, and, in all that they cry out, to show forth the mysteries of the Trinity.

And to marvel at one another that the Lord Sabaoth, being in the form of God the Father, took the form of a servant, and humbled himself even unto death, even the death of the cross, and that no longer the heavenly beings alone, as before, but the earthly also might know him. (Verse 4.) And the lintels of the doorposts were moved at the voice of him that cried, and the house was filled with smoke. When the Seraphim cried out, and proclaimed the mystery of the Trinity throughout the whole earth, when the whole earth came to know the passion of the Lord Savior, immediately the lintel of the Temple was moved, or taken away, and all its doorposts fell down, the threat of the Savior being fulfilled, who said: Your house shall be left to you desolate. And how fitting is the order of the words.

After the earth was filled with the glory of the Lord Sabaoth, the Temple of the Jews was filled with the darkness of ignorance, and with mist, and with smoke, which is harmful to the eyes. Or certainly by the smoke of the Temple its burning is signified. For first the Gospel of the Savior was preached throughout the whole world, and after forty-two years from the Lord's passion, Jerusalem was captured, and the Temple was set on fire. The Jews think that the Temple being filled with smoke signifies thymiama, that is, incense, and thereby the coming of the divine majesty. (Verse 5.) And I said: Woe is me, for I have held my peace, because I am a man of polluted lips, and I dwell in the midst of a people that has polluted lips, and I have seen with my eyes the King, the Lord of hosts.

And Abraham too, after he saw the Lord and heard his voice, says that he is earth and ashes; and Isaiah, according to the LXX interpreters, testifies that he is stricken with compunction, not for other sins, but because he had unclean lips. Happy conscience, which sinned only in speech, not by its own fault, but by fellowship with a people having polluted lips, with whom he was very often compelled to speak. From which it is shown to be harmful to live with sinners: For he who touches pitch shall be defiled by it. But because we read in the Hebrew: Woe is me, for I have held my peace, the Prophet mourns that he was not worthy to praise the Lord Sabaoth, along with the Seraphim, whom we understand to be the Angelic powers. But he did not dare to praise the Lord: because he had unclean lips. And he had unclean lips for this reason, because he dwelt among a sinning people.

Or certainly it is to be understood thus: Because I held my peace, and did not boldly rebuke Uzziah, the impious king, therefore my lips are unclean, and I do not dare to sing the praises of the Lord with the Angels, lest it be said to me: Why do you declare my righteousness, and take my covenant in your mouth? For praise is not beautiful in the mouth of a sinner. But we say this, not that we teach that Isaiah was actually such; but that he himself, out of humility, and for having merely unclean lips, confesses himself unworthy of the praise of God. (Verse 6.) And one of the Seraphim flew to me, and in his hand a live coal, which he had taken with tongs from the altar, and he touched my mouth, and said: Behold, I have touched this to your lips, and your iniquity shall be taken away, and your sin shall be cleansed.

One of the Seraphim flew, or was sent—the name is interpreted as "burning"—that he might purge the unclean lips of the Prophet, and burn them clean with the coal, or live stone, which he had taken from the altar. Many, however, think that there are two Seraphim, because one cried out to the other, though even out of many, each one to each other might cry out; and the Septuagint edition rather signifies many, who have translated: Seraphim stood round about him. But if it were said of two, they would have said not "round about," but "on either side." And this fits the multitude of Angels, which is prepared for the ministry of God. Seraphim, moreover, is the plural, and Seraph the singular; just as Cherubim, and Cherub.

That the altar under which the souls of the martyrs are is seen in heaven, John also speaks in the Apocalypse: and this live coal, which alone the Septuagint has translated ἄνθραξ, that is, carbuncle, can signify not coal or ember, as many suppose, but ἄνθρακα, that is, the carbuncle stone, which on account of its resemblance to flame-colour is called fiery. From which we understand that the altar of God is full of carbuncles, that is, of fiery coals and embers, purging sins. Whence we read it written of God: Coals were kindled by him. And of the Lord himself it is said that he is a consuming fire. And the Saviour in the Gospel: I came to send fire upon the earth: that he might baptize in the Holy Spirit and fire. For of what sort each one's work is, fire shall prove it. And he who is to be saved, shall be saved so, as if he had passed through fire.

And this is to be noted, that to Jeremiah, to whom it was said: Before I formed you in the womb I knew you, and in your mother's womb I sanctified you—because he did not have unclean lips, but had only said: I know not how to speak, for I am a youth—the Lord himself stretched out his hand, and touched his mouth, and said: Behold, I have put my words in your mouth. But to Isaiah, who had said: I am a man of unclean lips, and I dwell in the midst of a people having unclean lips, the hand of God is not extended, but a Seraph is sent by God, or flies of his own will, because he is devoted to this office. And in his hand he holds the live coal, which according to the Septuagint and Theodotion, with tongs; according to Aquila and Symmachus, who followed the Hebrew, he grasped with tongs, that is, MALCAIM (מלקחים), that he might touch his mouth, and purge his former uncleanness.

Now a hand is sent both from God and from the Seraph, so that the Prophet, seeing a member of his own body, might not be terrified by an external touch. Certain of our own writers think that the tongs, by which the coal is grasped, are the two Testaments, which are joined together by the union of the Holy Spirit. But because the Lord is introduced as sitting, and sitting in the Temple, and the house was filled with smoke—of incense, as the Jews suppose—the tongs are also consequently mentioned, which we also read of in the priestly ministry. (Verse 8.) And I heard the voice of the Lord saying: Whom shall I send, and who shall go for us? And I said: Behold, here, send me. As to the fact that both we and all the other interpreters have translated, "for us," which in Hebrew is called LANU (לנו), the Seventy, wanting I know not what, have put "to this people," which is not found at all in the Hebrew.

But when it is said from the person of God, "for us," it must be understood in the sense in which we also read in Genesis: Let us make man to our image and likeness, so that it may indicate the mystery of the Trinity. For just as in the Gospel we read the Lord saying: I and the Father are one; and we refer "one" to nature, "we are" to the diversity of persons: so, at the Lord's command, the Trinity gives the order. And for this reason the Lord does not say whom he commands to go, but sets before the hearers a choice, so that the will may earn the reward. And the Prophet does not promise to go out of rashness and the arrogance of his own conscience, but out of confidence: because his lips have been purged, and his iniquity taken away, and his sin cleansed.

So too Moses, to whom the Lord had said: Come, I will send you to Pharaoh king of Egypt, and he said: I beseech you, Lord, I am not worthy, provide another whom you may send, or as it is read in the Hebrew, Send whom you are about to send, answered not out of contempt, but out of humility, because he had heard nothing about his lips having been purged, he who had been trained in all the wisdom of the Egyptians. And Isaiah offers himself for the ministry not by his own merit, but by the grace of the Lord, by which he was purged.

But others think that Isaiah offered himself for this reason, because he supposed that prosperous things were to be announced to the people: but because he heard, Go, say to this people: With your ears you shall hear, and not understand, and seeing you shall see, and not know, therefore in what follows, when the voice of the Lord says to him, Cry out, he does not immediately cry out, but asks, what shall I cry? And Jeremiah, to whom it had been said: Take the cup, and you shall give all the nations to drink, to whom I will send you, gladly taking the cup of punishments, so that he might give it to the adversary nations, and they might drink, and vomit, and fall, after he heard, go, and you shall first give it to Jerusalem to drink, answered: You have deceived me, Lord, and I have been deceived. This is the observation of the Hebrews.

But we say that it was not of rashness, but of obedience, that he offered himself to the Lord to be sent. (Verses 9 and following.) And he said: Go, and you shall say to this people: Hearing hear, and do not understand, and seeing see, and do not know. Blind the heart of this people, and make its ears heavy, and shut its eyes, lest perhaps it see with its eyes, and hear with its ears, and understand with its heart, and be converted, and be healed.

The Seventy have interpreted this passage in the way that the evangelist Luke set it down in the Acts of the Apostles: And when they were not agreeing among themselves, no doubt the Jews, they departed, Paul saying this one word: Well did the Holy Spirit speak through Isaiah the prophet to our fathers, saying: Go to this people, and say: With your ear you shall hear, and not understand, and seeing you shall see, and not perceive; for the heart of this people has grown fat, and with their ears they have heard heavily, and they have closed their eyes, lest perhaps they see with their eyes, and hear with their ears, and understand with their heart, and turn themselves, and I heal them. But at what time this prophecy was fulfilled, the Apostle Paul himself speaks in what follows: Be it known to you therefore, that this salvation of God has been sent to the Gentiles, and they will hear.

Whence also in the same Acts of the Apostles we read that Paul and Barnabas, when the Jews were unwilling to believe, said: It was necessary that the word of God be spoken to you first, but since you have rejected it, and have judged yourselves unworthy of eternal life, behold we turn to the Gentiles. For thus the Lord commanded us: I have set you as a light of the Gentiles, that you may be for salvation even to the end of the earth. Therefore according to the Seventy the interpretation is easy, that Isaiah the prophet, at the Lord's command, foretells what the people is going to do.

In the Hebrew there is a difficulty, as to how God himself commands the people, that hearing it may hear, and not understand, and seeing it may see, and not recognize, and afterward the prophet is brought in speaking, and beseeching the Lord and saying: Blind the heart of this people, and make its ears heavy, and shut its eyes, lest perhaps it see with its eyes, and hear with its ears, and understand with its heart, and be converted, and be healed. And first that question must be resolved which can be raised against us: why the apostle Paul, disputing with the Hebrews, spoke not according to the Hebrew, which he had known to be correct, but according to the Seventy? The ancient treatise-writers of the Church hand down that the evangelist Luke was most skilled in the art of medicine, and knew Greek letters better than Hebrew.

Whence also his speech, both in the Gospel and in the Acts of the Apostles, that is, in both volumes, is more polished, and breathes of secular eloquence, and he uses Greek testimonies more than Hebrew ones. But Matthew and John, of whom the one wove his Gospel in Hebrew speech, the other in Greek, bring forth testimonies from the Hebrew, as is that: Out of Egypt I have called my son. And: Because he shall be called a Nazarene. And: Rivers of living water shall flow from his belly. And: They shall look on him whom they have pierced, and other things like these. Also the Epistle to the Hebrews of Paul is for this reason disputed, because writing to the Hebrews he uses testimonies which are not found in the Hebrew volumes.

But if anyone should say that the Hebrew books were afterward falsified by the Jews, let him hear what Origen answers to this little question in the eighth volume of his Explanations of Isaiah, that the Lord and the Apostles, who charge the Scribes and Pharisees with other crimes, would never have kept silent about this crime, which was the greatest. But if they should say that after the coming of the Lord Savior, and the preaching of the Apostles, the Hebrew books were falsified, I shall not be able to hold back laughter, that the Savior, and the Evangelists, and the Apostles should have brought forth testimonies in such a way that the Jews were afterward going to falsify them.

But concerning the present passage this must be said, that it is in vain for us to take refuge in the translation of the Seventy, lest what is said according to the Hebrew seem to be blasphemous: Hearing hear, and do not understand: and seeing see the vision, and do not know, since we find testimonies of this kind even among the Seventy Interpreters, as is that in Exodus which is said to Pharaoh: For this reason I have raised you up, that I may show in you my power.

But if he himself raised him up, and hardened Pharaoh's heart so that he would not believe: and of others it is said: God gave them a spirit of compunction, eyes, that they might not see, and ears, that they might not hear; and in the Psalms: Let their table become a snare, and a trap, and a stumbling block, and a retribution: let their eyes be darkened that they may not see, and let their backs be bowed down always: those are not at fault who do not see; but he who gave them eyes for not seeing. Therefore even without this testimony, which we are now trying to expound, the same question remains in the Churches, and either it will be resolved along with the others, or, along with the others, this too will be unresolvable. This passage the blessed apostle Paul explains more fully to the Romans, and what he pursued through almost the whole epistle, we make superfluous if we wish to comprehend it in a brief discourse.

For he says, after much discussion: God has shut up all things in unbelief, that he might have mercy on all. And marveling at the mysteries of the Lord he added: O the depth of the riches of the wisdom and knowledge of God, how unsearchable are his judgments, and untraceable his ways. And again, disputing about the unbelief of the Jews, he says: Have they sinned so as to fall? By no means; but by their fault salvation came to the Gentiles, to provoke them to jealousy. And a little after: For if their rejection is the reconciliation of the world, what shall their reception be but life from the dead? And again: For I do not want you to be ignorant, brothers, of this mystery, lest you be wise in your own conceits, that blindness in part has happened to Israel, until the fullness of the Gentiles comes in, and then all Israel shall be saved.

And a little after: According to the Gospel indeed they are enemies for your sake, but according to election they are beloved for the sake of the fathers: for the gifts and the calling of God are without repentance. For just as you, he says, once did not believe God, but now have obtained mercy because of their unbelief: so also these now have not believed, on account of your mercy, that they also may obtain mercy. For God has shut up all things under sin, that he might have mercy on all. Therefore it is not cruelty of God, but mercy, for one nation to perish, that all may be saved: for a part of the Jews not to see, that the whole world may look. Whence also the Lord himself in the Gospel turns the mystery of the man blind from birth, who received his eyes, to a moral sense, and says: For judgment I have come into this world, that those who do not see may see, and those who see may become blind.

And in another place Simeon says: Behold, this one is set for the fall and the rising again of many. While they, therefore, do not see, we see: while they fall, we rise again. Understanding this, the Prophet says, as it were in other words: O Lord, you command me to speak to the people of the Jews, that they may hear, and not understand the Savior, and see him, and not recognize him. If you wish your command to be fulfilled, and the whole world to be saved, which I too desire to come about, blind the heart of this people, and make their ears heavy, and shut their eyes, that they may not understand, may not hear, may not see. For if they had seen, and had been converted, and had understood, and had been healed, the whole world would not receive healing. From which we observe that, however grave the sin may be, if anyone is converted, he can be healed.

And at the same time this too must be understood, that on account of the magnitude of the crime they were judged unworthy even of repentance. The Lord himself saying to Jerusalem: How often would I have gathered your children together, as a hen gathers her chicks under her wings, and you would not. (Verses 11-13.) And I said, How long, Lord? And he said, Until the cities be desolate without an inhabitant, and the houses without men, and the land be left a desert. And the Lord will remove men far away, and that which was left in the midst of the land shall be multiplied. And still there shall be a tithing in it, and it shall again be for a spoiling, like a terebinth, and like an oak which has cast off its fruits, holy seed shall be that which shall have stood in it. When the Lord says: Go, and say to this people, that it may hear and not hear, may see and not see.

And for this reason it shall neither hear nor see: because it is not going to understand the words of the Lord, nor to know his works, and because it has grown fat, and broad, and has forgotten its Creator. The Prophet answers, and anxiously inquires about his people: How long, Lord, shall this sentence remain, that hearing it may not hear, and seeing it may not see? To whom the Lord answers, so long it will not hear, and will not see, and will have its heart blinded, until the cities of Judea, with Vespasian and Titus warring, are utterly overthrown, to such an extent that not even the former name remains, and if any houses remain, they are without inhabitant, and the land is reduced to a wilderness; and the Jewish people, whether by flight or captivity, is scattered throughout the whole world: and no longer, as before, in Judea, but among all nations, the people of the Jews is multiplied.

But when I say "multiplied," so great will be the wretchedness of the remaining people, that in comparison to the former multitude, scarcely a tenth part remains. And when there shall also be a wilderness in the land itself (for this passage can be understood in two ways, that a tenth part scarcely remains even in the whole world, and that in Judea itself scarcely a small part of the people is preserved), again these very remnants shall be for a spoiling, when after nearly fifty years Hadrian shall come, and shall have utterly despoiled the land of Judea, to such an extent that it is compared to a terebinth and an oak which has lost its acorns. Finally, after the final devastation, even public laws hung over it, and the Jews were forbidden to enter the land from which they had been cast out.

But if anyone believes in Christ, and that which we read above is fulfilled: Unless the Lord of hosts had left us a seed, we should have been as Sodom, and should have been like Gomorrah: when, according to the Apostle, the remnant shall be saved, this seed shall be holy, and from the offspring of the Apostles all the Churches shall spring up. What we have said, "holy seed shall be that which shall have stood in it"; or according to Aquila, "holy seed shall be its sprout," is not found in the Seventy Interpreters, but was added by Origen from the Hebrew and the edition of Theodotion; it is carried in the copies of the Church, so that after the fullness of the Gentiles has entered in, then all Israel shall be saved; and that in this too the word of the Lord may be fulfilled, saying: I will kill, and I will make alive, and I will strike, and I will heal.

(Verse 1, 2.) And it came to pass in the days of Achaz the son of Joatham, the son of Ozias king of Juda: Rasin king of Syria went up, and Phacee son of Romelia king of Israel, to Jerusalem to fight against it, and they could not prevail against it. And they told the house of David, saying: Syria hath agreed with Ephraim, and his heart was moved, and the heart of his people, as the trees of the woods are moved with the wind. Ozias, who is also Azarias, king of Juda, reigned in Jerusalem fifty-two years. In the last part of whose reign already Isaias saw the things which the foregoing discourse has treated. When he died, and Joatham his son, a most just king, reigned in his stead, the prophet at once saw the Lord the Savior reigning in his majesty, and announcing the blindness of the Jewish people, and the overthrow of Jerusalem and of the other cities under Vespasian and Adrian: and how in the Apostles the remnant was to be saved.

A third king, the son of Joatham, succeeded—Achaz the most impious, who shut the doors of the temple, and worshipped Baal in the valley of Benhennom, and consecrated his own son to idols. So much so that he took away the brazen altar which Solomon had made, and put in the Temple of God an altar of idols, the pattern of which he had received from Damascus. Justly therefore was he abandoned by the Lord's help, and there rose up against him Rasin king of Syria, that is, of Aram, and Phacee son of Romelia, king of Israel in Samaria, and they came to Jerusalem to besiege it.

We read in the book of Paralipomenon that Rasin king of Damascus, having conquered Achaz, transported many of Judea to Damascus: and that Phacee son of Romelia, king of the ten tribes which were called Israel, and reigned in Samaria, in one day struck down a hundred and twenty thousand fighting men of Juda, and led away captive to Samaria two hundred thousand women and boys and girls, with countless spoil. Of that conflict the prophet has now said nothing, but relates the second battle, when, having had proof of their strength and victory, and enticed by the greatness of the spoil, they come again into Judea, and desire to storm Jerusalem, and could not, because the Lord helped it, that under the occasion of the mercy by which He was delivering the besieged people, He might announce that His Son was to be born of a Virgin.

When the house of David heard this—that is, the royal house—that Syria and Ephraim, Rasin and Phacee, were coming with joined army, it was terrified and afraid, and both king and people trembled so much that you would think the leaves of trees were shaken by blasts of wind. According to the anagogic sense the interpretation is easy: that while the impious king Achaz reigns, the king of Aram—which is interpreted "lofty" and "exalted," to indicate the arrogance of worldly wisdom—and Phacee son of Romelia, who himself also, according to the prophet Osee, was of the tribe of Ephraim, from which Jeroboam the son of Nabath had set up the golden calves in Bethel and Dan, and had separated the people of God from David—is referred to heretics, agreeing among themselves, that they may storm the Church. When the house of David—whom in Ezechiel we read is to be raised up as the good shepherd—and his people, simply believing in the Lord, hear this, they will tremble.

And they tremble for this reason, because they are compared not to fruit-bearing trees but to the unfruitful willow. But that heretics and gentiles fight against the house of David with the swords of arguments and the art of dialectic, no one doubts: so that they who disagree among themselves, agree in the assault upon the Church: according to that saying, that Herod and Pilate, at variance among themselves, were joined in friendship at the Lord's passion. (Verses 3, 4 and following.) And the Lord said to Isaias: Go forth to meet Achaz, thou and Jasub thy son that is left, to the end of the conduit of the upper pool, in the way of the fuller's field.

And thou shalt say to him: Take heed to be quiet; fear not, and let not thy heart be afraid of the two tails of these smoking firebrands, in the fury of the wrath of Rasin, and of Syria, and of the son of Romelia; because Syria hath taken counsel against thee unto evil, Ephraim, and the son of Romelia, saying: Let us go up to Juda, and rouse him up, and draw him away to us, and set up a king in the midst thereof, the son of Tabeel. Thus saith the Lord God: It shall not stand, and this shall not be, but the head of Syria is Damascus, and the head of Damascus is Rasin: and within threescore and five years, Ephraim shall cease to be a people. And the head of Ephraim is Samaria, and the head of Samaria is the son of Romelia. If you will not believe, you shall not continue.

Jasub, the son of Isaias, whose name is interpreted "remnant" and "one turned back," is bidden, as a type of the people of Juda, who was to be delivered from the hands of the two kings, to go forth with his parent and meet Achaz king of Juda at the place of the aqueduct of the upper pool, in the way of the fuller's field, where afterwards we shall read that, under Ezechias king of Juda, Rabsaces stood, and by the command of Sennacherib king of the Assyrians blasphemed the people of God. To this place went forth, sent by Ezechias, the princes of the city, of whom we read in the book of Kings. And Achaz, although an impious king, is commanded, on account of the mercy of the Lord, to keep silence, and not be terrified, nor let his heart fear, thinking he would suffer the like of what he had previously endured.

Now he calls the two tails of firebrands, that is, of smoking torches, Rasin king of Syria, and Phacee son of Romelia king of Samaria, because in them the kingdom of Syria, that is, of Damascus, was to end, and the kingdom of Samaria, that is, of the ten tribes, which by another name were called Ephraim.

For it is written that Theglathphalassar king of the Assyrians, in the reign of king Achaz, went up against Damascus and laid it waste, and carried away its inhabitants to Cyrene, and killed Rasin: and that Osee son of Ela laid a snare for Phacee son of Romelia, and struck him and killed him, and reigned in his place over Israel nine years: and that Salmanasar king of Assur came and besieged Samaria, which is now called Sebaste, for three years: and in the ninth year of the reign of Osee he took it, and cast the bound Osee into prison, and transported Israel into Assyria, and placed them in Halla, and in Habor by the river Gozan, in the cities, or, as the Septuagint translated, in the mountains of the Medes.

For although these two most wicked kings took counsel to go up against Juda, whose region lies in the mountains, and to arouse it while at rest, and, as it were, asleep, and subjugate it to their rule, and set over it as king the son of Tabeel, which is interpreted "good God," to indicate either a man of this name, or an idol. Nevertheless, thus saith the Lord God: This counsel shall not stand, but for the meantime the head of the cities of Syria shall be Damascus, and in that very capital, Damascus, Rasin shall rule. Moreover in Ephraim, because of Jeroboam son of Nabath, who first reigned over Ephraim, the head shall be Samaria, that is, the royal house in the city of Samaria, and the head of Samaria shall be the son of Romelia, that is, Phacee: but the kingdom of the ten tribes, that is, of the people of Ephraim, shall cease after sixty-five years. Unless we attend to this carefully, it cannot stand.

For in the twelfth year of Achaz son of Joatham in the tribe of Juda, Osee began to reign over Samaria, and in the ninth year of his rule he was captured. But Achaz reigned over Juda sixteen years, after whose death, in the seventh year of his rule, Osee was captured, and Samaria was destroyed, and the whole people was carried off to the Medes: so that if we wish to reckon sixteen years of Achaz and seven of Osee, they make up twenty-three years, or at most twenty-four; and where then will the sixty-five years be, in which the kingdom of Israel is said to end? Therefore the Hebrews explain this passage thus: that Amos, who began to prophesy under Ozias, at the time when Isaias also had the beginning of his prophecy, first prophesied against Israel, saying: Israel shall be led captive out of his own land.

And the title of his prophecy is against Samaria: and he began to prophesy in the days of Ozias king of Juda, two years before the earthquake, which they hold to have happened at the time when Ozias, entering into the Temple of God, claimed the priesthood for himself, and the earth was struck, and the ashes of the altar were scattered, and the king himself was struck with leprosy. And they hold that this happened in the twenty-fifth year of Ozias, the remaining years of whom are twenty-seven. For Ozias reigned fifty-two years; after him reigned Joatham his son sixteen years, and his son Achaz another sixteen years: after whom reigned Ezechias, in whose sixth year of rule Samaria was taken, and thus together the years amount to sixty-five. These things, the Lord foretelling through the prophet, neither Achaz nor the people believed would come to pass.

Whence it is added: If you will not believe, you shall not continue, as Symmachus translated it, that is, and you shall not continue in your kingdom, but you shall be led into captivity, bearing the punishments of those whose unbelief you imitated. Or else, according to the Seventy, "you shall not understand." And the sense is: because you do not believe the things which the Lord says are to come, you shall not have understanding. These things we have said according to the history. Moreover, it might also be said, "and captured."

Further, according to the tropology we have begun, it must be considered, that the impious king is bidden that Isaias should meet him, going forth from his own place, not at the beginning of the aqueduct, but at the farthest bounds of the upper pool, which was in the fuller's field, where filth and stains were cleansed. For although Achaz reigned over Juda, yet because he was impious, he was tarrying at the farthest bounds of the upper pool. Therefore God has pity not so much on the king, whom He judged unworthy of salvation, as on His people. Now he calls the two tails of smoking firebrands, as we said before, worldly wisdom and heretical discourse, whose end is to be burnt up.

Who took counsel in vain to go up against Juda, and to seize it as though careless and sleeping, and join it to their own errors, and to set over it as king the son of Tabeel, that is, "good God." For each adversary reckons the truth to be with himself, and reckons his own teaching to be the best. Accordingly, Marcion the heretic thinks Christ to be the son of the good God, that is, of another god, and not of the just one, whose prophets these are; whom he calls bloodthirsty, cruel, and a judge. While they say these things, the Lord threatens that their counsel shall not stand, but for the present, as long as this world stands, and the things of the world hold sway within their own bounds and their own cities.

But when the time of consummation shall come, that is, the sixty-five years, and both the things of the world which were made in six days, and all things which pertain to the five senses, shall have received their end, then all things are to be dissolved, which the gentiles and heretics do not believe are to come, and, on account of their unbelief, do not understand what is said. (Verses 10, 11.) And the Lord added, speaking to Achaz, saying: Ask thee a sign of the Lord thy God, either in the depth of hell, or in the height above. He who had before spoken through the prophet to Achaz: See that thou be quiet, fear not, and the rest: since he did not believe, and therefore did not understand, the Lord himself now speaks to Achaz, that at least, terrified by the authority of the Lord, he might accept the things that are said.

For since, He says, it seems difficult to thee that the most powerful kingdoms are to be ended in a short time, and that thou and thy people shall be freed from great danger; ask thee a sign, by no means from the idols by whose error thou art held fast, but from the Lord thy God who promises thee help, and this very sign is at thy option to ask, whether from the depth or from the height. And whereas the Seventy alone said this, the others translated more expressively according to the Hebrew, "of the depth of hell." Therefore, just as the depth signifies hell, so we ought to understand the height as above the heavens: so that when thou hast received a sign either from hell or from the height, thou mayest believe the things to come which I have said. Wilt thou, He says, that the earth be split open, and that the nether regions, which are said to be in the heart of the earth, gape wide with a great chasm?

Or that the heavens be opened? Both of these pertain to the type of the Lord's death and ascension: For He that descended is the same also that ascended. And we read in the Apostle: Say not in thy heart, Who shall ascend into heaven? That is, to bring Christ down. Or, Who shall descend into the abyss? That is, to bring Christ again from the dead. And in another place, disputing about Christ, he says: What is the breadth, and length, and height, and depth of the surpassing knowledge and love of Christ. So much as pertains to the mystical understanding. But Moses too received signs from the earth, concerning which we read in the Psalms: He sent signs and wonders in the midst of thee, O Egypt—frogs, locusts, gnats, and the dog-fly; but from heaven, hail and fire and darkness of three days.

I think too that Ezechias, when the sun went back ten lines, received a sign from heaven: and Joshua the son of Nun in Gabaon and Aialon, when the sun and moon stood still. Many think that Saul received a sign from the earth and from the depth of hell, when he seemed to have raised up Samuel by incantations and magic arts. But also the prophet Jonas, freed from the abyss and from the depth and from the jaws of death, both gave and received a sign of hell (Jonas 2). I have read in the Commentaries of a certain man this passage attenuated by allegory, so that he understood the depth and the height as αἰσθητά and νοητά, which we may call sensible and intelligible things, the one referring to the senses, the other to the mind and reason. He also interprets the virgin as the soul, which is corrupted by no consciousness of sin, and can bring forth of herself Emmanuel, God with us, that is, the present Word of God.

But we do not eat the flesh of the lamb boiled, but roasted, and such things as can dry up in us all the phlegm of pleasures, lest, while we savor more than we ought to savor, we neglect the sacrament of our faith. (Verse 12.) And Achaz said: I will not ask, and I will not tempt the Lord. It is not a mark of humility, but of pride, that he does not wish to ask a sign from the Lord. For although it is written in Deuteronomy: Thou shalt not tempt the Lord thy God, and the Savior used this testimony against the devil: yet, being commanded to ask, he ought by obedience to have fulfilled the precept, especially since Gedeon and Manue both asked for and received a sign (Judges 6 and 13).

Although, according to the ambiguity of the Hebrew speech, in which it is written Lo enasseh adonai (לא אנסה את יהוה), and all have similarly translated, "I will not tempt the Lord," it can be read, "I will not exalt the Lord." For the impious king knew that if he asked for a sign, he would receive it, and the Lord would be glorified. Therefore, as a worshiper of idols, who had set up altars in every corner of the streets and on the mountains and wooded groves, and who kept fanatics instead of Levites, he does not wish to ask for the sign that was commanded. (Verse 13.) And he said, Hear ye therefore, O house of David: Is it a small thing for you to be grievous to men, that you are grievous to my God also? Who is it that said: Hear ye therefore, O house of David?

By no means God, who above had said to Achaz: Ask thee a sign of the Lord thy God; but the Prophet, as is proved from what follows: For you are grievous to my God also. And the sense is: because you not only persecute the prophets and despise their sayings, but you also contradict the sentence of the God who is present and commanding; so that you cause labor to him who says elsewhere: I have labored, enduring; therefore the Lord will do the things that follow. For "labor and trouble," which Aquila and Symmachus translated, the Seventy and Theodotion interpreted as "contest," that is, wrestling and struggle, because the contentious do not submit their neck to the Lord's service, but, when he wishes to heal their wounds, they refuse health.

And this is to be noted, that when Achaz, a most impious king, refused to ask for a sign, the prophetic word is turned to the house of David, that is, to the royal tribe, of which we read above: And they told these things to the house of David, saying: Syria and Ephraim are agreed together. (Verse 14.) Therefore the Lord himself shall give you a sign. Behold a Virgin shall conceive, and bear a son, and you shall call his name Emmanuel. By no means, according to the Apostle Paul, "at sundry times and in divers manners" shall God speak; nor, according to another prophet (Osee 12), shall he be likened "in the hands of the prophets"; but he who before spoke through others will himself say, "I am here" (Below, 58). Of him too the Spouse asked in the Canticle of Canticles: Let him kiss me with the kiss of his mouth.

For the Lord of hosts, he himself is the King of glory: he himself will descend into the virginal womb, and will go in and out through the Eastern gate which is always shut; of which Gabriel says to the Virgin: The Holy Ghost shall come upon thee, and the power of the Most High shall overshadow thee: therefore also that Holy thing which shall be born of thee shall be called the Son of God. And in Proverbs: Wisdom hath built herself a house. But when it is said: The Lord himself shall give you a sign, it ought to be new and marvelous. But if a young woman or a girl, as the Jews will have it, and not a virgin, bears a child, what kind of sign could it be called, since this name pertains to age, not to integrity?

And indeed, that we may match step with the Jews, and not, by a contentious rope, give them occasion to laugh at our ignorance—virgin in Hebrew is called BETHULA (בתולה), which is not written in the present passage: but instead of this word is put ALMA (עלמה), which all except the Seventy have translated as "young girl." Now ALMA among them is an ambiguous word: for it means both "young girl" and "hidden," that is, ἀπόκρυφος [lacuna] Whence also in the title of the ninth Psalm, where in the Hebrew is put ALAMOTH (עלמות), the other Interpreters translated "for youth," which the Seventy interpreted "for hidden things." And in Genesis we read: where Rebecca is called alma, Aquila translated not "young girl," nor "girl," but "hidden one." Also the Sunamite woman, having lost her son, when she had fallen at the feet of Elisaeus, and Jezi wished to keep her away, the Prophet hears: Let her alone, for her soul is in anguish, and the Lord hath hid it from me.

For what is said in Latin, "hath hid it from me," in the Hebrew is written, Eelim memmenni (העלים ממני). Therefore alma is said not only of a girl or virgin, but with intensification means a virgin hidden and secret, who has never been exposed to the sight of men, but has been guarded with great diligence by her parents. In the Punic tongue too, which is said to flow from Hebrew springs, a virgin is properly called alma. And, that we may cause the Jews to laugh, in our own speech too alma means "holy." And the Hebrews use words of almost all languages: as is that in the Canticle of Canticles, from the Greek φορεῖον, that is, "a litter Solomon made for himself," which we read likewise in the Hebrew. The word too for "trifles" and "measure" the Hebrews call by the same forms and in the same senses.

And as far as I can struggle with my memory, I do not think I have ever read alma applied to a married woman, but to one who is a virgin: so that she is not only a virgin, but a virgin of younger age, and in the years of adolescence. For it can happen that a virgin be old; but this one was a virgin in girlish years. Or certainly a virgin, not a little girl, and one who could not yet know a man, but already marriageable. Finally, in Deuteronomy under the name of "girl" and "young woman" a virgin is understood. If a man, he says, find in the field a girl who is betrothed, and overpowering her by force lie with her, you shall put to death the man only who lay with her, and you shall do nothing to the girl: there is no sin of death in the young woman. For as if a man rise up against his neighbor by ambush, and kill his soul, so does this matter happen.

He found her in the field: the betrothed girl cried out, and there was none to help her. And in the book of Kings we read that they sought a virgin girl named Abisag, and brought her in to the king, that she might sleep with him and keep him warm, and she was an exceedingly beautiful girl, and she ministered to him, and the king knew her not. And what follows: And thou shalt call his name Emmanuel—both the Seventy and the other three likewise translated it, for which in Matthew it is written, "they shall call": which is not found in the Hebrew.

Therefore this child who shall be born of the Virgin, O house of David, let him now be called by thee Emmanuel, that is, God with us, because by the facts themselves thou shalt prove, once freed from the two enemy kings, that thou hast God present with thee: and he who afterward shall be called Jesus, that is, Savior, because he is to save the whole race of men, is now called by thee by the name of Emmanuel. The word CARATHI, which all have interpreted "thou shalt call," can also be understood "she shall call": namely that the Virgin herself, who shall conceive and bear, shall herself call Christ by this name. In many testimonies which the Evangelists or Apostles took from the old books, it must be observed more carefully that they did not follow the order of the words, but the sense.

Whence also in the present passage, instead of "shall conceive in the womb," Matthew put "shall have in the womb"; and instead of "thou shalt call," "they shall call." The Hebrews think this was prophesied of Ezechias, son of Achaz, because in his reign Samaria was taken: which cannot be proved at all. For Achaz, son of Joatham, reigned over Judah and Jerusalem sixteen years; to whom succeeded in the kingdom his son Ezechias, twenty-five years old, and he reigned over Judah and Jerusalem twenty-nine years. How then, granting that this prophecy was made to Achaz in his first year, can it be said concerning the conception and birth of Ezechias, when at the time Achaz began to reign Ezechias was already nine years old—unless perhaps they say that the sixth year of Ezechias' reign, in which Samaria was taken, is called his "infancy," not of age, but of rule. That this is forced and violent is clear even to the foolish.

A certain one of our own writers contends that the prophet Isaiah had two sons, Jasub and Emmanuel: and that Emmanuel was begotten of his wife the prophetess, as a type of the Lord and Savior: so that the first son, Jasub, which is interpreted "the remnant," or "the one converting," signifies the Jewish people, who were left as a remnant, and are afterward to return. But the second, that is, Emmanuel, "God with us," signifies the calling of the Gentiles, after the Word was made flesh, and dwelt among us. (Verse 15.) He shall eat butter and honey, that he may know to refuse the evil, and choose the good. For which the LXX translated, before he shall know: and what follows, to take the evil, is not found in the Hebrew.

And the sense is: O House of David, to whom it is commanded by the word of God, that you call, that is, invoke, being set in peril, the name of Emmanuel, that is, God with us; do not marvel at the novelty of the thing, if a Virgin should bear God, who has such power that, though to be born much later in time, he now frees you when invoked; for he is the one who was seen by Abraham, and who spoke with Moses. I will say something even more wonderful, lest you think he will be born in a mere phantom, he will use the foods of infancy, he will eat butter and milk.

And although many ages later the Evangelist testifies concerning him: "And the child grew in wisdom and age and grace before God and men"; and this is said in order that the truth of the human body might be established: yet still, wrapped in swaddling clothes, and fed with butter and honey, he will have the judgment of good and evil, so that, rejecting evils, he may choose the good. Not that he actually did this, or rejected or chose; but that he knew how to reject and to choose, so that through these words we may know that the infancy of the human body did not prejudice the divine wisdom. Finally, angels announce to shepherds him lying in the manger: Magi coming from the East adore him, who are certainly to be believed to be the elect.

And on the contrary Herod, the Scribes and Pharisees are rejected, who for the sake of one infant slaughtered many thousands of little children. (Verse 16.) For before the child shall know to refuse the evil and choose the good, the land which you abhor shall be forsaken by both her kings. In the sixth year of the reign of Hezekiah, Samaria was captured by the Assyrians, that is, in the thirty-first year of his life.

So then this one who is born, either of a Virgin, as we prove, or of a young woman, as the Jews would have it, will eat butter and honey, and will be so small a child that he cannot distinguish evil from good, and before he passes out of the time of infancy, the land of Syria and Samaria is to be laid waste by the Assyrians: let the Hebrews answer, how Hezekiah, thirty-one years old, can be foretold as an infant, and of such tender age that, eating honey and butter, like the children of Nineveh, he would know neither the left hand nor the right, that is, neither evil nor good. But when referred to Emmanuel, which is interpreted "God with us," it will have an easy understanding.

That, as to the mystery and the invocation of his name, the land of Syria and Samaria should be laid waste by the conquering Assyrian: and the house of David should be freed from the two kings whom it fears, namely Rasin and Phacee. (Verse 17.) The Lord shall bring upon you, and upon your people, and upon the house of your father, days that have not come since the days of the separation of Ephraim from Judah, with the king of the Assyrians. This passage is to be read by hyperbaton. Accordingly we too, following the Hebrew truth, have interpreted it thus: O house of David, hearken to what I say, that the land of Syria and Samaria may be forsaken from before the two kings whom you dread most vehemently: the Lord shall bring days upon you, and upon the house of David your father, such as you never had from the time when the ten tribes were separated from the two tribes, and began to have a kingdom in Samaria.

And he shall bring these days, that is, times, with the king of the Assyrians, so that, when they are overcome and overthrown, you may be freed by the presence of Emmanuel. The LXX translated this passage thus: The Lord shall bring upon you, and upon your people, and upon the house of your father, days which have not yet come, from the day that he took away Ephraim from Judah, the king of the Assyrians. What sense this has, we cannot know, unless perhaps this is to be said, that by the greatness of its sins Ephraim, that is, Samaria, first caused the onslaught of the Assyrians to turn aside toward itself. Otherwise: Meanwhile now the two kings Rasin and Phacee, who besiege you, and hasten to lay you waste, shall shortly be overthrown: but that time of your devastation shall come, when, what you never hoped for, indeed never feared, the Assyrian shall come. By which he teaches the house of David, that it is not Syria and Samaria, but the Assyrians who are to be feared.

He therefore frees them from present dread, and threatens concerning future time. (Verses 18, 19). And it shall come to pass in that day, the Lord shall hiss for the fly, that is in the uttermost part of the rivers of Egypt, and for the bee that is in the land of Assur: and they shall come, and shall all rest in the torrents of the valleys, and in the holes of the rocks, and in all thickets, and in all openings. When the land of the two kings, Damascus and Samaria, which you now abhor and fear, shall be deserted: then the Lord shall bring, O house of Judah, upon you and your people, days which you have never seen before, and the king of the Assyrians.

In vain therefore do you fear present things, half-burnt firebrands, having no fire at all in them: for you ought to know that by his hissing the Lord shall call the flies of Egypt, and of its rivers—doubtless meaning the seven channels of the Nile—and the bee, which is in the land of Assur. He calls the Egyptians flies on account of the filth of idolatry, and their unwarlike people; and the Assyrians a bee, whose kingdom at that time was most powerful, and most ready for war: or for this reason, because nearly the whole region of the Assyrians and of Persia made use of arrows. These, then, and all shall come, and shall occupy your land, in the torrents of the valleys, and the caverns of the rocks, and in all thickets, and openings, and wooded places. These things, however, are said by metaphor, so that, having once named flies and bees, he might preserve the figure in the rest.

Let us read the books of Kings and Chronicles, and we shall find that the holy king Josiah was slain by the Egyptians, and the people of Israel subjected to Egyptian power (Chron. 35), so much so that Egypt appointed a king over them. And not long after, Nebuchadnezzar came with an innumerable multitude of warriors, and having captured Jerusalem, and destroyed the other cities of Judea, he burned the Temple, and placed Assyrian inhabitants in Judea. (Verse 20.) In that day the Lord shall shave with a razor that is hired, by them that are beyond the river, by the king of the Assyrians, the head, and the hair of the feet, and the whole beard. Some think this is prophesied of the Assyrians, who, thirteen hundred years before they overthrew Jerusalem, possessed the kingdom of Asia, Egypt, and Libya, and that this kingdom was to be conquered by the Medes and Persians, and their empire destroyed. Others, however, think that it means that the Egyptians were slain beyond the river Euphrates.

But we think that the razor hired for wages is the Assyrian himself, whom in Jeremiah, on account of the vengeance upon the sinful people, he even calls his own dove. Finally, also in the vision of Tyre, because Nebuchadnezzar had labored very much in building fortifications and in bringing up the rampart, and, when they fled by fleet, he had been deprived of his wages, Egypt was given to him as wages and payment for his labor.

Therefore with this most sharp razor, and by these who dwell beyond the river Euphrates, namely by the king of the Assyrians, the Lord shall shave from Judea all the hairs and locks of the whole body from the head even to the feet, and the beauty of the beard, which is a mark of virility, so that nothing strong, nothing beautiful may remain in it, but that they may be compared to effeminate men, indeed to shameful women. (Verse 21, and following.) And it shall come to pass in that day, that a man shall nourish a young cow, and two sheep, and by reason of the abundance of milk he shall eat butter: for butter and honey shall everyone eat that shall be left in the midst of the land. And it shall come to pass in that day, that every place where there were a thousand vines at a thousand pieces of silver, shall become briers and thorns.

With arrows and with the bow shall they go there: for briers and thorns shall be over all the land. And as for all the mountains that shall be hoed with a mattock, the fear of briers and thorns shall not come there; but they shall be for the pasture of oxen, and for the treading of cattle. After the overthrow of Jerusalem, and the captivity of the people, and the burning of the Temple, Nebuzaradan, the captain of the army, whom the LXX call ἀρχιμάγειρος (chief cook), left in the land only a few of the people, and those poor, to till the vineyards and the fields. Then Gedaliah, who was set over them, being of the royal line left behind, exhorted them and said: Fear not the Chaldeans: dwell in the land, and serve the king of Babylon, and it shall be well with you.

In that day, therefore, that is, at that time when all the wealth of the Jews had been carried away into Chaldea, there shall be such solitude in the land of Judea, and such incredible desolation, that they shall by no means have herds of oxen, nor flocks of sheep, as they were formerly accustomed to have: but scarcely will a rare inhabitant be able to nourish one cow, and two sheep; not for plowing, but for food, and for the clothing of milk and of fleece. For, indeed, on account of the lack of grain, and of all things that the earth produces for food, they will feed on milk and butter, and wild honey. And in that he says: By reason of the abundance of milk he shall eat butter, this signifies that the land will be more fertile because of the scarcity of tillers, and more fit for pasture.

In that time, on account of the fewness of men, there will be such a scarcity of wine, the vineyards being deserted, which will by no means be pruned for fear of the enemy, that single vines will scarcely be bought each for a single shekel of silver. For into briers and thorns shall all the land be turned; and there will be such dread, with swords raging everywhere, that no one will dare visit his field without a bow and arrows, and, the level places being abandoned, men will flee to the mountains, and there, fortified by the difficulty of the terrain, will scarcely dig the rough mountains by hand; because they will not have oxen, plows, and plowshares. Wherever, then, a rare farmer shall be found on the mountains, from there they will sustain a wretched life. But the rest shall lie open to pasture, and, without any guard, shall be trodden down by brute animals. Would that we did not know that these things are wont to happen after captivity!

But now a great part of the Roman world is like what Judea once was: which we do not think has happened without the wrath of God, who avenges the contempt shown him, not through the Assyrians and Chaldeans, but through savage nations, once unknown to us, whose very faces and speech are terrible, and who, displaying effeminate and cut faces (he means the Goths, who used to shave their beards), pierce the fleeing backs of men, and of well-bearded men at that.

I recall having read in these passages a very extensive and intricate tropology: that all the things which we have discussed according to the history have happened spiritually to the Jews, who scarcely have one cow and two sheep, that is, clean animals: so that they are nourished not with solid food, but with milk in their infancy, and eat the honeycombs of words that drip from the lips of the harlot woman; and they have no wine, which gladdens the heart of man: but all their works are turned into thorns, so that they are wounded by adversaries, who strike in the dark the upright of heart. But if at any time they wish to understand something loftier, and, sweating with excessive labor, to find some mystical meaning in the Holy Scriptures: nevertheless they bring forth no fruits of doctrine, but are filled with briers and thorns, which grow up in the hands of the drunkard.

And their land and their doctrine are trodden down, not by men, rational beings, but by oxen, of whom God has no care, and by brute animals.

(Verses 1-4.) And the Lord said to me: Take thee a great book, and write in it with a man's pen, swiftly strip the spoils, quickly plunder. And I took unto me faithful witnesses, Urias the priest, and Zacharias the son of Barachias, and I went to the prophetess, and she conceived, and bore a son. And the Lord said to me: Call his name, Make speed to the spoils, hasten to the prey: for before the child shall know to call his father and his mother, the strength of Damascus shall be taken away, and the spoils of Samaria before the king of the Assyrians.

For "great book," the LXX translated "a new and great book." And for what is found in the Hebrew, "I took unto me faithful witnesses," they said: "for it is present, and make me faithful witnesses of men." And for "Urias the priest," they have only "Urias," the rest likewise. First the Prophet was sent to Achaz, to foretell to him what Scripture records: and since he was unwilling to hear, the Lord Himself speaks to Achaz, and commands him to ask for himself a sign in the depth, or in the height. When he answered, "I will not ask, and I will not tempt the Lord," the impious king being dismissed, the words of God are turned to the house of David, and there is promised to it a Virgin who shall bring forth a son, whose name shall be Emmanuel, that is, God with us.

If He is frequently invoked, Samaria shall be overthrown, and Syria: and it shall be overthrown by the king of the Assyrians, who shall also afterward capture Judah itself; so that the whole land of Judea shall be turned into a wilderness. Again, therefore, under another figure, the virginal birth is described. And the Lord said to the Prophet that he should by no means bring forth to the peoples the mystery of the new nativity, but should write it in that great volume which we now read. And that it might be the more wonderful, He comprehends the sacraments of God in human words, and with the pen with which men are wont to write. But what is that which is written with a human pen? That the child, once born, may swiftly strip the spoils, and quickly plunder, that is, that He may no longer suffer the devil to reign; and that He send neither angels nor prophets, but Himself descend to save His own creatures.

The Prophet therefore does what is commanded, and takes to himself two faithful witnesses, Urias the priest, who is a teacher of the law, as Malachi says: "The lips of the priest shall keep knowledge, and they shall seek the law at his mouth, because he is the angel of the Lord of hosts": and Zacharias the son of Barachias, who without doubt was a prophet. We read that, in the reign of Achaz, Urias the priest was of the Temple of the Lord, whom Achaz commanded to make an altar like the altar of Damascus. And the book of Chronicles relates that Ezechias the son of Achaz sought the Lord in the days of Zacharias, who was instructed in the fear of God. Isaiah, moreover, showed himself worthy of the prophetic spirit, and presented himself to the prophetess, that is, to the Holy Spirit, who in the Hebrew tongue is called by the feminine gender RUA (רוח), according to that which is written: "Come ye to the Lord, and be enlightened". By the Holy Spirit, therefore, the Lord was conceived.

And although human speech cannot explain the mysteries of His nativity, yet Gabriel speaks to the Virgin herself, who conceived: "The Holy Spirit shall come upon thee, and the power of the Most High shall overshadow thee: therefore also that holy thing which shall be born of thee shall be called the Son of God". Some interpret the prophetess as holy Mary, whom there is no doubt was a prophetess: for she herself speaks in the Gospel: "For behold, henceforth all generations shall call me blessed: for he that is mighty hath done to me great things", and the rest. And it is commanded to Isaiah that he now call the same child, who before was called Emmanuel, "make speed, strip the spoils, hasten to the prey." For "ascending on high, he led captivity captive; he received gifts for men".

And before He assumed a human body, and, according to His infancy, called God His father, and Mary His mother, the strength of Damascus should be taken away, and the spoils of Samaria by the king of the Assyrians: so that, not yet born, He might save His own people, the house of David, by invocation alone. Urias is interpreted "light of the Lord"; Zacharias, "memory of the Lord"; and Barachias, "blessing of the Lord": by which witnesses the nativity of Christ is confirmed. For He Himself, in the Gospel, to the two going to Emmaus, beginning from Moses and the Prophets, explained that all things had prophesied of Him. According to the tropological sense, in the virgin soul, stained with no defilement, the Word of God is conceived of the Holy Spirit, and swiftly strips the spoils from the adverse powers, and makes all things serve Himself.

And while he now sees in part, and prophesies in part, before he can be perfect, and rightly call God his Father, and his mother the heavenly Jerusalem, being still placed in infancy and in progress, he shall conquer the strength of Damascus, namely the doctrine of worldly wisdom: and shall take away the spoils of Samaria, with which the heretics have despoiled the Church, saying: "We have no portion in David, nor inheritance in the son of Jesse", in the presence of the king of the Assyrians himself, the devil, who will not be able to help them. But such sons not only Mary, the perpetual Virgin, brings forth to the Prophets, but also holy women to the patriarchs.

Sara, who is interpreted ἄρχουσα, that is, princess; and Rebecca, which in our tongue signifies patience. (Verses 5, following.) And the Lord spoke to me yet again, saying: Forasmuch as this people hath cast away the waters of Siloe, that go with silence, and hath rather taken Rasin and the son of Romelia: therefore behold the Lord shall bring upon them the strong and many waters of the river, the king of the Assyrians and all his glory: and it shall come up over all its channels, and shall flow over all its banks. And it shall pass through Judah, overflowing, and passing on shall reach even to the neck; and the stretching out of its wings shall fill the breadth of thy land, O Emmanuel.

He had said above that the strength of Damascus should be taken away, and the spoils of Samaria before the king of the Assyrians, and that the two kings should be captured, the Assyrian fighting: now God speaks to the Prophet in the customary character of the Scriptures, through the figure of the fountain of Siloe at Jerusalem, and of the most violent river of Assyria, which shall flood the whole land of Israel with its waters, and go beyond the banks of its channel, and be borne with such force that, after it has occupied the land of the ten tribes, it shall come to Judah, and passing through shall reach even to the neck: by which he signifies the approaching captivity. For Judah was not then taken, but all the cities of the two tribes being subjugated, only Jerusalem remained, which by the incredible mercy of God was delivered.

The power, therefore, of the Assyrian and his innumerable army, which he had described under the inundation of the river, he now shows by another figure, that with his wings, that is, his leaders, and with an infinite multitude, he covered the land of Emmanuel, that is, of God defending it; but yet did not possess it—although Emmanuel is applied by the LXX in the following chapter, not by his proper name, as he is called among the Hebrews, but by its interpretation, that is, "God with us." That Siloe is a fountain at the foot of Mount Sion, which does not flow with continual waters, but bubbles up at certain hours and days, and comes through the hollows of the earth and caverns of the hardest rock with great sound, we cannot doubt, especially we who dwell in this province.

And the sense is, that the people of the ten tribes preferred to be subject to Rasin and the son of Romelia, that is, to the kings of Damascus and Samaria, rather than to the stock of David, which began to reign by my judgment; I will make him serve, not those kings whom he has taken, but the king of Assyria, whose power in occupying the land of Samaria is compared to the flood of a river. And there is an apostrophe to Emmanuel, that is, to the present God, that the Assyrian raised himself so high that he even attempted to possess the land of Judah itself.

According to the anagogical sense, every heretic who joins to his aid worldly wisdom, and wishes to attack Jerusalem, that is, the Church, forsaking the waters of the fountain of Siloe, which is interpreted "sent," and which springs up unto eternal life, shall be delivered to the prince of the Assyrians (a meaning we shall read of great import in what follows), and being delivered into his power, shall come into the depth of sins of arrogance, so that he dared to show the Savior all the kingdoms of the earth, and to say: "All these things have been delivered to me" He will also try to enter Judah, that is, the house of confession, and often, through those who are negligent in the Church, he will come even to the neck, wishing to suffocate those who believe in Christ, and will stretch out his wings, filling the whole region of Emmanuel; but he will not be able to prevail, because Judah has the present God.

We read in the Gospel according to John that a man blind from birth, whose eyes the Lord had anointed with clay made from His spittle, He sent to the waters of Siloe; and when the blind man had washed off the clay there, his blindness being wiped away, he received clear light of his eyes: which, after the greatness of the sign, indicates that the blindness of the Jews and of every unbeliever cannot be healed otherwise, than that by the doctrine of the waters of Christ, which flows gently without noise and clamor of words, the darkness of former error be put to flight.

What is read in the Septuagint: "And it shall walk over all your wall, and shall take away from Judea the man who could lift up his head, or perhaps do anything" is not found in the Hebrew, and in the Greek codices it is marked with an obelisk as spurious, transfixed as with a piercing spit. (Verses 9, 10.) Gather yourselves together, O peoples, and be overcome, and hearken, all ye far countries: strengthen yourselves, and be overcome. Gird yourselves, and be overcome: take counsel, and it shall be brought to nought: speak a word, and it shall not stand, because God is with us. For "congregamini" gather yourselves, or "be weakened" and "be broken," as others have translated, the LXX put, "know ye." For the Hebrew word ROU (רעו), because of the similarity of the letter RES (ר) to DALETH (ד), they understood as DOU (דעו).

O ye peoples of Samaria and Syria, know that ye are weak and feeble, and that, Emmanuel being present, ye can do nothing against Jerusalem, the city of God: and let not only you, who are near, but all the far country know this. For although you gather an army, and gird yourselves for battle, and the number of the besiegers be greater than that of the besieged, yet not once, but I say it again, ye shall be overcome. And whatever counsel ye take against Jerusalem shall be brought to nought. And although you have said above: "Let us go up against Judah, and rouse him up out of his sleep, and set a king in the midst thereof, even the son of Tabeel": speak indeed a word, but it shall not come to pass, because God is with us, that is, Emmanuel.

We may also use this testimony against the Gentiles in time of persecution, that although they may seem strong, and to overcome us in those who have fallen, yet they are overcome in those who have shed their blood for Christ, and that after wars peace is restored to the Churches: and all their counsels against Emmanuel are brought to nought, because God is with us. Let those also who contradict the truth profitably hear this, that at length they may be overcome by reason, and may by no means wish to prevail by falsehood, because whatever they say, perversity can never overcome what is right. (Verses 11 and following.) For thus says the Lord to me: As with a strong hand he instructed me, that I should not walk in the way of this people, saying: Say ye not, A conspiracy; for all that this people speaks is a conspiracy: and fear not their fear, neither be afraid. Sanctify the Lord of hosts himself: he is your fear, and he is your dread.

And he shall be for a sanctification unto you, but for a stone of stumbling and a rock of offence to the two houses of Israel: for a snare and for a ruin to the inhabitants of Jerusalem; and many of them shall stumble, and shall fall, and shall be broken, and shall be ensnared, and shall be taken. The Seventy have interpreted this passage thus: Thus says the Lord: With a strong hand they have withdrawn from the course of the way of this people, saying: lest perhaps they say, It is hard. For all that this people says is hard; but fear not their fear, neither be troubled. Sanctify the Lord of powers himself, and he shall be your fear, and if you have trusted in him, he shall be to you for a sanctification, and you shall not meet him as a stone of stumbling, nor as a rock of ruin.

But the house of Jacob shall be in a snare and in a hollow to those dwelling in Jerusalem: therefore many of them shall be weak, and shall fall and be broken, and shall draw near, and shall be taken. And what follows, "men in protection," must be marked with an obelus. Because the Hebrew and the Vulgate Edition differ much between themselves, we have therefore set down both. And first the Hebrew must be discussed. This the Lord has spoken to me.

Either on account of the good works, and the grace which I have obtained on account of good works; or, with his strong hand he instructed and taught me, that I should not walk in the way of this people, and be held by the same error; or certainly he made me withdraw from the most wicked way of this people, and said to me: do not fear the conspiracy of the two kings; but consider this rather, that all that this people speaks against me is a conspiracy; and according to Symmachus, who interpreted it as ἀνταρσιν, there has arisen against me a rebel. But you, O Prophet, and those who are with you, fear not the snares of the people, but fear the Lord, and let him be your fear. For the beginning of wisdom is the fear of the Lord. He shall be for a sanctification to believers, but to unbelievers for a stone of stumbling and a rock of offence, namely to the two houses of Judah and Israel.

But especially for a snare and a ruin to the inhabitants of Jerusalem, in which many shall stumble, and fall, and be broken, and, ensnared in the bonds of their sins, shall be led into captivity. The two houses, the Nazarenes (who so receive Christ that they do not omit the observances of the old Law) interpret as two families, Shammai and Hillel, from whom sprang the Scribes and Pharisees, whose school Akiba took up, whom they claim was the teacher of Aquila the proselyte, and after him Meir, whom Jochanan son of Zakkai succeeded, and after him Eliezer, and in order Tarphon, and again Joseph the Galilean, and up to the captivity of Jerusalem, Joshua. Shammai therefore and Hillel arose in Judea not long before the Lord was born, of whom the former is interpreted as "destroyer," the latter as "profane": because through their traditions and δευτερώσεις (repetitions) they dissipated and defiled the precepts of the Law. And these are the two houses which did not receive the Savior, who became to them a ruin and a stumbling-block.

According to the Seventy, the people of God resisted the will of God with a strong hand, and says that all things which the Lord commanded are hard, according to that which we read in the Gospel: This is a hard saying, who can hear it? Whence it is commanded to them that they hear the Lord, and fear him alone. For if they have trusted in him, they shall have him for a sanctification, and shall not stumble as against a stone of stumbling, and as against a rock of ruin. From this passage also the Apostle takes testimony, that Christ became to the Jews a stumbling-block, but to the Gentiles foolishness. And again: Israel, following after the law of righteousness, has not attained to the law of righteousness. Why? Because not by faith, but as it were by works of the law, they stumbled at the stone of stumbling, as it is written: Behold I lay in Sion a stone of stumbling and a rock of offence: whoever believes in him shall not be confounded.

Therefore those who did not receive Emmanuel, but he became to them a stone of stumbling and a rock of offence, shall be broken, and led captive. And what he says: But the house of Jacob shall be in a snare and in a hollow to those dwelling in Jerusalem, signifies this, that they do not dwell on the mountains, nor move about in the lofty places of the Scriptures; but always understand lowly things, joining sins to sins, and bound with the snares of their offences. (Verses 16, 17.) Bind up the testimonies, seal the law among my disciples, and I will wait for the Lord, who hides his face from the house of Jacob, and I will look for him.

This is the voice of the Lord speaking to the Prophet: because, he says, the Lord has become a stone of stumbling and a rock of offence to the two houses of Israel, and they were unwilling to receive Emmanuel sent to them: Bind the testimonies of the Old Testament, and hand them over to my disciples, who received the Gospel, namely the Apostles, or apostolic men. Or certainly, let the law and the prophecy be bound among them until John, and be closed and sealed, so that what they read they do not understand.

For "disciples," according to the ambiguity of the Hebrew speech, we can also interpret as "teachings." Whence the Prophet answers: because, with the Gospel succeeding, the Law is closed and sealed among the Jews, and you command that it be assigned by no means to the Jews, but to the Gentiles: therefore I will wait for Emmanuel, whom you promise is to come, of whom you said above, that he himself is our fear, and he is our terror, and he shall be to us for a sanctification; and I will look for the Lord who hides his face from the house of Jacob, that is, from the Jews, because they were unwilling to receive him. The Seventy have interpreted this passage thus: Then those who are sealed shall be made manifest, so that they may not learn the law.

Which has this sense: when many shall have fallen, and been broken, and stumbled against the stone of stumbling, and the rock of offence, then those sealed among the people shall be made manifest, so that they by no means learn the law of Moses; but obey the evangelical precepts. (Verse 18.) Behold I and my children, whom the Lord has given me for signs and portents of Israel, from the Lord of hosts who dwells in Mount Sion. The Lord commanded me, he says, that I should bind the testimony among the Jews, and hand over and seal the law to his disciples, because he had hidden his face from the house of Jacob: therefore I will wait for him, and look for my Lord, and not I alone, but also the children whom the Lord has given me, namely other prophets and the sons of the prophets, who were born not of the will of the flesh and of blood, but of God.

Of whom the Apostle also spoke: My little children, of whom I travail again in birth, until Christ be formed in you. Now these children, that is, the prophets, are given for signs and for portents to Israel, according to what we read in Ezekiel: And Ezekiel shall be to you for a sign. In Zechariah also the holy men, and disciples of the prophets, are called τερατοσκόποι, that is, watchers of portents and signs, because the Prophets always went before as a sign of things to come. This meanwhile according to the letter. But the blessed Apostle, in the Epistle which is written to the Hebrews, teaches (although Latin custom does not receive it among the Canonical Scriptures) that this testimony ought to be understood as spoken in the person of the Lord Savior.

Wherefore he does not blush to call them brothers, saying: I will declare thy name to my brethren, in the midst of the church will I praise thee; And again: I will put my trust in him; and again: Behold I and my children, whom God has given me. Since therefore the children have shared in flesh and blood, he likewise became a partaker of the same sufferings. But how these children were for a sign and a portent of the wisdom of the world and the pride of the Jews, the same Apostle teaches: who says that the Lord Savior chose the foolish things of the world and the weak things, to confound the wise and the strong. Whence also the Savior said to the Apostles: Unless you be converted and become as one of these little children, you shall not enter into the kingdom of heaven.

Now he becomes a child who is the preacher of the new Gospel, who puts off the old man, which is corrupted according to the desires of deceit, and puts on the new, which is renewed unto knowledge according to the image of the Creator. And that the Lord of hosts dwells in Mount Sion, the same Apostle writes: You have come to Mount Sion, and to the city of the living God, the heavenly Jerusalem. Whence I marvel at a certain one of our own, who understands these children to be the two sons of Isaiah, whom he begot of the conception of the prophetess woman, namely Jashub and Emmanuel: of whom the former went before in the rejection of the former people, the latter in the assumption of the Gentiles. Whoever accepts this will consequently also affirm that the prophet Hosea truly had a harlot for a wife.

(Verse 19. And following.) And when they shall say to you, Seek unto them that have familiar spirits, and unto wizards, that peep and mutter: should not a people seek unto their God, for the living to the dead? To the law rather and to the testimony. And if they speak not according to this word, there shall be no morning light to them. And it shall pass through it: it shall be broken, and it shall be hungry: and when it is hungry, it shall be angry, and curse its king and its God. And it shall look upward, and gaze on the earth: and behold trouble and darkness, dissolution, distress, and a fog pursuing: and it shall not be able to flee out of its distress. If it is the voice of the prophet Isaiah, as the Jews suppose: Behold I and the children whom the Lord hath given me for a sign and for a wonder in Israel; then he must be believed to say what follows to his disciples.

When they shall say, he says, to you—the gentiles and peoples of whom it was read above: Be confounded, ye peoples, and be overcome—why do you wish to hear prophets, why are you deceived by the words of Isaiah, and think that he knows the things that are to come? Rather seek unto them that have familiar spirits, and unto wizards, that peep and mutter. For which the Seventy have translated: Who speak out of the earth, who cry out of the belly. For every one who is of the earth speaks of the earth. And he whose god is his belly, and whose glory is in his shame, must be believed to cry out of his belly. You answer them, and say: Should not a people seek unto their God, for the living to the dead?

If you, he says, on account of the variety of your idols (for you have not one god, but many), consult those whom you consider gods; and inquire of the dead, or of the images of dead men, concerning the living: how much more ought we to hear our God through the prophets? He therefore teaches the disciples; and adds, to the law rather and to the testimony. If, he says, you are in doubt about anything, know that it is written: The nations, which the Lord thy God will destroy from before thy face, listen to dreams and diviners: but the Lord thy God hath not so appointed for thee: The Lord thy God will raise up unto thee a prophet from among thy brethren, like unto me, him shall you hear. Wherefore, if you wish to know the things that are doubtful, rather commit yourselves to the law, and to the testimonies of the Scriptures.

But if your assembly refuses to seek the word of the Lord, it will not have the light of truth: but will be tossed about in error and darkness. Light shall pass through it, that is, through your assembly, or your land, and you shall be broken, and shall hunger, and when you hunger, you shall be angry, according to what is written: And when they are not satisfied, they shall murmur: and you shall curse God your king, and in your necessities you shall look upward to heaven, and downward to the earth: and behold trouble and darkness, the failing of the knees, and anguish of mind, and a fog over the eyes, and you shall not be able to be delivered from your distress. This according to the Hebrews. But as we have said above, if it is the person of Christ speaking: Behold I and the children whom God hath given me: then he himself speaks these things also to the Apostles and to believers from among the gentiles, who received his Gospel.

If, he says, your fathers whom you have left shall say: seek out the ventriloquists, whom we understand to be pythons (such as we also read of, the maidservant in the Acts of the Apostles, who brought her masters much gain by soothsaying), and those who speak out of the earth, which the magicians promise to do in the calling up of souls, and the other kinds of magical arts; you ought to know this, that each nation consults its own gods, and inquires of the dead concerning the safety of the living. But to you God has given the law for a help, so that you can say: not such is the divination of the heathen, which often deceives its worshippers, as is ours, which is set forth from the law without any payment. Whence the Seventy have translated: Not as this word, for which there is no giving of gifts. For freely, he says, you have received, freely give.

But there shall come upon unbelievers a most grievous famine, not a famine of bread, or a thirst of water, but a famine of hearing the word of God. And when you hunger, you shall be grieved, and shall curse your prince and the traditions of your fathers, that is, the devil and the ancient errors. But he speaks this to those who shall have suffered hunger for the truth, and shall look upward to heaven, and downward to the earth, and shall be in distress, in darkness, and in tribulation: so that they may not see, until such time as they themselves also are converted to the Lord. These passages call for a wide explanation: but we spare the size of the books, so as to remove weariness from the reading. We have touched on these things in part according to the translation of the Seventy, which in many places disagrees with the Hebrew. But the Nazaraeans explain this passage thus.

When the Scribes and Pharisees shall say to you, that you should listen to those who do everything for the sake of the belly; and after the manner of magicians mutter in their incantations, so as to deceive you, you ought to answer them thus: it is no wonder if you follow your traditions, since each nation consults its own idols. Therefore we too ought not to consult the dead concerning the living, from you: rather God has given us the law, and the testimonies of the Scriptures, which if you refuse to follow, you will not have light: but darkness will always oppress you, which will pass through your land and your teaching: so that when, deceived by you, they perceive themselves in error, and endure the hunger of truth, then they shall be grieved, or shall be angry, and shall curse you, whom they thought of as their gods and kings, as it were.

And in vain shall they look to heaven and earth, since they shall always be in darkness, and shall not be able to fly away from your snares.

At the first time the land of Zabulon, and the land of Nephthali, was lightly touched: and afterward it was heavily burdened, the way of the sea beyond Jordan, of Galilee of the Gentiles. The people that walked in darkness have seen a great light: to them that dwell in the region of the shadow of death, light is risen. LXX: Drink this first, do it quickly, region of Zabulon, land of Nephthali, and the rest of you who are by the sea beyond Jordan, of Galilee of the Gentiles. The people who walked in darkness have seen a great light: you who dwell in the region and shadow of death, light shall arise upon you. We have set down both editions, because this testimony is well known, and has been used by the Evangelist Matthew: so that either the difference of the translation, or the similarity, may be recognized. And first it must be noted that the Evangelist Matthew has set down this testimony not according to the Seventy, but according to the Hebrews.

For the Gospel account says: Now when Jesus had heard that John was delivered up, he withdrew into Galilee: and leaving the city Nazareth, he came and dwelt in Capharnaum, which is on the sea coast, in the borders of Zabulon and Nephthalim: that it might be fulfilled which was said by Isaiah the prophet: The land of Zabulon and the land of Nephthalim, the way of the sea beyond the Jordan, Galilee of the Gentiles: the people that sat in darkness, have seen great light; and to them that sat in the region of the shadow of death, light is risen. From that time Jesus began to preach, and to say: The kingdom of heaven is at hand. And John the Evangelist relates that Jesus with his disciples, invited to a wedding at Cana of Galilee, worked his first sign there, turning water into wine: This beginning of signs did Jesus in Cana of Galilee: and manifested his glory: and his disciples believed in him.

Whence also in the Seventy it is said: Drink this first, do it quickly: because the land of Zabulon and the land of Nephthalim were the first to see the miracles of Christ: so that it might first drink the draught of faith, which had been the first to see the Lord working signs. And, according to the Hebrew, it is said to have been relieved at the first time from the burden of sins: because in the regions of the two tribes the Savior first preached the Gospel. Whence also in the sixty-seventh Psalm it is said: Bless ye the Lord from the fountains of Israel. There is Benjamin, the younger, in an ecstasy of mind; the apostle Paul, in a rapture of mind: who also said elsewhere: whether we be transported in mind, it is to God. The princes of Zabulon, the princes of Nephthalim, their leaders; because in these tribes were the little villages, from which our leaders the Apostles believed.

And they believed quickly, according to Symmachus, so that on hearing: Come, and I will make you fishers of men, they immediately left both father and boat. But at the last time their faith was made heavy, as most of the Jews remained in error. And by "sea" here he means the lake of Genesareth, which is formed by the inflow of the Jordan; on whose shore Capharnaum, and Tiberias, and Bethsaida, and Chorozain are situated: in which region especially the Lord dwelt; so that the people, who either sat, or walked in darkness, might see a light, by no means small, as of other prophets, but great, as of him who says in the Gospel: I am the light of the world. And they that dwelt in the region of the shadow of death, light is risen upon them.

Between death and the shadow of death, I think this is the difference, that death is theirs, who have gone down to hell with dead works: For the soul that sinneth, it shall die; but the shadow of death belongs to those who, while sinning, have not yet departed from this life: for they can, if they wish, do penance. For "Galilee of the Gentiles," Aquila translated "the θῖνας of the nations," Symmachus "the borders of the nations"; and by θῖνας we understand mounds of sand, which are either on the shores or on the banks. The Hebrews believing in Christ explain this passage thus. At the first time these two tribes, Zabulon and Nephthali, were taken captive by the Assyrians, and led into the enemy's land; and Galilee was made desolate, which the prophet now says was relieved, in that it bore the sins of the people. But afterward not only the two tribes, but also the rest, who dwelt beyond the Jordan and in Samaria, were led into captivity.

And this, they say, Scripture now declares, that the region whose people was first led into captivity, and began to serve the Babylonians, and which before dwelt in the darkness of error, was itself the first to see the light of Christ preaching, and from it the Gospel was sown into all nations. The Nazaraeans, whose opinion I have set forth above, try to explain this passage thus: When Christ came, and his preaching shone forth, the land of Zabulon and the land of Nephthali were first freed from the errors of the Scribes and Pharisees, and shook off from their necks the most grievous yoke of the Jewish traditions. But afterward, through the Gospel of the Apostle Paul, who was the last of all the Apostles, the preaching was made heavy, that is, multiplied: and the Gospel of Christ shone forth even to the borders of the nations and the way of the whole sea.

Finally the whole world, which before walked, or sat, in darkness, and was held in the bonds of idolatry and death, beheld the bright light of the Gospel.

(Verses 2-4.) Thou hast multiplied the nation, and hast not increased the joy. They shall rejoice before thee, as they that rejoice in the harvest, as conquerors rejoice after taking a prey, when they divide the spoils. For the yoke of their burden, and the rod of their shoulder, and the sceptre of their oppressor, thou hast overcome, as in the day of Madian. For every violent taking of spoils is with tumult: and the garment mingled with blood shall be burnt, and be fuel for the fire. LXX: Thou hast led the greater part of the people in thy joy: and they shall rejoice before thee, as they are wont to rejoice in the harvest, and as those who divide the spoils: because the yoke that was laid upon them has been taken away, and the rod from their neck. For the rod of their oppressors shall be broken, as in the day of Madian. For every garment gathered with deceit, and the garment of exchange they shall restore: and they shall desire to be burned with fire.

In obscure passages we set down both editions, so that the diligent reader may recognize how much the Vulgate translation differs from the other editions and from the Hebrew truth. To the light itself, which appeared to the people set in darkness, that is, to the Lord Savior, an apostrophe is made. And it is said to him: Thou hast multiplied the nation, that is, thou hast filled all nations with knowledge of thyself; but thou hast not magnified the joy. According to what the Apostle says, that he has perpetual sorrow for his brethren who are Israelites. And Jonah is grieved that the Ninevites were saved in this way, as the gourd, or CICEION (קיקיון), withered. And the Lord himself says in the Gospel: I was not sent but to the lost sheep of the house of Israel. And in the Passion: Father, if it be possible, he says, let this cup pass from me.

Which passage has this sense: If it can be, that without the destruction of the Jews the multitude of the nations may believe, I refuse the passion. But if they must be blinded, that all nations may see, let it be done, Father, thy will be done. When, therefore, Christ shall have come, and the race of Christians shall have been gathered together from all nations: then the Apostles will rejoice, as reapers rejoice in the harvest, of whom the Lord spoke: The harvest indeed is great, but the laborers are few. And as victors exult, who divide the captured spoil. For when the strong man shall have been taken and bound, his whole house is plundered, and the spoils are divided.

But thou, Lord and Savior, hast taken from their shoulders the yoke of his burden, that is, of the devil, who before exulted in the world, who commanded all nations, who pressed down the necks of all with the most grievous yoke of servitude; and the rod with which he struck all, and compelled them to render sins to him as a kind of tribute, thou hast drawn off from their shoulders: and hast made them, freed, to serve thee without any army and without shedding of blood, by a hidden hand: just as once thou didst grant to the people of Israel, under Gideon, victory over the Midianites (Judges vii). For as a garment which has been stained with human blood cannot be washed, but, infected with blood, is burned with fire, that the stains of the foul blood may perish along with the garment: so the devil's violent plunder and the tumult and crowds by which he had subjected the human race to himself are consigned to the fires of Gehenna.

The LXX signify that not all, but a certain part of the people believed: although for what they said, thou hast led into joy, others have interpreted, thou hast magnified. And while in the rest they hold the same sense, they add that the garment gathered by guile, and the changed vestment, he will restore, that is, the devil: namely, that he is going to restore all the souls which he had stripped by God's help, along with their former ornaments—not he alone, but also his satellites, the demons: to whom, if the choice were given, they would rather choose to perish in flames than to lose the prey.

Verse 6. For a little child is born to us, a son is given to us: and the government is placed upon his shoulder; and his name shall be called wonderful, counselor, God, mighty, father of the world to come, prince of peace. His empire shall be multiplied, and there shall be no end of peace: upon the throne of David, and upon his kingdom, that he may confirm and strengthen it in judgment and justice, from henceforth and forever. The zeal of the Lord of hosts will do this. The LXX: For a little child is born to us, a son is given to us, whose government is made upon his shoulder: and his name is called the messenger of great counsel. For I will bring peace upon the princes, and health for him: great is his government, and of his peace there is no limit, upon the throne of David and his kingdom: that he may correct it, and help it in judgment and justice: from this time forth even forever.

The zeal of the Lord of Sabaoth will do these things. Therefore the devil, and all his violent plunder, by which he had oppressed the human race, and had mingled blood with blood, will be for burning, and food for eternal fire: because a boy is born to us of a Virgin, of whom it was said above: Before the child shall know to refuse the evil and choose the good: and afterward in the generation of the Prophetess: Before the child shall know to call his father and his mother. This boy, therefore, who is born of the Virgin, is called Emmanuel, that is, God with us: and of the Prophetess, that is, begotten of the Holy Spirit, he is named, Make haste, take away the spoils, hasten to plunder: now he is called by many names.

And although from what he had said above, Emmanuel, that is, God with us, he had shown him to be God: yet now he says that his government is made upon his shoulder, either because he himself carried his cross: or by "shoulder" showing the strength of his arm, the same Isaiah saying: The Lord God has revealed his holy arm to all nations. And again: Lord, who has believed our report: and to whom has the arm of the Lord been revealed? He shall therefore be called, after two names, by six other names: Wonderful, Counselor, God, Mighty, Father of the world to come, Prince of peace. For it is not, as many think, that the names are to be joined in pairs, so that we should read, Wonderful Counselor, and again, Mighty God; but Wonderful is to be read separately, which in Hebrew is called PHELE (פלא): and Counselor separately, which in their tongue is called JOES (יועץ): and God separately, which in Hebrew is called EL (אל).

Finally, in what follows where we read: For thou art God, and we knew it not: and again: I am God, and there is no other besides me, and many similar passages: for what is said in Latin as "God," in Hebrew EL is written. And what follows, Mighty, in Hebrew is called GIBBOR (גבור). Whence also in that place where the same prophet recalls: They shall be trusting upon the Holy God of Israel in truth: and what remains of Jacob upon the mighty God, for "mighty God" in Hebrew it has written El gibbor. But as to Father of the world to come and of the resurrection, which is fulfilled in our calling; and Prince of peace, who spoke to the Apostles: My peace I give you, my peace I leave you: he will not doubt, who reads that our peace, according to the apostle Paul, is the Savior.

Terrified by the majesty of these names, I think the LXX did not dare to say of the boy that he should openly be called God, and the rest: but instead of these six names put, what is not found in the Hebrew, the Angel of great counsel, and I will bring peace upon the princes, and health for him. Which seems to me to have this sense: He is the Angel of great counsel, who announced to us that for a time Israel was to be cast off, and that the nations were to be saved: and he gave peace to his princes, the Apostles and apostolic men, and left the health of his doctrines to those who believe. But what follows: His empire shall be multiplied, and there shall be no end of peace: for which the LXX translated: Great is his government: we ought to know that the Hebrew word MESRA (משׂרה) both here and above the LXX have translated as ἀρχήν, that is, government.

For which we above translated "government," here "empire." But Aquila, deceived by the ambiguity of the word, translated it as μέτρον, that is, measure, which is called by the same name both in Hebrew and Latin. Nor will he be able to doubt concerning the manifold empire of the Savior and his peace, which shall have no end, who has read in the Psalms: Ask of me, and I will give thee the nations for thy inheritance, and the ends of the earth for thy possession; and again: And abundance of peace, till the moon be taken away, that is, until the consummation of the world. But his government and empire shall be upon the throne and kingdom of David, which after the Babylonian captivity had been scattered, that he may confirm and strengthen it, and show it to be perpetual (lest the promise of God should seem in vain) from the time of the Incarnation even forever.

But therefore the zeal, that is, the jealousy of the Lord of hosts has done this, because they themselves provoked him to jealousy by those who were not gods, and he provoked them to jealousy by a nation which was not a nation. The prophecy of Emmanuel and of the boy born of the Virgin, begun at the place where it is said to Achaz: Ask thee a sign of the Lord thy God, is finished at this verse, where it is inferred: The zeal of the Lord of hosts will do this. Now let us pass to the rest.

We compose our books unequally, and according to the diversity of the visions and the meanings, one is contracted, another extended. And so, the third volume being finished, we pass to the fourth, which is a third measure of verses less than the former, especially since the fifth, which we have appended to this book, is of historical explanation, and has nearly double the number. For since we do not wish to divide connected matters, nor to pass over what has been interpreted formerly, we have directed our little boat as it were between two Pontic sea's συμπληγάδας, which, with the Holy Spirit breathing and the Lord Savior directing our course, glides out into the deep, while thou, virgin of Christ, Eustochium, sayest: Come from the four winds, O spirit, and breathe life into the dead bones: that those which lay in the dust of the earth, the Lord breathing upon them, may be raised up.

(Verses 8 and following.) The Lord sent a word into Jacob, and it fell in Israel. And all the people shall know, Ephraim and the inhabitants of Samaria, in pride and greatness of heart, saying: The bricks are fallen down, but we will build with squared stones: they have cut down the sycamores, but we will change them for cedars. And the Lord shall set up the enemies of Rasin over him, and shall turn his enemies into confusion, Syria on the East, and the Philistines on the West, and they shall devour Israel with their whole mouth. In all this his fury is not turned away, but his hand is still stretched out, and the people have not returned to him that struck them, nor have they sought the Lord of hosts. We have read above that in the days of Achaz the son of Joathan, son of Ozias king of Judah, Rasin king of Syria went up, and Phacee son of Romelias, king of Israel, against Jerusalem, to besiege it.

And that the prophet Isaiah was sent to meet Achaz with Jasub his son, to tell him not to fear, and that his heart should not be afraid of the two tails of smoking firebrands, since in them the dominion of Syria and Israel was to be brought to an end. When he did not believe, on account of the greatness of the matter and the imminent danger, he is bidden to ask for himself a sign. And because he was an idolater, he refused to do even this: for that reason the Lord gives a sign not to the king himself, but to the house of David, of his Son who was to be born of a Virgin, at whose invocation they should be delivered from the impending danger, and the rest which we have already expounded up to the present passage.

Many mysteries, then, having been set forth in the midst, he now returns to what he had begun, and prophesies the overthrow of Rasin and Ephraim, that is, of Syria and Samaria: The Lord, he says, sent a word into Jacob, and it fell in Israel. Among the Hebrews DABAR (דבר), which is written with three consonant letters, DALETH, BETH, and RES, according to the difference of vowel-points, if it is read DABAR, signifies "word," but if DEBER, "death and pestilence." For this reason many, deceived by the ambiguity of the word, say that it was not a word that was sent, but death. The Lord, then, sent a word into Jacob, and it fell in Israel. Judah wished to reign, as Jacob prophesies in Genesis: and Israel, that is, the ten tribes, claimed the kingship for themselves, of whom it is said: They have reigned, and not by me (Hosea 8:4).

The dignity of the kingdom, therefore, which had begun in the anointing of Samuel after Saul was rejected, in David, being sent into Jacob, that is, into the twelve tribes, which were formerly called Jacob, fell in Israel: not as the Seventy translated, "came": for it fell among the wicked, since that which was decreed had been directed toward the saints. Let the whole people of Ephraim, then, know this, and the inhabitants of Samaria, who because of their multitude are lifted up in pride, and say: Small is the kingdom of Judah, and most vile in comparison with ours. And so, while they are falling like bricks, let us build ourselves a house with squared stone. Their sycamores, which are worthless timber, having been cut down by hostile incursion, we will build up our dominion with cedars, which do not rot, so as to signify an everlasting kingdom. Let all this people of Ephraim then know, and the inhabitants of Samaria, that the Syrian who is now a help to them will pass over into an enemy.

Or certainly, against the Syrian himself sudden wars of adversaries shall arise, and all shall be turned into confusion: so that against Israel Syria on the East, and the Philistines, that is, the Palestinians on the West, shall be stirred up: and together they shall devour Israel. And when he has done this, nevertheless my hand is still stretched out, or exalted, over Israel, and does not cease to strike them. And those struck by God will not return to him who strikes them, nor will they seek the Lord of hosts, worshipping golden calves instead of God. According to the anagogical sense, our writers expound this passage thus: God sent his Son to Jacob, that is, to the Jews: and he came to Israel, that is, to the people of the Gentiles, whom the Apostle also says are called Israel. Others, however, thus: The Lord sent his Word to the Church, which supplanted the former people, and it fell in Israel, that is, among the heretics, who boast that they see God.

Let their princes, then, know, and all who dwell in Samaria, that is, who say they keep the law of God, and to be in the abundance of virtues, and to bring forth the fruit of righteousness (for this is what Ephraim means), who in the pride of their heart despise the Church, and, judging her simplicity to be ignorance, say: instead of her bricks, we will build our churches with squared and very strong stones, and instead of unfruitful trees soon to perish, we will erect towering cedars, which the Lord will break in pieces, and which the just man, under the person of the wicked, tells us he has seen, and their place was not found. The Lord says, then, that Rasin, who is interpreted "worldly wisdom," whose help Ephraim was using, shall be turned against him, and all his enemies shall fight against him, and he shall be assaulted both from the East and from the West, and they shall devour Israel with their whole mouth.

For which the Seventy have translated: And let us build ourselves a tower: and God will dash to pieces those who rise up against Mount Sion, and will scatter his enemies. For they desire, in imitation of the Temple of God, to build themselves a temple in Samaria; but although they moved their feet from the East, and said: Come, let us build a tower, and make ourselves a name before we are scattered,—"devour" being used in place of "shall devour."

With the Lord fighting against it, their agreement shall be dissolved and scattered, and their tongues divided against one another, lest, agreeing together, they become worse, but rather be destroyed by one another. And though thus struck, and devoured by enemies, still they will not return to the Lord: but his hand is still ready to strike, according to that which we read in Jeremiah: In vain have I struck your children: you have not received discipline. (Verses 14 and following.) And the Lord shall destroy out of Israel head and tail, him that bends down and him that perverts, in one day. The aged and honorable man, he is the head; and the prophet that teaches lies, he is the tail. And they shall be that call this people blessed, seducing them; and they that are called blessed, cast down headlong. Because of this the Lord shall not rejoice over their young men, nor have mercy on their fatherless and widows: for everyone is a hypocrite and wicked, and every mouth has spoken folly.

In all this his fury is not turned away, but his hand is still stretched out. For wickedness is kindled as a fire: it shall devour brier and thorn, and shall be kindled in the thickets of the forest, and shall be wrapped up in the pride of smoke. At the wrath of the Lord of hosts the earth has trembled, and the people shall be as fuel for fire. No man shall spare his brother, and he shall turn to the right hand, and shall be hungry; and he shall eat on the left hand, and shall not be satisfied: every man shall devour the flesh of his own arm. Manasses shall devour Ephraim, and Ephraim Manasses: together they shall be against Judah.

Not only will the Lord set up the enemies of Rasin against him, and turn his enemies into confusion, Syria from the East, and the Philistines from the West, that they may devour Israel with their whole mouth: but because he has not returned to him that struck him, nor sought the Lord of hosts, he will stretch out his hand to strike, that he may destroy from Israel head and tail, him that bends down and perverts, namely him who twists what is right. But who is the head, he himself has explained: the aged and honorable man. And who is the tail, the prophet, he says, who teaches falsehood, that is, the false prophet. He has spoken of the princes, now he joins the nobles and the people together, so that both teachers and disciples, both the learned and the unlearned crowd, are alike disobedient. For those who called the people blessed are seducers; and those who were called blessed, not on account of virtue, but on account of bribes, shall be cast headlong into death.

Whence also we read above: O my people, they that call you blessed, the same deceive you, and destroy the way of your steps. On such a people God will have mercy on no person: not on the fatherless, not on the widow, because everyone is a hypocrite, pretending one thing, and doing another: promising chastity, and living in luxury: professing poverty, while filling his purse. Whence he adds, and says: And every mouth has spoken folly. Because of all these things the Lord does not cease to be angry, but still lifts his hand to strike.

And because they have done these things, wickedness shall be kindled like fire, so that it devours not the cultivated field, but briers and thorns, nor fruitful trees, but the unfruitful forest in which the beasts dwell, the seizing flame consuming it. For this reason it is said that the thickness of the forest, fire being set beneath, is wrapped in the pride and height of smoke. For everything that is exalted, and rises up on high, may be called proud. For which, wishing something else, the Seventy translated: and it shall devour all things round about the hills. Whence also at the wrath of the Lord the earth trembled, and the people became fuel for fire, because such cruelty was in it that it did not spare even the dearest name of kinship, but, forsaking and despising the right hand, was satisfied in those things which were on the left: while it suffers hunger of pleasures and evils, and always desires to join worse to evils.

Even Manasses and Ephraim themselves, who were born of one womb, and begotten of the same parent, broke out into such rage that they were at odds with each other with hostile hatred. Let us read the books of Kings and Chronicles, and we shall find civil wars in Samaria among themselves, while some fight for one king and some for another, and how, their kings being slain, they agree together in the overthrow of Judah. According to the tropological sense, the Lord will take away head and tail, the greater equally with the lesser. Calling it "tail," he shows that he means not men but beasts—that heretics are meant, who use this member to cover their filth, and to ward off small animals. And after the head, because they subvert the precepts of the law, and pervert the straight way.

The aged man too, because he is the head, and the false prophet who is placed in the tail—he will destroy, and equally the teachers and the disciples; some who praise sinners for the sake of bribes: others who, being praised, do not feel their own evils, nor do penance. Because of this the Lord will not rejoice in their young men: for woe to the city whose king is a child. And they who have lost God the Father, or the true Lord, shall not obtain mercy. For every heretic is a hypocrite, doing one thing and pretending another, and whatever he speaks, though it seem to be wisdom, is nevertheless folly. Because of these things he stretches out his hand to punish, and the devouring flame will consume all their impieties like thorns. And words without works, which are compared to the unfruitful forest, shall be wrapped in the pride of smoke.

For their punishment all the ground shall tremble, and the deceived peoples shall be handed over to eternal burnings, because for the sake of base gain they do not spare even their own, but eagerly seize spoils from the deceived peoples, forsaking good things, and dwelling in the worst. And though they always find things on the left hand, yet they are never satisfied with their own errors, devouring the flesh of their own arm, and fighting against the Church with equal zeal. On account of luxury, and pleasures, and gains from the peoples they have discord among themselves, so that from one heresy two are made, and again these themselves are divided into parts, that they may lead away their own flocks and devour the houses of widows, and of sinful women, always learning, and never coming to the knowledge of the truth. In all this the fury of the Lord shall not be turned away, consuming vices and overthrowing them; but the more they entice to sin, the more he stretches out his hand for punishments.

(Verses 1 and following.)—Woe to those who establish unjust laws, and who, writing, have written injustice, that they might oppress the poor in judgment, and do violence to the cause of the humble of my people, that widows might be their prey, and that they might plunder the fatherless. What will you do in the day of visitation, and of the calamity coming from afar? To whose help will you flee? And where will you leave your glory? Lest you be bowed down under bondage, and fall among the slain. For all this his fury is not turned away, but his hand is still stretched out. Many think that these things are still said against the ten tribes, which dwelt in Samaria, because they had joined these crimes also to their former ones.

But it seems to us that the prophetic word is crying out against the judges of the tribe of Judah and of Jerusalem, namely the Scribes and the δευτερωτὰς (deuterosists), because they wrote unjust laws against the law of God, and by their traditions overturned the truth of judgment. For while God says: Honor thy father and thy mother, these men, on the contrary, taught children to say to their parents: Whatever gift is given by me will profit thee, so that they should not honor father and mother, and other things like these. And for this reason they wrote most wicked laws, that they might oppress the poor and the humble of the people, that they might carry off spoils from widows, and plunder the fatherless. These are asked what they will do, when either the day of captivity or of judgment shall come, and of the calamity coming from afar, which was foretold long before.

To whose help, he says, will you flee, when you have offended God, who is the true helper, and where will you leave your glory? For riches will not profit in the day of wrath, lest the Assyrian lead you bound into an enemy land, lest you fall in battle. And at last, just as he had often said above against Samaria: For all this his fury is not turned away, but his hand is still stretched out, so now he speaks also against Judah, that the extreme captivity is not the end of their evil, but that even in the enemy's land the sword of the Lord will pursue them. According to the anagogical sense, every heretic writes iniquity, that he may deceive the poor and humble of the people, and plunder widows and orphans. For he who is rich, of whom we read: The redemption of a man's soul is his own riches, does not endure their threats, nor is he quickly caught by them.

But the poor man, and he who is humble and small among the peoples, is quickly made to stumble by them. The widow also, who has lost her husband God, and the orphan who has lost his father the Creator, of whom it is written: Thou hast forsaken the God who begot thee, and hast forgotten God thy nourisher, are easily tripped up. What then will they do in the day of judgment, when they have deceived so many, and of the calamity coming from afar? For just as it is said to the just man, The word is near in thy mouth and in thy heart; and in another place: The kingdom of God is within you; so the calamity of heretics will come from afar, prepared for them long in advance. To whom will they flee, when they have a feigned God? To whom will they hand over their glory, when all things are counterfeit? Nor will they be able to escape the bond with which they have bound very many.

Whence also in the vision of the valley of Sion, which was abandoned by the height of God, and deceived by heretical humility, it is said of the teachers of falsely-named knowledge: All thy princes have fled, and those who were captured are bound hard: and that as they fall one after another slain, and perish themselves in the death of others, and though they suffer many things, and the day of visitation comes, there is no end to their destruction: but the hand of the Lord always hangs over them, and they tremble before it forever. Thus far the threat of God is against the twelve and the ten tribes, that is, against Samaria and Jerusalem, which began among the people while Achaz still reigned: of whom two and a half tribes were taken captive under him, and the rest under Ezechias, who succeeded Achaz in the kingdom.

The following prophecy is written against the Assyrians. (Verses 5 and following.) Woe to Assur, the rod of my fury, and he is the staff, in whose hand is my indignation. I will send him against a deceitful nation, and against the people of my fury I will command him, that he take away spoils, and seize plunder, and set him for a trampling like the mud of the streets. But he did not think so, nor did his heart so judge, but his heart shall be set to destroy, and to bring utter ruin upon very many nations. For he says, Are not my princes altogether kings? Is not Chalanne as Charcamis? And Emath as Arphad? Is not Samaria as Damascus? As my hand has found the kingdoms of the idol, so also their images from Jerusalem and from Samaria. Shall I not do to Jerusalem and her idols, as I have done to Samaria and her idols? Let us set down in this place the translation of the LXX, which disagrees with the Hebrew in very many places.

LXX: Woe to the Assyrians: he is the rod of my fury in their hands, I will send my wrath into an unjust nation, and I will command my people, that it make spoils and plunder, and trample down the cities, and reduce them to dust: but he did not so think, nor did he so judge; but that his mind might crush and destroy very many nations. But if they say to him: Thou alone art prince, he will answer: I did not take the region which is above Babylon, and Chalane, where the tower was built. But I took Arabia, and Damascus, and Samaria: as I took these, so I will seize all kingdoms. Howl, ye graven images, in Jerusalem and Samaria; for as I have done to Samaria and her idols, so will I do to Jerusalem and her images. First it must be known that in the Hebrew it does not have Chalane, but CHALANNO (כלנו).

For the last letter of this name is not IOD, as they supposed, but VAU, which letters differ from each other only in size. Now the tower was built in the plain of Sennaar, in which were Arech, Acad, and Chalanne, and Babylon, which took its name from the confusion of tongues. But Arabia is not found in the Hebrew, but Emath, which the Syrians even to this day call Epiphania. Also, "Howl, ye graven images, in Jerusalem," they added on their own. And as for what is written above: If they say to him, Thou alone art prince, he will answer, I did not take that region, and that one, but I took Arabia, and Damascus, and Samaria—this suggests the following sense: When, he says, they who are captives shall say to the Assyrian, Thou art prince over all, he, still feeling himself weak, will answer: How do you call me prince, when I have only taken Arabia, and Damascus, and Samaria, and have not yet subjected to my power nations situated far beyond Babylon?

But as I took Arabia, Damascus, and Samaria, so will I lay all kingdoms beneath me. Let us pass to the Hebrew, and briefly note what seems right to us. Woe to the Assyrian, that is, Sennacherib, because he is the rod, and the staff of my fury, for in his hand is my indignation, and through him I will strike the most deceitful nation, which has always halted between me and idols, which has lied in claiming it would do my commands, and against the people of my fury I myself will command him, that he spoil it and plunder it, and reduce it to dust, and trample it like the mud of the streets, that is, that he strike it, but not kill it, that he wound it, but not take away its life.

But he has gone beyond the measure of my anger, and has raged not only against Israel, to whom he was directed, but against very many nations, so as to crush all the kingdoms round about, and his sword raged even to the utter destruction of very many peoples. For, lifted up in pride, he dared to say this: My generals are kings of other nations, and, subject to me, they shall rule all nations. As I took Charcamis, so I took Chalanno also: as Arphad, so I have obtained Emath also, as Damascus, so I have subjected to myself Samaria also. As I have subjected to my feet the other kingdoms which served the worship of idols, so I will subject to my power Jerusalem also, and Samaria, in which are the same idols. As I took Samaria with her idols, so I will take Jerusalem also, since she worships the same gods. Now for Charcamis the LXX, adding of their own, translated "the region beyond Babylon," and for Chalane, "where the tower was built," entirely omitting Arphad.

But we may, following their translation, and by a tropological interpretation, provided it be pious, take the liberty—from what he says, "and I will command my people, that it make spoils and plunder, and trample down the cities, and reduce them to dust"—of saying also this: that the Lord daily commands his people to reduce to dust the cities of the adversaries which are raised up against the knowledge of God, and which have been built by the great labor of heretics, and to show that they are nothing. He who understands the weakness of the human heart, and that, surrounded by mortal flesh, it cannot have a perfect victory of the virtues, nor take all nations, though others admire him and say: Thou alone art prince, will answer them: There are many things which I ought to destroy, and which I have not yet been able to destroy: I know that I do not know. And although I have overcome many arguments of the adversaries, yet there are very many which still remain to be overcome.

And at the same time, from those he has overcome, he promises himself, in hope of the future, victory over the rest also. Now the graven images of Jerusalem and Samaria are bidden to howl: not the images themselves which were fashioned, but those who fashioned them: μετωνυμικῶς (by metonymy), those who made them, through the things that were made: so that not only those who in heresies have fashioned idols, but those who in the Church, through ignorance, defend a lie in place of the truth, may by howling and repentance bear witness that they have erred. (Verses 12-14.) And it shall come to pass, when the Lord shall have accomplished all his works on mount Sion and in Jerusalem, I will visit the fruit of the proud heart of the king of Assur, and the glory of the haughtiness of his eyes.

For he said, By the strength of my hand I have done it, and by my wisdom I have understood, and I have removed the bounds of the peoples, and I have plundered their princes, and like a mighty man I have brought down them that sat on high; and my hand has found the strength of the peoples as a nest; and as eggs that are left are gathered, so have I gathered the whole earth, and there was none that moved a wing, or opened the mouth, or made a sound. The LXX, instead of "fruit," rendered "sense" or "great mind." After the captivity of Samaria, and the victory of the Assyrians, and the threat against Jerusalem—because, having imitated the idols of Samaria, she must be struck with a like sentence—the Prophet now speaks against the Assyrian himself, who was lifted up in pride, and thought that his victory was due to his own strength.

For the Assyrian said, boasting in the swelling of his heart, that by the strength of his own hand he had conquered all nations, and by incredible wisdom had taken possession of the boundaries of all. And according to the LXX, he was of such power that he utterly overthrew the cities of warlike men, and seized the whole world as it were a nest, and turned into his prey, as it were eggs left by their mothers. And because he had once taken up the metaphor from birds, nest, and eggs, he kept it in what follows, so as to say: There was none that moved a wing, or opened the mouth, or made a sound. So great, he says, was the terror of my strength and victory, that the conquered did not even freely give vent to weeping and groaning.

There are those who think these things are said generally against the kingdom of the Assyrians, that after the Lord shall have accomplished all his works on mount Sion and in Jerusalem, that is, after Jerusalem shall have been overthrown, the empire of the Assyrians shall be destroyed. But to me, from what follows, the threat seems properly directed against Sennacherib, king of the Assyrians. And what he says: After the Lord shall have accomplished all his works on mount Sion and in Jerusalem, does not signify the overthrow of the city, but the siege, when Rabsaces, the general of Sennacherib, came, and did the things which the same Prophet relates further on.

According to the tropological sense, when Samaria and Jerusalem have sustained the wrath of the Lord, and have perceived that they erred in the fashioning of idols: then shall be destroyed the great mind, the Assyrian, who was puffed up with such pride against the Lord, that he reckoned all things would yield to his wisdom, and that whatever lofty doctrines, fortified with dialectical art, would be shaken and utterly destroyed: to such a degree that, in the likeness of fledgling birds, they shall not be able to rise on high, and, not yet animated, shall be insensible and torpid, as the example of the eggs shows, and shall not even chirp, nor move their tongue to hear against the reason and strength of his word.

Verse 15. Shall the axe boast itself against him that cutteth with it, or shall the saw exalt itself against him by whom it is drawn? As if a rod should be lifted up against him that raiseth it up, and a staff should be exalted, which is nevertheless wood. Against Sennacherib, or, as many think, Nabuchodonosor, boasting and saying: In the strength of my hand I have done it, and in my wisdom I have understood, and so forth, the holy Prophet answers: O most foolish of mortals, dost thou reckon the wrath of God to be thy wisdom, and dost thou refer His command to thine own strength? It is as if an axe should boast itself against him who holds the axe, and a saw against him by whom it is drawn, and they should say that all the works which are done by the axe and the saw were accomplished by their own skill.

And if anyone should lift up a rod, and raise a staff to strike whom he will, and the rod itself and the staff should boast, and say that he who was struck was struck by themselves: so also thou, when thou hast been the instrument of God's will, art lifted up into pride, and boastest that all the things which are done are of thine own power. Whatever, moreover, is said to the Assyrian can be referred both to the pride of heretics and to the devil, who in the Scriptures is called an axe, and a saw, and a rod, in that through him fruitless trees are cut down and divided, and the hardness of unbelievers is sawn asunder, and those who do not receive discipline are struck with the rod.

Heretics also, whose mouth is set against heaven, and whose tongue walketh through the earth, and who abuse to a contrary and perverse end the understanding which they received from God unto good, so that they speak against Him by whom they were made, and turn the ministry of the tongue, by which the Lord ought to be praised, into blasphemy. (Ver. 16 and following.) Therefore the sovereign Lord of hosts shall send leanness among his fat ones, and under his glory shall burn a burning like the burning of a fire, kindled. And the light of Israel shall be as a fire, and his Holy One as a flame: and it shall burn and devour his thorns and his briers in one day. And the glory of his forest, and of his Carmel, shall be consumed from the soul even to the flesh: and he shall be as one fleeing away for fear, and the remnant of the trees of his forest shall be few in number, so that a child may write them down.

Because thou hast done these things, and hast spoken the things which I have related above, therefore the Lord will send His angel, and in one night a hundred and eighty-five thousand of thy army shall die: so that the very mightiest, whom he calls "fat," shall be brought down to leanness and to nothing: and, as the Hebrews relate, while the garments of the Assyrians remained unhurt, their bodies were burned with a hidden fire: then the light of Israel and the Holy One, that is, the angel, shall be in fire and in flame, and all the thorns and briers of the Assyrians, that is, their malice, shall be consumed, not over a long time, but in one day and moment. And just as a forest and Carmel, which is a mountain in Galilee covered with woods, is quickly consumed when fire is set to it: so from the soul even to the flesh all the glory of the Assyrian shall be consumed.

Then the despoiled army shall flee, which the Prophet also affirms in what follows, and out of so countless a multitude, which is compared to Carmel and the forest, so great a scarcity shall come, that a little child may number and describe them. For the Hebrews relate that only ten of his army remained; and some of our own writers hold that this king is a type of the adversary power. And just as we read in Daniel of the princes of the kingdom of the Persians, and of the kingdom of the Medes, and of the kingdom of the Greeks, so also there is a prince of the Assyrians, who because of the pride of his understanding is called great, and in the day of judgment shall be delivered to the burnings of hell, which is prepared for the devil and his angels. And that the light of Israel and the Holy One, that is, the Lord Himself, shall kindle the briers and thorns of the Assyrian, and bring to nothing all his power and his countless peoples.

Then he, terrified with fear, like a writhing and fleeing serpent, will wish to escape the threatening punishments. But those who shall be able to escape from the forest and its confusion and the trees that are to perish, shall be worthy to be numbered and described by the child, whose government is upon his shoulder. This same thing can also be referred to heretics: that after the doctrine of the Church has shone forth, and all their snares have been laid open, then they come to such desolation, that of the forest and the fruitless trees and the countless multitude which they had deceived by heretical fraud, scarcely a few remain who follow their error.

For what we have translated, "the Lord shall send leanness among his fat ones," the Seventy rendered, "the Lord shall send disgrace upon thy honor." And for what we said, "and his Holy One in flame," they rendered: "and He shall sanctify him in fire": by which some wish it to be understood that punishments and torments are applied to sinners for this purpose, that they may be purged by the divine fire. And what we said, "And the glory of his forest, and of his Carmel," they interpreted: "The mountains and hills and forest shall be extinguished," whereby all the splendor and pride and multitude of the Assyrians is humbled and extinguished. (Verses 20 and following.) And it shall come to pass in that day, that the remnant of Israel shall not add, and they that are saved of the house of Jacob, to lean upon him that striketh them, but shall lean upon the Lord, the Holy One of Israel, in truth. The remnant shall be converted, the remnant, I say, of Jacob, to the mighty God.

For if thy people Israel be as the sand of the sea, a remnant shall be converted therefrom. The consummation abridged shall overflow with justice. For the consummation and the abridgment the Lord God of hosts shall make in the midst of all the earth. Where in the Greek it is said: The remnant of Jacob shall be converted to the mighty God, instead of "mighty God," the Hebrew has written El gibbor (אל גבור), two names out of the six names by which we read above that the little child and son, who was given to us, was called. And in place of what is written: "The remnant shall be converted," the Hebrew says in the singular number, that "what is remnant shall be converted," that is, τὸ ὑπόλειμμα ἐπιστρέψει, in Hebrew it is written Saar jasub (שאר ישוב). And from this occasion of the word they think that Jasub, the son of Isaiah, went before as a sign of the saving of the people out of Israel.

When therefore the light of Israel, and the Holy One, shall have consumed the forest and thickets of Carmel, and the king of Assyria shall have fled with a few: then the remnant of Israel, who together with the prince Hezekiah were besieged in Jerusalem after the other cities of Judea had been taken, will by no means trust in the Assyrian: as they now do under king Achaz, who sent messengers to the king of the Assyrians, saying: I am thy servant, come up and deliver me out of the hand of the king of Syria, and out of the hand of the king of Israel, who have risen up against me: when he took the gold and silver that was found in the treasuries of the house of the Lord, and in the king's house, and sent gifts to the king of the Assyrians, and the king of the Assyrians heard him, and came to Damascus, and took it, and carried it away, and slew Rasin; but being delivered from that very Assyrian striker, who had first been a friend, and afterward proved an enemy, they will lean and trust upon the Lord, the Holy One of Israel, by no means falsely, as they had done under the former kings, but in truth.

This we read was done under Hezekiah: so that, idols having been abandoned, they were converted to the worship of God. And because he had said that a remnant was to be saved, he passes to later times, and says that a full salvation is to be under Christ. Which also the apostle Paul, understanding, writes to the Romans: But Isaiah crieth concerning Israel: If the number of the children of Israel be as the sand of the sea, a remnant shall be saved. For a word finishing and cutting short in equity: because a short word shall the Lord make upon the earth. And as Isaiah said: Except the Lord of Sabaoth had left us seed, we had been as Sodom, and we should have been like unto Gomorrah. Where therefore the authority of so great a man goes before, let every other interpretation cease.

And indeed if we read Josephus, and how great a multitude of men there was in Jerusalem and in Judea, when the Lord suffered; we understand that scarcely a few of the Jews were saved among the Apostles and apostolic men. Now the abridged and perfected word is the Evangelic word, which, instead of all the elaborate ceremonies of the Law, gave the very brief precept of love and faith, that what we would not have done to us, we should not do to another. Whence also the Lord in the Gospel says: On these two commandments hang all the Law and the Prophets. Some refer this chapter to those times, when under Zorobabel the son of Salathiel, and Jesus the son of Josedec, and Ezra, and Nehemiah, a certain part of the people returned into Judea.

To whom we shall answer, that they do not preserve the order of the history, especially since what follows is said not against the Babylonians, whose king was Nebuchadnezzar, but against Sennacherib, king of the Assyrians. (Verses 24 and following.) Therefore thus saith the Lord God of hosts: Fear not, my people, that dwellest in Sion, because of the Assyrian: he shall strike thee with a rod, and he shall lift up his staff over thee in the way of Egypt. For yet a very little while, and my indignation shall cease, and my fury against their wickedness. And the Lord of hosts shall raise up a scourge against him, according to the plague of Madian in the rock Oreb, and his rod over the sea, and he shall lift it up in the way of Egypt. And it shall come to pass in that day: his burden shall be taken away from off thy shoulder, and his yoke from off thy neck, and the yoke shall putrefy at the presence of the oil.

Instead of "rock," which Aquila, Symmachus and Theodotion, translating according to the Hebrew, set down the very Hebrew word Sur oreb (צור עורב). For which the Seventy translated "the place of tribulation"; concerning which we shall speak in its own place. It seems difficult to thee, O inhabitant of Sion, that when all the nations round about have been subjugated by the Assyrian, thou alone shouldst be delivered out of his hands. Hear what I say: fear not, my people, that thou shalt be taken by the Assyrian's victory.

For although in the fourteenth year of king Hezekiah, Sennacherib king of the Assyrians will go up against all the fortified cities of Judah, to take them, and will send Rabsaces, to terrify the people besieged in Jerusalem; nevertheless thou oughtest to know this, that he shall not strike thee with the sword, but with the rod, and going against Tirhakah king of Ethiopia, and against the Egyptians and the Red Sea by the way of Egypt, he shall only lift up his staff against thee, and shall not be able to strike.

For yet a little while, and having returned from Egypt with an immense multitude of his army, and desiring to besiege thee, my indignation shall strike at once, and that scourge which once I raised up against the Madianites under Gideon (Judges 7), who was called by another name Jerobaal: when Oreb and Zeb, the princes of the Madianites, were slain upon a very hard rock, that is, flint, which in Hebrew is called SUR (צור), so that from the rock and from the king who was slain upon it, the place of the rock received the name of Oreb. He shall therefore lift up his rod over the Red Sea, going against the Ethiopians, and shall lift it up returning to thee by the way of Egypt: but as soon as he shall come from Egypt, the burden shall be taken from thy shoulders, and the yoke of his empire, and thou shalt cease to serve. Which yoke, that is, the power of the Assyrian, shall putrefy at the presence of the oil, that is, of the mercy of God.

But we can also understand this that he said: "He shall strike thee with a rod, and shall lift up his staff over thee in the way of Egypt": and again: "and his rod over the sea, and shall lift it up in the way of Egypt": in this way also, that he struck very many of the tribe of Judah, and took the cities round about the kingdom of Jerusalem, because they had put their trust not in God, but in the Egyptians. Whence also Rabsaces reproaches them, saying: Behold, thou trustest upon a broken staff of reed, upon Egypt. Upon which if a man lean, it will go into his hand, and pierce it: so is Pharaoh king of Egypt to all that trust in him. The history of the Madianites is written in the book of Judges (Judges 7), which also we read in the Psalm: Make their princes like Oreb, and Zeb, and Zebee, and Salmana.

They err, therefore, who think that time is signified, when in the book of Numbers the Madianites are related to have been slain by Israel from the desert of Sur even unto the mount of God, Oreb: since these are written with other letters among the Hebrews, since at that time they were not on Mount Oreb, but in the wilderness of Sethim. According to the anagogical sense, it is enjoined upon the people dwelling in the Church, that they should not fear their adversaries, who are always ready for battle, and who by their much disputation have overturned souls. For this reason they receive only a little power against the people of God, and strike not so much with the sword as with the rod, that is, they do not kill, but threaten, because they have walked in the way of Egypt, and have not put their trust in the Lord.

But when they shall have returned to God, and shall have left the way of Egypt, then the scourge of God's judgment is to be raised up against the adversaries. For Madian is interpreted "out of judgment": so that by the spirit of his mouth, and by the oil of mercy, the yoke of the enemies may putrefy. (Verses 28 and following.) He shall come into Aioth, he shall pass into Magron: at Machmas he shall commit his baggage. They have passed hastily by Gabee, our resting-place (or as we find written elsewhere: they remained in their lodging); Rama was amazed, Gaba of Saul fled. Lift up thy voice, O daughter Gallim; attend, O Laisa, poor Anathoth: Medemena has migrated: take courage, ye inhabitants of Gebim. It is yet day, that he may stand at Nob: he shall shake his hand over the mount of the daughter of Sion, the hill of Jerusalem.

The Septuagint: For he shall come into the city of Aggai, and shall pass into Mageddo: and at Mashmas he shall place his baggage: and he shall pass through the valley, and shall come to Aggai. Fear shall take hold of Rama, the city of Saul: the daughter Gallim shall flee: attend, O Laisa: it shall be heard in Anathoth: Medemena was amazed, and the inhabitants of Gebim. Comfort yourselves today on the way, that it may remain: comfort ye the mount of the daughter of Sion, and the hill of Jerusalem. In this place the Seventy greatly differ from the Hebrew: for which reason we have set down both editions, that we may say, Christ inspiring us if we shall have deserved it, what seems to us concerning each point. The prophetic discourse describes the march and the pomp of the Assyrian returning from Egypt against Jerusalem, and with how great a din and how swift a course he will come to besiege it.

And first, he says, he will come to Aioth, where, through excessive haste unwilling to remain, he will pass on to Magron, and will have such confidence of taking the city that at Machmas he will entrust his baggage, as one who will soon return after the city has been overthrown: which having been laid down, he will pass through it swiftly, and will have his lodging at Gabee; where, tarrying a little while there in order to refresh his weary army, the neighboring city Rama will be terrified: Gaba, once the city of Saul, will flee. Then the daughter Gallim also, who in Hebrew is called Beth gallim (בת גלים), will wail in such a way that you would think it the neighing of horses. Wherefore, O Laisa, and poor, or obedient, or humble Anathoth (for it can be interpreted in three ways), attend diligently, and turn aside the onrush of the one running, if you can: for the city Medemena has already migrated from its seats.

But you who dwell on the hills, which is interpreted Gebim, safe by the height of the places, take courage, that is, seize your weapons. There yet remained so much of the day that, standing in the little town of Nob, and gazing from afar upon the city of Jerusalem, he would shake his hand and brandish it over the mount of Sion, either looking down upon it and despising it, or taunting and threatening, and marveling that, with the whole East subjected to him, so small a city dares to resist his power. These things according to the Hebrews, as it has been handed down to us by them, we have touched upon in brief discourse. Now let us set forth what men of the Church think about this passage according to the Septuagint edition. When the yoke of the Assyrian, or as some wrongly suppose, of the Babylonian, shall have been taken away from your shoulders, and broken, the Assyrian Sennacherib, fleeing with a few remnants, comes to Aggai, which is not found in the Hebrew.

And so great will be the trepidation of the fugitive that he will not dare to remain there, but will pass on into Mageddo, which likewise Scripture itself does not contain. And because, hindered by his baggage, he will not be able to flee more swiftly, he will lay down his vessels at Machmas, and with hastened step will cross the valley, which likewise the Hebrew text does not echo: and again he will come to Aggai, which is set down twice in this passage, and is not found in the Hebrew. At the sound of his flight, Rama, the city of Saul, will tremble: which is plainly false. For the city of Saul is called Gaba, as is contained in the Hebrew. Then he will come to Gallim: Laisa will hear, Anathoth will hear, Medemena will tremble.

But the inhabitants of Gebim and the hills, which are in Jerusalem, that is, all men of high station, are called upon to console Jerusalem: not long afterward in time, but at present, and on that very day while the Assyrian is on the way; that they may remain in their places, and by no means flee, thrown into confusion by fear. This according to the letter. But certain persons at this point, since one cannot find the etymologies of these fictitious names according to the Septuagint, nor could I myself find them in the book of Hebrew Names, send us to something uncertain, so as to say that at the end-time of the world, and at the consummation of this age, with the impending punishments, a great mind, the prince of the Assyrians, will flee: and through diverse places and various journeys will desire to flee from the wrath of God.

And when he has fled, the inhabitants of Gebim, that is, all the lofty virtues, are called upon by the prophetic word to console the one fleeing, and to teach him not to flee, but to remain on the way, and await the mercy of God; and not only to console the fugitive, but also to recall the daughter of Sion from mourning to good works, and to summon her to the salvation of penitence, and that these are the hills in Jerusalem of which we read in the latter part of this prophet: Comfort ye, comfort ye my people, O priests: speak to the heart of Jerusalem. These things he said because, constrained by the truth of the matter, he had nothing else to say. Behold, the Lord, the Lord of hosts, shall break the little flagon with terror, and the lofty of stature shall be cut down, and the exalted shall be humbled, and the thickets of the forest shall be overthrown with iron, and Lebanon with its lofty trees shall fall.

Some suppose that this passage still speaks of the Assyrian, that when he has been crushed, all the surrounding nations which were subject to his dominion shall be cut down and humbled, and the thickest forest shall be overthrown: by which, metaphorically, they wish the people and princes to be understood. And that Lebanon too, with its lofty trees, falls, so that nothing at all of Assyrian power remains. But others wish the beginning of this passage to be about Christ: especially since both what follows, and the Circumcision itself, confess that it was written concerning him and us.

He had said above the name of the boy to be born of the Virgin, that he should be called Emmanuel; and afterward that the conception in the womb of the prophetess should be called, make haste, take away the spoils, hasten to plunder, and that he himself would be a stone of stumbling and a rock of offense to the two houses of Israel: whose government would be upon his shoulder, and he would be called by six names: Wonderful, Counsellor, God, Mighty, Father of the world to come, and Prince of Peace: and that his empire would be multiplied, and there would be no end of peace.

Now, in the preface of his coming, before it is said that he should be born of the stock of Jesse and David, his passion is set forth by the figure of the broken little flagon: because, by the will of God, his flesh was therefore delivered to death, that the loftiness of the Jews might be destroyed, and those once exalted might fall to the ground; and Lebanon with its cedars be cut down, concerning which we read in Zechariah: Open thy gates, O Lebanon, and let fire devour thy cedars! Howl, O fir tree, for the cedar has fallen, because the mighty ones are laid waste. And that he is said to have been crushed and struck by the Father, this too is an indication: I will strike the shepherd, and the sheep shall be scattered (Zac. Xiii, 7). And another testimony: For him whom thou hast struck, they have persecuted.

The Hebrew word (פוארה) PHURA, which Aquila translated κεραμεῖον, Theodotion and Symmachus rendered ληνόν, that is, winepress, which itself too, according to the inscription of the three psalms, signifies the Lord's passion, he himself saying in Isaiah: I have trodden the winepress alone, and of the peoples there was not a man with me. But the Seventy, introducing a new sense instead of winepress, translated it "the glorious ones."

(Verses 1, 2.) And a rod shall come forth from the root of Jesse, and a flower shall rise from his root: And the Spirit of the Lord shall rest upon him, the spirit of wisdom and understanding: the spirit of counsel and might: the spirit of knowledge and godliness: and the spirit of the fear of the Lord shall fill him. Up to the beginning of the Vision, or the burden, of Babylon, which Isaiah the son of Amos saw, all this prophecy is about Christ, which we wish to explain part by part, lest, set forth and discussed all at once, it confuse the reader's memory.

The rod and the flower from the root of Jesse the Jews interpret as the Lord himself: namely, that in the rod the power of the reigning one is shown, in the flower the beauty. But let us understand the rod from the root of Jesse as holy Mary the Virgin, who had no shoot joined to her; concerning whom we also read above: Behold, a Virgin shall conceive and bear a son. And the flower as the Lord the Savior, who says in the Song of Songs: I am the flower of the field, and the lily of the valleys. Instead of "root," which only the Seventy translated, the Hebrew has written (גזע) GEZA, which Aquila and Symmachus and Theodotion translated κορμόν, that is, trunk. And instead of the flower, which in Hebrew is called (נצר) NESER, they translated "shoot," in order to show that, long after the time of the Babylonian captivity, with no one of the stock of David possessing the glory of the ancient kingdom, Christ arose as it were from the trunk of Mary, and from Mary.

That which in the Gospel of Matthew all the churchmen seek and cannot find where it is written: For he shall be called a Nazarene, the learned among the Hebrews think was taken from this passage. But it should be known that this NESER is written with the letter SADE: whose peculiar quality and sound between and the Latin tongue does not express. For it is a hissing sound, and is scarcely brought forth by the pressure of the tongue with clenched teeth: from which also the city Sion is written. Moreover the Nazarenes, whom the Seventy translated "sanctified ones," Symmachus "separated ones," are always written with the letter ZAIN.

Upon this flower, therefore, which shall suddenly arise from the trunk and from the root of Jesse through the Virgin Mary, shall rest the Spirit of the Lord, because it pleased that in him should dwell all the fullness of the Godhead bodily: by no means in parts, as in the other saints; but according to the Gospel which the Nazarenes read written in the Hebrew tongue: There shall descend upon him the whole fountain of the Holy Spirit. Now the Lord is the Spirit; and where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is liberty.

In the same volume of Matthew we read what is written in what follows: Behold my servant whom I have chosen: my elect in whom my soul is well pleased: I will put my spirit upon him: he shall bring forth judgment to the Gentiles, understood to refer to the Savior, in whom the Spirit of the Lord rested, that is, remained by an eternal indwelling: not so as to fly away, and again descend upon him; but, according to the testimony of John the Baptist, remained continually, who says: I saw the Spirit descending like a dove from heaven, and remaining upon him, and I knew him not: but he who sent me to baptize in water said to me, Upon whomsoever thou shalt see the Spirit descending and remaining upon him, he it is who baptizes in the Holy Spirit.

Moreover in the Gospel, of which we have made mention above, we find these things written: And it came to pass, when the Lord had come up from the water, the whole fountain of the Holy Spirit descended and rested upon him, and said to him: My son, in all the prophets I was waiting for you, that you should come, and I might rest in you. For you are my rest, you are my firstborn son, who reigns forever. This Spirit of the Lord is also called the Spirit of wisdom; for all things were made through him, and without him was made nothing that was made. And in the Psalms it is sung: How magnificent are your works, O Lord! You have made all things in wisdom. And the Apostle writes: Christ the power of God and the wisdom of God. And in Proverbs it is read: God founded the earth in his wisdom, and prepared the heavens in prudence.

And just as the same Word of God is called light, and life, and resurrection: so is he named the spirit of wisdom and understanding, and of counsel and might, and of knowledge, and of godliness, and of the fear of the Lord: not because it is different according to differences of names, but because there is one and the same fountain and source of all virtues. Without Christ, therefore, no one can be wise, or understanding, or a counselor, or strong, or learned, or godly, or full of the fear of God. And this should be noted, that the Spirit of the Lord, of wisdom and understanding, of counsel and might, and of knowledge, and of godliness, and of the fear of the Lord, that is, the sevenfold number, which is called the seven eyes upon one stone in Zechariah, rests upon the rod and flower which arose from Jesse, and thus from the stock of David.

But specially the spirit of the fear of the Lord fills him for the sake of those who need the fear of the Lord: because they are little ones, whom perfect love casts out. For he who fears has punishment, and is not perfect. Whence also the Apostle speaks to believers: For you have not received the spirit of bondage again in fear: but you have received the Spirit of adoption, whereby we cry, Abba, Father. And in Malachi we read: If I am a father, where is my honor? And if I am a Lord, where is my fear?

Concerning which fear it is sung in the Psalm: Come, children, hear me: I will teach you the fear of the Lord. (Verses 3 and following.) He shall not judge according to the sight of the eyes, nor reprove according to the hearing of the ears: but he shall judge the poor in justice, and reprove in equity for the meek of the earth, and he shall strike the earth with the rod of his mouth, and with the breath of his lips he shall slay the wicked. And justice shall be the girdle of his loins, and faith the girdle of his reins. We refer these things to the first coming of the Savior: the Jews contend they are for the end of the world. Now the Seventy translated: He shall not judge according to glory, nor reprove according to speech: but he shall judge with a humble judgment, and shall reprove the humble of the earth.

For he accepts no one's person in judgment: but says to the Scribes and Pharisees and rulers: Woe to you, hypocrites: and, The kingdom of God shall be taken away from you, and given to a nation bringing forth its fruits. Nor did he correct according to speech and the hearing of the ears. For when they said: Master, we know that you are true, and teach the way of God in truth, and it does not matter to you about anyone: for you do not regard the person of men: knowing their malice, he answered: Why do you tempt me, hypocrites? And other things similar to these. But he judged the poor in spirit in justice, whose is the kingdom of God: and reproved in equity the meek and humble of the earth, saying to the Apostles: Are you also yet without understanding? And again: Do you not yet know nor understand? And to Peter specially: O you of little faith, why did you doubt?

Or certainly on behalf of the humble and meek he reproved others, who were trying to oppress them. He also struck all earthly works with the rod, or as the Seventy translated, with the word of his mouth, saying in the Gospel: Do not think that I have come to send peace upon the earth: I have not come to send peace, but the sword. And with the breath of his lips he shall slay the wicked: concerning whom we read in the ninth psalm: You have rebuked the nations, and the wicked one has perished: you have blotted out their name forever and ever. And the Apostle Paul writes: Whom the Lord Jesus shall slay with the breath of his mouth. But when the wicked one is struck down, the Lord is girded with justice and truth and faith. For he himself has been made for us by God wisdom, and justice, and sanctification and redemption, who also says in the Gospel: I am the light, and the life, and the truth.

And it is said in the Psalms: Truth has sprung from the earth: and justice has looked down from heaven. Whence also the Apostle exhorts the Ephesians: Stand, therefore, having your loins girded about with truth, and having put on the breastplate of justice. But if, instead of "truth," "faith" is read, this must be said, that the girdle of the Lord, with which Jeremiah was girded, is the faith of believers. (Verses 6 and following). The wolf shall dwell with the lamb, and the leopard shall lie down with the kid; the calf, and the lion, and the sheep shall abide together, and a little child shall lead them. The calf and the bear shall feed: their young ones shall rest together, and the lion shall eat straw like the ox. And the infant shall be delighted from the breast over the hole of the asp; and he that is weaned shall thrust his hand into the den of the basilisk.

They shall not hurt, nor kill in all my holy mountain, for the earth is filled with the knowledge of the Lord, as the waters covering the sea. These things also the Jews, and our own Judaizers, contend will come to pass according to the letter, so that in the glory of Christ, whom they suppose will come at the end of the world, all beasts will be reduced to gentleness, and their former ferocity laid aside, the wolf and the lamb will feed together, and the rest with the rest, which now we see to be contrary to one another.

We ought to ask them, if all the things of the present passage are to be understood thus, as they are written, and nothing is referred to spiritual understanding, according to that saying of the Apostle, who says: Blessed be God, and the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who hath blessed us with every spiritual blessing in heavenly places in Christ—then let not the root, and the rod, and the flower either be referred to a spiritual sense; and the earth struck with the word of God, and the wicked slain with the spirit of his lips, let these too be understood just as they are written: and let them be compelled to teach how, in things incorporeal, justice and truth can gird the loins of the Lord. But let us ask them also this: what is worthy of the majesty of the Lord, that the wolf and the lamb should feed together, and the leopard lie down with the kid, and the lion eat straw, and the little child put his hand into the holes of asps?

Unless perhaps, according to the fables of the poets, they will restore to us the golden age of Saturn, in which wolves and lambs will feed together, and rivers will run full of honeyed wine, and from the leaves of trees sweetest honey will drip, and all things will be filled with fountains of milk. But if they answer that these things are to come for the blessedness of the times, so that, without harm to anyone, men may enjoy all good things, let them hear from us that nothing is good except virtue, and nothing evil except vice, as the Psalmist says: Who is the man that desireth life, and loveth to see good days? Keep thy tongue from evil, and thy lips that they speak no guile. Turn away from evil, and do good. But riches, and bodily health, and abundance of all things, and their opposites, poverty, infirmity, and want, even among the philosophers of this world, are reckoned neither among goods nor among evils, but are called indifferent things.

Whence also the Stoics, who agree with our doctrine in many respects, call nothing good except honesty and virtue alone, and nothing evil except baseness. We have said these things briefly, that we may convict our Judaizers of snoring in the deepest sleep. But according to the life-giving spirit, the understanding is easy. For Paul, the wolf who at first persecuted and tore the Church, of whom it is said: Benjamin is a ravening wolf, dwelt with the lamb, either with Ananias by whom he was baptized, or with the apostle Peter, to whom it was said: Feed my lambs. And the leopard, who before did not change his spots, having been washed in the fountain of the Lord, lay down with the kid—not the one that is on the left hand, but the one that is offered in the passover of the Lord.

And this is to be noted, that it is not the lamb and the kid that dwell and lie down with the wolf and the leopard, but the wolf and the leopard that imitate the innocence of the lamb and the kid. The lion also, formerly most fierce, and the sheep, and the calf will abide together alike. This we see daily in the Church: the rich and the poor, the powerful and the humble, kings and private persons, dwelling together alike, and being ruled in the Church by little children—whom we understand to be the Apostles, and apostolic men, unskilled in speech but not in knowledge. And when these have been joined together in the discipline of the Lord, so that even their households are united, then shall be fulfilled: Their young ones shall rest together. The lion also will not eat flesh but straw, that is, he will feed on simple food. And here it is to be observed, that it is not the ox that eats flesh, but the lion that eats straw.

Straw, I think, in the holy Scriptures signifies the simple words. But wheat, and the inner marrow, signifies the sense that is found in the letter; and it often happens that men of the world, ignorant of the mystical meanings, are fed by the simple reading of the Scriptures. The infant also, who is small in malice, puts his hand into the hole of the asp, and drives out demons from the bodies of men possessed. But he who is weaned is no longer nourished with the milk of infancy, but now feeds on solid food. This one puts his hand into the den of the basilisk, that is, into the very dwelling-place of Satan, and draws him out from there. Whence also power was given to the Apostles to tread upon serpents and scorpions, and upon all the strength of the enemy.

But the venomous animals will in no way be able to harm or kill those who shall dwell on the holy mountain of God, which is interpreted as the Church, of which it is said in the Gospel: A city set upon a mountain cannot be hid. But lest we should think this is said of Mount Sion according to the error of the Hebrews, in the following little verse the mysteries of the evangelical preaching are shown: For the earth is filled with the knowledge of the Lord—this is that which was said more obscurely above: The wolf shall dwell with the lamb, and the leopard shall lie down with the kid; and, according to his custom, the prophetic words are opened up more fully at the end: As the waters, he says, of the sea covering. As the waters of the sea cover the depths of the sea, that is, the land which is covered by the waves, so shall all the earth be filled with the knowledge of the Lord.

This union of formerly diverse customs the blessed apostle Peter also testifies that he saw in the linen vessel, which was let down from heaven, having four corners, which we understand as the four quarters of the world, so that we may know the earth to be filled with the knowledge of God: in which vessel were four-footed beasts, and serpents, and wild beasts, and birds of the air, so that what the Ark provided in the flood, the Church might provide in the world.

In that day the root of Jesse, who stands for an ensign of the peoples, him the Gentiles shall beseech, and his sepulchre shall be glorious. The Septuagint: And it shall be in that day, the root of Jesse, and he who shall rise up to be a prince of the Gentiles, in him shall the Gentiles hope, and his rest shall be honor. Instead of "his rest," in the Hebrew is put MENUATHO (מנוחתו), which all have translated similarly. Instead of "honor" also, in the Hebrew is read CHABOD (כבוד), which plainly means glory. And the sense is: his death shall be glorious, so that that may be fulfilled which the Savior in the Gospel prays: Father, glorify me with the glory which I had with thee before the world was. It was spoken of his birth, it was spoken of the other mysteries in between: he comes to death, which is called not by the accustomed name of mortals, but, because in Christ there was perpetual life, is called rest.

But we, that we might make the sense clear to the reader, have rendered it "sepulchre," using another word for "sleep" and "rest," but with the same meaning. In that time, therefore, when the Gospel of Christ shone forth in the whole world, and all the earth was filled with the knowledge of the Lord, as the waters of the sea covering the earth, there shall be the root of Jesse, and he who from its stock shall rise as a sign for all peoples, so that the peoples may see the sign of the Son of man in heaven. He shall have horns in his hands, in which his strength shall be hidden, so that being exalted he may draw all things to himself. Or, as the Septuagint have translated, he shall rise from the dead, that he may be prince of all nations, and all nations shall hope in him.

Which also Jacob, in mystic speech, testifies concerning the tribe of Judah: The prince shall not fail from Judah, nor a leader from his thighs, until he come to whom it is reserved, and he shall be the expectation of the nations. And it shall come to pass in that day, that the Lord shall set his hand again the second time to possess the remnant of his people, which shall be left by the Assyrians, and by Egypt, and by Phetros, and by Ethiopia, and by Elam, and by Sennaar, and by Emath, and by the islands of the sea. And he shall lift up an ensign to the nations, and shall gather together the fugitives of Israel, and shall gather the dispersed of Judah from the four quarters of the earth: and the envy of Ephraim shall be taken away, and the enemies of Judah shall perish. Ephraim shall not envy Judah, and Judah shall not fight against Ephraim.

But they shall fly upon the shoulders of the Philistines by the sea, they shall spoil the children of the East together: Edom and Moab shall be under the command of their hand, and the children of Ammon shall be obedient. In that day, that is, in that time of which it was said above also, when the root of Jesse shall have arisen for an ensign of the peoples, or so that he may rule the Gentiles, the Lord shall set his hand again the second time—not, as our Judaizers hold, at the end of the world, when the fullness of the Gentiles shall have come in, then all Israel shall be saved; but let us understand all these things as pertaining to the first coming.

For we cannot, since one and the same day is spoken of both now and above, refer that one to the first coming and this one to the second: lest, through these things which follow and those which preceded, they be referred to that Christ whom the Jews contend has not yet come, but is yet to come.

After the calling of the Gentiles, therefore, who were once accounted as the tail, Israel will be accounted as the tail: that the Lord may add his hand a second time, and possess the remnant of his people, of whom we have also read above, that not all Israel, but the remnants are to be saved, which shall have been left by the Assyrians and by Egypt, and by the various nations round about. For first the twelve Apostles, and the seventy, and the hundred twenty souls, and the five hundred to whom the Lord appeared gathered together at once, then three thousand, and five thousand of the Jews believed in the Lord. James also speaks to the apostle Paul, who himself was of the remnant: You see, brother, how many thousands of Jews there are who believe? All these are zealous for the law.

And in the same book we read: Now there were dwelling at Jerusalem Jews, devout men, out of every nation under heaven, who all marvelled and said: Are not these that speak Galileans, and how have we heard, every man in our own tongue wherein we were born? Parthians, and Medes, and Elamites, and dwellers in Mesopotamia and Syria, Cappadocia, Pontus and Asia, Phrygia and Pamphylia, and Egypt and Libya, and Cyrene, and strangers of Rome, Jews and proselytes, Cretans and Arabians, we have heard them speaking in our tongues the wonderful works of God. Of all these nations, then, the remnants of Israel will be saved through the Apostles. Ecclesiastical histories relate that the Apostles, scattered throughout the whole world, preached the Gospel: so that some penetrated into Persia and India, and Ethiopia gave her hands to God, and from beyond the rivers of Ethiopia gifts were brought thence to Christ. And lest it should seem to signify only the eastern peoples, he joins the rest: And from the islands of the sea.

Now the islands of the sea signify the western region, which is enclosed by the circuit of the Ocean. The sign of the Cross, therefore, will rejoice among all nations, and from the synagogues of the Jews it will first gather the people Israel, that the Apostles might fulfil the command of the Saviour, who had said: Go to the lost sheep of the house of Israel. Finally Paul also speaks to the unbelievers of the Jews: It was necessary that the word of God should first be spoken to you; but seeing you reject it, and judge yourselves unworthy of eternal life, behold, we turn to the Gentiles, as the Lord has commanded us. Now the four regions, east and west, south and north, signify that through these the calling of the world is shown.

At that time, says Isaiah, Ephraim and Judah, who now, while I prophesy, are divided among themselves in hostile hatred, shall in no wise be enemies, but according to the prophecy of Ezekiel, the two rods shall be joined into one rod, and shall be united in the Church of Christ, they who before had been separated, so that they shall labor together among the Gentiles with common toil, and shall fly upon the shoulders of the Philistines toward the sea, that is, they shall first preach to the maritime Palestinians and pass by sea with swift course to the other nations. Or according to the Seventy Interpreters: they shall fly in the ships of foreigners, they shall plunder the sea together: which let us understand from the example of Paul the apostle alone, who through Pamphylia, and Asia, and Macedonia, and Achaia, and various islands and provinces, was carried also to Italy, and, as he himself writes, to Spain, in ships of foreigners.

Therefore Ephraim and Judah, that is, those of the twelve tribes who believed in Christ from among the Jews, shall plunder the East together, and shall stretch out their hands into Idumea and Moab, according to that which Christ mystically speaks in the person of David: Over Idumea I will stretch out my shoe: to me shall foreigners be subject. For those nations, at the time when Isaiah was prophesying, were adversaries to the people of the Jews, and therefore he now says that after the root of Jesse shall have arisen to reign among the Gentiles, and the standard of the Cross shall have been raised for the salvation of the whole world, then also Idumea and Moab and the sons of Ammon, that is, all the breadth of Arabia, shall give their hands to the Apostles, and in the places of idolatry churches of Christ shall be raised up.

And the Lord shall lay waste the tongue of the sea of Egypt, and shall lift up his hand over the river in the strength of his spirit, and shall smite it into seven streams: so that men may pass through it shod. And there shall be a way for the remnant of my people that shall be left from the Assyrians, as it was for Israel in the day that he came up out of the land of Egypt. As Idumea and Moab, and the sons of Ammon shall give their hands to the Apostles, that they may obey the evangelical preaching, so the Lord himself, who accomplished those things in his Apostles, shall lay waste—not the sea, according to the Seventy, but according to the Hebrew, the tongue of the sea of Egypt, which before blasphemed against the Lord and presided over Egyptian superstition. Whence also we read in the Psalms: This sea, great and wide, therein are creeping things without number. Of which it is added: This dragon whom thou hast formed to play therein.

He shall therefore lay waste, or slay, that is, ἀναθεματίσει, as Theodotion, Aquila and Symmachus have translated, the tongue of the sea of Egypt, and shall lift up his hand over the rivers of Egypt in the strength of his spirit, or with a most violent spirit, which we understand to be the kingdom of the Romans. For when Caesar Augustus reigned, when the flower from the root of Jesse ascended, and the first census was made in the Roman world, the very powerful kingdom of the Egyptians, which had endured for many ages, was destroyed at the death of Cleopatra, and the Egyptian river was smitten into seven streams, or into seven lowest valleys. For the Nile of many waters, which before flowed in one channel, and was impassable, was divided and cut into seven very low valleys and streams, so that it might be crossed with shod feet.

Now this signifies tropologically that the nation of the Egyptians, so given over to idolatry and most vain superstition that they consecrated hawks, owls, dogs, and goats, and asses, with a divine name, has been distributed from its infinite power of kingdom among the several judges of the Roman empire, so that Thebes has one judge, Libya another, Pentapolis another, Egypt another, Alexandria another, and the various regions which the Egyptians call νόμοι (nomes). And this is why, under a metaphor, the Nile is divided into parts and cut into streams, that the evangelical word might run without any hindrance, and reach even to the farthest peoples of Egypt. And just as in the days of Moses the Red Sea was dried up, that the people might flee from Egypt, so on the contrary the rivers of Egypt shall be dried up, that the remnants of the people of God, which shall be saved from the Assyrians and various nations, may pass into Egypt, not fleeing it at all, but taking it and treading it under their own foot.

Let the prudent and Christian reader hold this rule of the prophetic promises, that what the Jews, and our own—nay, not our own, but Judaizers among us—contend will happen carnally in the future, we should teach has already been fulfilled spiritually, lest through the occasion of such fables and inextricable questions, as the Apostle says, we be compelled to judaize.

And you shall say in that day: I will give thanks to you, O Lord, for you were angry with me: your fury is turned away, and you have comforted me. Behold, God is my Saviour, I will act with confidence, and will not fear, because my strength and my praise is the Lord God, and he has become my salvation.

You who before said in the wilderness, when you went up out of the land of Egypt, and the Red Sea was dried up: Let us sing to the Lord, for he is gloriously magnified, and the rest: now, the tongue of the sea of Egypt being smitten, and its river dried up and cut and humbled, glorify the Lord, and say: I will give thanks to you, O Lord: because I who deserved your wrath and fury, have obtained mercy; for you are my Saviour, that is, Jesus, and I have no confidence at all in idols, nor will I fear what is not to be feared; but you are my strength, and my praise, who have become my salvation.

Let the most wicked heresy hear that the Lord is made unto those who are saved, and of whom he was not before Lord, that we may understand in the holy Scriptures creation and making not always as the making of things that were not, but sometimes as grace toward those who have merited that God be made unto them.

You shall draw waters with joy from the fountains of the Saviour. He whom above he calls Emmanuel, then says, strip the spoils, hasten to plunder, and calls him by the remaining names, lest he should seem to be another besides him whom Gabriel announced to the Virgin, saying: And you shall call his name Jesus, for he shall save his people: now he calls him Saviour, and proclaims that waters are to be drawn from his fountains, by no means from the waters of the river of Egypt, which were smitten, nor from the waters of the river of Rasin, but from the fountains of Jesus, for this is what "Saviour" expresses in the Hebrew tongue. Whence he himself also cried out in the Gospel, He who thirsts, let him come to me, and drink. He who believes in me, as the Scripture says: Rivers of living water shall flow from his belly. Now this, says the Evangelist, he said of the Holy Spirit, whom those believing in him were about to receive.

And in another place of the Gospel he himself speaks: He who drinks of the water that I shall give him shall not thirst forever: but the water that I shall give him shall become in him a fountain of water springing up into eternal life. By the fountains of the Saviour let us understand the evangelical teaching, of which we read in the sixty-seventh psalm, In the churches bless God the Lord from the fountains of Israel. (Verses 4, 5.) And you shall say in that day, give thanks to the Lord and call upon his name: make known his devices among the peoples: remember that his name is exalted. Sing to the Lord, for he has done magnificently: proclaim this in all the earth.

These things are commanded by the Apostles and the remnants of Israel to those who have believed from among the Gentiles: that they alone give thanks to the Lord, and, idols abandoned, invoke his name: and proclaim all his works to the unbelievers; that they may know that he alone is exalted: to whom should be sung what he has done magnificently, and that his mercy be proclaimed in every land. (Verse 6.) Exult and praise, O dwelling of Sion: for great in the midst of you is the Holy One of Israel.

First it must be said according to the letter: O dwelling of Sion, exult and praise your God, because he who before seemed to be your God, and was confined within the small bounds of the land of Judea, has now filled all the earth with his knowledge, and, rising from death, reigns among the nations, and the nations themselves entreat him and worship him; provided only that he add his hand a second time to possess what remains of his people, and to gather the fugitives of Israel, and to collect the dispersed of Judah from the four regions of the earth: because the seed of the Gospel proceeded through the Apostles, who were of the Jews, from the fountains of Israel.

But it is better that we interpret Sion, that is, a watchtower set on high places, as the Church, of which the fiftieth psalm also sings: Deal graciously, O Lord, in your good pleasure with Sion, and let the walls of Jerusalem be built; that there may be made acceptable to God in her the sacrifice of righteousness, oblations, and holocausts, and the calf, which the most merciful father sacrificed for the penitent son.

It is many years now since, being asked by that man of holy memory, Bishop Amabilis, to write on the ten Visions of Isaiah, on account of the straitness of that time I touched briefly, in a short discourse, upon what seemed to me on each point, explaining only the history, as he had asked. Now I am compelled, for you, φιλοπονωτάτη (most diligent) Eustochium, to write Commentaries on the whole prophet, and meanwhile, by your prayers, I have arrived as far as Babylon, which is the first of the ten visions, of which I have already spoken above. It seemed to me superfluous either to repeat the same things again, or to bring forth diverse opinions in one work. Hence this shall be the fifth book on Isaiah, which was once published alone; and when this has been completed to the very end, we shall take up the beginning of the sixth volume according to the tropology, and, with you entreating the same Lord, we shall pursue the summits of spiritual understanding.

Thus far, Father Amabilis, pillar of charity both in name and in fact, and to me the most beloved of all whom the earth has brought forth—you were urging by letters that I should set forth for you, in a historical exposition, the ten visions which in Isaiah are most obscure, and, setting aside the Commentaries of our own writers, who, following various opinions, have composed many volumes, that I should unfold the Hebrew truth: and you were most frequently admonishing me as I hesitated, and put off to another time this most troublesome kind of explanation. But this year you sent our son the deacon Heraclius, who was to summon me, as it were, hand joined to hand, into court, and to exact instantly the promise. What then shall I do?

Shall I undertake a work on which the most learned men have labored—I mean Origen, and Eusebius of Pamphilus—of whom the one wanders through the free spaces of allegory, and, having interpreted the names of each thing, makes his own ingenuity the sacraments of the Church; the other, promising a historical exposition under his title, sometimes forgets his purpose, and yields to Origen’s opinions? Or shall I keep silent, and openly declare that I do not know this kind of exposition? And when shall I be able to persuade you that I was not so much unable as unwilling—of which the one is a mark of weakness, the other of pride? Driven by these considerations, I have preferred that you should ask of me my ability rather than my will; and I shall briefly note down what I have learned, laying the foundations of the Scriptures.

But if either you should wish it, or there should be leisure, and Christ should assent to our will, a spiritual edifice must be built upon this foundation, so that, once the roof is set in place, we may display the perfect ornaments of the Church. You have proposed the Vision of Isaiah concerning Babylon, and Philistia, Moab, and Damascus, and Egypt, and the desert of the sea, and Idumea, and Arabia, and the Valley of Vision, and Tyre: which, if I should strive to expound at greater length, would require many books, and the completion of my voyage would be put off to another year. And so, as you wish, I shall fit brief little sentences to each testimony, so that I may not so much expound what I think as leave to you, in a few words, matters for you to ponder. We are dictating these things, not writing them; the discourse runs with the running hand of the notaries.

For we do not wish our own words to be praised, but the sayings of the Prophet to be understood; nor do we boast of eloquence, but seek the knowledge of the Scriptures. Let us begin, then, from Babylon.

(Verse 1.) The burden of Babylon, which Isaiah the son of Amos saw. The Hebrew word MASSA (משא) can be understood either as “burden” or as “weight.” And wherever it is set as a heading, the things spoken are full of threats. Whence I marvel that the Seventy Translators wished to put “vision” in so grievous a matter; but of this elsewhere.

Now let us pursue what we have taken up: Babylon was the metropolis of the Chaldeans, whose king Nabuchodonosor, having overcome all peoples as far as Ethiopia, laid waste, among others, Judea also, and, having besieged Jerusalem for a long time, took it in the eleventh year of the reign of Zedekiah: whom, having also captured him, he led away to Antioch, which was then called Reblatha, and there, in the presence of the father, the sons having been slain, he commanded that Zedekiah’s eyes be put out, and, blinded, sent him into a cage, and dragged him, after the manner of wild beasts, to Babylon; the prophecy of Jeremiah being thus fulfilled, which sang: You shall enter Babylon, and you shall not see it.

For the consolation, therefore, of the people of the Jews, the ruin of Babylon is foretold, in that, just as Nineveh, the metropolis of the Assyrians—whose kings Phul, and Theglathphalasar, and Salmanasar, and Sennacherib, had taken the ten tribes—was overthrown when the Chaldean laid it waste: so also this city, which had grown proud against God, is to be overthrown by the onslaught of the Medes and Persians. (Verse 2.) Upon the darksome mountain lift up a sign, raise the voice, lift up the hand. Understand the darksome, or dark, mountain—called in Hebrew NESPHA (נשפה)—as Babylon, on account of its pride. These are the dark mountains, exhibiting sadness and darkness, of which Jeremiah says: Give glory to the Lord your God, before your feet stumble upon the dark mountains.

And it is commanded, whether to Angels or to any ministers whatsoever, that at God’s bidding, and with the hand of the messengers lifted up, the captivity that is coming upon Babylon should be proclaimed. (Verses 3, 4.) And let the leaders enter the gates: I have commanded my sanctified ones, and have called my mighty ones in my wrath, exulting in my glory. The princes and giants, according to the Seventy Translators, Eusebius interprets as angelic powers, and the worst demons, who were sent for the overthrow of Babylon. But we, following the order of history, say these are the Medes. Concerning whom Scripture testifies more openly in what follows, saying: Behold, I will stir up against them the Medes, who seek not silver, nor desire gold. Nor is it strange if he calls the Medes sanctified for the overthrow of Babylon, since through Jeremiah he called Nabuchodonosor himself, because he served his empire in destroying the transgressing Jerusalem, his servant and his dove.

Moreover, what he says—“my mighty ones, and those exulting in my glory”—shows that it was not by their own strength, but by the wrath of God, that they overthrew the power of so lofty a kingdom. (Verses 4, 5.) The voice of a multitude on the mountains, as of many peoples: the voice of the sound of kings of nations gathered together. The Lord of hosts has given command to the army of war, to those coming from a land far off, from the end of heaven. The Lord and the vessels of his fury, to destroy the whole land. The onslaught of the Medes and Persians is described: that, having gathered to themselves many auxiliaries, with the Lord going before their army, they come to the destruction of Babylon, to destroy the whole land—not that they laid waste the whole world, but the whole land of Babylon and the Chaldeans.

For it is the idiom of Holy Scripture that “the whole land” signifies the whole province of which discourse is being made: which some, not understanding, draw out to mean the overthrow of all lands. (Verse 6.) Howl, for the day of the Lord is near: as destruction shall come from the Lord. An apostrophe is made to the people of the Chaldeans, that they should resound the coming evils with weeping: nor should they doubt about the ruin of the city, since the Lord, the destroyer, is coming. (Verses 7, 8.) Therefore all hands shall be loosed, and every man’s heart shall melt and be broken. Pangs and sorrows shall take hold of them: they shall be in pain as women in labor: everyone shall be amazed at his neighbor; their faces shall be as faces burnt.

This needs no exposition, but is briefly indicated: that so great a weight of evils presses down that the hand of Babylon’s warriors is loosed, and their hearts grow faint with dread, and, after the manner of women in labor, pain twists their innards, and each one seeks the help of another, carrying about a livid face from terror: for it is natural, when evils are imminent, that we think others wiser than ourselves. (Verse 9.) Behold, the day of the Lord comes, cruel, and full of indignation, and of wrath and fury, to lay the land waste, and to destroy its sinners out of it. He calls the day cruel, not on account of itself, but of the people. For he who slays the cruel is not cruel; but it seems cruel to those who suffer it. For even the robber hanged on the gibbet thinks the judge cruel.

At the same time the desolation and devastation of the land of Babylon is announced; and the cause of the devastation is set forth, that all these things happen on account of its sins. (Verse 10.) For the stars of heaven and their brightness shall not spread forth their light: the sun shall be darkened at its rising, and the moon shall not shine with her light. The Hebrew word CHISILE (כסיל) the Seventy translated as Orion. The Hebrew, whom I used as my teacher, interpreted it as Arcturus. We, following Symmachus in general, have said “star.” The meaning is that, when the cruel day of the Lord shall come, and its fury shall have laid waste all things, on account of the greatness of the terror, all things shall grow dark to mortals, and the sun itself, and the moon, and the glowing stars shall seem to deny their brightness.

Whence heaven also is clothed in sackcloth, because indeed darkness covers all things, and, under the pressure of evils, men perceive nothing else except what their mind is compelled to see. (Verse 11.) And I will visit evils upon the world, and iniquity upon the wicked: and I will make the pride of the unfaithful to cease, and I will humble the arrogance of the mighty. From this passage and from the one above, where it is written that the sun grows dark at its rising, and the moon is filled with gloom, and the stars withdraw their brightness, and the iniquity of the whole world is visited, some think that this is foretold not of the ruin of Babylon, but of the consummation of the world: whereas, according to what precedes, the world—which in Hebrew is called THEBEL (תבל), and in Greek οἰκουμένη—must be understood as Babylon.

For οἰκουμένη in our language means “inhabited”; and, on account of the immense multitude of its people, Babylon is called “inhabited”: so that where before there had been an innumerable throng of peoples, there now is desolation and the habitation of beasts. (Verse 12.) A man shall be more precious than gold, and a person than the purest gold. The reason is manifest why God should visit the οἰκουμένην, that is, the evils of Babylon: that, deprived of its inhabitants, it might be reduced to a wilderness. Now everything that is rare is called precious; just as above, according to the History, we read that, on account of the scarcity of men, seven women shall take hold of one man, saying: We will eat our own bread, and be clothed with our own garments; only let your name be called upon us, and take away our reproach. And in the book of Samuel it is contained: The word of the Lord was precious in those days, that is, rare.

Note that in the Hebrew, for general gold PHAZ (פז) is written, and for “obrizum” (refined gold), OPHIR (אופיר). (Verse 13.) Upon this I will trouble the heavens, and the earth shall be moved out of her place, because of the indignation of the Lord of hosts, and because of the day of his fierce wrath. Understand this either in the sense in which we expounded above concerning the stars, and the sun, and the moon, and the world; or hyperbolically, that from the indignation of God even heaven grows sad, and the earth is moved, and all the elements too acknowledge the wrath of the Creator. (Verse 14.) And it shall be like a fleeing doe, and like a sheep, and there shall be none to gather them. This signifies the Babylonian and Chaldean people, that they shall flee so fearfully before the onslaught of the Medes and Persians, as a doe and a sheep before the roar of a lion and the howl of a wolf: nor do they have a defender or a leader whose command they might follow.

Everyone shall turn to his own people, and everyone shall flee to his own land. After Babylon has been captured, and the hostile army has entered through its gates, all the auxiliaries and the troops of the various nations, by which the city had before been defended, shall return to their own provinces. (Verse 15.) Everyone that shall be found shall be slain: and everyone that shall come upon them shall fall by the sword. He who does not flee shall be struck by the blade: but whoever should wish either to resist, or to return, shall not so much profit the captured city, as he too shall pour out his blood. (Verse 16.) Their infants shall be dashed to pieces before their eyes: their houses shall be plundered, and their wives ravished. This is what David prophesies in the spirit: Daughter of Babylon, wretched one, blessed is he who shall repay you your recompense which you have repaid to us. Blessed is he who shall take and dash your little ones against the rock.

So great shall be the destruction of the city, and the savagery of the victors, that not even innocent age shall be spared, that all the wealth of the houses shall be plundered, and, in the sight of the husbands, the chastity of the wives shall be violated. (Verse 17.) Behold, I will stir up the Medes against them, who shall not seek silver, nor desire gold. What was hidden is now made plain: that it is by no means to be understood as Angels and demons—the “mighty ones” and “giants”—but the nation of the Medes, whose prince Darius the first overthrew the empire of the Babylonians, Balthasar the grandson of Nabuchodonosor being slain, who was the son of Evilmerodach.

And he describes such great savagery of the Medes and Persians, that, in their ardor for shedding blood, they despise gold and silver, and account offered riches as mere mud. (Verse 18.) But with arrows they shall slay the little ones, and shall have no pity on the infants at the breast, nor shall their eye spare the children. The little ones shall be slain, whose wounds shall be no smaller than their bodies, and the wombs of pregnant women shall be cut open, and infants dashed to pieces, and children pressed to the breast shall the cruel victor slay. (Verse 19.) And that Babylon, glorious among kingdoms, the renowned pride of the Chaldeans, shall be as when the Lord overthrew Sodom and Gomorrah: it shall not be inhabited forever, nor shall it be founded unto generation and generation. We have heard of the Medes, we have heard of Babylon, we have heard of the renowned pride of the Chaldeans: we do not wish to understand what has already been, and to hear a fourth time what has not been.

And we say these things, not that we condemn the tropological understanding, but because the spiritual interpretation—where this same chapter and verse is again expounded—the spiritual interpretation ought to follow the order of history: a thing which very many, not knowing, wander through the Scriptures in a frenzied error. Even to the present day, therefore, the prophecy concerning Babylon is being fulfilled: and just as God overthrew Sodom and Gomorrah, so also this city, once overthrown, shall not be inhabited forever. For in its place the cities of Seleucia and Ctesiphon have become the renowned cities of the Persians. (Verses 20-22.) Nor shall the Arab pitch his tents there; nor shall shepherds rest there: but there shall be beasts there, their houses shall be filled with dragons, and ostriches shall dwell there, and hairy ones shall dance there. And owls shall answer in her houses, and Sirens in the shrines of pleasure. Babylon shall be so devastated and deserted that it shall not even be useful for the pasture of herds and flocks.

For the Arab and Saracen will not pitch their tents there, nor shall shepherds, weary from following the tracks of their flocks, rest there: but among the walls and narrow passages of ancient ruins there shall dwell SIIM (ציים): which only the Seventy translated as “beasts”; others rendered it by the very word as it is written among the Hebrews, wishing it to be understood as kinds of demons or phantoms. And, it says, the houses shall be filled—as we have said—with dragons: as Aquila translated, with typhons; as Symmachus rendered OHIM (אחים), expressing the Hebrew word itself: but the Seventy and Theodotion interpreted it as “cries” or “sounds.” And what follows: “Hairy ones shall dance there,” either incubi, or satyrs, or certain wild men, whom some call Fauns of the fig-trees, or they understand kinds of demons. For “owls” too, all render the Hebrew word itself, IIM (איים); only the Seventy translated it as onocentaurs.

But the “Sirens” are called THENNIM (תנים), which we shall interpret either as demons, or certain monsters, or indeed as great dragons, which are crested and flying. By all these things signs of devastation and solitude are shown: namely, that the depopulation of a city once most powerful shall be so great, that because of the multitude of demons and beasts, no one—no shepherd, that is, no seeker of the wilderness—will dare to enter it. We learned from a certain brother, an Elamite, who, coming out from those regions, now spends his life at Jerusalem as a monk, that there are royal hunting-grounds in Babylon, and that beasts of every kind are confined only by the circuit of its walls.

(Verse 1.) It is near that its time should come: and its days shall not be prolonged. He says that the time is at hand when it shall be taken by enemies. For indeed not long after the captivity of Jerusalem, it was laid waste by the Medes and Persians.

For the Lord will have mercy on Jacob, and will yet choose from Israel, and will make them rest upon their own soil. Of this Sophonias speaks more fully: “Praise, O daughter of Sion; shout for joy, Israel; rejoice and exult with all your heart, O daughter of Jerusalem: for the Lord has taken away your judgment: he has turned away your enemies”. He signifies the time when Cyrus, king of the Persians, permitted the captive people to return to Jerusalem. Read the book of Esdras, Aggaeus, and Zachariah, when, under Zorobabel, and Jesus the high priest, and Esdras, and Nehemiah, the altar, the Temple, and the walls of the city were built. (Verse 2.) And the stranger shall join himself to them, and shall cleave to the house of Jacob, and peoples shall take hold of them and bring them to their own place, and the house of Israel shall possess them upon the land of the Lord as menservants and maidservants: and they shall be as captors of those who had captured them, and shall subject their oppressors.

We conjecture that many from various nations came to Jerusalem along with the people of the Jews, believing in the God of Israel, and forsaking the idols of their errors. That they were led back by the letters of the king, and received gifts and provisions for the Temple, there is no doubt. In this alone the understanding seems constrained: how Israel could have possessed on the land of the Lord those who had once been their conquerors, and have subjected their oppressors, and had them as menservants and maidservants. Unless perhaps we understand it synecdochically, the whole from a part: that afterward they were of such great prosperity that they acquired for themselves households of menservants and maidservants even from the various surrounding nations. It can also be understood as referring to the times of Ahasuerus (Judith XIII), when, after Holofernes was slain, the hostile army was cut down by Israel.

That I cling to the letter, and, in the manner of the serpent, eat the dust, is due to your will, who wished to hear only the historical interpretation. (Verse 3.) And it shall come to pass in that day, when the Lord shall have given you rest from your labor, and from your turmoil, and from the hard servitude in which you served before, that you shall take up this parable against the king of Babylon, and say. The speech is directed to Israel, that after it has returned to Jerusalem, and has shaken off the yoke of servitude, it should recall the once power of Nebuchadnezzar and the height of Babylon, and lament him with a pitiful voice: because he has come to such calamity that he seems worthy of pity even to his own enemies. (Verses 4-7.) How has the exactor ceased: the tribute rested?

The Lord has broken the staff of the wicked, the rod of the rulers that struck peoples in indignation: that subjected the nations with an incurable plague in fury, that pursued cruelly: it has grown quiet and is silent: the whole earth has rejoiced and exulted. This is the voice of Israel lamenting and pitying, how he who was once the Lord and conqueror of the earth, laying waste all things with tributes, has been crushed and reduced to nothing. He, I say, who was the staff of the wicked, who was the scepter and royal rod striking all in fury, whose blow could not be endured, who pursued even those fleeing cruelly—how has he grown quiet and been humbled, and the whole earth has fallen silent at his ruin, uttering only a voice of exulting joy? (Verse 8.) The fir trees also rejoiced over you, and the cedars of Lebanon: Since you have slept, no one has come up to cut us down.

By the fir trees and cedars of Lebanon understand the princes of the nations, who were cut down by the blow of Nebuchadnezzar, and who themselves, bursting into a voice of joy, say: Since you were brought down to the underworld, no other could be found to cut down the great and powerful. (Verse 9.) Hell below has been troubled at meeting your coming; it has stirred up giants for you: all the princes of the earth have risen from their thrones: all the princes of the nations, all of them, shall answer and say to you. These things are to be read dramatically and in a scene-like manner: not that they happened, but that they could have happened: unless perhaps we believe that the souls of the kings whom he had slain met him mockingly, insulting the king of Babylon.

For it is a comfort to the wretched, when they see their enemies enduring the same things. (Verses 10, 11.) And you have been wounded like us, you have become like us: your pride has been dragged down to hell: your corpse has fallen, the moth shall be spread beneath you, and worms shall be your covering. This speech of the mighty and princes of the earth, whom above he called cedars and fir trees, is directed to the king of Babylon set in the underworld. We no longer grieve that we were cut down, since you too have fallen by the same axe. All your power, and your pride lifted up to heaven, has been dragged down to earth. Shall then your corpse also sustain the moth, and shall a swarming multitude of worms cover it?

You shall feel, through the death of a man, the vileness of him who used to set the power of God above yourself. (Verses 12-14.) How have you fallen from heaven, lucifer, who used to rise in the morning: you have fallen to the earth, who used to wound the nations: who said in your heart: I will ascend into heaven, I will exalt my throne above the stars of God, I will sit on the mount of the covenant, in the sides of the north; I will ascend above the height of the clouds, I will be like the Most High.

As for what we have translated for ease of understanding: “How have you fallen from heaven, lucifer, who used to rise in the morning,” in the Hebrew, to express the word literally, it reads: “How have you fallen from heaven, howl, son of the dawn.” But he is signified by other words as lucifer; and it is said to him that he ought to weep and mourn, who once was so glorious that he was compared to the brightness of the morning star. Just as, it says, the morning star, dispelling the darkness, blazing and ruddy, shines forth; so also your advance among the peoples and in public seemed like a bright star; but you have fallen to the earth, wounder of the nations, who used to say in your pride: I have attained such power that heaven remains for me, and the stars, as beneath my feet, ought to lie subject to me above.

Although the Jews wish “heaven” and “stars” to be understood as referring to God, from what follows: “I will sit on the mount of the covenant,” that is, in the Temple, where the laws of God are established, “and in the sides of the north,” that is, in Jerusalem. For it is written: “Mount Sion, the sides of the north”. Nor had it sufficed for his pride to desire heavenly things, unless he had broken out into such madness as to claim for himself a likeness to God. (Verse 15.) But you shall be brought down to hell, into the depth of the pit. He who through pride had said, “I will ascend into heaven, I will be like the Most High,” is brought down not only to hell, but to the lowest hell.

For this is what the depth of the pit signifies, in place of which we read in the Gospel “outer darkness,” where there is weeping and gnashing of teeth. (Verses 16, 17.) Those who see you shall bend toward you, and shall look closely at you (with the words understood as being spoken): Is this the man who troubled the earth, who shook kingdoms, who made the world a desert, and destroyed its cities; who did not open the prison to his prisoners? This is the voice of those mocking and marveling, how the devastator of all things has himself been devastated. But when it says: “He did not open the prison to his prisoners,” the magnitude of his cruelty and impiety is expressed, that he kept even the bound in prison: and chains were not enough for the wretched, unless the horror of darkness also enclosed them. (Verses 18, 19.) All the kings of the nations, all of them slept in glory, each man in his own house.

But you have been cast out of your grave like a useless stock, defiled and wrapped up with those who were slain by the sword, and went down to the foundations of the pit; like a rotten corpse you shall not have fellowship with them, nor with them in burial. The Hebrews tell a story of this kind: that Evilmerodach, who had reigned before, while his father Nebuchadnezzar lived for seven years among the beasts, after the latter was restored to his kingdom, was kept in chains together with King Joachim of Judah until his father's death; and when his father died, and he was again succeeding to the kingdom, and was not received by the princes, who feared lest he who was said to be dead should still be alive; in order to give assurance of his father's death, he opened the tomb, and dragged out his corpse with a hook and ropes. And the sense is: while all those whom you slew were buried, you alone shall lie unburied.

But others interpret this passage thus: all souls in the underworld receive some rest, you alone shall be bound in the outermost darkness. For you shall be covered with the blood of all, and the gore of all shall press upon you as though you were wrapped in the corruption of the dead. Symmachus translated this passage thus: “Even with those who are slain in war, you shall not deserve to have fellowship of burial.” As for what we said, “like a useless stock,” in the Hebrew it reads: Chaneser nethab (כנצר נתעב); Aquila translated it as “like defiled corruption.” Nerodach was said to have been colleague in the empire.

SER (נצר) is properly called the shoot which grows at the roots of trees, and is cut off by farmers as useless: we can understand this same thing as corruption and decay. At the same time we learn that hell is beneath the earth, Scripture saying: “Even to the foundations of the pit.” (Verse 20.) For you have destroyed your own land, you have slain your own people. According to the Seventy Interpreters, who said: “Because you have destroyed my land, and slain my people,” there is no doubt what they mean. For Nebuchadnezzar slew and destroyed the land of Judah, and its people Israel. According to the Hebrew, the understanding is difficult, how he destroyed his own land, and slew his own people: unless perhaps it is to be taken in this sense, that those whom God had given you for chastisement, you have utterly destroyed. Or otherwise: the ancient kingdom of the Assyrians, while you were greatly exalting yourself and lifting your neck against God, was utterly destroyed.

For if you had conducted yourself humbly, and had known your own measure, the Assyrian and Babylonian would still be reigning until now. Or in this way: you were so cruel to foreigners that you also furiously oppressed the peoples subject to you. (Verse 21.) The seed of the most wicked shall not be called forever. Prepare his sons for slaughter for the iniquity of their fathers: they shall not rise up, nor inherit the earth, nor fill the face of the world with cities. All the histories agree that, after Balthasar the grandson of Nebuchadnezzar was slain, and Darius succeeded to the kingdom of the Chaldeans, none of Nebuchadnezzar's stock reigned afterward. Scripture therefore predicts this, that Babylon will come to such devastation that even of the royal seed none shall remain, but on account of the impiety of the father, all his offspring shall be blotted out.

As for what we translated in the last part of the sentence, “nor fill the face of the world with cities,” in the Hebrew it is written, instead of “cities,” ARIM (ערים), which we can also translate as “adversaries”; so that the sense is: none of your seed who might wish to restore the kingdom will be raised up as an adversary. According to the Seventy Interpreters, who said: “Wicked seed, prepare your sons for slaughter for the sins of your father,” what sense this has, I am not able to know. (Verses 22, 23.) And I will rise up against them, saith the Lord of hosts: and I will destroy the name of Babylon, and the remains, and the bud, and the offspring, saith the Lord. And I will make it the possession of the hedgehog, and pools of water: and I will sweep it with the besom of destruction, saith the Lord of hosts.

Herodotus, and many others who wrote Greek histories, relate that Babylon was most powerful, and situated on a plain in a square, that from corner to corner of the wall it held sixteen thousand paces, that is, together around the circuit sixty-four thousand. Moreover its citadel, that is, the Capitol of that city, is a tower which is said to have been built after the flood, holding four thousand paces in height, gradually narrowed from broad to narrow, so that the overhanging weight might more easily be sustained by the wider parts. They describe there marble temples, golden statues, streets gleaming with stones and gold, and many other things which seem almost incredible. All this we have related, that we might show that before the wrath of God all power is dust, and is to be compared to ashes and cinders.

If it were permitted to enter the barbarian nations, and to see the last vestiges of so great a city, we would see the possession of the hedgehog, and pools of water, and that truly is fulfilled which is now sung in the words of Isaiah: I will sweep it with the besom of destruction; for except for the baked-brick walls, which after very many years are restored for the purpose of enclosing wild beasts, the whole space in the middle is a wilderness. (Verses 24, 25.) The Lord of hosts hath sworn, saying: Surely as I have thought, so shall it be; and as I have purposed in my mind, so shall it come to pass: that I will break the Assyrian in my land, and upon my mountains I will tread him under foot: and his yoke shall be taken away from them, and his burden shall be taken off their shoulder.

He returns to present events, that is, to Sennacherib king of the Assyrians, who laid waste Samaria and Judea, and, Jerusalem excepted, destroyed everything round about; and he joins things far off in the future with things near at hand, so that the imminent fear may be removed: for those who heard could say: We are suffering a present siege, yet he promises these things as to come many ages later. The order of the prophecy is therefore this: although Babylon is to be destroyed after very many years, and the whole seed-plot of the stock of the Assyrians and Chaldea utterly to be destroyed, nevertheless, that you may not fear the nearby captivity, the Lord swears (though even without swearing He is to be believed) that His own estimation is not mistaken, and that what He has conceived in mind shall not come to nothing. But He speaks this in human fashion, namely that He who cannot be deceived is not deceived.

I will break, He says, the Assyrian in my land, and upon my mountains will I trample him. For in one night one hundred eighty-five thousand of the army of the Assyrians were destroyed by a devastating angel. And the yoke of him shall be taken away from those who were besieged in Jerusalem, and the heavy dominion that was imminent over all, and the weight by which they were oppressed, shall rather be thrust back upon himself. For when the king of the Assyrians fled to his own land, Hezekiah went forth free with the remnant of the people. (Verses 26, 27.) This is the counsel that I have purposed upon the whole earth, and this is the hand stretched out upon all nations. For the Lord of hosts hath decreed, and who shall be able to disannul it? And his hand is stretched out, and who shall turn it away?

Here some think that the prophecy is general against the whole world, and that the devastation of Babylon and the Assyrian city is a type of the consummation of the world. We by no means contradict them, provided we know that here the whole land of the Assyrians is properly signified, and all the nations allied with the king of Assyria are shown. But whatever has been decreed by the Lord is prevented by no one's power. And His hand stretched out, and ready to strike, no one shall be able to restrain. (Verse 28.) In the year that king Achaz died was this burden. We read that four kings of Judea are set over the title of the Prophet: Ozias, Joatham, Achaz, and Ezechias, each succeeding the other in order and by descent, of whom we have read above that Ozias died, Isaiah reporting: In the year that king Ozias died, I saw the Lord sitting upon a throne high and elevated.

From which we understand both the Vision of the Lord sitting, and the things enjoined upon the Prophet, up to the place where it is written: As a terebinth and as an oak which spreads its branches: the holy seed shall be its stock, to have been prophesied under king Joatham. Third succeeds Achaz, son of Joatham, son of Ozias, king of Judah, under whom Rasin king of Syria and Phacee son of Romelia, king of Israel, went up to Jerusalem to make war against it, and the rest which Scripture recounts. Therefore under Achaz, up to the present passage which we are now endeavoring to expound, we recognize that everything set in between has been prophesied: at whose death the fourth, that is, the last, succeeds, namely Ezechias, under whom the whole book is woven to the end. (Verse 29.) Rejoice not thou, whole Palestina, that the rod of him that struck thee is broken in pieces: for out of the root of the serpent shall come forth a basilisk, and his seed shall swallow the bird.

It is natural for us to say: when the king of hostile nations dies, enemies always rejoice, expecting from the novel state of affairs civil wars and seditions and inexperience in ruling. Therefore when Achaz the sinner died, who had walked in the ways of the kings of Israel, and had been joined to them by kinship, we understand that the Philistines nearby had rejoiced, and had insulted Israel, because, the mature king having perished, they would be subject to the youth Ezechias. Now the Philistines, as we have said above, signify the Palestinians, whom the Vulgate edition writes as "foreigners," although this is not the name of one nation, but of all foreign nations. Rejoice not, He says, O Palestina, insult not my people because the rod of thy smiter Achaz has been broken; because the staff that used to strike thee seems crushed by death; because the serpent is slain.

For instead of this a more harmful basilisk shall be born, Ezechias, whom the Greeks call basiliscus, who shall slay thee with his gaze, and kill with the breath of his mouth. For just as no bird can pass unharmed the gaze of the basilisk, but however far off it may be, it is swallowed up by his mouth: so too shalt thou entirely perish from the sight of king Ezechias. And beautifully he has preserved the metaphor: for since he had named serpent and basilisk, he says that birds are devoured by his mouth and breath. But that no king of Judah struck the Philistines as Ezechias laid them waste, hear the book of Kings: He smote the Philistines even to Gaza, and the borders thereof, from the tower of the watchmen even to the fortified city.

Now instead of what we have translated "swallowing the bird," in the Hebrew it is written Saraph mopheth (שרף מעופף), which can be interpreted "flying serpent": so that the sense is: from the root of the serpent shall be born the basilisk, and its fruit, that is, of the basilisk, a flying serpent, so that you understand a flying dragon. (Verse 30.) And the firstborn of the poor shall be fed, and the poor shall rest with confidence. When the basilisk has struck thee, and the flying dragon has laid waste thy borders, thou shalt in no way lay snares for Judah, and thou shalt terrify my poor little people with thy deceit; but pressed by thine own straits, thou shalt weep thy own calamity. But the humble and poor, who trusted not in riches and power, but in my name, shall rest in secure peace, and shall fear the assault of no enemy.

And I will destroy thy root with famine, and thy remnant shall I kill. All this is spoken figuratively. But the sense is that, while the people of God rests with confidence, the root of the Philistines is dried up, and all the remnants are consumed. (Verse 31.) Howl, O gate; cry, O city: all Palestina is thrown down: for a smoke shall come from the north, and there is none that shall escape his troop. He calls the gate for those who are in the gate, and the city for the inhabitants of the city. He also directs his word to the cities of the Palestinians, that they ought to wail and mourn at the coming of Sennacherib, who lays waste all things in the manner of a torrent. For under king Ezechias the Assyrian came, and among the other nations laid waste the Philistines. To whom Jeremiah speaks: Behold, waters shall rise up from the north, and shall be as an overflowing torrent: and they shall cover the land and the fullness thereof, the city and its inhabitants.

For from the north the Assyrian came, and from his heat proceeding, subjugating Nineveh and the other nations. At the time when these things were being sung, smoke was going up on high, that is, a rumor was spreading among the peoples, throughout the order of all the nations, that the Phoenicians too and the Palestinians were to be laid waste. (Verse 32.) What then shall be answered to the messengers of the nation? That the Lord hath founded Sion, and in it the poor of his people shall trust. Because he had said, There is none that shall escape his troop, it seemed that in the general statement Judah too was included. If, he says, the angels of the nation of Assyria should ask why Judah alone escaped, answer them, that the Lord founded Sion, and He Himself protected the humble people by His own power. Instead of "Angels" (מלאכי) the LXX translated "kings" (מלכי), deceived by the error of a single letter, ALEPH.

(Verse 1.) The burden of Moab: because in the night Ar was laid waste, Moab is silent: because in the night the wall was laid waste, Moab is silent. It should suffice to have spoken once about "burden" and "weight." I only briefly remind you of this, that sad things always follow a "burden." But a "vision" is either immediately joyful, or joyful at the end after sad things. Moab is a province of the Arabs, in which was Balac son of Beor; who hired the soothsayer Balaam from Mesopotamia, that he might curse Israel, where also the people was initiated into Beelphegor. Its metropolis is the city AR (ער), which today, composed from Hebrew and Greek speech, is called Areopolis; not, as many think, because it is ἄρεος, that is, the city of Mars. But Ar is interpreted el ἀντίδικος, that is, adversary. But how great its power was, Jeremiah testifies, saying: There is no more rejoicing in Moab. And again: Thou hast trusted in thy fortifications, and in thy treasures.

And again: Moab hath been fruitful from his youth, and hath rested upon his lees, nor hath he been poured out from vessel to vessel, nor gone into captivity: and therefore his taste hath remained in him, and his scent is not changed. And in another place: How is the strong staff broken, the glorious rod? And shortly after: We have heard the pride of Moab, he is exceeding proud. His loftiness, and his arrogance, and his pride, and the haughtiness of his heart I know, saith the Lord, and the vanity of his boasting. Therefore, just as the Prophet prophesied against Babylon and the Philistines, that they had oppressed the people of the Jews; so now the devastation of the Moabites is foretold; that is, of Arabia; by the Assyrians and the Babylonians. For they were laid waste by both nations, at the time when Sennacherib led Israel captive, and when Nabuchodonosor overthrew Jerusalem.

For Ephraim and Judah had insulted both enemies, Jeremiah saying: Moab shall dash his hand in his own vomit, and he too shall be in derision. For Israel was a derision unto thee, as if thou hadst found him among thieves. Therefore, because of thy own words which thou hast spoken against him, thou shalt be led captive. But as to what he says: In the night Ar was laid waste, Moab is silent, this is a fitting beginning of an invective, that it should be laid waste in darkness—he who was conceived at night of his father's incest. Unless perhaps we take "night" for the greatness of the terror: and it is to be believed, because it trusted in its walls, that it was overcome by ambushes and tunnels.

I have heard from a certain man of Areopolis, and indeed the whole city is witness, that in a great earthquake in my infancy, when the seas overflowed the shore of the whole world, the walls of that city fell in the same night. (Verse 2.) The house is gone up, and Dibon to the high places to mourn over Nabo, and over Medaba Moab shall wail. Let it not trouble you that I proceed by way of history; for you yourself wished me to do this. It is to be understood: the royal house, and the city Dibon has gone up to the idols which are set on the heights: over Nabo, and over Medaba, noble cities, the whole province shall wail. For in Nabo the idol Chamos was consecrated, which by another name is called Beelphegor.

Upon every head thereof shall be baldness, and every beard shall be shaven. Among the ancients the shaving of the beard and head was a sign of mourning. By these things, then, the greatness of the grief is shown, Jeremiah proclaiming the same against Moab: Every head shall be bald, and every beard shall be shaven, and on all the hands a binding, and upon every back sackcloth. (Verse 3.) In their streets they are girded with sackcloth: on the tops of their houses, and in their streets all shall howl and come down weeping. There shall be no private tears; public mourning shall resound with public lamentations; neither matrons, nor virgins, nor the young age of children, nor the broken steps of old men shall be kept within doors; extreme captivity shall know neither shame nor weakness.

Verse 4. Heshbon and Elealeh shall cry out. These are names of cities of the Moabite province, of which Heshbon was formerly the city of a king of the Amorites, concerning which the same Jeremiah says: A fire has gone forth from Heshbon, and a flame from the midst of Sihon. Now Heshbon is interpreted "thought," and therefore Jeremiah, playing upon the name, says against Heshbon: "They have thought evil things".

Even unto Jahaz their voice was heard. The city of Jahaz overlooks the Dead Sea, where the boundary of the province of the Moabites is. He indicates therefore that even to the farthest bounds of the province the wailings will resound. Whence also Jeremiah says: From the cry of Heshbon even unto Elealeh and Jahaz they have uttered their voice.

For this the armed men of Moab shall wail, his soul shall wail unto itself. The Hebrew word ELUSE (הלוצי), for which Aquila translated ἔζωνους, that is, "girded" and "with bared shoulders," while Symmachus rendered "girded about," some think is not to be understood of men, but as the name of a city, which is today called Eluza, and is situated in the region of Moab. We can also say this, that all the strength of the warriors has fallen, and the whole land has resounded with mutual weeping. But if the Eluse are to be understood, as Aquila would have it, as men with bared shoulders, that sense suggests to us that all have bared their breasts for mourning.

Verse 5. My heart shall cry out to Moab. The prophet speaks with the feeling of one grieving, either because the enemies too are God's creatures, upon whom so many evils are coming; or because they are to be crushed by such calamities that they become pitiable even to their enemies. Jeremiah says the same thing: Therefore my heart shall sound for Moab like a pipe.

Its bars even unto Zoar, a heifer of three years old. And Jeremiah: From Zoar, he says, even unto Horonaim, a heifer of three years old. Concerning this we have spoken also in the books of Hebrew Questions, and now we note briefly, that this is the fifth city after Sodom, and Gomorrah, Admah, and Zeboiim, which at the prayers of Lot was preserved small. And it is called Bala, that is, "swallowed up," according to the tradition of the Hebrews, because it was overthrown by an earthquake the third time. This is the same city which today in the Syriac tongue is called Zoora, in Hebrew Zoar, in both languages meaning "little." We may take "a heifer of three years" for a perfect age. For as the thirtieth year is in men, so in cattle and beasts of burden the third year is the most vigorous. Also understand "bars" as boundaries and strength, because Zoar is situated on the borders of the Moabites, dividing their land from the land of the Philistines.

For by the ascent of Luhith weeping shall he go up. And Jeremiah: By the ascent of Luhith weeping shall he go up unto weeping. We understand this to be the slope of the road which leads to the Assyrians, and by this the captivity is signified.

And in the way of Horonaim they shall raise up a cry of destruction. Again Jeremiah: A voice of crying from Horonaim, desolation and great destruction. It would be too long, were I to wish to speak of each one, since it is clear that these are the names either of cities in Moab, or of places, which those who migrate abandon.

Verse 6. For the waters of Nimrim shall be desolate. This town is upon the Dead Sea, with salt waters, and on this account barren. Whether he alluded to the name, or whether it had not been so before, but happened after the devastation, so that even the waters were turned into bitterness.

For the grass is withered, the bud has failed, all greenness has perished. Not, as some suppose, that literally on account of the barren waters of Nimrim all the grass has withered, but Scripture speaks by metaphor. And the sense is: throughout all Moab the waters of Nimrim shall be salt and bitter; as no grass sprouts there, so drought shall follow the whole province, that is, from Zoar even unto Horonaim, from border to border. The same thing Jeremiah says: The waters of Nimrim shall be very bad.

Verse 7. According to the greatness of the work, so also is their visitation: to the torrent of the willows they shall lead them. Instead of "willows" in the Hebrew we read ARABIM (ערבים), which can also be understood as "Arabs," and read ORBIM (ערבים), that is, a village situated on their borders, whose inhabitants, according to many, provided food to Elijah on Mount Horeb: this word, on account of its ambiguity, is also rendered "ravens," and "the West," and "level places." The sense is: according to the greatness of the sickness will be the visitation. Take "visitation" here not as a remedy, but as a plague. "I will visit," he says, "their iniquities with a rod, and their sins with stripes". By "the torrent of the willows" understand the rivers of Babylon, of which David says, "Upon the willows in the midst thereof we hung our instruments": or the valley of Arabia, through which one goes to the Assyrians.

Verse 8. For the cry has gone about the border of Moab; unto Eglaim is its wailing, and unto the well of Elim is its cry. Jeremiah writes almost all these same things. These are the cities and places of the Moabites, in which the cry and wailing of the captive people is described.

Verse 9. For the waters of Dibon are filled with blood. Where formerly there was luxury on account of the irrigated fields and the ever-flowing springs, there, because of the multitude of the slain, streams of blood will flow.

For I will bring additions upon Dibon: upon them that flee from Moab, a lion, and upon the remnant of the land. Lest anyone think this the copyist's mistake, and while wishing to correct an error, make one—one city is written both with M and with B letters: of these, Dimon means "silence," Dibon, "flowing." Both names being given because of the waters which flow silently, to this day this small town is indifferently called both Dimon and Dibon. As to what he says: "I will bring additions upon Dibon," which seemed to raise a question as to what it meant, he showed in the following verse, saying: "upon those who have fled from Moab, a lion, and upon the remnant of the land": that even those who have escaped by flight may be consumed by beasts. Although by metaphor we can also understand "lion" as the king of the enemies, so that no one can escape his power, as it were his roaring.

(Verse 1.) Send forth the Lamb, O ruler of the land, from the rock of the desert to the mount of the daughter of Zion.

What we are interpreting is not history, but prophecy. Now all prophecy is wrapped in enigmas, and with clipped sentences, while speaking of one thing, passes over to another: lest, if it kept the order of narrative, it should not be prophecy, but a narration. And the sense is: O Moab, upon whom a lion is about to rage fiercely, and from whom not even remnants will be able to be saved, have this consolation: there shall go forth from you a spotless Lamb who takes away the sins of the world, who shall rule over the whole earth. "From the rock of the desert," that is, from Ruth, who, widowed by her husband's death, bore Obed of Boaz, and Jesse of Obed, and David of Jesse, and Christ of David. "The mount of the daughter of Zion" we shall interpret either as the city of Jerusalem itself, or, according to the sacred understanding, as the Church, which is established on the summit of the virtues.

Verse 2. And it shall be, as a bird fleeing, and young ones flying away from the nest, so shall the daughters of Moab be in the crossing of the Arnon. He returns to the order he had begun: When, he says, I shall have set upon those who flee from Moab, and upon the remnants of the land, a most savage lion, who shall crush their limbs and bones, then in fear they shall fly away, and all the daughters, that is, the villages and cities of the province of Moab, shall migrate at the crossing of the Arnon, which is the boundary of the Amorites and the Moabites. And here again, by "crossing" he signifies captivity.

Verse 3. Take counsel, gather a council: make your shadow as night in the midday, hide those that flee, and betray not the wanderers. My fugitives shall dwell with you: Moab, be a hiding place for them from the face of the destroyer, for the dust is at an end, the wretched one is consumed, he who trampled the earth has failed. Instead of "the wretched one," in the Hebrew is read SOD (שד), which can also be understood as "destroyer." He speaks to Moab, that it may find counsel of safety, and having gathered the elders, may take a saving counsel. Do you wish, he says, to be safe, and to deserve the mercy of God? In the clear light, and in the open flight of my people, be to them as night and shadow, receive the fugitives, and betray not the wanderers. And why he said this, he immediately adds: My fugitives shall dwell with you. For when Jerusalem has been laid waste, and all Judea, which borders on the Moabites, my people shall migrate to you.

Be therefore a hiding place for them, and fear not the onslaught of the destroyer, because like dust he shall quickly pass away: and the ravager of the whole earth, who trampled it, and subjected it to his feet, shall perish like a blowing breeze. Some interpret this passage wrongly of Antichrist, thinking that at that time the Saints, because of the proximity of the city of Jerusalem, will cross over to the Arabs, and that it is now commanded to them not to betray those fleeing to them.

Verse 5. And a throne shall be prepared in mercy, and he shall sit upon it in truth, in the tabernacle of David, judging and seeking judgment, and swiftly rendering what is just. The Hebrews interpret this passage thus: with the Assyrian put to flight, Hezekiah, a just man, shall reign over Judah, and shall hold the throne of David, judging the people of God subject to him in truth. Others understand it of Christ. When the dust of Antichrist has ended, and the ravager who trampled the whole earth has been removed, Christ the King shall come, who shall sit in the tabernacle of David, and in the day of judgment shall render to all according to their works. Nor is there any doubt that this chapter prophesies of Christ. But we can understand the same thing also of the first coming, and show it in the tabernacle of the Church, that in all the land of Moab the trophies of Churches arising testify to the rule of Christ.

Verse 6. We have heard of the pride of Moab, he is exceedingly proud: his pride, and his arrogance, and his indignation, is more than his strength. Therefore Moab shall wail unto Moab, all of it shall wail: to those who rejoice over the walls of baked brick, speak of its wounds. Again he returns to present matters, and accuses Moab of pride, because it was exalted much more than its strength demanded, and on account of this pride Moab shall wail unto Moab, that is, the people to the city, or the metropolis to the province, and the whole land shall resound with wailing over the walls of baked brick, concerning which Jeremiah also says: Therefore I will wail over Moab, and I will cry out to all Moab, to the men of the wall of baked brick, lamenting. By these things he shows both the power of former felicity, and the wounds of sudden overthrow.

Verse 8. For the suburbs of Heshbon are desolate: the vine of Sibmah. Between Heshbon and Sibmah there are scarcely five hundred paces, and by the metaphor of the vine he signifies the desolation of the whole province. The lords of the nations have cut down its branches. He continues the metaphor he had begun, showing that the kings of the nations, who had laid waste Moab, had depopulated all its villages and strongholds. They have come even unto Jazer: they have wandered in the desert: its shoots have been abandoned: they have crossed the sea. Understand "branches" and "shoots" as the people and its fugitives: and "the crossing of the sea" as the captivity into Babylon, of which we shall afterward read, "The burden of the desert of the sea."

Verse 9. For this I will weep with the weeping of Jazer, the vine of Sibmah: I will drench you with my tears, Heshbon and Elealeh. This is the voice of the lamenting Prophet, and testifies to the greatness of the desolation by the greatness of the tears, weeping over the vine of Jazer, and Sibmah, and Heshbon, and Elealeh, cities once most powerful, thought to be cut down by the Assyrian. For upon your vintage and upon your harvest the voice of those treading has fallen. Understand "those treading" as the army of the enemies, greedily gathering the joy of the vintage, and that at the very time of joy the time of captivity has come.

Verse 10. And joy and gladness shall be taken away from Carmel. It is an idiom of the Scriptures that Mount Carmel, a rich and wooded mountain overlooking Ptolemais, and on which Elias prayed, is always compared to fertility and abundance, and by this it signifies that all joy and fertility is to be taken away from cities that were once most abundant. And there shall be no exultation nor jubilation in the vineyards. The former vintager is understood, that is, the husbandman of the province of Moab. Hence he immediately adds: He that was wont to tread shall tread out no wine in the winepress: I have taken away the voice of them that tread. By no means shall the joyful vintager sing the vintage-song, but everywhere hostile devastation and the shout of the conquerors shall arise. Verse 11. Wherefore my heart shall sound like a harp for Moab, and my inward parts for the brick wall.

Lest anyone should suppose that the Prophet's lamentation was decreed for exultation, whereby he might rejoice that the enemies of the people of Israel were made captives, he says that out of affection and out of the innermost grief of his heart he mourns the once most powerful city, now overthrown. Verse 12. And it shall come to pass, when it is seen that Moab hath laboured upon his high places, he shall enter into his sanctuaries to pray, and he shall not prevail. This is the ultimate misery, not even to have help in those things which it has always venerated. Deprived, he says, of your strength, and all defenders slain, you will go to your idols, you will venerate the shrines, and you will find no aid in them, since devastation common to yourself will come upon them too. Verse 13. This is the word that the Lord hath spoken concerning Moab since that time. Since what time, do you think? Evidently since Moab was created.

And the Lord said: The Moabites and Ammonites shall not enter into the Church of God. Or else let us understand "since that time" as referring to ancient time, because these things were decreed of old by the divine sentence—not that God's foreknowledge brought about the cause of the devastation, but that the future devastation was foreknown to the majesty of God. Verse 14. And now the Lord hath spoken, saying: In three years, as the years of a hireling, the glory of Moab shall be taken away, with all the great multitude, and the remnant shall be very small and feeble, not many. This prophecy, as we said above, is directed against the Moabites after the death of Achaz, in the reign of Ezechias, under whom the ten tribes were led into captivity by Sennacherib, king of the Assyrians.

And so, just as a hireling awaits only the setting of the sun, and by day and night looks forward to the end of his labor, that he may receive his appointed wage: so also after three years Moab too shall be destroyed at the coming of the Assyrian, and scarcely a few shall be left in the land to inhabit the overthrown cities and to till the deserted fields. It can also be foretold of the Babylonian captivity, that after Jerusalem was taken, and the passing of three years, Moab was to be laid waste by the Chaldeans, or that within the space of three years no rest was to be given to them.

(Verse 1.) The burden of Damascus: Behold, Damascus shall cease to be a city, and it shall be as a heap of stones in a ruin. The cities of Aroer shall be forsaken for flocks, and they shall rest there, and there shall be none to make them afraid.

And help shall cease from Ephraim, and the kingdom from Damascus; and the remnant of Syria shall be as the glory of the children of Israel, saith the Lord of hosts. After Babylon and the Philistines and Moab, the discourse turns to Damascus, that is, to Aram, which was itself once a royal city, and held the primacy in all Syria: for Antioch and Laodicea and Apamia were not yet flourishing, cities which we know to have grown after Alexander and the empire of the Macedonians. Because, then, it always gave aid to the ten tribes against Judah, as the history of Kings and Chronicles relates, he signifies that devastation from the Assyrians draws near to them too, the king of the Assyrians saying: I have taken Arabia, and Damascus, and Samaria. As I have taken those, and all kingdoms, so shall I take you also. And in the book of Kings we read: The king of the Assyrians went up to Damascus, and took it, and carried it away to Cyrene.

He also slew Rasin, who was king of Damascus: all of which things it suffered while Ezechias reigned in Jerusalem. Behold, he says, Damascus shall cease to be a city; already captivity is near; already the Assyrian has moved his army. And it shall be as a heap of stones in ruin, so that only the traces of walls and of former power shall be shown in the greatness of the ruins. The cities of Aroer shall be forsaken for flocks. Aroer is interpreted "tamarisks," a tree which properly grows in the wilderness and in salty ground, and by this desolation is signified. They shall rest there—flocks being understood—and there shall be none to make them afraid. For the solitude shall be so great that not even a lurking enemy need be feared. And help shall cease from Ephraim: by no means shall the ten tribes have help in it against Judah. And the kingdom from Damascus; ἀπὸ κοινοῦ (from the common or shared edition) "shall cease" is understood.

But when he says the kingdom shall cease and rest, he does not signify perpetual devastation, but takes away for the present the power by which it formerly reigned over all Syria. And the remnant of Syria shall be as the glory of the children of Israel, saith the Lord of hosts. Just as, he says, the ten tribes were destroyed when the Assyrian ravaged them, and all their glory was led into captivity: so the few who remain in Damascus shall be changed, and shall have the glory of an allied nation. Take "glory" as spoken by irony, for ignominy. But all this shall come to pass because the Lord has spoken, whose words cannot be void. Some think this is the same prophecy which we read in Jeremiah: Damascus is undone, she is put to flight, trembling hath seized her, anguish and sorrows have taken hold of her as of a woman in travail. And again: I will kindle a fire in the wall of Damascus, and it shall devour the walls of Benadab.

But it must be known that Jeremiah describes the Babylonian captivity of the city of Damascus, that is, of the few whom the king of the Assyrians had left in it. But Isaiah announces the captivity soon to come from the Assyrians. Others suppose it is foretold of the Roman captivity, since the people of the Jews too was taken captive, and Damascus, over which Aretas ruled, endured a like servitude: so that all things written concerning it are transferred to the time of Christ and to the mysteries of the Apostles.

Verse 4. And it shall come to pass in that day, that the glory of Jacob shall be made thin, and the fatness of his flesh shall grow lean. When, he says, Damascus has been taken, and has ceased to be a city, and such glory has crowned it as has crowned Israel, that is, the ten tribes: then all defense, and the fattest flesh, and refuge shall wither away for Jacob; for it shall no longer have those joined to it with whom to lay waste Jerusalem.

We read above that Rasin king of Syria and Phacee son of Romelia, king of Israel, went up to Jerusalem to fight against it, and it was told to the house of David: Syria hath rested upon Ephraim; concerning whom the Prophet speaks to Achaz: Fear not, neither let thy heart be afraid of the two tails of these smoking firebrands, in the fury of the anger of Rasin king of Syria, and of the son of Romelia, because Syria hath taken evil counsel against thee, with Ephraim and the son of Romelia.

Verse 5. And it shall be as one that gathereth in the harvest that which remaineth, and his arm shall gather the ears of corn: and it shall be as one that seeketh ears in the vale of Raphaim. And there shall be left in it as a cluster of grapes, and as the shaking of an olive tree, of two or three berries in the top of the bough, or of four or five upon the top thereof, saith the Lord the God of Israel. Those who understand the present devastation of Damascus under the Roman kingdom contend that these things signify the Apostles, because just as a few ears and olives are wont to remain in a field or on trees, so the remnants of Israel are saved; especially since it follows: In that day man shall bow down to his Maker, and his eyes shall look to the Holy One of Israel, that is, to Christ.

The two olives, and three, and four, and five, they interpret as the fourteen Apostles, that is, the twelve who were chosen, and the thirteenth, James, who is called the brother of the Lord; and also the Apostle Paul, a vessel of election. But those who think that what is said was fulfilled in the times of the Assyrians wish it to be understood that under the Assyrian captivity Damascus was not utterly destroyed, but with some transferred to Cyrene, another part of the tillers of the soil was left, which was itself afterward destroyed when the Babylonian laid it waste: until under the Macedonians and Ptolemies it was again restored, and at the coming of Christ it was indeed a city, but not of such power as it had been before.

And the sense is: as few shall remain in Damascus as few ears are wont to remain after the reapers, which the poor are wont to glean in the vale of Raphaim, very broad and very rich land: or as few olives remain on the olive tree, which have escaped the diligence of the gatherer.

Verse 7. In that day man shall bow down to his Maker, and his eyes shall look to the Holy One of Israel. And he shall not look to the altars which his hands have made, and that which his fingers have wrought: neither shall he have respect to the groves and the temples. Some think this was fulfilled at the times of Christ, when, the kingdom of Damascus being destroyed, the perpetual empire of the Savior succeeded, and the error of idolatry was diminished. Pious indeed is the will of the interpreters, but it does not preserve the order of the history. But we say that, Damascus having been overthrown, and the ten tribes led into Assyria, the remnant of the tribes that were of Israel, moved by the letters of Ezechias, were converted to the worship of God, and came to the temple of Jerusalem, as the history of Chronicles relates.

Damascus, therefore, being destroyed, men shall be converted to their Maker, that is, to him who created them, and their eyes shall by no means look upon the idols which they made in Bethel and in Dan, but shall look upon God, despising the temples and altars which their fingers have wrought.

Verse 9. In that day the cities of his strength shall be forsaken, as the plows and the corn that were left before the face of the children of Israel, and thou shalt be desolate. This is not spoken against Damascus, but against the ten tribes, which were called Israel; so that just as, at the coming of God's people out of Egypt, all the nations that dwelt in the land of promise, struck with sudden fear, left their plows, and the heaps of grain, and their tasks half-done, seeking safety by flight: so also the land of Israel shall remain desolate for a long time. Whence I am amazed that for "plows" and "heaps of grain" Aquila chose to render "testa" and "Emir"; Symmachus, "wood" and "Amir"; the LXX, "Amorrhites and Hevites." Only Theodotion set down the Hebrew word, ARS and EMIR: which among them is more correctly read HORES (חרש) and AMIR (האמיר), that is, plowshares and heaps of grain.

Verse 10. Because thou hast forgotten God thy Savior, and hast not remembered thy strong helper. These things, he says, you shall suffer, O Israel, because you have abandoned God your Savior, who freed you from Egypt, who subjected hostile nations to you: and you have not remembered your helper. Therefore thou shalt plant a faithful plantation, and shalt sow strange seed. This is to be read more sharply and by irony. Because, he says, you have forgotten God your Savior, and have not remembered your strong helper: shall you therefore be able to plant a faithful plantation, and not rather sow a strange seed, which the enemy will snatch away? Or else thus: my sons, who were begotten of the stock of my people, you have therefore established in the land, that you might make them strangers and most wicked.

Verse 11. In the day of thy planting shall be the wild grape, and in the morning thy seed shall flourish: the harvest is taken away in the day of inheritance, and it shall grieve thee sorely. These, he says, are the fruits of your works that you shall receive: your Sorec vine shall degenerate into a wild grape, your seed shall promise hope in the blade; but when maturity arrives, it shall be reaped by another. And then you shall grieve sorely, when you have lost what you hoped for and had almost already grasped.

(Verses 12-14.) Woe to the multitude of many peoples, like the roaring of the sea: and the tumult of crowds, like the sound of many waters: the peoples shall roar, like the sound of overwhelming waters: and he shall rebuke him, and he shall flee afar off: and he shall be carried away like the dust of the mountains before the face of the wind, and like a whirlwind before the tempest. At the time of evening: and behold there is trouble in the morning, and it shall not stand. This is the portion of them who have wasted us, and the lot of them who spoil us. Those who reckon the earlier captivity of Damascus as inflicted by the Romans, and who refer that which is written: Man shall bow down before his Maker, and his eyes shall look to the Holy One of Israel, to the times of Christ and the Apostles.

Nor is it different with what follows: Thou shalt plant a faithful plantation, and shalt sow a strange seed: in the day of thy planting the wild grape, and so forth, which they understand of the unfaithfulness of the Jews. And this chapter which we have now set forth, they interpret concerning the Gentiles who persecute the Church. That which follows too, He shall rebuke him, and he shall flee afar off, they take of the devil, showing by tropological interpretation the devastation of persecutors and of demons. But we follow the order we have begun, and we protect the historical foundations with a historical summit. Woe, he says, to all the nations who have warred against my people, whose onset was so great that it must be likened to the waves of the sea.

But when they come raging, and have flooded my land, then their prince Sennacherib shall flee from him rebuked, and as dust is scattered when carried off by the wind, and as a whirlwind is rolled up on high in the tempest: so he indeed shall draw near to Jerusalem, besieging it: but he shall be struck by the Angel; morning shall come, and he shall see the army of his power destroyed. And this shall be the portion of them who have wasted us. The Prophet speaks this either in the person of the people, or joining himself to his own nation. Afterward we read: The Angel of the Lord went forth, and struck in the camp of the Assyrians a hundred eighty-five thousand: and they rose in the morning, and behold, all were the corpses of the dead. And Sennacherib king of the Assyrians went forth, and departed, and returned, and dwelt in Nineveh.

(Verse 1.) Woe to the land, the cymbal of wings, which is beyond the rivers of Ethiopia.

The Hebrew word SELSEL (צלצל), which Symmachus rendered "sound," Theodotion "birds," and we have translated "cymbal." Aquila translated it twice as "shadow." But it must be known that shadow is called SEL (צל), whereas here the syllable itself is doubled. From which we may understand what is said thus: Woe to the land, which in the shadow of its wings promises help. And since Scripture says: He who dwells in the help of the Most High shall abide in the protection of the God of heaven, for which it is written in the Hebrew, He shall abide in the shadow of the Almighty: this land, boasting that it has the very likeness of God, promises to aid others set in danger. It signifies either No, the city of Egypt, which is now called Alexandria, or Egypt itself, upon which Jerusalem, as upon a bruised reed, has always leaned, which, being broken, pierces the hand of him who leans upon it.

And this order is most beautiful: that just as in the earlier Vision the prophetic word threatened Damascus, because the ten tribes had help in it, begging the mercy of God, so also now devastation is foretold against Egypt, on account of whose help the invocation of God was neglected. For this is the land which is beyond the rivers of Ethiopia, that is, beyond the streams of the river Nile, which no one doubts flows from Ethiopia into Egypt. Egypt can be called the cymbal of wings on account of the swiftness of its produce: for the swift and rapid flight of birds gives forth the sound of a cymbal. Some, from what follows: Who sends ambassadors by sea, and in vessels of papyrus upon the waters, understand the Roman kingdom, and refer the whole history to the times of Vespasian and Titus, by whom Jerusalem was overthrown.

But this does not agree with our faith, that the Lord should threaten the Roman kingdom because it overthrew an impious nation, and again say that gifts should be brought to mount Zion, unless perhaps we take these things also spiritually of the Church.

Verse 2. Who sends ambassadors by sea, and in vessels of papyrus upon the waters. Go, swift angels, to a nation torn and rent, to a terrible people, beyond whom there is no other, to a nation that waits and is trodden down, whose land the rivers have plundered. Among the Hebrews both Egypt and Egyptian and Egyptians are called by one name, MESRAIM (מצרים).

This is said lest anyone stumble at the word, when he finds a masculine used for the feminine gender, that is, "man" for "land," because it is now also said: Who sends ambassadors by sea, that is, Mesraim herself, the Egyptian himself, because from Alexandria, which then, as we have said, was called No, ambassadors were sent to Jerusalem, and in vessels of papyrus, that is, by letters, or ships, promising them their help, they said: Go quickly to the nation of the Jews, torn, and rent by the assault of the Assyrians: to a people once terrible, which used the command of God, to whose power no other could be compared: to a nation, which always awaited the help of God, and nevertheless is trodden down by men: whose land the rivers, that is, various kings, have laid waste.

Others, however, think that the apostrophe is directed to the Lord, and that the sense is: O God, who send into the sea of this age Prophets, and, as it were sailing by letters, admonishing the people, command your messengers: go quickly to my nation torn and rent asunder, to a most robust people, who once were a terror to all the surrounding nations, who always awaited the help of God, and on account of the greatness of their sins do not deserve to receive what they hope for: whose land the kings of various nations have laid waste, and so forth that follows. Eusebius of Caesarea, promising a historical interpretation by his title, wanders off into various senses; and when I read his books, I found something far different from what the index promised. For wherever history fails him, he passes over to allegory, and thus joins together things that are separate, so that I marvel how, with a new fabric of speech, he joins stone and iron into one body.

I have noted this briefly, lest anyone think that we have borrowed from his sources what we say; for even in the present chapter he says that the prophecy is directed against the Jews and Jerusalem, because at the beginning of the Christian faith they sent letters to all nations, that they should not accept the passion of Christ: and that they sent them even to Ethiopia and the western region, and filled the whole world with the dissemination of this blasphemy.

Verse 3. All ye inhabitants of the world who dwell on the earth, when the standard shall be lifted up on the mountains, ye shall see, and ye shall hear the sound of the trumpet. All you nations, he says, round about, when you have heard my command, like a standard lifted up on the mountains, and my empire, like the sound of a trumpet resounding on high, then you shall see what I have commanded.

Verse 4. For thus says the Lord to me: I will rest, and I will consider in my place. What is it that the Lord spoke to the Prophet? What follows: until the things I have commanded come, I will rest in my seat: as the Jews think, in the Temple; as we think, in the heavens. And I will consider, he says, what end of affairs shall come.

As the noon-day light is bright, and as a cloud of dew in the day of harvest. As in the whole day nothing is brighter than noon, when the sun blazes from the midst of the sky, and lights up the whole world equally, and as in the burning heat and scorching warmth, when the naked reaper is roasted, and the greatness of the labor is proved by his panting, most welcome is the mild temper of the dew, if the morning moisture makes the parched stalks easy to cut: so my word, which I shall consider in my place, shall come welcome to all who believe in me.

Verse 5. For before the harvest it has all flowered, and an untimely perfection has budded, and its little branches shall be cut off with sickles, and what shall have been left shall be lopped off and shaken out. And they shall be left together to the birds of the mountains and to the beasts of the earth, and the birds shall be upon it through a perpetual summer, and all the beasts of the earth shall winter upon it. Because he had spoken of noon, and had beforehand mentioned a cloud of dew in summer and harvest, and had taken his metaphor from agriculture, he keeps it in what remains, describing the pride of Egypt, and the devastation of that people, and the corpses throughout the whole province, which are to be devoured by birds.

For just as crops that burst forth before maturity quickly perish, and before the fullness of time comes, their budding is useless: so, he says, the Egyptian peoples, like useless branches, shall be cut off with sickles, and all their offshoots shall be stripped bare. And lest you should think he speaks of a vineyard, and not of men, he turns the metaphor into the truth of history: And they shall be left, he says, together to the birds of the mountains, and to the beasts of the earth. For birds and beasts do not devour cut-off branches of trees, but corpses. Let us read more fully in Ezekiel, where he prophesies against Pharaoh and against Egypt: and we shall find all these things written most openly. And what he says: The birds shall be upon it through a perpetual summer, and all the beasts shall winter upon it, either truly signifies the multitude of the slain, or through the same metaphor shows that it is to be laid waste by all nations.

Verse 7. In that time a gift shall be brought to the Lord of hosts from a people torn and rent, from a terrible people, beyond whom there was no other: from a nation waiting, waiting, and trodden down, whose land the rivers have plundered, to the place of the name of the Lord of hosts, mount Zion. After the devastation of Egypt and the destruction of its empire, Israel shall in no way trust in the vanity of its shadow, but shall return to the Lord, and shall bring its gifts to mount Zion, that is, into his temple, beseeching him alone whose protection is true and everlasting. This we understand to have been done under Zerubbabel and Jesus, and Ezra and Nehemiah.

The Septuagint, for what we have said, "waiting, waiting," where in the Hebrew it is written "hoping, hoping," have translated it contrariwise as ἀνέλπιστον, that is, "not hoping." And for this reason they gave Eusebius occasion to think that this should be understood rather of the Gentiles, who have neither hope, nor the Testament of God, nor the Prophets, than of the Jews: that afterward gifts should be sent by them to the Church, which is set upon a watchtower, and spiritual victims offered.

(Verse 1.) The burden of Egypt. Behold the Lord shall ascend upon a light cloud, and shall enter Egypt, and the idols of Egypt shall be moved at his presence, and the heart of Egypt shall melt in the midst of it. It is the custom of the Scriptures to add plain things after obscure ones, and to declare in open speech what they had first said under enigmas.

Whence also in the present passage, since he had threatened against Egypt: Woe to the land overshadowing with wings, which is beyond the rivers of Ethiopia, and the rest which the prophetic discourse has woven together: now he has made the understanding clearer, and speaks threatening against Egypt itself, that not through Angels, but the Lord himself shall come upon a light cloud, that is, a swift one, and shall enter Egypt, and the idols of Egypt shall tremble, and the heart of the strong shall melt, and Ezekiel's prophecy be fulfilled: I will destroy the idols, and cause the idols to cease from Memphis.

Some refer this whole prophecy to the times of the Savior, when he entered upon a light cloud, that is, the human body, which he had assumed from the Virgin, weighed down by no seed of human intercourse; or because he was borne by a light cloud, that is, the Virginal body, and at his entrance all the demons trembled, and then was the first ruin of idols, unable to bear the presence of the Lord.

Verse 2. And I will make the Egyptians run together against the Egyptians, and man shall fight against his brother, and man against his friend, city against city, and kingdom against kingdom. When the Lord has entered Egypt, and destroys by his presence a most powerful nation, the first victory shall be that the Egyptians fall into discord against the Egyptians, and fight against each other with rebellious hatred: which is manifest to have happened in the times of the Assyrians and Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon, some sitting still, and others resisting. That he foretells these things of the Babylonian captivity, Jeremiah is witness, saying: Egypt is a fair and beautiful heifer, a goad shall come to her from the north. And again: The daughter of Egypt is confounded, and given into the hand of the people of the north. Ezekiel too, agreeing with equal authority of prophecy, says: And I will make the multitude of Egypt to cease by the hand of Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon.

And again: I will strengthen the arms of the king of Babylon, and will give my sword into his hand, and will break the arms of Pharaoh. And they shall know that I am the Lord, when I shall have given my sword into the hand of the king of Babylon, and he shall have stretched it out over the land of Egypt, and I will scatter Egypt among the nations. But if we refer this to the times of the Savior, let us take this example from the Gospel: Do not think that I have come to send peace upon the earth: I have not come to send peace, but a sword. For I have come to divide a man against his neighbor, and a daughter against her mother, and a daughter-in-law against her mother-in-law, and a man's enemies shall be those of his own household.

And again in another place: There shall be two divided into three, and three into two: father against son, and mother against daughter, and daughter-in-law against mother-in-law.

Verse 3. And the spirit of Egypt shall be broken in the midst thereof, and I will destroy the counsel thereof: and they shall consult their idols, and their diviners, and their soothsayers, and wizards. When sedition shall have arisen in Egypt, whether among those desiring to serve Babylon, or those unwilling to submit their necks to its yoke; or among some believing in Christ, others resisting, the spirit of Egypt shall be broken and torn asunder, not all willing the same thing, and all their counsel shall be brought to nothing. Then they will go to their idols; and they will consult their diviners, and soothsayers, and seers, and those instructed in magic arts, as to why these things have happened.

Verse 4. And I will deliver Egypt into the hand of cruel lords, and a strong king shall rule over them, saith the Lord God of hosts. We follow a twofold understanding: either of the Chaldean times, when Egypt was conquered by Nabuchodonosor; or of the Roman empire, when, after Antony and Cleopatra were overcome, Augustus Caesar subjugated Egypt. That the Babylonians were cruel, all Scripture testifies, for they did not spare little children, and wounded them with their darts, nor had mercy on pregnant women. That the Roman kingdom was most strong, the Scripture of Daniel also testifies, expounding the fourth beast having teeth and claws of iron.

(Verses 5-7.) And the waters shall be dried up from the sea, and the river shall be wasted and dried up. And the rivers shall fail, the streams of the banks shall be diminished and dried up. The reed and the flag shall wither away, the channel of the river shall be laid bare from its source, and every watered sowing-field shall be dried up, shall wither away, and shall be no more. It is natural that, when captivity shall come through the wrath of God, pestilence should follow upon His indignation, and that against those who have offended God, all the elements together should rage. Whence it is written in another Prophet: that the birds fail in the air, and the fish in the waters, so that all things are withdrawn from human use. This we say, if we wish to take simply the drying up of the river Nile and its streams.

But if we take it by metaphor: by the river we understand the kingdom, and by the streams its leaders; and by the greenery and the flag and the papyrus, the whole abundance of Egypt, so that through these things the riches of Egypt, in which Egypt is most fertile, may be described. Let us read Ezekiel, where Pharaoh the king is described as a great dragon dwelling in the rivers, and he says: The river is mine, and I have made myself. And he adds: I will put a bridle in thy jaws, and I will make the fish of thy rivers stick to thy scales, and I will draw thee out of the midst of thy rivers, and all thy fish shall stick to thy scales, and I will cast thee forth into the desert. But at the coming of Christ all these things are to be understood τροπικῶς (figuratively), according to what we read above: The Lord shall make the sea of Egypt a desert.

And again: The Lord shall stretch out His hand over the violent river of Egypt, and shall strike it into seven valleys, so that one may pass over it with shod foot: namely, that all the error of the waters of Egypt, and the magical arts by which they mocked the subject peoples, should be dried up at the coming of Christ. And as for what is said: The water shall be dried up from the sea, we can also take it historically, not that the great sea is signified, but the lake Mareotis, since Scripture calls every gathering of waters "seas." These things can also be understood as spoken hyperbolically. And what follows: The channel of the river shall be laid bare from its source, describes that the stream and the source dry up together.

(Verses 8-10.) And the fishers shall mourn, and all that cast a hook into the river shall lament, and they that spread a net upon the face of the water shall languish. And they that work in flax, combing and weaving fine linen, shall be confounded; and its watered places shall be languishing, all that made ponds to catch fish. And take this in two ways: that with Egypt laid waste, and the whole province dried up by aridity, the fishermen mourn, and those who cast a hook into the river lament, and those who worked nets and dragnets, and wove vessels of various kinds from reed, that is, princes and men of royal stock, and rulers, mourn; and that at the coming of Christ, all fishermen of the perverse kind, who against apostolic discipline caught men unto perdition, and with foolish wisdom wove nets and dragnets by which to ensnare the lost, are confounded, and there is scarcely any or no such fisherman left in the land of Egypt.

We see this fulfilled in fact, since the trophies of the Churches rise up, and throughout all Egypt the idols have fallen.

(Verses 11-13.) The princes of Tanis are fools, the wise counsellors of Pharaoh have given foolish counsel: how will you say to Pharaoh, I am the son of the wise, the son of ancient kings? Where are now thy wise men? Let them tell thee, and declare what the Lord of hosts hath purposed upon Egypt. The princes of Tanis are become fools, the princes of Memphis are wasted away, they have deceived Egypt, the corner-stone of her peoples. That Tanis was the metropolis of Egypt, the Psalmist also declares, saying that Moses wrought many signs there, which are described in Exodus: He set his signs in Egypt, and his wonders in the field of Tanis. Memphis also, given over to magical arts, still shows to the present time traces of its ancient practice.

And this is briefly indicated, that when the devastation of Babylon comes, all the counsels of the Magi, and of those who promised knowledge of things to come, are convicted of folly, and that at the coming of Christ all is reduced to nothing, the seers of Egypt finding no counsel by which to suppress the Christian teaching. Now it is the idiom of the Scriptures to put "corner" for "kingdom," since it contains the peoples, and is as it were the strongest part in the whole house. Whence also Christ, holding together the walls of two peoples, is called the corner stone. And what he adds: How will you say to Pharaoh, I am the son of the wise, the son of ancient kings, signifies that the Egyptians feign as founders of their race heroes and gods, Orus, and Isis, and Osiris, and Typhon.

Verse 14. The Lord hath mingled in the midst thereof a spirit of dizziness: and they have caused Egypt to err in all its work, as a drunken man erreth and vomiteth: and there shall be no work for Egypt which it may do, that maketh head or tail, that curbs or is curbed. First let us speak of the interpretation, and afterward we shall discuss the things that are written. Instead of "spirit of dizziness" one may also render "spirit of error." Also in what we have translated as "curbing and restraining," we might say "curved and wanton," so that we understand old man and boy. We, however, translating hastily the Hebrew word AGMON (אגמון), deceived by ambiguity, said "restraining," which Aquila translated more meaningfully as στρεβλοῦντα, that is, one who does nothing right, but everything perversely, so as to signify a boy.

The sense, then, is: The princes of Tanis are become fools, and the wise counsellors of Pharaoh have given foolish counsel, and the princes of Memphis are wasted away, and have deceived Egypt, the corner-stone of the peoples, because the Lord has mingled in them a spirit of error and dizziness, so that they know not what they say, and cause Egypt to err. And just as a drunken man vomits up what he has taken in, and knows not where he is, but lies with alienated mind: so Egypt shall have no work or counsel that has either a head or an end, or that suits the old or the young—of whom the one class, through excessive age, are foolish and delirious, the other, through wantonness and infancy, know not what they do. This, whether taken of the Babylonian devastation or of the coming of Christ, and whether according to the letter or according to the spiritual understanding, will have its consequence.

Verse 16. In that day Egypt shall be like women, and they shall be astonished and afraid at the presence of the moving of the hand of the Lord of hosts, which he shall move over it. And the land of Juda shall be a festival to Egypt: every one that shall remember it shall be afraid at the presence of the counsel of the Lord of hosts, which he hath purposed upon it. I judge it better to correct one's own error than, out of shame to confess ignorance, to persist in error. In what I translated, And the land of Juda shall be a festival to Egypt, for "festival" is read in the Hebrew AGGA (חגא), which can be interpreted both as "festival" (whence also Aggaeus is rendered "festive") and as "fear," which Aquila rendered more meaningfully as γύρωσιν, when someone, fearful and trembling, casts his eyes about and dreads the approaching enemy. Therefore if we wish to take it in a good sense, that the remembrance of Juda is a joy to Egypt, then "festival" is rightly said.

But if, as I think, it is rendered "fear" instead of "festival," let us understand dread or terror, that when Nabuchodonosor shall come, and all the hands of strong men shall be loosed as women's, even the name of Juda shall be a terror to Egypt, because while wishing to give her aid, she has suffered so many evils. Of our own times no one doubts that, in comparison with Christians, all the pagans are like women, having weak judgments, and whatever they say turns to folly, while they are astonished at so great a conversion of the nation, and marvel at and understand the hand of the Lord; and whoever of the pagans has remembered the name of Christian confesses, in fear, the weakness of idolatry.

Verse 18. In that day there shall be five cities in the land of Egypt speaking the language of Chanaan, and swearing by the Lord of hosts: one shall be called the city of the sun. Instead of "city of the sun," the LXX, meaning I know not what, translated Asedec, which some of our own interpret as "city of justice," being led into error because in the Hebrew it is written ARES (חרס), which he thinks means "earth," though that is written with other letters. Symmachus therefore translated better: "one city shall be called the city of the sun": for ARES is an ambiguous word, meaning both "potsherd" and "sun," since both are dry, both being parched. Not understanding this passage, Onias built a temple in Egypt in the town of Heliopolis. Read the Histories of Josephus (Joseph, lib. XII, ch. 9).

Others wish "Ares," that is, ὄστρακον, that is, "potsherd," to be understood as the city Ostracine, and the rest as the cities near Rhinocorura and Casius, which to this day it is evident speak in Egypt the Chananite tongue, that is, Syriac: and they think that Syrians and Arabs were from the neighborhood transferred into that land by Nabuchodonosor. Moreover, those who expound the prophecy of the coming of Christ and of the Roman empire understand by the five cities either the law of the Lord, which was first translated at Alexandria, or the five orders of the Church—bishops, priests, deacons, the faithful, catechumens: or certainly the spiritual understanding of the law, of which also the Apostle says: I would rather speak five words in the Churches with my understanding, than ten thousand words in a tongue; and that one of the five cities is called the city of the sun, namely, of justice, in whose wings is healing.

(Verses 19-21.) In that day there shall be an altar of the Lord in the midst of the land of Egypt, and a monument near the border thereof to the Lord. It shall be for a sign and for a testimony to the Lord of hosts in the land of Egypt: for they shall cry to the Lord because of the oppressor, and he shall send them a Saviour and a defender to deliver them. And the Lord shall be known by Egypt, and the Egyptians shall know the Lord in that day, and shall worship him with sacrifices and offerings: and they shall vow vows to the Lord, and perform them. From this place to the end of the Vision, or Burden, of Egypt, both Jews and our own wish it to be understood of the coming of Christ; but they defer their hopes to the future, we hold them as already accomplished.

Take "day," however, for "time"; although Josephus contends that these things were done under Onias, who, a fugitive into Egypt, with a very great crowd of Jews, built a temple and an altar, and attempted, with vain temerity, to fulfill the prophecy of Christ. Thus one altar is spoken of, just as there is one faith, and one baptism, and one Church. And a monument near its border to the Lord doubtless signifies the Gospel and the writings of the Apostles. For just as above, according to the tropological understanding, the land of Juda is understood as fearsome, or solemn, to Egypt, meaning the Old Testament: so also the monument at the borders of Egypt signifies the history of the Gospels. Then he joins: And it shall be for a sign and for a testimony, namely of the Lord's Passion.

Then those who shall have believed, amid Egyptians rushing against Egyptians, and man fighting against his brother, and city warring against city: when the time of persecution presses in, they shall implore the mercy of the Lord, and straightway the Saviour shall come, that is, Jesus, for this is what it means in our tongue. And the Lord shall be known by the Egyptians, and they shall know him, whether the persecutors who shall have been overcome, or the believers delivered by present help. And they shall worship him with sacrifices and gifts, and shall vow vows to the Lord and perform them. Let the Jews answer: it is commanded by the Law that an altar be made only in the one place which the Lord God shall choose, and that sacrifices be offered only by priests of the Levitical race. Behold, Isaiah plainly teaches that the Egyptians shall know the Lord, and shall worship him, and offer sacrifices and gifts, and shall vow vows and fulfill them.

If the Egyptians have priesthood, then in them too is fulfilled the testimony of Paul, who says: The priesthood being transferred, it is necessary that a transfer of the law be made also.

Verse 22. And the Lord shall strike Egypt with a plague, and shall heal it: and they shall be converted to the Lord, and he shall be entreated by them, and shall heal them. For whom the Lord loves, he chastens, and scourges every son whom he receives. Persecution pertains not to the denial of believers, but to their testing, and to their crown.

Verse 23. In that day there shall be a road from Egypt into the Assyrians, and the Assyrian shall enter into Egypt, and the Egyptian into the Assyrians: and the Egyptians shall serve Assur. Before the coming of Christ, each nation had its own king, and no one could go from one nation to another: but under the Roman empire all things were made one. Let the learned reader turn over ancient histories, and let him know that from the Euphrates even to the Tigris, all the region in between was that of the Assyrians. Therefore those whom the ancients called Assyrians, we now call Syrians, naming the whole from a part. But that which is said: The Egyptians shall serve the Syrians, is to be understood either thus, that the Roman legions, furnished with Syrian soldiery, guard Egypt; or that there is commerce between the two peoples, and the cities of Syria receive the abundance of Egypt, just as, conversely, Egypt is watered by the goods of Palestine and Phoenicia.

Some of our own writers wrongly refer these things to the thousand years, and, after the Jewish manner, pronounce them to be future at the consummation of the world, when Antichrist, coming from the Assyrians, shall possess Egypt and Ethiopia.

Verse 24. In that day Israel shall be third with Egypt and Assyria, a blessing in the midst of the earth, which the Lord of hosts hath blessed, saying: Blessed be my people of Egypt, and the work of my hands, Assyria: but my inheritance, Israel. Israel shall by no means be crushed as it were in the middle between Egypt and Assyria, now with Antiochuses and Demetriuses drawing the kingdom of Judah to themselves, now with Ptolemies claiming its possession for themselves; but it too, set under the Roman empire, and through this under the empire of Christ, shall be of that same condition as Egypt and the Assyrians, and shall be blessed in all the earth. Because out of Sion shall go forth the law, and the word of the Lord from Jerusalem.

Then shall it be said by the Lord: Blessed be my people of Egypt: when, no longer with Moses but with Christ the Lord going before, countless thousands of men shall have filled the deserts, and, Pharaoh having been drowned, shall say in the wilderness: Let us sing to the Lord, for he is gloriously magnified: the horse and his rider he hath cast into the sea. Then too shall the work of the hands of the Lord be among the Assyrians; for these are, indeed, the very greatest nations flourishing with swarms of monks, Egypt and Mesopotamia, and they vie with each other in equal piety. But the inheritance of Christ, Israel, that is, the places of his birth, and cross, and resurrection, and ascension, to which men run together from the whole world.

(Verse 1.) In the year that Thartan entered into Azotus, when Sargon king of the Assyrians had sent him, and he had fought against Azotus, and had taken it.

At that time the Lord spoke by the hand of Isaiah the son of Amos, saying: Go, and loose the sackcloth from off thy loins, and put off thy shoes from thy feet: and he did so, going naked and barefoot. And the Lord said: As my servant Isaiah hath walked naked and barefoot, for a sign and a portent of three years upon Egypt and upon Ethiopia; so shall the king of the Assyrians lead away the captivity of Egypt, and the transmigration of Ethiopia, of young men and old, naked and barefoot, with buttocks uncovered, to the shame of Egypt. And they shall fear and be confounded because of Ethiopia their hope, and Egypt their glory. And the inhabitant of this island shall say in that day: Behold, this was our hope, to whom we fled for help, that they might deliver us from the face of the king of the Assyrians: and how shall we be able to escape?

We have set forth the whole content of this chapter, so that we may discuss the parts one by one. Azotus, which is called in Hebrew ESDOD (אשדוד), was one of the five cities, a most powerful city of Palestine: this Sargon king of the Assyrians, who is called by seven names, having sent the leader of his army, whose name was Thartan, took and held. At that time, therefore, when the neighboring city was captured, Isaiah is commanded, having laid aside the sackcloth tunic (for this was the prophetic garb of a people mourning its sins), and the shoes from his feet, which the Septuagint calls "caligae" (boots), to go about naked and barefoot, presenting a type of the captivity of Egypt and of the Ethiopians, who had been an aid to the Egyptians: so that just as Isaiah walked naked, and displayed the shame to onlookers with bare buttocks, so all Egypt and Ethiopia, laid waste by the Assyrian, would become bare, and nothing at all would remain in the land.

Let no one think this contrary to the felicity promised above to the Egyptians: because there, after evils, future blessedness is foretold; but here the present captivity is narrated, through which, Israel and Damascus and the Philistines having been destroyed, he went straight on to Egypt, and overcame both them and the Ethiopians alike. And lest this seem doubtful to anyone, let us set forth the testimony of Isaiah himself: But Rabsaces, returning, found the king of the Assyrians fighting against Lobna: for he had heard that he had departed from Lachis: and he heard concerning Tharaca king of Ethiopia, saying: He is come forth to fight against thee.

At the same time we learn the obedience of the prophets, in that a man of noble birth (for the Hebrews relate that Isaiah was the father-in-law of Manasseh son of Hezekiah king of Judah) was not ashamed to go about naked; but, judging nothing more honorable than the commands of God, put off the sackcloth, and having cast it off was naked, having first only one tunic, and that of haircloth. But that which is said, For a sign and a portent of three years upon Egypt and upon Ethiopia, signifies that for three years Egypt and Ethiopia were to be laid waste by the Assyrians. Then, he says, shall the inhabitant of this island say, that is, of Jerusalem, which is battered by the waves of the neighboring nations: Was this our hope? And did we flee to these for refuge, that they might afford us help, who could not free themselves from the evil of captivity?

This, then, is the order of the providence of God, dispensing the whole race of men by an ineffable judgment. Against the wrath of God, Israel hoped in Damascus: let the city be overthrown which, against his will, affords help to the impious. Judah hoped in the Egyptians: and let Egypt be destroyed. The Egyptians trusted in the Ethiopians: let the Ethiopians too be conquered by the Assyrians. The Assyrians grew proud, thinking the victory to be not God's but their own strength's: and let them too be conquered by the Babylonians. Babylon lifted up her head against God: and let her too be overcome by the Medes and Persians. The Persians and Medes in part persecuted the people of God, and the most fierce ram winnowed all peoples to the East and to the West; let the he-goat Alexander come, and trample him under his feet.

And let that one, who is exalted beyond measure, perish by poison, and let his kingdom be divided into parts: and when it has clashed with itself for a long time, let it, with the Roman conquering, be laid waste. Let the Roman himself, with iron teeth and claws, tear apart the flesh of the saints with bloody mouth: let the stone be cut out of the mountain without hands, and let it crush the first kingdom, most powerful and of iron, then brittle and weak, like potsherds.

The burden of the desert of the sea. Unless I read in what follows of this chapter: Babylon is made a wonder to me. And again: Babylon is fallen, is fallen, and all the graven images of her gods are broken to the ground. And above: Go up, Elam, besiege, O Mede: I would doubt what this "burden" is that is laid upon the desert sea. It is clear, therefore, that the desert sea is called Babylon, Jeremiah saying in the person of God: And I will make her sea a desert, and I will dry up her land, and Babylon shall become heaps of sand. Now it is called a sea on account of the multitude of its inhabitants. Whence also above the multitude of Egypt was compared to the sea. The Lord shall make the sea of Egypt a desert. But that the Medes and Persians fought against Babylon and overthrew it, we read in the aforesaid Jeremiah: Sharpen the arrows, fill the quivers.

The Lord hath raised up the spirit of the kings of the Medes against Babylon, and his mind is to destroy it, because it is the vengeance of the Lord, the vengeance of his temple. Lift up a standard upon the walls of Babylon, increase the watch, set up the watchmen, prepare ambushes: for the Lord hath both purposed, and done, whatsoever he spoke against the inhabitants of Babylon. And again: Lift up a standard in the land, blow the trumpet among the nations, sanctify the nations against her, proclaim against her to the kings of Ararat, Menni, and Ascenez, number against her Tapsar, bring up the horse like the bristly locust. Sanctify against her the nations, the kings of Media, its captains, and all its magistrates, and the whole land of its dominion. And the land shall be moved, and shall be troubled, for the thought of the Lord shall be confirmed against Babylon, to make the land of Babylon desert and uninhabitable.

As whirlwinds come from the south, it cometh from the desert, from a terrible land. A hard vision is declared unto me. The voice of the Babylonian people, fearing, is introduced, or of Babylon herself, that she hears that the Medes and Elamites are preparing an army against her, and coming from the wilderness; and he gives an example of comparison. As, he says, a violent tempest is wont to come from the south wind, so to me devastation comes from the wilderness, from a terrible land, whose very name I cannot hear without dread. A hard vision is declared to me: for what is harder than present captivity?

He that is unbelieving dealeth unfaithfully: and he that is a spoiler, wasteth. It can be read in the Hebrew thus: Thou that slayest, slay; and thou that wastest, waste; so that the prophecy's utterance is directed to the Elamite and the Mede themselves, exhorting him to fulfil what he has begun, to go up undaunted, to besiege the most powerful city. But if it is read as we have translated it, as if spoken in the third person, He that is unbelieving dealeth unfaithfully: and he that is a spoiler, wasteth: it is to be joined with what precedes, in which Babylon foretells to herself that a hard vision has been announced.

Go up, Elam, besiege, O Mede: I have made all the groaning thereof to cease. Fear not, he says, O Persian and Mede, the multitude of Babylon, nor dread its past power: all its groaning and the weight with which it was accustomed to press upon you before, I have made to cease: either because no one now groans and grieves, oppressed by the power of Babylon; or because Babylon herself is so oppressed by such great evils that she does not even have a free groan.

Therefore my loins are filled with sorrow: anguish hath possessed me, as the anguish of a woman in travail: I fell down when I heard, I was troubled when I saw. My heart failed, darkness amazed me: Babylon, my beloved, is made unto me a wonder. The prophets are obscure for this reason, that the persons in them are frequently changed. So now too the voice of Isaiah is introduced, lamenting Babylon in a prophetic spirit, because such great evils are to come upon her that he himself, who narrates, overcome with fear, is unable to burst into words, seeing the blood of so great a multitude poured out: and, moved by an affection of mercy (for a man speaks of men), grieves no less than a woman is wont to wail in childbirth; but, troubled and trembling, and falling to the ground, with darkened eyes, knows not what he says.

But for what we have translated: Babylon, my beloved, in the Hebrew is read Neseph esci (נשף חשקי); and it is the very word which we set at the beginning of the Burden of Babylon, upon the dark mountain: for instead of "dark," or "shadowy," Neseph is written. And this city is properly so called, on account of its height and the summit of pride raised up even to heaven.

Verse 5. Set the table, watch in the watchtower, them that eat and drink: arise, ye princes, take up the shield. This passage is taken in two ways: O Medes and Elamites, to whom I have said above: go up, Elam, besiege, O Mede, take food, prepare yourselves for the coming battle, lest, after the time of the engagement has come, weariness hold you back. And when you have eaten and drunk, arise, take up arms, overcome the Babylonian. And what he says, watch in the watchtower, is read in this sense: diligently look forward to the things that are to come. It can also be understood thus: O Babylon, prepare a table and banquet for Balthasar, son of Evilmerodach, grandson of Nabuchodonosor thy king, and see what happens after the meal, in which he shall pledge harlots and concubines in the vessels of the Lord. O princes, who recline with the king—meaning the Medes and Persians—arise, and take up arms to slay the king.

This we learn more fully in the book of Daniel. (Verses 6 and following.) For thus said the Lord to me: Go, and set a watchman, and let him declare whatsoever he shall see. And he saw a chariot with two horsemen, a rider upon an ass, and a rider upon a camel. And he took careful notice, watching diligently with much heed: and the lion cried out: I stand continually upon the watchtower of the Lord by day, and I am set upon my watch whole nights. Behold, this one comes, a rider, a man of a chariot of two horsemen, and he answered and said: Babylon is fallen, is fallen, and all the graven images of her gods are broken unto the ground. O my thrashing, and the corn of my floor, that which I have heard from the Lord of hosts, the God of Israel, have I declared unto you.

He gives the reasons for the former terror mentioned above, why anguish took hold of him as of a woman in travail, and why he fell down when he heard, and was affrighted, and was encompassed with dark horror. This, he says, the Lord said to me: Go, and set a watchman, that by the prophetic spirit he may foretell to you things to come; whom, when I had set upon the watchtower, he saw a chariot coming, and a charioteer above, and an ass and a camel drawing the chariot. Now this signifies Cyrus, king of the Persians and Medes, coming with a small and yet a great empire. For the Persians before Cyrus were of no repute, and held no place among the nations; the Medes were always most powerful. This one rider, therefore, supported by the army of two nations, comes against Babylon: and that watchman who had been set to look out for things to come, cried out as a lion, or else the prophet himself is called a lion.

And because it was doubtful concerning the person of the watchman who had seen Cyrus ascending, he himself explains it more clearly, and says: I stand continually upon the watchtower of the Lord by day, declaring that he himself is the watchman of the Lord, who, being always set in the prophetic office, and by day and night obeying the command of the Lord, speaks whatsoever he shall bid. What then did the lion cry out: Behold, this one comes, a rider, a man of a chariot of two horsemen: there is no doubt but that Cyrus is meant. And he answered and said—the same lion who had cried out above—Babylon is fallen, is fallen, and all the graven images of her gods are broken unto the ground. For with the rider of the chariot laying waste, Babylon was destroyed forever, and the temple of Bel and all the idols were leveled to the ground.

But that which follows: O my thrashing, and the corn of my floor, addresses Jerusalem, and the Temple which was situated on the threshing floor of Ornan, and says to her: O Jerusalem, and O people, son of my Temple, let it not seem incredible to you what I have said: for these are not my words, but the Lord’s, and through my mouth His words have resounded. Some think, but wrongly, that this is said not to Jerusalem but to Babylon, of which it was also said above, Babylon, my beloved, is set for me as a marvel; and the sense is: you who have crushed me shall yourself be crushed also, not by my word, but by the power of the Lord, who foretells these things to come upon you.

But what the Septuagint interpreters meant in this passage, when instead of “lion,” which in Hebrew is called ARIA (אריה), they translated “Urias,” I do not sufficiently understand, especially since the above-mentioned priest Urias, who is called in as a witness, is written with different letters. (Verses 11, 12.) The burden of Duma. He calls to me out of Seir: Watchman, what of the night? Watchman, what of the night? And the watchman said, The morning comes, and also the night: if you will inquire, inquire; return, come. Instead of Duma, the Septuagint puts Idumea. But Duma is not the whole province of Idumea, but a certain region of it which inclines toward the South, and is distant twenty miles from the city of Palestine which today is called Eleutheropolis; near which are the mountains of Seir, taking their name from their founder; for Seir is interpreted “rough” and “hairy,” which Esau was.

In the prophet Obadiah we have discussed this nation more fully; in which it was necessary to go over the ancient history, and to bring in as testimony the same visions of Ezekiel and Jeremiah, and especially the prophecy against Mount Seir. And that from the Psalms: Into Idumea will I stretch out my shoe. And elsewhere: The tabernacles of the Idumeans and the Ishmaelites, Moab, and the Agarenes, Gebal and Ammon, and Amalek. Amos also says: For three transgressions of Edom, and for four, I will not turn away his punishment: because he pursued his brother with the sword, and violated his own mercy, or, as Symmachus translated it, his own bowels, because he dared to fight against kindred peoples, and to be at variance with them in hostile hatred. Now the region of Esau was in the region of Duma, that is, in the mountains of Seir.

We believe this to have been conquered, according to the order of the previous Visions, by the Assyrians, or by Nebuchadnezzar, as their metropolis, and that, mindful of its ancient lineage, since it was descended from the stock of Abraham and Isaac, it implored the help of God, and, constrained by necessity, begged for His mercy. The Lord therefore now relates: he who is besieged in Seir, and surrounded by enemies, implores my help, and says: O watchman of Israel, who guard your people with everlasting watch, and, as it were, keep vigil in the night while they sleep, lest the enemy break in; why do you not likewise protect us also, who are of his seed, with similar mercy? To whom I, the watchman and ever-wakeful one, respond, of whom it is written: He that keeps Israel shall neither slumber nor sleep. Morning comes for my people, and night for the nation of the Idumeans; to them I will grant light, you I will leave in darkness.

Or else thus: the light comes when the night has passed; if you invoke my help, and are of the stock of my servant Abraham, do not seek me only in times of necessity, but turn to me with your whole heart. Come, and I will receive the penitent. Let this be said according to the historical sense: but on account of the similarity of the letters, and because RESH and DALETH do not differ much from each other, some of the Hebrews read “Rome” instead of “Duma,” wishing the prophecy to be directed against the Roman empire, by a frivolous persuasion, whereby they always suppose the Romans to be signified under the name of Idumea: but Duma is interpreted “silence.” (Verses 13 and following.) The burden in Arabia. In the forest at evening you shall lodge, in the paths of Dedanim. Meeting the thirsty, bring water; you who dwell in the land of the South, meet the fugitive with bread.

For they fled from the face of the swords, from the face of the sword hanging over them, from the face of the bent bow, from the face of the grievous battle. For thus says the Lord to me: Within one year more, as the years of a hireling, and all the glory of Cedar shall be taken away, and the remnant of the number of the strong archers of the sons of Cedar shall be diminished: for the Lord God of Israel has spoken. When I inquired, and long deliberated with careful consideration what this Arabia might be to which the prophetic word is directed, whether the Moabites, or the Ammonites, and the Idumeans, and all the other regions which are now called Arabia, occasion was given me in this same Vision by what follows: All the glory of Cedar shall be taken away, and the remnant of the number of the strong archers of the sons of Cedar shall be diminished, that the Ishmaelites are to be understood.

The book of Genesis teaches that from Ishmael were begotten Cedar and the Agarenes, who by a perverse name are called Saracens. These dwell throughout the whole wilderness, of whom I think also the poet speaks: The wide-wandering Barcaeans (Virg. Aen. 4); and the above-mentioned book says: He shall dwell over against the face of all his brethren: because the vast desert stretches from India to Mauritania and the Atlantic Ocean, which I think is the meaning of the title in Jeremiah: Concerning Cedar, and concerning the kingdoms of Hazor, which Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon smote; and immediately follows: Thus says the Lord, Arise, and go up to Cedar, and waste the children of the East: their tents and their flocks shall they take, their curtains and all their vessels, and their camels shall they carry away for themselves: and again: For Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon has taken counsel against you, and has devised a device against you.

Arise, and go up to a quiet nation, and dwelling securely, says the Lord: they have neither doors nor bars; they dwell alone. And their camels shall be a spoil, and the multitude of their cattle a prey. And I will scatter into every wind them that have the corners of their hair polled: and I will bring their destruction from all sides upon them, says the Lord: and Hazor shall be a dwelling place for dragons, desolate forever: no man shall abide there, nor son of man dwell in it.

I have set down the whole testimony of the prophecy from Jeremiah, that you might understand without doubt what Cedar is. And consider how he has described the nation of the Ishmaelites, that is, the Saracens, properly, since they dwell in tents: they who hold their dwellings wherever night compels them; who have herds and flocks and troops of camels; who have neither doors nor bars: for they do not dwell in cities, but live in the wilderness. And these, then, were destroyed by the Babylonians, in that they overthrew to the ground Hazor, the city which was the metropolis of that nation in the desert: and yet, although flocks of camels and sheep were captured, and their skins and tents divided by lot, the destruction of the whole nation is not signified thereby, since on swift dromedary camels they are wont to flee a hundred thousand or more in one day through the vast wilderness.

All the glory of Cedar, he says, shall be taken away: and with the number of archers diminished, since they excel especially in the art of fighting, the rest who have fled shall remain. Since we have understood what Cedar is, and what Arabia, and what Hazor, let us see what the prophet Isaiah says: In the forest at evening you shall lodge, in the paths of Dedanim. The word ARAB (ערב), as we have already often said, means both “evening,” and “Arabia,” and “raven,” and “plain,” and “West.” And instead of what we, following the Septuagint, have translated “you shall lodge,” it can be interpreted “you shall tarry,” or “you shall dwell,” that is, αὐλισθήσεσθε, which in Hebrew is called THALINU (תלינו). DODANIM (דדנים) too is rendered as “neighbors” and “kinsmen.” So it is now foretold to the Jews who might escape the Babylonian siege, and pass from the devastation of the whole province to the neighboring wilderness, that they shall dwell in the wilderness of Arabia on the way that leads to their brethren.

And again the speech turns to the Ishmaelites, and exhorts them to mercy: run, and to your weary brethren, in peril from the burning of thirst, bring water to meet them: for so great is the heat of the sun that unless you help them, they will perish in the wilderness: and not only bring water, but also bread to the fugitives, that your mercy may relieve those whom the siege has worn out. And at the same time he gives the reason why he commands these things to be done, saying: they have fled the Babylonian sword, they have fled the bows of the Elamites, they have fled the imminent battle. Do not despise the wretched: your own captivity too will soon come. For as the year of a hireling is swift, and he counts all labor brief while he attains to the desired wage: so all the glory of the sons of Cedar shall be taken from you, and your arrows shall be broken, and a small number of fighters shall remain.

Some wish, from what is said, “within one year more, and all the glory of Cedar shall be taken away,” that not the Babylonian captivity is foretold, of which Jeremiah also speaks, but that of the Assyrians, who after one year of the devastation of Judea pursued the Saracens most extensively. Moreover, that passage which we have translated: You who dwell in the land of the South, meet the fugitive with bread: which we read in the imperative mood, as it were from the person of the Lord, they affirm can be read thus in the Hebrew: They who dwell in the land of the South met the fugitive with bread; so that when God had said to them, meeting the thirsty, bring water, they with hostile mind brought bread without water, that by food they might increase his thirst.

(Verse 1.) The burden of the valley of vision.

The Septuagint, although it is not so in the Hebrew, translated more clearly, “the word of the valley of Sion.” For this city is the seedbed of the prophets, in which the Temple was built, and the Visions of the Lord multiplied. Since, therefore, it is set among the other nations, and is reckoned as one among many, it is nowhere called a mountain, according to that prophetic word: Its foundations are in the holy mountains: the Lord loves the gates of Sion above all the dwellings of Jacob; but a valley, because it has been humbled. Jeremiah says this same thing in other words: when he took the cup full of wine, and gave it to all the nations, and lastly offered it to Jerusalem, that she might drink, and vomit, and fall, and go mad: signifying that she too would be laid waste by the Babylonians. This the history of Kings and of Jeremiah relates more fully.

From which we understand that God is the equal creator of all, and disposes all things by the same judgment, according to what He Himself says through Amos: Are you not as the children of the Ethiopians unto me, O children of Israel? Says the Lord. Did I not bring up Israel out of the land of Egypt, and the Philistines from Cappadocia, and the Syrians from Cyrene? Behold, the eyes of the Lord are upon the sinning kingdom. Lest the Jews should think they had a privilege of merits because they had been brought out of Egypt, He says that the other nations also were transferred by His command to other lands.

What ails you also, that you too have gone up wholly upon the housetops, O city full of shouting, tumultuous city, exulting city? A Hebrew told me that the present Vision does not pertain to that time when Nabuchodonosor took Jerusalem, and led Sedechias bound and deprived of his eyes to Babylon; but to the times of Sennacherib, when Sobna the Pontiff betrayed a great part of the city, and only Sion, that is, the citadel and the Temple, and the nobles remained—after the example of the city of Rome, which, when the Gauls rushed in, preserved the patricians and the flower of its youth in the citadel. We, however, can also say this of the Babylonian captivity: although Eusebius refers all things to the coming of Christ, and thinks they were fulfilled in the times of Vespasian and Titus. Let us then take up each point, briefly touching on the threefold exposition. What ails you also? What have you, he says, O Sion, that you too have gone up wholly upon the housetops?

When he says, "you too," he shows that others had gone up before. Have you also been reckoned among the nations, you who are besieged by enemies, and climb upon housetops full of the wailing and lamentation of wretched women, O city once royal?

Verse 3. Your slain are not slain by the sword, nor dead in battle. All your princes have fled together, and are bound hard. All who were found are bound together; they fled far away. If you refer this to the times of Sennacherib, when the city was in part taken, they are rightly said not to have been overcome by the sword, nor slain in war, but by treachery, some fleeing from the city, others, whom the enemy overpowered, being bound in chains. But if you refer it to the Babylonian captivity, which is truer, we shall say that they were overcome not by battle, but by siege. But if, according to Eusebius, you wish to understand it tropologically of the coming of Christ, you will say that they were slain not by the sword but by unbelief, and that all their princes withdrew from God, and were bound by the ropes of their sins, and that there was none of the Pharisees who was not bound by the nets of the devil.

Verse 4. Therefore I said, Depart from me, I will weep bitterly: do not press to comfort me over the destruction of the daughter of my people. If the Prophet wept over the desolation of Babylon with the feeling of one mourning, and says: Anguish has seized me, as the anguish of a woman in travail: I fell down when I heard, I was troubled when I saw, my heart withered, darkness stupefied me: Babylon my beloved is made a wonder to me—how much more now, in the ruin of her own city, can she receive no consolation, giving herself wholly to lamentation!

Verse 5. For it is a day of slaughter, and of trampling down, and of weeping, to the Lord God of hosts, in the Valley of vision. He gives the reasons, according to the threefold understanding, why he said: Depart from me, I will weep bitterly; because Sion has been trampled down, the mountain once of visions, and now the valley of weeping.

Verse 6. Scanning the wall, and magnificent above the mountain: and Elam took up the quiver, the chariot of the horseman, and the shield laid bare the wall. The army of Babylon is described entering the city, occupying the temple, and proudly advancing through the streets with chariots. And that the shield—which usually covers other things—should have stripped bare the gilded doorposts and the walls clothed with marble facings, sounds elegant in the Hebrew, and the meaning is most beautiful, that the shield did not protect anyone, but laid bare, because all the strength of the soldiers, all their resources, had been torn away. But if the Elamites are placed in battle, who are a city of the Assyrians, this cannot be referred to the times of the Roman overthrow, unless perhaps we interpret all things allegorically.

(Verses 7-9.) And your choice valleys shall be full of chariots, and the horsemen shall set their seats in the gate. And the covering of Judah shall be revealed, and you shall see in that day the armory of the house of the forest, and you shall see the breaches of the city of David, that they are multiplied. He plainly describes the captivity, which took place in the eleventh year of King Sedechias, of which Jeremiah also speaks: Behold I will call together all the families of the kingdoms of the north, says the Lord, and they shall come, and each one shall set his throne at the entrance of the gates of Jerusalem, and upon all its walls round about. Lest we think this was foretold in word, but not fulfilled in deed, the same Jeremiah says: In the eleventh year of Sedechias, in the fourth month, on the fifth day of the month, the city was opened, and all the princes of the king of Babylon entered, and sat in the middle gate.

Then, therefore, an innumerable army was poured out around the city of Jerusalem, and the Holy of Holies was opened, and the armory, which had been planted with a grove, was unlocked by hostile plundering, and through every part of the city, the walls having been breached, the enemy entered.

Verse 10. And you gathered together the waters of the lower pool, and you numbered the houses of Jerusalem, and you tore down houses to fortify the wall. And you made a reservoir between the two walls for the water of the old pool: but you did not look up to him who made it, nor did you regard from afar its maker. He tells how they prepared the city for siege, and transferred the waters of the lower pool, which could be captured, to the upper fortification, and, having torn down houses, built walls, and numbered by each family how much water each house ought to receive, and made a cistern between the two walls, and restored the old pool to preserve water; and did not rather invoke the help of God, who is the founder of the city and the Lord of the pool—as if he had said in other words: You put your trust in man, and not in God, who is the maker of man.

Some, according to mystical understanding, take the old pool as the shadow of the Law, and, between the two walls—namely the New and the Old Testament—understand the reservoir built up by the traditions and commandments of the Pharisees, which cannot hold water: and that they did not look to the Son of God, nor believe in his presence, whom of old they had not seen, because they were always unbelieving toward the precepts of God.

(Verses 12-14.) And the Lord God of hosts will call in that day to weeping, and to mourning, and to baldness, and to the girding of sackcloth. And behold joy and gladness, slaying calves, and killing rams, eating flesh, and drinking wine: let us eat and drink, for tomorrow we shall die; and it was revealed in my ears by the Lord of hosts. Surely this iniquity shall not be forgiven you till you die, says the Lord God of hosts. In the present captivity, with Jerusalem besieged, when sword, famine, and thirst pressed upon the city, Jeremiah was calling the people to repentance, while, on the contrary, kings and princes and the wretched common people, out of the despair of the perishing, gave themselves over to feasting. Nothing so offends God as a stiffened neck after sins, and contempt born of despair. Which he also speaks through Amos: For three transgressions and for four I will not turn away from it; because he both devised it and did it, and did not repent: and moreover taught evil.

Whence also here it is said: If this iniquity shall be forgiven you till you die. The allegorical interpreters think this was foretold concerning the Passion of Christ, that God called even after the cross of the Lord Saviour the unhappy people to repentance, and nevertheless they gave themselves over to despair and pleasure. Indeed, they refer the beginning of this vision, where it says: Full of shouting, tumultuous city, exulting city, to that time when the people, incited by the Pharisees, resounded with one voice against Jesus: Crucify, crucify such a one: we have no king but Caesar. The Apostle also made use of the example of this testimony, writing to the Corinthians concerning the resurrection: If the dead do not rise, let us eat and drink, for tomorrow we shall die. (Verse 15 and following.) Thus says the Lord God of hosts: Go, go in to him that dwells in the tabernacle, to Sobna the prefect of the Temple, and you shall say to him: What are you doing here?

Or who are you here, that you have hewn yourself out a sepulchre here? You have hewn out a memorial on high, diligently, a tabernacle for yourself in the rock. Behold, the Lord will cause you to be carried away, as a cock is carried away, and as a garment he shall lift you up. Crowning he shall crown you with tribulation, he shall cast you like a ball into a wide and spacious land: there you shall die, and there shall be the chariots of your glory, the ignominy of the house of your Lord. And I will drive you out from your station, and depose you from your ministry. And it shall come to pass in that day, I will call my servant Eliacim the son of Helcias. And I will clothe him with your tunic, and strengthen him with your girdle, and I will give your power into his hand; and he shall be as a father to the inhabitants of Jerusalem and to the house of Juda.

And I will give the key of the house of David upon his shoulder, and he shall open, and there shall be none to shut; and he shall shut, and there shall be none to open. And I will fasten him as a peg in a sure place, and he shall be for a throne of glory to the house of his father. And they shall hang upon him all the glory of his father's house, the divers kinds of vessels, every little vessel, from the vessels of cups even to every instrument of music. In that day, says the Lord of hosts, the peg that was fastened in the sure place shall be removed, and shall be broken, and shall fall; and that which hung upon it shall perish, for the Lord has spoken. We said above that Sobna was the pontiff who betrayed the city to the Assyrians.

But because this belongs to Hebrew tradition, and Scripture does not say so, let us understand him as proud, puffed up, and given to pleasure, and trampling the peoples under his feet; and because he did all the things which the Prophet describes, his priesthood was transferred to Eliacim the son of Helcias, so that he being cast out, a new Pontiff might be made. From this we understand that pride, which offends God, is to be avoided with all care, and that not even the privilege of the pontificate can make one safe from it. This is the Sobna (as some think) and Eliacim, of whom the same Prophet subjoins: The king of the Assyrians sent Rabsaces from Lachis to Jerusalem to king Ezechias with a heavy force; and he stood by the aqueduct of the upper pool, in the way of the fuller's field, and there went out to him Eliacim the son of Helcias, who was over the house, and Sobna the scribe, and Johae the son of Asaph the recorder.

The Prophet is therefore bidden to go in to the pontiff, who dwelt, according to the LXX, in the pastophorium; according to Aquila, in the tabernacle; for which, following the Hebrew truth, Theodotion says: Go in to this Soken, which can be interpreted "equal and upright" (so that by antiphrasis, κατά ἀντίφρασιν, he is to be understood as unjust and wicked), to the pontiff of the temple, and you shall say to him: You who dwell in the house of God, whose crimes are noised abroad in the whole city, why are you secure in your works, as though you feared not captivity? You have hewn out for yourself a sepulchre in the rock, and have built so proudly that ambition would follow you even in death. Hear what is the Lord's sentence upon you: as a cock is carried off on the shoulder of him who bears it, and as each man lifts his cloak upon his shoulder, so shall your removal into captivity be easy.

You shall have a crown, not of gold plate and of the Lord's sanctification, but of tribulation and distress. For as a ball, if thrown down a slope, cannot stand still but rolls with swift course, so you too shall be led away to a very broad land, which we may understand either as Egypt or the plains of Babylonia, and there you shall die: and there shall be the chariots of your glory, all the power and wealth on which you now proudly walk. There you shall feel the ignominy of the house of your Lord, because for your evil works, and for the violation of the Temple of your God, you shall suffer these things. I will pull you down from your rank, and cast you out from the office of the pontificate, and instead of you I will clothe Eliacim my servant, the son of Helcias, with your garments, and adorn him with your girdle: just as Eleazar was clothed with the garments of Aaron his father.

To him I will give the power of the Temple, that he may have a people not subject to him as a slave, but loving him as a father his son. He shall receive the key of my house, and shall bear it on his own shoulder; he shall have the power of all the ceremonies. And as a peg, if it is fastened in the wall of the Temple and set in a most firm place, has all the vessels of the priests and Levites hung upon it, both those necessary for sacrifices and every kind of musical instrument, so shall the whole people depend upon the power of Eliacim my servant. But as to what he says: In that day the peg that had been fastened in the sure place shall be removed, and shall be broken and shall fall, and that which hung upon it shall perish, for the Lord has spoken—many refer this to Sobna, meaning that when Eliacim was fastened as the peg, the former peg that had been fixed fell down.

But because it follows: And that which hung upon it shall perish—which by no means happened when Sobna was cast down—we understand this to mean that, Sobna having been deposed, Eliacim received the Pontificate, whose priestly dignity was overthrown by the final captivity. Those who take all things according to anagogy wish that in the Pontificate of Sobna the priesthood of the Jews should fall, and that in the succession of Eliacim, who is interpreted "God rising again," the sacraments of the Evangelical worship should be shown; so that what follows: In that day, says the Lord of hosts, the peg that had been fastened in the sure place shall be removed, and shall be broken and shall fall, pertains to the ruin of the former people. No one, however, doubts, whether according to history or according to allegory, that since he had spoken of a peg, the metaphor is kept up in the hanging of vessels of various kinds, and that when the former ones are broken, others are hung up.

(Verse 1.) The burden of Tyre. Howl, you ships of the sea, for the house is laid waste from whence they were wont to come; from the land of Cethim it is revealed to them. Be silent, you that dwell in the isle, the merchandise of Sidon. More manifestly and more fully does the prophet Ezechiel set forth both the overthrow of Tyre and the causes of that overthrow, saying: Son of man, because Tyre has said of Jerusalem: Aha, the gates of the peoples are broken, she is turned to me, I shall be filled, she is laid waste. Therefore thus says the Lord God: Behold, I am against you, O Tyre, and I will cause many nations to come up against you, as the sea comes up with its waves, and I will destroy the walls of Tyre, and I will throw down her towers, and I will scrape her dust from her.

But who these many nations are, which shall overwhelm Tyre as the sea with its waves, he teaches by name in what follows: Behold, I will bring against Tyre Nabuchodonosor king of Babylon from the north, a king of kings, with horses, and chariots, and horsemen, and a company and a great people. Your daughters that are in the field he shall slay with the sword, and he shall encompass you with forts, and shall cast up a mound around you, and shall lift up the shield against you, and shall set battering engines and rams against your walls, and shall destroy your towers with his weapons, and the rest that follows even to the end of the vision. For also in the other prophecy that is seen against the Egyptians, the same Scripture weaves the same thread: Son of man, Nabuchodonosor king of Babylon has made his army serve a great servitude against Tyre: every head made bald, and every shoulder made bare, and yet no wages were given him, nor to his army, for Tyre.

By which he signifies that for a long time a mound was cast up by the army of Babylon, so that what Alexander did afterward, joining the island to the mainland, he had before attempted to do. How then, as we have read above of God's threats against Babylon and the Philistines, and Moab, and Egypt, and the Idumeans and the Ishmaelites, that they insulted the captivity of his people, so also now against Tyre, the enemy and mocker of the overthrow of Jerusalem, a prophecy is woven, that she too shall be destroyed by the same enemy. We have read the histories of the Greeks, and especially of those who describe the wars of the Assyrian nation; and there we find that after the captivity of Jerusalem, the Palestinians, and the Arabs, and the Damascenes, and afterward the Egyptians, were overthrown.

But that these nations always, and especially Tyre, fought against Israel, and rejoiced in her overthrow, the prophet Amos explains at the beginning of his book, and the Psalmist declares it briefly, singing praises to God: O God, who shall be like unto you? Do not keep silence, nor be restrained, O God. For behold, your enemies have made a noise, and they that hate you have lifted up the head. They have taken a malicious counsel against your people, and have consulted against your saints. They have said, Come, and let us destroy them from being a nation, and let the name of Israel be remembered no more. For they have consulted with one consent, together they have made a covenant against you: the tabernacles of the Idumeans, and the Ishmaelites, Moab, and the Agarenes, Gebal, and Ammon, and Amalec, the foreigners with the inhabitants of Tyre.

From all these things we learn that the weight of God's wrath came upon Tyre the harlot, who is here described under the figure of a whore, and in Ezechiel under the metaphor of a ship. Howl, he says, you ships of the sea. Instead of which in the LXX we read "of Carthage"; and in the Hebrew it is THARSIS (תרשיש), concerning which I have also discussed in the prophet Jonah, and in a certain letter. We may, however, since Carthage is a colony of the Tyrians, take Tharsis in the present passage not for the sea in general, but for Carthage; for ships in no wise come to Tyre from Africa, nor from the land of Cethim, which some interpret as Cyprus (for there is to this day among them a city called Citium, from which also Zeno the founder of the Stoic sect came); although most of our writers, and especially the beginning of Machabees, think Cethim to be the islands of Italy and Macedonia.

For Scripture records this, that Alexander king of the Macedonians went forth from the land of Cethim. And he does not err in calling it an island; for afterward it was made part of the mainland, either by Nabuchodonosor or by Alexander, by reason of the siege, mounds having been cast up over a narrow strait in a short time. He calls it also the merchandise of Sidon, according to the following verse, in which he says: Blush, O Sidon. For histories relate that Tyre is a colony of Sidon.

Verse 3. They that pass over the sea have replenished you; in many waters is the seed of the Nile, the harvest of the river was her revenue. That Tyre rejoices in trade, and is the emporium of the whole world, both present times prove, and Ezechiel describes at length. But that merchants cross the seas in bringing merchandise, no one doubts; nor does the city itself have such great wealth from the land of its own region, which is very narrow, and is pressed by the borders of Galilee and Damascus, as it has from the transport of ships. All the Nile, and the fertility of Egypt, pours into Tyre from a neighboring source. Instead of "Nile," which we read among the Hebrews as SIOR (שיחור), the LXX and Theodotion have translated "merchants"; which word signifies "turbid," and thereby the waters of the Nile, as Jeremiah attests: What have you to do with Egypt, that you should drink the waters of Geon? For which in the Hebrew it is "Sior," that is, "turbid."

Verse 4. Blush, O Sidon: for the sea says, the strength of the sea, saying: I have not travailed, nor brought forth, nor nourished young men, nor brought up virgins.

I said above that Tyre is a colony of the Sidonians. Hear then, O mother, all the seas together crying out against your daughter, and after a fashion uttering a voice, which by nature they cannot speak: in vain have I gathered riches; without cause have I brought wealth from the whole world into Tyre; she was rich, she was luxurious, and once rejoicing in the multitude of her peoples, in whom a throng of mortals was born, a company of boys, swarms of youth, whose streets rang with the games of virgins, and infants, and young men, and girls: now she is reduced to a solitude. It is a customary thing that personifications, προσωποποιΐαι, are made out of mute things.

Verse 5. When it shall be heard in Egypt, they shall be sorry when they shall hear of Tyre. This is plain, that the Egyptians, after they hear that a most powerful and neighboring nation has been destroyed by a long siege, will know that their own ruin also draws near.

Verse 6. Pass over the seas, howl, you that dwell in the island. Again, instead of "sea" and "Tharsis" the LXX have translated "Carthage." We read in the histories of the Assyrians that the besieged Tyrians, after they saw no hope of escape, embarked upon ships and fled to Carthage, or to other islands of the Ionian and Aegean sea. Whence also in Ezechiel it is said: No wages were given him, nor to his army, for Tyre; because all the riches of the city had been carried away, and all the nobles had left it empty.

Verse 7. Is not this your city, which gloried in her antiquity from the days of old? He rebukes the pride of Tyre, in that she gloried in the antiquity of her origin, and did not look to God, but recalling the names of her fathers, thought herself eternal. Her own feet shall carry her far off to sojourn. He means those who had remained in the city, and were led captive into Babylon.

Verse 8. Who has devised this against Tyre, once crowned? Read again Ezekiel, and from the lamentation of her prince you will learn how great was the glory of Tyre. He calls her crowned, because just as a king lifts up his head adorned with a diadem amid a great multitude of men, so Tyre, shining and lofty in wealth, resplendent with gold and gems and silk and purple, was esteemed a queen among all nations. Whose merchants were princes, whose traders were the nobles of the earth. We marvel that the ambassador of Pyrrhus once said of the city of Rome, "I have seen a city of kings." Behold, long before those times, the merchants and traders of Tyre are described as princes and nobles: so that by this the greatness of her opulence might be shown, since a merchant of Tyre could, in the words of another, be a king.

Verse 9. The Lord of hosts has devised this, to bring down the pride of all glory, and to bring to disgrace all the nobles of the earth. Because above he had said, in the manner of one asking a question: Who has devised this against Tyre, once crowned? Now he himself answers: it is not that the threads of fate were spun, as fools suppose, nor that fortune's wheel has turned, but it has been accomplished by the judgment and will of God, who resists the proud and gives grace to the humble: and he admonishes the arrogant of their condition, that they may learn his power through misery, since they had refused to perceive his clemency through his benefits.

Verse 10. Pass through your land as a river, daughter of the sea: there is no girdle for you any more. Just as, he says, a river—or as it is more significantly expressed in the Hebrew, a rivulet, for this is called IOR (יאר)—is easily crossed on foot: so also you, led into captivity, will pass through your land, O daughter of the sea, either because you are an island, or because it was written above of you: The sea has said, the strength of the sea, I have not travailed, nor have I brought forth. And as to what follows, "there is no girdle for you any more," what sense this bears Symmachus teaches more plainly: you will not be able to resist any longer, that is, you will not have strength, nor loins girded for battle, so that you might be able to stand against your adversaries.

Verse 11. He has stretched out his hand over the sea, he has troubled the kingdoms. Who stretched out his hand? There is no doubt, from the very tenor of the discourse, that it is God, of whom he said above: The Lord of hosts has devised this, to bring down the pride of all glory. He stretched out therefore his hand over all the seas, signifying the world and the age, and troubled all the nations, among whom you too, Tyre, were troubled, or over the sea, upon which you are properly situated.

Verse 12. The Lord has commanded against Canaan, to destroy her strong ones. He shows what sea it is over which the Lord has stretched out his hand, saying: He has commanded against Canaan. For Tyre was founded in the land of Canaan. Read the Scriptures, and especially the Gospel, where the Syrophoenician woman, pleading for her daughter, is said to come out from the region of Canaan, and is called the Canaanite woman. And likewise, because he had said, "He has stretched out his hand," lest you should believe the Lord to act with bodily members and corporeal function, he added, "he has commanded," so that what God did might be understood as what he ordered.

Verse 13. And he said: You shall no longer boast, being oppressed by calumny, O virgin daughter of Sidon, arising to cross over to Kittim: even there you shall have no rest. God, who devised to bring down the pride of all glory, who commanded against Canaan to destroy her strong ones, himself says: You shall by no means boast any more, nor trust in your own power. O virgin daughter of Sidon, that is, colony of the Sidonians, you will indeed flee by ships to the islands of the West, or to Cyprus, and the other lands of Macedonia and Greece, but even there, with God opposing you, you will not be able to find rest. Otherwise, every wanderer and stranger in the world, of uncertain abode, is always in distress, continually in sorrow.

Verse 13. Behold the land of the Chaldeans, such a people did not exist before: Assyria founded it for captivity, they led away her strong ones, they dug down her houses, they laid her in ruin. Howl, you ships of the sea, for your strength has been devastated. Because he had said above: "Her own feet shall lead her far away to wander," and again, "Pass through your land as a river," and there was a twofold people of Tyre, those who had fled and crossed over to Kittim, and those who had remained in the city, he speaks to both. Of those who had fled, he said above: "Arising, cross over to Kittim; there too you shall have no rest." Of those who remained, and were led into captivity, he says: Behold, the inhabitants of the land of the Chaldeans, whose power no peoples had before possessed, and which was founded by the Assyrian, have led away the strong ones of Tyre.

They have dug down not only the walls, but even the deeply-founded dwellings of the city, and have laid her in ruin. Since therefore some fled, others were captured, howl, you ships, whether of the sea or of Carthage; for your trade and your colony have been destroyed. And note at the same time how he has praised the Chaldeans. He did not say, "such a people shall never be again": for the kingdom of the Romans is indeed more powerful and harsher; but he said, "such a people did not exist before." He who denied what came before granted what would follow.

Verse 15. And it shall be in that day, you shall be forgotten, O Tyre, seventy years, as the days of one king. From this place to the end of this prophecy, prosperous things are announced to Tyre: that she ought to do penance, that she is to be rebuilt again, that her overthrow shall last only seventy years—during which the temple of God also lay desolate—so that she who mocked the ruins of others might also imitate the time of their ruins. Many suppose that the seventy years of one king refer to Nebuchadnezzar, during which the kingdom of the Assyrian nation remained over Jerusalem. Others hold it to be a general statement, that whoever has a long time of reigning cannot pass seventy years.

Verse 16. But after seventy years it shall happen to Tyre as in the song of a harlot. Take a harp, go about the city, you forgotten harlot, sing well, repeat the song often, that you may be remembered. Since you have fornicated with many nations, and your former lovers have despised you, desolate and naked and foul with the squalor of captivity, take up now the harp, redouble your songs, go about the city, mourn your former brothel, and wash away the traces of your ancient wandering with tears, that you may be able to provoke God's mercy toward you.

Verse 17. And it shall come to pass, after seventy years the Lord will visit Tyre, and will bring her back to her merchandise, and again she will fornicate with all the kingdoms of the earth upon the face of the earth. All these things are judged, according to history, to have been fulfilled, as attested by consonant Greek and Phoenician writings, that after seventy years she was restored, returned to her former power, and became the trading-place of all nations, which I think are called "fornications," so that just as one who fornicates enters a brothel and pays the price of the whoredom, so too the trader, hastening from the whole world, filled the beauty of the city as though it were a harlot's. Verse 18. And her trade and her merchandise shall be consecrated to the Lord: they shall not be stored up nor laid by. For those who dwell before the Lord, it shall be her trade, that they may eat to satiety, and be clothed until old age.

These things, according to history, we have not found to have yet occurred, unless perhaps it is to be supposed that after the building of Jerusalem, and the restoration of Tyre, the cities were friendly to one another, and that Tyre frequently sent gifts to the temple of God: just as we read in Ezra (Ezra iii, 16), that he drove away on the sabbath the men of Tyre who were selling fish, and did not allow them to enter the city; and from one instance of trade, judgment may also be made concerning the rest. The Jews defer empty vows to the future, recounting that these things are to be fulfilled after Antichrist, in a thousand years. Nor is it any wonder that they contrive such things, they who, having spurned the truth of Christ, will receive the instrument of the devil, Antichrist—since even Judaizing Christians contend that these things were spoken of the thousand years' beatitude.

But I, just as in the vision of Babylon I understand, under the figure of her overthrow, the time of consummation, and in Egypt, with the idols destroyed, I refer the altar of the Lord set up there to the time of Christ, and in the vision of Moab I recognize the throne of the Savior set up in her land, and in the vision of Damascus and all the other visions I do not doubt that the mysteries belong to our own times: so too in the vision of Tyre, which is the last, I interpret the time of Christian felicity—that after she was built, and received her former condition, and every merchant entered her port according to ancient custom, their merchandise and their labor are dedicated to the Lord. Let us behold the churches of Christ built in Tyre, let us consider that the wealth of all is not stored up nor treasured, but given to those who dwell before the Lord, who, serving the altar, share with the altar.

But the Tyrians minister not for riches, nor to heap up the wealth of priests, but to supply the necessities of life: so that, according to the Apostle, having food and clothing, we might be content with these. And note that he did not say that the trade and merchandise of Tyre, consecrated to the Lord, are to be given to those who dwell in Jerusalem, as the Jews suppose; but to those who are before the Lord, who serve him. For thus also the Lord ordained, that those who preach the Gospel should live by the Gospel. But to serve the Lord, and to dwell before him, is a matter not of place, but of merit. Thus far the visions of Isaiah, or the burdens which he laid upon certain nations, as you bade, and as we were able, we have discussed by way of historical interpretation, following only the traces of the Hebrew truth. What follows pertains to all the nations, and generally to the consummation of the whole world.

Concerning these you did not ask me to write, nor was it idle on my part to dictate, beyond what was asked, things not sought—I who have scarcely written even what was sought.

That which I promised in the preceding volume, that upon the foundations of history, if Christ should be favorable to our will, I would build a spiritual edifice, and, the roof of the completed church being set upon it, would show forth its ornaments, this in the following two books, O virgin of Christ, Eustochium, I shall try to accomplish, by your prayers and the Lord's mercy, so that with the same labor with which the fifth book comprised the history, the sixth and seventh may run through the anagogical sense: not discussing everything, lest the volumes be multiplied, but briefly indicating what churchly men before us have thought.

(Verse 1.) The burden, or vision, against Babylon which Isaiah the son of Amos saw. He saw, not with the eyes of the flesh, but of the mind, how great and heavy a weight was to be laid upon Babylon.

And because Babylon, which in Hebrew is called BABEL (בבל), is interpreted "confusion"—for there the speech of those building the tower was confounded—spiritually this world is understood, which lies in the power of the evil one, and confounds not only the tongues, but the works and minds of individuals. The king of this Babylon is the true Nebuchadnezzar, exalting himself proudly against the Lord, who says in his heart: I will ascend into heaven, I will set my throne above the stars of heaven: I will sit upon the mount of the covenant, on the sides of the north, I will ascend above the height of the clouds, I will be like the Most High. This is he who showed the Lord all the kingdoms of the world, and said to him: All these have been delivered to me, and I will give them to you, if falling down you will worship me. Finally, in what follows the threat is by no means against Babylon, but against the whole world.

The Lord of hosts commands a most warlike nation to come from a far land, from the end of heaven, to destroy the whole earth. And again: Behold, the day comes of incurable fury and wrath, to make the earth desolate, and to destroy sinners out of it. And then: I will command upon the whole world all evils, and upon the wicked their sins. From these it is proved that all things said against Babylon pertain to the confusion and destruction of this world. (Verse 2.) Upon the dark, or level, mountain lift up a standard. It is commanded to the Apostles and to apostolic men and teachers of the Churches, that, about to fight against Babylon, they should raise the standard of the Lord's cross, not in a lowly place, and in sunken valleys, but on a dark, or level, mountain. Of these, the one signifies the hidden mysteries of the Church, which, that Moses might see them, and hear the voice of God, he entered into darkness and gloom.

For God made darkness his hiding place: and clouds and darkness are round about him. The other teaches that we ought so to ascend to the heights of ecclesiastical doctrines, that, according to the Apostle Paul, we be humbled and say: I who am not worthy to be called an Apostle, because I persecuted the Church of God. He too raised a standard on the level mountain, when, with humility instilled in himself, he said: But I judged that I knew nothing among you, save Jesus Christ, and him crucified. This standard also he himself will raise up, in what has gone before, who sprang up from the root of Jesse among the nations, to gather together the lost of Israel. Lift up the voice, raise the hand. For which the LXX translated: Comfort with the hand. He lifts up the voice who speaks of lofty things, and despises present things as brief and transitory.

He who hears from the same Isaiah: Get you up upon a high mountain, you who bring good tidings to Zion; lift up your voice with strength, you who bring good tidings to Jerusalem, lifts up his hand, who can say with David: The lifting up of my hands as an evening sacrifice; and who in every place lifts up holy hands, so that he not only lifts up hands, but also comforts by the hand: lest he say to the poor man, come tomorrow, and receive; but that he comfort his poverty and need with present mercy. And let the leaders enter through the gates. LXX: Open, princes. The leaders of the Church enter through the gates of the mysteries of God, and know the sacraments of the Scriptures, having the key of knowledge, that they may open them to the peoples entrusted to them. Whence it is commanded that the teachers open, and the disciples enter. (Verse 3.) I have commanded my sanctified ones. For which the LXX: I will command, and I will bring them.

For he himself sanctifies his ministers, so that both he who sanctifies and those who are sanctified may all be of one. He who also elsewhere speaks to believers: Be holy, because I also am holy, he himself commands, and will bring his princes, that they may do the things commanded. And I have called my mighty ones in my wrath: those who exult in my glory. LXX: Giants come to fulfil my fury, rejoicing together, and doing insult. According to the Hebrew, these words cling to what has gone before, that he himself called his mighty ones, exulting in his glory, who had commanded his sanctified ones. But according to the LXX, giants coming to fulfil the Lord's fury, rejoicing in another's injury and being glad, are to be taken as sinister and adverse powers, of whom we also read in the psalms: He sent upon them the fury of his wrath, fury and wrath and tribulation, a sending forth by evil angels.

Of these is also the destroyer in Egypt, who does not dare to enter the doorposts of the lamb smeared with blood, and that spirit who went forth and stood before the Lord, and said: I will deceive Ahab. And the Lord said to him: You shall deceive him and prevail; go forth and do so. Whence in the same book of Kings Micaiah said: I saw the Lord of Israel sitting upon his throne, and all the host of heaven stood about him on the right hand and on the left. The powers on the right are those of the angels who are sent to good ends; those on the left, however, are those to whom we are handed over for punishment. Whence also the Apostle says: Whom I have delivered, he says, to Satan, that they may learn not to blaspheme.

But the name of giants, for which in the Hebrew GEBORIM (גבורים), that is, of the mighty, is put, the LXX and Theodotion have rendered in the likeness of the fables of the gentiles, just as they also name Sirens, and Titans, and Arcturus, the Hyades, and Orion, which among the Hebrews are called by other names. But if the giants are rebels of God, and all heresies rebel against God contrary to the truth, then all heretics are giants, who rejoice in their error, and glory most of all when they have done insult to the Church. (Verse 5.) The voice of a multitude on the mountains, as of many peoples, the sound of the voice of kings of nations gathered together. This passage is taken in three ways.

First, that, the standard having been raised on the level mountain, a multitude of nations may come, and it itself, set upon the mountains, is divided into two—namely, into peoples and into kings, into disciples and teachers, of whom the Savior spoke in the Gospel: Many shall come from the East and from the West, and shall sit down with Abraham and Isaac and Jacob in the kingdom of heaven. And for this reason it is said to be one voice, and harmonious, that the Apostle's saying may be proved: That you all say the same thing, and that there be no schisms among you, but that you be perfect in the same mind and in the same judgment. Secondly, the pride of the heretics is described, who, believing themselves to be on the mountains, are lifted up against the knowledge of God, and speak iniquity on high, and set their mouth against heaven, who themselves also have peoples, have kings, who devour the deceived people.

The third interpretation is: since above he had said, the giants come, to fulfil my fury, rejoicing together, and doing insult, he describes the arrogance of the giants themselves, and their consent, on the evil side, to punish those who had been delivered to them. The Lord of hosts has commanded the host of war, coming from a land far off, from the end of heaven: the Lord, and the vessels of his fury, to destroy the whole earth. LXX: The Lord Sabaoth has commanded a most warlike nation, that it come from a far land, from the highest foundation of heaven, the Lord, and his warriors, to destroy the whole world. "Foundation" is to be marked with an obelus. In the book of Kings, and of Chronicles, we read (Chron. Xxi) that the wrath of God was kindled against Israel when David numbered the people, and offended the Lord.

In the Psalms too it is written: O Lord, rebuke me not in your fury, nor chasten me in your wrath, and other things like these, concerning which I read in the Commentaries of a certain man (he means Basil), that the wrath of God can be understood as the contrary power to which we are handed over for punishment, of which also in the eighth psalm it is sung: That you might destroy the enemy and the avenger. Those may be called warriors who come from a land far off and from the height of heaven—even the ministering angels, who are to be sent at the consummation of the world, to make bundles of the tares, and to prepare those separated from the wheat for the everlasting fire. All the earth also is destroyed, when earthly works are overthrown.

There are also other warriors of the Lord, instructed with the armor of the Apostle, who daily in the Church, which is understood as οἰκουμένη, that is, the world, and the inhabited earth, destroy and slay those who lift themselves up against the knowledge of God. (Verses 6, 7.) Howl, for the day of the Lord is near, as devastation shall come from the Lord. Therefore all hands shall be loosed, and every man's heart shall melt, and shall be crushed. Since the Lord's warriors are about to come, to destroy the whole earth, howl, and do penance, you upon whom punishment is about to come. For the day of the Lord is near—either the consummation of the whole world and the judgment, or the departure of each one from life. For plunder comes from the Lord, which we have called devastation, that we might keep the metaphor, since he had beforehand mentioned warriors.

When the day of judgment, or of falling asleep, shall come, all hands shall be loosed, to whom it is said elsewhere: Be strengthened, you feeble hands. But hands shall be loosed; because no work worthy of God's justice shall be found: And in your sight shall no man living be justified. Whence the Prophet says in the psalms: If you mark iniquities, O Lord, who shall stand it? Every heart also, or the soul of man, shall melt; and the conscience shall tremble at its own sin. This is the fearful and terrible day, of which Zephaniah also speaks: Fear before the face of the Lord: for the day of the Lord is near. And again: The great day of the Lord is near: near, and exceedingly swift. And Amos says: Woe to those who desire the day of the Lord: why do you want the day of the Lord, which is darkness, and not light?

And what is added according to the LXX: the ambassadors shall be troubled, and sorrows shall take hold of them: we can interpret those ambassadors as those whom the citizens sent against him who had gone into a far country to obtain for himself a kingdom. Whence he himself speaks in the Gospel: But bring here those enemies of mine, who would not have me reign over them, and slay them before me. (Verse 8.) Twistings and pains shall hold them: they shall be in pain as a woman that travaileth: every one shall be amazed at his neighbour: their faces shall be as flames. When the warriors of the Lord shall come from a far country, and all hands shall be loosed, and every heart shall be fearful and broken; then the strophomata, which we have interpreted as twistings of the belly, and pains shall hold them, like the pains of women in travail.

By which it is shown that they are tormented by their own conscience, and have faces burned by that fire which they had kindled for themselves: because they cannot say: The light of thy countenance, O Lord, is signed upon us; and: But we all, with open face beholding the glory of the Lord, are transformed into the same image. Every one shall be amazed at his neighbour, seeing him to be in the same torments in which he himself is tormented. (Verse 9.) Behold, the day of the Lord shall come, cruel, and full of indignation, and of wrath and fury, to lay the land desolate, and to destroy the sinners thereof out of it. For "land" the Seventy have translated τὴν οἰκουμένην, that is, the world; for "cruel," "incurable." For when the day either of judgment or of death shall come, that shall be fulfilled which is read in the sixth psalm: For in hell who shall confess to thee? For that is not a time of repentance, but of punishments.

And in another place it is said: Oh how great is the multitude of thy sweetness, O Lord, which thou hast hidden for them that fear thee! Therefore much of God's mercy is hidden from those who are still placed in fear, and do not have the perfect charity of God, so that while they hear that the day of the Lord is cruel, and incurable, and full of indignation and fury, they may cease to sin. The world or the land shall also be made desolate, and the sinners shall be destroyed out of it, which before was weighed down by the burden of sins, so that, sins being blotted out and destroyed, justice alone may dwell and reign in the land. (Verse 10.) For the stars of heaven, and the brightness thereof shall not display their light: the sun shall be darkened in its rising, and the moon shall not shine with her light.

The Seventy: For the stars of heaven and Orion, and all the ornament of heaven shall not give their light: and they shall be darkened when the sun rises, and the moon shall not give her light. As to what we have translated "their brightness," there is no doubt that Aquila and Theodotion put down the very Hebrew word CHISILEEM (כסילהם); for which the Seventy translated "Orion," adding of their own, "and all the ornament of heaven," which is to be marked with an obelus. Now the fables of the Gentiles say that Orion has twenty-two stars, of which four are of the third magnitude, nine of the fourth, and again another nine of the fifth, and by others they are called Bootes. We also read in Job of the Hyades, and Vesper, and Arcturus, and the treasures, or inner chambers of the South, of which we must speak in its own place.

Nor should we suppose that among the Hebrews these stars are called by these names which the Greek and Latin tongues render; but they have their own proper names. For just as God called the light Day; and the firmament Heaven; and the dry land Earth; and the gatherings of waters Seas; so also he called each of the stars by its own names, the property of which our tongue does not express. It is written of God in another place: Who numbereth the multitude of the stars, and calleth them all by their names. When, therefore, the day of the Lord shall come to lay the world waste, and to remove the sinners utterly out of it; then, in comparison with the divine majesty, the stars of heaven and all their brightness shall withdraw their light. Nor is it strange that this is said of the lesser stars, since even the sun shall be darkened in its rising, and the moon shall not have her accustomed brightness.

But that which the Seventy have translated, that the stars and Orion, and all the ornament of heaven, are darkened when the sun rises, has nothing of a sign or a miracle in it; for this happens at every time, that when the sun has risen, the stars which are in the sky do not appear. Nor is it strange that this was said of the sun, since even when the moon is full and shining the whole night, many of the stars do not shine. But that there are stars in the sky even by day is proved by the eclipse of the sun, which, when it is darkened by the shadow of the earth, as philosophers dispute, and by the interposition of the orb of the moon, the brighter stars are seen in the sky. (Verse 11.) And I will visit evils upon the world, and against the wicked their iniquities. When God visits and strikes, he strikes in order that he may amend.

Finally, when he is vehemently angry at those who do not do penance: I will not visit, he says, upon your daughters when they shall have played the harlot: and upon your daughters-in-law when they shall have committed adultery. On the contrary, of those who shall believe in Christ, it is said: I will visit their iniquities with a rod, and their sins with stripes: but my mercy I will not take away from them.

And I will make the pride of the unfaithful to cease: and I will bring low the arrogance of the mighty. The Seventy: And I will destroy the injury of the wicked, and I will humble the injury of the proud. The Hebrew word GAON, which plainly sounds as arrogance and pride, Theodotion and the Seventy have always translated "injury," expressing the sense rather than the word: because every proud man is ready for injury. Therefore for this reason the Lord visits evils upon the world, and against the wicked their iniquities, that he may crush the arrogance of the proud, and humble the pride of the mighty. For God resisteth the proud, but giveth grace to the humble. And we read in Proverbs: Before destruction the heart of man is exalted, and before glory it is humbled. Ruin always follows pride, and glory follows humility: For he who exalteth himself shall be humbled: and he who humbleth himself shall be exalted.

We read in another place: I will destroy the wisdom of the wise, and the understanding of the prudent I will reject. Not that true wisdom and true prudence are destroyed by the Lord, but the knowledge falsely so called: those who treasure up for themselves a lying tongue, and fail in their searching search, and find nothing, speaking iniquity on high, and setting their mouth against heaven. Whence properly the pride of heretics is called an injury of the truth. (Verse 12.) Man shall be more precious than gold: and a man more than the purest wedge of gold. The Seventy: And those who shall be left shall be more honored than refined gold: and a man shall be more honorable than the stone of Sophir.

At the consummation of the world, when the world shall have been reduced to a wilderness, and the sun darkened in its rising, and the moon shall not have given her brightness, such signs and portents will be wrought by Antichrist that, iniquity abounding, the charity of many shall wax cold, so as to deceive, if possible, even the elect of God. Then man shall be more precious than gold, which in Hebrew is called PHAZ, and Aquila has translated it πυῤῥὸν, which is of the best and most blood-red color; and a man more than the purest wedge of gold, which in Hebrew is called OPHIR, and Aquila translated it ἀπὸ λῶμα ὀφείρ, which the Seventy, meaning I know not what, have translated "the stone of Sophir." Now there is a place in India where the best gold is born; just as we read in Genesis of the river Phison: This is that which compasseth all the land of Evila, where there is gold; and the gold of that land is good; there also is carbuncle and green stone.

And it is understood to be "more precious" because it is rarer. For everything that is rare is precious, just as we also read in the book of Samuel: And the word of the Lord was precious in Israel. (Verse 13.) For this I will make the heaven to tremble, and the earth shall be moved out of her place. The Seventy: For the heaven shall rage, and the earth shall be moved from her foundations. When man shall be more precious than gold, and a man more than the purest wedge, and that which is written shall be fulfilled: But yet the Son of man, when he cometh, shall he find, think you, faith on earth? Then both the heavens and the earth shall be moved. For heaven and earth shall pass away, not by their own will and their own choice, as many suppose, believing them to be living beings; but because of the indignation of the Lord of hosts, and because of the day of his fierce anger, who looketh upon the earth and maketh it tremble.

Whence this which is said in the Seventy, "For the heaven shall rage," is to be taken metonymically for those who dwell in heaven, as if we should say, "the whole city cried out," and "the whole city went forth to meet the judge." As for the foundations of the earth, we also read in Proverbs: God founded the earth by wisdom. And the Lord speaks to Job: Where wast thou when I laid the foundations of the earth? Not that the earth has deep foundations laid as a mass, but the will and power of God, by which all things are held together, are to be called its foundations. For he himself founded it upon the seas, and established it upon the rivers, and he himself hung it upon nothing. (Verses 14-16.) And it shall be as a doe fleeing away, and as a flock of sheep, and there shall be none to gather them together: every man shall turn to his own people, and every one shall flee to his own land.

Every one that shall be found shall be slain: and every one that is taken shall fall by the sword. Their infants shall be dashed in pieces before their eyes: their houses shall be pillaged, and their wives shall be ravished. Heaven and earth being shaken, the devil, the twisting serpent, shall flee, or every doctrine contrary to the truth, which is divided into teachers and disciples, of whom the former, because of their ὀξυδέρκειαν (keenness of sight), are called in Greek Dorcades, that is, roes, followed as if by brute animals; and wandering here and there they have none to direct them: for they have lost him of whom it is written: the steps of a man are directed by the Lord: who, freed from their most wicked teachers, shall turn to their own people, and each shall flee to his own land, from which they arose: but he who shall be found shall be slain, or slaughtered.

Now this happens not only at the consummation of the world, but even today it happens in the Church: when the teachers are overcome, the deceived flock returns to its people and to its own land; and in that which it finds, it is slain, that it may cease to be heretical, and whoever comes upon it shall fall by the spiritual sword. Then their infants and little ones, who have not yet come to the full age of error, they shall dash before the eyes of their teachers, and shall pillage their houses, and shall violate their wives, that is, their depraved wisdom and perverse doctrine. Whence for such fathers, whose little ones are to be killed, we ought to pray and say: Give them, O Lord. What wilt thou give them? A barren womb, and dry breasts.

For they have conceived iniquity, brought forth sorrow, and given birth to injustice. (Verses 17, 18.) Behold, I will stir up the Medes against them, who shall not seek silver, nor desire gold: but with their arrows they shall kill the children, and shall have no pity on the sucklings of the womb, and their eye shall not spare the sons. We find in Genesis that Madai was the founder of the nation of the Medes, whose name is interpreted "measure," or "from the mighty," or "the strong one." Therefore against the Babylonians, who are confused in mind, are raised up by the mighty and strong God ministers to punish their strength: that they may render to each one according to his works. For in what measure they have measured, it shall be measured to them again. A measure shaken together, and pressed down, and running over, shall they restore into their bosoms.

They shall receive neither silver nor gold, that is, neither beauty of speech, nor sharpness of wit, in which they had before applauded themselves: but they shall visit those handed over with punishments; and they shall have no pity on the little ones and sucklings of the womb, that they may show the greater mercy.

And would that we too might be raised up by the Lord, and that this power might be given to us, that we might desire neither silver nor gold of eloquence and worldly wisdom: but that we might slay with spiritual arrows, that is, with the testimonies of the Scriptures, the sons of heretics, and of all who have been deceived: and that those who are nourished with the milk of error might be slaughtered without any mercy, that they might perish by a merciful cruelty, and that we might have pity on no infancy of theirs, and might be worthy of that beatitude: Blessed is he who shall take and dash his little ones against the rock! (Verses 18 and following.) And that Babylon, glorious among kingdoms, renowned in the pride of the Chaldeans, shall be, as God overthrew Sodom and Gomorrah.

It shall not be inhabited for ever, nor shall it be founded unto generation and generation: neither shall the Arabian pitch his tents there, nor shall the shepherds rest there: but wild beasts shall rest there, and their houses shall be filled with serpents; and ostriches shall dwell there, and the hairy ones shall dance there; and owls shall answer there in her houses, and sirens in the temples of pleasure.

(Verse 1.) The time thereof is near to come, and its days shall not be prolonged. The Seventy: And Babylon, which is called renowned and glorious of the king of the Chaldeans, shall be as God overthrew Sodom and Gomorrah; it shall not be inhabited for ever; nor shall it be entered for many generations: neither shall the Arabians pass through it; neither shall the shepherds rest in it, but wild beasts shall rest there, and the houses shall be filled with noise, and sirens shall lie there, and demons shall dance there, and onocentaurs shall dwell there, and hedgehogs shall make their lairs in their houses.

It shall come quickly and shall not delay. What follows: "And its days shall not be prolonged," is to be marked with asterisks, because these were added from Theodotion. When the Medes are raised up against the city of confusion, who do not reckon gold or silver among goods; who slay children with arrows, and have no mercy on the infants of the womb, nor does their eye spare sons: the city once renowned, which was in the pride of the Chaldeans—who are interpreted as "demons," as it were—shall be overthrown just as Sodom and Gomorrah were overthrown; so that no trace of its former habitation remains in it: but after there shall have been a new heaven and a new earth, and the figure of this world shall have passed away, the city of confusion shall not be inhabited for ever; and it shall never again receive its former state.

For the Arab, after it has ceased to be in its former glory, shall not pitch his tents there—the Arab being interpreted as "one of the west" and "evening"; so that he should wish to dwell in that which he sees to be deserted. But "Arab" is here taken in a good sense: that he always tends toward the end, and, forgetting the things behind, stretches himself forward to the things before. Nor shall the shepherds rest there, who are wont to feed the Lord's most gentle flock in Jerusalem; but on the contrary, wild beasts shall rest there, which the Psalmist detests, saying: "Deliver not up to beasts the soul that confesses to thee". For which Aquila, Symmachus, and Theodotion set the Hebrew word itself, siim (ציים). And their houses, that is, of the Babylonians, shall be filled—according to the Seventy and Theodotion, echou, that is, with noise and clamors; according to Aquila, with "typhons," which we have rendered as "dragons"; according to Symmachus, ohim (אחים), which word is contained in the Hebrew.

And ostriches shall dwell there, an animal always seeking solitary places, of which fuller mention is made in Job: though it seems to have wings, yet it is not lifted very high from the ground; for which the Seventy have interpreted "sirens." But the "hairy ones," which are called in Hebrew sirim (שעירים), Theodotion has interpreted as things with hair standing on end and erect. Symmachus and the Seventy translated "demons." For the onocentaurs also, whom only the Seventy interpreted, imitating the fables of the pagans who say there were hippocentaurs, the three remaining translators have set the Hebrew word itself, iim (איים), which we have rendered as "owls." But where the Seventy said "hedgehogs shall make their lairs in their houses," and in the Hebrew is set thannim (תנים), Aquila, Symmachus, and Theodotion have interpreted "sirens"; signifying either that they are certain beasts, or demons, who, according to the error of the pagans, sing sweetly and deceive men, who cannot pass through the shipwreck of this age with closed ears.

Moreover the name "onocentaur," composed of "ass" and "centaur," seems to me to signify those who in part savor something human; and again are drawn away to vices by pleasures and the mire of baseness. It is said, then, according to the tropological sense, that at the end of the world, or of each one's death, all the glory and pride of the Chaldeans, and the confusion of the world, shall depart from us; and thus all things shall be overthrown, just as God overthrew Sodom and Gomorrah; nor shall there be any further state of this world, but it shall perish for ever. Nor shall the Arab pitch his tents there, of whom it is said in the sixty-seventh psalm: "Make a way for him who ascends upon the west, the Lord is his name".

Nor let the shepherds rest there—namely the angels who preside over the human race, and who daily see the face of the Father: but let wild beasts rest there, and dragons, and ostriches, and hairy ones, and owls, and sirens, all of which beasts we understand figuratively as angels, or demons, and those to whom we are handed over for punishment. And in the houses once of pleasure, where there was gladness and joy, let there be the wailing of owls, and the mournful voice of sirens, which leads its hearers to death. That the time of judgment is imminent, and that the day of Babylon's consummation is not prolonged, will not at all seem strange to one who daily sees Babylon overthrown, through holy men, in those who believe in the Lord; and who, comparing it to eternity, sees that any length of time is near at hand. Concerning the kinds of beasts, or rather monsters, we have spoken briefly, because in the former book they were touched upon in part according to the historical sense.

This too must be considered, that after the ecclesiastical discourse and the teaching of the Savior has overthrown the city of confusion, so that it is compared to Sodom and Gomorrah, it is not inhabited by holy men, nor do the shepherds rest in it who were accustomed to feed the flock of Christ; but on the contrary, wild beasts and dragons rest there, and ostriches, and hairy ones dance in it. For whatever the heretics speak in the synagogues of Satan is not the teaching of the Lord, but the howling of demons and hairy ones, whom Esau imitated. And sirens shall rest in the temples of pleasure, which draw souls down into the deep with a sweet and deadly song: so that, as the shipwreck rages, they are devoured by wolves and dogs. Near, therefore, and daily imminent is the time of the ruin of heretics, and their overthrow is not deferred.

For the Lord shall have mercy on Jacob, and shall yet choose of Israel, and shall make them rest upon their own soil: the stranger shall be joined to them, and shall cleave to the house of Jacob. And peoples shall hold them, and shall bring them to their own place: and the house of Israel shall possess them upon the land of the Lord as menservants and maidservants; and they that took them captive shall be taken captive, and they shall subdue their exactors. And it shall come to pass in that day, when God shall have given thee rest from thy labor, and from thy trouble, and from the hard servitude wherein thou didst serve before, that thou shalt take up this proverb against the king of Babylon, and shalt say. For "stranger," that is, proselyte, the Seventy have interpreted georan; which in Hebrew is called ger (גר). Whence I think also Moses' son, who was a stranger in the land, was named by his father Gersham.

Therefore georas is a Hebrew word, declined in the Greek manner: although a certain man, ignorant of the Hebrew tongue, attempts to render a Greek etymology for it, from the fact that he has care of an earthly matter: for γη, he says, means "land," and ωρα means φροντις, that is, "concern." Again, for masal (משל), which Aquila, Symmachus, and Theodotion translated as "proverb" (parable), whom we too have followed, the Seventy interpreted as "lament." The order is as follows: after Babylon shall have been deserted for ever, so that it is a habitation of beasts, the Lord will have mercy on Jacob—that is, on him who supplanted vices—and will choose Israel, him who beholds God with the mind. And note the propriety of the words: Jacob, who is still engaged in the struggle, is the object of mercy; but Israel, who received his name after the victory, is joined not to mercy but to election.

He will also make them rest upon their own land, of which the Savior speaks: "Blessed are the meek, for they shall possess the land", and "I believe to see the good things of the Lord in the land of the living". There shall also be joined to the house of Jacob—those who are chosen through the Apostles—the multitude of the Gentiles; and they shall hold the remnants of the house of Israel, and shall bring them to their own place, that they may dwell in their tabernacles; and the house of Israel shall possess them upon the land of the Lord as menservants and maidservants. For it profits the evil to serve the good. Whence also it is said to Esau: "Thou shalt serve thy brother." And to Jacob: "Thy brother shall serve thee". And they shall take captive those who had before deceived them with sophistries: and they shall reduce to servitude their exactors, who do all things for the sake of gain.

But after Jacob and Israel have rested from their labor, in which they had labored much in fighting against the world and heretics; and from their trouble and servitude, in which they had before served a malignant interpretation and false doctrines: then they shall take up a lament and a proverb against the king of Babylon—that is, the discourse of heretical error and confusion—and shall say what follows. This passage the Jews interpret carnally, which they will not be able to show came to pass after they returned from Babylon. For the Babylonians did not serve those who had first taken them captive; nor, the Babylonians being conquered, did they possess their houses; nor did they have them as menservants and maidservants. It remains, therefore, that according to their fables they suppose this is to happen to the Roman empire: when it is overcome in the last time, the nations that formerly served them shall serve them.

But if, following the letter, they deceive themselves with a false hope, who will grant them that Rome should be called Babylon, and Nebuchadnezzar the king of the Roman empire? (Verses 5, 6.) How has the exactor ceased, the tribute rested? The Lord has broken the staff of the wicked: the rod of them that ruled, that struck the peoples in indignation with an incurable wound, that subdued the nations in fury, that persecuted cruelly. In Peter's Epistle we read: "It is time that judgment should begin at the house of God". And in Ezekiel it is said to the executioners: "Begin at my sanctuary". For according to the diversity of sin, the order of judgment is arranged: so that those who have sinned less are purged first. But "the last enemy that shall be destroyed is death." Therefore, when Israel shall have been freed from hard servitude, it shall take up a parable against the king of Babylon, which we ought to understand as a parable.

For if the discourse is against Nebuchadnezzar, and is a plain historical exposition, how is it called a parable, which is not compared (παραβάλλεται) to anything else? Israel, therefore, marvels how the exactor has ceased, who was accustomed to exact even to the last farthing. Now he was accustomed to exact from none but debtors, who say in the Lord's Prayer: "Forgive us our debts, as we also forgive our debtors". To this exactor debtors are handed over by the judge, who sends them into prison and exacts payment down to the smallest sin. Finally, Paul the apostle also handed over to the exactor the Corinthian who committed fornication, who had taken his father's wife, as well as Phygellus and Hermogenes. And of these exactors it is also said above: "My people, your exactors despoil you; and they that exact of you are your rulers." For "tribute," Aquila has interpreted "famine." For when the bridegroom has been taken from us, we suffer famine of the word of God, and we continually fast from the body of the Lord.

And so the rod and staff of the wicked—for which the Seventy have interpreted "yoke"—strikes us, or oppresses us; because we were unwilling to bear the lightest yoke, the yoke of the Savior. With this staff and this rod he struck the nations with incurable fury, and persecuted the fleeing cruelly: wishing not to correct those handed over, but to destroy them. (Verses 7 and following.) The whole earth is at rest and is quiet: it has rejoiced, and exulted: the fir trees also rejoiced over thee, and the cedars of Lebanon. Since thou hast slept, there shall none come up to cut us down: hell below was troubled to meet thee at thy coming: it stirred up the giants for thee. All the princes of the earth have risen up from their thrones; all the princes of the nations, all shall answer, and say to thee: Art thou also wounded as we, art thou become like unto us?

Thy pride is brought down to hell, thy carcase is fallen; under thee shall the moth be strewn, and worms shall be thy covering. At the destruction of the impious king, who struck the nations with an incurable plague, and persecuted them cruelly, the whole earth was at rest, and was silent, which before was full of tumults and sedition, so much so that the fir trees and the cedars of Lebanon rejoiced, of which it is written in the psalms: Thou hast brought a vine out of Egypt, thou hast cast out the nations, and planted it. The shadow of it covered the mountains, and the boughs thereof the cedars of God. These cedars of God, because they once sinned, the Lord delivered up to be crushed with punishments. Whence it is said in another psalm: The Lord shall break the cedars of Lebanon. But the fir trees are to be understood as all who are lofty and exalted in the service of the Lord, who said with one accord: Since thou hast slept.

Note that even the death of death is called a sleep. There shall none come up to cut us down. For once the strong man was overcome, and his vessels plundered, the rest of his followers also fell. Whence the Lord also says in the Gospel: Go into everlasting fire, which was prepared for the devil and his angels. How many hewers of these logs and trees have these felled with their own axes, and made to fall? Hell also, troubled, or turned into bitterness, at the meeting of the coming of the true Nabuchodonosor, is the place of punishments and torments, in which the rich man clothed in purple is seen: to which the Lord also descended, that he might release the bound from prison. We may say that the hell which comes to meet him is also that angel who is set over the punishments of hell, who stirred up all the giants; for which some have translated Raphaim, others Titans.

But they are called giants, according to the custom of the Gentiles, who consider them earth-born, those whom the earth has begotten. But we, according to the etymology of the Greek word, can call giants those who have served earthly works. Then it follows: All the princes of the earth rose up from their thrones, at the coming of him who was once their prince: so that whom before they honored for his power, afterward they might marvel at in his punishments, and say: And thou art wounded as we, thou art become like unto us. These words have this meaning: We thought that we, by reason of our weakness, could not resist the power of God, and that thou alone wouldst remain in thy loftiness; but as the facts show, thou too art wounded and captured, and made like unto us; so that those whom rank separated on earth, punishment may unite in hell.

Thy pride, or thy glory, is brought down to hell, and thy carcase is fallen, or as the LXX translated, thy great gladness, wherein thou didst formerly rejoice over the nations subject to thee. Under thee shall rottenness be strewn, and worms shall be thy covering. This is the rest of the devil, this is the couch of the tempter, who was so puffed up with pride that he even dared to tempt the Lord, saying: All these things will I give thee, if falling down thou wilt adore me. Rottenness and the moth, and the covering of worms, are understood either as eternal punishments, which one's own conscience begets, or as the material of torments, which is born from one's own sins. For just as, as long as there is matter in a corpse, and some moisture in the corpse, worms are born from the rot; so from the very matter of sins, torments are begotten.

Whence the Apostle Paul also, death having been slain, to which the prophetic word spoke through Osee: I will be thy death, O death; I will be thy bite, O hell (Osee XIII, 14), speaks to it: O death, where is thy contention? O death, where is thy sting? For that being dead, there is none who shall cut us down: for there shall be no sin at all to be cut down, since the sting of death is sin. (Verse 12.) How art thou fallen from heaven, O Lucifer, who didst rise in the morning? Thou art fallen to the earth, that didst wound the nations? The LXX: How is Lucifer fallen from heaven, who rose in the morning? He is broken unto the earth, who sent to all nations. Instead of Lucifer, which in Hebrew is called ELIL (הילל), Aquila translated "the wailing son of the dawn." For truly he ought to wail and lament, who because of his pride was cast down from heaven to earth, and broken.

Whence the Savior also speaks to his disciples: I saw Satan like lightning falling from heaven. Not merely "I see," but "I saw before," when he fell. And if he fell from such greatness because of pride, you also should not glory, because the demons are subject to you: but because your names are written in heaven; so that whence he fell through pride, you may ascend through humility. This is the prince of the world, who among the other stars rose in the morning, and by his own fault was made, from Lucifer, the Evening Star, and no longer a rising but a setting star: who wounded the nations, or who sent his followers to the nations, that he might deceive them all by his fraud. These are the false apostles, deceitful workers, who transform themselves into apostles of Christ, who sow tares over the good seed while the masters of the churches are asleep, and unwilling or unable to resist their malice.

But Jacob, and Israel, on whom he had mercy, and whom the Lord chose, still speaks these things to the devil, or, as the LXX would have it, concerning the devil, that is, not to the second person, but of the third. (Verses 13, 14.) Who saidst in thy heart: I will ascend into heaven, I will exalt my throne above the stars of God: I will sit in the mount of the covenant, in the sides of the north: I will ascend above the height of the clouds, I will be like the Most High. Either before he fell from heaven he said these things, or after he fell from heaven. If he was still placed in heaven, how does he say, I will ascend into heaven? But because we read: The heaven of heaven is the Lord's, when he was in heaven, that is, in the firmament, he desired to ascend into heaven, where the throne of the Lord is, not out of humility, but out of pride.

But if it is after he fell from heaven that he speaks these words, we must understand it as arrogance, that even cast down he does not rest, but still promises himself great things, not to be among the stars, but above the stars of God. And whereas the Lord says to the Apostles: It is enough for the disciple that he be as his master, and the servant as his lord, and says to the Father: Holy Father, grant that as I and thou are one, so also these may be one in us: this one arrogates so much to himself, that he boasts he will set his throne above the stars of heaven, which have not fallen. And what follows: I will sit in the mount of the covenant in the sides of the north; for which the LXX translated, on a lofty mountain, above the high mountains that are toward the north, let us refer to that which is said in Jeremiah: From the north evils shall break forth upon all the inhabitants of the earth.

And that the pot set on fire is kindled from the face of the north. This is the north wind, the hardest, from which the Lord wishes to free his captives, and lead them back into the holy city, saying: I will say to the north, Give up: and to the south, Keep not back: bring my sons from a far country. But that which might seem contrary to this—Mount Sion, the sides of the north, the city of the great King—is easily resolved. For those who were once in the hardest parts of the north, afterward through penance began to be in the city of God. This Lucifer always seeks to ascend above those who bear the image of the heavenly, and who shine in the Church like the stars of God: and to sit in the mount of the covenant or testament, that is, in the Church, which is set on high, and which possesses inhabitants once from the sides of the north.

He has so far forgotten himself, that he wishes to ascend above the clouds, to whom the Lord commanded that they should not rain a shower upon Israel, and to whom the truth of the Lord reached, who also speaks through Abdias: Though thou be exalted as an eagle, and though thou set thy nest among the stars, thence will I bring thee down, saith the Lord (Abdias, IV). Unhappy Judas, who like a cloud was sent forth with the other Apostles, to rain a shower upon Israel, and was like a star among the other stars, to whom the Lord said: Let your light shine before men, through his own fault took up as his rider the devil, who, in order to fulfill the words of pride, even dared to say this: I will be like the Most High, so that as Christ has his Prophets and his Apostles, so also I may have pseudo-apostles.

But all these things must be referred to the heretics, who, though they be below, along with their prince boast themselves to be exalted. (Verse 15.) But yet thou shalt be brought down to hell, into the depth of the pit. The LXX: But now thou shalt go down to hell, and to the foundations of the earth. Thou shalt not descend to hell of thy own will, for this belongs to the Lord Savior, that he might free the bound from hell, but to hell thou shalt be dragged down unwillingly, so that thou, who through virtues could have climbed to the heights, through vices shalt be dragged down to punishments. The saints have the wings of an eagle, and the wings of a dove, and can say: I will fly, and be at rest. But the impious, like the Egyptians, are sunk as lead in the most violent waters, and are sunk in the deep like a stone.

Whence also iniquity, or as it is better read in the Hebrew, impiety, is seen sitting upon a talent of lead. Therefore that which we read elsewhere: Everyone that exalts himself shall be humbled, even the king of confusion suffered, that he should be dragged down into the foundations of the earth, or as it is more truly rendered in the Hebrew, into the depth of the pit. Of the foundations of the earth, in Deuteronomy it is written: A fire is kindled in my fury, it shall burn even to the lowest hell. It shall devour the earth, and its foundations, namely those who are earthly. Concerning the pit also, that by it are signified the depths of hell, these are the testimonies: I am counted with them that go down into the pit. And: They have laid me in the lowest pit. For as the pit receives waters descending into it, so hell receives souls: to which pit Banaias went down in the time of snow and cold, and slew a lion therein.

Whence also heretics forsake the fountain of living water, the Lord, and dig for themselves broken pits which cannot hold water. Concerning these pits, which do not have the warmth of the Holy Spirit; nor are they like the prophet Jeremiah, who according to the Seventy interpreters said: I have found warm water in the desert; but growing cold in charity, they have lost the warmth of the Holy Spirit: that is the pit, of which the same Jeremiah speaks: As the pit keeps its water cool, so malice keeps cool those who possess it. Would that, as in the Apocalypse of John, they were either hot or cold, that is, either believed, or did not believe at all, lest through lukewarmness and pretense of faith they be rejected by the Lord! (Verses 16, 17.) They that shall see thee shall turn toward thee, and look upon thee: Is this the man that troubled the earth? That shook kingdoms? That made the world a wilderness, and destroyed its cities, and to its captives did not open the prison?

Or as the Seventy translated: did not release those that were being led away? Those who shall see Nabuchodonosor the king of Babylon, not with the sight of the eyes, but with that of the heart, fallen from heaven to hell, shall bow down in humility, which is contrary to pride, and shall look upon him saying: Is not this the man, or the fellow, who troubled, or stirred up the earth? And the sense is: He who had said, I will be like the Most High, and boasted himself to be God, is proven to be a man, of whom in the ninth psalm, which is properly against the devil, it is said: Arise, O Lord, let not man be strengthened. And in the Gospel: The enemy, a man, has sown the tares. Whence we read it said to him, and to his companions: I have said, You are gods, and sons of the Most High all. But you shall die as men, and shall fall like one of the princes.

And to the same one, under the figure of the prince of Tyre, it is said: Because your heart is lifted up, and you have said, I am God, I have sat in the seat of God in the heart of the sea; yet you are a man, and not God, and you have set your heart as the heart of God. This man, and this man, troubled the whole earth—namely, those who hear along with Adam: You are earth, and to earth you shall go—and he shook kingdoms or kings, whose heart is in the hand of the Lord. He shook, it says, not overthrew. Whence also one of those who had been shaken, and yet had not fallen, was speaking: But my feet were almost moved. And the Apostle speaks to believers, that they should take up the armor of God, and stand against the wiles of the devil. But the house that is founded upon the rock is shaken by no storm.

There follows: Who made the world a desert, or, as according to the Hebrew, unlike the Septuagint, all the others translated, as it were a desert. For by vices and sins he made the world, which in Hebrew is called THEBEL (תבל), to be a desert, so that it had no virtue, or lay subject to the same vices with which the wilderness of the nations is filled. He also destroyed the cities of that same world, that he might make of the Churches of Christ synagogues of the devil, and pollute the purity of the true faith with heretical filth. But also to its bound ones, that is, of the world, he did not open the prison. We were all bound, and held shut up in prison, to whom, being bound, the Savior said, Come out, and to those who were in darkness, Be revealed. For he loosed the Lord's fettered ones. Who, freed by him, give thanks, saying: You have loosed my bonds.

For each one is bound by the cords of his sins: which cords and bonds the Apostles too can loose, imitating their master who had said to them: Whatsoever you shall loose upon earth, shall be loosed also in heaven. Now the Apostles loose them by the word of God, and the testimonies of the Scriptures, and the exhortation of virtues. (Verses 18, 19.) All the kings of the nations, all of them, have slept in glory, each one in his own house. But you are cast out of your grave like a rotten carcass: polluted, wrapped up with the slain, and pierced with the sword, who go down to the stones of the pit. Septuagint: All the kings of the nations have slept in honor, man in his own house. But you shall be cast forth on the mountains like an abortive thing, abominable, and wrapped up with those slain by the sword who go down to the foundations of the earth.

The kings of the nations, to whom God, according to the Song in Deuteronomy, had entrusted the nations to be governed—who were shaken by Nebuchadnezzar, and yet not overthrown, in whom sin by no means reigns; but because their heart was in the hand of God, they by no means fell. For the Savior, just as he is called God of gods, is likewise called Lord of lords, and King of kings. These, therefore, all the kings, have rested in their glory, each one in his own house. For with the Father there are diverse mansions: and according to the variety of virtues, there are differences of dwellings. But Nebuchadnezzar is cast out of his grave, nor even in death has he rested from torments.

And he is cast out as a rotten carcass, which in Hebrew is called NESER (נצר), which Aquila rendered ἰχῶρα, that is, gore and putrid matter; which Symmachus rendered ἔκτρωμα, that is, an abortive thing; the Septuagint, a dead thing; Theodotion, a shoot: although this same word above, where we read concerning Christ: There shall come forth a rod out of the root of Jesse, and a flower shall rise up out of his root, the Septuagint rendered "flower," Theodotion "shoot," Aquila ἀκρέμονα, that is, a sprout. But properly Neser is called a sprout which grows at the roots of trees, and being torn away by farmers as useless is cast off, whence we too have translated it "useless stock." Therefore Nebuchadnezzar, like a useless stock prepared for burning, or polluted like gore, and wrapped up with those who were slain by him with the sword and went down to the foundations of the pit, shall be dragged down into the depth, and shall not even have fellowship of burial with those whom he killed.

For the author of the crime is subject to one punishment, and he who was driven by the author to another. This is the sword by which many were wounded and slain, of which we read in the seventh psalm: Unless you be converted, he will brandish his sword; he has bent his bow, and made it ready. And in it he has prepared instruments of death: he has made his arrows for them that burn, namely, for those who have received the fiery darts of the devil into their own heart. Furthermore, according to the Septuagint, the corpse of Nebuchadnezzar, polluted and pierced through along with many that were slain, shall lie upon the mountains of pride, and shall be brought down to hell. And the foundations of the pit, instead of "the stones of the pit," Symmachus rendered, so that in other words he might signify the depth and Tartarus of hell. (Verse 20.) Like a rotten carcass you shall have no fellowship, neither with them in burial.

For you have destroyed your land, you have slain your people. Septuagint: As a garment stained with blood shall not be clean, so neither shall you be clean, because you have destroyed my land, and slain my people. Because the Hebrew and the Septuagint edition differ much between themselves, let us discuss each separately. Like a rotten carcass, or as Aquila translated, trodden down, you shall have no fellowship of burial, not even with those whom you killed. For you are the master, they were the disciples: and to whom more is entrusted, more is required of him. For you have destroyed your own land, you have slain your own people, namely, those who were entrusted to you to be governed. Whence he dares to say to the Savior: All these things have been delivered to me, and I will give them to you, if falling down you will adore me.

But that the carcass of the devil is rotten, on account of the greatness of his sins, none can doubt who has read that sin is most foul, the sinner himself saying: My scars have become putrid and corrupted before the face of my folly. On the contrary, virtue is of good odor: whence also the love of spiritual brothers is compared to ointment, which comes down upon the beard, the beard of Aaron, and upon the border of his garment. And to the bride the bridegroom speaks: Your fragrance is sweet, and your face is beautiful. But how the carcass of the devil is spiritually trodden down, that teaches us the word of the Apostle: God will crush Satan under your feet quickly. And the words of the Lord saying: Like the mud of the streets I will wipe them out.

This one, because he destroyed the land entrusted to him, and slaughtered the people committed to him, in no way keeping them alive for God, but preparing them as companions of his own burial: therefore the seed of the most wicked shall not be, nor shall it be named forever. Furthermore, according to the Septuagint, it has this sense: O Lucifer, who did rise in the morning, who, when you had works of virtue and light, were the garment of God, and of you it could be said: Clothed with light as with a garment: because you have slain many by the sword, who went down to hell, and you are polluted with their blood, you shall by no means be called the garment of God, but a garment mixed with gore, not merely stained and polluted, so that you might seem to have something clean about you, but wholly bloodied with blood.

And this is to be noted, that it is said to the devil: as a garment mixed with blood shall not be clean, so neither shall you be clean. Where then are those who grant the devil repentance, and say that he can be made clean? Nor do we thereby at once confess the heresy which asserts that there are diverse natures, and that there is one which never receives healing. For this garment is not by itself unclean, and thus made by God, with which God was once clothed; but because mixed with blood, and wholly polluting itself by its own vice, and with evils accruing, it shall not be clean. And therefore it shall not be clean, because it destroyed the land of the Lord, slew his people, destroying and killing the land of Judea and the land of confession and all the saints: and therefore it shall not remain forever. Whence also in the Gospel it is said: Go into everlasting fire, which was prepared for the devil and his angels.

But how the saint is the garment of God, and a new garment, and clothed with the tunic of salvation and joy, saying: Let my soul rejoice in the Lord: for he has clothed me with the garment of salvation, and has wrapped me about with the robe of gladness: so, on the contrary, the sinner, who bears the image of the old and earthly man, deserves to hear: Behold, all of you shall grow old like a garment, and the moth shall eat you up. But he who has advanced in wickedness, and would not cleanse his oldness by newness, shall by no means be compared to an old garment, but to the rag of a menstruous woman, saying: We have erred, and we have all become unclean, like the rag of a menstruous woman is all our righteousness. (Verses 21, 22.) Seed of the most wicked, prepare your sons for the slaughter for the iniquities of their fathers: they shall not rise up nor inherit the earth, nor fill the face of the world with cities.

And I will rise up against them, saith the Lord of hosts: and I will destroy the name of Babylon, and the remnant, and the bud, and the offspring, saith the Lord of hosts. The Septuagint: Seed most wicked, prepare thy sons for slaughter for the sin of thy father: that they may not rise up and possess the earth, and fill the earth with cities. And I will rise up against them, saith the Lord Sabaoth: and I will utterly destroy their name and remnant and seed. For "seed most wicked," which the Seventy translated, in the Hebrew there is written Zera mrim (זרע מרעים), which the others have rendered "seed of the most wicked." Not that the seed itself is evil in itself—for God made all things good (Genesis 1)—but that from those who by their own will are most wicked, an evil seed has arisen, which comes about by will, not by nature. Whence also in Daniel we read: "Seed of Canaan, and not of Judah".

And of good sons it is said by the Apostle: "In Christ Jesus, through the Gospel, I have begotten you". And in the Gospel: "As many as received him, to them he gave power to become sons of God". For everyone who commits sin is of the devil. To this seed, therefore, it is commanded that it prepare its sons—that is, all its most wicked thoughts and evil works—for slaughter, which are born of impious fathers, doubtless signifying the opposing powers. These most wicked sons are therefore slaughtered in the iniquities of their fathers, lest they rise up further and possess the land, which is to be possessed and filled by the saints, so that cities of the Lord may be built in it.

And because the victory of men is not perfect—"Unless the Lord guard the city, in vain do they watch who guard it"—therefore the Lord himself will rise up against the sons of the most wicked, and will destroy, in confusion, their name and remnant, and every bud and offspring, lest they sprout any further in the cities of the Lord. We read in the Gospel that the devil was from the beginning a liar, and the father of it, that is, of a lie—which many, not understanding, wish to be the father of the devil, namely the dragon who reigns in the sea, whom the Hebrews call Leviathan.

And they think this fits the present passage according to the Seventy Interpreters, who said: "for the sins of thy father"—whereas if one looks closely, in the Hebrew ABOTHAM (אבותם) signifies not "of thy father" but "of their fathers." (Verse 23.) And I will make it a possession for the hedgehog, and into pools of water: I will sweep it with the besom of destruction, saith the Lord of hosts. The Septuagint: And I will make Babylonia desolate, saith the Lord, so that hedgehogs may dwell in it, and it shall be nothing. And I will make it a whirlpool of mud, unto destruction. When the Lord of hosts has destroyed the name of Babylon, and the remnant, and the bud, and the whole offspring, he will not be content with its destruction, unless he has given it as a possession to the hedgehog, and to pools of water, and has swept it not lightly and by chance, but grinding it so that nothing of the old filth may remain in it.

In the Acts of the Apostles it is written that in that linen vessel which, let down by four corners, hung from heaven, all kinds of four-footed beasts and creeping things and fowls were contained; which the Apostle, discoursing afterward, says: "God has shown me to call no man unclean." The manners of men, therefore, were shown under various animals, just as the Pharisees and Sadducees, on account of their wickedness, are called broods of vipers, and Herod, on account of his cunning, is called a fox; and the luxurious and those prone to pleasure are called horses, "neighing after women": and, "Be ye not like the horse and the mule, in which there is no understanding". On the other hand, the innocent are called doves and sheep.

Therefore, according to the teaching of the Lord the Savior, who called the cares of this age and the deceitfulness of riches thorns, the hedgehog seems to me to be one who, according to the Apostle, "rejoices in the uncertainty of riches", and trusts that he is armed, not with the armor of God, but with the thorns and sins of this world—to whom that saying of the Gospel is most fitly addressed: "Thou fool, this night thy soul shall be required of thee: then whose shall those things be which thou hast provided?" Such are the inhabitants which Babylon, deserted of virtues, has, where there is no watered field bearing the fruits of various seeds, but barren marshes, muddy and miry, in which creatures delighting in filth crawl about. Wherefore the most merciful Lord swept it, grinding most vehemently, and as it were with a certain net flooded it thoroughly clean, that the seeds of Babylon might perish, and it might be inhabited only by hedgehogs.

When we see anyone immersed in the mud of riches, and, as the Seventy translated, in the "barathrum," that is, a deep pit, and surrounded, as it were, by a miry marsh, let us not hesitate to call him a hedgehog, an inhabitant of desolate Babylon. (Verses 24, 25.) The Lord of hosts hath sworn, saying: surely as I have thought, so shall it be; and as I have purposed, so shall it come to pass: that I will crush the Assyrian in my land, and upon my mountains tread him under foot. And his yoke shall be taken away from them, and his burden shall be removed from their shoulder. After the hedgehog has dwelt in desolate Babylon, and marshes have covered all in place of watered and fertile fields, so that nothing of the former seed and abundance remains in Babylon, the oath of the Lord shall be fulfilled, and that shall come to pass which he purposed, that the Assyrian shall be crushed in his own land, and trodden underfoot on his mountains.

For the rash enemy hastens to occupy not only the land of God and whatever is lowly, but also those who, in the service of God, have advanced in virtues, so that they are compared to mountains, and it is said of them: "His foundations are in the holy mountains". And note the exactness of the language: he is crushed "in the land," but on the mountains of God he is trodden underfoot by the Lord himself. For when all enemies have been placed under the feet of Christ, so that death, the last enemy, is destroyed, then the very heavy yoke of the Assyrian, with which he had before oppressed them, shall be taken away from the saints, and the burden—or, as the Seventy translated, κύδος, that is, glory—shall be lifted from their shoulder, so that, the yoke of the Assyrians having been removed, they may see rest, because it is good, and the land, because it is most fruitful, and may put their necks under the yoke of Christ for labor, and become husbandmen.

Whence also Issachar, who is interpreted "reward," received his name from virtues. And in the Prophet we read: "There is a reward for those who serve the Lord"; and in another place: "Behold, the Lord, and his reward is with him", who will render to each according to his work. That the Assyrians, that is, the opposing powers, are crushed and trampled, the Gospel also teaches: "Behold I have given you power to tread upon serpents and scorpions, and over all the power of the enemy". And the words of the Apostle attest: "God shall crush Satan under your feet shortly". (Verses 26, 27.) This is the counsel that he hath purposed upon all the earth, and this is the hand stretched out upon all nations. For the Lord of hosts hath decreed, and who shall disannul it? And his hand is stretched out, and who shall turn it away? For "all the earth" the Seventy have translated "the whole world," at the end of the burden or vision against Babylon.

What was hidden is revealed: that God has purposed a counsel over all the earth, that is, the whole world, and not against the land of the Chaldeans only and the Assyrian and Chaldean king: and that his hand is stretched out, or lifted up, over all nations, and not over the one Babylonian nation. From this it is shown that all that has been said pertains not to one province specifically, but to the whole world generally. And as for what is said, "Who shall disannul it, and who shall turn it away?"—we ought not to take this as expressing difficulty, as in that saying: "Who is wise, and shall understand these things?"; and: "Who, think you, is the faithful and prudent steward?" (Luke:)? And other things of this sort—but rather as expressing impossibility. For no one shall be able to disannul the counsel of the Lord, nor to turn away his hand, stretched out or lifted up, from striking. (Verses 28ff.) In the year that king Achaz died, was this burden.

Rejoice not thou, all Philistia, because the rod of him that struck thee is broken: for out of the root of the serpent shall come forth a basilisk, and his seed shall swallow the bird. And the firstborn of the poor shall be fed, and the poor shall rest with confidence: and I will make thy root perish with famine, and I will slay thy remnant. The Septuagint: In the year that king Achaz died was this word made: Rejoice not, all ye foreigners, for the yoke of him that struck you is broken. For out of the seed of the serpent shall come forth broods of asps, and from their broods shall come forth flying serpents; and the poor shall be fed through him, and poor men shall rest in peace. But he shall kill thy seed with famine, and shall slay thy remnant. When Achaz—who is interpreted κατάσχεσις, that is, "holding fast" or "possession," whom we read to have been a most impious king—was dead, this weight came upon Philistia, or this word.

For while he lived and reigned among sinners, neither could a burden be made against the foreigners, nor could the word of God come to the Prophet. This I recall having said also above, when, upon the death of Ozias, Isaiah saw the Lord sitting upon a throne, high and lifted up. And in Exodus we read that after the king of Egypt died, the children of Israel groaned by reason of their works, and cried out, and their cry went up from their works, and the Lord heard their groaning. For unless what was said were mystical, they ought rather to have cried out while he still reigned, when they were serving with mud and bricks. It is commanded, therefore, to the Philistines—whom they now call Palestinians, and whom the Seventy always translate as ἀλλόφυλοι, that is, "foreigners"—and it is said to them that they should not rejoice nor be glad, because they had broken the rod, or yoke, of him who smote them.

"For whom the Lord loveth he chasteneth, and scourgeth every son whom he receiveth." And God trains us as sons, when he visits our iniquities with the rod, and our sins with scourges, that he may not take away his mercy from us. This is the rod of which it is written in another Psalm: "Thy rod and thy staff, they have comforted me". This is the rod, and this the yoke, which the Savior wishes to impose on the necks of all, that, having laid down the yoke of Nebuchadnezzar, they may bear the yoke of Christ. But if anyone casts it off and breaks it, straightway from the seed or root of the serpent, which is the twisted coluber, shall come forth the basilisk and asps, and from the asps shall come forth flying serpents, or those that swallow up birds.

But once the yoke of God is cast off, and the Lord's discipline broken, first in our thoughts the seed of the serpent takes root; second, from this most wicked seed is born the basilisk, which is the king of serpents, and is said to kill men by its breath and its very gaze; or the broods of asps, of whom it is said in the Psalm: "The venom of asps is under their lips", which are the various sins that burst forth from the most wicked treasury of thoughts into evil deeds. And when they reign among men who are foreigners, that is, alien to God, straightway flying serpents come forth; so that it does not suffice them to have thought and done evil things, unless they also seek the patronage of evil works, and invent various heresies.

I think that the flying serpents are those who exalt and lift themselves up against the knowledge of God, and set their mouth against heaven: or those who swallow up birds, that is, who with their poisonous mouth devour, in their jaws, each one who desires to fly and rise to the heights. And this concerning the evil, for the present. But those who have not broken the rod and yoke of him who struck them, but have subjected their necks to the Lord, and are poor in spirit, shall be fed, and shall say: "The Lord feeds me, and I shall want nothing". And from the Lord they shall hear: "I will feed them in the richest pastures"; and they shall go in and out, and find pasture. And the poor shall be fed through him who strikes them, that he may correct them; and they shall rest in peace, or, with a watchful shepherd, they themselves shall act with confidence, and shall rest with Lazarus in the bosom of Abraham.

But those who have broken the yoke and rod of him who struck them shall endure perpetual famine, so that they are not nourished by the word of God; but all their remnants shall perish, lest anything sprout from the evil seed. (Verses 31, 32.) Wail, O gate; cry out, O city: all Philistia is laid low. For from the north a smoke comes, and there is none who can escape its host. And what shall be answered to the messengers of the nation, since the Lord has founded Zion, and in it the poor of his people shall hope? Instead of "messengers," that is, Angels, which only Symmachus so translated, all others rendered "kings," deceived by the ambiguity of the word, because, except for one letter, ALEPH, which is added in the word for Angels, kings and angels are called among the Hebrews by the same name, that is, MALACHE (Kings מלכי, Angels מלאכי).

In the Book of Hebrew Names I found that Philistines are interpreted "those falling by the cup." Those, therefore, who have been made drunk by the cup of Babylon, and have drunk the wine in which is luxury; and among other vices, through drunkenness, according to the Apostle, have obtained the kingdom of God—these are commanded that their gate should wail, and the city cry out. By "gate" I understand the mouth of heretics, which blasphemes; by "city," the soul, which is the treasury of evil thoughts. This ought to wail and lament, because it is all laid low, and cast to the ground, and there is in it nothing of sound understanding nor of the wisdom of God. Why does the gate wail? For what reason does the city cry out? Because all Philistia is laid low. And the following verse shows why it is laid low: From the north a smoke comes, and there is none who can escape its host.

This smoke is raised up by the burning darts of the devil, which is harmful to the eyes, and contrary to light, and arises from the north, from which in Jeremiah the pot is set boiling, and from which evils blaze up upon all the inhabitants of the earth, who cannot say: "I am a sojourner and a stranger, as all my fathers were", but who dwell in the earth. Whence also in Proverbs it is read: "The north wind is harsh". But by another name it is called the right-hand wind, which, although in itself it is harsh and left-handed, and with a most stubborn neck refuses to receive the yoke of God, is called "right-hand" by those who put bitter for sweet, and sweet for bitter; who put darkness for light, and light for darkness. And there is none who can escape the host of this smoke; for no one is without sin, not even if his life were but one day.

And when Philistia has fallen, and its smoke has penetrated everything, so that none can escape it, what will be said to the Angels who are set over each nation, wondering and desiring to know why Zion alone, set upon the watchtower and on the heights, has escaped the bitterness of this smoke? What then shall be said to them? Surely this which follows: that the Lord has founded her, and he himself is her foundation. He has founded her, moreover, upon the foundation of prudence, justice, fortitude, and temperance, under which names Christ is understood, of whom also the Apostle says: "For other foundation can no man lay than that which is laid, which is Jesus Christ". But he who is foolish, and speaks foolish things, and whose heart understands vain things, builds his house upon sand, which has no foundation.

In this Zion, therefore, which has been founded by the Lord, the poor, or the meek, and the humble of his people shall hope, of whom it is said: "Blessed are the meek, for they shall possess the earth"; and who have heard the Lord saying: "Learn of me, for I am meek and humble of heart". Who before glory were humbled, and heard the apostle Peter saying: "Humble yourselves under the mighty hand of God, that he may exalt you in the time of visitation." Now these are the poor of whom we read above: "The firstborn of the poor shall be fed, and the poor shall rest with confidence."

(Verse 1.) The burden of Moab. LXX: A word against Moabitis. Symmachus and Theodotion: The assumption of Moab.

Just as circumcision is both carnal and spiritual, and of the spiritual circumcision it is said by the Apostle: "For we are the circumcision, who serve God in spirit, and glory in Christ Jesus, and have no confidence in the flesh"; and again, to distinguish it from the spiritual Israel, it is said of the carnal: "Behold Israel according to the flesh"; and, "You, Gentiles in the flesh"; so Moab must be understood spiritually, whose name is interpreted "of the father," or "the father's water," conceived from incest and drunkenness, so that in a certain manner, with the father absent, indeed unaware, he seemed to have been begotten.

In many places of Scripture we read of Moab, and especially in the book of Numbers, when Balac king of the Moabites summoned Balaam the diviner to curse, who among other things also prophesied this against the mystical Moab: "A star shall rise out of Jacob, and a man shall arise out of Israel, and shall smite the princes of Moab". (Verse 1.) Because in the night Ar was laid waste, Moab is silent; because in the night the wall was laid waste, Moab is silent. LXX: In the night the Moabite perished, for in the night the wall of Moabitis perished.

Instead of AR (ער), which only Theodotion so rendered, as it is read in the Hebrew, Aquila and Symmachus interpreted it as "city," not considering that between the Hebrew letters AIN and RES there is no letter YOD, which if it were there, it would rightly be called "city." Worldly wisdom, of which the Lord speaks through the Prophet: "I will destroy the wisdom of the wise, and the prudence of the prudent I will reject" (Abdias 8)—because it has as its author its own understanding, which is begotten apart from the ordinance of God, seems indeed to be born "of the father," which is what Moab means; but because it is an adulterer, and an adversary to the people of God, it is begotten of incest, and in a cave, and by night. Whence it perishes in the night, that is, in everlasting error. And the Egyptians in the Red Sea, at the morning watch, which denotes the time of night, were overwhelmed by the waves.

And Lot, while the Sodomites were perishing by night, came to Segor, and the sun rose upon him. Understanding this, the blessed Apostle writes of the saints and the perfect: "We are not of the night, nor of darkness, but we are children of the day. For they that sleep, sleep in the night; and they that are drunk, are drunk in the night. But let us, who are of the day, be sober, putting on the breastplate of faith and charity." And because he had left the night, and had now begun to be a son of the day, he speaks to believers: "The night is passed, and the day is at hand; let us walk honestly, as in the day; not in rioting and drunkenness, not in chambering and wantonness". Now while the Moabite night perishes, its wall also, which was built by the art of dialectic, was laid waste and destroyed in that same night, and fell silent in everlasting silence.

Furthermore, Ar, which is interpreted ἀντίδικος, that is, "adversary," shows this: that this wisdom, which is the adversary of God, is overcome by the Church's word fighting against it. (Verse 2.) The house has gone up, and Dimon, to the high places, for weeping. LXX: Be grieved among yourselves, for Dimon shall perish, where the altar is: there shall you go up to weep. Every house of adverse wisdom, and Dibon, which is interpreted "their flowing," goes up to the high places, in which it had been proud: not to offer sacrifices, but to lament in the places where it had before sinned. And truly falsehood passes by like a river, and flows past, and can never stand fast in a stable dwelling. But the word of God, which is compacted together, is stable. Whence also the manna, which appeared like frost upon the face of the earth, does not flow away, but remains.

Furthermore, according to the LXX, the Moabites are bidden to grieve and lament, not over others—for this belongs to the perfect, to lament over themselves—because their Dibon too, that is, their composed discourse, which flowed like a torrent, is about to perish: in which they had, as it were, an altar of their consecration, and all their worldly riches. Whence also in the psalm it is said: "If riches abound, set not your heart upon them." But the beginning of salvation is to understand and weep for one's own sins. (Verses 3 and following.) Over Nabo and over Medaba Moab shall howl: on all its heads shall be baldness, every beard shall be shaven. In its crossroads they are girded with sackcloth: and upon its roofs and in its streets everyone howls: it shall come down to weeping. And Esebon and Eleale shall cry out: their voice was heard as far as Jasa: therefore the armed men of Moab shall howl: his soul shall howl for him.

My heart shall cry out to Moab; its bars unto Segor, a three-year-old heifer: for by the ascent of Luith they shall go up weeping, and in the way of Oronaim they shall raise a cry of destruction: for the waters of Nemrim shall be desolate; because the grass is withered, the bud has failed, all greenness has perished. According to the greatness of the work, so also is their visitation: they shall lead them to the torrent of the willows: for the cry has gone round about the border of Moab: its howling reaches unto Agallim, and its cry unto the well of Elim: because the waters of Dimon are filled with blood. For I will bring upon Dimon additions—upon those who have fled from Moab, a lion, and upon the remnant of the land.

Since almost the whole of this prophecy has a single meaning, lest by presenting it piecemeal I should tear it apart, I have set it down entire all at once, and I will briefly run through what seems to me, according to the anagogical sense, in each particular.

Nabo is interpreted “seat” or “prophecy”; Medaba, “of salvation”; Esebon, “thoughts”; Eleale, “ascent”; Jasa, “deed” or “command”; Segor, “small”; Luith, “cheeks”; Oronaim, “opening of grief”; Nemrim, “leopards” or “transgressors”; Agallim, “calves” or “heaps of sand”; Elim, “rams” or “strong ones”; Dimon, “sufficient grief.” Since therefore every doctrine contrary to truth, which without the inspiration of God is born of human sense in the darkness of error, has been laid waste by night, and its arguments, which are understood as walls, have been destroyed by the discourse of the Church—so much so that they have fallen silent in eternal silence, to such a degree that their whole faction has been turned to penance and tears—over Nabo, that is, prophecy and the seat, that is, their teachers, and over Medaba, where there are no fruitful trees, but an unfruitful forest, in which beasts dwell, of which it is written in the twenty-eighth Psalm: “And he will lay bare the thick places of the forest”: there shall be howling and lamentation, and all the ornaments of eloquence shall be taken from their heads; so that they remain bare and disfigured.

And if they seemed to have any manliness in their beard, it shall be shown, when shaved by the man of the Church, to be effeminate and weak. In their crossroads too, that is, the byways of their errors, while each one fashions according to his own will whatever he pleases, he is girded with the sackcloth of penance, both upon the roofs and housetops, in which they first believed themselves to be exalted; and in the streets (because they do not enter by the narrow way that leads to life, but by the broad way that leads to death) there shall be howling. And they shall by no means ascend into pride, but shall descend into weeping. Then they will understand all their thoughts to be vain, which is what Esebon means, and the empty ascent of pride, which Eleale signifies, so that their voice may be heard even unto the evil deeds which they have done, and the command which they thought was God’s, condemning themselves by their own confession.

Therefore the bars, that is, those who were firm in Moab, and have understood their error, shall howl, and shall begin to have hope of progress, when their soul howls for itself. Whence the Prophet, moved with compassion, speaks to them whose soul howled for itself, and says: My heart shall cry out to Moab, that I may call them to repentance. But their bars and all the strongholds which they seemed to have in their heresies shall come even unto Segor, that is, unto the little one: and they shall be shown to be not strong but fragile. But this Segor, that is, small repentance, if it perseveres, will lead them to perfect salvation: which the three-year-old heifer signifies, according to that which we read in Genesis, where Abraham is commanded to offer a heifer, a ram, and a goat of three years, that is, a perfect sacrifice, that he might be worthy to be heir of the Lord.

And when they have done penance, they shall ascend to higher things through Luith, that is, through the tears of their cheeks. And through this as it were opening and entrance of grief, they shall raise a cry of contrition to the Lord, so that they may say: A sacrifice to God is a broken spirit: a contrite and humbled heart God will not despise. And this shall come to pass, because the waters of Nemrim, that is, the doctrine of the heretics, which is compared to leopards and transgressors, shall be made desolate, and reduced to nothing. Leopards are those whose varieties and spots, as in Jeremiah, are not changed; and apostates, of whom we read in the Psalms: I have accounted all the sinners of the earth transgressors. Every herb too and bud, and whatever seemed green in their speech, has withered. And according to the greatness of their sins they have been visited by God: so that whom they had not perceived through benefits, they might know through scourges.

Finally they shall be led to the valley or torrent of the willows, so that no fruit may remain in them. For they say this is the nature of the seed of these trees, that whoever drinks it in a cup shall be without children. Whence also the saints, who because of sins began to be in the confusion of this world, hang their instruments upon the willows of the rivers of Babylon. The cry goes round about all the borders of the Moabites, whether of those calling them to repentance, or of those lamenting for their error: that they may be able to offer, through their howling, the calves of their lips, and reach even to the fountain of the Lord’s rams, or of the strong ones: for Elim signifies both. But the waters of Dimon, which is interpreted “sufficient sorrow” or “grief,” which had defiled many by their sprinkling, shall be proved to have been, to the deceived peoples, not salvation but blood.

Whence the prophetic word promises that upon the flowing tears, which is interpreted Dibon, not a single grief, but many additions of grief shall be doubled: so that after they have done full penance, and have fled the lion from Moab, they may have God as their prince, whom the Seventy called Ariel, which is interpreted “lion of God”: whose rendering I have refrained from discussing in this place, because it disagrees with the Hebrew truth in very many respects, and because its sense also can be understood from what we have already interpreted.

(Verse 1.) Send forth the lamb, the ruler of the land, from the rock of the desert, to the mount of the daughter of Sion. And it shall be as a bird fleeing, and as young ones flying away from the nest: so shall the daughters of Moab be at the fords of Arnon. Take counsel, gather a council: make your shadow as the night in the midst of noonday: hide those who flee, and betray not the wanderers.

Let my fugitives dwell with you, Moab, be a hiding-place for them from the face of the destroyer. For the dust is at an end: the wretched one is consumed: he who trod down the land has failed. And a throne shall be prepared in mercy, and he shall sit upon it in truth in the tabernacle of David, judging and seeking judgment, and quickly rendering what is just. This which we have translated from the Hebrew: “Send forth the lamb, the ruler of the land,” can also be read: “Send forth the lamb to the ruler of the land,” namely so that the lamb himself is not the ruler of the land, as we have interpreted according to the history, but that the lamb is to be sacrificed to the ruler of the land.

This lamb, therefore, who either is himself the ruler of the land, or is sacrificed to the ruler of the land, is of the nation of the Moabites, and of those who have fled from Moab, and have deserved to have the lion as their prince. He signifies Ruth, of whom Christ was born, whom he calls the rock of the desert, because according to the command of God, the Moabites and Ammonites, even to the tenth generation, and forever, do not enter the Church of God. But whoever flees from the desert of Moab—that we may return from prophecy to the anagogical sense—and having despised the lie, has stood upon the mountain of truth, shall be as a bird fleeing; and as young ones flying away from the nest, lest they be devoured by the serpents of Moab. So, he says, shall be all the daughters, that is, the Moabite souls, at the crossing of Arnon, which is interpreted “their illumination”: when, having abandoned their errors, they have crossed over to the knowledge of truth.

It is said therefore to Moab himself, or to him who has escaped from Moab: Do nothing without counsel: and be not carried about by every wind of doctrine, but follow him who is the Angel of great counsel: And gather a council, that you may make of the wandering and erring ones the Church of God. But your covering and tabernacle, in which you formerly thought to rest, which was of night and darkness, place in the noonday, that is, in the clearest light, in which you ought to hide those fleeing from error, and no longer betray those who were formerly wandering.

O Moab, my fugitives who have forsaken me, who had gone out from the Church, and abandoning the teaching of the Holy Spirit, followed their own sense; or who had dwelt with you—when the destroyer, the devil, begins to pursue them, do you, having turned with your whole mind to the fear of the Lord, provide them a hiding-place: and know, that after the coming of the Lamb, who arose from the rock of the desert, ruler of the whole earth; and came to the mount of the daughter of Sion, all the power of the devil, which is compared to dust, is ended. And the wretched one is consumed, who made many wretched: and he who trod down all the earth has failed, namely those who were earthly. But he being consumed, and reduced to nothing, and utterly failing, a throne and an everlasting kingdom shall be prepared.

First in mercy (for we are all under sin, and need the grace of God); and he shall sit in the tabernacle of David, which had fallen and is raised up, who after mercy judges, and seeks justice, and renders to each according to his works. Let us consider from the beginning either of the Burden, or of the discourse concerning Moab, in which it is said: By night Ar Moab is laid waste, and so on down to this place; and we shall see how, through the steps and order of repentance, the Moabites become Israelites: and flee as birds, and fly away as young ones from the nest, that they may cross over by Arnon, and dwell on the mount of the daughter of Sion: and with all the power of the devil or Antichrist crushed, Christ may reign in those who have been saved by mercy and justice. For the Father judges no one, but has given all judgment to the Son. (Verse 6 and following.) We have heard the pride of Moab: he is exceedingly proud.

His pride, and his arrogance, and his indignation, are more than his strength. Therefore Moab shall wail unto Moab, all of it shall wail: to those who rejoice over the wall of baked brick, speak of its wounds: for the suburbs of Hesebon are laid waste, and the vineyard of Sabama. The Septuagint: We have heard the injury of Moab: he is exceedingly contumelious: his pride, and his injury, and his fury are not according to your divination: Moab shall not wail thus: for in Moab all shall wail: but you shall meditate for the inhabitants of Deseth: and you shall not be confounded: the fields of Hesebon shall mourn the vineyard of Sabama. With how many obscurities this passage is involved according to the Seventy Translators is plain from the fact that it can scarcely be read. Let us then speak according to the Hebrew.

It is the custom of the Scriptures, that after they have relieved the despair of the human mind with a joyful message, again they deter those who are negligent and unwilling to do penance by threats, lest the goodness of God harden our heart. Of this matter let us set forth but one example. In the hundred and forty-fourth psalm we read: The Lord is sweet to all, and his mercies are over all his works. And a little after: The Lord sustains all who fall, and raises up all who are cast down. The eyes of all hope in thee, O Lord, and thou givest them their food in due season. And when he had premised: the Lord keeps all who love him; lest he should make the hearer negligent, he added: And all sinners he will destroy.

Since therefore, Antichrist and his parent the devil, who was trampling the whole earth, having been consumed, he prophesied that a throne was to be prepared in mercy, and one to sit upon it in the tabernacle of David, the prophet speaks in the person of the saints, who have been saved out of Moab, and who by their own experience have learned its pride: We have heard the pride of Moab, or the injury, as the Seventy translated. For which of the heretics is not proud?

Who, despising the simplicity of the Church, holds the men of the Church as if they were brute animals, and is puffed up with such a swelling of pride and injury, that he arms his mouth against the very Creator, detracting from his prophets, as though by the authority of the Gospel testimony, in which the Savior says: All who came before me were thieves and robbers: to such a degree that he even calls Moses, the servant of God, a murderer, and detracts from Joshua the son of Nun, as if he were a bloody man, who was of such holiness that at the command of his word the sun and moon stood still: and calls David, from whose seed Christ arose, a murderer and an adulterer, not regarding his repentance and gentleness, by which he is likened to the clemency of God. But although he is proud and arrogant, and exults furiously: yet he dares more than his strength can bear.

Therefore Moab shall wail to Moab, that is, one to another: namely all the diversities of the heretics and of worldly wisdom shall roar against themselves, when they shall be in torments. Wherefore, to those who have walls built not of squared stones, of which the Temple was built, and so polished that neither hammer nor axe was heard in the house of God—O you teachers of the Church, or you who have been saved out of the error of Moab—announce its wounds, with which they have been wounded by the darts of the heretics.

For all their thoughts, which Hesebon signifies, do not pertain to the dwelling of the Lord's city, of which it is written: The rush of the river makes glad the city of God; but they are suburban, so that they may be believed to pertain to the city of the Lord: which suburbs are laid waste of the defense of God, or burned with divine fire, especially the vineyard of Sabama, which is interpreted "lifting up its height," because it raises itself on high, and strives to build the tower of its pride even unto heaven. But what is set down in the Seventy, "for the inhabitants of Deseth," is not found in the Hebrew; but instead of this is read ARES (חרש), which signifies a potsherd, or baked brick.

Verse 9. The lords of the nations have cut off its scourges: they reached even unto Jazer. They wandered in the desert: its shoots were left: they passed over the sea. For this shall I weep in weeping for Jazer, the vineyard of Sabama: I will drench thee with my tear, O Hesebon and Eleale: for upon thy vintage and upon thy harvest the voice of the treaders has fallen. And joy and exultation shall be taken away from Carmel: and in the vineyards there shall be no exulting, nor shouting: he who was wont to tread shall not tread wine in the winepress: I have taken away the voice of the treaders. The suburbs of Hesebon, of which we spoke above, are laid waste, and the vineyard of Sabama, which can be interpreted not only as "lifting up its height," but also as a kind of "conversion": because it seems that in the region of Moab there is some desire, on the part of some, to be converted to the service of the Lord.

Of this vineyard Sabama, then, the lords of the nations, the Apostles and apostolic men, have utterly cut off the scourges and shoots, lest from other heresies other heresies should be born, and an infinite multitude of the erring should arise. And they cut off not only the shoots of Sabama, but they reached even unto Jazer, which is interpreted "their strength": that is, unto all the strongest dogmas of the heretics, constructed with dialectical art, in which they seemed to have the strength of their error; and their sword raged to such a degree that at last they wandered in the wilderness, and had none whom they might slay. And when they had cut off its scourges, yet, by the fault of the most wicked root, some shoots remained.

But the lords of the nations passed over the sea, that is, the temptations of this world, of which we read in the psalm: I came into the depth of the sea, and the tempest overwhelmed me; and in another place: They that go down to the sea in ships, doing business in many waters: these have seen the works of the Lord, and his wonders in the deep. These, therefore, passed over the sea, that they might behold the works of the Lord and his wonders in the depth of temptations, while they are being freed from them. Thus the prophetic word laments the strength of the heretics, that is, Jazer, and the vineyard of Sabama; which lifts itself up against the knowledge of God. And I will make thee drunk with my tear, O Hesebon—that is, their thoughts—and Eleale, by which they climb to the heights. But why does he lament Jazer, the vineyard of Sabama, and make Hesebon and Eleale drunk with his tears?

That, while he himself weeps, he may teach them too to weep. For, he says, upon thy vintage and upon thy harvest the voice of the treaders has fallen. For the vineyard of the Moabites, on account of the vicinity of the place, is such as also the vineyard of the Sodomites, of which it is said: For their vine is of the vine of Sodom, and their branch of Gomorrah. And in the seventy-seventh psalm we read of the Egyptian vine, which God struck with hail. The harvests too of Moab arise in the valleys which are called Raphaim: and its vintage is false, of the vine, of which it was said above: The lords of the nations have cut off its scourges. For these crush the most bitter grapes, and tread them with their own feet, lest the poisons of the dragon should be expressed from them, and all who drink should be slain.

The joy and exultation of the heretics also shall be taken away, in which they had been wont to rejoice before: so that after they have done penance, they may deserve to hear this: Blessed are they that mourn, for they shall be comforted. And what he adds, "from Carmel," signifies this: not that the heretics truly possess Carmel, that is, the knowledge of spiritual circumcision; but that they falsely boast of possessing it. And when the vineyards have been cut down, and joy and exultation have been taken away from the knowledge falsely so called: then there shall be none of the former treaders to tread the grapes which he had trodden before: and their voice shall be silenced in eternal silence. (Verse 11 and following.) For this my belly shall sound like a harp for Moab: and my inward parts for the wall of baked brick. And it shall come to pass, when it is seen that Moab has labored upon his high places, he shall go in to his sanctuaries to entreat, and shall not prevail.

This is the word which the Lord spoke concerning Moab from that time. The error of Moab having been destroyed—nay rather, his false joy having been turned into mourning and tears—my belly, that of the prophet, which is composed like a harp with musical art, and which, conceiving from the fear of God, has begotten many children, so that there is no string which does not give forth its own sound, shall resound the mourning of Moab doing penance: and all my inward parts for the wall of baked brick—for which Theodotion translated "for the wall thrown down." For all the defenses of the adversaries, in which they trusted before, shall be destroyed and shall fall. But these are the inward parts and interior of the prophet, of which David also spoke in the Psalm: Bless the Lord, O my soul, and let all that is within me bless his holy name.

For just as a harp does not give forth a clear and well-composed sound, if even one string be broken; so the spiritual belly of the prophet, if one string of the virtues be lacking in it, will not be able to sound sweet melody; nor to cry out with all its inward parts against the brick wall. It is also the opinion of the philosophers, that the virtues cling to one another; and of the Apostle James, that whoever lacks one, to him all the virtues are lacking. But when Moab shall understand that he has labored in vain in these dogmas, which before he thought were his high places, he shall go in to his sanctuaries—not those which are holy in themselves, but those which he, erring, judged to be holy—and he shall not be able to find help. Or certainly, having forsaken the error of falsehood, he shall try to enter into the sanctuaries of the Church, so as to make them his own, and to pray and beseech; but he shall not prevail.

For we cannot, as soon as we wish, lay hold of perfect virtue. And what he adds: This is the word which the Lord spoke concerning Moab from that time—let us understand that this is the epilogue given back to the proem, in which he had said, "the word against Moab," or "the burden," so that what he had begun there, he here completed. But "from that time" is to be understood from when he began to speak to him, so that all that he said may be one word of God, that is, one sentence.

Furthermore, according to those who translated the Seventy: The inward parts of the prophet as a wall renewed by God, and that he, that is, Moab, should be ashamed, and enter into the altars, and unto the things that are made with hand—thus we can discourse, so as to say that the inward parts of the prophet are always renewed, and made stronger by God, so that the adversaries may be confounded, and may understand that the things which are fashioned by human hand are empty, and profit nothing unto salvation.

Verse 14. And now the Lord has spoken, saying: In three years, as the years of a hireling, the glory of Moab shall be taken away, together with all its abundant people, and it shall be left small and slight, by no means many. The three years, in which the glory of Moab shall be taken away, along with all its abundant people, or, as the Septuagint has translated, its abundant riches, are to be understood mystically. For as the mercy of the Lord is in weights and measure, so also torments and punishments have their measure, so that after three years have passed, in which it shall be left small, and slight, and by no means many, then it shall cease to be inglorious.

And this should be noted, that according to the prophecy of Ezekiel, when days are reckoned for years to Israel, that is, to the ten tribes, who had sinned more grievously, three hundred and ninety years of punishment are computed, as is contained in the Hebrew, not one hundred and ninety, as the Vulgate edition has; and to Judah, in which was the Temple of God, forty years. For he who is small deserves mercy; but the mighty shall suffer mighty torments. And the servant who knows the will of his lord, and does it not, shall be beaten with many stripes. Moab therefore, because it was a stranger, and not of the people of God, but having abandoned its error was converted, shall be left small and slight and inglorious not for many years, but only for three. These are the years of which we read elsewhere also: Remember the days of old, and again: I thought upon the days of old, and had the eternal years in mind.

For if Israel according to the flesh served shadows and patterns, and all their solemnity was a type of things to come, why should not the years of the present time also prefigure future times? Concerning which we also read in another place: What will you do in the days of the assembly, and in the days of the feast of the Lord? And what is joined, As the years of a hireling, shows this, that false doctrine does everything for gain and profit. For every hireling, and he who is not a shepherd, whose own the sheep are not, when he sees the wolf coming, flees, because he is a hireling, and the sheep do not belong to him. Wherefore I think that the stranger and the hireling do not eat of holy things, nor are servants partakers of the holy. For not for love of the Lord, but for hire, do all things do those who devour the houses of widows, and bring in their own flocks, that they may be clothed with their wool, and milk them.

What we have said concerning hireling doctrine, let us apply to the rest. If I give alms, that I may be glorified by men, I have received my reward, and I must be called a hireling. If I pretend to be chaste, and it is otherwise in my conscience, I have not the glory of a hireling, but the punishments of a sinner. And in comparing two evils, it is a lighter evil to sin openly than to feign and pretend holiness. But in this too Moab has made progress, that whereas it formerly had many companions in its error, it is afterward reduced to few; or that whereas it was formerly abundant in the riches of sins, after repentance it becomes small and poor in wickedness.

This seventh book is likewise, according to the anagogical sense, the second, or rather the last. For in it the tropological explanation of the ten visions is concluded; and when I have completed it, Eustochium, with your prayers, and with Christ's help, I shall come to the eighth, and I shall explain both interpretations, following the previous books up to the fourth, in like manner.

(Verse 1.) The burden of Damascus. Symmachus and Theodotion: The taking up of Damascus; the Septuagint: The word against Damascus, adding of their own what they had done at the beginning in the case of Moab. We first read the name of Damascus in Genesis, who before Isaac was a home-born slave of Abraham, and was thought to be his heir, had not Sarah's son been born through the promise.

It is interpreted either "a kiss of blood," or "one drinking blood," or "blood of sackcloth," all of which fit the people of the Gentiles, who before faith in Christ were friends of blood and cruelty, and performed deeds worthy of lamentation and sackcloth. In the Book of Chronicles (2 Chron. Xxiv) the history relates that, when the year was completed, the army of Syria went up against Joas king of Judah, and came to Jerusalem, and slew all the princes of the people, and sent all the spoil to the king of Damascus, who had come with few men; and God had delivered a very great multitude into their hand, because they had forsaken the Lord God of their fathers: which, according to the anagogical sense and the type of things to come, should be considered as to whether we may refer it to the time of the Lord's coming.

For after the end of the acceptable year, in which the Gospel was preached by the Saviour, the army of the Gentiles went up from Damascus with few men against Judah and Jerusalem, who had forsaken the Lord; and they took away all the riches of their Law and Prophets, and sent them to the king of Damascus, that is, the men of the Church and of Evangelical doctrine, who, in comparison with the whole world, still then unbelieving, and with the Jews scattered throughout the whole earth, were few; and yet the Lord delivered Jerusalem into their hands, because they had forsaken the Son of God, who had been foretold beforehand by the prophets.

Therefore for this reason, I think, Saul also, who afterward received the name of Paul on account of his virtue, because he was a zealot of the Law, went to Damascus, and wished to fight against those of the Gentiles who believed, and there, being overcome, followed those who dwelt in Damascus, so that from there he might go up again to Jerusalem to overthrow the Jews. Nor let it seem to anyone to be contrary, if in the book of Chronicles joyful things are foretold of Damascus, and now in Isaiah sad things: because concerning Israel itself also, which is indeed the portion of God, now adverse, now prosperous things are announced.

And just as it is said of Israel according to the flesh, and of the Gentiles: You Gentiles according to the flesh, who are called the uncircumcision by that which in the flesh is called Circumcision: so on the contrary there is an Israel according to the spirit, and there are Gentiles according to the spirit, and among the other nations Damascus is according to the spirit, lest we give heed only to Jewish fables. (Ver. 1 ff.) Behold, Damascus shall cease to be a city, and shall be as a heap of stones in ruin. The cities of Aroer shall be forsaken for flocks, and they shall rest there, and there shall be none to affright them, and help shall cease from Ephraim, and the kingdom from Damascus, and the remnant of Syria shall be as the glory of the children of Israel, says the Lord of Hosts.

As has been shown in the title, by Damascus the calling of the Gentiles is signified, who loved or drank blood, who, after they have believed in Christ, shall cease to be cities of their former manner of life, and shall be as a heap of stones in ruin. For just as heaps of stones scattered in the fields are gathered together into one mound, so from all the nations a heap of believers has been gathered together in the ruin of the Jewish people, they falling, and we rising. The forsaken cities of AROER also (ערוער), that is, tamarisks, shall belong to the flocks of the Church, that we may inhabit what the Jews have deserted; or, idolatry being destroyed, the Gospel shall be built up. This we see also fulfilled in our own times: the Serapeum of Alexandria, and the temple of Marnas at Gaza have risen up into churches of the Lord, and the cities of Aroer have been prepared for the flocks of the Gospel.

Aroer, that is, tamarisks, grow in desert places, according to what is written in the curse of that man who trusts in man, and whose heart departs from the Lord: He shall be, it says, like the tamarisk in the desert, and shall not see when good comes; but he shall dwell in dryness, in the desert, in a salt and uninhabitable land. But others say that from this tree hatreds are stirred up by magical arts, μίστρα. Therefore they who before were in the desert of the Gentiles, and in hatred of the Christian name, shall serve the flocks of Christ, who shall rest among them, and there shall be none to affright them, because the Lord shall dwell among them, and with the Shepherd present, they shall not be able to fear the wolf. Then help shall cease from God to Ephraim, by whom in this passage are understood the Scribes and Pharisees, according to the prophecy of Hosea, who calls those opposed to the people of God, Ephraim.

And the kingdom shall cease from Damascus, so that sin, and the prince of sin the devil, shall no longer reign in Damascus, which formerly loved blood; but the remnant of Syria, that is, those who have believed from among the Gentiles, shall be as the children of Israel formerly were, the kingdom of God having been taken away from them and handed over to the Gentiles who produce its fruit, as the Lord God of Hosts has spoken through all his prophets.

(Verses 4-6.) And it shall come to pass in that day, that the glory of Jacob shall be made thin, and the fatness of his flesh shall waste away. And it shall be as when a gatherer of the harvest gathers what remains, and his arm gleans the ears of corn, and it shall be as one gleaning ears in the valley of Rephaim. And there shall be left in it as a gleaning grape, and as the shaking of an olive tree, two or three olives at the top of the bough, or four or five in its topmost branches, says the Lord God of Israel.

After the remnant of Syria shall have become what the glory of the children of Israel once was, and their salvation given to the Gentiles because of their offense, then all the glory of the Jews shall be made thin, whereby they were glorious in the whole world, and the fatness of their flesh shall waste away, they having no prophets, no signs and mighty works, no present help of God, no dignity of priesthood: but the whole body of their nation shall wither away, and be reduced to nothing. And since it is said concerning the calling of the Gentiles: The harvest indeed is great, but the laborers are few, those poor gleaners of the harvest, who were saved through the Apostles, shall gather very scarce ears, not from the mountains and high places, but in the valley of Rephaim, that is, in the meanness of the letter. And consider that Rephaim, which is interpreted "giants," just as Ephraim above, signify the Pharisees and Scribes.

Finally, the Septuagint, instead of "valley of Rephaim," translated "hard valley," to express the hardness of the Jewish heart. From whose lowliness are chosen, as it were in stubble the ears, and as in vintage the clusters, those who shall be saved: and as the shaking of an olive tree, two or three olives, or four or five. For when the smiting of the Jewish people came, that olive tree of the people of Israel, which under Moses had six hundred thousand armed men, and under David, when Joab numbered them, an innumerable people, was scarcely able to offer a few fruits to the Lord Saviour: two olives, Paul and Barnabas, and three olives, Peter and James, and John, who both beheld the Lord transfigured on the mountain, and deserved to go with the Lord to the daughter of the ruler of the synagogue.

But the four and five olives make up the remaining nine Apostles, among whom Matthias obtained the place of Judas the traitor, who indeed, by reason of a diversity of graces unknown to us, are divided into four and five olives, so as to represent the number of the Gospels and the volumes of the Law contained in themselves, as it were preachers of both Testaments.

Verse 7. In that day man shall bow down to his Maker, and his eyes shall look to the Holy One of Israel. And he shall not bow down to the altars which his hands have made, and which his fingers have wrought; he shall not regard the groves and the shrines.

At that time, when of the people of Israel, to whom it was formerly said, The Lord your God has called you a fruitful olive tree, and of whom we read in the Psalms: Your children are like young olive plants round about your table, because of the dryness of spiritual grace, the Lord, being hungry, shall scarcely find two olives, and three, or four, or five, the fullness of the Gentiles shall enter in, and shall bow down not at all to idols made by hand, but to their God, and looking to the Holy One of Israel, they shall despise altars and groves and shrines, knowing that saying which is written: Every plant which my heavenly Father has not planted shall be rooted up. (Verses 9, 10.) In that day the cities of his strength shall be forsaken like the ploughs and the harvests which were forsaken from before the face of the children of Israel. And it shall be desolate, because thou hast forgotten the God thy Saviour, and hast not remembered thy strong helper.

Septuagint: In that day thy cities shall be forsaken as the Amorrhites and Hevites forsook them from before the face of the children of Israel. And they shall be desolate, because thou hast forsaken the Lord God thy Saviour, and hast not remembered the Lord thy helper. Just as under Moses and Jesus the son of Nave the Amorrhites and Hevites, or the other nations who dwelt in the land of promise, abandoned their ploughshares, and harvests, and heaps in the fields, and fled lest they be seized by the enemy: so the land of Judea, and all its most strongly fortified cities, when the Romans were laying waste Judea and besieging Jerusalem, were abandoned by their own inhabitants. And an apostrophe is made to the land of Judea itself, that is, to those who dwelt in it.

But thou hast suffered all these things, because thou hast forgotten the God thy Saviour—which is interpreted "Jesus"—whom the Law and the Prophets continually announced as one to come to thee: and thou hast not remembered thy strong helper, who was ever thy assister. The cause, therefore, of the desolate cities of Judea is forgetfulness of the Saviour, of whom he had said at the beginning of this Prophet: Israel hath not known me, and my people hath not understood. (Verse 11.) Therefore shalt thou plant a faithful planting and shalt sow a strange seed. In the day of thy planting shall be the wild grape, and in the morning thy seed shall flourish: the harvest is taken away in the day of inheritance, and it shall grieve grievously. Septuagint: Therefore shalt thou plant an unfaithful planting, and an unfaithful seed, and in the day in which thou shalt have planted, thou shalt go astray.

But if thou sow in the morning, it shall flourish unto harvest in the day of inheritance: as when a father of a man gives an inheritance to his sons. As for what we, following Aquila and Symmachus and the Septuagint, have translated "in the day of inheritance," which in Hebrew is called Biom nehela (ביום נחלה), it can also be read in the Hebrew as "in the worst day." And as for what Aquila and Theodotion have translated, "and man shall grieve": we, taught by the Hebrews, for the word for man, which in their tongue is called ENOS, have translated ANUS (אנוש), that is, "grievously." Concerning the ambiguity of this word, if the span of this life allows, we shall discuss more fully in Jeremiah, where according to the Septuagint it is said: And he is a man, and who shall know him?

Let me say, then, what I proposed: Because thou, land of Judea, hast forgotten the God thy Saviour, and hast not remembered him who always afforded thee strength; therefore thou shalt indeed plant a faithful planting—or, as Aquila and Theodotion translated, a "beautiful" one; or as Symmachus, a "good" one, proclaiming one God: but thou shalt sow a strange seed, not receiving the Father, because thou dost not receive the Son. For he who believes in the Father, believes also in the Son. And because thou hast sown the strange seed of blasphemy against Jesus in the synagogues of Satan, therefore thou shalt not gather grapes for the vintage, but wild grapes. And when thy seed shall seem to flourish, and to have some shadow of piety, while thou drawest men away from idols: nevertheless when thou comest to gather the fruits in the day of inheritance, thou shalt grieve grievously, seeing the people of the nations preferred before thee. Whence also the Apostle says: I have great sadness and continual sorrow in my heart.

For I could wish myself to be an anathema from Christ, for my brethren who are my kinsmen according to the flesh, who are Israelites, to whom belongeth the adoption of sons, and the glory, and the testament, and the giving of the law, and the promises: whose are the fathers, and so forth. This not only Paul, but every holy man speaks, wishing that with the branches of the wild olive the root also might be saved. Now that inheritance is the one which we obtain from the Lord, of which the Apostle says: There are diversities of graces, but the same Spirit; and there are diversities of ministries, but the same Lord; and there are diversities of operations, but the same God, who worketh all in all.

Someone may wonder why, in place of "beautiful" and "good" plantings, which Aquila and Theodotion and Symmachus translated, we have said "faithful planting." The Hebrew word NEEMANIM (נעמנים), if written with the letter ALEPH, sounds πιστοὺς, that is, "faithful"; but if with AIN, and read NEAMENIM (נעמנים), it signifies "beautiful." Whence also Noemi, which is written with this letter, says in Ruth: Call me not Noemi (נעמי), that is, "beautiful," but call me "bitter." (Verse 12 and following.) Woe, a multitude of many peoples, like the multitude of the roaring sea, and the tumult of crowds, they shall sound like the sound of many waters. The peoples shall sound like the multitude of overflowing waters: and he shall rebuke it, and it shall flee far off, and shall be carried away like the dust of the mountains before the face of the wind, and like a whirlwind before the tempest. In the time of evening, and behold trouble: in the morning, and it shall not stand. This is the portion of them that have wasted us, and the lot of them that spoiled us.

Above we read, under the name of Damascus, of the calling of the nations, and the rejection of the Jews, and, through the Apostles and in the Apostles, of the election of the few among the Jews who believed. And since, in comparison with the whole world and all nations, only a small part of the people believed in Christ—of whom it was said above: And the remnant of Syria shall be as the glory of the children of Israel (for many are called, but few chosen; and: not all have faith)—now, accordingly, is added not a lamentation but a woe to these nations which refused to believe, and persecuted the Christian people. And they are compared to the masses of the waves and the raging sea, which, as far as in it lies, desires to overwhelm and occupy all things.

For the peoples shall sound in the spectacles of theatrical luxury, and in the cruelty of the amphitheatre, and in the furies of the circus, like the sound of overflowing waters, when with the united voice of impiety they blaspheme; and say that Christians should be thrown to lions and beasts, and other such things. But though they rage like the sea, the Lord shall rebuke the author of their sedition, and shall put him to flight from his people. And as dust stirred up in the mountains, the higher it is, the more forcefully it is swept away; and as a whirlwind, which rises from the earth, is carried aloft by a sudden storm: so also that one, being snatched away, shall be separated from God's people and shall flee, lest he be banished into the abysses. And when the day of consummation shall come, which is interpreted "evening," then there shall be trouble, as one recognizing his own sins.

And in the morning time, that is, the day of resurrection, it shall not stand, which the Septuagint rendered "it shall not be." But if it shall not be, what will they answer, who grant repentance to the devil, and promise him, as far as in them lies, the archangelic rank? These words are spoken either by the Christian people, or by the prophet in the person of the believing people, that everlasting destruction awaits their persecutors, who with exiles, prisons, and confiscations of goods oppressed the saints of God, and shall possess eternal punishments.

(Verse 1 and following.) Woe to the land of the cymbal of wings, which is beyond the rivers of Ethiopia, who sends ambassadors by sea, and in vessels of papyrus over the waters: go, swift angels, to a nation plucked up and torn apart: to a horrible people, beyond whom there is no other: to a nation that waits, waits, and is trodden down, whose land the rivers have plundered.

All ye inhabitants of the world, who dwell on the earth, when the sign shall be lifted up on the mountains, ye shall see, and ye shall hear the sound of the trumpet. Septuagint: Woe to the land of the ships of wings beyond the rivers of Ethiopia, who send hostages by sea, and papyrus letters upon the water. For light messengers shall go to a lofty nation, and a foreign and most wicked people, which is beyond it: a nation without hope, and trodden down, now the rivers of the whole land as a region that is inhabited: their region shall be inhabited, as if a sign were raised from a mountain, and the sound of a trumpet were heard. I have set forth both editions in this most obscure prophecy, lest anything should seem to be lacking to those wishing to understand what is written.

And at the same time I greatly wonder at those who think our faith and Christian hope should be content with simplicity, because it is written: The commandment of the Lord is lucid, enlightening the eyes: and that we ought not to seek more than that what has been commanded should be done: whereas for this very reason both all Scripture, and the Prophets especially, are wrapped in the mysteries of things to come, so that they may provoke us to understanding, and to that which is said in the Gospel: Ask, and ye shall receive: seek, and ye shall find: knock, and it shall be opened unto you. Since, therefore, according to the history and what is contained in the Hebrew, I have expounded in the fifth book, I shall now set forth what seems to me according to the anagogical sense. A prudent reader perhaps will inquire what is meant, in the Vision, or Burden, of Damascus, by the cymbal of wings and the things that follow.

After it was spoken of the calling of the nations, of the rejection of the Jews, and of the election of those who believed through the Apostles, and afterward of the multitude of nations and the persecutors, who were compared to the waves of the sea: it followed that the prophetic discourse should also announce concerning the heresies which have vexed the Church, and up to now lay it waste, which, while the master of the household slept, sowed over the tares in the field of the Church. And they are called "cymbal," not having the charity of God, according to that saying of the Apostle: If I speak with the tongues of men and of angels, but have not charity, I am become as sounding brass, or a tinkling cymbal. And not only a cymbal clanging with a hoarse sound, but, because of the levity of heretical speech running in various directions, they are called the "cymbal of wings," or, according to the Septuagint, "wings of ships," who, promising great gains, sail upon the waves of this age.

And by "wings of ships" understand the sails by which they are hoisted and drawn along. And he beautifully called the sails of ships "wings," for every heretic promises lofty things, and though he boasts of having wings, yet he sticks fast in the salt waves, and does not withdraw far from the land, and in the midst of his course suddenly suffers shipwreck. Whence Aquila, instead of "cymbal," translated "shadow of wings," for they do not have wings, but a likeness of wings. And what follows, "which is beyond the rivers of Ethiopia," signifies this, that in their impiety heretics surpass all others. For example: Epicurus says there is no providence, and that pleasure is the greatest good. More wicked than he, by comparison, is Marcion, and all the heretics who tear apart the Old Testament. For while they accept providence, they accuse the Creator, and assert that he erred in many of his works, and did not make things as he ought to have made them.

For to what use of men, they ask, do serpents, scorpions, crocodiles, fleas, bedbugs, and gnats pertain? These, then, are they who are beyond the rivers of Ethiopia, and who send by the sea of this age their ambassadors, that is, their disciples, who, carrying their volumes, are rightly said to carry vessels of papyrus, that is, of paper, over the waters, which are quickly effaced. For just as books near waters and dampness are soon obscured, effaced, and perish: so their speech and doctrine, although in the beginning it may seem to possess some strength, passes away and slips into oblivion. Therefore it is said to them ironically: O angels of the heretics, go swiftly. Whom the blessed apostle Paul calls false apostles, deceitful workers, who transform themselves into the apostles of Christ. And go to a nation plucked up and torn: plucked up from God, and torn by the bites of the heretics. To a horrible people; for nothing is more horrible than blasphemy, which sets its mouth against the heights.

Beyond whom there is no other people: for every sin, compared with blasphemy, is lighter. A nation that waits, waits, and is trodden down. For all heretics promise themselves heavenly things, and pledge great things, and yet are trodden down by demons. Whose land the rivers have plundered, which do not have their waters from heaven, but from the earth. For what corner is there, what remotest solitude of the earth, to which the turbid speech of the heretics does not reach? And so all who dwell and abide in the world raise their eyes to the sign of the heretics, which is lifted up as it were on the mountains, and hear the sound of the trumpet, that is, of their doctrine. This is according to the Hebrew.

But according to the Septuagint, the wings of the heretics are lamented, which fly like ships across the sea of this age, and surpass in impiety the pagans, whom Scripture now calls Ethiopians: and it is said to their doctrine and their speech: You who send by the sea of this age books, hostages of your perversity, and letters to deceive those who are about to read them. Light messengers go forth to a lofty nation, and a foreign and most wicked people. For no churchman has as much zeal in good as heretics have in evil, and they think they gain profit if they deceive others, and, being themselves lost, cause others to be lost also. Now the nation is called "lofty" because of pride: and "foreign" and "most wicked," because it is estranged from God.

Truly a nation without hope, and trodden down, whose rivers over the whole earth imitate the dwelling of the Church, so that they may find for themselves a lodging and a region, in which to raise the sign of their doctrine, and in which to sound the trumpet of the Scriptures. (Verses 4 and following.) For thus says the Lord to me: I will rest, and I will consider in my place: like clear light at midday, and like a cloud of dew in the day of harvest. For before the harvest it has all flowered, and the unripe fruit will bud, and its little branches will be cut off with pruning-hooks; and what have been left will be cut away and shaken off. And they will be left together to the birds of the mountains and to the beasts of the earth, and in perpetual summer the birds will be upon it, and all the beasts of the earth will winter upon it.

At that time a gift will be brought to the Lord of hosts from a people torn apart and lacerated, from a horrible people, after whom there was no other, from a nation expecting, expecting and trodden down, whose land the rivers have plundered, to the place of the name of the Lord of hosts, Mount Sion. God rests and contemplates in his place, or according to Aquila, in the firmament, that is, in the Church, of which the Apostle Paul speaks: "The pillar and firmament of truth". And he contemplates the things that happen in the Church; and as the light of midday is clear, so he surveys all things thoroughly: according to that which in the eighteenth Psalm is said by anagoge concerning the sun of righteousness: "Nor is there any that can hide himself from his heat". And just as a cloud of dew in the day of harvest is most pleasant even in scorching summer, so the Lord refreshes the inhabitants of his Church, in whose presence all things flourish.

And before the time of the consummation arrives, because now we know in part and prophesy in part, many perfect ones are found, of whom the Apostle speaks: "As many as are perfect, let us be thus minded". But the little branches, which are useless, will be cut off with pruning-hooks, the Savior saying in the Gospel: "I am the true vine, and my Father is the husbandman. Every branch in me that bears not fruit, he will take away, and every one that bears fruit, he will purge, that it may bring forth more fruit". And what have been cut off will be left to the birds of the mountains and the beasts of the earth.

To the birds, which plunder what is sown by the wayside, and to the beasts, to which is handed over a soul that does not confess God, so that whoever has been cut off by the Lord and cast away, and separated from his body, which is the Church, both in summer and in winter, that is, in prosperity and adversity, may be the dwelling-place of birds and beasts. But as those who are useless and unfruitful in the Church are cut off and cast away, lest a little leaven corrupt the whole lump, so, on the contrary, it can happen that those who had been deceived by heretical error, and torn away from the Lord and lacerated, and made horrible by blasphemy, and vainly awaiting lies, and trodden down by demons, and scattered by the rivers into various parts, when they have remembered their God and abandoned their most wicked teachers, may offer a gift to the Lord of hosts, nowhere else but on Mount Sion, and in the watchtower, which is interpreted as the Church.

We speak more briefly here, because we have already said much in the book of the historical explanation.

The burden of Egypt. Symmachus and Theodotion: The taking-up of Egypt. The LXX: The vision of Egypt. Where in the Hebrew it is written Massa mesraim (משא מצרים), which we have interpreted as "burden" or "weight of Egypt": for which Aquila translated ἄρμα Αἰγύπτου, we may say that from the fact that the prophet lifts and carries the yoke of the Lord, he was worthy to be one who should discern or carry the prophecy of Egypt. Whence I marvel that the LXX, also in the case of Babylon, translated "Vision" for "Weight"; and in the case of Philistia, and Moab, and Damascus, "Word"; and now in the case of Egypt, "Vision"; whereas in the Hebrew in all these instances it is not "Word" and "Vision" that is put, but MASSA (משא), that is, burden and weight.

But as for the fact that Symmachus and Theodotion always translated λῆμμα, that is, "assumption," we ought to know from this that the prophet received spiritual grace from the Lord, so that he might know the mysteries of Egypt, or behold them with the eyes of the mind, as the LXX translated. But this is not the Egypt which the Jews suppose, as Josephus thought, who in the books of the Antiquities relates that Onias the priest fulfilled the prophecy of Isaiah, building in the territory of Heliopolis, which the Egyptians call a nome, a temple in the likeness of the Temple of God, and an altar. For let us grant, indeed, that these things were said of Onias and of the altar which he built in Egypt—what then will be the five cities which speak in Egypt with the language of Canaan, of which one according to the LXX is called ἀσεδέκ; according to other interpreters, the city of ABS or ARES, or the city of the sun?

And who will be that savior who is sent to the Egyptians, that he might save them, and that the Egyptians might know the Lord? When did they worship him with sacrifices and gifts, and pay their vows? When did the Lord strike Egypt and heal it? At what time can we show that there was a way from Egypt to the Assyrians, and that the Assyrians entered into Egypt, and the Egyptians into Assyria; and that the Egyptians served Assur? When was Israel a third partner in Egypt; and among the Assyrians as a blessing in the midst of the earth, so that the Lord said: Blessed be my people of Egypt, and the work of my hands, Assyria? It is plain that these things do not pertain to that Egypt which the Jews reckon.

And so we can call this place which we inhabit, and the world which lies in wickedness, "Egypt," especially because MESRAIM (מצרים), which is called Egypt, is interpreted ἐκθλίβουσα, that is, "afflicting" or "reducing to straits." Nevertheless it must be known that many things of the Burden of Egypt, or Vision, pertain to the province of Egypt, which even to this day is inhabited and seen. But both in this and in other places of the Scriptures very many things are set down which could not stand according to the literal history: so that we are compelled by the necessity of the matter to seek a deeper understanding. (Verse 1 and following.) Behold, the Lord will ascend upon a swift cloud, and will enter Egypt, and the idols of Egypt will be moved from before his face, and the heart of Egypt will melt in the midst of it. And I will make the Egyptians run together against the Egyptians, and man will fight against his brother, and man against his neighbor, city against city, kingdom against kingdom.

And the spirit of Egypt will be broken within its bowels, and I will cast down its counsel; and they will consult their idols, and their diviners, and their pythons, and their soothsayers. And I will deliver Egypt into the hands of cruel lords, and a strong king will rule over them, says the Lord God of hosts. Very many things concerning the prophecy of Egypt, which Isaiah lifted up or saw, I have touched upon in the historical explanation. Whence now, according to tropology, the chief points must be gathered. The Lord ascends upon a swift cloud, the body of the holy Virgin Mary, which was weighed down by no burden of human seed: or certainly his own body, which was conceived of the Holy Spirit.

And he entered into the Egypt of this world; and immediately all the idols of Egypt were shaken, so that the divinations and all the fraud of idolatry, which held the deceived world in possession, felt itself broken; to such a degree that the magi from the East, taught by demons, or according to the prophecy of Balaam understanding that the Son of God was born, who would destroy all the power of their art, came to Bethlehem, and, the star showing the way, adored the child. Then the whole heart of Egypt melted away, and Egyptians rose up against Egyptians, according to what the Lord says in the Gospel: "Think not that I have come to send peace upon earth; I have not come to send peace, but the sword. For I have come to set a man at variance against his father, and the daughter against her mother, and the daughter-in-law against her mother-in-law". At that time also this was fulfilled: "A man's enemies are those of his own household".

And man will fight against his brother, and man against his neighbor. For in one house there were divisions, two against three, and three against two, and the father was divided against the son, and the son against the father, city against city, and kingdom against kingdom, of those who did not believe, against those who believed, or certainly of those who believed, wishing to save their neighbors. And the spirit of Egypt was broken within its bowels, so that they no longer felt alike; but, separated from one another by the spiritual sword, they recognized that all their counsel had been cast down; and nonetheless, remaining in their former error, those who were unwilling to receive the truth of the faith would consult idols, and their diviners, and pythons, and soothsayers. And when they had done this, the Lord delivered them into the hand of cruel lords, according to that apostolic saying: "Whom I have delivered unto Satan, that they may learn not to blaspheme"; that, oppressed by the harshest servitude, they might return to their most merciful Lord.

And beautifully he calls the demons cruel lords, than whom nothing is more cruel. The strong king also, who is their lord, is clearly understood to be the devil, whom the Lord in the Gospel also calls "strong," who, being bound and overcome, has the vessels of his house and his spoil plundered. (Verse 5 and following.) And the water of the sea will dry up, and the river will be desolate and dried up, and the streams will fail, and the channels of the embankments will be diminished and dried up. The reed and the rush will wither: the bed of the stream will be laid bare from its source, and every irrigated sowing-field will be dried up; it will wither, and will be no more. And the fishermen will mourn, and all who cast a hook into the river will lament, and those who spread a net upon the face of the water will languish.

And those who work in flax will be confounded, those who twist and weave fine linen, and its watered places will be withered, all who made pools for catching fish. Foolish are the princes of Tanis, the wise counselors of Pharaoh have given foolish counsel. When the strong king shall have ruled harshly in Egypt, all the doctrine and beauty of secular eloquence will wither, and the very fountain of all the rivers, the devil, from whom all lies arise, will be desolated: so that the other rivers and streams will fail, which were filled from the turbid waters of the Nile. The reed also and the rush will wither from excessive drought. For "rush" the LXX translated "papyrus," from which paper is made, adding of their own "green achi," which is not found in the Hebrew. And when I inquired of the learned what this word signified, I heard from the Egyptians that in their language everything that grows green in the marsh is called by this name.

But the reed, according to tropology, is empty speech, having nothing solid in itself; and the papyrus, which indeed seems to have pith and is not empty, is nevertheless fragile and withers quickly. All the streams also, once the head of the streams has dried up, will be dried up, and whatever was formerly watered by the waters for the Egyptians will be dried up and will be no more: so that the fishermen of Egypt, who are quite the opposite of the fishermen of the Lord, will mourn, and those will lament who cast the hook into the river, and spread the net upon the face of the water. Those who deceive individuals one by one cast the hook into the turbid waters. But those who deceive many at once, so that they speak publicly in the synagogues of Satan, and lead away flocks of peoples, these cast the net over the Egyptian waters.

Confounded also will be those who worked in flax, to make the garments of the priests; twisting it, and weaving fine linen: which properly pertains to the art of the dialecticians. For "fine linen" the LXX translated "byssus," which itself also is woven into the garments of priests. And what follows: "And its watered places will be withered, all who made pools for catching fish," signifies this, that all the snares of the fishermen of Egypt will be destroyed and will perish. For the "pools" that were made for catching fish, which we have interpreted according to the sense, in both the Hebrew and in all the interpreters, "souls" are put in place of "fish," so that we may be drawn from the literal history to tropology, namely that those fishermen, who made pools and pits, made them for this purpose, that they might deceive souls in them.

It should be noted that for "pools" the LXX translated ζύθον, which is a kind of drink made from grain and water, and is commonly called, in the provinces of Dalmatia and Pannonia, in the barbarous native tongue, sabaium. The Egyptians use this especially, so that they do not give pure water to those who drink, but turbid water, resembling mixed dregs, so that by this kind of drink the doctrine of heretical depravity might be shown. Then foolish will be the princes of Tanis, which is interpreted "humble commandment." For all heretics teach a humility contrary to loftiness, and drag down to the depths, and are princes of a humble and cast-down commandment. The counselors of Pharaoh also, who is the king of Egypt, and rightly is expressed as scatterer, and divided, and separated into various parts, will be proven to have given foolish counsel, when the Lord shall have destroyed the wisdom of the wise, and shall have rejected the understanding of the prudent.

(Verse 12. Seqq.) How do you say to Pharaoh: I am the son of the wise, the son of ancient kings? Where now are your wise men? Let them announce to you, and declare what the Lord of hosts hath purposed upon Egypt. The princes of Tanis have become fools, the princes of Memphis have withered away, they have deceived Egypt, the corner-stone of her peoples. The Lord hath mingled in the midst of her a spirit of giddiness, and they have caused Egypt to err in all her work, as a drunkard erreth and vomiteth. And there shall be no work for Egypt which head and bowing and restraining tail may do. Heretics are wont to say to their king, or to Pharaoh: We are sons of the wise, who from the beginning handed down to us the Apostolic teaching; we are sons of ancient kings, who are called kings of the philosophers, and we have the knowledge of the Scriptures joined to worldly wisdom.

Whom he now questions, or rather the very king of the heretics, where are his wise men who despised the simplicity of the Church: and he compels him to answer what the Lord of Sabaoth hath purposed upon the Egypt of this world, and what he is about to do at the consummation. Foolish are the princes of Tanis proved to be, who held the lowly precept of the heretics. All the princes of Memphis have withered away, who defiled themselves by the boasting of eloquence and of the mouth. For Memphis is interpreted "mouth," or "from the mouth," and metaphorically signifies speech. And what follows: They have deceived Egypt, the corner-stone of her peoples, or, according to the LXX: they shall deceive Egypt through the tribes, signifies this, that the kingdom of worldly wisdom is shown to be foolish, and the princes of the several dogmas, who are interpreted as the tribes, are convicted of having had foolish teachers.

For the Lord hath mingled among them a spirit of giddiness, or of errors, according to that which is written: And as they did not approve of having God in their knowledge, God delivered them up to a reprobate sense. And just as he who is holy can say with Isaiah: We will bring the spirit of thy salvation upon the earth, so he who is a sinner will produce a spirit of error, that is, a spirit of malice: according to what we also read in Jeremias: Thy transgression shall rebuke thee, and thy malice shall reprove thee. But if the heretic who does not receive the Old Testament be scandalized that the Lord is said to mingle a spirit of error or of giddiness, let him hear it written in the Apostle, that is, in the New Testament: God gave them up in the desires of their heart unto uncleanness. And again: For this cause God delivered them up to shameful passions.

And again: God delivered them up to a reprobate sense, to do those things which are not fitting. Now they are delivered up in the desires of their heart, because they changed the glory of the incorruptible God into the likeness of the image of corruptible man, and of birds, and of four-footed beasts, and of creeping things. Which indeed we read not only in the Epistle to the Romans, but also to the Thessalonians concerning Antichrist: Because they received not the love of the truth, that they might be saved, God shall send them the operation of error, that they may believe a lie, and that all may be judged who have not believed the truth, but have consented to iniquity: which I think the Apostle Paul took from the present reading of Isaias, in which he says: The Lord hath mingled among them a spirit of error, and they have caused Egypt to err in all her works, as, he says, a drunkard erreth and vomiteth, one who has been made drunk with vices.

Of these drunkards Joel speaks: Woe to those who are drunk without wine. And not only drunk, but also vomiting the fury of dragons, and the incurable fury of asps, so that after they have vomited out wine of this kind, they may understand their drunkenness, and know that as long as they were drunk, they had neither beginning nor end, that is, neither head nor tail, but were an animal cut off at both ends. For "beginning" and "end," which both Symmachus and the LXX have rendered, Theodotion, according to his custom, put the very Hebrew words CHAPHPHAE (כפה) and AGMON (אגמון), which Aquila interpreted as "bent" and "perverse." By the bent he wishes the old to be understood; by the perverse, wanton youths, who do all things perversely; and by this the meaning is, that in Egypt not only is head and tail lacking, but also old men and youths, that is, both beginning and end. Verse 16.

In that day Egypt shall be like women, and shall be astonished, and shall fear at the presence of the moving of the hand of the Lord of hosts, which he shall move over it. And the land of Juda shall be a festival to Egypt: every one that shall remember it shall be afraid at the presence of the counsel of the Lord of hosts, which he hath purposed upon it. At that time—for this, as we have often said, is what "day" signifies—when the Lord shall have mingled the spirit of error and of giddiness, so that Egypt vomits out the wine of dragons, and the incurable fury of asps, understanding her error and former drunkenness, Egypt shall fear like a woman, not with the sudden fear that is wont to befall men, whom Egypt does not love, but suffocates and slays, but with a womanly fear, whom alone Pharaoh wishes to live.

But she shall fear the moving, or lifting up, of the hand of the Lord, by which punishments are shown, which he shall move and raise up to smite Egypt. Then the land of Juda, that is, the knowledge of the Scriptures, the Law and the Prophets, the Gospels and the Epistles of the Apostles, shall be to Egypt for a festival, if she shall have known them: or for a fear, if by comparison with their doctrine and truth she shall have understood herself to have possessed a lie. Everyone who shall have remembered this land shall tremble with that fear which leads to life: For the fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom. And this we can understand not only of the consummation of the world, but also of the present time; that every heretic may fear the man of the Church, learned in heavenly doctrines, and be terrified at the remembrance of him. But he shall fear and tremble at the counsel of the Lord, which he hath purposed concerning the Egypt of this world.

We run briefly over each point, that we may pass on to the rest. Verse 18. In that day there shall be five cities in the land of Egypt speaking the language of Chanaan, and swearing by the Lord of hosts: one shall be called the city of the sun. The hand of the Lord, lifted up or moved over Egypt, profits much, so that the land of Juda may be to it a fear, and everyone who shall have remembered it may tremble. At that time five cities in the land of Egypt shall speak the language of Chanaan, which most of our writers understand as the five senses, sight, hearing, smell, taste, and touch. When we look upon a woman to lust after her, our sight speaks the Egyptian tongue. When we hear a judgment of blood, the Lord saying, Thou shalt not receive a vain report, our hearing speaks the Egyptian tongue.

When, according to the prophet, we live in delights, and lie upon beds of ivory, and are anointed with the finest ointments, our smell speaks the Egyptian tongue. When our belly is our god, our taste speaks the Egyptian tongue. If we do not hear that which the Apostle says: It is good for a man not to touch a woman, but on the contrary join ourselves to a harlot, our touch speaks the Egyptian tongue. But if, on the contrary, we shall lift up our eyes, and see that the regions are already white unto harvest, and shall in no wise be bowed down to the earth, but, like the woman of the Gospel who for eighteen years could not look up to heaven, shall lift up our eyes and say, To thee have I lifted up my eyes, who dwellest in the heavens, our eye and sight speaks the language of Chanaan. If we circumcise our ears, and hear the Lord saying: He that hath ears to hear, let him hear, our hearing speaks the language of Chanaan.

He who can say to the Bridegroom: We run after thee to the odor of thy ointments; and: We are the good odor of Christ in every place, his smell speaks the language of Chanaan. Taste too is taken in a good sense of him who eats the bread that comes down from heaven, the living bread and not dead, and hears that word: Taste and see how sweet the Lord is, at once speaks the language of Chanaan. But there is also a spiritual touch, of which the Apostle John says: Our hands have handled of the Word of life; and he who by faith touches Jesus, so that the Saviour can say of him: Someone hath touched me, for I know that virtue is gone out from me. We have learned how many good things the lifted-up hand of the Lord bestows; let us ask why the five cities of Egypt speak not the Hebrew tongue, but the language of Chanaan.

To which we shall try to answer thus: the Hebrew is called περάτης, that is, "one who passes over," one who passes from place to place. Therefore we too, though holy, as long as we are in Egypt, and dwell in the darkness of this world, cannot speak the Hebrew tongue, but the language of Chanaan, which is between the Egyptian and the Hebrew, and for the most part borders upon the Hebrew. Chanaan is interpreted as "a commotion," or "as one who answers." When therefore we withdraw from Egypt, and wish to go out from the power of Pharaoh, so that our land and our confession may be a terror to Egypt: then we are moved, and as it were answer the will of the Lord, and yet, because we are still in the present age, we cannot yet speak the Hebrew tongue. And what follows, that the five cities swear by the Lord of hosts, signifies that even here, though placed in this world, we should by no means remember demons, but remember the omnipotent God.

Of these five cities, since the names of the other four are not given, one is called the city of the sun, which seems to me to refer to sight. For just as, in order that a city be seen, it needs the sun and the moon; so, in order that our eyes be illuminated, we need the Sun of righteousness. (Verses 19-21.) In that day there shall be an altar of the Lord in the midst of the land of Egypt, and a monument of the Lord near the border thereof. And it shall be for a sign, and for a testimony to the Lord of hosts in the land of Egypt. For they shall cry to the Lord because of the oppressor, and he shall send them a Saviour and a defender to deliver them: and the Lord shall be known by Egypt.

Consequently, following what he had said above: In that day there shall be five cities in the land of Egypt speaking the language of Chanaan, and swearing by the Lord of hosts, it is now added: There shall be an altar of the Lord in the midst of the land of Egypt, which Onias, according to Josephus (Antiq. Bk. XIII, ch. 6), wrongly understanding, attempted to fulfill. And the monument of the Lord containing the Passion, on which was written in Hebrew, Greek, and Latin letters: Jesus of Nazareth, King of the Jews, unto the sign of the Cross, and for a testimony of all nations, which now are called Egypt. And when the persecution shall have increased because of those who trouble the name of Christian, then they shall cry out in their hearts: Abba, Father. And the Lord of hosts shall send a Saviour, that is, Jesus, and a Judge, or defender, to deliver them, that being delivered they may know the Lord, and themselves be known by the Lord; and where sin abounded, grace may superabound.

But one altar of Egypt, that is, of this world, is spoken of, that we may know all altars which are set up against the Church to be altars not of the Lord. Up to the end of the vision of Egypt, in the book of the Historical Explanation, because the prophecy was manifest, we have said that all things are to be referred to Christ. (Verse 20.) And the Egyptians shall know the Lord in that day: and they shall worship him with sacrifices and offerings, and they shall vow vows to the Lord, and perform them. And the Lord shall strike Egypt with a plague, and shall heal it: and they shall return to the Lord, and he shall be entreated by them, and shall heal them.

After the Egyptians shall have known the Lord, they will worship him with spiritual sacrifices and offerings; and they will vow vows to the Lord and pay them; and they will say with David: A sacrifice to God is a troubled spirit; and: The lifting up of my hands, an evening sacrifice; when, believing in the Nazarene, they themselves too shall be Nazirites, drinking neither wine nor strong drink, nor the vinegar that was offered to the Lord, nor whatever things are made from the grape of Sodom. And when they shall have paid their vows with Abel, and God shall have looked upon them, the elder brother Cain, that is, the people of the Circumcision, will envy them, and will shed Christian blood, which shall cry out to the Lord; and for this reason he shall go out from the face of God, saying of the Savior: Crucify, crucify him; and: We have no king but Caesar. He offers a vow and pays it to the Lord, who is holy in body and in spirit.

Zacchaeus also offered a vow, who promised half of his substance to the poor. It is asked, if a savior and champion is sent to the Egyptians to free them from their distresses, how can it now be said: The Lord shall strike Egypt with a plague? But let us consider what follows: And he shall heal it. For whom the Lord loves, he chastens. And the Savior himself, in the sixty-eighth Psalm, speaks to the Father: For they persecuted him whom thou hast struck: and they added to the sorrow of my wounds. If therefore he did not spare his own Son, but delivered him up for us, that by his bruises and wounds we might be healed: the Lord also delivered the martyrs to suffering, but again he will heal them at the resurrection, that by their wounds the faith of believers may be confirmed. Whence it is also said to Job: Do you think that I have spoken to you otherwise than that you might appear just?

For he causes pain, and restores to former health; and he visits his servants with the rod, that he may not take away his mercy from them. Whence the daughters and daughters-in-law who have sinned greatly, and have opened their feet to every passer-by, are not visited nor chastened, the Lord saying: I will not visit upon your daughters when they shall have played the harlot, nor upon your daughters-in-law when they shall have committed adultery (Hosea IV, 14). The Lord therefore strikes the Egyptians, not with fire, not with the sword, but with the rod. For what son is there whom the father does not instruct? So that after they have been healed, they may return to the Lord, and he may be appeased toward them, and heal them again.

For we always stand in need of God's mercy, and there is no end to his clemency. (Verse 23.) In that day there shall be a way from Egypt into the Assyrians: and the Assyrian shall enter into Egypt, and the Egyptian into the Assyrians: and the Egyptians shall serve the Assyrians.

As we have shown that the preceding things happened to the Egyptians for good, namely, that five cities in their land speaking the language of Canaan, and swearing by the Lord and by an altar of the Lord set up in the midst of the land of Egypt, and a pillar, and a testimony, and a sign, and a savior who should free them; and that the Lord would be known by the Egyptians, and they would know him; and that they would offer sacrifices and gifts, and pay vows, and being struck would be healed, and would return to the Lord, and he would be appeased toward them, and they would be healed again: so too what follows, that the Egyptians should serve the Assyrians, is to be taken in a good sense. For the Apostle also serves believers, that he may gain them. And Esau is made subject to his brother Jacob, that he may become a partaker of his blessings.

Therefore those of the nations who shall have been saved first, and shall have within them the altar of the Lord, will save by their servitude those who persist in hardness, and by mixture and association with them, they themselves shall go on to the Assyrians, that they may lead the Assyrians to Egypt; and afterward may be able to reach the Israelite people. For this reason, I think, a faithful woman also serves an unbelieving husband, that she may gradually draw him from Egypt and the Assyrians to Judea. (Verses 25, 26.) In that day Israel shall be third with the Egyptian and the Assyrian, a blessing in the midst of the earth, which the Lord of hosts hath blessed, saying: Blessed be my people of Egypt, and the work of my hands, Assyria: but my inheritance, Israel.

Israel shall be third with Egypt and with the Assyrians, that he may mix the whole mass with the leaven of his blessing, and that those who before were hostilely at odds with one another may be joined together by this clasp of blessing; and that Egypt may be the people of God, and Assyria the work of his hands, but Israel his inheritance. The Egyptian is blessed by the Lord, because he is blessed by association with Israel. And Assyria is the work of his hands, because in it he has shown forth his clemency. But Israel alone can say: The Lord is my portion; who beholds God with the mind, and is called his inheritance.

(Verse 1 and following.) In the year that Tharthan entered into Azotus, when Sargon king of the Assyrians had sent him, and he had fought against Azotus, and had taken it: at that time the Lord spoke by the hand of Isaiah the son of Amos, saying: Go and loose the sackcloth from your loins, and take your shoes off your feet: and he did so, going naked and barefoot. And the Lord said: as my servant Isaiah has walked naked and barefoot, it shall be a sign and a portent of three years upon Egypt and upon Ethiopia. So shall the king of the Assyrians lead away the captivity of Egypt, and the exile of Ethiopia, of young and old, naked and barefoot, with buttocks uncovered, to the shame of Egypt. And they shall fear and be confounded because of Ethiopia their hope, and because of Egypt their glory. And the inhabitant of this isle shall say in that day, Was this our hope?

To whom did we flee for help, that they might deliver us from the face of the king of the Assyrians? And how shall we be able to escape? For Tharthan the Septuagint have translated Thanathan: and for Sargon, Arna: what it means we cannot know. For we cannot invent false etymologies for false names. But these are not Hebrew names, but Assyrian, from which we understand that Tharthan sounds like "he gave a tower," or "superfluous," or "prolonging." Sargon, however, means "prince of the garden." This king of Assyria whom we read of above as having a great mind has very many commanders, of whom one is Tharthan, exalted in pride, and proceeding far in wickedness, and greater than the rest: and he is sent to attack Azotus, which in Hebrew is called ASDOD (אשדוד), and is interpreted "fire of generation"; and the commander of the king of Assyria conquers those who are slaves to generation and lust. And fittingly the king of the Assyrians, Sargon, "prince of gardens," is said to be given to pleasure and luxury.

In fact Ahab too, king of Israel, desired to turn Naboth's vineyard into a garden, which he, understanding according to the laws of tropology, preferred to die rather than to do, lest his father's inheritance and ancient possession should be turned into the delights of a wicked king. The Prophet is commanded, having put off sackcloth and shoes, to go naked and barefoot, and to be a sign and portent to the Egyptians and Ethiopians who persecuted the people of God, and who because of their pride were made humble. For Egypt is interpreted "persecuting" or "afflicting": the Ethiopians, "humble and cast down": for everyone who exalts himself shall be humbled. Who are to be led into captivity, and to suffer torments for three years, concerning which years we read in the Psalms: I thought upon the days of old, and I had the eternal years in mind. Let us not think these small punishments, but drawn out over long periods of time.

In this very captivity and transmigration of Egypt, the young and the old shall go—those who have been strengthened in malice and have arrived at the vices of full age—naked, that all their crimes may be exposed (For nothing is hidden that shall not be revealed), and barefoot, because they will not be able to eat the Passover of the Lord: for he who eats it has his loins girded, and holds a staff in his hand, and stands with shod feet, lest, passing through the wilderness of this age, he be bitten by serpents.

Then their buttocks shall be uncovered, through which dung is voided, and all the shame of Egypt shall be shown, so that those who had hope in Egypt and in Ethiopia may be confounded, and may see their glory changed into confusion: to such a degree that the inhabitant of this isle, that is, of the world, who is not a stranger and sojourner but desired to have perpetual possession of the world, confounded, shall say: Is this Egypt, and is this Ethiopia, from whom we hoped for help, that they might deliver us from the prince of this world? How then shall we be able to escape, when those in whom we had hope are themselves captured?

And this must be noted, that before Azotus is taken, the Prophet is clothed in sackcloth, and with shod feet, that he may indeed mourn for those who have been wounded by the burning darts of the devil and are slaves to lust; but nonetheless he himself walks shod, that he may be able to tread upon serpents and scorpions, and walk securely through the wilderness of this age, in which there are serpents and scorpions, and a thirst for good things. But after Azotus has been taken, he himself walks barefoot and naked. For in the Holy Land, to which he hastens to go, he could neither stand nor walk clothed in sackcloth, or with feet covered in skin, the Lord saying: Loose the shoes from your feet, for the place on which you stand is holy ground.

(Verses 1 and following.) The burden of the desert of the sea. As whirlwinds come from the south, it comes from the desert, from a horrible land.

A grievous vision hath been declared unto me: he that is unbelieving dealeth unfaithfully, and he that is a spoiler wasteth. Go up, O Elam, besiege, O Media: I have made all the mourning thereof to cease. Therefore my loins are filled with pain; anguish hath possessed me, as the anguish of a woman in travail. The Seventy: The vision of the desert of the sea. As a tempest passeth through from the desert, coming from the desert. A grievous vision hath been declared unto me from a horrible land: he that transgresseth transgresseth, and he that is unjust dealeth unjustly. The Elamites come against me, and the ambassadors of the Persians: now will I groan, and I will comfort myself: therefore my loins are filled with anguish, pains have taken hold of me, as of a woman in travail. What seems to us according to the History we have briefly said: now let us gather the sum of the tropology.

A vision, or a burden, is seen against the sea of this world: and it is seen by the Prophet, with how many temptations this world is filled. That the sea, moreover, is called the world (to pass over many proofs) I am content with one testimony of the Psalm: They that go down to the sea in ships, doing business in many waters. These have seen the works of the Lord, and his wonders in the deep. For they who work in this world the work of God, and say with the Prophet, I came into the depth of the sea, they see his wonders in the deep; and being freed from temptations and distresses, say that they have heard a horrible and hard vision. This same tempest, moreover, comes from the desert, in which the Lord also was tempted, and Israel lay open to the bites of serpents and the stings of scorpions.

And when it has come, it passes through and passes by: and then he who endures understands, that none transgresses save he who is a transgressor, and none deals unjustly save he who is unjust. That we, therefore, should be overwhelmed by the waves of the sea, and a fierce tempest oppress us, is the fault of our own vice, in that before the tempest we were transgressors and unjust. And as to what is said, The Elamites come against me, and the ambassadors of the Persians, the sense is this: the Elamites are interpreted as “despisers,” the Persians as “tempters.” Let those, then, who are wont to despise, to hold in contempt, and to tempt, come; but I will groan, and my groaning shall be my consolation. But my loins also are filled with anguish, and pains have taken hold of me as of a woman in travail, that from the fear of the Lord I may conceive and bring forth, and bring the spirit of his salvation upon the earth.

Rightly, however, according to the Hebrew, whirlwinds and tempests come from the desert, and from a horrible land, where God is not the inhabitant, and where all things are earthly: and whosoever is unbelieving does that which agrees with his unfaithfulness, and he who is a spoiler wastes. Whence he speaks boldly against the adversaries, Go up, O Elam; besiege, O Media: I have made to cease all the mourning of the desert of the sea, and of the horrible land, and of the most hard vision which was declared. For my loins, doing penance, are filled no longer, as before, with pleasure, but with pain, nor shall I say any more: My loins are filled with mockeries. For anguish and tribulation have possessed me, as is wont to hold a woman in travail.

The Vulgate edition and the Hebrew differ greatly from each other in this passage: therefore we shall briefly touch upon both, lest we leave to the fault-finders (φιλεγκλήμωσιν) an occasion for carping at us. (Verses 4, 5.) I fell down when I heard, I was troubled when I saw: my heart failed, darkness amazed me: Babylon, my beloved, is become a wonder to me. Set the table, watch in the watchtower, them that eat and drink: arise, ye princes, take up the shield. The Seventy: I did wickedly that I might not hear, I hastened that I might not see, my heart erreth: iniquity hath overflowed upon me; my soul standeth fast in fear. Prepare the table, watch in the watchtower: eat, drink: arise, ye princes, prepare the shields. Because of the hearing, and the most hard vision which the Prophet saw was to come from the desert of the sea, he says that he fell down and was troubled, and, his eyes almost darkened and his mind stupefied, did not know what he beheld.

For that Babylon (for which Aquila and Theodotion have rendered “darkness,” to signify this world, which lies in the power of the evil one, and whose princes are, according to the Apostle Paul, the rulers of this darkness), which was once dear either to the Prophet or to God, has become, in its own overthrow, a wonder. Whence it is commanded to the Prophet, that, feasting at the table of the Lord, and being satisfied with his food, he should more diligently contemplate the things that are to come upon the world: and it is said through him to all believers, that, eating and drinking the body and blood of the Lord, they should be turned into princes of the Church, and hear with the Apostles, Arise: and take up the shield of faith from the armor of the Apostle Paul, wherewith they may be able to quench the fiery darts of the devil. This according to the Hebrew, and the interpretation begun concerning the world.

Let us pass to the edition of the Seventy, which differs greatly from the foregoing. The Prophet reproves himself, nay, under his own person confesses the error of others, who, following the killing letter, despise the life-giving spirit; and he says that he did wickedly, in that he did not hear the law spiritually: but, on the contrary, hastened not to perceive the sacraments of God, nor said with David: Reveal my eyes, and I will consider the wondrous things of thy law. Therefore his heart errs, and, filled with Jewish superstition, stands not in the love of God, but in fear, so that he has the spirit of bondage in fear, and not at all the spirit of adoption, in which we cry, Abba, Father.

Whence it is commanded him that he approach the table of spiritual foods, and that all who follow his example eat at it, and drink: and, the old error being despised, that they rise up, they who lay in the letter, into the spirit, and become princes, and say with the Prophet: Lord, thou hast crowned us as with a shield of thy good will. (Verses 6, 7.) For thus said the Lord to me: Go, and set a watchman, and let him declare whatsoever he shall see. And he saw a chariot with two horsemen, a rider of an ass, and a rider of a camel; and he watched diligently with much heed, and the lion cried out. The Seventy: For thus said the Lord to me: Go, and set thee a watchman, and whatsoever thou shalt see, declare it. And I saw two horsemen riding, one riding upon an ass, and one riding upon a camel: I heard a great sound, and I called Uriah to the watchtower.

The Prophet is commanded to set a watchman in his heart, and to look more diligently at the things that are to come upon the world: and he saw two horsemen, one riding upon an ass, and one riding upon a camel. These a certain one has interpreted thus, that, according to the Gospel reading, and the prophecy of Zachariah, he said the rider of the ass was Christ; and, on the contrary, the rider of the camel, the opposing power, on account of the foulness of that crooked animal. Others, however, refer the two riders of letter and spirit to the two Testaments. And as to that which is said in the Hebrew, ARIE (אריה), for which Aquila and Symmachus have rendered “lion” and “lioness,” the Seventy, wishing I know not what, put οὐρίαν, which some interpret as “the light of the Lord,” though in other letters it is “the light of the Lord,” which is not found here, and in others it is written “lion,” which is read here.

And he would have that watchman, whom the Prophet is commanded to set in his heart, be called Uriah, and, by the interpretation of the name, he refers it to the understanding of Christ, so that, with him dwelling in us, we may be able to discern the things that are to come. Which indeed can also be fitted to the lion, since Jacob and Balaam are named under the mystery of Christ. (Verses 8-10.) Upon the watchtower of the Lord, standing continually by day, and upon my watch, standing whole nights. Behold, there cometh a rider, a man in a chariot of two horsemen, and he answered and said: Babylon is fallen, is fallen, and all the graven images of her gods are broken to the ground. O my threshing floor, and the sons of my threshing floor, that which I have heard from the Lord of hosts, the God of Israel, I have declared unto you.

The Seventy: The Lord said: I stood the whole day, and upon the camp I stood the whole night: and behold, there comes the rider of a chariot, and answering he said: Babylon is fallen, is fallen, and all her images, and things made by hand, are broken to the ground. Hear, ye that are left, and grieve: hear what I have heard from the Lord Sabaoth, the God of Israel hath declared unto us. The Prophet stands upon the watchtower of the Lord, and, set in his light, looks forward to the things that are to come. And this is his watch, and this the office committed to him, that in the darkness of this world he should discern the things that are to come. Behold, he says, there comes—signifying that he had seen what follows—that the Lord the Saviour comes, sitting upon a chariot, and joining one car of two horses, or rather living creatures, an ass and a camel.

The rider of the chariot answered the Prophet, who was longing and desiring to hear his words, and said: Babylon is fallen, is fallen, the confusion of the whole world: and at my coming she fell, when I assumed a human body, and she shall utterly fall in ruin at the consummation of the world. And all her graven images are broken to the ground. For which the Seventy have rendered “images” and “things made by hand,” signifying the varied errors of heretical writings and of heresies, which are makers of idols, and worship what they have fashioned from their own heart.

And as to what follows, in the person of the Prophet saying: O my threshing floor, and the sons of my threshing floor, that which I have heard from the Lord of hosts, the God of Israel, I have declared unto you—according to the Hebrew this has the sense: O people, who art to be stored up in my barns, whom I have therefore threshed with various distresses, that I might shake the chaff from thee, and that the purest wheat might be stored up in my barns, the things which I have heard from the Lord of hosts, the God of Israel, are to come upon the whole world, these I have declared to you all who are in the world. Others, however, say that it is still the higher person, namely, of the Lord the Saviour, who himself speaks to the Apostles: The things which I have heard from my Father I have made known unto you.

And because for this in the Seventy is read, Hear, ye that are left, and grieve, the sense here seems to me, according to their interpretation, to be this: O Apostles, of whom Isaiah writes: Except the Lord had left us a seed, we should have been as Sodom, and should have been like unto Gomorrah, whose remnant the Apostle also teaches to the Romans has been saved: ye who are left of the people of the Jews, that ye might be saved; and ye grieve over the perdition of your nation, of which we also read elsewhere: I have great sorrow in my heart, and continual grief for my brethren, who are Israelites according to the flesh: these things which I have heard from God the Father I declare unto you, which the God of Israel foretells are to come upon you. (Verses 11, 12.) The burden of Duma: unto me he cries from Seir: Watchman, what of the night? Watchman, what of the night? The watchman said, morning cometh, and also the night.

If you seek, seek: return, and come. LXX: The vision of Idumea, unto me he cries from Seir: Guard the ramparts, I keep watch morning and night; if you seek, seek: and dwell with me. The Hebrew word ELAI (אלי), which all have translated “unto me,” if you wish to read it ELI, is interpreted “my God,” or “my strong one.” And what we have said, “cries,” or “calls,” that is, καλεῖ, according to the Hebrews, and by the ambiguity of the Greek tongue can be rendered either “cry” or “call”; and the sense is: God, who is my watchman, calls me day and night to repentance, that leaving Seir, which is interpreted “shaggy and hairy,” I may return, and dwell with him.

Duma sounds like either “likeness” or “silence.” But Idumea is turned into “earthly.” The Lord therefore speaks to the chorus of the Apostles, and enjoins upon it: Call to me those who are of Seir, that the multitude of the nations may serve me, which, in the likeness of Esau, has in itself nothing soft and smooth and polished, but is shaggy, wild, unmanageable. And O you, Apostles, after you have called to me the nations from Seir, guard the ramparts of the Church, lest the enemy easily break in; lest the roaring lion, going about and seeking an entrance by which he might get in, tear apart and destroy the flock shut up in the Church. And the multitude of the Church responded: not only in prosperity, but in adversity, that is, both by day and by night, I will keep your commandments, O God.

To whom God speaks: If you truly seek me, show by deed that you seek me; nor let it suffice you to have sought once; but him whom you have found, always seek; and that you may hold him more perfectly, forget your people, and your father’s house, and, the error of the Gentiles abandoned, dwell with me in the Church. This we have said according to the LXX, who set the vision of Idumea, that is, of the “earthly,” in the title, so as to show that those are being called who previously served earthly works. Moreover, according to Aquila, who put Duma, that is, “silence” or “likeness,” we can understand it thus, that the multitude of the nations is called forth to the likeness of the people Israel, and where before there had been the silence of God’s law, there now is the cry of confession: and the wild olive is grafted into the good olive tree.

We also read in the parable of the Gospel that servants were sent, who should call both good and bad, and fill the householder’s feast with whomsoever they could, because those first invited were unwilling to come. The Church too can relate how the Lord cries to her from Seir, that is, from earthly places, and calls her forth to salvation, and she says to the Lord himself: O watchman, why, rising by night, do you dwell in darkness? Why are you, without sin, in sinful flesh? For what cause did you wish to assume a human body? The watchman answered—that is, the Samaritan, who in the Gospel carried the wounded man on his own shoulders to the inn: Morning comes, and also night. And the sense is: For the multitude of the nations the sun of righteousness has risen, and for the Jews darkness has come. According to what is said by the Lord: For judgment I have come into this world, that they who see not might see, and they who see might become blind.

And the same watchman, who had said, “Morning comes, and also night,” speaks to the multitude of the nations: If you seek me, seek more earnestly. Turn to me, O returning children, and I will heal your bruises, and come to me. These passages are difficult, and since according to the history they scarcely lie open, we are compelled, in accordance with the anagogical sense, to follow different opinions. (Verse 13.) The burden in Arabia. This is not found in the edition of the LXX Interpreters: but what follows, In the forest at evening you shall sleep, in the paths of Dodanim, is joined with the preceding vision, so that it reads: if you seek, seek: and dwell with me in the forest. Arabia, in our language, sounds like “evening,” which is the beginning of night and darkness, and everyone who has a beginning of sins is engaged in evening. But he who has come to the height stands in the middle of the night. Whence also in Egypt the firstborn are struck down at midnight.

And the Apostle Peter, before the cock crowed, denied the Lord three times, which is understood as midnight. But after the night had gone before, and day began to draw near, the darkness of midnight being overcome, and the cock, herald of the light, sounding, he wept bitterly, and understood his sin, and at that time he could say: At evening weeping shall tarry, and at morning gladness. This much for the present passage. For the rest, the name Arabia, that is, of “evening” and “the West,” receives different meanings in other places of the Scriptures.

In the forest at evening you shall sleep, in the paths of Dodanim. LXX: In the forest at evening you shall sleep in the way of Dedan. Those who have begun to be in wickedness, and enter upon the way of sins, do not sleep, nor tarry in cultivated fields, and fresh-broken lands, nor in meadows, and crops, which the Savior teaches are white for harvest, nor among fruit-bearing trees; but in fruitless forests, where briars and thorns are, and where beasts dwell. Of such a forest we also read in the book of Kings, that the forest, or the wood, devoured more than were slain by the sword, when Absalom rose up as a rebel against his father. And rightly, since evening is the beginning of evils, they are said to dwell in the way and in the paths, and in the way of Dedan, which is interpreted “judgments.” For as many kinds of sins as they have, so many sentences of judgment do they merit.

But Dedan can also be interpreted “great judgment.” (Verses 14, 15.) You who dwell in the land of the South, meet the thirsty, bring him water; meet the fugitive with bread. For they have fled from before the swords, from before the drawn sword, from before the bent bow, from before the grievousness of battle. LXX: In meeting the thirsty, bring water, you who dwell in the region of Theman; meet the fugitives with bread, because of the multitude of the slain, because of the throng of those wandering, because of the multitude of the sword, and because of the multitude of bent bows, and because of the multitude of those falling in war.

You who are in Theman, which is interpreted “South” and “perfection,” and dwell in that place of which it is written: God shall come from the South—and you who are made complete and perfect, and have in yourselves the light of the knowledge of the Scriptures—meet with water and bread those fleeing from Arabia and from the forest, and do not wait until they themselves come to you; but imitate that father of the Gospel parable, who ran to meet his returning son. And he indeed gave a robe, offered a ring: but you, offer water and bread to the fugitives, that they who were weary and worn out may be sustained by your mercy, and pass more quickly to your dwellings. For they have fled the swords of heretics, the doctrine of the Gentiles, the blasphemies of the Jews. And because they have seen many of their own slain by their darts, and very many fallen in battle, they themselves desire to be freed by your help.

This passage can properly be understood against those who, giving themselves over to leisure and idleness, are content with their own salvation, and do not extend a hand to those repenting and being converted. (Verses 16, 17.) For thus says the Lord to me: Yet within one year, as the year of a hireling, and all the glory of Cedar shall be taken away, and the remnant of the number of the strong archers of the sons of Cedar shall be diminished. For the Lord God of Israel has spoken. Therefore I tell you, that you should meet with water and bread those fleeing from the forest and from Arabia: because the Lord has promised these things to come.

As the year of a hireling passes quickly, who daily expects nothing else but the wage of his labor, or indeed is always at work and toil, that he may receive the wage of his labor: so all the glory of Cedar, which is interpreted “darkness,” of which we also read in the Psalm, “I have dwelt with the inhabitants of Cedar,” shall swiftly be taken away, and the whole number of archers, that is, of diverse doctrines, which used to wound those established in the forest of Arabia, shall be reduced to nothing, after those fleeing from the forest have been freed, and have received the water of saving baptism, and have eaten the heavenly bread. For these things to come the Lord of all, and properly the God of Israel, that is, of those who behold God with the mind, has spoken.

(Verse 1.) The burden of the valley of vision. LXX: The word of the valley of Sion. In the book of Hebrew Names we have set down that Sion is interpreted “watchtower,” which, situated on the heights, beholds things coming from afar. Since therefore Sion, according to the laws of tropology, is referred to the Church, as is that in the second psalm, spoken in the person of the Lord Savior: “But I am set as king by him over Sion, his holy mountain”; and: “They who trust in the Lord are as mount Sion”; and: “The Lord loves the gates of Sion above all the tabernacles of Jacob.” And more plainly the Apostle says: “You have come,” he says, “to mount Sion and the city of the living God, the heavenly Jerusalem”: we ask why in the present vision it is called the valley of Sion.

And by the very sequence of the words we are drawn to a spiritual understanding, so that we may know that all the princes of perverse doctrines, who have fallen from the height of the sense of the holy Scriptures, and have been rolled down to lowly things, dwell in the valley of Sion. Something of this sort, I think, Solomon also says in Proverbs: “The eye that mocks his father, and despises the old age of his mother, let the ravens of the valleys pick it out, and let the young eagles eat it.” For as soon as the mind of heretics has mocked the Creator Father, and despised the old age of Mother Church, it is picked out by foul and unclean birds, which are referred to the opposing powers. Nor can such as these say: “I have lifted up my eyes to the mountains, whence help shall come to me”; but, in the manner of brute animals, they are cast down to earthly things.

What, then, is the matter with you also, that you too have gone up wholly onto the housetops? LXX: What has now happened to you, that you have all gone up onto vain housetops? What is inquired according to the LXX interpreters in the book of Kings, as to what is meant by Elisha’s saying, “Where is the God of Elijah, aphpho,” is set forth more clearly in the present passage; for what the Seventy translated as “now,” in the Hebrew is aphpho, which we have translated “now indeed,” and Aquila, wishing to preserve the Hebrew idiom, put καίπερτοι, a conjunction which Latin speech does not render. But when it says, “What is the matter with you also?” it asks why she too, along with others, should climb up, and dwell among the lowly with the pretension of the lofty.

And the sense is: since the Philosophers swell with pride, and all worldly wisdom, disputing about lofty things, despises the simplicity of the Church, why do you too pursue the heights?—which the LXX, more significantly, rendered δώματα μάταια, that is, “vain housetops,” to show that there is also another housetop, from which the Savior forbids descent, which nevertheless is not a vain housetop. Indeed the Apostle Peter, at the sixth hour of prayer, went up onto a housetop. But now, to show the great variety of heresies, he named not one housetop, but many housetops. (Verse 2.) Full of clamor, a crowded city, an exulting town. LXX: The city of those who cry out is filled, a town exulting. The teaching of heretics does not consist in sense, but in much talk and clamor. Hence, on account of the multitude of the deceived, it is called a crowded city, and exulting, on account of pride. For, puffed up, they swell, and boast of having discovered more sacred things. Your slain are not slain by the sword, nor dead in battle.

LXX: Your wounded are not wounded by the sword, nor your dead, dead in battle. The greatest part, without any contest or dispute, is undermined by the deceptions of heretics, and this is a very great throng. The slain, then, or as the Seventy translated, the wounded of the valley of Sion, are not slain and wounded by the sword, but have gone over to the heretics of their own will; and in comparison with those who are conquered after battle, more unhappily is he wounded and slain who has surrendered himself of his own accord. Just as in martyrdom, he who, after torments, being overcome, has given his hand, incurs a lighter penalty than he who, without any necessity or pain of torture, has denied Christ.

Verse 3. All thy princes have fled together, and are harshly bound. In this place we have followed the interpretation of the Septuagint, because it does not differ much in sense from the Hebrew. But if I should translate word for word from the Hebrew, it reads thus among them: All thy chief men have migrated together, they are bound by the bow: which edition the other interpreters also followed. For all the princes of the heretics migrated to the synagogue of Satan from the Church of Christ, and remained together at variance in their perfidy, though concordant in their transit, and were bound by the bow, of which it is written in the Psalm: Behold the sinners have bent the bow, they have prepared their arrows in the quiver, that they may shoot in darkness at the upright of heart, and they send forth the fiery darts of the devil which wound alike, and bind.

And therefore they are harshly bound, because they have stopped up their ears like the deaf asp, and stopping up their ears, which will not hear the voices of the charmers, nor of the wizard charming wisely. For which reason the Apostle Paul also commands that a heretic, after one admonition, be left to his own perversity, because he is perverse, and condemned by his own judgment. For they went out from us, but they were not of us: for if they had been of us, they would no doubt have remained with us. Of these fugitive princes he is the chief, whom the same Isaiah calls the fleeing dragon, the twisted serpent, who, when he has sent deadly words into the ears of the deceived, binds them harshly, and does not allow them to come out of his bonds: concerning whom the saint, having been snatched away, rejoiced in the Psalm: My soul has been rescued like a sparrow from the snare of the hunters.

And in another place, rejoicing that he had escaped, he says: Thou art my protector and my refuge. My God, in him will I hope. For he has delivered me from the snare of the hunters, and from the harsh word, or turbulent word, which properly signifies the doctrine of the heretics. All who are found in thee are bound together, they have fled far off. LXX: And the strong ones in thee have fled far. The Prophet's speech still continues against the valley of Sion, whose inhabitants ascended to vain roofs, and cried out with confused clamor, and were wounded without battle, all of whose princes fled, and were harshly bound, and those who were strong among them fled further off. For the more prudent someone is in heretical perversity, the further he withdraws from the Lord. But as to his saying, according to the Hebrew: All are found in thee, we ought to note this, that the heretics also say that they have found those whom they have deceived: but their finding is destruction.

In short, they are bound together alike, and flee far off. Nor does that explanation please me, that according to the diversity of heresies there are different distances of those fleeing, since holy Scripture says: all who are found belonging to the heretics are bound together alike, and have fled very far, the Lord saying: He who is not with me is against me: and he who does not gather with me, scatters. Whence it is said of Moses, Moses alone drew near to God, but the rest did not draw near. For God is one who draws near to his saints, and not from afar, says the Lord. (Verses 4-6.) Therefore I said: Depart from me, I will weep bitterly: do not press upon me to comfort me over the devastation of the daughter of my people. For it is a day of slaughter and treading down, and of weeping from the Lord God of hosts in the valley of vision, searching the wall, and magnificent upon the mountain.

LXX: Therefore I said: Let me alone, I will weep bitterly: do not strive to comfort me over the destruction of the daughter of my race: for it is a day of tumult, and of destruction, and of trampling, and error from the Lord God Sabaoth in the valley of Sion; they err from the least even to the greatest: they err upon the mountains. And Samuel mourned for Saul, and the Lord and Saviour wept over Jerusalem: and the Apostle writes to the Corinthians: Lest when I come again to you, God humble me, and I mourn many who have sinned before and have not done penance. Whence, out of a feeling of compassion, he speaks also to others: Who is weak, and I am not weak? Who is scandalized, and I do not burn?

So the Prophet too, seeing the people of what was once the vision ascending to vain roofs, and being occupied in clamor; and all its princes having fled, and being bound with the bonds of sins, breaks out into tears, and drives away those who would console him, and testifies that he weeps with most bitter weeping, not over the sons, but over the daughter of his people, who has lost the dignity of virginity. For the day of judgment, and of slaughter, and of trampling down, will by no means belong to Jerusalem, which is interpreted vision of peace: but to the ancient name Jebus, which is interpreted treading down: of weeping too, or of error, as the Septuagint translated, from the Lord Sabaoth, not that weeping and error are from the Lord; but through the occasion of the holy Scriptures, which the Lord gave to be read, an occasion of error arises for those who can say: Why hast thou made us to err from thy way?

And in another place: The Lord has mingled among them a spirit of error: so that they might stand not on the mountain of vision, but in the valley of Sion. But this very day, which arises from the Lord of hosts in the valley of vision, in order to show the works of each, searches the wall of the heretics, which they have built against the Church as though a most firm bulwark; and the magnificent and glorious one, that is, their teachers, who glory that they stand upon the mountain of Christ. Of which we read elsewhere: Come, let us go up to the mountain of the Lord, and to the house of the God of Jacob: and he will announce to us his way.

Further, what the LXX translated, they err from the least even to the greatest, they err upon the mountains, we ought to understand this, that those who are greater are in greater crime, and yet all err from the least even to the greatest, and err upon the mountains: Moses, Jeremiah, and the other Prophets, Evangelists and Apostles. And while they are occupied in the valley, in a wondrous way they err upon the mountains: (Verses 7-9.) And Elam took up the quiver, the chariot of the man on horseback, and the shield stripped bare the wall. And thy chosen valleys shall be full of chariots: and the horsemen shall set their seats in the gate. And the covering of Judah shall be revealed: and thou shalt see in that day the armory of the house of the forest: and you shall see the breaches of the city of David, because they are multiplied.

LXX: But the Elamites took up quivers: riders: men upon horses: and a gathering of fighters: and thy chosen valleys shall be; they shall be filled with chariots, and horsemen shall crowd thy gates: and they shall reveal the gates of Judah: and they shall look in that day upon the chosen houses of the city: and they shall reveal the hidden things of the houses of the citadel of David, and they shall see that they are more numerous. Elam, which is interpreted their ascent, or the Elamites, as the LXX translated, whom we have rendered as despisers, have taken up the quiver, that they might shoot in darkness at the upright of heart, who are the riders in the chariot of men, so that they might strip bare with their shield and assault the wall of Sion and the foundations of the Church.

But there shall be, he says, thy chosen valleys, and humble teachings, O valley of Sion, full of chariots, which the Lord submerged along with Pharaoh, whose riders and mounted men shall set their seats in thy gates, so that they may not allow those besieged and shut up in thee to go out. Then Almighty God, through men of the Church, will reveal the coverings of Judah; and all the secrets of those who are established in the confession of faith, and then thou shalt see, O valley of Sion, in that day, and in the clear light of truth, the whole armor of the Apostle, and the house of the forest, in which the crowd of the Gentiles stands. As it is also sung in the hundred and thirty-first psalm: Behold, we have heard of her at Ephrata: we have found her in the fields of the wood.

But when the covering of Judah and the secret, which before was hidden for the sake of the mystery, shall have been revealed, and thou shalt have seen the armor of the Church; then thou wilt understand the schisms of the city of David, which thou hast multiplied, that thou mightest gather to thyself the deceived peoples.

These Elamites, according to the edition of the LXX, do not have one quiver, but several; and they are riders of men, in whose souls they ride; and there is a very great multitude preparing itself for battle against the Church; so that all its valleys are filled; and the horsemen stop up their senses, and by their combat provoke to contest the man of the Church, who is interpreted Judas: and as he brings forth the testimonies of the Scriptures, and refutes all the lies, the heretics shall see the houses of the city of David, and shall know all the things previously secret, how in the citadel of David—which is interpreted strong of hand, that is, of Christ—all the teachings of truth exist. These are obscure passages, not only according to the history, but according to the ἀναγωγή (the higher sense). Those, therefore, to whom our explanations are displeasing, ought to bring forth their own, so that we may agree to their explanation, if it be true.

Verse 10. And you gathered together the waters of the lower pool: and you numbered the houses of Jerusalem: and you destroyed houses to fortify the wall. And you made a lake between the two walls for the water of the old pool: and you did not look to him who had made it, and did not see from afar the maker of it. LXX: And they turned aside the water of the old pool into the city: and they destroyed the houses of Jerusalem to strengthen the walls of the city: and you made for yourselves water between the two walls within the old pool: and you did not look to him who made it from the beginning: and you did not see its creator.

You who shall see, or do see, the breaches of the city of David, that is, of the Church, which have been multiplied throughout the whole world; who have gathered the waters of your pool and of your doctrine, not the upper, but the lower one, and have numbered the houses of Jerusalem, or destroyed them, so that you might fortify your wall, you have not dug wells which might have living and eternal waters, but broken cisterns, which are not able to hold water. And you have made these between the two walls of the new and the old Instrument, and you have neglected the water of the old pool, and have not considered God the giver of the law, and have utterly neglected the maker of the world. This according to the Hebrew.

But according to the LXX, the heretics considered that they were many, and trusting in this multitude, they turned away the doctrine of the Old Testament from the city of God, which is the Church, and destroyed the houses of Jerusalem, that they might build the conventicles of the malignant; and while they reject the Old Instrument, and have not followed the New, because the New is strengthened by the testimonies of the Old Instrument.

Therefore between the two walls, the old and the new, they made for themselves new waters, which they think are more interior, and to contain greater mysteries than are contained in the Old Testament: and they did not look back to God, who is the founder of the Old Instrument, and did not wish even to see from afar its maker. (Verses 12 and following.) And the Lord God of hosts will call in that day to weeping and to mourning, to baldness and to the girding of sackcloth: and behold joy and gladness, the slaying of calves and the killing of rams, the eating of flesh and the drinking of wine: let us eat and drink, for tomorrow we shall die. And it was revealed in my ears by the Lord of hosts: surely this iniquity shall not be forgiven you till you die, says the Lord God of hosts.

Daily the Lord God of hosts summons heretics to repentance, who, despising the water of the old pool between the two walls, have dug for themselves a cistern, and gathered the water of the lower pool, which does not have its waters from heaven, but from the earth; and he calls them to weeping. For blessed are they that weep, for they shall laugh. And to mourning, lest afterward they hear: We have mourned to you, and you have not lamented. And to baldness, that they may shave off all the works of death, and remove from their body whatever does not live in the body. And to the girding of sackcloth, lest afterward, near Jerusalem, they be girded with a rope instead of a girdle. But those, on the contrary, instead of weeping and mourning, baldness and sackcloth, had joy and gladness, and as if all things were to end in death, killing calves and slaughtering rams, that they might eat flesh and drink wine, spoke the words of blasphemers.

While we are in this present age, let us abound in delights. For tomorrow, that is, the future time, will be without sensation. While they were saying these things, the Lord heard the words of blasphemy, and threatened that he would not forgive this iniquity, until either they die in their sin and vices, or are dragged down to hell with their offenses. This indeed can be understood not only of heretics, but of every sinner who, neglecting his sins, becomes worse through despair; and, ensnared by pleasures, joins blasphemy to sin, so as to think that all sense of the living ends in death, saying that saying of Epicurus: "After death there is nothing, and death itself is nothing." (Verses 15, 16, and following.) Thus says the Lord God of hosts: Go, enter in unto him who dwells in the tabernacle, to Sobna, the steward of the temple, and you shall say to him: What are you doing here? Or who are you here, that you have hewn out for yourself a sepulchre here?

You have hewn out a memorial on high, diligently in the rock a dwelling for yourself. Behold, the Lord will cause you to be carried away as a cock is carried away; and as a garment, so shall he lift you up. Crowning he will crown you with tribulation; he will cast you as a ball into a land wide and spacious: there you shall die, and there shall be the chariot of your glory, the shame of the house of your Lord. And I will drive you from your station, and depose you from your ministry. And it shall come to pass in that day, I will call my servant Eliakim the son of Helcias: and I will clothe him with your tunic, and strengthen him with your girdle: and I will give your authority into his hand, and he shall be as a father to the inhabitants of Jerusalem, and to the house of Judah.

And I will give the key of the house of David upon his shoulder: and he shall open, and there shall be none to shut; and he shall shut, and there shall be none to open. And I will fasten him as a peg in a sure place, and he shall be for a throne of glory to his father's house. And they shall hang upon him all the glory of his father's house, the divers kinds of vessels, every small vessel, from the vessels of cups even to every vessel of musical instruments. In that day, says the Lord of hosts: The peg that was fastened in the sure place shall be removed, and shall be broken and shall fall: and that which hung upon it shall perish, because the Lord has spoken. The LXX: Thus says the Lord Sabaoth: Go to the pastophorion, to Sobna the treasurer, and you shall say to him, What are you doing here? Or what do you have here?

For you have hewn out for yourself a sepulchre, and made for yourself a memorial on high, and marked out for yourself a tabernacle in the earth? Behold, the Lord Sabaoth will cast out and crush the man, and will take away the robe and your glorious crown, and will cast you into a great and measureless region, and there you shall die: and he will put your fine chariot into disgrace, and the house of your prince into a place of trampling. And you shall be removed from your stewardship, and from your rank. And it shall come to pass in that day, I will call my servant Eliakim the son of Helcias, and I will clothe him with your robe, and give him your crown firmly, and I will give your stewardship into his hands, and he shall be as a father to the inhabitants of Jerusalem, and to Judah, and I will give him the glory of the house of David, and he shall rule, and there shall be none to gainsay.

And I will establish him as prince in a sure place, and upon the throne of glory of his father's house, and every glorious one in his father's house, from the least to the greatest, shall trust in him. Every small vessel, from the vessels of aganoth: and they shall hang upon him. In that day thus says the Lord Sabaoth: The man who was established in a sure place shall be moved: and he shall be removed, and shall fall, and the glory that was in him shall perish: because the Lord has spoken. Isaiah the prophet is commanded to go in to him who dwells in the tabernacle, which in Hebrew is called SOCHEN (סכן), to Sobna the steward of the temple, or as the LXX translated it, ταμίαν, that is, the treasurer and steward of the treasures of the house of God. Now Sochen is interpreted either as tabernacle, or pastophorion, that is, the chamber in which the steward of the temple dwells.

But who else is it that dwelt in the tabernacle of the Jews, and once in the house of God, but the word and reasoning of the Jewish law, which is occupied in the reading of the Old Testament? To this tradition, then, and this teaching it is said: what are you doing here? Why do you wish to build yourself a house in the letter that is setting, and to fix your tabernacle, which has no foundation, in the firmness of a rock: which ought to be called not so much a tabernacle and house, as a sepulchre and memorial?

And I tell you this, that you need not labor in hewing out a sepulchre, because the Lord will transfer your priesthood; as GEBER (גבר) is wont to be transferred, which all have interpreted as "man." But the Hebrew who instructed us in the reading of the Old Testament rendered it "cock." Just as, he says, a cock is carried by the shoulder of a bearer from one place to another, so the Lord will lightly carry you away from your place. And you who once had the crown of the high priest, and the sanctification in the plate of gold, on which was written the name of God, shall be crowned with tribulation and distress. And just as, if a ball is thrown on a sloping and spacious place, it cannot stand, but rolls immeasurably: so all your people shall be scattered to the ends of the earth.

And there you shall die with your letter, and all your glory, and the chariots by which you were formerly borne renowned; and the splendor of the house of God shall be turned into shame. For the Lord will remove you from your station, and from your ministry, that is, from the ceremonies of the sacrifices, that what is written to the Hebrews may be fulfilled: For the priesthood being transferred, it is necessary that a transfer of the law also be made. But when you have been cast out from your ministry, I will call my servant Eliakim, of whom I have also said elsewhere: It is a great thing for you to be called my servant.

Eliakim is interpreted "God arising," or "the resurrection of God." This God arising, therefore, who is the son of Helcias, that is, of "the portion of the Lord," will take your place, and be clothed with your robe, and be strengthened with your girdle, so that what you had in the letter, he may possess in the spirit; and he shall be father to the inhabitants of Jerusalem, that is, in the "vision of peace," which is interpreted "Church," and to the house of Judah, where there is the true confession of faith. Whence he himself speaks to the Apostles: Little children, yet a little while I am with you. And to another: Son, your sins are forgiven you. And to another: Daughter, your faith has made you whole. I will give, he says, to him the key of the house of David, who opens, and no one shuts; who shuts, and no one opens.

And this very key shall be upon his shoulder, that is, in the passion, according to that which is written elsewhere: Whose government is upon his shoulder. For what he shall have opened by his passion cannot be shut; and what he shall have shut in the ceremonies of the Jews will be opened by no one else. For I will fasten him as a peg in a sure place, where the assembly of the Faithful is. Whence also believers in Christ are called "the faithful." And he shall be for a throne of glory of his father's house, that is, of the Church: and they shall hang upon him all the glory of his father's house. Whence also it is written in the Gospel: All the people hung upon him. Which indeed was not done only at that time, but is fulfilled even to this day, so that the divers vessels of God, as it were—wisdom and justice, and all things by which Christ is named—hang upon him.

The divers kinds of vessels, for which Aquila interpreted SASAIM (צאצאים) and SEPHOTH (צפעות), which Symmachus rendered as "grandsons and mixed peoples": that both the Apostles and all believers, that is, the children of children, and those mixed together from all nations, may hang upon him. From the vessels of cups, for which Theodotion put AGANOTH (אגנות), for both small and great shall believe in the Lord. Now I think the "cups" are the Apostles, full of living waters. Of whom it is said: Bless God from the fountains of Israel, in which cups wisdom has mixed her wine. And every vessel, he says, of musical instruments, of those who at all times sound forth in the praises of God. What follows seems contrary to our understanding, how this peg, which had been fastened in the sure place, is removed and broken and falls and that which hung upon it perishes, and this happens because the Lord has spoken.

This can be resolved thus, if we read that saying of the Gospel, that in the last days the charity of many shall grow cold; and the Lord himself says: Do you think that the Son of man, when he comes, shall find faith on the earth? The peg, therefore, will not be broken and fall and perish, which it is impious to say; but the peg will be removed from the sure place, that is, from the Church, through impiety daily increasing, and those who before had hung upon it by faith will afterward, by unbelief, be broken and fall and perish. But this will happen in the last days, because the Lord has spoken.

Instead of "peg," which in Hebrew is called JATHED (יתד), and is rendered similarly by all, only the LXX have interpreted it above as "prince," here as "man." And what, in the haste of dictation, nearly escaped us: Sobna is interpreted "to turn now," or "conversion." It is said, then, to the prince of the Jews that he should turn from the Law to the Gospel: and, leaving behind the images of sacrifices, transfer himself to the truth of spiritual sacrifice.

(Verse 1.) The word concerning Tyre. What we think about the burden, or the word and the taking up, of Tyre, according to the Hebrews, we have already said above in the book of the ten Visions of historical exposition. Now we shall briefly run through the whole prophecy against Tyre according to the ἀναγωγή (anagogical sense), and the edition of the LXX. Tyre in the Hebrew tongue is called SOR (צר), and is rendered in our language "narrowness" (angustia). Every soul, therefore, occupied with vices and wicked thoughts, may be called Sor.

Howl, ye ships of Carthage, for they have perished, and shall come no more. From the land of the Cittim it is led away captive. To whom are the inhabitants of the island made like, the traders of Phoenicia, crossing the sea in many waters, the seed of traders as of harvests brought in, the traders of the nations. For "Carthage," in the Hebrew there is written THARSIS (תרשיש), which all have translated in the same way. Now Tharsis is interpreted "contemplation" or "exploration of joy." The Cittim also, which in Hebrew is called CHETIM (כתים), is interpreted "congealing sea"; and for "Phoenicia" among them "Sidon" is read. Rebuked, then, are those whom a throng of evil thoughts surrounds, and who, wishing according to the Apostle to become rich, fall into temptations and the snares of the devil, and many hurtful desires, which draw men down into the depths.

And it is said to them that they ought to howl, knowing that all the trading of this world is to perish, and that the contemplation of joy and gladness is to be turned into mourning and tears. For this sea shall no more be able to be sailed; but all things shall congeal, and the colonies of the Tyrians shall be led captive into punishments. For none other are like those who dwell in that island, but traders, or interpreters who are carried about by every wind of doctrine, and pass from one vice to another. Now we dwell in an island so long as we are buffeted by the temptations of this age; and on every side our island and little ship of the sea is struck by the waves. Now the traders of this island are from Sidon, which is interpreted "huntress," and in which dwell very many hunters. Of whom it is written: "He will deliver thee from the snare of the hunters".

And in another place the saint rejoices that he has been delivered from their snares, saying: "Our soul as a sparrow hath been delivered out of the snare of the hunters". Now all the traders of the nations are compared to crops, which quickly wither, or to the harvests of the river which have no rain from heaven, but from the earth; and therefore they are to perish along with the nations. Where we read "the seed of the traders," in the Hebrew it is written "the seed of Sior," which is understood to mean "of the Nile," because it has turbid waters with which the crops of Egypt are irrigated. (Verses 4-5.) Be ashamed, O Sidon, said the sea; and the strength of the sea saith, I have not travailed nor brought forth, nor nourished young men, nor exalted virgins. But when it shall be heard in Egypt, they shall be grieved at the news of Tyre.

The sea of this age, in which dwell small animals along with great, and the dragon which God formed to sport with him, seeing those captured by the hunters of Christ, who hunt on every mountain and hill, who had before been captured by demons, speaks to the opposing strength of the hunters, which is interpreted "Sidon," and says to her: Be ashamed, Sidon; for I have not travailed, nor brought forth, nor nourished young men captured by thee, nor raised up virgins whose folly is condemned in the Gospel. For my travail, and childbearing, and nourishment, and raising up of virgins, has been blotted out by the travail of the Apostles of Christ; one of whom said: "My little children, of whom I travail again, until Christ be formed in you". And: "I have given you milk to drink, not meat". And again: "But I would have you all present a chaste virgin to Christ".

When Egypt shall hear this, which in Hebrew is called MESRAIM (מצרים), which is interpreted ἐκθλίβουσα, that is, "afflicting" and "constraining," she too shall be terrified, understanding that she herself is to suffer the same things that Tyre has suffered. And though this may be referred to all vices generally, it can also be understood in the diversity of heresies, when one, seized by heresy, causes another to tremble, and in the confusion of one, another perceives that he himself is to be captured. Just as it is said of Sodom: "For if the mighty works had been done in them which have been done in Capharnaum, they would have remained until this day"; and it is added: "But it shall be more tolerable for Sodom in the day of judgment than for you"; so we learn concerning Tyre and Sidon from the Saviour saying: "But it shall be more tolerable for Tyre and Sidon in the day of judgment than for that city".

Whence also the Canaanite woman, who at the entreaty of Christ understood that her daughter, that is, her own soul, was vexed by a most grievous demon, is said to have gone out from the borders of Tyre and Sidon. For she could not otherwise have come to meet the Saviour, unless she had left the borders of Tyre and Sidon. (Verses 6, 7.) Pass over to Carthage: howl, ye that dwell in this island. Is not this your affliction from of old, before she was delivered up? Her feet shall lead her far off to sojourn. What follows: "her feet shall lead her far off to sojourn," has been added from the Hebrew, and is marked with an asterisk, that is, prefixed with stars indicating illumination.

O Tyrians, who dwell in narrow straits and abide in an island, who on every side are exposed to the waves of temptation, withdraw from it, and go to Carthage, that is, to Tharsis, and hasten to true joy, mourning your ancient sins and the old affliction which you either inflicted upon others, or suffered from them. This I command for this reason, because you perceive your city of Tyre is to migrate from its seats and purpose to other borders, when, the old error laid aside, they shall bow their necks to the Gospel of the Saviour, so that those who formerly dwelt in narrow straits may withdraw farther off, and become strangers and dwellers in the doctrine of the Lord the Saviour. (Verses 8, 9.) Who hath taken this counsel against Tyre? Is she not less, or does she not prevail? Her traders were princes of Chanaan, the honorable ones of the earth.

The Lord of hosts hath purposed to dissolve all the pride of them that glory, and to bring into disgrace all that is honorable upon the earth. The word "Chanaan" has been added from the edition of Theodotion, for which Aquila translated "traders." The Holy Spirit, therefore, asks—or rather, by the very asking confirms—that the Lord has purposed these things against the princes of Tyre, whose whole industry is to seek riches by trading.

And just as in the Gospel we read of merchants of pearls, who, having sold all things, desire to buy one pearl, and are surely to be called illustrious traders not of earth, but of heaven: so on the other hand the traders of Tyre, that is, of tribulation and distress, are to be called the honorable ones of the earth, because whatever they do has regard to the earth; and princes of Chanaan, which is interpreted "wavering" and "moved." For they do not set their feet upon the rock, nor can it be said of them: "The rock is a refuge for the hedgehogs", or for the hares; but rather they endure what the just man well-nigh suffered: "But as for me, my feet were almost moved; my steps had well-nigh slipped". The Lord of hosts, therefore, has purposed this counsel, to dissolve the most evil bonds of the traders, or rather to scatter the compacted wrong by which all who are subject to Tyre grow proud.

And when he adds, "and to bring into disgrace all that is glorious upon the earth," the Lord is not the author of the disgrace, but shows to be disgraceful what is manifestly shameful of itself. Which indeed we also read concerning the priests in Leviticus: "With defilement he has defiled him"—doubtless the priest—not that he is the author of the defilement, but that he shows him to be defiled who before seemed clean to many. (Verses 10, 11.) Till thy land: for the ships come no more from Carthage, and thy hand no more prevails, which used to provoke kings in the sea. In this passage the Septuagint edition differs much from the other translators, and from the Hebrew itself; but let us pursue our proposed course. Above he had said: "Pass over to Carthage, howl, ye that dwell in the island." Now he speaks the contrary, because ships no longer come from Carthage: till thy land.

For it was of profit to Tyre that foreign ships should perish, that she might be compelled to till her own land. Of which it is said in Proverbs: "He who tills his own land shall be satisfied with bread", so that she may live not by the uncertain hazard of waves and shipwrecks, but by the fruits of her own labor. Of which it is sung in the Psalms concerning the just man: "Thou shalt eat the labors of thy hands". It is written in Hosea that the ways of the harlot are hedged about by the Lord with thorns, so that she cannot follow her lovers, that, being compelled by this necessity, she might return to her former husband.

Which also we frequently observe in the affairs of this age, that many who through prosperity and abundance of all things could not perceive the Lord, come to understand through want, and are converted to the works of righteousness, after their hand has ceased to prevail in the enjoyment of the felicity of this age, which before used to provoke kings in the sea, or, according to Symmachus, "used to trouble" them; whose heart is in the hand of God. And would that we too, despising the trading of this sea, might till our own land, and by no means wait for the ships of Carthage, or the ships of Tyre, which were wont to go to Carthage, lest we be subjected to the power of the dragon, who rules in the sea! But let us fix a steady step upon the land, or rather, hastening toward the things of heaven, let us till our own land, that sowing here, we may reap there.

Let our hand also, which formerly was occupied in the affairs of the world, and by its power and prosperity could move even kings, that is, the saints, from their state, become weak in the affairs of the sea, that it may be strong in the working of its own land. (Verse 12.) The Lord of hosts hath purposed concerning Chanaan to destroy the strength thereof, and they shall say: Ye shall no more add to do injury and iniquity to the virgin daughter of Sidon. That Tyre and Sidon are in the land of Chanaan we have shown above, presenting the testimony of the Gospel, in which it is read that the Canaanite woman, or the Syrophoenician, went out from the borders of Tyre and Sidon, and met the Lord the Saviour.

Now every soul that is set amid the waves of this age, and is carried about by every wind of doctrine, is to be called Chanaan, which is interpreted as it were "a wavering" or "a disturbance." Whence also to the elder adulterer it is said: "Thou seed of Chanaan, and not of Juda, beauty hath deceived thee". It is profitable, therefore, to Tyre and to her narrow straits that the strength of Chanaan should perish, that it may be said to her inhabitants that they can no longer do injury, and oppress with iniquity the virgin daughter of Sidon. Whoever is captured by the devil in the disturbance of divers vices, and is delivered up to the reproaches of disgrace, so as to defile the body with pleasures and baseness, this one is a son or a daughter of Sidon.

And this should be known, that "of hosts" is not found in the Hebrew, and conversely "virgin" has been added from the Hebrew. (Verse 13.) If thou go into the Cittim, there also thou shalt have no rest; and if to the land of the Chaldeans, that too has been laid waste by the Assyrians. Siim founded it, they set up its bulwarks, they raised its tower: its wall has fallen. What follows, from the edition of Theodotion, has been added under asterisks: "Siim founded it, they set up its bulwarks, they raised its tower"; and without asterisks is joined: "its wall has fallen." The Cittim are interpreted "a plague completed" or "perfect"; the Chaldeans in this passage, as it were "breasts"; the Assyrians, "those who reprove." The etymology of Siim we too have not been able to find, and the other translators rendered it by the very name by which it is written among the Hebrews.

It is said, therefore, to Tyre, that although she strive to go to the Cittim, and to avoid the plague of her own distresses, she shall not be able to find perfect rest even there. And again, if she desire to go to the Chaldeans, and enjoy their abundance and the plenty of all things, she shall find them also desolate, the Assyrians reproving their barrenness—according to what the Apostle also handed down, delivering sinners to Satan, that they might learn not to blaspheme: who are delivered unto the destruction of the flesh, that the spirit may be saved. Now the Siim laid the foundations of the Chaldeans, whom I understand to be most evil demons, who raised up both the bulwarks and the most proud towers of the city of the Chaldeans against the knowledge of the Lord. But all their building has fallen into ruins; for it follows, "its wall has fallen." For "except the Lord build the house, they labor in vain that build it".

We often see in this age certain persons pass from one purpose to another. For example, those who have fared badly in military service pass over to trading. And again, lawyers take up the arms of warriors. They change their pursuit, that they may change their misfortune; and nonetheless, by the dispensation of God, to those whom he deigns to save, all things turn out contrary to their striving, so that through want and miseries they may be compelled to place their trust not in themselves, but in their Creator. (Verse 14.) Howl, ye ships of Carthage: for your strength has perished. The ships of Carthage, that is, of Tharsis, are bidden to howl: not, as above, that they have perished or shall not come; but that their strength has perished. For Tharsis, according to another interpretation, is rendered in our tongue as "the completion of six," or "joy." Now we read that in six days this world was made, which, according to the traditions of the Church, is afterward to be completed.

All the goods, therefore, of this age, and the whole labor of mortals, are compared to the uncertain course of ships, in that they are soon to perish, and all the strength of those who sail shall be dissolved. Whence also it is written in Solomon: "The wise man scaled the strong cities, and threw down the fortresses thereof". For whatever is put together by the art of heretics and of secular wisdom, and of contrary doctrines, the man of the Church destroys, and teaches to be subject beneath his feet. (Verse 15. Et seqq.) And it shall come to pass in that day, that Tyre shall be forgotten seventy years, according to the days of one king; as the time of a man. And after seventy years, Tyre shall be as the song of a harlot. Take a harp, go about the city, thou forgotten harlot; make sweet melody, sing many songs, that thou mayest be remembered.

And after seventy years the Lord shall visit Tyre, and she shall return to her ancient state; and her merchandise shall be with all the kingdoms of the world, upon the face of the earth. And her merchandise and her hire shall be holiness to the Lord: it shall not be gathered for themselves, but for those who dwell before the Lord. All her merchandise shall be to eat and drink and be filled, unto assembly, a memorial before the Lord.

That which is said, "a memorial before the Lord," and "upon the face of the earth," and "as the time of a man," is not found in the Hebrew, but has been added in the Greek.

For seventy years Tyre, once brought low, is left desolate, so that when the time of her solitude is fulfilled, she may turn her once harlot's song into praises of God, and taking up the harp may have all its strings sounding together in harmony: that after she has sung well and much, she may come again into remembrance with God, she who had been given over to oblivion on account of her fornication; and may be restored to her former state, and have the riches of the kingdoms of the whole world, and the wages of her labor may by no means be gathered for the Tyrians, but for those who dwell in the sight of the Lord, and they may eat and drink, and be filled with all the good things that shall have been brought together by the labor of all, for the joy of the feast. The divine word exhorts Sidon and Tyre to repentance, and promises that her labors and her wages shall be sanctified to the Lord.

Who among sinners might not have hope of salvation, if only he sings well, and all the strings of the virtues, which had once been slackened, are tuned again to the praises of the Lord? We read in the forty-fourth Psalm, which pertains specially to the union of the Bridegroom and the Bride, that is, to the mysteries of God the Savior and the Church, among other things it is said: "The daughters of Tyre shall entreat thy face with gifts, even the rich among the people". And again the Bridegroom himself speaks to the Tyrian bride: "Hearken, O daughter, and see, and incline thine ear; and forget thy people and thy father's house, for the king hath greatly desired thy beauty". Whence also, in the description of her beauty, it is added: "The queen stood at thy right hand, in gilded clothing, surrounded with variety". And again: "All the glory of the king's daughter is within".

But if the king desired the beauty of the penitent Tyre, adorned with the ornaments of varied virtues, how much more shall her wages and her merchandise belong, not to those who remain in Tyre, but to those who dwell in the sight of the Lord! Who, after they have done penance, shall hear from the Lord Savior: "Eat, O friends, and drink, and be inebriated, O dearly beloved". What it is to eat and drink and be filled with the gathering together of all the virtues, the faithful reader understands. That the temple was desolate for seventy years is taught both by Jeremiah and Daniel and Zechariah. And in Ezekiel we read of Sodom, that she shall be restored to her ancient state, and of Egypt, that after the desolation of the land of Egypt and the drying up of the seven rivers, she shall recover her ancient fertility.

Now the number seven and seventy, which is made up either of single days, or of seven decades, signifies perfect and complete repentance: so that justly Tyre, when the time of her penitence is fulfilled, returns to her former state. Of this harlot, I think, that saying too in the Proverbs of Solomon is mystically signified: "Give no heed to a wicked woman; for honey drops from the lips of a harlot woman, which for a while delights thy throat, but afterward thou shalt find it more bitter than gall". For through the window of her house she looks out into the streets: because broad and spacious is the way that leads to death, and whatever unwise youth she sees—for she dares not tempt the wise—she goes by the corners, they who have lost the straight line: she speaks to him in darkness and in gloom, and under the guise of pleasures leads him like a victim to death.

But if she be converted, and sing well, and fulfill the time of years of perfect penitence, she shall eat and drink, and be filled. Let Novatian hear this, and be silent.

The sixth and seventh books above contain the allegory of the fifth volume, which I formerly dictated by way of historical explanation. The present work, that is, the eighth book, returns to the interpretation I had begun, so that it may discuss both the history and the tropology together, according to each edition. And if this should seem long to thee, O virgin of Christ, Eustochium, do not impute it to me, but to the difficulty of Holy Scripture, and especially of the prophet Isaiah, who is wrapped in such great obscurities, that on account of the greatness of the matter, I consider brief what is in itself long. Certainly we write for the studious, and for those who desire to know Holy Scripture, not for the fastidious, and those who are nauseated at every particular. If they desire a flood of eloquence, and polished declamations, let them read Cicero, Quintilian, Gallio, Gabinianus, and—to come to our own—Tertullian, Cyprian, Minucius, Arnobius, Lactantius, Hilary.

Our purpose is that Isaiah be understood through us, and by no means that our own words be praised under the occasion of Isaiah.

(Verse 1.) Et seqq.) Behold, the Lord shall lay waste the earth, and strip it bare, and afflict the face thereof, and scatter abroad the inhabitants thereof: and it shall be, as with the people, so with the priest: and as with the servant, so with his master: as with the handmaid, so with her mistress: as with the buyer, so with the seller: as with the lender, so with the borrower: as with the creditor, so with the debtor: with utter waste shall the earth be laid waste, and with utter spoil shall it be plundered: for the Lord hath spoken this word.

After the special reproof of individual nations—Judea, Babylon, the Philistines, Moab, Damascus, Israel, Egypt, the desert of the sea, Idumea and Arabia, the valley of vision, and last of all Tyre—concerning the explanation of which we have said what we could—now the prophetic word describes what the whole world is to suffer at the consummation, and prophesies no longer concerning individual nations, but concerning all together. And first indeed what torments the impious are to suffer, and how, according to the Gospel and the Apostle, heaven and earth shall pass away, and the fashion of this world, and sinners shall be brought down into hell, of whom it is written: "They shall go into the lower parts of the earth, they shall be delivered into the hands of the sword, they shall be a portion for foxes". Then, because according to the quality of merits there are many mansions with the Father, it is told how the saints are caught up in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air, and shall ever be with him.

For "the earth laid waste," the Seventy have rendered "the corrupted world"; and for "the face thereof afflicted," that is, of the earth, the same have translated "and he shall reveal its face," that the dead may come forth from their graves; or "he shall strip it bare," that all its works may be brought forth into public view, and its inhabitants scattered into diverse places, destined for rewards or punishments. Then there shall be no difference between noble and ignoble, priest and layman, servant and master, handmaid and mistress, rich and poor, lender and one weighed down by another's debt, buyer and seller. For all shall stand equally before the judgment seat of Christ, nor shall there be respect of persons with God. Of which Job too speaks in almost the same words: "Small and great are there, and the servant that feareth not his master". And the Savior in the Gospel, to whom all judgment has been given, testifies at full length.

The earth therefore shall be laid waste, and all earthly works shall be reduced to nothing, so that, the image of the earthly (χοϊκοῦ) being abolished, the image of the heavenly may remain. For the first man is of the earth, earthy; and the second man is from heaven, heavenly: as is the earthy, such are they also that are earthy; and as is the heavenly, such are they also that are heavenly: that as we have borne the image of the earthy, we may also bear the image of the heavenly. Whence the same Apostle says: "Flesh and blood shall not possess the kingdom of God". Not that, according to the heretics, the nature of bodies perishes, but that this corruptible must put on incorruption, and this mortal must put on immortality. And all these things shall come to pass: because what is to be, the Lord has spoken through the prophets.

Verse 4. The earth mourned, and faded away, and was weakened: the world faded away, the height of the people of the earth was weakened, and the earth was slain by its inhabitants. LXX: But she mourned, and acted impiously because of her inhabitants. God resisteth the proud, and giveth grace to the humble. Whence the first sentence is against those who are the exalted of the earth, that all things which are now strong may be weakened, on account of those who have mingled blood with blood, and, after the manner of the blood of Abel, have caused the blood of the slain to cry out to God.

Verse 6. Because they have transgressed the law, changed the ordinance, broken the everlasting covenant. Therefore shall a curse devour the earth, and the inhabitants thereof shall sin: therefore shall the dwellers thereof go mad, and few men shall be left. LXX: Because they have transgressed the law, changed the precepts, the everlasting covenant. Therefore shall a curse devour the earth, because the inhabitants thereof have sinned: therefore shall the inhabitants of the earth be poor, and few men shall be left. Let the Jews hear, who boast that they alone have received the law of the Lord, that first all nations and the whole world received the natural law, and that the law was therefore given afterward through Moses, because that first law had been broken. Of which the Apostle speaks: "For when the Gentiles, which have not the law, do by nature the things contained in the law, these, having not the law, are a law unto themselves: which show the work of the law written in their hearts".

Those, therefore, who have kept these laws shall obtain rewards; but those who have neglected them shall endure what the prophetic word now threatens. And as in the beginning God blessed every creature that he had made, so at the consummation of the world he shall curse those who are earthly, and who have not been sojourners, but inhabitants of the earth, and have sinned in it; who, forgetful of their condition, have raged against one another in mutual fury. And few shall remain who bear the heavenly image: or, according to the LXX, the inhabitants of the earth shall be poor, because they have lost their spiritual riches. (Verses 7 and following.) The vintage has mourned, the vine is weakened, all who rejoiced in heart have groaned. The joy of tambourines has ceased, the sound of those rejoicing has grown quiet, the sweetness of the harp has fallen silent, they will not drink wine with singing, the drink will be bitter to those who drink it.

The city of vanity is worn away, every house is shut with none entering. There will be a cry over wine in the streets, all gladness is deserted, the joy of the earth is carried away. And solitude is left in the city, and calamity will oppress the gates: because these things shall be in the midst of the earth, in the midst of the peoples. At the consummation of the world, the remembrance of past delights will be material for torments. Whence also that rich man, clothed in purple at the banquet, who had received his good things in his life, lifting up his eyes from hell, beholds Lazarus at rest. And the Lord, rebuking the rich and the luxurious and those who laugh, says in the Gospel: Woe to you rich, for you have received your consolation. Woe to you who are now filled, for you shall hunger. Woe to you who now laugh, for you shall mourn and weep.

When, therefore, the resurrection of the dead shall be, and the day of judgment shall come, then wine and the vintage shall mourn, of which Moses speaks: Their vine is of the vine of Sodom, and their offshoot is from Gomorrah. Their grape is a grape of gall, their cluster is bitterness. Their wine is the fury of dragons, and the incurable fury of asps. Then every drink, or as it is said in Hebrew, sicera, that is, drunkenness, which overturns the state of the mind and does not allow men to keep watch, will be changed into bitterness, which for a time falsely promises honey to those who use it, and in the end will be found more bitter than gall. Then all the sweetness of those rejoicing and the sound of tambourines and harp will be turned into lamentation and groaning.

Let us hurl this testimony twice at those who at banquets indulge in luxury not only in gluttony and drunkenness, but also in the ears, so that through all the senses the strength of the soul may grow soft. The city of vanity shall be worn away, or every city, or the spiritual Babylon, which sits clothed in purple upon seven mountains, whose punishments we read of in the Apocalypse of John. And he well said "city of vanity." For if it is said of heaven and earth, and of all things that are earthly: Vanity of vanities, and all is vanity; how much more must this be said of one city, which is a small part of the whole world! Then the houses whose ceilings are now gilded, while the poor die of cold without roof or hut, whose walls are clothed with slabs of marble and gleam with the polish of cut ivory, will remain empty.

There will be a cry in the streets over wine, not in the narrow and strait way that leads to life, but in the broad and spacious way that leads to death. Over the wine and drunkenness of their error, they who have slept their sleep, and all the men of riches have found nothing in their hands. The joy of the earth is indeed carried up into the heavens, and solitude is left in a city once most thronged, and the calamity of its inhabitants will oppress the gates of the crowded streets through which the multitudes of peoples used to pour in. And that we might know clearly that the destruction of the whole world is being announced, he added: These things shall be in the midst of the earth, in the midst of the nations or peoples. (Verses 13-15.) As if a few olives that have remained were shaken from the olive tree, and grape clusters when the vintage is finished.

These will lift up their voice and will praise, when the Lord shall have been glorified, they will neigh from the sea: therefore glorify the Lord in the teachings; in the islands of the sea, the name of the Lord God of Israel. How far the translation of the Seventy differs from the Hebrew truth in this passage, the following words will show. The LXX: As if someone should shake an olive tree, so will they be shaken: and if the vintage should cease, these will cry out with a shout. But those who remain upon the earth will rejoice together with the glory of the Lord, the water of the sea will be disturbed, therefore the glory of the Lord will be in the islands of the sea, the name of the Lord will be glorious, of the Lord God of Israel.

With few men left, when the curse has devoured the earth, and there is solitude in the city, and all these things have befallen in the midst of the earth, in the midst of peoples and nations, so great will be the scarcity of the saints, of whom the Lord speaks in the Gospel: Many are called, but few are chosen: and so vehement will be the pressure upon the just, that even the elect of God, if it were possible, would be tempted: and their scarcity will be compared to the rarest berries of olives, which, when they have been shaken off and gathered, few scarcely remain on the tips of the branches; and just as when the vintage is finished, the poor, compelled by need, are wont to go around the empty vines and gather a few grape seeds.

These, therefore, who shall remain, and after the vintage of the world and its pressure shall have been able to flee the hands of the persecuting Antichrist, or the fires of the impending punishment, will lift up their voices on high, and will praise God. When the Lord shall come in the glory of his Father, with the holy Angels, and they shall see him reigning in majesty, then they will neigh in the likeness of horses, exulting in the greatness of their joy, and they will neigh from the sea of this age. Therefore you who are now instructed in the holy Scriptures, and know that so great a joy and such rewards are reserved for you, glorify the Lord in the teachings, hearing that which is written: He who glories, let him glory in the Lord.

Not indeed in the land of Judaea, but in the islands, that is, in the Churches of this sea and age, in which the name of the Lord God, once of Israel, or of the man who sees God, is blessed and praised. According to the LXX, all that we have understood of the saints can be referred to the impious, that when the vintage is finished, then they will cry out, placed in torments. But those who have escaped the number of the impious will rejoice in the glory of the Lord, and the waters of the peoples of this age will be disturbed. (Verse 16.) From the ends of the earth we have heard praises, the glory of the Just One, and I said: My secret to myself, my secret to myself: woe is me. LXX: From other parts of the earth we have heard portents: hope to the just, and they will say, my mystery to myself.

That which is said, "my mystery to myself," is not found in the LXX, but has been added into the Greek from the translation of Theodotion.

Again, instead of what they placed, "woe," so that it might be joined to the following verse, in the Hebrew it is said OI LI (אוי לי), which properly sounds "woe is me." Instead of "ends," too, which we have set down more openly for the sake of explaining the sense, in the Hebrew there is MECCHENAPH (מכנף), which sounds "wing," not "end." These, therefore, of whom it was said above: They will lift up their voice and will praise, when they shall have neighed from the sea, and shall have glorified the Lord in the teachings, and shall have seen in the islands of the sea the name of the Lord God of Israel praised, then with harmonious voice will they sing, and will say: From other parts of the earth, that is, from the prophets and the saints of the Lord, who having taken up the wings of the dove, hasten to the kingdoms of the heavens, we have heard his praises proclaimed: and that the glory or hope of the Just One is not made void, but all things are fulfilled in reality.

When, therefore, the saints say these things, and neigh from the sea, and lift up their voice and praise, the Prophet speaks to himself: When, he says, I had heard these things, and perceived that the prophecy of the Prophets concerning the overthrow of the world was to be fulfilled, I spoke to myself with an inward affection of heart: I cannot narrate all that I see. My tongue cleaves to my jaws, my voice is shut up with grief. Woe is me, how great an order of punishments turns before my eyes! I behold as present what is to be in the future. But those err who think this ought to be understood as spoken in the person of God, not following the order of the matter.

And I wonder in what sense, instead of "psalms" and "praises," which is read in the Hebrew as ZEMROTH (זמרת), the LXX interpreted "portents," unless perhaps it is a sign and a portent, that with the people of the Jews excluded, the previously unbelieving multitude of the Gentiles should first be saved. (Verses 17, 18.) The transgressors have utterly transgressed, and with the transgression of transgressors they have transgressed. Dread and the pit and the snare are upon you, O inhabitant of the earth; and it shall be, that he who flees from the voice of dread shall fall into the pit, and he who extricates himself from the pit shall be caught by the snare. LXX: Woe to the transgressors who transgress the law. Fear and the pit and the snare are upon you who inhabit the earth. And it shall be, that he who flees fear shall fall into the pit, and he who comes out of the pit shall be taken by the snare.

This is the cause of my mourning and groaning, on account of which I said a second time, my secret to myself, my secret to myself: because all have transgressed the law of God, and the punishment of the Lord is by no means delayed, nor is it foretold as future, but it is imminent, and holds the inhabitants of the earth captive. And when they think they have fled, they fall from one thing into another, and wherever they turn themselves, they will not escape the impending wrath of the Lord. (Verses 19, 20.) For the floodgates from on high are opened, and the foundations of the earth shall be shaken. The earth shall be utterly broken with breaking, the earth shall be utterly crushed with crushing, the earth shall be utterly moved with moving. The earth shall be violently shaken like a drunken man, and shall be removed like the tent of one night, and its iniquity shall weigh it down, and it shall fall, and shall not rise again.

Therefore no one will escape the dread, and the snare, and the pit of the Lord, because the floodgates from on high, or as the LXX translated more clearly, the windows of heaven were opened, that the Lord might look down upon all the sins of men, which before, because he did not punish them, seemed to sinners to be unknown to him. But after, with the windows opened, he saw all the works of mortals, the foundations of the earth were shaken, according to that which is written elsewhere concerning the gaze of God: He who looks upon the earth and makes it tremble; then the earth will be broken and crushed, and moved and shaken in the likeness of a drunken man: not that the earth itself is reduced to dust and to nothing; but that all earthly things pass away, and another manner of life succeeds.

And just as a drunken man does not know what he does, but with his sinews dulled by drunkenness, neither foot nor mind stands in its proper office: so all the earth, that is, all men who dwell upon the earth, will be drunk with the greatness of evils and punishments, and will be stupefied at all that they see. And just as the tent and tabernacle of one night is moved from place to place, and the place of the former tent is abandoned by the traveler, so that no trace of the past dwelling remains: so the figure of this world will pass away, and the earth will be left desolate, which is weighed down by its own iniquity, whose weight and most heavy burden is written of in Zechariah. It shall be said: She that sat upon the talent of lead. And it shall fall, he says, and shall not rise again.

Not that the resurrection of men is denied, and of all who dwelt on the earth, but that there will by no means be an earthly manner of life, and the former condition of life, since human bodies rise again for this purpose, that souls may be clothed with the same bodies which they had previously laid down, and may receive from God, whether good or evil, the things which they did upon the earth. (Verse 21. Seqq.) And it shall come to pass in that day, the Lord shall visit upon the host of heaven on high, and upon the kings of the earth who are upon the earth. And they shall be gathered together as one bundle into a pit, and shall be shut up there in prison, and after many days shall they be visited. And the moon shall blush, and the sun shall be confounded, when the Lord of hosts shall reign in Mount Sion and in Jerusalem, and shall be glorified in the sight of his ancients.

In place of what we have translated: “and the moon shall blush, and the sun shall be confounded,” the Septuagint rendered: “the brick shall be melted, and the wall shall fall”: but what the cause of the error may be, the following words will show. The sun is called in the Hebrew tongue by three names: SEMES (שמש), and HAMMA (חמה), which is interpreted “heat,” and HERES (חרס), which sounds like ὄστρακον, that is, “potsherd” or “dryness.” MAOR (מאור), however, which in Greek is φωστήρ, in Latin is called “luminary,” is common to both sun and moon. Again, the moon is called JAREE (ירח), which in Greek is called μήνη, because it makes a month by a circuit of thirty days, and LABANA (לבנה), that is, “white” or “bright.” In the present passage, therefore, instead of LABANA, that is, “moon,” the Septuagint translated “brick,” which in Hebrew is called LEBENA, deceived by the ambiguity of the word. Again, instead of HAMMA, that is, “heat,” by which the sun is understood, they put “wall,” which in Hebrew is called HOMA (חומה).

Now the sense of the whole chapter is this: The windows of heaven have been opened, so that, the Lord looking upon earthly sins, every figure of earthly works might pass away and fall, and by no means rise again into its former state. In that day, that is, in the day of judgment, the Lord shall visit upon the host, or upon the adornment of heaven in the heights, so that he may judge not only earthly things, but also heavenly things. Now what the adornment of heaven or its host may be, let us learn from Moses’ writing: “Beware lest, looking up to heaven, and seeing the sun, and the moon, the stars and all the adornment of heaven, thou be deceived, and worship them”. Now the Lord shall visit, according to the idiom of the Scriptures, as it were a sick host and army of heaven, one in need of the knife and of cauteries, according to that: “I will visit their transgressions with the rod, and their iniquities with stripes”.

For we also read in what follows: “My sword is drunk in heaven” (below xxxiv, 5); and in Job: “The stars are not clean in his sight.” And: “Against his angels he found something perverse”. He shall also visit upon the kings and princes of the earth, the rulers of this darkness, and the spiritual forces of wickedness in the heavenly places. Concerning these princes who preside over various provinces it is also written in Daniel: “There went out to meet me the prince of the kingdom of the Persians, and the prince of the kingdom of the Medes, and the prince of the kingdom of the Greeks”. These princes, therefore, who did not keep their own rank, the Lord will gather together in the day of judgment, as it were bound together alike in one bundle, and will send into the pit of hell, so that in them also may be fulfilled what is written of the impious: “He opened a pit, and dug it, and fell into the ditch which he made”.

And they shall be shut up in prison, according to what the Lord says: “Go into everlasting fire, which was prepared for the devil and his angels”. But what follows: “And after many days they shall be visited,” seems to lend approval to my friends, who grant repentance to the devil and the demons, on the ground that after many periods of time they will be visited by the Lord. But let them consider that the divine Scripture has not said openly, “they shall be visited by the Lord,” or “they shall be visited by the angels,” but simply, “they shall be visited.” From this ambiguity of the word both a remedy can be understood, and a chastisement, namely that after the just have received their rewards, those others are visited in perpetual punishments. It must, however, be known that human frailty cannot know the judgment of God, nor pronounce sentence concerning the magnitude and measure of punishments, which has been left to the Lord’s discretion.

Then shall the moon blush, and the sun be confounded, according to what the Apostle says: “For the creature itself groaneth and travaileth”, seeing that men who enjoyed its light did nothing worthy of the goodness of God, who makes his sun to rise upon the just and the unjust. It is as if a steward and manager, at the coming of the Lord, should see the household subjected to various torments, and by no means to have fulfilled his commands. Concerning this same passage the Savior teaches more fully in the Gospel: “The sun shall be darkened, and the moon shall not give her light, and the stars shall fall from heaven, and the powers of the heavens shall be shaken, when the sign of the Son of man shall appear in heaven, and all the tribes of the earth shall mourn, and shall see the Son of man coming in the clouds of heaven, with power and great glory”.

We have learned of the overthrow of the earth, the visitation of the host of heaven, the gathering of kings and princes into one bundle, and their thrusting down into the pit, and the custody of the prison, and the visitation of those shut up after a long time, the blushing of the moon and the confounding of the sun. After all these things the Lord of hosts shall reign in Mount Sion and in the heavenly Jerusalem, of which it is also written in the Epistle to the Hebrews: “And he shall be glorified in the sight of his ancients”. Such an elder was Abraham, who died in a good old age, and was gathered to his fathers. Such elders also Moses is commanded to choose, whom he knows to be elders: for the wisdom of a man is his gray hairs, for those who imitate the Ancient of Days, whose hair is described as white, so that the length of his age might be shown.

This can also be understood of ecclesiastical rank, provided only that they do not destroy that dignity by their works.

(Verses 1 ff.) O Lord, thou art my God: I will exalt thee, I will give praise to thy name, because thou hast done wonderful things, thy designs of old faithful: amen. For thou hast reduced the city to a heap, the strong city to ruin, the house of strangers: that it may not be a city, and may never be built up for ever. Therefore shall the strong people praise thee, the city of mighty nations shall fear thee. For thou hast been a strength to the poor, a strength to the needy in his tribulation, a hope from the whirlwind, a shadow from the heat: for the blast of the mighty is like a whirlwind beating against a wall. As heat with thirst, thou shalt humble the tumult of strangers: and as with heat under a burning cloud, thou shalt make the branch of the mighty to wither away.

The LXX: O Lord my God, I will glorify thee: I will praise thy name, for thou hast done admirable things, an ancient counsel, true, so be it. For thou hast reduced cities to a heap: strong cities, that their foundations might fall. The cities of the wicked shall never be built. Therefore shall the people of the poor bless thee, and the cities of men enduring iniquity shall bless thee. For thou hast been a helper to every humble city, and a protection to those in sorrow because of poverty: from most wicked men thou shalt deliver them: a shadow to them that thirst, and a spirit to men enduring iniquity, like faint-hearted men thirsting in Sion because of ungodly men, to whom thou hast delivered us. There is a twofold exposition of this passage.

The Jews think it to be the voice of the saints, and of the believing people: when God shall have done against the whole world the things spoken above, and all the prophecies of the prophets shall have been fulfilled; and they interpret the overturned city as Rome, which is to be utterly destroyed, and they refer the strong people who shall praise the Lord, and to whom the Lord has become a strength in his tribulation and distress, to Israel, who shall be delivered from the persecution of the nations as though from a most burning heat and thirst. But others, more truly and rightly, understand it to be spoken in the person of the prophet, giving thanks to the Father for the passion of the Lord Saviour, because he has done wonderful things, and fulfilled in truth his ancient designs, when those standing at the right hand shall hear: Come, ye blessed of my Father, possess the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world.

This also Paul understood when he said: As he chose us in him before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and unspotted; and, desiring that what he prophesies come to pass, he adds the Hebrew word AMEN (אמן), for which the LXX translated "so be it." And the Lord in the Gospel often uses this word: Amen, amen, that is, truly, truly I say to you. But why he praises and gives thanks to the name of the Lord, and what these wonders are, and the ancient designs which he has shown to be true by his work, follows: For thou hast reduced the city to a heap, the strong city to ruin, the house of strangers, that it may not be a city, and may never be built for ever. By the city once strong is understood Jerusalem, which has become the house of strangers; of whom the Saviour says in the psalm: Strange children have lied to me, strange children have grown old and have limped from their paths.

This city, when it has been destroyed, shall never be rebuilt, that the dreams of a thousand-year reign and of a golden and bejeweled Jerusalem may cease. But Jerusalem being destroyed for its impiety, the strong people shall praise the Lord. And who this strong people is, the following verse shows: The city of mighty nations shall fear thee. While they blaspheme, the people of the nations shall fear thee. For the fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom. And the strong people shall praise thee, and the city of mighty nations shall fear thee, that is, the Church gathered from the nations. For thou hast been a strength to the poor, to thy Christ, of whom also we read in the Psalms: Blessed is he who understands concerning the needy and the poor. And in Zechariah, according to the Hebrew truth, the poor one, that is EBION (אביון), is described as sitting upon the colt of an ass.

A strength to the needy, in the tribulation of his passion, a hope from the whirlwind of the gibbet, and a shadow from the heat, when he said: Father, into thy hands I commend my spirit. For just as if wind strikes against a wall and passes through, so the whirlwind of the blaspheming Jews could not harm him. And to use another comparison, just as a shoot is scorched by the most grievous heat and withers, so thou shalt make the tumult and clamor of strangers, that is, of those who have become estranged from thee, wither away and perish. As for the Septuagint interpreters, I have not been able to find in this passage—I do not say the sense, but the order and sequence of the words.

And in the place where we have translated "sicut aestum in siti" ("as heat with thirst"), for which is written in the Hebrew BASAION (בציון), which among them is called "trackless" or "thirst"; as to why they rendered "a" for "trackless and in thirst" as "in Sion," the error is plain, on account of the similarity of the word SAION and SION (both ציון), which are signified by the same letters. (Vv. 6–8.) And the Lord of hosts shall make unto all people in this mountain a feast of fat things, a feast of wine, of fat things full of marrow, of wine purified from the lees. And he shall destroy in this mountain the face of the bond wherewith all people were tied, and the web that he had begun over all nations. He shall cast death down headlong for ever: and the Lord God shall wipe away tears from every face, and the reproach of his people he shall take away from off the whole earth: for the Lord hath spoken it.

The LXX: And the Lord Sabaoth shall make unto all nations upon this mountain—they shall drink gladness, they shall drink wine. They shall be anointed with ointment on this mountain. Deliver all these things to the nations, for this is the counsel over all nations: death, prevailing, hath swallowed up. And again: The Lord God hath taken away every tear from every face, and hath taken away the reproach of his people from off all the earth. For the mouth of the Lord hath spoken it. For what we have rendered, "the face of the bond wherewith all people were tied," Aquila translated, "the face of darkness over all people." And whereas Aquila said "darkness" twice, Theodotion named "darkness" once, the rest being similar.

For which Symmachus translated, "the face of the Ruler who rules over all peoples." What the Seventy meant by this passage: "Deliver all these things to the nations," is plain to the reader, that they did not put the words of Scripture but their own sense, because all the mysteries of the Law and of the Temple were to be transferred to the Churches of the nations. After the passion of the Lord, therefore, when he had been delivered from thirst, and heat, and the whirlwind, the Lord will make, not for the people of the Jews, but for all nations, on Mount Sion a rich feast, whole burnt offerings full of marrow, and wine of the purest vintage, so that he may cast down and cause to be swallowed up the face of death and the bond by which all peoples were bound; and he will break the net of death, and the web that had ensnared all nations. And according to the Apostle, death shall be swallowed up forever.

And the Lord shall take away the tear from every face, when, death being overcome, the kingdom of Christ shall have come: and the reproach of the human race, which had been formed in the image of the Creator, shall have escaped the servitude of the devil and of death. Nor is it strange if, according to Symmachus, death is called "mistress" (domina), since the blessed Apostle said: Death reigned from Adam to Moses, even over those who had not sinned, after the similitude of the transgression of Adam. Some wish to understand the Ruler of all peoples, or the face of darkness over all peoples, and the web spread over all nations, as Antichrist, who is to be consumed on the Mount of Olives, as we said in the last vision of Daniel.

According to the LXX, a feast of gladness is prepared for all nations on Mount Sion, at which they shall drink the wine which the Lord promised he would drink with his saints in the kingdom of his Father: and they shall be anointed with ointment, that being reborn in Christ they may become a new people; whence it is said: Deliver all these things to the nations, which Israel once celebrated in type and image. For this is the counsel of the Lord, that all things be transferred to the nations, because death is swallowed up and every tear wiped away, and the reproach of the whole earth, at the succession of Christ's rule, has been blotted out.

And they shall say in that day: Behold this is our God, we have waited for him, and he will save us: this is the Lord, we have patiently waited for him, we shall rejoice and be joyful in his salvation. For the hand of the Lord shall rest in this mountain: and Moab shall be trodden down under him, as straw is broken in pieces with a wain. And he shall stretch forth his hands under him, as he that swimmeth stretcheth forth his hands to swim: and he shall bring down his glory with the dashing of his hands. And the bulwarks of thy high walls shall come down, and be humbled, and shall be pulled down to the ground, even to the dust.

Death having been swallowed up forever, the people of God who shall have been delivered from the hand of death shall say to the Lord: Behold, this is our God, whom the unbelieving thought to be only a man; and we have waited for him, that is, we believed his words, because he will fulfill his promises, and he will save us. Therefore, having been rescued by his help from the jaws of death, we shall rejoice and be glad in him: and his hand and his power shall rest upon this mountain. Of which we read above: When the Lord of hosts shall reign in Mount Sion, and in Jerusalem, and shall be glorified in the presence of his ancients. But Moab, which is interpreted "of the father," shall be so crushed as straw is wont to be crushed by a wain. This speaks according to the custom of Palestine and of many provinces of the East, which, on account of the scarcity of meadows and hay, prepare straw for the food of animals.

There are also iron-shod carts, with wheels turning in the middle in the manner of saws, which crush the stubble and grind it into straw. As therefore straw is crushed by iron-shod carts, so Moab shall be crushed under him, whether under the power of God, or in himself, so that nothing whole may remain in him. And as one who swims is wont to stretch out his whole body, so he shall be dashed to the ground by God's power, and shall make a sound as of one groaning. All the bulwarks also of his high men, or of his walls, as it is contained in the Hebrew, shall fall and be humbled, and shall be dragged down to the ground, ground to dust.

Therefore, although the prophetic word weaves its prophecy generally about the consummation of the world, yet lest it seem entirely to neglect present things, it names Moab, who was the enemy of Israel, so much so that he made them fornicate with the Midianites, and be consecrated to the idol Beelphegor, which is interpreted Priapus, against whom Jeremiah speaks: Chamos shall go forth into captivity, his priests and his princes together. And again: Moab shall be confounded because of Chamos, as the house of Israel was confounded at Bethel, and other similar things: and from one idol and the demon who presided over this idol, he indicates that all opposing powers are to be humbled and led down into hell, and ground to dust like powder. But if this shall be so, where is the repentance of the devil?

In that day shall this canticle be sung in the land of Judah: The city of our strength, a Saviour shall be set therein for a wall and a bulwark. The LXX: In that day they shall sing this canticle over the land of Judah: Behold a strong city, and our salvation shall set a wall and outer wall. When Moab has been humbled, and dragged down to the earth, even to dust, and all the enemies laid low beneath the feet of Christ, then shall this canticle be sung in the land of Judah, or of Judaea, which is interpreted, in either case, "confession": so that just as we have understood Sion and Jerusalem to be the heavenly city, so also we may understand the region of this city as heavenly confession. Then the saints, unwilling to sing the song of Judaea in a foreign land, say: How shall we sing the song of the Lord in a strange land?

I think this to be the canticle of which it is enjoined upon the saints elsewhere: Sing to the Lord a new canticle. And this canticle shall be that which follows: The city of our strength, a Saviour. What is this city?

Which, being set upon a mountain, cannot be hid. Of which also it is written elsewhere: The stream of the river maketh the city of God joyful; and again: Glorious things are said of thee, O city of God. The founder of this city is he of whom the Father speaks: this one has built my city; nay rather, the city of our strength is the Saviour, that is, Jesus. And a wall and a bulwark shall be set in it. A wall of good works, and a bulwark of right faith, that it may be enclosed with a double defense. For it is not enough to have a wall of faith, unless that faith itself be confirmed by good works. This wall and this bulwark, or outer wall, is built up of living stones, which, according to the prophet, roll upon the earth.

For what we have translated "bulwark" (antemurale), Symmachus translated "rampart": so that the walls themselves may be girded about with fortifications, and with a rampart and ditch and other things which they are wont, in the building of camps, to call the little breastwork (loriculus).

(Verses 2-4.) Open ye the gates, and let the righteous nation enter, keeping the truth. The old error has departed, thou shalt keep peace: peace, because we have hoped in thee. Ye have hoped in the Lord in ages everlasting. The Septuagint: Open ye the gates, let the people enter that keeps righteousness, and keeps truth, holding fast truth, and keeping peace: peace, because they have hoped in thee, O Lord, even unto everlasting. This whole canticle which the saints are to sing in the land of confession and praise suddenly changes persons, and is woven as it were by question and answer. The people of God had said: A city of our strength, the Saviour, a wall and bulwark shall be set upon it.

The Lord answered, or rather commanded, not those who had said this, but the Angels who presided over the gates of the Lord’s city, that they should open the gates, and that the righteous nation, keeping truth, should enter through them, or as it is said in the Hebrew, EMUNIM (אמונים), which in our language is rendered "faith," in the plural number, not the singular. What are these gates that are opened by the Angels, that not the people of the Jews, who have been cast off, but the righteous nation, which took its name from the faith of the faithful, might enter? Surely those of which the saint speaks: Open to me the gates of righteousness; I will go in through them, I will confess to the Lord. But no one will be able to enter these gates unless he has been freed from the gates of death; and as the Psalmist has said: Thou who liftest me up from the gates of death, that I may declare all thy praises in the gates of the daughter of Sion.

For when we shall have been snatched from the gates of death, then in the gates of the daughter of Sion we shall be able to sing all the praises of the Lord. And as I think the gates of death are sins, of which it is said to Peter: The gates of hell shall not prevail against thee: so the gates of righteousness are all the works of virtue, and whoever shall have entered through them will find one gate, of which it is said: This is the gate of the Lord, the righteous shall enter into it. And just as one proceeds through many pearls to a single pearl, so through many ways and gates we arrive at him who says he is the way and the gate, through which we enter to the Father.

After the word of God, the people answered in Hebrew Jeser samuch (יצר סמוך), which Aquila and Symmachus likewise rendered πλάσμα ἐπηρεισμένον, that is, "our error has been removed," or "our thought has been made firm," which before wavered between thee and the idols, so that we are no longer carried about by every wind of doctrine, but believe with our whole mind in thee, the Lord and Saviour. In place of which, that the sense might be made clearer, we have translated: the old error has departed. And because our thought has been made firm, therefore thou shalt keep peace for us, which the Apostle promised, saying: My peace I give unto you, my peace I leave with you; and not only once, but a second time, that the recompense which is promised by a double statement might be secure, according to what the Apostle also said: Rejoice, again I say, rejoice.

This, moreover, is attained by him of whom it is said in Leviticus: Man, man, of the children of Israel; and in the book of Numbers: Man, man, whose wife's bed has been defiled: so that the doubled "man" and doubled "man" might attain a doubled peace. But we merit peace, they say, because we trust in thee with our whole mind. After the words of the people and the answer of the Lord, and again the voice of the people, the Prophet speaks to the believers: Ye have hoped, or hope, in the Lord, in everlasting ages, and the rest that follows. According to the Septuagint, he enters the gates of the Lord who keeps righteousness in good works, and keeps or embraces truth in the truth of faith, so that through good works and faith he may arrive at the peace which surpasses all understanding, and may deserve to receive that very peace; because he has believed in God, who is the eternal rewarder of good works.

Whence also it is written elsewhere: Thou hast desired wisdom, keep the commandments, and the Lord will give it to thee.

Verse 5. In the Lord God, the strong one, forever: for he will bring low those who dwell on high: the lofty city he will humble, he will humble it even to the ground: he will bring it down even to the dust. The foot shall tread it down, the feet of the poor, the steps of the needy. The Septuagint: O great, eternal God, who hast humbled and brought down those who dwell on high places, thou shalt destroy the strong cities, and bring them down even to the pavement, and the feet of the meek and humble shall tread them down. And the Prophet speaks these things, who has answered from that place where he had said above: Hope in the Lord in everlasting ages; and he joins to it what we have now proposed: In the Lord God, the strong one, forever, and the rest.

In place of "the Lord God, the strong one," the Hebrew has three names, JA (יה), and ADONAI (יה), and SUR (צור), of which one signifies the invisible one, another the ineffable one, another the strong one; the first of which is put in the final syllable of ALLELUIA (הללו יה). And let the diligent reader observe this, that at times we divide the text in the presentation of the testimony, since the Septuagint edition produces one sense, and the translation made word for word from the Hebrew another. The Prophet therefore says: Hope in the Lord in everlasting ages: in the Lord God, the strong one, forever, whose help is everlasting. For he himself will bring low those who dwell on high, because everyone who exalts himself shall be humbled; who boasted that they had Abraham for their father, and spoke in mockery of the Lord: We were not born of fornication.

He himself will humble the lofty city, as the Jews think, Rome; as we more rightly prove, Jerusalem, which killed the prophets, and stoned those who were sent to her, and at the last slew the son of the householder, that, the heir being slain, the inheritance might perish. Nor is it called "city," which in Hebrew is IR (עיר), but CARIA (קריה), which Aquila interpreted πολίχνη, which we may call either "little city," or "little village," or "little town," and Jerusalem is frequently called by this name in the Scriptures. And beautifully he set down a double humiliation: He will humble, he will humble it, first under the Babylonians, when the temple was destroyed, secondly under Titus and Vespasian, whose ruin remains even to the end. The foot shall tread it down, and he repeats and joins the feet of the poor—doubtless Christ. Of whom we also said above: He has become strength to the poor; strength to the needy in his tribulation.

The steps of the needy, that is, of the Apostles, who, imitating the poverty of the Lord, also attained the privilege of his power; who, not being received, shook off the dust of their feet over it. And because it is said in the words of the Saviour, Everyone who exalts himself shall be humbled: and he who humbles himself shall be exalted, we can refer this not only to men, but also to the contrary powers. According to the Septuagint, the Prophet sings praises to God, because he humbles all the proud, and razes to the ground the fortifications of all cities, and the feet of the saints, the meek and humble, tread upon them.

The path of the righteous is straight, the track of the righteous is straight for walking: and in the path of thy judgments, O Lord, we have waited for thee, thy name and thy memorial is in the desire of the soul: my soul has desired thee in the night. The Septuagint: The way of the righteous is straight, the way of the righteous has been made straight, and prepared. For the way of the Lord is judgment; we have hoped in thy name: and in the memory which our soul desires. The Prophet is still speaking of Christ, of whom he had said above: The foot shall tread it down, the feet of the poor. Of this righteous one, then, the path is straight, or, to coin a new word, "rectitudes," which the Greeks call εὐθύτητας, and which we can more properly call in Latin "equities," and which are called in Hebrew MESSARIM (משרים).

In the one path of Christ, therefore, all righteousnesses are found, and for that reason he trod and trampled it with his own foot, so that whoever wishes to walk in it may walk with an unimpeded course. In this path of the judgments of the Lord, the saints have waited for him, and have hoped in him, because hope does not confound. And they have had his name and memorial in the desire of the soul, saying: My soul has longed to desire thy judgments at all times; and again: My soul desires, and faints for thy salvation. But he who has the name of the Lord in desire, desires nothing else. And this should be noted, that the desire for the Lord is not in the flesh, but in the soul, according to what we read in another psalm: My soul has thirsted for God, the strong, the living. For the flesh lusts against the spirit, and the spirit against the flesh. For these are opposed to one another, lest we do the things which we wish.

And what follows, "in the night," according to the Septuagint, is joined to the following section, according to the Hebrew to the preceding. But he can say: My soul has desired thee in the night, who speaks confidently with the Psalmist: I will wash my bed every night, I will water my couch with tears. Night and darkness can also be taken for tribulation and distress. Whence also in another psalm the Prophet sings concerning the security of the righteous: The sun shall not burn thee by day, nor the moon by night, that is, thou shalt never be moved from thy step, neither in prosperity nor in adversity. But also with my spirit within my heart, I will watch for thee from morning. The Septuagint: From the night my spirit rises early to thee, O God: for thy judgments are a light upon the earth.

We wish both to follow the Hebrew, and not entirely to pass over the Vulgate edition, and by this necessity of the matter we are compelled to seek different meanings in a different order and different wording. Therefore what is said, "from the night," according to the Septuagint, is, as we have said, the beginning of this section; according to the Hebrew, the end of the preceding one; although it can also, according to the Septuagint, be taken at the end of the preceding testimony, so that the sense is: My soul desires thee in the night; and afterward begins, my spirit rises early to thee, O God. And it rises early for this reason, because thy precepts are a light upon the earth. For keeping thy commandments, and illumined by their light, of which it is said: The precept of the Lord is clear, enlightening the eyes, I am unable to sleep, but desiring thee at all times, I rise to thee with my spirit.

And this should be observed, that while still placed in the night, we desire the Lord in mind. But after our spirit, with our whole mind stirred toward God within our hearts, we watch for him in the morning; and to speak more plainly, night and desire are joined to the soul, but morning and watching are joined to the spirit. Moreover, he watches for God with his spirit within his heart, who can say: Out of the depths I have cried to thee, O Lord.

When thou shalt do thy judgments in the earth, the inhabitants of the world shall learn justice. Let us have mercy on the wicked, and he shall not learn justice; in the land of the saints he hath done unjustly, and shall not see the glory of the Lord. The Septuagint: Learn justice, ye that dwell upon the earth. For the wicked man hath ceased, and shall not learn justice upon the earth; he shall not do truth, let the wicked man be taken away, that he see not the glory of the Lord. Let us first speak according to the Hebrew, and if we wish to express the meaning of the Prophet, then let us pass to the Seventy Interpreters. As long as thou dost not exercise thy judgments upon the earth, and dost not render good to the good, nor evil to the evil, thy justice, O Lord God, is unknown in the earth.

But when in the day of judgment thou shalt have rendered to each according to the quality of his works what he deserves, then thy justice shall be known in the world, which before seemed unjust to unbelievers, so that even one of the saints said: But my feet were almost moved, my steps had well nigh slipped: because I was jealous of the wicked, seeing the peace of sinners. To which the Lord answered: Let us have mercy on the wicked; which, except for the Seventy, all likewise translated. And the sense is: let the wicked rather obtain mercy, and learn my clemency, that even he himself may be saved. And again, when the Lord speaks, the Prophet answers from the person of human impatience: And he shall not learn justice. And the sense is: and how will he be able to know thy justice, if he shall have experienced only clemency?

And he renders the reasons why he wishes him to learn the justice of God: because in the land of the saints he hath acted unjustly, and hath continually fought against thy saints, he ought to feel torments. And again the Lord, tempering the sentence, says: And he shall not see, or, he shall not see the glory of the Lord. And the sense is: it is enough for him, in place of all punishment, that he shall not see me reigning in my majesty with my saints. Some wish the wicked one, that is, RESHA (רשע), to be understood as the devil, of whom it is written in the ninth psalm: Thou hast rebuked the nations, and the wicked one hath perished: thou hast blotted out their name for ever and ever. The swords of the enemy have failed unto the end, and thou hast destroyed their cities. But let us take the wicked one generally, either for the sinner, or for him who has not the worship of God.

According to the Septuagint the inhabitants of the earth are bidden to learn justice. For every man seems just to himself; but God knows the hearts of all, who will render to each according to his works. And in another place of the same book it is said: There are ways of a man which seem right; but their ends look into the depth of hell. Whence we ought to learn justice, and not trust in our own judgment. For there is a just man who perishes in his justice; not because he is just, but because he seems just to himself. But if Christ is made unto us by God wisdom, and justice, sanctification and redemption, by these it is bidden that they know justice, this is enjoined, that they learn and know Christ. Therefore, he says, I command you to learn justice, because the wicked one is taken away; and his kingdom is destroyed, who, as long as he reigned on earth, could not know justice, nor do truth.

Of which it is written elsewhere, that grace and truth were made through Jesus Christ. And because the wicked one does not do truth in the earth, he shall be taken away: for he does not deserve to see the Lord reigning.

Verse 11. Lord, let thy hand be exalted, and let them not see: let them see, and be confounded, the zeal of the people, and let fire devour thy enemies. The Septuagint: Lord, thy arm is high, and they knew it not, but knowing they shall be confounded: zeal shall seize the untaught people, and now fire shall devour the adversaries. That which he had said above: and he shall not see the glory of the Lord, can be understood thus: Thou askest, O Prophet, that I should not have mercy on the wicked, lest, if I have mercy on him, he begin not to know justice, who has acted unjustly in the land of the saints; I answer thee, shall he then not see the glory of the Lord? Shall he then not behold my triumphs, who ought rather to see me reigning, that he may know of how great a good he is deprived? And this must be read more pointedly, in the voice of one questioning.

To which the Prophet answered: Lord, let thy hand be exalted, and be stretched out to strike, that the wicked may not see thee, and may not even enjoy the light of thy glory, not even for repentance. To whom the Lord answered: Let them rather see, and be confounded, or, the zeal of the people, or the zealous ones of the people, and let fire devour and consume thy adversaries, that is, the adversaries of the people of the saints. But it is the fire of repentance, which shall torment their hearts, because they have lost such a Lord. This can also be understood of the Jews, who did not know Christ, the arm of the Lord, and when they shall have seen and recognized him, whom they fastened to the gibbet, they shall be confounded.

Then the untaught people, ignorant of the law of God, shall be roused by the goads of zeal, when they shall see the nations having succeeded to their place, and shall burn with the fire of repentance, or with the pain of punishment, when they shall hear that which is written: Go into the everlasting fire, which was prepared for the devil and his angels. Verse 12. Lord, thou wilt give us peace: for thou hast wrought all our works for us. The Septuagint: Lord our God, give us peace: for thou hast rendered all things to us. It is to be noted that after he has rendered to us our works, he is about to give peace, and how he sets forth the reasons why he asks for peace. For, for all the works which they have wrought upon the earth, they say they have endured torments, and that it is just that after punishments and torments they should obtain mercy.

Or otherwise: Because the consummation of the world has come, and all things which thou hast spoken through the Prophets have been fulfilled in fact, and thou hast rendered all things which thou didst promise, grant us peace, which surpasses all understanding. Verse 13. Lord our God, other lords besides thee have possessed us: only in thee let us remember thy name. The Septuagint: Lord our God, possess us: Lord, besides thee we know no other, we invoke thy name. Therefore we ask mercy and peace, which is to be given after all things, because lords besides thee have possessed us, namely idols, or demons sitting by the idols: and we ask nothing else, except that we may be worthy, after many errors, to remember thy name. According to the Seventy, who said: Lord God, possess us, they pray for this, that after peace is restored to them they may become the possession of God.

Which indeed we also read of Wisdom, who speaks according to the Hebrew in Proverbs: God possessed me, the beginning of his ways, although some copies wrongly have "creature" instead of "possession." For it follows next: But before all the hills he begot me. For how could the begetting of a creature be fitted to that which suits possession better? It is written in Deuteronomy: Is not he thy father that possessed thee, and made thee, and created thee? And this is to be considered, that he did not say, the Lord, or God, possessed thee, and made thee, and created thee; but "father," so that the clemency of the name might soften the austerity of power. And that which follows: Lord, besides thee we know no other, does not exclude the Son, but joins him to the Father, for he did not say, We know no other, but, besides thee we know no other.

But when the Son says: I am in the Father and the Father in me, we do not know the Son apart from the Father, because we know him in the Father. Finally, we also name his name, saying in the Lord's Prayer: Our Father who art in heaven.

Verse 14. The dead shall not live, the giants shall not rise again. Therefore hast thou visited and destroyed them, and hast destroyed all their memory. The Septuagint: For the dead shall not see life: neither shall physicians raise them up. Therefore hast thou brought in, and destroyed, and taken away every male of them. Symmachus, more clearly as is his custom: The dead shall not give life: the giants shall not raise up. Therefore hast thou visited and crushed them, and destroyed all their memory. Let us speak first according to the Septuagint: the question seems difficult, how the dead shall not see life? Which is thus resolved: that they do not see life so long as they are dead. As if we should say, the blind man does not see light so long as he is blind; but if he shall have received his sight, he will behold the light: so also he who is dead through iniquity and sins, before he is quickened by justice and virtues, through him who says, I am the life, cannot live.

Whence God is also called the God of the living, not of the dead. For the soul that sins, the same shall die. We read in the Epistle which is written to the Hebrews: Lest we again lay the foundation of repentance from dead works. But if sins are called dead works, why should not virtues, on the contrary, be called living works? And that which follows, Neither shall physicians raise them up, the sense is clear: the fables of the poets are condemned, who boast that Virbius was raised up by Aesculapius. And this is to be said not only of the dead, but of every infirmity, that without the mercy of God the art of healing avails nothing. But how? Unless the Lord build the house, they labor in vain who build it: Unless the Lord guard the city, he watches in vain who guards it. So unless the Lord heal the sickness, physicians labor in vain who desire to heal the sick.

Unless the Lord preserve health, they guard it in vain who even publish in their own books the precepts for preserving health: and it must always be learned, not only in the health of the body, but also of the soul: Bless the Lord, O my soul, who healeth all thy diseases. Moreover, those who persist dead in sin, and can by no art of medicine recover health of soul, these shall be destroyed and taken away by the Lord, and whatever is strong in them, which is called male, shall be utterly taken away. Whence also Pharaoh does not wish to kill the female sex, which is by itself weak and can easily perish, but every male, which, if it has grown to maturity and reached manly age, is killed with difficulty. According to Symmachus, the dead shall not give life, because, being dead in sin, they cannot give life to others, nor is praise fitting in the mouth of a sinner.

And the giants, that is, RAPHAIM (רפאים), shall not raise up others, who themselves, according to the book of Genesis, are called the fallen ones. And the Lord visits them, that the memory both of the dead and of the giants may be utterly blotted out. For he alone raises the dead, of whom it is said: As the Father raises the dead and gives life, so also the Son gives life to whom he will. We may call the dead the images of dead men, and the giants demons, who sit beside their images. Nor should it trouble us why the Seventy translated "male," and the other Interpreters "memory," since both are written among the Hebrews with the same three letters, ZAIN (ז), and CAPH (כ), and RESH (ר). But when we say "memorial," it is read ZACHAR; when "male," ZACHOR. And by this ambiguity of the word they think Saul was deceived, when he fought against Amalech and killed every male of them.

For when God commanded that he should destroy every memory of Amalech under heaven, he, instead of "memory"—not so much through error as seduced by desire of plunder—interpreted it as "males," not knowing that saying of the Apostle: Be not deceived, God is not mocked.

Verse 15. Thou hast been indulgent to the nation, O Lord, thou hast been indulgent to the nation. Hast thou been glorified? Thou hast enlarged all the borders of the earth. The Septuagint: Add evils to them, Lord, add evils to the glorious ones of the earth: thou hast removed far off all the borders of the earth. The evils which the Seventy placed a second time are not found in the Hebrew; but because he had said above, Therefore hast thou brought in and destroyed, and taken away every male of them, following the same sense, they added of their own, "evils," so that those who are glorious in the earth might be oppressed with double evils. But according to the Hebrews the sense is quite otherwise, and agrees with the former discussion. The Lord had said: Let us have mercy on the wicked. The Prophet had answered: And where is thy justice? Especially since he has wrought such evils against thy saints. To which the Lord: And he shall not see, he says, the glory of the Lord.

Again the Prophet: Let thy hand be exalted to strike, and let them not see thy glory, which they do not deserve to behold. To which the Lord: Let them rather see and be confounded. Again the Prophet: Lord, give us peace, and possess us, who remember thy name. But let not the wicked and the proud live, nor rise again in glory, but destroy all memory of them. And he renders the reasons why he desires them to perish. Thou hast been indulgent to the nation, Lord, thou hast been indulgent to the nation; hast thou been glorified? And the sense is: Often hast thou had mercy on the nations, that is, on the human race, and exercised incredible clemency toward them; have they known thee? Have they glorified thy name? Have they not, on the contrary, withdrawn far from thee? For security begets negligence, negligence begets contempt. (Verse 16.) Lord, in anguish they have sought thee, in the tribulation of murmuring thy teaching was to them.

LXX: Lord, in tribulation I remembered thee, in small tribulation thy teaching was to us. Because though thou wast indulgent thou wast often despised, and not glorified; but on the contrary all withdrew from the knowledge of thee; therefore, Lord, strike them, that in anguish they may seek thee, and in the tribulation of murmuring thy teaching may be to them: when so great a weight of evils shall press upon them that they will not even dare to cry out confidently, but will devour their grief in silence. According to the LXX, the Prophet of the Lord is remembered in tribulation, according to what is said in the psalm: Out of tribulation I called upon the Lord, and he heard me in a large place. And in another place: When I was in tribulation I cried to the Lord, and he heard me. Whence the Apostle says: We are troubled, but not distressed: we suffer persecution, but are not forsaken.

And in another place: The sufferings of this present time are not worthy to be compared to the glory to come that shall be revealed in us. But if small tribulation teaches, and amends, and corrects, how much more does great tribulation, when we are reminded of our condition, and remember the power of God! (Verses 17, 18.) Like a woman with child, when she draweth near the time of her delivery, being in pain crieth out in her pangs: so are we become, O Lord, before thy face. We have conceived, and as it were travailed, and have brought forth spirit. LXX: And as a woman with child, when she draweth near the time of delivery, crieth out in her pain: so are we become to thy beloved: because of the fear of thee, O Lord, we have conceived in the womb, and have been in travail, and have brought forth the spirit of thy salvation, which we have wrought upon the earth.

As a woman drawing near to delivery is compelled by pain to cry out: so in anguish we seek thee, and from before the fear of thee we have conceived, and been in travail, and have brought forth, not children of the flesh, but of the spirit: that we may believe in thee with our whole mind, that we may learn by torments him whom we did not perceive through benefits. That which the LXX have added, so are we become to thy beloved; instead of which the others have translated, so are we become before thy face, O Lord, is to be marked with an obelus. But we can understand by "the beloved of the Lord" Christ, for fear of whom we conceive, and are in travail, and bring forth, and make the spirit of salvation upon the earth. This an apostolic man can also say, when he instructs peoples and imitates the apostle Paul: My little children, of whom I am in travail again, until Christ be formed in you.

Or is it to be doubted that the apostle Paul made the spirit of salvation upon the earth, who from Jerusalem even unto Illyricum preached the Gospel, and like a wise architect laid the foundation, beyond which no other can lay, which is Christ Jesus? Whether therefore we read, because of fear of thee, O Lord, we have conceived in the womb: or, according to the Hebrew, from before thy face, O Lord, we have conceived, and taken in the womb, both pertain to this, that from fear and remembrance of the Lord we may conceive the word of God, and our heart may be illumined, of those who say: The light of thy countenance is signed upon us, O Lord. And, Show us thy face, and we shall be saved.

We have not wrought salvation in the earth: therefore the inhabitants of the world have not fallen. LXX: We shall not fall, but the inhabitants of the earth shall fall. A different interpretation must needs have a different sense also. According to the Hebrew this is said: Because we have done nothing worthy of thy mercy, therefore the wicked have not fallen, but even to this day they prevail and possess the earth. But the LXX assert this, that while the saints make the spirit of salvation upon the earth, those who are inhabitants of the earth shall fall—although between "the world," which in Hebrew is THEBEL (תבל), and in Greek is called οἰκουμένη, and "the earth," there is much difference.

Those, then, shall fall who have given themselves over to habitation of the earth, and are founded with fixed root in earthly works; and those shall not fall who sit in the world of the earth and rest in the Church, which is the dwelling-place of the Father, and the Son, and the Holy Spirit. (Verse 19.) Thy dead men shall live, my slain shall rise again: awake and give praise, ye that dwell in the dust, for thy dew is the dew of the lights, and thou shalt bring down the land of the giants to ruin. LXX: The dead shall rise again, and they shall rise from the tombs, and they shall rejoice who are in the earth. For thy dew is health for them, but the land of the wicked shall fall.

While the saints are in travail and bringing forth the spirit, and the inhabitants of the earth are falling, because they have not wrought salvation in the earth, those whom the Apostle calls dead in Christ, and who have been slain for the name of the Lord, shall rise again in glory. And because their death is a sleep, they are said, according to the LXX, not so much to rise again as to awake and rouse themselves. Whence also Lazarus, who was to be roused, is called by the Lord "sleeping". All therefore the martyrs and holy men, who shed their blood for Christ, and whose whole life was a martyrdom, shall rise again and awake, and shall praise God their Creator, who now dwell in the dust, of whom it is written in Daniel: Many of them that sleep in the dust of the earth shall awake, some unto life everlasting, and some unto reproach and everlasting confusion.

And in John the Evangelist we read: The hour cometh, and now is, when they that are in the graves shall hear the voice of the Son of God, and they that hear shall live, and they that have done good shall come forth unto the resurrection of life, and they that have done evil, unto the resurrection of judgment. For the dew of the Lord, according to the fables of the Poets surpassing all the herbs of Paeon, shall bring the bodies of the dead to life. And as seeds cast into the ground, the dew gradually makes them grow into herbs, and come to fruits after their kind: so the dew of the Lord, which is set down for mercy, shall be a dew of many lights, which in Hebrew is called OROTH (אורות). But the earth, that is, the bodies of the Raphaim, namely of the giants and the wicked, the Lord shall bring down unto everlasting punishments.

Finally, for RAPHAIM (רפאים), the LXX alone translated "the wicked." And since above we read: The dead shall not see life, nor shall physicians raise them up, for which Aquila and Symmachus interpreted Raphaim and giants: we ask what the cause of the error is, that for the Hebrew RAPHAIM, some rendered "giants," others "physicians." The Hebrew word RAPHAIM, if after the first letter RES it has following it a VAU, is read ROPHAIM (רופאים) and signifies physicians; but if it be written without the letter VAU, it is read RAPHAIM, and is rendered "giants." And at the same time, because above he had said: The dead shall not see life, so as to show more clearly that it is not said there of the dead by the law of nature, and the separation of soul and body; but of those who are dead in sin: now on the contrary he says to God: Thy dead men shall live, who have been slain for thy sake, who are not absolutely "dead," as the LXX translated; but according to the Hebrew, where it is said Jeju metheca (יהיו מתיך), they are called "thy dead." Go, my people, enter into thy chambers, shut thy doors upon thee: hide thyself a little for a moment, until the indignation pass away.

For behold the Lord will come out of his place, to visit the iniquity of the inhabitant of the earth against him, and the earth shall disclose her blood, and shall cover her slain no more. LXX: Go, my people, enter into thy chambers, shut thy door: hide thyself a little, however little it be, until the wrath of the Lord pass away. For behold the Lord will bring wrath from his holy place upon the inhabitants of the earth, and the earth shall disclose her blood, and shall hide her slain no more.

Above he had spoken of the saints, The dead shall rise again, and they that are in the tombs shall rise; for thy dew is health for them: and on the contrary of the wicked, but the land of the wicked shall fall: now he speaks to the saints, because to you resurrection has been promised, until the wrath of God rage furiously against sinners and the wicked: enter into your graves, and hide yourselves, for it is but a short time until the indignation of God pass away. For indeed the Lord comes forth from his place, because the Lord, being merciful and compassionate, and a most gentle Father, is compelled to strike his negligent children, and in a manner to be changed from his own sentence, so that he may visit and bring in his wrath upon the inhabitants of the earth, of whom it is said in Hosea: Cursing and lying, and adultery and theft, are poured out upon the inhabitants of the earth (Hosea iv, 2).

And in the third chapter of the Apocalypse we read: Woe upon the inhabitants of the earth. Moreover the just, although they seem to be on earth, yet their conversation is in heaven, who can say: I am a sojourner in the earth, and a pilgrim as all my fathers were, and enjoy the dwelling of the Most High, of whom the saint speaks: He that dwelleth in the aid of the Most High shall abide under the protection of the God of heaven. Then shall the earth disclose her blood, of which God speaks to Cain: The voice of thy brother's blood crieth to me from the earth, which hath opened her mouth to receive thy brother's blood from thy hand. This can also be understood of the Martyrs, who shed their blood for Christ, and cry out under the altar of God: How long, O Lord, dost thou not avenge our blood on them that dwell upon the earth?

Of whom also Moses says in the Canticle: The blood of his children shall be avenged, and he shall take vengeance and repay vengeance to his enemies. This blood which the earth had received, she shall disclose, and shall by no means cover the slain of the Lord; but shall produce them in public for the condemnation of those who slew the Martyrs. Let this be understood of the plain resurrection. But according to the Anagogy it is enjoined upon the people of God, that they enter into their chambers or storerooms, for ταμεῖα indeed signifies both: that they shut, according to the precept of the Gospel, the door of their chamber, and say with the Prophet: Set, O Lord, a watch before my mouth, and a door of restraint round about my lips. And let them be hidden a little, however little it be, until the wrath of the Lord pass over, that they may do nothing for the sake of glory; but may enjoy the good of a clear conscience, and await God alone as judge.

Now there are storerooms which are to be shut and hidden by those who have become rich in works and in words, in prudence, temperance, fortitude, justice, so that the left hand may not know what the right hand doeth, that we may enjoy the riches of the Law and the Prophets, and of the Gospel. And that all the days of our life are short and few, Jacob, passing beyond a hundred years, declares: Few and evil are my days. But that wrath of the Lord which is to pass away is that which those treasure up for themselves who are unwilling to do penance; and after it has passed, the storerooms shall no longer be shut, but that shall be fulfilled which is written: There is nothing hidden which shall not be revealed, and nothing secret that shall not be made known.

And what follows: For behold the Lord will bring in his wrath from his holy place: this signifies, that wrath begins from the saints of God, or that all his vengeance is just and holy, coming down not from a disturbance of mind, as is usual among men; but from a zeal for correction. But I think that "earth of the inhabitants" is that of which it is written: Let the earth hear the words of my mouth. And: Give ear, O earth. And again: O earth, earth, hear the word of the Lord. For as those who dwell on earth, so those who are in the flesh, cannot please God. But "earth" in this place signifies the soul that lives after the flesh. And it shall disclose its blood, if it has scandalized anyone, and with Cain deserves to hear: The voice of thy brother's blood crieth to me from the earth, which hath opened her mouth to receive thy brother's blood.

Therefore all blood shall be required in the day of judgment, nor shall the earth hide her blood; and the slain whom she has killed, whether willingly, or through negligence, she shall bring forth into the midst.

(Verse 1.) In that day the Lord shall visit with his hard, and great, and strong sword upon Leviathan the bar-serpent, and upon Leviathan the crooked serpent, and shall slay the whale that is in the sea. The Septuagint: In that day God shall bring in a holy, and great, and strong sword, upon the fleeing dragon serpent, upon the crooked dragon serpent, and shall slay the dragon that is in the sea. The Hebrews relate that the devil, that is, the accuser, which is a Greek name, is called in Hebrew SATAN (שטן), that is, the adversary. Whence also in Zechariah it is said: Satan, that is, the adversary, stood at his right hand to oppose him. He is also called BELIAL (בליעל), that is, apostate, transgressor, and without yoke. Whence also the Apostle says: What communion hath Christ with Belial?

And wherever the Septuagint puts "sons of pestilence," in the Hebrew it is written "sons of Belial." Whence also that which is sung in the psalm concerning the mystery of the Saviour: The son of iniquity shall not add to hurt him, is said in the Hebrew, "son of Belial." He is called also by other names, as it is written in another psalm: Thou shalt walk upon the asp and the basilisk, and thou shalt trample under foot the lion and the dragon. This dragon is properly called in the Hebrew tongue LEVIATHAN (לויתן). He is that great whale, of whom it is told in a mystical saying in Job, that he is to be captured by Christ: Who shall take the great whale; for there too Leviathan is put for the whale; and again: But thou shalt draw the dragon with a hook, thou shalt bind his nostrils with a snaffle; and immediately: This is the beginning of the Lord's creature, which was made to be mocked by his angels.

And in the psalm: This great and wide sea: there are creeping things without number: small animals with great ones. That dragon which thou hast formed to mock him. Of this John also writes in the Apocalypse: There was war in heaven: Michael and his angels fought with the dragon, and the dragon fought and his angels, and they prevailed not, neither was their place found any more in heaven And: The great dragon was cast out, that old serpent, called the devil and Satan, who deceiveth the whole world; he was cast into the earth, and his angels with him; and there it is said: The accuser of our brethren was cast down, who accused them before our God. And it must be noted that in the psalm and in Job, he is said to have been made into a dragon, that is, Leviathan, precisely that he might be mocked by the angels. Whence also the Apostles receive power to tread upon serpents and scorpions, and upon all the power of the enemy.

Since therefore from the place where it is written: Behold the Lord shall scatter the earth, and lay it bare (above, xxiv, 1); or according to the Septuagint: Behold the Lord shall destroy the world, and shall lay it waste, up to the present chapter, judgment has been foretold against the world at the consummation of the age, and the last enemy, death, shall be destroyed: for this reason the final sentence against the devil is that a holy, and great, and strong sword be brought upon him, or according to the Hebrew and the other Interpreters, a hard sword. For it is not, as the Septuagint supposed, CADESA (קדושה), which if it were so would mean "holy"; but CASA (קשה), which is properly translated "hard." Whence also Cis, the father of Saul, is called "hard." Now by the holy, or hard, sword, some of our writers, in accordance with the sense it bears, understand the Word of God, of whom the Apostle says: For the word of God is living and effectual, and more piercing than any two-edged sword.

Whence also in another place we read that a two-edged sword goes out from the mouth of the Saviour. But when at the end of the world a holy or hard, and great, and strong sword shall have been brought against Leviathan, who at the beginning of Genesis is called the serpent more subtle than all the beasts that were upon the earth, he shall flee who was never accustomed to flee, not knowing that which is written: Whither shall I go from thy spirit, or whither shall I flee from thy face? Beautifully does a certain poet play upon this in the Gigantomachia concerning Enceladus: Whither dost thou flee, Enceladus? Whatever shores thou shalt reach, Thou shalt ever be under God.

Now this Leviathan, the fleeing serpent, is called in the Hebrew BARI (בריח), which Aquila interpreted "the bar," Symmachus "the one who shuts up," Theodotion "the strong one." I think he is called "the bar" or "the one who shuts up" because he has shut up many in his prison, and subjected them to his own power, and has nothing straight in himself, and is therefore called crooked, nor can he imitate the rod of the Lord, of which it is written: A sceptre of righteousness is the sceptre of thy kingdom. Him the Lord shall slay with the breath of his mouth, him who once dwelt in the sea, of false and bitter waves. Let those who say that the devil will do penance and obtain pardon explain to us how they understand what is written: And he shall slay the dragon that is in the sea, or the whale.

For in the second instance in the present chapter, he is not called Leviathan in the Hebrew, but THANNIN (תנין), which properly means "whale." Whence the Hebrews suppose that Leviathan dwells under the earth and in the air, but Thannin in the sea, which is a Jewish fable. And as to what is said at the end of this chapter, "in that day," Eusebius joins it to the preceding chapter, lest the following prophecy be fitted to this time. But the Hebrews and other expositors join it to what follows, which we are now about to set forth.

Verse 2. In that day there shall be singing to the vineyard of pure wine. I the Lord that keep it, will suddenly give it drink: lest any hurt come to it, I keep it night and day. The Septuagint: In that day there shall be a good vineyard, a desire, that he may be its prince. I am a strong city, a city that is besieged: in vain will I give it drink. For they shall be taken by night, but by day the wall shall fall. In this place the Hebrew differs greatly from the Septuagint edition, therefore let us discuss each as we have set them forth. The vineyard of which Isaiah speaks above: A vineyard is made for the beloved on a horn, in a fruitful place, we may learn what is to be understood by his own teaching: For the vineyard of the Lord of hosts is the house of Israel, of which it is sung in the psalm: Thou hast brought a vineyard out of Egypt.

To this vineyard also, through Jeremiah, he gives to drink the most unmixed cup. For when he had sent her to give drink to all the nations, and the Prophet had willingly offered himself for this office, he is bidden first to make Jerusalem drunk. Whence he says: Thou hast deceived me, O Lord, and I am deceived. Jerusalem, therefore, shall drink, and the unmixed drink shall be given to her, that she may learn lamentation and weeping. And the Lord says that he has kept her for a long time, and has given place for repentance, and because she was unwilling to be converted, she shall be suddenly made drunk. For he says he has done this by day or by night, that she might ever be preserved by his help. But the Septuagint call this same vineyard beautiful, in which was the Law and the Prophets, the priesthood, and the pontificate, and the knowledge of God, as Scripture says: God is known in Judea, his name is great in Israel.

Which some think, according to their edition, pertains to the Church, than which nothing is more beautiful. And of which it is said: Glorious things are said of thee, O city of God: which is chief of her own mother, and says in the Song of Songs: My mother's children fought against me. And she speaks: I am a firm city, a city that is besieged. And beautifully he said "besieged," not "captured." And he immediately joins concerning the Synagogue, which has been turned from head into tail: In vain do I give her the drink of my teachings, for she shall be taken in the darkness of her error. And because she has not received the open light, by day her wall falls, that is, all that she thought was her help, and there shall be none of her adversaries who does not take her, which we ought to understand of the contrary powers.

Verse 4. I have no indignation: who shall give me the thorn and the brier in battle? I will march against it; I will burn it up together. Or rather shall I hold my strength? He shall make peace with me, peace shall he make with me. The Septuagint: There is none that has not laid hold of her. Who will set me as a keeper of stubble in the field? For this cause I have rejected her. Therefore the Lord has done all that he purposed: I am burned; the inhabitants thereof shall say, Let us make peace with him: let us make peace with him. According to the Hebrew, the sense here is this: I, who by day and night have always preserved my vineyard, lest the boar out of the wood should destroy it, lest the beasts should devour it. Have I not indignation, and do I not know how to smite the sinner, and to render to every man according to his desert?

Where Aquila put "thorn" and "brier," in the Hebrew it is written SAMIR (שמיר) and SAITH (שית), which signify the diamond, and places full of thorns. Whence he says: Who will teach me to be harsh, and to overcome my clemency, and to advance fiercely in war and battle: that I may march against the vineyard, which I formerly kept, and burn it up, which I had hedged about with my own wall? Or rather shall my strength do this, that I defer my wrath, and save by the clemency of the Gospel those who were in no wise preserved by the authority of the Law? Now according to the Hebrew it must be read differently: Who will make me hard and cruel, that I should overcome my own nature? For this is signified in the desert and among the thorns: that I might crush it as it were in battle, and burn it up, which I have always guarded with my diligence.

Or rather shall I hold my strength, which without doubt is Christ, and of whom we read: Christ the power of God and the wisdom of God, that this same strength may make peace for me, and reconcile the world? According to the Septuagint, the sense here is this, that we understand it as spoken from the person of the Church: I am a firm city, a city surrounded by many enemies, which in vain I have given cups to drink to my enemy the Synagogue. For she shall be taken by night; and her wall shall fall, nor shall there be any power among the adversaries which shall not lay hold of her. Again I will speak: What profit is it to me to keep her, who has in herself stubble, not grain: who is so uncultivated that she is full of briers and thorns, whom I wished to save? But because she deals with me as an enemy, I have withdrawn from her.

And the Apostles, born of me and from me, have said concerning me: It was necessary that the word of God should first be spoken to you: but since you have rejected it, and judged yourselves unworthy of eternal life, behold, we turn to the Gentiles. Therefore the Lord shall do what he has threatened, that all may burn in her, surrounded by Roman fire. Or certainly let them burn with vices and sins, lest they be able to quench the burning darts of the devil. For all who commit adultery, their hearts are as an oven. And those who formerly dwelt in her, after they have cried out, the city being taken and burned, shall leave her, and reconciling the world to God, shall say: Let us make peace with him, let us make peace with him, that is, with Christ, ever writing in their Epistles: Grace be with you and peace from God the Father and Christ Jesus our Lord.

Of whom we read in this same Prophet: How beautiful are the feet of them that preach the gospel of peace! Some refer this passage to the Churches, in that they are indeed kept by God; but many in them bear no fruit; and for this reason are burned by the fervors of a good teacher, that they may cry out and confess their error, and afterward make peace with God, who are truly to be called sons of Jacob.

Verse 6. They that go forth out of the root of Jacob, Israel shall blossom and bud: and they shall fill the face of the world with seed. The Septuagint: They that come, the children of Jacob: Israel shall bud and blossom: and shall fill the world with fruit. After the Apostles, preaching the Gospel in the whole world, shall have said: We will make peace with Christ, peace will we make with him, those who shall be of the seed of Jacob, and shall have attained to Apostolic dignity, shall be called sons of Jacob among the exalted ones. Then Israel shall bud and blossom, seeing the doctrine of his sons has filled the whole world, and has brought forth most abundant fruits, which remaining in Judea it had not brought forth.

Verse 7. Hath he smitten him according to the stroke of him that struck him: or is he slain as he slew those that were slain by him? This passage is understood in two ways. Either against Jerusalem, meaning that she has not been so struck by God as she herself struck Christ and his Apostles: or against the multitude of the Gentiles, meaning that while they persecuted and shed Christian blood, the Apostles and apostolic men nonetheless had care for their salvation and reconciled them to God.

Verse 8. In measure against measure, when it shall have been cast off, thou shalt judge her. LXX: Chiding and reproaching he will send them away. According to the Hebrew, this is the sense: As Jerusalem did, so she shall receive, and according to the measure with which she measured, it shall be measured back to her. And then she shall receive the accumulated measure, when the time of judgment shall have come and God shall have cast her off. According to the LXX, what is said depends on what precedes. For Israel shall not be struck as she struck, nor shall she be slain as she slew. He who wrangled against the Apostles, and reproached their teachers, and commanded that they should not speak in the name of Christ. Therefore the Lord will cast them off, and will drive them out of his own flock.

He meditated in his hard spirit through the day of heat. LXX: Was it not thou who wast meditating with a hard spirit to slay them, with a spirit of fury? According to the Hebrew this is said: in the measure with which she measured, Jerusalem shall receive; therefore God, in his hard and vehement spirit, meditated, or spoke against her in the day of heat, that is, in the time of persecution, when the day of indignation and of punishments is more ardent. According to the LXX, it is said to Jerusalem herself, or to Israel: Was it not thou who, in thy most hard and cruel spirit, and in the fury of thy blasphemies, wast desiring to slay the Apostles of the Lord and their teachers?

Verse 9. Therefore upon these things the iniquity of the house of Jacob shall be forgiven, and this is all the fruit, that his sin may be taken away: because he has made all the stones of the altar as stones of ashes broken to pieces: the groves and the shrines shall not stand. LXX: Therefore the iniquity of Jacob shall be taken away, and this shall be his blessing, when I shall have taken away his sin, when he shall have made all the stones of the altars crushed as ashes ground fine, and their trees and idols shall not endure. He gives the reasons why, after the Jews have laid hands upon the Lord, they may obtain pardon, if they be willing to do penance, that the prayer of the Saviour may be fulfilled: Father, forgive them; for they know not what they do.

Therefore, he says, the iniquity of the house of Jacob shall be forgiven, and his sin shall be taken away, that he may merit the blessing of God, who had invoked a curse upon himself, saying: His blood be upon us, and upon our children. Because through the Apostles, from the stock of Israel, the Gospel shall be sown throughout the whole world, and idolatry shall be destroyed, and the altars shall be ground to dust, the groves shall be cut down, the shrines shall fall, and the knowledge of the one God under the mystery of the Trinity shall be preached.

Verse 10. For the fortified city shall be desolate: the beautiful city shall be forsaken, and shall be left as a desert. There the calf shall feed, and there it shall lie down and consume its tops. LXX: Their idols shall be cut down, like a grove, and the flock dwelling afar off shall be forsaken like an abandoned flock, and it shall be for a long time for pasture, and there the flocks shall rest, and after a long time there shall be in it nothing green at all, because it is dried up. Jerusalem, once a firm and fortified city, because she did not receive the son of the householder, but said, Come, let us kill him, for he is the heir, and the inheritance shall be ours, shall be made desolate.

And she who was once beautiful, of whom also it is said in Ezekiel: Thou didst eat fine flour, and honey, and oil, and thou wast made exceedingly beautiful, and in whom dwelt he of whom it is written: Beautiful in form beyond the sons of men, shall be forsaken and left as a desert, the Lord saying to the Apostles: Arise, let us go hence. There the calf shall feed, the Roman army, of which also in another place it is said under the name of the boar: The boar out of the wood shall lay it waste, and a lone wild beast shall devour it. And there it shall lie down and consume its tops, under the metaphor of the vine and its shoots, so that nothing green, nothing of the branches remains in it, but the enemy consumes all.

According to the LXX, because they did not receive the good shepherd: therefore they shall be as a forsaken flock, and shall lie open to the bites of beasts; and nothing green shall remain in them, because drought shall possess all.

Verse 11. In the drought of its harvest they shall be broken, women coming and teaching it. For it is not a wise people: therefore he that made it shall not have mercy on it, and he that formed it shall not spare it. LXX: Women coming from the spectacle, come: for it is not a people having understanding; therefore he that made them shall not have mercy on them; and he that formed them shall not spare. What is said, In the drought of its harvest they shall be broken, for which the Seventy interpreted, there shall be in it nothing green, because it is dried up, according to the Hebrew is joined to what follows; according to the LXX, to the preceding sense. Let us then speak first according to the Hebrew. When the time of the drought and harvest of Jerusalem, and, to speak more plainly, of her devastation, shall come, a crowd of synagogues from the whole world will run together, to lament Jerusalem and console her ills.

Or he speaks openly of women, who, with bared breasts, strike their bleeding arms, and the prophecy of the Lord shall be fulfilled: Daughters of Jerusalem, weep not for me, but weep for yourselves and for your children. And it is a great misfortune of a people, to learn songs of lamentation from women; just as it was a reproach to the people of Israel, when in the book of Judges, the Lord wrought salvation by the hand of the woman Deborah, and at the time of the approaching captivity, the men being silent, Holda the woman prophesied. Therefore the women shall be broken by a long journey, worn out by weakness, hunger and squalor, and shall teach the miserable people, because it is not a wise people, nor did it understand its Creator, who, neglected and despised by them, will not have mercy on his handiwork, and will not spare his creature.

According to the LXX, it is said of Mary Magdalene, and the other Mary, and the rest of the women, who first saw the Lord rising again, and held his feet, and were found worthy to hear from him: Fear not: Go, tell my brethren that they should go into Galilee, and there they shall see me. Of these women, long before they were born, the prophetic word foretells, and calls them from the spectacle of the Lord's Passion and Resurrection, that they may preach the Gospel, and, according to the Hebrew, teach Jerusalem or the land of Israel, that this is the Lord and God. For the people of Israel not having wisdom at that time, when the Lord suffered, and the prophetic oracle was fulfilled: Save me, O Lord, for the holy one has failed. And: All have gone astray, they have together become unprofitable: there is none that doeth good, no not one, the women are called from the spectacle, that they may announce to the Apostles what they themselves have seen.

But Israel, of whom it was said (above, 1:3): Israel has not known me, and my people has not understood, provoked his most merciful Creator and maker to bitterness, so that he might in no wise have mercy on him. These things are said, indeed, in a devout sense; but how they may agree with the rest, and be fitted to the times of the consummation of the world, is a difficult interpretation.

Verse 12. And it shall be in that day, the Lord shall strike from the channel of the river even to the torrent of Egypt. LXX: And it shall be in that day, the Lord will shut in from the trench of the river even to Rhinocorura. Had he not joined, "in that day," by which we are taught that what he is about to say is to be joined to what precedes, we could have expounded it as, so to speak, the proper sense of this chapter; but now all things must be referred back to what precedes. Since the fortified city shall be desolate, and the once beautiful city shall be left as a desert, and there the calf shall lie down, and shall consume the shoots of the vine, and all things shall be dried up, since it is not a people having understanding, and because of its folly it has obtained no mercy from its Creator.

Therefore the Lord will strike, or shut in, from the channel or stream of the river even to the torrent of Egypt, so that in the whole of Judea, which was once the land of promise, no word of doctrine may be found, nothing of the knowledge of the Scriptures, of which also the Apostle speaks: That we should not give heed to Jewish fables and commandments of men, who turn away from the truth; and again: For there are many, both disobedient, vain talkers, and seducers, whom it behooves to be reproved, especially those of the circumcision. Now the channel, or stream, of the river we may historically call the Euphrates, as it is also written in the seventy-first psalm: He shall have dominion from sea to sea, and from the river even to the ends of the earth. Others think it is the Jordan. And this is to be noted, that within the borders of Judea it is called a river; within the borders of Egypt, a torrent, which has turbid and not perpetual waters.

For the torrent of Egypt, the LXX rendered Rhinocorura, which is a town on the border of Egypt and Palestine, expressing not so much the words of the Scriptures as the sense of the words. And what we have said, "he shall strike," for which the LXX rendered συμψήσει, that is, "he shall shut in": Aquila and Theodotion translated ῥαβδίσει, which can be understood either as he shall strike with a rod, or he shall number by the rod the count of his flock: so that it be taken not in a bad, but in a good sense.

And you shall be gathered one by one, O children of Israel. LXX: But do you gather one by one the children of Israel. O children of Israel, for which Symmachus rendered, house of Israel: your adversaries having been struck from the channel of the river even to the torrent of Egypt, that is, from the Euphrates even to the Nile, you yourselves shall be gathered to the faith of the Lord one by one, because the multitude of the Jews did not believe, by which he signifies that few of the Jews will believe in the Lord the Savior.

Or certainly, O Apostles and apostolic men, the multitude of the Jews not believing, do you, from the whole world, bring back as many as you can, like sickly sheep, to the folds of the Lord, and gather them with the people of the Gentiles, that what Paul the Apostle and Barnabas say to the Jews may be fulfilled: To you indeed it was necessary first to preach the word of God; but because you have judged yourselves unworthy of salvation, behold we turn to the Gentiles.

Verse 13. And it shall be in that day: a great trumpet shall be sounded; and they shall come who had perished out of the land of the Assyrians, and they that were outcasts in the land of Egypt: and they shall worship the Lord in the holy mount, in Jerusalem. LXX: And it shall be in that day, they shall sound with a great trumpet; and they shall come that had perished in the region of the Assyrians, and they that had perished in Egypt: and they shall worship the Lord upon the holy mountain in Jerusalem. In this place the Jews make vain promises to themselves, that at the consummation of the world, when their Antichrist, as it is called, "the anointed one" shall come, the scattered people from the Assyrians and from the land of Egypt shall be gathered, and shall come into Jerusalem, and, the temple being built, shall worship the Lord their God. This, according to the letter, cannot stand at all.

For it is not only from the Assyrians and from Egypt, but from the whole world, that they who are to believe in Christ will be called. Therefore this signifies, that at the last trumpet, according to the Apostle Paul, all who had perished among the Assyrians and in Egypt shall come to the Lord: nor did he say all the children of Israel, but all who had perished, by which he signifies the multitude of the Gentiles, that those bound also by idolatry, and magical and philosophical arts, may come to the faith of Christ, and worship him in the Church. Now the great trumpet may be understood as the Evangelical word, of which also we read in this same Prophet: Get thee up upon a high mountain, thou that bringest good tidings to Zion: lift up thy voice, thou that bringest good tidings to Jerusalem (below, 40:9).

The holy mountain, then, and that Jerusalem, is that of which we have often said: You are come to Mount Zion, and to the city of the living God, the heavenly Jerusalem, and to the company of many thousands of angels; and to the church of the firstborn, who are written in heaven. Thus far we have spoken of the consummation of the world, from the place where we began to expound: Behold, the Lord will lay waste the earth, and strip it bare (above, 24:1), which is contained in the present volume. Now, with Christ helping, nay rather inspiring us, let us pass over to the ninth, which will have the beginning of another prophecy.

Occupied with various troubles, we are dictating the explanations on the prophet Isaiah at intervals. Hence, having completed the eighth volume, now after some interval of time we pass on to the ninth: not without the biting and detractions of the envious, who, ignorant of what they hear or what they say, dare to pass judgment on what they do not know, and despise before they test, and consider themselves learned and discerning if they carp at all writers. Despising their malice and grumbling chatter, let us beg the help of God, and let us say with the Psalmist by way of imprecation: Scatter the nations that desire wars. For the place of the Lord is in peace, which surpasses all understanding. This too the Prophet longs for, crying out: O Lord our God, give us peace: for thou hast rendered all things to us.

But now let us set forth the chapter of Isaiah, and with Moses let us enter into the cloud and the darkness, that our face may be made bright, and, according to the Hebrew, that our countenance may be horned; and let the thunders and lightnings be heard and flash, which the baser people could not behold.

(Verse 1.) Woe to the crown of pride, to the drunkards of Ephraim, and to the fading flower of the glory of his exultation, who were on the top of the very fat valley, staggering with wine. Behold, the strong and mighty one of the Lord, like a storm of hail, a whirlwind breaking in pieces; like the rush of many waters overflowing and sent forth over a wide land. The crown of pride of the drunkards of Ephraim shall be trodden underfoot.

And the fading flower of the glory of his exultation, which is upon the head of the fat valley, shall be as an early fruit before the ripeness of autumn, which, when he that sees it beholds it, as soon as he takes it in his hand, he will devour it. The Septuagint: Woe to the crown of the wrong of the hireling Ephraim: the flower falling from glory upon the top of the fat mountain, ye who are drunk without wine. Behold the strong and hard fury of the Lord, like hail that is carried headlong, having no shelter, which falls violently like a multitude of waters dragging the soil, and making itself room: with hands and feet shall the crown of the wrong of the hireling Ephraim be trodden down. And the flower that fell from the hope of glory upon the summit of the lofty mountain shall be like an early fig, which he who sees it desires to devour before he takes it in his hand.

Let us speak first according to the history, then according to the tropology, and lastly according to the prophetic vaticination. The divine word speaks against the ten tribes that reigned in Samaria, and on account of Jeroboam, who was of the tribe of Ephraim, they were called Ephraim. And he calls them the crown of pride: because, compared to the two tribes which were called Judah, they were more exalted both in number and in strength. And he calls Ephraim drunken, because they did not recognize their Creator, but worshipped golden calves in Dan and Bethel in place of the Lord. These were once in the flower of the Lord, and in glory, when they were ruled by David and Solomon, and among the twelve tribes were worshipping God in the temple of Jerusalem, who were on the top of the very fat valley, which in Hebrew is called Ge semanim (גיא שמנים). This signifies the place where the Lord was betrayed; upon the top of which valley the temple of the Lord was situated.

These were made drunk with the wine of error and madness, which Jeroboam mixed for them. Wherefore the Lord threatens them with punishment, that as a storm of hail breaks everything in pieces, and the rush of overflowing waters carries off whatever it finds in its way: so they shall be destroyed by the army of the Assyrians, and whatever remains shall be transferred to the mountains or cities of Media. He compares the glory of the ten tribes to a crown of various flowers, which had such beauty, that just as if one, before summer and autumn come, seeing an early fig (πρόδρομον) on the tree, devours it as soon as he takes it in his hand: so also the ten tribes, when the Assyrian sees them, he shall lay waste and devour, and leave nothing at all of the former people in Samaria. Let this be said briefly according to the history. Let us pass on to the allegory.

According to the exposition of the prophet Hosea, in which Ephraim and Joseph and Samaria and the ten tribes, which were split off from the body of the twelve tribes, and left the temple of the Lord, we have referred to heretics, who indeed, according to the Septuagint edition, are the crown of wrong, blaspheming the Lord, and doing all things for the sake of gain, and have fallen from the glory of the Lord: nor do they follow the empty slenderness and the humility of the Church; but they revel, drunk without wine, on the very fat mountain. Therefore the strong and hard fury of the Lord, who is about to punish them, is compared to precipitate hail, which falls not upon roofs but upon the heads of mortals, and to many floods of waters, which carry off whatever they find in their way.

This crown of wrong is called the hirelings Ephraim, who, according to the Apostle, for the sake of base gain, have fallen from the flower and hope and glory of their former faith, and dwell in pride, and are the sweetest food of the devil, who devours them daily. According to the prophecy we can say this, that he calls the Scribes and Pharisees, who blasphemed the Lord, the crown of wrong. And they are called hirelings of Ephraim, because of Judas, who was of the tribe of Ephraim and of the village of that same tribe, Iscarioth, sold the Lord for a price, who indeed truly fell as the flower of apostolic glory upon the very fat mountain, of which we think it is said: Jacob ate and drank, and was filled, and grew fat, and the beloved kicked. Or according to the Hebrew: upon the valley of the fat ones, that is, Gessemanim: in which also the name of the place is signified, in which Judas betrayed the Lord.

Now the valley is called fat, or of the fat ones, on account of its fertility, and of the Scribes and Pharisees who there seized the Lord: of whom it is written in the psalm: Fat bulls have besieged me. This valley of the fat ones, that is, Gessemanim, is called in this second chapter; and I marvel how the Seventy first called it a fat mountain, and afterward a lofty mountain. Now the traitor was drunk not with wine, but with avarice and the incurable fury of asps, and with the food of the devil, who entered into him after the morsel, and was utterly devoured, because his prayer was turned into sin, and not even his repentance bore the fruit of salvation. The Hebrew word SACCHORE (שכור) is ambiguous, and signifies either drunkards or hirelings.

Whence also Issachar is interpreted as "hire": and SACHAR (שכר), μέθυσμα, that is, drunkenness: and the rest translate it "drunkards": only the Seventy translated it "hirelings." (Verse 5 ff.) In that day the Lord of hosts shall be a crown of glory, and a garland of exultation to the residue of his people, and a spirit of judgment to him that sits in judgment, and strength to them that return from the battle to the gate. But these also through wine have not known, and through drunkenness have erred; the priest and the prophet have not known: through drunkenness they are swallowed up with wine, they have erred through drunkenness: they have not known the seer, they have not known judgment, or marvelously. For all the tables are full of vomit and filthiness, so that there is no place left. The Septuagint: In that day the Lord Sabaoth shall be a crown of hope, which is woven together for the glory of the remnants of the people.

They shall be left in a spirit of judgment upon judgment, and a strength forbidding to kill. For these have been deceived by wine: they err because of strong drink; the priest and the prophet have lost their mind because of strong drink; they are swallowed up because of wine, they have staggered, that is, φάσμα (a phantasm); a curse shall consume this counsel: since indeed this counsel is for the sake of avarice. After all the land of Samaria, that is, of the ten tribes, shall have been destroyed by the flooding Assyrian, and the crown of pride of the drunkards of Ephraim trodden underfoot, and devoured like an early fig: then to the remnant of the people of Israel, that is, of the two tribes, Judah and Benjamin, the Lord Himself shall be a crown of victory; and a spirit of judgment to him that sits in judgment, doubtless to Hezekiah king of Judah; and strength to those who, after the whole region had been laid waste, returning from battle, shut themselves within the city.

Which we shall read in this same prophet (below, chap. 37), when a hundred eighty-five thousand armed men of the Assyrian army were destroyed by the smiting of the Angel. But these also, that is, Judah and Benjamin, were made drunk with the wine of idolatry, and, despising the religion of the temple, worshipped the images of demons, and did not know the Lord who sees all things. For all their tables, and their whole religion, were filled with vomit and filthiness, so that not only in the temple, but on the tops of the mountains, and in the wooded places, they filled everything with the filthiness of idolatry, and the Lord had no place of habitation among them. Let this be said according to the letter. Now according to tropology, let us follow the former understanding, nor leave the Seventy Interpreters untouched.

For, the heretics having been devoured by the mouth of the devil, who climbed the very fat mountain of pride, the Lord shall be a crown of glory to those who dwell in the Church, and, compared to the multitude of the many erring, are few in number. And He shall be in a spirit of judgment upon judgment: because the Lord shall wash away the filth of the sons and daughters of Sion by a spirit of judgment. But if anyone has blood-guilt, he shall be purged not by a spirit of judgment, but by the fire of burning, and he shall be strength to the people, and shall forbid him to be killed by those who are drunk with the wine of dragons, and have erred because of strong drink. We have often said that wine is that which is made from vineyards.

But strong drink is every drink that can make drunk, and overturn the state of the mind, which Aquila properly translated as drunkenness, whether it be made of wheat, or barley, or millet, or the juice of fruits, and the fruit of palms, or any other kind whatsoever. Therefore the priests and prophets of the heretics have lost their mind because of strong drink, and are swallowed up because of wine, such as were Prisca and Maximilla and their leader Montanus: and they did not know what they were saying. They are made drunk with wine, when they wrongly understand and pervert the holy Scriptures. With strong drink, when they misuse secular wisdom and the snares of the dialecticians, which are to be called not so much bonds as phantasms, that is, certain shadows and images, which quickly perish and dissolve. A curse shall possess counsel of this sort, of those who think piety to be gain, and do all things for the sake of avarice.

Of this phantasm the Apostle also spoke: Giving heed to spirits of error, and doctrines of demons, speaking lies in hypocrisy. The third explanation is, that after the Lord had overthrown the Scribes and Pharisees, and their partner Judas the traitor, who from the beginning had been a thief—for he carried the purse of the poor's money—then He shall be a hope and a crown of glory to those of the Jews who believed in the Lord, doubtless signifying the apostles, whom He reserved for the preaching of the Gospel, and did not permit at once to shed their blood for Christ. For all the Scribes and Pharisees were made drunk with wine and strong drink, of which we spoke above, both the priests and the pseudo-prophets. But their snares and schemes were for nothing, because Judas himself, who betrayed him, did it for the sake of money, and the priests who corrupted the traitor with money did it because of fear of their own downfall.

For He Himself, making a scourge of cords, cast out of the temple those who sold oxen and sheep, and overturned by His own authority the seats of those who sold doves, and the tables of the money-changers, saying to them: It is written: My Father's house shall be called a house of prayer, but you have made it a house of merchandise, or a den of thieves. According to the anagogical sense, that Hebrew phrase which we mentioned: For all their tables are filled with vomit and filthiness, so that there is no place left, can be referred to heretics, and the Scribes and Pharisees, so that we may say that their whole doctrine and all their mysteries are full of vomit and filthiness, since they do not digest the foods of the holy Scriptures, nor make them vital for the whole body; but they excrete them unripe and stinking, so that God finds no place among them.

But I wonder what Theodotion intended, that for the Hebrew word which is said, cisoa (קיא צאה), for which Aquila translated "vomit of filthiness," and Symmachus simply "vomit," he should say ἐμετὸν δυσαλίας, that is, "vomit of dysalia," a word which, where it may be read among the Greeks, I have not been able to find, unless perhaps he coined a new name for a new thing. Since indeed among the Hebrews it is a compound word, for vomit is called "ci," and "soa" is filthy. Whatever therefore causes nausea and vomiting, can be called δυσαλία. (Verses 10 and following.) Whom shall he teach knowledge, and whom shall he make to understand hearing? Those weaned from the milk, drawn away from the breasts: because command upon command, command upon command; wait upon wait, wait upon wait; a little there, a little there. For in the speech of a lip and in another tongue will he speak to this people, to whom he said: This is my rest; refresh the weary, and this is my refreshment, and they would not hear.

And the word of the Lord shall be unto them: command upon command, command upon command; wait upon wait, wait upon wait; a little there, a little there; that they may go, and fall backward, and be broken, and be snared, and be taken. The Septuagint: To whom shall we announce evils, and to whom shall we announce the message? Those who have been weaned from milk: those drawn away from the breast. Expect tribulation upon tribulation; wait for hope upon hope; yet a little, yet a little: because of the mockery of the lips, because of another tongue in which they will speak to this people, saying to them: This is the rest of the hungry, and this is the breaking, and they would not hear. And the word of the Lord shall be unto them: Tribulation upon tribulation: wait, wait; hope upon hope: yet a little, yet a little; that they may go, and fall backward, and be broken, and be endangered, and be taken.

Who, he says, is worthy of the teaching of the Lord, by the words of the Savior saying: He that hath ears to hear, let him hear: that what he has drunk in with his ears he may understand with his heart? Who these may be, the following verse shows: Weaned from milk, torn from the breast, those who are by no means nourished with the milk of infancy, but feed on solid food; who were torn away from the breast together with Isaac: for whose joy Abraham made a great feast; these deserve to hear the mysteries of the Lord, and to understand what the priests and the prophet do not know, being drunk and swallowed up with wine, who have erred and have not known the seer, because all their tables are filled with vomit and filth—who, when the prophets announced things to come, and threatened torments unless they did what was commanded, used to say, mocking: Command upon command; command upon command—that is, command, command, order what we ought to do.

And when they abused the patience of God, who defers his wrath that he may show mercy: they were also wont, playing the part of the prophets, to say: Wait a little, wait a little while, the things we have foretold will come. But they said all this among the people because they did not believe the words of God; and the prophet at once adds: God will by no means speak to you in these words, so as to command what you ought to do, and so that you should await what is to come; but he will speak to you in present wrath—he who had earlier said to the people: This is my rest, refresh the weary, I have labored a long time, I have found rest in nothing. Foxes have holes, and the birds of the air nests; but the Son of man has nowhere to lay his head. And this is my refreshment, that I may at some time rest in you.

They who would not hear, and despised my warnings; wherefore what they were wont, in mockery, to say to the prophets: Command upon command; command upon command: wait upon wait; wait upon wait: a little there, a little there, and to mock my patience, thinking that I threaten things I will never do: let them feel these things fulfilled in deed, so that they may go into destruction, and fall backward with an incurable ὀπισθοτόνος (opisthotonos), and never advance to former things, nor be able to say with the Apostle: Forgetting the things that are behind, we reach forth to those that are before; but let them be broken, and snared, and taken captive either by the Babylonian or the Roman army.

For what we have translated: Command upon command; command upon command: wait upon wait; wait upon wait; a little there, a little there, it is written thus in the Hebrew: Sau lasau, Sau lasau; Cau lacau, Cau lacau: Zer sam, Zer sam; and a most filthy heresy is wont to abuse these words among the simple and deceived, so as to strike terror by the novelty of the expressions, namely that whoever knows these words, and remembers them in their coitus, will pass without any doubt into the kingdom of heaven. We read in the Apostle: In other tongues, and with other lips will I speak to this people, and neither so will they hear me, saith the Lord.

This seems to me to be taken, according to the Hebrew, from the present chapter; and we have observed this in the Old Testament (apart from a few testimonies, which Luke alone employs, who had greater knowledge of the Greek tongue), that wherever something is said concerning the Old Instrument, we do not set it forth according to the Septuagint, but according to the Hebrew, following no one's interpretation, but rendering the Hebrew sense in our own words. Symmachus, Theodotion, and the LXX have understood this passage differently, and since it would be lengthy to speak of all of them, let us briefly run through the Seventy Interpreters, who are read in the churches. With the people of the Jews rejected, and the priests and prophets, who are drunk with strong drink, and have erred, and a curse has consumed their counsel which they entered upon out of avarice—to whom shall we announce the tribulations to come for Christ's sake? To whom the evils for which a crown of virtues is being prepared?

To those, no doubt, who have been weaned from milk, who have been torn away from the breast—there is no doubt that this signifies the apostles: Expect tribulation upon tribulation. He speaks to the choir of apostles and of all believers, that they should prepare themselves not for one, but for many tribulations, so that when they have been afflicted and cast down, they may again hope, and have hope upon hope. And if the things that are promised should be delayed a little, let them not be unbelieving: for yet a little, a very little while, and the things promised will come. For tribulation worketh patience; patience, proof; proof, hope; and hope does not confound. And this very tribulation will be doubled by the detraction of lips, and by the blasphemies of the persecutors, who rage with mad mouth against the people of God.

Further, the apostles and apostolic men will speak to the people of the Jews, saying: This is the rest of him who hungers for justice, and this is the breaking and the anguish that leads to life. When they preached these things, the impious would not hear. Hence what was said to the people of God: Bear tribulation, bear tribulation; wait for hope, wait for hope: yet a little, yet a little, will be turned into punishment for those who would not hear the word of the Lord, so that they may fall and go backward, and run into the danger of siege and death, and be taken without any end of miseries. But as for the Hebrew word DEA, which all have translated as knowledge, only the Seventy have interpreted as evils—this is a plain error. For the first letter, DALETH or RES, are distinguished by a small stroke.

If, then, it is read DEA (דעה), it means knowledge; if REA (רעה), it means malice—not from evil, which is contrary to good, but from anguish. (Verses 14, 15.) Therefore hear the word of the Lord, ye scornful men, who rule over my people that is in Jerusalem. For you have said: We have struck a covenant with death, and with hell we have made a pact: when the overflowing scourge shall pass through, it shall not come upon us, for we have made a lie our hope, and by falsehood we are protected. The Septuagint: Therefore hear the word of the Lord, ye afflicted men, and rulers of this people that is in Jerusalem: Because you have said: We have made a covenant with hell, and a pact with death: if a passing storm should rush upon us, it will not come upon us, because we have made a lie our hope, and by falsehood we shall be protected.

What we said above—that the rulers of the Jews, in mockery, were wont to say to the prophets: Command upon command; wait upon wait, and other things like these, by which it is shown that they in no way believed the words of the prophets, but held their prophecy in contempt—the present chapter shows, in which they are called scornful men. These are the Scribes and Pharisees who rule over the people of God in Jerusalem, whom the LXX call afflicted men, and rulers of the people of Jerusalem. For they said, not in word, but in deed: We are like the other nations: we have a pact and a covenant with hell and with death: once for all we have despaired of salvation. Surely the captivity is to come after a long time, since you say to us: Yet a little, yet a little: wait, again wait. Therefore when we are dead, we shall not feel this scourge of captivity and this storm.

For once we believed the falsehood, that is, we vainly placed our hope in God and in his Law. And therefore we are protected by falsehood, because in death we have escaped the impending captivity. The Hebrew word SOT (שוט), Aquila and Symmachus have translated "scourge," the LXX "tempest"; CHASAB (כזב) likewise all have rendered "falsehood," in which the Jews have hoped, whose father, according to the Evangelist John, is the devil. (Verses 16 and following). Therefore thus saith the Lord God: Behold I will lay in the foundations of Sion a tried stone, a corner stone, a precious stone, founded in the foundation: he that believeth, let him not hasten. And I will set judgment in weight, and justice in measure: and hail shall overthrow the hope of a lie, and waters shall overwhelm the protection. And your covenant with death shall be abolished, and your league with hell shall not stand; when the overflowing scourge shall pass, ye shall be trodden down by it.

When it shall pass, it shall take you: for morning by morning it shall pass, in the day and in the night, and vexation alone shall make you understand what ye hear: For the bed is straitened, so that one must fall out; and a short covering cannot cover both. The Septuagint: Therefore thus saith the Lord: Behold I will lay in the foundations of Sion a precious stone, a chosen, corner, honourable stone, in her foundations; and he that believeth shall not be confounded. And I will set judgment in hope; but my mercy in weight: and they who believe in vain in a lie, because the storm shall not pass through us, and it shall not take away from us the testament of death, and your hope shall not remain unto hell. If the coming storm shall pass, ye shall be trodden down by it: when it shall pass, it shall take you early, early it shall pass through: day and night your hope shall be most evil.

Learn to hear, ye that are in tribulation: We cannot fight, for we ourselves are weak to be gathered together. I had said, he says, unto you: Hear the word of the Lord, ye scornful men, or afflicted rulers of my people, and do not have a covenant with death, nor a league with hell, who, despising my commandments, have set a lie as your hope, and boasting—rather despairing—say: We shall be protected by a lie. Therefore the Lord, merciful and compassionate, patient and of much mercy, though you are unwilling, says that he will lay in the foundations of Sion a chosen, and tried, and precious, and corner stone. Of which the Apostle also speaks: As a wise architect I have laid the foundation; and again: For other foundation no man can lay but that which is laid, which is Christ Jesus.

This stone is truly and secondly called a stone, just as in Leviticus a man, a man is said twice, and it is also called the corner stone, because it joined together the peoples of the Circumcision and of the Gentiles, of which it is also said in the psalm: The stone which the builders rejected, this is become the head of the corner. Now these are the builders and masons who are now called scornful men and rulers of the people that is in Jerusalem. Of this stone we read also in Daniel, that it was cut out of the mountain without hands, and filled the whole earth: because the dispensation of the divine offspring assumed a human body, and in it dwelt the fulness of the Godhead bodily.

Upon this stone, which by another name is called a rock, Christ built the Church, and founded it, according to the Hebrew, on a firm foundation, in which he that believeth shall not be confounded, or, according to the Hebrew, shall not hasten: lest, that is, the coming of Christ should seem slow to him. For if it should tarry, according to Habacuc, let no one despair: because it will surely come, and will fulfil its promises. God also promises that he will set in it the judgment of weight: For the Father judgeth no man, but hath given all judgment to the Son. And justice or mercy in measure, that he may render to each according to his works, and may temper justice and mercy the one with the other, according to what we read also in the psalms: Mercy and truth have met each other: justice and peace have kissed. He says also that hail shall overthrow your hope and lie, that is, the devil, the father of every lie, by my punishments.

And the protection under which you thought yourselves to be safe, a mighty tempest and multitude of waters shall destroy, so that the friendship and covenant which you had with death and with hell, that is, with the devil, shall perish forever. And the scourge or tempest, of which you had said: When the overflowing scourge shall pass, it shall not come upon us: it shall come, and ye shall be trodden down by it, that is, ye shall suffer all the torments which ye thought, in your despairing mind, that ye would by no means suffer. For it shall always rush upon you, and both in prosperity and in adversity ye shall feel the wrath of the Lord, and cruel death shall lay you waste. What shall I say of the punishments? The mere dread of the punishments and the fear of the torments shall correct you unto salvation, and shall make you understand your evils. And when ye shall have been vexed, then shall ye know that my Prophets spoke true things.

And what follows: For the bed is straitened, so that one must fall out, and a short covering cannot cover both, has that sense which we read in the Apostle: Ye cannot drink the cup of the Lord, and the cup of devils. Ye cannot be partakers of the table of the Lord, and of the table of idols; and elsewhere: What participation hath justice with iniquity? What fellowship hath light with darkness? What agreement hath Christ with Belial? What part hath the faithful with the unbeliever? What consent hath the temple of God with idols? He speaks, moreover, under the metaphor of a most chaste husband, who says to his adulterous wife: One little bed cannot hold both me and an adulterer with you, and a short covering cannot suffice to cover both husband and adulterer.

O Jerusalem, then, to whom also in Ezechiel he speaks under the person of a fornicating wife, and whom in Osee at the beginning he calls a harlot and an adulteress (Osee iii), if thou wilt be joined to my embraces, cast away idols: if thou serve idols, thou canst not have me. This according to the Hebrew. But as for what is read in the Septuagint: Learn to hear, ye that are afflicted: we cannot fight, for we ourselves are weak to be gathered together, what sense it has, and how it is joined to what precedes, I am entirely ignorant.

Unless perhaps the divine word speaks to the rulers of the people, and exhorts them to have hope in God, and not in death and in hell, and to learn to hear the prophecies of the prophets: and that they should answer that, on account of the weakness of their strength, they cannot fight against the opposing powers, nor be gathered together among the people of God. (Verses 21, 22.) For the Lord shall stand up as in the mountain of divisions: he shall be angry as in the valley which is in Gabaon: that he may do his work, his work is strange to him: that he may perform his work, his work is foreign from him. And now do not mock, lest your bonds be tightened: for I have heard of a consumption and a shortening determined by the Lord God of hosts, upon the whole earth.

The Septuagint: The Lord shall rise up as a mountain of the impious, and shall be in the valley of Gabaon: with fury shall he do his works, a work of bitterness, and his fury shall abuse them as strangers: and his bitterness is strange. And do not ye rejoice, lest your bonds be strengthened, because I have heard of things finished and cut short from the Lord God of Sabaoth, which he is about to do upon all the earth. The Lord promised that he would set a precious stone in the foundations of Sion, that hail might overthrow the lie and the hope of the impious; and that a mighty tempest might destroy the covenant with death and the league with hell. Because the scornful rulers were unwilling to receive this stone, as once against the Allophyli, when David was reigning, in the mountain of divisions, which in Hebrew was called PHARASIM (פרצים), the Lord cut down his adversaries, whence also the place received its name.

And as in the valley of Gabaon, under Josue the leader, when, trusting in the God dwelling within him, he said: Let the sun stand still in Gabaon, and the moon over against the valley of Aialon: and the sun stood still for the space of one day; and many of the foreigners perished: so against the impious and the scornful shall the Lord be angry, that he may do his work. For it is not the work of the Lord to destroy those whom he created; but to do his work is strange, which pertains rather to cruelty than to clemency. And again he repeats the same thing in other words, that he may perform his work. It is not his work to punish sinners, but it is foreign and strange to him, that he who is the Saviour should punish.

Since, therefore, the Lord is about to rise up from his patience, and will by no means spare: as he did not spare in the mountain Pharasim, and in the valley of Gabaon: I warn you, O scornful men, that ye by no means laugh at my prophets, and that ye do not think the things which they announce will not come, lest, if ye persist in mocking, the bonds of your sins be tightened.

Every man is bound by the bonds of his own sins, or else the time of your captivity is coming upon you. Since indeed what the Lord was deferring in time—the bonds, the captivity and the punishments, or the last day of judgment—he is now about to fulfil in deed, and to consummate, and to shorten. Therefore I, the prophet, announce to you these things which I have known from the Lord God almighty are to come upon the whole earth, that ye may forestall by penitence the wrath that is impending. According to the Septuagint, the Lord himself is said to be about to rise up as it were a mountain of the impious, and to be in the valley of Gabaon, that he may do his works, which are all one work of bitterness: which should by no means seem to be blasphemous.

For it does not say that the Lord will become a mountain of the impious, but as it were a mountain, which seems to the impious and to those who endure it to be most heavy. Just as if a negligent son and a sick man should think their parent and their physician cruel, if they restore them to health by the stripes and cautery of discipline. For the Lord shall rise up and shall be in the valley of Gabaon, on account of those who, though they stand in a lowly place because of their sins, are lifted up into pride through swelling of soul. For Gabaon is interpreted "hill": that he may do his works which are works of bitterness; when he is compelled to change his clemency, and from sweet becomes bitter. Therefore ye, who are one day to suffer these things, do not now rejoice with that rejoicing with which the rich man clothed in purple rejoiced at his feast, neglecting poor Lazarus: lest perhaps your bonds be made stronger.

For the things which the Lord is about to do, and to fulfil his sentence in deed, these I have both heard, and have announced them all to you. And what he added: Upon all the earth, according to the history, understand the borders of Judea; according to the anagogical sense, of the whole world. (Verses 23 and following.) Give ear and hear my voice; attend and hear my speech. Shall the plowman plow all day to sow, shall he plow up and harrow the ground? Will he not, when he has made the surface of it level, sow gith, and scatter cummin, and set wheat in rows, and barley, and millet, and vetch in its borders? And he shall be instructed in judgment; his God will teach him. For gith is not threshed with saws, nor does the wheel of a cart go round upon cummin; but gith is beaten out with a rod, and cummin with a staff; but bread will be ground small.

Yet he that thresheth it shall not thresh it forever, neither shall the wheel of the cart afflict it, nor shall its hoofs grind it small. And this went forth from the God of hosts, that he might make counsel wonderful, and magnify justice. The Seventy: Give ear and hear my voice; attend and hear my words. Shall he that plows plow all day, or shall he prepare the seed before he prepares the ground? Shall he not, when he has made the surface level, then sow gith and cummin, and again sow wheat, and barley, and millet, and spelt in thy borders, and thou shalt be instructed by the judgment of God, and shalt rejoice? For gith is not cleansed with hardness, nor does the wheel of a cart go round upon cummin; but gith is beaten out with a rod, and cummin is eaten with bread. For I will not be angry with you forever, neither shall the voice of my bitterness trample you down, and these wonders have gone forth from the Lord.

Take counsel, exult in vain consolation. He now speaks to the same persons to whom he had said above: Hear the word of God, ye mockers, who rule over my people that is in Jerusalem; and he bids them hear his voice and diligently attend to his speech. Shall, he says, the farmer plow forever, that he may cast seed? Will he not first break up the ground, and turn over the furrows with the plowshare, and break the lying clods with the harrow and hoe: so that when he has made the surface of the earth level, having first softened the hard fields, he may then scatter gith, or cummin; and sow wheat, and barley, and millet, and spelt in its borders, according to the variety of the soil and of the seasons; for not all things are sown at the same time.

In place of "far," which the Greeks call ζέαν (zea), some understand "vetch." And God instructs the farmer himself, that is, the sower, naturally by his own judgment, and teaches him to know what cultivation to apply to which seed. Finally, when the time of harvest has come, gith and cummin, which are weaker seeds, are not threshed with the wheels of carts, which, made of iron in the likeness of saws, are driven around and dragged over the reaped crops; but they are beaten out with a rod and a staff, which are commonly called flails. But bread, that is, the wheat from which bread is made, is threshed with iron wheels, and all its straw is ground into chaff. Yet it is not always afflicted and threshed, nor is it at all times ground small by the hoofs of the wheels; in place of which the Hebrew says "their horses," so that, having said "hoofs of the wheels," he might preserve the metaphor in what follows.

Some wish, from the fact that he named hoofs and horses, to show that herds of horses are meant, which were customarily driven onto the threshing floors to tread out the grain; but Scripture could not speak of what the province of Judea did not have. But this, that is, that gith and cummin are beaten out with rod and staff, while wheat and barley and spelt, and perhaps millet, are ground by iron wheels, is not the judgment of God forever, who shows in all things his wonderful counsel, and displays the greatness of his justice in all. We have said this paraphrastically, that we might more easily grasp the sense for which these things are said. God dispenses the human race in various ways: now he punishes, now he shows mercy; now he chastises, now he defends; that is, now he plows, now he sows, now he reaps the ripe crops, and threshes them once reaped upon the floors, and governs his world as he wills.

Gith and cummin, that is, all the nations who did not receive knowledge of him, nor had the precepts of the Law, he corrects with rod and staff; but wheat, that is, the people of the Jews, he will torment with great punishments. For to whom more is entrusted, more will be required of him. And the servant who knows the will of his lord, and does not do it, shall be beaten with many stripes; and elsewhere it is written: The mighty shall be mightily tormented (Wisdom 6:7). Yet he will not torment them forever. For it is one thing to be impious, another to be a sinner.

What we have interpreted concerning the Gentiles and the Jews, others explain of the people and the priests, namely that the untaught populace shall be corrected on the day of judgment as with gith and cummin, by rod and staff; but the priests, who held the key of knowledge, shall be tormented with great punishments: and this shall be done by the judgment of the Lord, who shows in all things his wonderful counsel and the truth of his justice, so that those who received more, more shall be required of them. In place of what we have interpreted: "gith shall be beaten out with a rod, and cummin with a staff," the Seventy, meaning I know not what, translated: "and cummin is eaten with bread." Indeed, even the ancient Greek interpreters, in expounding the Hebrew, were silent on this passage, because perhaps they had nothing to say.

But that which we have rendered according to the Hebrew: "Yet he that thresheth it shall not thresh it forever, neither shall the wheel of the cart afflict it, nor shall its hoofs grind it small," the Seventy translated not according to the word, but according to the sense: "For I will not be angry with you forever, neither shall the voice of my bitterness trample you down," showing that for sinners, after torments, there are to come refreshments, and that these things, as it were portents and wonders, have gone forth from the Lord. Whence it is enjoined upon sinners who are afterward to be punished, that they take counsel, and exalt their consolation—by no means a vain one, as the Seventy added, but consolation absolutely. For God would never bid them exalt a vain consolation, which would not profit them.

(Verse 1.) Woe to Ariel, Ariel, the city which David besieged. Year has been added to year, the solemnities are gone round.

I will encompass Ariel, and it shall be sorrowful and mourning, and it shall be to me as Ariel. And I will surround thee as it were with a sphere, and will cast a mound against thee, and set up bulwarks for thy siege. Thou shalt be brought low, thou shalt speak out of the earth, and thy speech shall be heard from the ground, and thy voice shall be like that of a python out of the earth, and thy speech shall mutter out of the ground. And the multitude of them that fan thee shall be like fine dust, and like passing ashes the multitude of them that have prevailed against thee. And it shall be at an instant suddenly: thou shalt be visited by the Lord of hosts with thunder and earthquake, and a great noise of whirlwind and tempest, and the flame of a devouring fire.

And the multitude of all the nations that have fought against Ariel shall be as a dream of a vision by night, and all that have warred, besieged, and prevailed against her. As a hungry man dreams and eats, and when he awakens his soul is empty; and as a thirsty man dreams and drinks, and after he awakens is still faint, thirsty, and his soul is empty: so shall be the multitude of all the nations that have fought against mount Sion. The Septuagint: Woe to Ariel, Ariel, the city which David besieged. Gather in the produce, eat year upon year, for ye shall eat with Moab: for I will straiten Ariel, and her strength and riches shall be mine, and I will encompass thee as David did: and I will set a rampart round about thee, and place towers round thee, and thy words shall be brought low to the ground: and thy speeches shall fall to the earth.

And thy voice shall be as of them that speak out of the earth, and thy voice shall grow faint down to the pavement. And the riches of the ungodly shall be as dust from the wheel: and the multitude of them that have oppressed thee shall be like ashes carried away: and it shall come to pass suddenly, in a moment, from the Lord Sabaoth. For the visitation shall be with thunder, and commotion, and a great voice, a mighty tempest, and a devouring flame of fire. And the riches of all the nations that have fought against Ariel shall be like one who sees a dream by night: and all who have fought against Jerusalem, and all who are gathered together against her, and afflicted her.

And they shall be as those who in dreams are hungry and eat: and when they arise, their dream is vain; and as one who in a dream is thirsty and drinks, when he arises, is still thirsty, and his soul has hoped in vain: so shall be the riches of all the nations that have fought against mount Sion. Where we have translated "Woe," in the Hebrew is written "hoi" (הוי), which among them is sometimes used as a vocative case, so that it does not lament Ariel, but calls to it; although in the present passage it must be taken for lamentation. Ariel is also interpreted "lion of God"; and in place of "city," which Aquila translated πολίχνην, that is, "little town" or "hamlet," in the Hebrew they read CARIATH (קרית), which properly signifies a village, and in the Syriac tongue is called Cartha, whence the "village of the forests" is called Cariath jarim (קרית יערים). Finally, above also (at chap.

I, 21), where we read: "How has the faithful city Sion become a harlot?" for "city" is written Cariath, that is, "village": which, to express Aquila's translation word for word, we may call "citylet." Therefore Ariel, that is, "lion of God," once most mighty, is called Jerusalem: or, as others think, the temple and altar of God which was in Jerusalem. And what follows: "Which David besieged," for which Symmachus translated "the fortress of David," and Theodotion "the circumvallation of David," in the Hebrew is read HANA (חנה), which the most learned of the Hebrews wished to signify "dwelling-place." If then we read "which David besieged," let us refer it to that time when David took the citadel of Sion, the blind and the lame resisting, and Joab was the first to climb up to the tops of the houses (1 Chron. XI).

But if according to Symmachus and Theodotion, this must be understood, that David restored and fortified it: "year has been added to year," or subtracted, as Aquila interprets; "and the solemnities are gone round." For with the temple overthrown, and the Jewish religion taken away, all their festivity perished. And the Lord says that He will encompass Ariel with the Babylonian army, and that she shall be sorrowful and mourning, when she shall have been destroyed by them. And again, under Jesus the son of Josedec the high priest, and Zorobabel the son of Salathiel, and Esdras and Nehemiah, when Haggai and Zechariah prophesied, she shall be as it were Ariel, because she has the likeness of the ancient temple, but does not have its magnificence and adornment.

Secondly also the Lord threatens that He will surround Ariel with a sphere, and cast a mound against her, and set bulwarks for her siege, and that what He Himself, weeping over Jerusalem, says in the Gospel may be fulfilled: "If thou hadst known the things that are for thy peace, for the days shall come upon thee, and thy enemies shall surround thee with a rampart, and besiege thee, and thou shalt be brought low to the ground". And Jerusalem shall be trodden down by the nations until the consummation of the time of the Gentiles. For in other words the same prophet now says that, humbled, she shall speak out of the earth, and her speech shall be heard from the ground; and that her voice shall be like that of a python out of the earth, and shall mutter like sparrows out of the ground, so that by these words he may signify the necromancy of magicians, by which souls are said to be called up, and the thin voices of shades, nay of demons, are heard.

Finally, for "python," Aquila translated "magician," which in Hebrew is called CHEB (כאב), for which the Septuagint translated "speaking out of the earth." By these words is indicated that the ruin of the temple shall remain until the consummation of the world, so that, once collapsed into ashes, it shall never again be raised up. But so great, O Ariel, shall be the army of Roman power that shall besiege thee, and it shall be compared to innumerable dust, like ash flying through the air. Whence he compares not the weakness of those who warred against them to dust and ashes, but the multitude which is equalled to innumerable sands. And this shall be suddenly, all at once, as though, in the midst of peace, sudden wars should arise under Nero, and the Lord of hosts should visit Jerusalem in thunder, and in an earthquake, and in the whirlwind of the tempest, and in the flame of devouring fire, by which he signifies that the temple shall be burned.

But the Romans, who, having overcome the Jews and overthrown Jerusalem under Titus and Vespasian, offered up as spoils to the Capitol the vessels once belonging to God; and thought that what they had done was owing to their own virtue and power and to the gods, not to the wrath of God, shall possess all riches as it were in a dream and a nocturnal vision. And as one who is hungry, sleeping, thinks in his dreams that he is eating, and one who is thirsty drinks rivers with parched throat from thirst, and when he awakens becomes more burning with thirst, which was mocked with an empty draught: so the multitude of all the nations, subject to Roman power, who have fought against mount Sion, shall have their riches as it were in a shadow, and a cloud, and a dream of the night, which they shall leave behind at their swift ruin.

In the place where we have set: "all who have warred and besieged and prevailed against her," the Septuagint translated: "and all who have warred against Jerusalem," which is not found in the Hebrew. Also at the beginning of this chapter, where we have said: "Year has been added to year, or subtracted," they have translated: "Gather in the fruits, or produce, year upon year: eat, for ye shall eat with Moab." And the sense is, before the Lord's acceptable year of His preaching comes, nay two years, of which in the Song of Habakkuk according to the Hebrew we read: "In the midst of two times shalt thou be known", "sow for yourselves in tears, that ye may reap in joy". It is written in the Gospel according to John, that the Lord came to Jerusalem for three Passovers, which make up two years. But what follows, "for ye shall eat with Moab," is not found in the Hebrew.

Of which we may say, that unless they gather for themselves the fruits of repentance, they shall begin to eat with those who do not enter the Church of the Lord forever. The rest, in which they seem to differ, is plain: and from what we have explained, their interpretation is easy. I know that I have read that Ariel is interpreted "my light of God," which is quite different. For this word is written with the first syllable by ALEPH and RES (אור): but "light," which in Hebrew is called OR, has between ALEPH and RES the middle letter VAU, which is not found in the present name. And all that is now said against Ariel refers to the heretics, who esteem their doctrine to be the light of God, and who must be besieged by the true David: and all their solemnities must be taken away, and their present joy must be changed into future sorrow: to whom God commands that they do penance, lest they begin to eat with the Moabites, and become like the Gentiles.

For He Himself shall besiege Ariel, and shall surround with His army all their strength and riches.

And by towers, that is, the teachers of the Church, He shall humble their speeches to the ground, so that they may in no wise set their mouth against heaven, but be written on the earth, and speak from the earth, and become like dust shaken off by a wheel: and all the riches of the ungodly shall be reckoned as a point and a moment of time, when He shall visit them in His majesty, descending in whirlwind and tempest and the fire of punishment; and they shall understand that all their riches, and the pomp of their words and subtleties of arguments, are compared in vain to the dream of one eating and drinking: those who have fought against Jerusalem, the vision of peace: or against Ariel, the most mighty lion, and at the last against mount Sion, upon which the city of the Church, being set, cannot be hidden. (Verse 9) Be astonished and wonder: waver and stagger, be drunken, and not with wine, be moved, and not with drunkenness.

For the Lord has mingled for you a spirit of deep sleep: He shall close your eyes, He shall cover the prophets and your rulers who see visions. And the vision of all shall be to you as the words of a sealed book, which when they shall give it to one who knows letters, they shall say: Read this; and he shall answer, I cannot: for it is sealed. And the book shall be given to one who does not know letters, and it shall be said to him, Read; and he shall answer, I do not know letters. For "spirit of deep sleep," the Septuagint has "compunction": Theodotion, "a trance of the mind": Aquila translated καταφοράν, that is, "heavy sleep," which in Hebrew is called THARDEMA (תרדמה), which Scripture records was sent by God upon Adam, when the woman was made from the rib of his side. And Jonah snored with this same sleep in the ship.

But all this prophecy, after the overthrow of Jerusalem and the temple, that is, of Ariel, is directed against the scribes and Pharisees, who, having the key of knowledge, neither enter in themselves, nor permit others who wish to enter. And it is commanded them that, with stupor and wonder—nay, according to the Septuagint, with the dissolution of the whole body and a trance of mind—they be made drunk, and be moved and waver: staggering not with wine or strong drink, but with a spirit of deep sleep, or of the Lord's compunction, so that, understanding their own evil, they may at some time do penance, and say with the prophet: "I was troubled in my weakness, while the thorn is fixed in me". Know then, O scribes and Pharisees, who are the rulers of the Jews, that the Lord will render to you your recompense. For you, hearing the Lord Saviour, would not understand, and you closed your eyes, that you might not see Him, and you made your ears heavy, that you might not hear.

Therefore He also will close your eyes, which are the prophets, through whom you used to see the knowledge of God. Or He will close your eyes and those of the prophets, who are your rulers. For the law and the prophets were until John the Baptist: so that, you not seeing, they might see, of whom the discourse below (at verse 18) testifies: "And in that day the deaf shall hear the words of the book, and the eyes of the blind shall see and rejoice." For the Lord came into judgment, that the Jews who see might not see; and that those who were blind, namely the people of the nations, might see and behold the Lord.

Whence significantly he did not say that the vision of all the prophets is sealed to all who read it; but, he says, it shall be sealed to you, to whom I now speak, to whom I foretell these things that are to come: or He will close forever the eyes of your rulers, who boasted, according to the Septuagint, that they saw hidden and secret things.

And, he says, all holy Scripture shall be closed and sealed to you, so that you, who think you know the letters of the Law and the oracles of the prophets, and meditate day and night with untiring mouth upon the scrolls of the Scriptures, may not understand what you read, as it is written in the Apocalypse of John: "Who is worthy to open the book, and to loose the seals thereof?" And when no one was found who could open the seals, he says that he wept; and that at last he deserved to hear God's word to him: "Weep not: behold, the lion of the tribe of Juda, the root of David, has conquered, to open the book, and to loose its seals." Now the lion of the tribe of Juda is the Lord Jesus Christ, who looses the seals of the book—not properly of one book only, as many think, the Psalms of David, but of all the Scriptures, which are of one Spirit of Scripture, the Holy Spirit; and therefore are called one book.

Of which Ezekiel testifies in mystical language, that it was written within and without; in sense and in letter. Of which also the Saviour speaks in the psalms: "In the head of the book it is written of me"; not of Jeremiah, not of Isaiah, but in all holy Scripture, which is called one book. Therefore, since the teachers of the Jews are unable, even to this present day, to read and open the seals, and to unfold the mysteries of the Scriptures, if you give that book to an unlearned people, who are taught by their own teachers, they will confess that they do not know letters, and therefore cannot read. And of two evils it is much lighter to confess ignorance of the law, than to boast of prudence; and not to be able to know what one repeats. (Verses 13, 14).

And the Lord said: Forasmuch as this people draws near me with its mouth, and glorifies me with its lips; but its heart is far from me, and they have feared me by the commandment of men, and by their teachings. Therefore behold, I will proceed to make this people marvel by a great and astonishing wonder: for the wisdom of its wise men shall perish, and the understanding of its prudent men shall be hidden. The Septuagint: And the Lord said: This people draws near to me with its mouth, and honors me with its lips; but its heart is far from me: in vain do they worship me, teaching the precepts and doctrines of men. Therefore behold, I will proceed to remove this people; for I will remove them, and I will destroy the wisdom of the wise, and hide the understanding of the prudent. The Lord made use of this testimony against the Pharisees in the Gospel of Matthew, saying: Why do you also transgress the commandment of God for the sake of your traditions?

And again: Hypocrites, well did Isaiah prophesy of you, saying: This people honors me with its lips, but its heart is far from me. But in vain do they worship me, teaching as doctrines the precepts of men. In which we ought to note that which we have often observed, that the Evangelists and Apostles did not translate word for word, nor did they follow the authority of the Seventy Translators, whose edition was already being read at that time; but, as Hebrews and men instructed in the Law, they used their own words without loss of meaning. Now the people of the Jews draws near to God with its mouth and lips; because it boasts of holding the worship of the one God and of rejecting idols; but its heart is far from him, because it does not receive the Lord Jesus Christ. For he who does not receive the Son, does not receive the Father. And at the same time let us learn how someone draws near to God, or becomes far from him.

He who also speaks through Jeremiah: I am a God who draws near, and not one who is far off, says the Lord. But we draw near to God in mind, not in body; just as we read also of Moses: Moses alone drew near to God; but the rest did not draw near. For he prayed to God in spirit and in truth, and approached him in sense and in spirit. But those of whom it is written that they are taken up from the womb, and instructed from childhood even to old age, and meditate in the law of God day and night, do not draw near to God, because they take up the traditions of the Pharisees and Scribes, which make them far from God, and are whitened sepulchres, which outwardly appear beautiful, but within are full of dead men's bones; who chose Barabbas, and rejected the Lord.

Therefore, according to the Seventy, he threatens that he will further add, not that he will transfer them into Assyria and Babylon, but that he will scatter them through the whole world. According to the Hebrew, he says that he will work a great marvel and an astonishing wonder upon the people of the Jews; so that he may destroy the wisdom of those who did not receive the power of God and the wisdom of God, and hide and conceal the understanding of the prudent: namely, lest they discover him who is contained in the letter.

Concerning this passage the Apostle Paul, writing to the Corinthians, set down the testimony: I will destroy the wisdom of the wise, and I will reject the understanding of the prudent: expounding the same sense in other words: not that God is an enemy of wisdom, of which he is the father, and through whom is all wisdom in men; but he set it down with the addition, as it is in the Hebrew, of the wise of the people, and of the prudent of it, that is, of the people of the Jews.

And truly God worked a great marvel among the people after the coming of the Lord Savior, that at one and the same time Jerusalem burned, and the temple collapsed, and all the learning of the teachers was taken away; when that was fulfilled which was said above: Behold, the Sovereign Lord of hosts shall take away from Jerusalem and from Judah the strong man and the strong woman: all the strength of bread, and all the strength of water; the giant and the man of war, and the judge, and the prophet, and the diviner, and the elder, and the man of fifty years, and the admirable counselor, and the wise architect, and the prudent hearer, and the rest, which the prophetic discourse has woven together. (Verses 15, 16.) Woe to you who are deep of heart, that you may hide your counsel from the Lord, whose works are in darkness, and who say: Who sees us, and who knows us?

This your thought is perverse, as if the clay should think against the potter, and the work say to its maker, You did not make me; and the thing formed say to its former, You do not understand. The Septuagint: Woe to those who form a deep counsel, and their works shall be in darkness, and they say: Who sees us? Who will know us, and what we are doing? Shall you not be reckoned as the clay of the potter? Shall the thing made say to its maker, You did not make me wisely, or the thing formed say to its former, You did not make me?

Against these same people of whom he had said above, I will destroy the wisdom of the wise, and I will reject the understanding of the prudent, or as the prophet writes, I will hide it: now also the word of God is directed against those who are wise in their own eyes, and prudent in their own sight. Of whom this can very rightly be understood: They have failed who search with searching, since it is written of the wisdom of God: For if anyone is perfect among the sons of men without your wisdom, he shall be reckoned as nothing. Who for this reason think that God does not know their counsels, because their works are in darkness, and they say: Who sees us? And who knows us?

But these things are also said by the wise of this age, and by the teachers of heretics, and by the Pharisees of the Jews, that no one understands them; not remembering that which is said to God: Darkness shall not be dark to you: and the night shall be illumined as the day. And: As his darkness, so also his light. Deceived by this error, Adam and Eve, hearing the sound of the feet of him walking in the paradise of God, hid themselves under the tree in which was the knowledge of good and evil; and Cain also, saying: If you cast me out today from your face, I shall be hidden, thought by a similar folly that God was ignorant. And through Amos it is said of the impious and sinners: If they hide themselves from my eyes in the depth of the sea, there I will command the serpent, and it shall bite them.

Whence, however wise anyone may be, and of more fervent talent, if he does not have the wisdom and teaching of God, let us say of him: Unless the Lord builds the house, they labor in vain who build it. Unless the Lord guards the city, he watches in vain who guards it. To which we may make a similar saying: Unless the Lord aids knowledge, he labors in vain who thinks himself wise. Unless the Lord keeps our heart with all watchfulness, he watches in vain who thinks it can be kept by his own diligence. Perverse, he says, is this your thought, that you should think the maker does not know what he has made, and that the Creator is ignorant of his creature, as if the clay and the work should say to the potter and its maker, You did not make me, or, You did not make me well, nor do you understand your own workmanship.

This testimony the Apostle uses in other words to the Romans, where he disputes concerning the deep knowledge of God, and wishes to refute the calumny of men: O man, who are you that you should answer God? Does the thing formed say to him who formed it, Why have you made me thus? Or has not the potter power over the same clay to make one vessel unto honor, and another unto dishonor? In all of which this rule must always be observed: that the Evangelists and Apostles translated from Hebrew into Greek without loss of meaning, as seemed good to them. (Verse 17 and following.) Is it not yet a very little while, and Lebanon shall be turned into Carmel: and Carmel shall be reckoned as a forest? And in that day the deaf shall hear the words of the book; and out of obscurity and darkness the eyes of the blind shall see.

And the meek shall add joy in the Lord: and the poor among men shall exult in the Holy One of Israel: for he who prevailed has failed. The scoffer is consumed: and all who watched for iniquity have been cut off. Who made men to sin by a word, and undermined him who reproved in the gate; and turned aside the just in vain. Let the Jews answer, and the friends of the simple history alone, who seek not fruit on the tree, but only leaves and the shadow of words, which quickly wither and perish, how at the coming of the Lord Savior (since from the times of Isaiah to the dispensation of the flesh that was assumed, in comparison with eternity, is a brief and small span of time) Lebanon, the mountain of Phoenicia, was turned and transferred into Mount Carmel?

Which in Hebrew is called CHERMEL (כרמל); and which lies on the border of Palestine and Phoenicia, overlooking Ptolemais: although another mountain also in the holy Scriptures is called Carmel, on which was Nabal the Carmelite, a foolish and wicked man, who had a wife Abigail, who, after her husband's death, married David; for while he lived, she could not take David as husband, lest she be called an adulteress if she were joined to another man while her husband lived; and how is Carmel reckoned as a forest, and as barren trees? Since they cannot say this, let them hear that Lebanon, which is interpreted "whitening," refers to the people of the Gentiles, who, washed in the Lord and cleansed of their former filth, wholly made white, ascends, and under the person of the Church leans upon the Savior, and of it is said in the Song of Songs: Who is this that comes up made white, leaning upon her kinsman?

And that this people is transferred into Carmel, that is, into the knowledge of circumcision, so that it may recognize the mysteries of spiritual and true circumcision, and be in the place where once was the people of the Jews: but that those who refused to receive Christ are reckoned as a forest, and as barren trees, which cannot praise the Lord along with the fruit-bearing trees. But when Lebanon shall have been changed into Carmel, and Carmel into a forest, then those who before were deaf, and could not hear the words of the prophetic book (of which we said above, that all holy Scripture is called one book, Ecclesiastes saying: The words of the wise are as goads, and as nails driven deep, which are given from the assemblies by one shepherd) shall hear, and shall speak, to whom the Savior will say: Ephphatha, which is interpreted, Be opened.

And that which we have translated, out of obscurity and darkness the eyes of the blind shall see, of which the interpretation is easy; Aquila and Theodotion and Symmachus translated: The eyes of the blind shall see darkness and obscurity: so as to show to the people of the Gentiles, who before was blind, that the mysteries of Christ were to be unfolded, according to that which is said: Dark water in the clouds of the air. And in the same psalm it is written of God: He made darkness his hiding place. And in Proverbs we read: The wise man, hearing these things, shall be wiser: and the prudent man shall possess governance: and he shall understand a parable and a dark saying, the words of the wise and their riddles.

Finally Moses also, that he might understand and see God, entered into the cloud and into the darkness, of which it is said in the Psalm: Darkness was under his feet.

But when the blind shall first have beheld certain mystical things, or shall have lifted their eyes from the pit and the darkness to seeing, so that for those sitting in darkness and the shadow of death the true light may arise: then the meek, of whom it is written: Blessed are the meek, for they shall possess the earth: or the poor, whose prince says in the psalms: This poor man cried, and the Lord heard him; and, he who shall judge the poor of the people, and shall save the sons of the poor, of whom it is said to the Jews: You have despised the counsel of the poor man, they shall add joy in the Lord, so that he who glories, may glory in the Lord; and the poor men, or those despaired of and despised by men, who before had no knowledge of the law, shall exult in the Holy One of Israel, who says: Be holy, for I am holy. And there is all exultation: because he who was prevailing has failed.

The mocker is consumed, or the arrogant and proud one, who had said: By strength I will act, and by wisdom I will take away the borders of nations, and lay waste their strength; who mocked all, to such a degree that even the saint said: My loins are filled with mockeries. And all who watched for iniquity are cut down, or destroyed, whose destruction, because of their evil watchings, does not slumber: who made the whole race of men to sin by a word of blasphemy, so that they denied the Word of God, and set their mouth against heaven. He signifies, however, the demons, who, themselves wicked, made all men to sin in speech, blaspheming with various doctrines, and, as far as in them lay, tripped up him who reproved at the gate and in judgment, and made him decline from justice, who was in the gates of the daughter of Sion, exalted from the gates of death; and he rebuked those who hated him who reproved in the gates.

What we have understood concerning the devil and his angels, the Nazarenes think was said against the Scribes and Pharisees, because the deuterotai (second teachers) failed, who before mocked the people with most wicked traditions; and who watched day and night to deceive the simple, who made men sin in the Word of God, so that they denied Christ the Son of God. (Verses 22 ff.) Therefore thus says the Lord to the house of Jacob, who redeemed Abraham: Jacob shall not now be confounded, nor shall his face now blush: but when he shall see his children, the work of my hands, in the midst of himself sanctifying my name: and they shall sanctify the Holy One of Jacob, and shall proclaim the God of Israel; and they who err in spirit shall know understanding, and the murmurers shall speak the Law.

The Septuagint: Therefore thus says the Lord upon the house of Jacob, whom he separated from Abraham: Jacob shall not now be confounded, nor shall he now change his countenance; but when he shall see his children, my works: for my sake they shall sanctify my name, and they shall sanctify the Holy One of Jacob, and they shall fear the God of Israel. And they who err in spirit shall know sense, and they who murmur shall learn to obey, and stammering tongues shall learn to speak peace. They shall sanctify my name, and they shall sanctify the Holy One of Jacob: and they shall fear the God of Israel: and they who err in spirit shall know understanding: and the murmurers shall learn obedience, and what follows ÷ and stammering tongues shall learn to speak peace ✠ must be marked with an obelus.

When, he says, the deaf shall have heard the words of the book, and the eyes of the blind shall have seen: and Lebanon shall have been turned into Carmel, and Carmel reckoned as a forest, so that the meek and the poor rejoice in the Lord, and the proud mocker fails: then Jacob shall be confounded, who now meanwhile is not confounded. He signifies, however, the times of Isaiah. And his face shall blush, so that the blush and confusion may be an occasion of salvation, especially when he shall see his sons, that is, the Apostles and apostolic men, who were of the race of the Jews, working the powers of the Lord in the midst of the nations, and preaching the name of Christ to the Gentiles, and saying: Our Father, who art in heaven, hallowed be thy name.

For they shall sanctify the Holy One who arose from Jacob, and shall teach the God of Israel among the nations, so that, idols being abandoned, they may say: how false are the idols which our fathers possessed, and there is none among them who gives rain; and then they who now err in spirit shall know the understanding of God, and they who once murmured against the Lord in the wilderness shall learn the Law, of which before they had no knowledge. For if they had received Moses, they would also have received the Lord Jesus Christ, because Moses spoke of him. What we have translated at the beginning of the chapter according to the Hebrew: Thus says the Lord to the house of Jacob, who once redeemed Abraham, and led him out from the Chaldeans, and brought him into the land of promise, is clearly evident.

But what the Septuagint translated: Thus says the Lord upon the house of Jacob whom he separated from Abraham, can be understood thus, that he separated from Abraham the Scribes and Pharisees, who blasphemed the Lord, Abraham who saw the day of the Lord, and rejoiced. For if they had been sons of Abraham, they would have done the works of Abraham: And the Apostle argues that those are to be called sons of Abraham, who have had the likeness of the faith of Abraham, that is, the people of the nations, who were called sons of Abraham not from works, but from faith.

(Verses 1 ff.) Woe, deserting sons, says the Lord: that you might make a plan, and not from me: and weave a web, and not through my Spirit: that you might add sin upon sin. You who go down to Egypt: and have not asked my mouth, hoping for help in the strength of Pharaoh, and having confidence in the shadow of Egypt.

And the strength of Pharaoh shall be to you for confusion, and confidence in the shadow of Egypt for shame. For your princes shall be in Tanis: and your messengers have reached even to Hanes. All are confounded over a people who cannot profit them: they were not for help nor for any usefulness, but for confusion and for reproach. The Septuagint: Woe, transgressing sons, says the Lord. You have made a plan, and not through me; and a covenant, not through my spirit: that you might add sins to sins: you who go down to Egypt; and have not asked me, that you might receive help from Pharaoh, and be protected by the Egyptians. The protection of Pharaoh shall be to you for confusion; and to those who trust in Egypt, a reproach. For there are in Tanis princes, most wicked messengers. In vain shall they labor toward a people, who shall not profit them for help: neither for usefulness, but for confusion and reproach.

After the prophecy against Ariel, and the other things which the foregoing discourse has treated up to this point: now is the beginning of another prophecy, which is proven to have been fulfilled after the hundred and fifty years that lay between Isaiah and Jeremiah. For it foretells that history which we read in the volume of Jeremiah, when, Jerusalem having been overthrown and all its wealth and princes carried off to Babylon, Godolias son of Ahicam, of royal stock, was set over those who remained in Judea; and when he had been treacherously slain along with his Chaldean allies, all the leaders of the fighting men, and Johanan son of Careah, and Jechonias son of Osaiah, and the remaining common people from small to great, came to Jeremiah the prophet and said to him: "Let our supplication fall in your sight, and pray for us to the Lord your God for all this remnant.

For we are left few out of many, as your eyes see us; and let the Lord your God announce to us the way we should go, and the word we should do". And when Jeremiah, after ten days, had answered according to the word of the Lord: "Thus says the Lord God of Israel: If you remain quietly in this land, I will build you up and not tear you down, I will plant you and not uproot you, for I am appeased concerning the evil that I did to you. Do not fear the face of the king of Babylon, whom you fear in dread". And a little later: "But if you say, we will not dwell in this land; and you set your face to enter Egypt, and go in to dwell there; the sword which you fear will overtake you there, and the famine about which you are anxious will cling to you in Egypt, and there you shall die".

The proud men answered, saying to Jeremiah: "You speak a lie: the Lord our God did not send you, saying, Do not enter Egypt to dwell there; but Baruch son of Neriah incites you against us, that he may deliver us into the hands of the Chaldeans, that they may kill us and cause us to be carried away to Babylon". Finally, all the princes of the people, having gathered the remnant together with the women and little ones and the daughters of the king, not heeding the voice of the Lord, entered Egypt, taking with them Jeremiah and Baruch, and came to Taphnas, so that Jeremiah, as a sign of the coming captivity, prophesied against the disobedient people the things contained in his book.

Therefore what was afterward to come to pass is foretold many years before, and those are called deserters and prevaricating sons who, having abandoned the counsel of God which they had received through Jeremiah, followed their own will, and wove a web, not by the Spirit of God, which resounded to them through the mouth of Jeremiah. Now he set down "wove a web" metaphorically, so as to indicate wicked counsel, and they did this so as to increase their former sins by the sin of contention and pride. "You who go down," he says, "into Egypt, and have not inquired at my mouth." Not that they did not inquire, but that they were unwilling to hear the counsel of the prophet, hoping for help in the strength of Pharaoh, and having confidence in the protection, or shadow, of Egypt. Instead of "strength of Pharaoh," which is placed twice in this passage, the Hebrew has written MAOZ (מעוז).

We have noted this, so that what we read at the end of the vision of Daniel, "the God of MAOZIM" (מעוזים), we may understand—not, as Porphyry dreams, the god of the little town of Modin, but the strong and mighty God. Now Pharaoh among the Egyptians is the name of royal power; and each king is called by his own special name, as Pharaoh Necho, and Pharaoh Hophra: just as if we were to prefix Caesars and Augusti to the proper names of kings. And it shall be, he says, to you the strength of Pharaoh unto confusion, and confidence in the shadow of Egypt unto shame.

The same Jeremiah writes that in Taphnis, a city of Egypt, he buried stones in the gate of the house of Pharaoh, and said to the men of Judah: "Thus says the Lord of hosts, the God of Israel: Behold I will send and take Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon my servant, and I will set his throne over these stones which I have hidden, and he shall set up his seat over them. And coming he shall strike the land of Egypt: those destined for death, to death; and those for captivity, to captivity; and those for the sword, to the sword: and he shall kindle a fire in the shrines of the gods of Egypt, and burn them, and lead them captive. And he shall wrap the land of Egypt around him, as a shepherd wraps himself in his cloak, and he shall go out from there in peace". For when the Egyptians were overcome, the Jews also who had fled to the Egyptians were captured.

And what follows: "For your princes were in Tanis, and your messengers reached as far as Hanes," is to be read with irony and emphatically, because, having despised the counsel of God, they sent their princes to Tanis, a city of Egypt, in which was the royal house of Pharaoh, and under Moses very many signs and wonders were wrought, as the Psalmist says: "Who did wonders in the land of Egypt, in the field of Tanis". And the same Isaiah speaks against Egypt: "Where now are your wise men? Let them announce to you, and say, what the Lord of hosts has planned against Egypt. The princes of Tanis have failed", whom he recalls as having failed at that time when the Lord entered Egypt upon a swift cloud.

But we do not read of the city Hanes of Egypt in any other place, but from what he says: "Your messengers reached as far as Hanes," we understand it to be the last city of Egypt near the Ethiopians and Blemmyes; for which the Seventy translated: "Wicked messengers will labor in vain, who trusted in the people of Egypt, who could not profit them, and they became an everlasting reproach." Some think this passage was written against the ten tribes in Samaria, because, seeking help from the Egyptians, they were captured by the Assyrians.

According to the tropology: All who, having despised the religion of God, return to their vomit, and having lost the name of sons, are called most shameless dogs, take counsel not through the Lord, and make a covenant not through the Spirit of the Lord, and add sins to sins: so that, overcome by flattering vices, they even receive the perversity of doctrines, and go down into the darkness of Egypt, seeking the help of Pharaoh, who reigns in Egypt, whose protection leads to shame and everlasting reproach. For his princes are in Tanis, that is, in a humble and lowly condition, wicked messengers who labor in vain over a people who will not be able to profit them. For as the salvation of the disciples benefits holy teachers, so the destruction of the seducers destroys the patriarchs of those who took refuge in the help of Egypt. The burden of the beasts of the South.

For which the Hebrew has Massa beemoth negeb (משא בהמות נגב), which the Seventy translated: "Vision of the quadrupeds in the desert." The above exposition, which we have woven together most fully by the repetition of the history, is the interpretation of this passage, that according to prophetic custom, the burden—that is, the weight and load of torments and punishments—has come not only upon Babylon and Philistia, and Moab, and Damascus, and Egypt, and the desert sea, Idumea also and Arabia, and the valley of Zion, and finally Tyre; but also upon the beasts of the South, which the Seventy translated "quadrupeds in the desert." Now this signifies the tribe of Judah, which, situated in the southern region, borders the wilderness; and those who, rejecting the prophecy of Jeremiah, after Jerusalem was captured, refused to dwell in Judea, but fled through the desert to the Egyptians.

And they are rightly called "beasts of the South," or "quadrupeds in the desert," because they rejected the knowledge of God, and having despised his command, fled to the idols of Egypt, having hope in Pharaoh, on whom whoever leans is as one who leans upon a reed, which being broken wounds the hand of him who leans on it. Of such beasts the sons of Korah spoke also in the psalm: "Man when he was in honor did not understand, he is compared to senseless beasts, and has become like them". And what follows: "This their way is a scandal to them," can rightly be understood concerning the present chapter, that the way of the desert was to them a ruin. I recall having read that the beasts of the South and quadrupeds in the desert, who, abandoning the borders of Judea, fled to the darkness of Egypt, are referred to the spiritual forces of wickedness in the heavenly places; and the rulers of these darknesses, who lost all the riches and former wealth of Egypt through desire.

This is what he said. We, according to the tropology, so as to discuss what we have not yet set forth, say that all who, having forsaken the Creator, have given themselves to the errors of the world, are quadrupeds in the desert of this world, from whom they hope in vain for help, since they have abandoned the true help of God. (Verses 6, 7.) In a land of tribulation and distress, the lioness and the lion: from them the viper and the flying serpent: carrying their riches upon the shoulders of beasts, and their treasures upon the hump of camels, to a people who could not profit them: Egypt will help in vain and to no purpose. The Seventy: In tribulation and distress, the lion and the lion's whelp: thence asps and the offspring of flying asps: who carried their riches upon asses and camels to a nation which will not profit them: The empty and vain things of Egypt will profit you.

Instead of "lion," the Hebrew has written LEIS (לייש), and instead of "flying serpent," which the Seventy translated "offspring of flying asps," in Hebrew it is called ἐμπρηστής, and "flying," which we may call "burning," and in Hebrew is called SARAPH (שרף). Again, in the place where we have translated "carrying upon the shoulders of beasts," instead of "beasts" all likewise translated πώλους, that is, foals of asses. Now "the land of tribulation and distress" signifies the vast desolation of the wilderness, through which the remnant of Jerusalem, with Johanan son of Careah and the daughters of King Zedekiah, taking away all they could possess, fled across to Egypt. Understand also the lioness and the lion's whelp metaphorically as Jerusalem and its people, as Balaam says in Numbers: "Behold, the people shall rise up as a lioness, and shall lift itself up as a lion: it shall not lie down until it devours the prey, and drinks the blood of the slain".

In Ezekiel also it is written: "Take up a lamentation over the prince of Israel, and say: Why did your mother the lioness lie down among lions, in the midst of young lions she nourished her whelps"? And lest we should think that Holy Scripture truly speaks of a lioness and a lion contrary to the nature of things, saying that from a lioness and a lion a viper and a flying serpent were born, or flying offspring of asps: it signifies, namely, that from evil parents worse children were begotten, of whom the Gospel also spoke: "Generation of vipers, who has shown you to flee from the wrath to come"? And it is said to the land of Israel: "You are a land in which it does not rain, nor does a shower come upon you in the day of wrath, whose princes in its midst are like roaring lions, seizing prey, devouring souls through their power" (Above, v).

These offspring of vipers, or of flying asps, that is, the princes of the people and the whole crowd of the impious, went to a people who could not profit them, as Jeremiah says, that the Lord would deliver Pharaoh Hophra king of Egypt into the hand of his enemies, and into the hands of those seeking his life, and all the men of Judah who were in the land of Egypt would be consumed by sword and famine even to utter destruction, to such an extent that the Hebrews relate that, before Nebuchadnezzar captured Egypt, Jeremiah and Baruch escaped the impending captivity by death.

Some have expounded the lioness and the lion's whelp as the heavenly Jerusalem and the people deceived from her, and the flying serpent, and the vipers, and the offspring of asps, as that one whom we read of above, the twisted serpent, and of whom the Savior spoke in the Gospel: "I saw Satan falling like lightning from heaven": who, called a dragon in the Apocalypse, dragged down with him a third part of the stars to the earth, which by the perversity of their choice lost their former riches, abandoning them in the Egypt of this world.

Therefore I cried out concerning this: it is only pride: be still. For which, wanting something else, the Seventy Interpreters translated: "Announce these things, for this consolation of yours is vain." Moreover Symmachus interpreted it, ταραχαί εἰσιν κατοικεῖν, that is, "there are tumults for them to dwell in." The Hebrew word REEB (רהב), Aquila translated ὅρμημα, that is, "impulse" and "pride"; Symmachus, "disturbance"; the Seventy, "vanity"; Theodotion translated "breadth"; which is written with three letters, RES and BE and BETH, and it is the same word that is read in the Psalms: "I will remember Rahab and Babylon among those who know me". And the sense is: Since in the Egyptians help is vain, I have charged her, that is, Jerusalem, or cried out, that the Egyptians have only the name of a kingdom, and pride without strength: and Israel ought to sit or dwell in its own land, and not seek help in vain from the weak.

Verse 8. Now go in and write for them upon boxwood in a book, and diligently engrave it: and it shall be in the last day for a testimony even for ever. The Hebrews say that, since in the Prophets there is one Spirit, and with the Lord all times are joined together, it was enjoined upon Jeremiah, and was the command of God, that having entered Egypt he should write for them upon boxwood, which is an incorruptible wood; or, as Symmachus translated it, ἐπὶ πτυχί, that is, upon a very broad tablet. By "for them," there is no doubt but that the Jews are meant: and that he should set it forth diligently in a book, so that there might be no difficulty in reading it, in order that when the prophecy should be fulfilled by events, then they might understand that the word of the Prophets was true. We pass rapidly over what is plain, that we may dwell on the more obscure passages.

(Ver. 9 ff.) For it is a people provoking to wrath: and lying children, children unwilling to hear the law of God. Who say to the seers, See not: and to those who behold, Behold not for us the things that are right: speak unto us pleasant things; see for us errors. Take away from me the way: turn aside from me the path: let the Holy One of Israel cease from before our face. It is plain that they provoked the Lord to wrath, being unwilling to hear the words of Jeremiah. Who said to him: See not for us what we do not wish: forbid us not the way of Egypt, nor preach to us the things that are right; but speak what pleases us, that we may go on into Egypt, which shall heap sins upon sins. Why do you press upon us what we do not gladly hear? Why do you point out the way by which we do not wish to enter?

Why do you continually din into our ears: Thus saith the Lord, the Holy One of Israel? Let that preaching cease from us. According to the tropology, all heretics are called lying children. For they went out from us, but they were not of us; who do not hear the Law of God with the ears of the inner man, and say to the teachers of the Churches: See not for us the things that are right, nor threaten us with the flames of gehenna; but promise us the kingdoms of heaven, that after luxury and delights paradise may be opened to us. Why do you show me the way of the Lord, by which I do not gladly enter? Why do you repeat the name of the Holy One of Israel, or the word of Israel, which does not penetrate the secrets of my breast? This indeed is also said of the negligent people of the Church, if it turns away from the austerity of its teachers, and favors flatterers.

(Verses 12-14.) Therefore thus saith the Lord, the Holy One of Israel: Because you have rejected this word, and have trusted in calumny and tumult, and have leaned upon it: therefore this iniquity shall be to you as a breach falling, and sought for in a high wall: for suddenly, when it is not expected, its ruin shall come. And it shall be broken as the potter's vessel is broken with a very strong breaking; and there shall not be found among its fragments a sherd in which a little fire may be carried from the burning, or a little water drawn from a pit. Because, he says, you said above: Let the Holy One of Israel cease from before our face; or as the LXX translated it, Take away from us the word of Israel; therefore thus saith the Lord, the Holy One of Israel, and even against your will forces Himself upon you, that you who have neglected Him admonishing may feel Him punishing.

You had confidence in the calumny and falsehood of the Egyptians, and leaned upon their tumult, or contradiction and pride, as Symmachus and Theodotion have rendered it; therefore this iniquity or sin shall be turned upon you, so that you shall be like a wall suddenly falling of a most strongly fortified and captured city, whose sudden ruin has come, for so the LXX have translated it. And the sense according to the Hebrew is: As the breach of a very high wall, which has long been crumbling, can with difficulty be restored, and recover its former beauty: so a sudden destruction shall come upon you. And, to use another comparison: As a potter's vessel, if it be broken with a very strong breaking, is so shattered into fragments that scarcely a small sherd remains of the pieces, in which a little fire may be carried, or a little water be drawn from a cistern and a pit; so you, when you shall have gone into Egypt, Nebuchadnezzar pursuing you even thither, shall perish even to utter destruction.

Heretics also, and every doctrine contrary to the truth, trust in calumny and falsehood, and murmur, according to the LXX, against their Creator. Therefore the city of their impiety shall be destroyed, which Cain built, upon which sudden destruction shall come, when it shall have been captured by men of the Church, and so destroyed and broken to pieces, that nothing shall remain in it which could rekindle the dead fire, or supply even muddy and scanty water to the thirsting peoples. (Ver. 15 ff.) For thus saith the Lord God, the Holy One of Israel: If you return and be quiet, you shall be saved: in silence and in hope shall be your strength; and you would not, and said: By no means; but we will flee to horses: therefore shall you flee; and, We will ride upon swift steeds: therefore shall they be swift who shall pursue you. A thousand men shall flee at the terror of one: and at the terror of five shall you flee.

The LXX: Thus saith the Lord God, the Holy One of Israel: When you have returned and groaned, then shall you be saved, and shall know where you have been: for you trusted in vain things, your strength has become vain; and you would not hear: but you said, We will flee upon horses: therefore shall you flee; and, We will be upon swift riders: therefore shall they be swift who pursue you. A thousand shall flee at the voice of one: and at the voice of five shall many flee. The Holy One, he says, whose name I withheld above, He is the Lord God, who speaks to you both by me and by Jeremiah: If you do penance, and either abandon your vices, or the error of your wicked counsel, and remain in Judea, fearing not the assault of the Babylonians but my commands, you shall be saved.

Be quiet and hope in the Lord, and lay hold on the strength of faith in my promises, you who, despising my life-giving precepts, have said in despair, it shall not be so as you speak; but we will flee to the horses of Egypt, and go to them with swift and hurried step. Because therefore you have said this, you shall indeed flee, and enter Egypt with rapid course; but the Babylonians shall be swifter, who shall pursue you even to Egypt, and such terror and dread shall seize Egypt, that one Chaldean a thousand Egyptians shall not be able to withstand, and before five enemies a very great multitude of fugitives, according to what we read in Deuteronomy: The Lord shall give you to fall down before your enemies. You shall go out to them by one way, and shall flee before them by seven ways, and you shall be scattered among all the kingdoms of the earth.

According to the anagogical sense and the LXX edition, the divine word exhorts all sinners, and especially heretics, to repentance, that when they have returned from their vices and groaned, and have done penance, they may be saved; and then may understand where they formerly were, and that they had hoped in vain things. And while it exhorts them to repentance, they on the contrary trust in false teachers, and in the uncertainty of the world; and, unwilling to hear the words of God, they desire Egyptian horses, and rejoice in their swiftness, which the Lord forbade to be multiplied. Therefore men of the Church shall swiftly pursue them, and a thousand men and a disordered crowd of fugitives shall not be able to withstand the voice of one warrior, or of five fighting (which we ought to refer to the mind and to the five senses).

Verse 17. Till you be left as a mast of a ship on the top of a mountain, and as an ensign upon a hill. Jeremiah also writes that, when those who had fled into Egypt were slain by sword and famine, few remained who returned into Judea. And just as, when a ship is wrecked and its framework dissolved, only the mast, as it is called, remains, and is set up as a sign on the summit of a mountain, or on a lofty hill: so, as a sign and vestige, scarcely one or two shall remain, to demonstrate the power of God. And then, he says, all the remnant of Judah, who now enter into the land of Egypt to dwell there, shall know, when they have returned into the land of Judea, whose word has been fulfilled, mine, or theirs.

Verse 18. Therefore the Lord waits, that he may have mercy on you, and therefore shall he be exalted, sparing you, because the Lord is a God of judgment: blessed are all they that wait for him. Great is the clemency of God, that he waits for our repentance, and until we are converted from our vices, he withholds his mighty hand, lest he be compelled to strike. And he has mercy and spares for this reason, that his mercy may be exalted, and the goodness of the Creator may become known to all. Or certainly, according to what he says in the Gospel: When I shall be lifted up, I will draw all things to myself; therefore he is exalted on the cross, that he may spare all. For he is the God of judgment; and blessed are all they that wait for the Lord who awaits their conversion. Whose this conversion is, and what it is, the following words will show.

Verse 19. For the people of Sion shall dwell in Jerusalem. The Jews refer this to the times of Cyrus, when the people returned from Babylon into Judea under Zerubbabel and Jesus the High Priest. But we, as we have often said already, refer all promises which exceed the measure of that time to the coming of Christ, in which the people, once captive, being freed by the Passion of the Lord, dwelt in Sion and Jerusalem, that is, in the watchtower and vision of peace, that is, in the Church. Further, as to the word "holy" added in the LXX, who said: for the holy people dwells in Sion, we may interpret this to mean that we should say that no one dwells in Sion, except one who is holy, and hears the Lord saying: Be ye holy, because I also am holy.

Verse 20. Weeping thou shalt weep no more, he will surely have mercy on thee: at the voice of thy cry, as soon as he shall hear, he will answer thee. When you shall have returned to Sion, and dwelt in Jerusalem, you shall weep no more, as you had wept before, but your weeping shall be turned into joy: Blessed are they that weep, for they shall laugh. And after you have cried out, and said to the Lord: I cried with my whole heart, hear me, O Lord. And again: I have cried, have mercy on me, and I will keep thy commandments. And elsewhere: I waited in the morning and cried; and so clear shall your voice be that it will pierce the heavens: at once the Lord will answer you, and you shall be like Moses, of whom it is written: Moses spoke, and the Lord answered him.

Verse 21. And the Lord will give you scanty bread, and short water. If we refer this to the times of Zerubbabel, the interpretation is easy; for under him joy was not complete, David saying: When the Lord turned again the captivity of Sion, we became like men comforted: so that they received not full and perfect consolation, but the likeness of consolation. But if we refer it to the coming of the Savior, scanty bread and short water, according to the Apostle Paul, and this same prophet Isaiah, foretells the evangelical word, which, instead of the manifold observances and precepts of the Law, has summed up all things in one word: Thou shalt love thy neighbor as thyself.

For the Lord has made his word finished and shortened upon the earth. (Verse 22.) And he will no longer make your teacher fly away from you, and your eyes shall be seeing your instructor, and your ears shall hear a word behind your back admonishing: This is the way, walk in it, neither to the right hand, nor to the left. LXX: And they who deceive you shall no longer draw near to you, for your eyes shall see those who seduced you, and your ears shall hear the words of those who deceived you from behind you, who said: This is the way, let us walk in it, whether to the right hand, or to the left. In this passage the LXX edition and the Hebrew disagree greatly. First, then, we shall treat of the Vulgate edition, and afterward we shall follow the order of the truth.

When they have understood and perceived with the eyes of the heart the truth, and by the whole reasoning of the mind have recognized those who had previously deceived them, and with instructed ears have perceived the words of those deceiving them from behind—for they always hasten to deceive the blind part of the body, according to that which we read in the psalm: That they may shoot in the dark at the upright of heart—those who assume to themselves such authority that, whether they teach on the right or on the left, that is, whether good or evil, they are unwilling that their disciples should examine the matter by reason, but wish them to follow their predecessors. Then those who formerly deceived will no longer be able to approach them, once they perceive that they have been understood. Further, according to the Hebrew, the explanation is both easy and true.

For when the Lord shall have given to believers scant bread and scant water, he will no longer make him who teaches man knowledge fly away from them; but their eyes shall always see their instructor, and their ears shall hear the word of him admonishing behind their back, and saying: This is the right way, walk in it, neither to the right hand, nor to the left—according to that which is read elsewhere: We will not turn aside either to the right hand or to the left; we will go by the king's highway. For on either side, whatever is beyond measure is a fault. And of the things on the right it is said: Be not overly just.

But that the things on the left are placed in the portion of the goats and of those who perish, there is no doubt. (Verse 23.) And you shall defile the plates of the graven images of your silver, and the garment of the molten thing of your gold, and you shall scatter them as the uncleanness of her that is menstruous: Go forth, you shall say to it. LXX: And you shall defile the idols overlaid with silver and gold: you shall break them small and scatter them like the water of one that is menstruous, and you shall cast them away as dung.

When you have understood the truth, and those who deceive have not approached you, but your eyes have seen your instructor, and your ears have always heard: This is the way, walk in it, neither to the right hand, nor to the left; then you shall break in pieces and scatter all errors and idols and likenesses of truth which the crafty tongue had composed in the splendor of eloquence, which is interpreted as silver, and in the semblance of wisdom, which sounds as gold, and you shall so judge them unclean that you shall compare them to the most filthy blood of a menstruous woman, which in other words the Seventy translated as the water of one that is menstruous. (Verse 24.) And rain shall be given to your seed, wherever you shall sow in the land, and the bread of the fruits of the earth shall be most abundant and fat. LXX: Then there shall be rain for the seed of your land, and the bread of the fruits of your land shall be abundant and fat.

It is written in the book of Kings that after the false prophets were slain by Elijah, rain was given to the land of Israel; and that the bread of Elisha, and afterward of the Saviour, was most abundant and most fat, and had such fullness that many thousands of men were satisfied from it. So also in the present passage, rain will not be given to the spiritual seed, nor the bread of the earth be most abundant and most fat, unless the idols overlaid with silver and gold shall have been broken in pieces and reckoned as dung. For unless the vices withdraw, the virtues do not enter. (Verse 25.) The lamb shall feed in your possession in that day at large. And your bulls and the young of the asses that till the ground, shall eat mingled provender as it was winnowed in the floor. LXX: And your cattle shall feed in that day in a fat and spacious place. Your bulls and your oxen that till the ground shall eat chaff mixed with winnowed barley.

In the abundance of all things, with the heavenly rain descending, and that bread which came down from heaven, which whoever shall have eaten shall never hunger, the lambs shall feed in a most spacious place—those who follow the Lamb wherever he goes, and who are always on the right hand. But the bulls, the leaders of the flock, of whom we read: The congregation of bulls among the cows of the peoples; and the colts of asses, on which the Lord sat when he entered Jerusalem, who till the ground, shall so eat from the floor as it shall have been winnowed, lest anything of chaff be mixed in their food—of which it is written in Jeremiah: What is the chaff to the wheat, says the Lord? And which in the Gospel shall be burned with unquenchable fire.

Further, according to the LXX, the cattle, which are not yet full of reason and wisdom, and of whom one says to God: I am become as a beast before you, shall feed in a most fat and spacious place, which brings no thorns and briars, but like the land of Israel flows with milk and honey, and grants full liberty to those who feed. But the bulls and oxen that till the ground, that is, the Apostles and apostolic men, of whom the Apostle Paul also interprets what is written: You shall not muzzle the ox that treads out the corn. And, Does God take care for oxen? But surely he speaks of these, who till their own ground, and of whom the same says, We are God's husbandry, God's building. For the Father is the husbandman, and Christ the vine: they shall eat chaff mixed with winnowed barley. We read that Isaac sowed barley, and because he was among the Philistines, he received a hundredfold crop of barley.

And Hosea hired an adulterous woman for a homer and a half of barley (Hosea iii). The Saviour also satisfied five thousand men, who still served the senses of the body and followed the Law of Moses, with barley loaves. He who, in another place, broke the seven loaves of the Law and, breaking them into fragments, filled four thousand men with wheat loaves, who followed the evangelical number. Peoples of this sort eat also a part of the chaff, while in certain things they follow the letter, and yet through the chaff and the barley they gradually advance, so as to pass over to the wheat. (Verse 25.) And upon every lofty mountain, and upon every high hill, there shall be rivers of running waters, in the day of the slaughter of many, when the towers shall fall. In this passage the Jews refer the many slain and the falling towers to the power of the Roman empire, of which the Apostle also speaks: Only let him who now holds, hold, until he be taken out of the way.

That is to say, that in that time there shall be such great blessedness for the people of Israel, that not only the valleys and plains, but all the mountains and hills shall be watered with flowing streams. But let us understand by mountains and hills those who have been raised on high by virtues, who hunger and thirst after justice, whom the Lord invites to drink. For whoever shall drink of his waters shall not thirst forever. Whence also we read in the psalm: Bless the Lord from the fountains of Israel. And in the Gospel it is said that whoever shall drink of the waters of Jesus, rivers of living water shall flow from his belly. And to God the Saint speaks: For with you is the fountain of life, from which a most pure river goes forth, of which again Scripture reminds us: The rushing of the river makes glad the city of God.

And in another place: The river of God is full of water; that is, surely, he who speaks through Jeremiah: They have forsaken me, the fountain of living water. But this shall come to pass when many shall have been slain, or shall have perished: For many are called, but few are chosen. And when the towers shall have fallen, whether the powers of demons, or all the proud and arrogant and great of this world; of whom it is also said in the psalms: I have seen the wicked highly exalted, and lifted up like the cedars of Lebanon; and I passed by, and lo, he was not; I sought him, and his place was not found.

These towers they desired to build, who moved their feet from the East, whose tongues were confounded in Babylon, and those upon whom the tower of Siloam fell. (Verse 26.) And the light of the moon shall be as the light of the sun, and the light of the sun shall be sevenfold, as the light of seven days, in the day when the Lord shall bind up the wound of his people, and shall heal the stroke of their wound. LXX: And the light of the moon shall be as the light of the sun, and the light of the sun shall be sevenfold, in the day when the Lord shall heal the bruise of his people, and shall cure the pain of your wound.

I marvel how in the present passage the Hebrew words LABANA (לבנה) and HAMMA (חמה), which Aquila interprets as "white" and "heat," by which he signifies the moon and the sun, were rendered by the same LXX above as "brick" and "wall," in the place where it is written: And the moon shall blush, and the sun shall be confounded. For which they interpreted, the bricks shall melt, and the wall shall fall; and now the same translators, following the Hebrew, have rendered "moon" and "sun." Whence a suspicion arises in me, that they did not err from the beginning, but were gradually corrupted by the fault of copyists. For it cannot be that those who in this passage translated the same words well, should have erred in the passage above.

In the day, therefore, of the slaughter of many, when the arrogant and proud shall have fallen, and those who set their mouth against heaven shall have learned that they are earth, the light of the moon shall be as the light of the sun: when the Lord shall have given a new heaven and a new earth, and the fashion of this world shall have passed away, so that the moon and the sun shall receive the rewards of their labor and their course. For the expectation of the creature awaits the revelation of the sons of God: because the creature itself also shall be delivered from the bondage of corruption into the liberty of the glory of the sons of God: although certain persons, understanding these to be organs of light, contend that they are without sensation. The moon, then, shall receive the brightness of the sun.

Nor is it strange to think this of the brightest element, to which the government of the night has been entrusted, since it is also written of the saints: The just shall shine as the sun. And the sun shall receive a sevenfold light: as was the light of the seven days, when the world was created from the beginning (although the Seventy did not translate "seven days"), when the Lord shall have bound up the wound of his people, or healed the bruise of his people: when that shall be fulfilled which is written: Sorrow and mourning and groaning shall flee away: when, the fullness of the Gentiles having come in, all Israel shall be saved; or certainly when the vengeance shall come of those whose souls cry out under the altar: How long will you not avenge our blood on those who dwell on the earth?

And consider this, that he did not say, when he shall have healed the bruise of his people Israel, or Jacob; but absolutely, "his people," so as to signify all who serve God. Some refer this passage, and all that is contained in this chapter of promises, to the heavenly Jerusalem, and to the return of its people, when that shall be fulfilled which is written: Heaven and earth shall pass away. Others say it refers to the times of Elijah, and that he himself is the one of whom it was written above: Your eyes shall be seeing your instructor, and your ears shall hear the word behind you admonishing: then, from the mountains and hills, according to the fables of the poets, and the golden age of Saturn, rivers of milk shall flow, and from the leaves of the trees the purest honey shall drip.

Those who accept these things also imagine, in Jewish error, the fable of the thousand years, and an earthly kingdom of the Saviour, not understanding that the Apocalypse of John, beneath the surface of the letter, weaves together the marrow-filled mysteries of the Church.

The tenth Book, which we now have in hand, will be smaller than the ninth and eleventh in number of verses, not in magnitude of meanings. For there follows it the history of Sennacherib and Rabsaces, and of Ezechias the king, which can neither be joined with the preceding matter, on account of the enormous size of the volume, nor be divided, on account of the continuity of the events narrated. Therefore, as you have wished, virgin of Christ, Eustochium, and as has been agreed in common, just as I have dictated the earlier books, so also this one and the rest, if Christ shall grant it, I will dictate: so that I may join the prophecies to each other, and not tear and rend them apart from one another, into the end of one and the beginning of another. I hear, moreover, that a scorpion—a dumb and venomous animal—is muttering, or rather trying to strike, at his own peril, something against the reply I once gave in my little Commentary on the prophet Daniel.

Whose dirges and mournful ditties have not yet been made known to me, and therefore my reply is postponed: and I must rather obey you, and the holy and most learned man, your brother Pammachius, who with insatiable zeal urges me by letters, once Isaiah is finished, to pass on to Ezechiel, though I, worn down both by age and by bodily weakness, and by a lack of secretaries who might assist me with their services, still stick fast in the same mire, and scarcely believe that I shall finish even the middle part of Isaiah in this volume. But if, by your prayers, I shall complete it, the remaining parts must also be taken up, which will have their beginning in the fourteenth year of King Ezechias.

(Verses 27 and following.) Behold, the name of the Lord comes from afar: his fury burning and heavy to bear. His lips are filled with indignation, and his tongue is like a devouring fire.

His breath is like an overflowing torrent, reaching up to the middle of the neck, to bring the nations to nothing, and the bridle of error that was on the jaws of the peoples. There shall be a song for you, as in the night of a sanctified solemnity, and gladness of heart, as of one who goes with the flute, to enter into the mountain of the Lord, to the mighty One of Israel. The Septuagint: Behold, the name of the Lord comes after a long time: burning fury with glory, the utterance of his lips, an utterance full of wrath, and the wrath of fury like fire shall devour, and his breath like water in a valley, coming and dragging shall reach even to the neck, and it shall be divided so as to trouble the nations over their vain error, and the error shall be cast away, and he shall take them up in their own sight.

Must you always rejoice and enter into my holy things continually, as though celebrating feasts and rejoicing, so as to enter with the flute to the mountain of the Lord, to the God of Israel? Let us speak first according to the Hebrew. What is said depends on what precedes. The prophetic word had rebuked those who, despising the help of God, fled to the Egyptians for fear of the Babylonians, and had threatened that those who went down there would die there. And again, after the punishments, he promises that those who would have been willing to hear him will dwell not only under Zorobabel, Ezra, and Nehemiah in Jerusalem, but he promises a greater blessedness than all believers in the word of God at the consummation of the world, when through all mountains and hills streams of waters will run, and towers will fall after many have been slain. The moon too and the sun will receive a brighter light, when the Lord shall have bound up and healed the wound of his people.

Although some contend, ὑπερβολικῶς (hyperbolically), that this was fulfilled in the land of Judea in the times of Cyrus, who released the captivity of the people. Since, therefore, rewards have been promised to the good and obedient, now on the contrary punishments are announced to the wicked and the scornful, that the Lord may fulfill his purpose, and come after a long time to punish sinners, and pronounce sentence against all, and by the breath of his mouth slay the wicked one, whom he calls the bridle of the peoples: not because he ruled the subjected, but because he drew those subject to himself into ruin. He also sets forth the likeness of a torrent flooding up to the neck, to testify that the end of all things has come. For just as a torrent suffocates one whose neck it reaches, so the judgment of God will allow no one to escape unpunished.

But when he shall have destroyed the bridle that was on the jaws of all the nations, along with the nations subjected to it, and brought it to nothing, then, he says, for you, the holy ones who obey my commands, there will be a song, as in the night of a sanctified solemnity, when you went out from Egypt, and at the solemnity of the Passover cast off the yoke of Egyptian servitude, saying at the Red Sea, when Pharaoh was drowned: Let us sing to the Lord, for gloriously has he been magnified: and such gladness of heart that you might imitate those who, bringing first-fruits to the temple and carrying gifts to the wine-presses of God, go along with flutes, showing the joys of their heart in song. These things I have touched upon briefly according to the Hebrew.

But in both editions it must be noted that it is not the Lord, but the name of the Lord, that comes after a long time, of whom it is said in the Psalms: Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord, the Lord is God, and he has shone upon us. And he himself speaks in the Gospel: I have come in the name of my Father, and you did not receive me. And it is fittingly said that he comes after a long time, human impatience speaking: How long, O Lord, will you forget me unto the end? How long do you turn your face from me? His burning fury also comes with glory, so that him whom we despised in his lowliness, we might fear in his majesty. This very thing is written also in the Psalms: God will come manifestly, our God, and will not keep silence. Fire will burn before him, and a mighty tempest round about him.

For he himself says in the Gospel: I have come to cast fire upon the earth, and how I wish that it were already kindled! And again in another psalm it is read: The voice of the Lord dividing the flame of fire, that whatever in the world is hay, wood, and stubble, the flame, seizing it, may consume it. Whence also God is said to be a consuming fire. And as to what follows: The wrath of his fury shall devour like fire, many of our writers interpret the wrath of the fury of the Lord as the devil, to whom we are handed over for punishment, who, according to the book of Samuel, stirred up David to number the people of God. And the Apostle says: to deliver such a one to Satan for the destruction of the flesh, that the spirit may be saved. But this very fury, and the wrath of the fury of the Lord, will do nothing of its own will, but only what has been commanded it.

Whence it follows: The utterance of his lips, an utterance full of wrath. His breath also, like water in a valley, coming and dragging, shall reach to the neck, so that it may cause punishments to overflow upon sinners. It shall be divided according to the quality of merits, to destroy and confound the nations, whom vain error had seduced, and that they may understand themselves to have been overthrown. Whence it is said to men of this kind, who prevailed in the power of this world and delighted in their own error, that they will not always do this. And especially some of our writers think that this passage and the whole tenor of the chapter are spoken against heretics and all doctrines contrary to the truth, that when the time of judgment shall come, they will by no means enter his holy places and mountain, that is, the Church of the Lord: lest under the name of religion they gather riches, and abuse luxury, as though celebrating the feasts of the Lord.

The Jews understand these things of the nations Gog and Magog, whom they think will come from the North, that is, from the regions of Scythia, concerning whom Ezechiel speaks more fully. (Verses 30 and following.) And the Lord will make heard the glory of his voice, and will show the terror of his arm in the threatening of his fury and the flame of devouring fire: he will dash in the whirlwind and in the hailstone. For at the voice of the Lord Assur shall fear, struck by the rod: and the passing of the rod shall be established, which the Lord shall make to rest upon him with timbrels and harps, and in notable battles he shall overthrow them. For Topheth has been prepared from yesterday, prepared deep and wide by the king, its fuel is fire, and much wood: the breath of the Lord like a torrent of brimstone kindling it.

The Septuagint: And the Lord will make heard the glory of his voice, and will show the fury of his arm with fury and wrath: and with the flame of devouring fire he shall thunder violently, and like water and hail descending with force. For at the voice of the Lord the Assyrians shall be overcome by the plague with which he will strike them, and it shall be to him round about, from whence he had hope of help, in which he trusted; they themselves shall fight against him with timbrels and harp by a sudden change. For before, you shall be deceived by days: is a kingdom then prepared even for you? A deep valley, wood laid, fire and the wood of many: the fury of the Lord, like a valley kindled with brimstone.

I could, according to the Hebrew, indicate briefly to my readers what seems to me to be the sense; but what am I to do about the zeal of certain persons, who declare that unless I discuss also the edition of the Septuagint, I shall have an unfinished work? I shall therefore follow the order of discussion begun. The voice of the Lord and his command will become known to all, and the strength of his arm will be manifest to all, when the time of retribution shall come, in the magnitude of flame and whirlwind and hail, and the weight of stones, it shall be abandoned. Concerning which Ezechiel, in prophecy, as we have said, writes at full length of Gog and Magog. At the command of his voice Assur shall fear, struck by the rod. Every wicked man, every imitator of the hostile nation: not that on the day of judgment the Assyrian alone is to be struck, but that by "Assyrian" we should understand the devil.

Then it follows: And the passing of the rod shall be established, which the Lord shall make to rest upon him. And the sense is: he will not merely strike him with the rod and then lift it again, and in the manner of those who beat, put an end to the beating; but as though fixed and set deep by root, he will make it remain in his punishments. But if this is so understood, where will be room for the devil's repentance: especially since it is said to sinners: Go into the everlasting fire, which God has prepared for the devil and his angels. With timbrels and with harps, and in notable battles he shall overthrow them: that is, the demons and all the wicked, the Lord will overthrow with the joy of all. For indeed from yesterday and from past time, Topheth has been prepared by the King, the Lord—that is, a broad and spacious hell, which shall burn them with eternal trees.

Its fuel and kindling is fire, and much wood, that is, perpetual flame and the punishments of sinners. And since the prophetic word had foretold this after the manner of a furnace and burning oven of fire, it preserves the metaphor, so that we may know it is kindled by the breath and spirit and will of the Lord, mixed with brimstone, which stirs up the flames, to make the torments more bitter. Furthermore, as to what is said according to the Septuagint: At the voice of the Lord the Assyrians shall be overcome by the plague, when he shall have struck them, and it shall be to him round about, from whence he had hope of help, in which he trusted: they themselves shall fight against him with timbrels and harp by a sudden change—this signifies that those who had once been subject to him rise up against the devil, and with joy and gladness fight against him by a sudden reversal: while, understanding their own error, they destroy him by whom they had been deceived.

And it is said to him that from the beginning he deceived himself, thinking his kingdom everlasting, for whom hell and eternal punishments have been prepared.

(Verses 1 ff.) Woe to those who go down into Egypt for help, trusting in horses, and having confidence in chariots, because they are many, and in horsemen, because they are exceeding strong; and have not trusted in the Holy One of Israel, and have not sought the Lord. Yet he being wise brought evil, and has not removed his words: and he will rise up against the house of the wicked, and against the help of those that work iniquity. Egypt is man, and not God: and their horses flesh, and not spirit: and the Lord shall bend down his hand, and the helper shall fall, and he to whom help is given shall fall, and they shall all be consumed together.

After the burden of the beasts of the South, and those who carried their riches into Egypt to a people who could not profit them, who hoped for help in the strength of Pharaoh, and had confidence in the shadow of Egypt; the prophetic discourse had, under the figure of the return into Jerusalem and the release of the captivity under Cyrus, announced the consummation of the age and the perfect blessedness of the just: now it returns to the same persons to whom it had spoken above, that they should not go down into Egypt. And this is the difference between the present passage and the former: that there it is commanded that it be told to Judah not to go down into Egypt; here it is prophesied that, having despised the command of the Lord, they will go down; and that by Nabuchodonosor, king of the Babylonians, both Israel and the Egyptians, both fugitives and helpers alike, shall be slaughtered. Of which Jeremiah speaks most fully.

Woe therefore to those who go down into Egypt, and out of fear of the Chaldeans despise the commands of the Lord, hoping in idolaters who boast that they have the worship of God; and trusting in the help of horses, do not know it is written: "A horse is a vain thing for safety"; and have confidence in chariots and cars and horsemen; nor do they remember that Canticle: "He has cast down the horse and his rider into the sea". "And they have not trusted in the Holy One of Israel," who promised his help through Jeremiah to those remaining in the land of Judea. "And they have not sought the Lord"; not that they did not seek him, but that, having been sought out, they despised his words. Whence also it is said of wicked priests: "Who devour my people, they have not called upon the Lord".

"Yet he being wise," that is, the Lord, "brought evil" upon them, even the worst evil, namely Nabuchodonosor, or evil absolutely, signifying the thing, not the person: "and has not removed his words," which he had spoken through the Prophets. Wherefore he will rise up against the tribe of Judah, the house of the wicked, and against the help of the Egyptians, who work iniquity. For Egypt, or the Egyptian, as the LXX translated, is man, and not God: and their horses are flesh, and not spirit. Whence also it is written in Jeremiah: "Cursed is the man that trusts in man, and has made flesh his arm, and whose heart departs from the Lord. And he shall be like the tamarisk in the desert, which shall not see when good things come".

And in another place it is written: "Vain is the safety of man", or, as it is better rendered in the Hebrew, "in man." And when the Lord shall have stretched forth his hand to punish, or shall have inclined it, under the metaphor of a charioteer, and shall have slackened the reins of the running horses, the Egyptian helper shall fall, and Israel to whom help was given. Which indeed we may understand also of those who, in time of persecution and tribulation and distress, do not trust in the Lord, but in the help of the Egyptians, that is, of worldly men; not knowing that Abraham was endangered in Egypt, and that the people of God served with clay and bricks in that region, which is spiritually called the iron furnace.

Whence also in the Apocalypse of John it is read: "The place where the Lord was crucified is spiritually called Sodom and Egypt". (Verses 4, 5.) For thus says the Lord to me: As when a lion roars, and a lion's whelp over his prey, and when a multitude of shepherds shall come out against him, he will not fear at their voice, nor will he be afraid of their multitude: so shall the Lord of hosts come down to fight upon mount Sion and upon the hill thereof. As birds flying, so will the Lord of hosts protect Jerusalem, protecting and delivering, passing over and saving. In plain matters we set forth one edition only, especially where there is no diversity of meaning. After the Israelites and Egyptians, in whose help they trusted, have been slain in Egypt, they will return to Jerusalem, as captives, under the reign of Cyrus. And by two similitudes, the strength of the Lord, who had promised that he would be their helper, is shown.

As a lion, and a lion's whelp being hungry, if it sees a flock of sheep, is terrified by no voice of shepherds, and, conscious of its own strength, despises their multitude: so will the Lord of hosts fight, not against mount Sion and its hill, but upon mount Sion against its adversaries.

Let us also give another comparison: As birds, to defend their young, fly above their nests, and whether they see a serpent or a man, and other birds approaching their young, forgetful of their own weakness, fight with beak and claws, and redouble with chattering voice the grief of their breast: so will the Lord protect Jerusalem, and deliver her by passing over, and save her. For "passing over," in the Hebrew PHASE: in three interpreters, besides the LXX, ὑπερβαίνων ("passing beyond") is put. From which it is clear that Pascha, that is, the Phase of the Lord, does not signify passion, but passing over. And that the Lord was, in the likeness of birds, a protector over Jerusalem, he himself testifies in the Gospel: "Jerusalem, Jerusalem, you who kill the prophets, and stone those who are sent to you": how often would I have gathered your children, as a hen gathers her chickens under her wings, and you would not?

And in Deuteronomy it is said of the Lord: "He spread his wings, and took them up, and carried them on his shoulders". (Verses 6ff.) Return, O children of Israel, as though you had gone back into the depths. For in that day a man shall cast away the idols of his silver, and the idols of his gold, which your hands have made unto sin. And Assyria shall fall by the sword, not of a man, and the sword, not of a man, shall devour him: and he shall flee not from before the sword, and his young men shall be tributary. And his strength shall pass away by reason of terror, and his princes shall be dismayed as they flee, saith the Lord, whose fire is in Sion, and his furnace in Jerusalem. LXX: Return, O children of Israel, as though you had gone back into the depths.

And Assyria shall fall by the sword, not of a man, and the sword, not of a man, shall devour him, and he shall flee not from before the sword; his young men shall be overcome: for they shall be surrounded by a rock as by a rampart, and shall be conquered; and whoever flees shall be taken. Thus saith the Lord: Blessed is he who has seed in Sion, and kinsfolk in Jerusalem. As the Lord fights upon Mount Sion against his adversaries, and protects it like birds: Return, O children of Israel; or as Symmachus translated it: Do penance, you who by deep counsel and sin have gone back from the Lord. For if you do this, casting away the golden and silver idols, which were unto you for sin, on account of which your city was taken: Assyria shall fall, by whose fear you now flee, not by the sword of men, nor by the strength of an army, but by the power of God.

He signifies moreover the Angel, by whom a hundred eighty-five thousand Assyrians were destroyed in one night. The king of Assyria himself likewise shall flee, not the sword of men, but the wrath of God: so that his young and vigorous men shall become tributary to the Medes, of whom it was said above against Babylon: Behold, I will stir up against you the Medes. And the strength of Assyria shall pass away and go by at the terror of the Lord, and all his princes shall tremble exceedingly. For the Lord has spoken it and has promised it, whose speaking is doing: and he who has fire in Sion, and a furnace in Jerusalem, so that a flame going forth from Jerusalem may consume his adversaries like stubble and wood. Another interprets what is said: In that day a man shall cast away the idols of his silver, and the rest, in this way, that it testifies that after the return from the Babylonian captivity down to the coming of Christ, the children of Israel never worshipped idols.

He holds also that the Assyrian is signified in this present place, and that he is to be overcome not by the Angel, but by the Medes, because that most ancient and once powerful kingdom, after offending the Lord, was destroyed, and served its conquerors. The Nazarenes understand this passage thus: O children of Israel, who by most wicked counsel denied the Son of God, return to him and to his Apostles. For if you do this, you will cast away all the idols which had before been unto you for sin, and the devil shall fall for you, not by your own strength, but by the mercy of God: and his young men who once fought for him shall become tributary to the Church, and all his strength and his rock shall pass away: the philosophers too and every perverse doctrine shall turn their backs at the sign of the cross. For it is the sentence of the Lord that this should be done: whose fire, or light, is in Sion, and furnace in Jerusalem.

Fire and light in Hebrew are written with the same letters, ALEPH, VAU, RES; which if read "ur" sounds fire; if "or," light. This is said because, instead of fire, which Symmachus alone translated, Aquila and Theodotion rendered light. What, however, is meant by what is read in the Septuagint: They shall be surrounded by a rock as by a rampart, and shall be conquered: and whoever flees shall be taken: I am not able to know. Unless perhaps we may say this, that the young men of the king of Assyria, who are to be conquered and taken, are thus surrounded by the rock, that is, by the strength of the Lord, as a city is surrounded by a rampart. Further, what follows: Blessed is he who has seed in Sion, and kinsfolk in Jerusalem, we may interpret thus, so as to say that it fits the sense of the present passage, that the divine word exhorts those fleeing into Egypt to return to Jerusalem, and to beget children.

To such a one so great a blessedness is promised, that he should be defended and protected by the help of the Lord. And elsewhere it is written of it: The glory of this latter house shall be greater than the former (Haggai 2:10). This can also be referred to the Church, the vision of peace and the watchtower, of which it is written: Glorious things are spoken of you, city of God. And elsewhere: The rushing of the river makes glad the city of God. For in this there is fire and a furnace, which devours sinners, and consumes wood, hay, and stubble; or light and an oven, so that the brightness of the just, and the punishment of sinners, may be shown.

(Verses 1ff.) Behold, a king shall reign with justice, and princes shall preside in judgment. And a man shall be as one who is hidden from the wind, and shelters himself from the tempest: as streams of waters in thirst, and the shadow of a projecting rock in a desert land.

The eyes of them that see shall not be dim, and the ears of them that hear shall hearken diligently. And the heart of fools shall understand knowledge, and the tongue of stammerers shall speak quickly and plainly. He that is foolish shall no more be called a prince: neither shall the deceitful be called great. For the fool will speak foolish things, and his heart will work iniquity, to accomplish hypocrisy, and to speak to the Lord deceitfully, and to make void the soul of the hungry, and to take away drink from the thirsty. The vessels of the deceitful are most wicked: for he has devised plans to destroy the meek with a lying word: when the poor man spoke judgment. But the prince shall think of things worthy of a prince, and he himself shall stand over leaders. LXX: For behold, a just king shall reign, and princes shall preside with judgment.

And there shall be a man hiding his words, and he shall be hidden as it were from water that is carried along: and he shall appear in Sion like a running river, renowned in a thirsty land, and men shall by no means put their trust in men: but they will give their ears to hear, and the heart of the weak shall attend to hearing: and the tongues of stammerers shall quickly learn to speak peace: and they shall no longer say to the fool, "Be a prince," nor shall they any more say, "Your ministers, be silent." For the fool shall speak foolish things, and his heart shall understand vain things, in order to accomplish iniquity, and to speak error to the Lord, so as to scatter the souls of the hungry, and to make empty the souls of the thirsty. For the counsel of the wicked shall devise unjust things: to kill the humble with unjust words, and to scatter the words of the humble in judgment. But the pious devised wisdom, and this counsel stands.

According to the LXX Interpreters, who said: For behold, a just king shall reign, and princes shall preside with judgment, what follows is to be joined to the preceding, namely to those with which the previous chapter ended: Blessed is he who has seed in Sion, and kinsfolk in Jerusalem. According to the Hebrew, the previous prophecy having ended, concerning those who were going down into Egypt, now there is the beginning of another prophecy, concerning the coming of Christ and his Apostles. For this king shall reign justly: not accepting persons in judgment, and his princes shall preside with truth, considering causes, not men. And whoever shall be under his shelter, shall be as safe in tribulations and distresses, and in the tempest of this world, as one who, fleeing the wind and the whirlwind, hides himself in a safe place; and as one who finds most pure fountains in the desert; and as one who, in the fierce heat of the sun burning all things, rests under a projecting rock.

Where we have said: as streams of waters in thirst, the Septuagint translated: and he shall appear in Sion like a running river. For the Hebrew word, which we discussed above, BASAION (בציון), which means "in thirst," or "in dryness," and "in the trackless," the Septuagint and Theodotion interpreted "in Sion": reading SION, which is written with the same letters, for SAION, that is, thirst. When therefore Christ has reigned, and his princes have presided in judgment, the eyes of the believers shall not be dim, and the ears of those that hear shall attend diligently, which before were deaf, and the heart of those once foolish shall understand knowledge, and the tongue of the stammering and the mute, which could not sound forth Christ, shall confess the Lord with full and open speech. He that is foolish shall no more be called a prince. For God has made foolish the wisdom of this world. Neither shall the deceitful and perverse teacher be called great among the peoples.

Namely the Scribes and Pharisees, to whom the Lord said: Fools and blind, which is greater, the gold, or the temple that sanctifies the gold? For the fool will speak foolish things, for which in the Hebrew is written Nabal nabala idabber (נבל נבלה ידבר). We say this, so as to explain the words of Abigail, speaking of Nabal the Carmelite: According to his name, he is a fool. For truly the fool will speak foolish things, and his heart will accomplish iniquity, he who feared where there was no fear, and abused folly instead of wisdom, saying: This man, if he were of God, would not break the sabbath. This the master of the synagogues does even to this day, so as to accomplish hypocrisy, for which in the Hebrew is written ONEPH (חנף), that is, ὑπόκρισις. Whence it is often said to the Pharisees: Woe to you, Scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites.

And he shall speak, it says, to the Lord deceitfully: Master, we know that you are of God, and that it is not for you to be concerned about men, whether it is lawful to give tribute to Caesar, or not. Those who empty the souls of the hungry people, and take away drink from thirsty crowds, neither entering in themselves, nor allowing others to enter. For all the vessels and weapons of the deceitful teacher and prince are most wicked; who devises tricks to destroy the simple with a lying word, saying to the deceived people: Search and see, that a prophet does not arise out of Galilee. When the poor man spoke judgment to them, who, though he was rich, became poor for our sake. For truly Christ spoke judgment and justice to them, saying: If I do not the works of my Father, do not believe me: but if I do, and if you do not wish to believe me, believe the works.

This poor man who speaks judgment, prince and Lord, shall think of things worthy of a prince, saying: I have come only to the lost sheep of the house of Israel. And he shall be solicitous for the unbelieving, wishing to save those who do not believe; and he shall stand over his leaders, the Apostles, to one of whom he says: But you, man of one mind, my leader and my acquaintance. This is according to the Hebrew, from which the LXX differ not only in words, but also in senses in many places. For when a just king shall reign, and his princes shall have ruled with judgment, there shall be a man hiding his words, a man who by nature is God, and he shall hide his words, speaking to them in parables. He shall hide them, moreover, as it were from running water, that is, from the people of the Jews, who, like water, are carried and dragged this way and that at the will of their teachers.

This man hiding his words from unbelievers shall appear in Sion, that is, in the Church, like a renowned river, and running down into a thirsty land. For he shall appear to the people of the gentiles, who before were suffering thirst for truth; and the river of God shall water the thirsty fields, of which it is written: The rushing of the river makes glad the city of God. And in another place: The river of God is full of water. For he himself says in the Gospel: Whoever thirsts, let him come to me, and drink. Whoever believes in me, as the Scripture says, rivers of living water shall flow from his belly. Then they shall by no means have confidence in their teachers; but they shall lend their ears to hear the Lord; and both in heart and in tongue they shall confess the peace of the Lord, forsaking the foolish princes and their ministers, who commanded silence to those believing in Jesus.

What follows contains nearly the same sense as the Hebrew; and can be fitted to heretics. For these speak a lie against the Lord, and pervert souls hungry and thirsty, and make them go away empty; so that even if they have any natural good, they lose it by the fault of their teachers, whose whole counsel is to destroy the humble with unjust words, and to scatter the words of the humble in judgment. In which likewise it must be noted, that whoever can be deceived by them is humble, and clinging to the earth. (Verses 9ff.) Rich women, arise and hear my voice: confident daughters, perceive my speech with your ears. After days and a year, you also shall be troubled, you who are confident: for the vintage is finished: the gathering shall come no more. Be astonished, you rich women; be troubled, you confident ones: strip yourselves, and be confounded. For which Symmachus interpreted, be made naked: it follows.

Gird your loins, mourn upon your breasts, over the desirable region, over the fruitful vineyard: upon the ground of my people thorns and briars shall come up: how much more upon all the houses of joy of the exultant city? For the house is forsaken: the multitude of the city is left: darkness and groping have come upon the caves forever: the joy of wild asses, the pastures of flocks. Until the spirit be poured out upon us from on high: and the desert shall become a Carmel, and Carmel shall be reckoned as a forest. And judgment shall dwell in the wilderness, and justice shall sit in Carmel. And the work of justice shall be peace: and the service of justice, silence: and security forever. And my people shall sit in the beauty of peace, and in the tabernacles of confidence, and in wealthy rest. But hail shall fall in the descent of the forest, and the city shall be brought low in humiliation.

Blessed are you who sow upon all waters, sending in the foot of the ox and the ass. The LXX, instead of darkness and groping, which have come upon the caves forever, translated: and your villages shall be caves forever: which in the Hebrew is called OPHEL (עפל) and BEEN (בחן), which the Hebrews reckon to have been two towers in Jerusalem, lofty and most firm, which are called by these names. Of these the former is interpreted "darkness," or "cloud," because it raised its head up to the clouds. The other, "proof" and "firmness," or, as Symmachus renders it, "inquiry": because in gazing upon its summit the eyes were deceived. At the end of the chapter also they interpreted thus: Blessed are they who sow upon every water, where the ox and the ass tread.

After the calling of the gentiles, when Christ the king shall have reigned with justice, and his princes, the Apostles and apostolic men, shall have presided over believers with judgment, the prophetic word shall be directed to the rich women, whom we ought to understand as either the cities of Judea, or the synagogues of that time, or, as most think, the matrons of the once wealthy people of the Jews, to whom, as though lying prostrate, it is said after the ruin: Arise; and nonetheless they are called confident, or hoping, daughters: and they are commanded to hear the words of the Lord, and to remember the days and the year, of which we shall speak in what follows, the Saviour himself saying: The Spirit of the Lord is upon me, for which he anointed me: he has sent me to preach the gospel to the poor: to preach to captives release, and to the blind sight: to call the acceptable year of the Lord; and this very remembrance may be to them, according to the Septuagint, unto sorrow with hope, that they may mourn that they denied the Lord, and may have hope of salvation, if they do penance.

For he says the vintage is finished, and that after the last devastation, which happened under Vespasian and Titus and Hadrian, there shall by no means be another captivity to come, nor shall clusters remain among the peoples, which are henceforth to be gathered. Whence they are provoked to mourning, and are bidden to bare their breasts, and gird their loins, because the region once desirable, and the fruitful vineyard, of which it is written: I planted you a fruitful vine, wholly true: how have you turned into the bitterness of a strange vine? Has been destroyed by the Roman devastator. Upon the ground, it says, of my people, thorns and briars, or hay shall come up. And the sense is: If thorns and briars have filled the land of Judea, which is the land of promise, how much more the other cities which are full of joy, and which shall meet with that gospel saying: Woe to you who rejoice now, for you shall weep!

For the Lord, that is, my temple, has been forsaken, as I said to the Apostles: Arise, let us go hence; and to the unbelievers: Your house shall be left to you desolate. Palpable darkness has taken possession of the inner shrines of the Temple, and the secret mysteries, and they have become not storehouses of the vessels of the Lord, but caves forever. For they had heard from the Lord Saviour: My Father's house shall be called a house of prayer: but you have made it a den of thieves. The joy, it says, of wild asses, the pastures of flocks. This is to be understood either according to the letter, because all things are deserted; or spiritually, that with Israel expelled, wild men, having no knowledge of God, dwell in Judea. And this shall be until the spirit be poured out upon us from on high, which the Saviour, ascending to the Father, promised to believers, saying: Behold, I go, and will send you the Paraclete, the Spirit of truth.

And again: Until you receive power from on high. And what he had said above: Yet a little while, and Lebanon shall become Carmel, and Carmel shall be reckoned as a forest: and in that day the deaf shall hear the words of the book, and the eyes of the blind shall see out of darkness and gloom; now he repeats the same thing in other words, that the wilderness of the gentiles is turned into the riches of Israel; and Israel is reckoned among the gentiles: at which time the Lord and Saviour, to whom the Father gave all judgment, shall have had judgment in the desert. And justice shall rest in Carmel, of which it was said above: And the desert shall become Carmel, that judgment and justice may dwell in the desert, and rest in Carmel, which before was called desert. The work of justice also shall be peace, which, according to the Apostle, surpasses all understanding.

And the service of justice, silence, that they may adore the Lord not with the much-speaking of the Jews, but with brevity of faith; and secure they may rest in eternal peace, and in their tabernacles may be riches, of which the Apostle spoke: I give thanks to my God through Jesus Christ, that in everything you have been made rich in him, in all speech and in all knowledge. But when the Christian people shall sit, or dwell, in beauty, or as the LXX translated, in the city of peace, doubtless in the Church; then hail and tempest, and the raging wrath of the Lord, shall come down upon the forest, of which it was said above: And Carmel shall be reckoned as a forest; and the city of Jerusalem shall be humbled, and, according to another Scripture, it shall speak of the earth.

Since these things are so, and we have learned by prophetic vaticination how great goods the Church is to possess, and how great evils Jerusalem is to suffer: blessed are you, Apostles, and other Doctors, who sow upon all the waters of holy Scripture, in which the ox and the ass tread. The ox a clean animal, on account of the election of the fathers; the ass unclean, on account of the once idolatry of the gentiles, that the Church of the Lord might be gathered both from the Circumcision and from the Uncircumcision. What is said above, according to the LXX: Upon the land of my people thorns and hay shall come up, can be referred both to heretics, and also to the simple among believers, who do not understand holy Scripture as befits its majesty. Whence we have fitted each to each, so that the land of God's people brings forth thorns for heretics, and hay for the unlearned of the Church.

(Verse 1.) Woe to you who plunder: shall you not yourself be plundered?

And you who despise: shall you not yourself be despised? When you have finished your plundering, you shall be plundered: when, wearied, you cease to despise, you shall be despised. LXX: Woe to those who make you wretched: for no one makes you wretched. And they who reject you, do not reject you: those who reject shall be seized and handed over, and like a moth in a garment, so shall they be overcome. He had spoken of the Apostles, and of the teachers of the churches: Blessed are they who sow upon every water, where the ox and the ass tread: now he directs a malediction against their persecutors; indeed against their prince, who possesses the hearts of the impious, that whatsoever they have done they may receive; and that present power be the material of future torments. Whence according to the LXX it is said: Woe to those who make you wretched: for no one makes you wretched.

And the sense is: as far as lies in them, when they persecute you, and afflict you with various torments, they consider those who have been slain and tortured to be wretched. But no one can make you wretched, for they have power not over the soul, but over the body. And he who rejects you does not reject you, but him who sent you, according to that which the Saviour says to His disciples: He who rejects you rejects me, and he who rejects me rejects him who sent me. The persecutors, therefore, shall be seized, and handed over to everlasting burnings. And as the moth consumes a garment, so shall unending flame consume them. Which is also written at the end of this prophecy: Their worm shall not die, and their fire shall not be quenched. (Verses 2 and following.) Lord, have mercy on us: for we have waited for thee: be thou their arm in the morning, and our salvation in the time of tribulation.

At the voice of the Angel the peoples fled, at thy exaltation the nations were scattered. And your spoils shall be gathered together, as the locust is gathered, as when the ditches are full of it. The Lord is magnified, for he has dwelt on high: he has filled Sion with judgment and justice. And there shall be faith in thy times: the riches of salvation are wisdom and knowledge: the fear of the Lord is his treasure. LXX: Lord, have mercy on us, for we have trusted in thee: the seed of the unbelievers has come to destruction, but our salvation is in the time of tribulation: because of the voice of terror the peoples were astonished at thy fear, and the nations were scattered. But now your spoils shall be gathered, small and great: as when someone gathers locusts, so shall they mock you: holy is the God who dwells on high.

Sion is filled with judgment and justice; they shall be delivered over in the law; in treasures is our salvation: wisdom has come, and discipline, and piety from the Lord—these are the treasures of justice. The Hebrews think that the preceding chapter, in which is read: Woe to you who plunder: shall you not yourself be plundered? And so on to the end, was spoken against Sennacherib king of the Assyrians, because after he had overthrown the cities of the ten tribes which were called Israel, and, Jerusalem excepted, had also taken the cities of Judea, he himself was overcome, and, the Angel striking, his army was destroyed. Hence they contend that these words now, spoken from the person of the people giving thanks to God and saying, Lord, have mercy on us, we have waited for thee, contained in the present chapter, mean that He himself was the arm and strength of the people hemmed in by siege in the morning time, and salvation in necessity and distress.

For at the voice of the Angel—which Symmachus translated as it is written in the Hebrew, AMON (המון), whom the Hebrews suppose to be Gabriel, and to have the etymology of "multitude"—the Assyrian fled, and at the exaltation of God the nations that were with him were scattered hither and thither. As they fled, spoils were gathered by the Jews, as the multitude of locusts and bruchi is wont to be gathered when heaped up in ditches. In their victory the Lord was magnified: and Sion was filled with judgment and justice, and the faith of the besieged people was proven; and they had all riches in the wisdom and knowledge of God and in the fear of the Lord, who alone was their treasure. These things they said according to the history, striving by every means to overturn the mysteries of Christ and His Apostles.

But we, after the beatitude of the Apostles, of whom it was said above: Blessed are they who sow upon every water, where the ox and the ass tread, and after the lamentation and mourning of those who persecuted them, of whom it is said in what follows: Woe to those who make you wretched; but no one makes you wretched: and as a moth in a garment, so shall they be worn away—we prove from the person of these same Apostles, and of all believers, that these things are spoken. And the sense is: Lord, we have hoped in thy help, and we trust in thee: the seed of the unbelievers has perished forever, and our salvation has appeared in the time of tribulation. For with thee furnishing help, the whole multitude of the nations was scattered, and became prey and mockery to the victors.

And this came to pass because the holy Lord dwells on high, and Sion is filled with judgment and justice, of which it was written above: Judgment and justice shall rest in the desert. This, then, is that Sion which was formerly called desert, and whoever shall dwell in it, to him shall be given the law of the Gospel, in whose treasury is our salvation, and the wisdom of believers, and discipline and piety, or faith, which is properly of Christians, and the fear of the Lord, in which the treasures of wisdom are contained. (Verses 7 and following.) Behold, those who see shall cry out abroad: the angels of peace shall weep bitterly. The ways are made desolate; he who passed by the path has ceased; the covenant is made void, he has rejected the cities, he has not regarded men. The earth mourned and languished; Lebanon is confounded and become foul, and Saron is become like a desert, and Basan and Carmel are shaken.

Now will I arise, saith the Lord: now will I be exalted, now will I be lifted up. You shall conceive heat, you shall bring forth stubble: your spirit as a fire shall devour you. And the peoples shall be as ashes after a burning: thorns gathered together shall be burnt with fire. As to the Hebrew word ARELLAM (אראלם), for which Aquila, Symmachus and Theodotion translated, "I will appear to them," dividing the last syllable, and reading Are lahem (ארא לם)—the Hebrews think it signifies angels, and that this is a prophecy, after the calling of the nations and the riches of the Church, concerning the overthrow of the Temple, that the angels shall weep, no longer dwelling within, but going forth outside: and they who were formerly messengers of peace shall weep bitterly.

Or else the Apostles themselves, who had been sent to announce peace to Jerusalem, to which the Lord spoke: If thou also hadst known, even thou, the things that are for thy peace: to whom the Lord appeared, that he might comfort them by his sight, shall weep for Jerusalem, because she did not receive his preaching, for the ways are made desolate, and he who passed by the righteous path has ceased, according to that which is said in the Lamentations of Jeremiah: The ways of Sion mourn, because there are none that come to the solemnity. The covenant also made with Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob is made void: He has rejected the cities of Judea: he has not regarded men, who by their own fault wished to be beasts of burden. The earth mourned and languished for those who dwelt in the land. Lebanon is confounded and become foul—there is no doubt but that this signifies the Temple, of which we read in Zechariah: Open thy gates, O Lebanon, that fire may devour thy cedars.

Or else Jerusalem, which in Ezekiel is called Lebanon, the prophet saying: A great eagle with great wings, which has the way of entering into Lebanon, which the divine word afterward interpreting says, when Nabuchodonosor shall come into Jerusalem, plainly explaining the eagle as the king of Babylon, and Lebanon as Jerusalem. Saron is become as a desert, and Basan and Carmel are shaken. For Basan the LXX rendered "Galilee," a province, for one place of a province. Now Saron is the whole region near Joppa and Lydda, in which very broad and fertile fields stretch out. Basan too is a region beyond the Jordan, which two and a half tribes possessed, and which is interpreted "most rich and fat": and Carmel, of which we have spoken above. The places of Judea, therefore, once fertile, shall be turned into solitude, through which is shown figuratively that all the opulence of the Jews would be exchanged for want and penury.

Because, therefore, they were unwilling to receive the word of the Apostles, Lebanon is confounded, and Saron is turned into a wilderness, and Basan and Carmel are shaken. Wherefore the Lord, either out of exceeding patience, or as one about to rise from the dead, says that he will be lifted up among the nations, and exalted upon the cross. And he makes an apostrophe to the Jews themselves: You shall conceive heat, and bring forth stubble, and your own spirit shall kindle a fire for you, so that the devouring flame shall consume what was conceived and brought forth. And the peoples of the Jews, he says, shall be as ashes after a burning, showing by the remnants of ash the magnitude of their misfortune. For their thorns, which have been gathered together by the multitude of their sins, shall be devoured by fire—which most refer to the final captivity and overthrow of Jerusalem.

Others affirm that it shall be more fully and perfectly fulfilled at the time of judgment. (Verses 13 and following.) Hear, you that are far off, what I have done, and you that are near, know my strength. The sinners in Sion are afraid, trembling has seized upon the hypocrites. Which of you can dwell with the devouring fire? Which of you shall dwell with everlasting burnings? He that walks in justices, and speaks truth, who casts away avarice through oppression, and shakes his hands from every bribe, who stops his ears lest he hear of blood, and shuts his eyes lest he see evil. He shall dwell on high: the fortifications of rocks shall be his loftiness: bread is given to him, his waters are sure. His eyes shall see the king in his beauty: they shall behold the land afar off. Your heart shall meditate fear. Where is the scribe? Where is he that weighs the words of the law? Where is the teacher of little ones?

You shall not see a fierce people, a people of deep speech, so that you cannot understand the eloquence of its tongue, in which there is no wisdom. LXX: They that are far off shall hear what things they have done: they that draw near shall know my strength. The wicked who were in Sion have departed; trembling shall seize the impious. Who shall announce to you that the fire burns? Who shall announce to you the eternal place? He that walks in justice, and speaks the right way, and hates impiety and iniquity, and shakes his hands from bribes, and stops his ears that he may not hear the judgment of blood, and shuts his eyes that they may not see iniquity, he shall dwell in the lofty cave of a most strong rock. Bread shall be given to him, and his water is sure: your eyes shall see the king with glory: they shall see the land afar off. Your soul shall meditate terror. Where are the grammarians? Where are the counselors?

Where is he who numbers those who nourish both the small and the great people? To whom he gave no counsel: neither did he know his deep voice, so that the despised people did not hear, and there is no understanding for one who does not hear. Because the ways are laid waste, the wayfarer passing along the paths has ceased, the covenant with the people of the Jews is made void, God has cast off their cities, he has not reckoned them among men; therefore you who are far off, hear what I have done, and draw near that you may know my strength. They are terrified, or those sinners or the impious who were in Sion have withdrawn, and trembling has seized the hypocrites, to whom the Lord spoke in the Gospel: Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! Who among you shall be able to dwell with him who is a devouring fire? Who shall dwell with everlasting burnings?

Or according to the LXX: Who shall announce to you that the eternal fire burns, which God has prepared for the devil and his angels? Who then shall be able to dwell with God, or to announce the punishments to come? Everyone who is of such a kind as the prophetic word describes, who walks in many righteousnesses, and not once only, but always loves righteousness, and not on one occasion, but continually speaks truths: who casts away avarice, which is the mother of calumny. For money is not heaped up for one man except at another's loss and harm. And who shakes off his hands from every gift. For gifts blind the eyes, even of the wise. Who stops his ears that he may not hear the judgment of blood. Every iniquity and oppression and injustice is a judgment of blood; and although he does not slay with the sword, yet he kills by his will. And who shuts his eyes that he may not see evil. Happy the conscience which does not hear, nor look upon evil.

He therefore who is such shall dwell on high, that is, in the kingdom of heaven, or in the lofty cave of the strongest rock, in Christ Jesus: which rock followed the people of Israel, that they might drink from it, and be protected by its strength. Bread shall be given to him, and his waters are faithful: which the fables of the Gentiles understand as ambrosia and nectar. But we shall interpret the most faithful bread and waters as the law of God. He therefore who is such shall behold Christ the king in his glory, of whom it was said above (at chap. Xxxii, 1): Behold, a just king shall reign, and princes shall preside in judgment. And his eyes shall see the land afar off, which they had long desired, the land of the meek and gentle, of which it is written in the Gospel: Blessed are the meek, for they shall possess the land: or, being set in heaven, they will despise earthly things.

Your heart shall meditate terror: so that when you have obtained all things, you may say with the Apostle: I who am not worthy to be called an Apostle, because I persecuted the Church of God. For the fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom. Where is the scribe? Where is he who weighs the words of the law? Where, he says, are the scribes and Pharisees, who, weighing the words of the Law in the balance, deceived the unhappy people? Whom Scripture now calls little ones, little in sense, little in understanding.

But when the eyes of the believer shall have beheld the king in his majesty, and his heart shall have meditated fear, then he will not see the shameless people, the people of the Jews, or of the philosophers and orators of the world, who puff themselves up in worldly learning and eloquence, of whom he now says: A people of deep speech: so that you cannot understand the fluency of its tongue; whose whole adornment is in words, who have only the leaves and shadow of speeches, and do not possess the fruit of truth. Then follows: In whom there is no wisdom, of whom it is also said elsewhere: I will destroy the wisdom of the wise, and I will reject the understanding of the prudent. Why?

Because God has made foolish the wisdom of this world. (Verses 20 ff.) Look upon Sion, the city of our solemnity: your eyes shall see Jerusalem, a wealthy habitation: a tabernacle that can in no wise be removed, nor shall its stakes be taken away for ever, and none of its cords shall be broken. For only there is our Lord magnificent: a place of rivers, streams very wide and open, no ship of oarsmen shall pass through it, nor shall a great trireme cross it. For the Lord is our judge, the Lord is our lawgiver, the Lord is our king, he himself will save us. Your cords are loosed, and they shall not prevail: so shall your mast be, that you cannot spread the sail. Then shall the spoils of many preys be divided: the lame shall seize the plunder. Nor shall the neighbor say, I have grown faint: the people who dwell in it, iniquity shall be taken away from it.

The LXX: Behold Sion, the city, our salvation: your eyes shall see Jerusalem, a rich city, tabernacles which shall not be moved: nor shall the pegs of its tabernacle be taken away for ever, and its cords shall not be plucked away: because the name of the Lord is great among you: your place shall be rivers and streams very wide and spacious: no ship driven by oars shall enter into it: for my God is great: the Lord our judge shall not pass me by, the Lord our prince, the Lord our king, the Lord himself will save us. Your cords are broken, because they have not prevailed: your mast is bent, so that it lets go the sails: it shall not raise the sign, until it is given over to devastation. Many lame, therefore, shall make spoils: and they shall not say, I will labor, the people who dwell among them, their fault shall be forgiven them.

O just man, to whom it was said above: your heart shall meditate fear; and, you shall not see the imprudent people; and who had before heard, your eyes shall see the king in his beauty, behold Sion, the city of our solemnity, see the Church of Christ, in which is true solemnity: your eyes shall behold the vision of peace, and unhoped-for riches, which eye has not seen, nor ear heard, nor have they arisen in the heart of man, and a tabernacle which can in no wise be removed. For the former tabernacle which the people of the Jews had, has been transferred and taken away.

Nor shall its stakes be moved for ever, and all its cords shall be firm; so that the Lord dwells in it, who is the place of all rivers and running streams, through which no one of the adverse party shall be able to sail: nor shall the great trireme, which is interpreted as the devil, be able to cross it: because the Lord himself is judge, and prince, and king, and our Savior, and with him protecting, we shall fear the snares of no one. These things have been said of Sion, the city of our solemnity, and of Jerusalem, the most opulent habitation, which the Lord himself will surround and encompass with his rivers. But now he speaks to the earthly Jerusalem, that the cords of its tabernacle have been loosed, and it could not sustain the tent, and its mast, on which formerly the fairest sails hung, has fallen, its ropes broken, so that it is useless not only for sailing, but also for a signal.

But after their ship shall have been dissolved, and the tabernacle scattered, so that the cords are broken on either side, the spoil shall be divided among the victors: who will be so feeble in their own strength that they shall be called lame; and nevertheless, by God's wrath granting them strength, they shall feel no weakness, nor shall they say: I have labored. For whoever shall be among them, iniquity and sin shall be taken away from him, because he has followed the will of God.

(Verse 1.) Draw near, ye nations, and hearken; and ye peoples, attend: let the earth hear, and the fulness thereof; the world, and every offspring of it. For the indignation of the Lord is upon all nations, and fury upon all their host: he hath slain them, and delivered them to the slaughter. Their slain shall be cast forth: and from their carcases shall come up a stench: the mountains shall be melted with their blood.

And all the host of the heavens shall waste away: they shall be folded together (or, rolled up) as a book: and all their host shall fall down, as a leaf falleth from the vine and from the fig-tree: for my sword is drunk in the heavens. Behold, it shall come down upon Idumea, and upon the people of my slaughter, unto judgment. The sword of the Lord is filled with blood, it is made fat with fatness: with the blood of lambs and of goats, with the blood of rams that are full of marrow; for the victim of the Lord is in Bosra, and a great slaughter in the land of Edom. And the unicorns shall go down with them, and the bulls with the mighty. Their land shall be drunk with blood, and their ground shall be fat with the fat of fat ones.

After the overthrow of Jerusalem, and the shipwreck as it were of that once most solid ship, and the plundering of all its furniture, there is spoken of the destruction of all nations, and of the consummation of the world, which shall be in the day of the future judgment. Wherefore all the nations and peoples of the earth, and the fulness thereof, the world and all its offspring, both the places that are inhabited, and those that are uninhabitable by reason of excessive cold and heat, are bidden to hear, and to know, with all trembling of mind, the things that are to come.

For the indignation of the Lord is not only upon one nation, Judea, and the Assyrians and Chaldeans, Egyptians, Moabites, and Ammonites, and Philistines: but there is described as coming against all nations, and upon their whole host, or, as the Septuagint translated, upon their number, that which shall slay them, and cause the stench of the putrefying bodies to rise on high: signifying the sins of all nations; so that the mountains are filled with their corruption and filth and blood—even the lofty powers and Angels who presided over the several nations; and all the host, or strength, of the heavens shall waste away; the heavens shall be folded, or rolled up, like a book, and all their host and army—and, as the Septuagint translated, and the stars shall fall down—after the likeness of leaves, which, as cold draws near, dried up and shrivelled, fall from the vine and the fig-tree.

This indeed the Savior also speaks in the Gospel: The stars shall fall from heaven, and the powers of the heavens shall be shaken, and then shall appear the sign of the Son of Man in heaven. And this is to be noted, that he does not say the heavens shall perish, but that they shall be folded, or rolled up, as a book, so that after all sins have been opened and read out, those that had before been opened may be folded together, that the wrongdoings of many may no more be written therein. Daniel in his book speaks of such books: The judgment sat, and the books were opened, in which the deeds of each were written. But most think that the stars fall, according to the Apocalypse of John, and that which is written elsewhere: All the stars burning shall be dissolved, and heaven and earth shall pass away. For the fashion of this world passeth away.

Some think this is said of those stars which glitter in the sky, so that in the part the whole may be shown—namely, that by the fall of the stars the destruction of the heavens also is signified. Others, however, think that these stars that are to fall are those of which the Apostle Paul also writes: We wrestle not against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of this darkness, against spiritual wickedness in high places. Nor is it strange if the demons who dwell in the air are called heavenly, since Scripture also names the birds of heaven, which certainly do not fly in heaven, but in the air. For Satan also transfigures himself into an angel of light, feigning himself to be a star. And the Savior saw him as lightning falling from heaven. And tropologically it is said of him, as of a great star: How is Lucifer fallen, who did rise in the morning?

All these things shall come to pass, because his sword is drunk in heaven—that is, the punishment and sentence, and vengeance upon sinners, which is uttered by the Lord. Which sword and blade is also, in Ezekiel, sharpened against the wicked, and, after many have been slain, is bidden to return into its sheath. And when it has been made drunk and filled in heaven—that is, in the air, which by the usage of Scripture is called heaven—then it shall also come down upon Idumea, that is, upon earthly things: so that after the punishment of demons, the souls of men also may be judged. For Idumea, in our tongue, signifies earthly. And it is filled with blood, and made fat with the fat of lambs and goats, and of rams and bulls full of marrow: that it may signify that both princes and people alike are to be punished. For the victim of the Lord is in Bosra, and a great slaughter in the land of Edom.

Of which Bosra and Idumea the same Prophet also testifies further on (chapter lxiii, 1), saying: Who is this that cometh from Edom, with dyed garments from Bosra? And some think that, since Bosor means flesh, by the victim of the Lord in Bosra the torments of all in the flesh are shown: who fall into this error through a pious mistake. For in the present passage it is not written with the letter SIN, as in BOSOR (בשר), that is, in flesh; but it is written with SADE, and is called BOSRA (בצרה), which, according to Isaiah and Jeremiah, is found not in Edom, that is, Idumea, but in the land of Moab.

But Bosra, in our tongue, signifies fortified and surrounded, or strengthened: so as to teach that the world is made firm by the will of the Lord, according to that which is sung in the psalm: He hath founded it upon the seas, and prepared it upon the floods; and of the firmness of the earth it is said, in the person of God: I have made firm the pillars thereof. And when the victim of the Lord shall be in Bosra, and his slaughter in Idumea, the unicorns shall go down with the mighty bulls—that is, the kings and princes of the earth; and all things shall be filled with slaughter and blood, and with the fat once of the rich and mighty. By which words, according to human custom, striking terror into the hearers, torments are shown against all princes and mighty men, peoples and small alike.

Bosra, that is, fortified and strengthened, and Edom, or Duma, and Idumea, the teachers of the Jews would have understood as Rome, and all that follows in this chapter as spoken of her. (Verses 8 and following.) For it is the day of the Lord's vengeance, the year of recompense for the judgment of Sion. And her torrents shall be turned into pitch, and her dust into brimstone: and her land shall become burning pitch. It shall not be quenched night nor day, forever: its smoke shall go up: from generation to generation it shall be desolate, forever and ever none shall pass through it. And the pelican and the hedgehog shall possess it, and the ibis and the raven shall dwell in it, and a line shall be stretched out over it, that it may be reduced to nothing, and a plummet unto desolation. Her nobles shall not be there: rather they shall call upon the king, and all her princes shall come to nothing.

And thorns shall grow up in her houses, and nettles and thistles in her fortresses: and it shall be the haunt of dragons, and a pasture of ostriches. And demons shall meet the onocentaurs, and the hairy one shall cry out to his fellow: there shall the lamia lie down, and find rest for herself. There the hedgehog had its den, and reared its young, and dug about it, and cherished them in its shadow: thither the kites gathered together, one to another. Seek diligently in the book of the Lord, and read: not one of them was missing, none sought its fellow: for what proceeds from my mouth, he has commanded, and his spirit, he it is who has gathered them. And he himself cast the lot for them, and his hand divided it to them by measure; they shall possess it forever: from generation to generation they shall dwell in it.

The Hebrews, as we have said above, contend that these things were prophesied concerning the Roman empire, and that in vengeance for Sion, the desolation of a once most powerful kingdom is foretold, which according to the letter many of our own writers also think is written in the Apocalypse of John. But we, from what is said, "the day of the Lord's vengeance, the year of recompense for the judgment of Sion," judge this to be that year of which the Saviour himself speaks: "The Spirit of the Lord is upon me, because he has anointed me, he has sent me to preach good tidings to the poor, to proclaim to captives release, and to the blind that they may see, to call the acceptable year of the Lord, and the day of retribution to our God; to comfort all who mourn, and to give to those who mourn in Sion glory": and of which it was said above: "Rise up, you wealthy women" (Isaiah 32:5), and "remember the days of the year in sorrow with hope"; and therefore that, after the general consummation of the whole world, Scripture returns to Jerusalem, to whom it was speaking at that time, and describes her desolation in a full account: namely that after the time of the Roman siege has come, all things shall be filled with pitch and brimstone and burning flames, and her smoke shall remain forever, and there shall dwell the pelican and the hedgehog, and the ibis, and the raven, creatures which are accustomed to dwell in desert places: and this shall come to pass, because the line of the Lord and the plummet, that is, his sentence, cannot be changed.

Her nobles, that is, the Apostles and believers, shall not be there, nor shall they be joined to the number of the lost: but rather they shall call upon Christ as king. But all her princes, namely the Scribes and Pharisees, shall be reduced to nothing, and in houses once most richly adorned thorns and nettles and thistles shall spring up. And it shall be the haunt of dragons, and the pasture of ostriches, which themselves also are signs of utter solitude. And there shall meet one another in it, according to the Septuagint, various apparitions of demons, or as all the others have translated according to the Hebrew, SIIM (ציים) and IIM (איים), onocentaurs, and hairy ones, and the lamia, which the fables of the Gentiles and the fictions of the poets describe. Also that the hedgehog nurses its young there, and has its most secure abode: that thither the kites gather, a most rapacious bird, which in Hebrew is called DAJOTH (דית), or as the Septuagint translated, stags, of which we shall speak below.

Among these things the Prophet speaks to his hearers: O you men who hear me speaking, who proclaim things to come, all things shall be fulfilled in reality. For these things are written in the book of the Lord, and his sentence is fixed, and not even one will be void. For what proceeds from my mouth, he has commanded; that is, I indeed speak, but the words are the Lord's, and whatever has been said will be accomplished by his spirit. By his decree and measure each thing shall be fulfilled, and unto everlasting generations they shall not abandon their order. Let these things be said according to the Hebrew and the historical explanation.

But those who follow the tropological sense affirm that, the people of the Jews having been driven out, idolaters and those serving various superstitions, under the names of beasts and monsters, shall dwell in Jerusalem: and that these are the pelicans and hedgehogs, the ibis and the raven, the dragons and ostriches, and the onocentaurs, and demons, and hairy ones, and the lamia, which in Hebrew is called LILITH (לילית); and it was translated as lamia only by Symmachus, whom certain of the Hebrews suspect to be an ἐρινύς, that is, a fury. And indeed if we consider the colonies brought to Jerusalem from various nations, and that according to the rite of their own provinces each family worshipped the monstrous forms of its own demons, we shall affirm that all these things dwelt in Jerusalem. And what the Septuagint translated: There the stags met one another, and saw each other's faces: they passed by in number, not one of them perished, nor sought another.

For the Lord commanded them, and his spirit gathered them together: and he gave them lots, and his hand shall divide it to them: that they may feed forever, and possess it from generation to generation, and rest in it: thus we shall interpret allegorically, so as to teach that the stags, that is, the Apostles and all the holy teachers, of whom it is written: "As the hart longs for the fountains of waters, so my soul longs for you, O God"; and elsewhere: "The voice of the Lord perfecting the harts"; and again: "Let the hart of friendship and the fawn of your graces speak to you" (Proverbs 5); and in Job: "But have you kept the months of the harts, and will you bring forth their offspring?"; and in the Song of Songs it is said: "My cousin is like a roe, or a fawn of harts upon the mountains of spices"; met one another in Jerusalem and saw one another face to face, and passed by and left it, and went on to various provinces, because the Lord had commanded them: "Go and teach all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit" (Matthew 28:19); and his spirit gathered them together, and gave them lots and divided them, so that one went to the Indians, another to the Spains, another to Illyricum, another to Greece: and each rested in the province of his own Gospel and teaching.

What we have said is prophesied concerning Jerusalem, and what the Jews suspect was said concerning the Roman empire, some refer to the world, lest they seem to differ from those who went before.

(Verses 1, 2.) The desert and the pathless land shall rejoice, and the wilderness shall exult, and shall blossom as the lily. Budding it shall bud forth, and shall exult with joy and praise. The glory of Lebanon is given to it, the beauty of Carmel and Sharon. They shall see the glory of the Lord, and the beauty of our God. The Septuagint: Rejoice, you thirsty desert, and let the wilderness exult, and blossom as the lily. The deserts of the Jordan shall blossom and exult: the glory of Lebanon is given to it, and the honor of Carmel: and my people shall see the glory of the Lord, and the loftiness of our God.

Since Jerusalem has been turned into pitch and its smoke goes up forever, and there dwell in it the pelican and the hedgehog, the ibis and the raven, dragons and ostriches, demons and onocentaurs, the lamia and the hairy ones: and the Lord's sentence has been fulfilled upon her: "Your house shall be left to you desolate": therefore what was formerly desert, of which it is said in the psalm: "The voice of the Lord shaking the wilderness, and the Lord shall shake the desert of Kadesh.

The voice of the Lord preparing the harts; and he shall reveal the thick places of the forests", shall be changed into an abundance of all things, and while the harts contend, from all the forests of the nations the beasts, which had previously possessed them, shall be driven out, that this may be fulfilled which is said in this same Prophet: "Rejoice, O barren one, that bears not: break forth and cry out, you who do not travail; for more are the children of the desolate than of her who has a husband" (Isaiah 54:1). This was formerly thirsty, or pathless, having no living waters, and the Lord did not walk through it, but which now shall blossom as the lily, or as Aquila more significantly expressed it, κάλυκωσις, which we may call a swelling rose whose petals are not yet spread out. But it shall blossom, so that with the Apostle it may proclaim: "We are the good odor of Christ in every place".

And that from the Song of Songs: "Flowers have appeared in the land: the mandrakes have given forth their odor". And what is put in the Septuagint, "and the deserts of the Jordan shall exult," is indeed not found in the Hebrew, but we may say that in the river Jordan, John shows the baptism of repentance, which the Lord sealed and confirmed with his own washing. And because this is spoken figuratively of the wilderness, which refers to the Gentiles, in which John was, it can accordingly be joined with the Jordan, so that through the desert of the Gentiles we may come to the baptism of the Saviour.

And what follows, "the glory of Lebanon is given to it, and the beauty of Carmel and Sharon," we ought to take according to the former explanation, in which we said that Lebanon is understood as the Temple or Jerusalem, Zechariah saying: "Open your gates, O Lebanon" (Zechariah 11:1); and Ezekiel: "A great eagle with great wings, full of talons, which has the way of entering into Lebanon and Carmel" (Ezekiel 17:3): that the former signifies the people, of whom it was said above: "And the desert shall become Carmel, and Carmel shall be reckoned as a forest" (Isaiah 32:9); and that Sharon has the same meaning, Scripture saying:

"Sharon has become like a desert." Therefore all brightness, the worship of God, and the knowledge of circumcision, and the most fertile and level places, which are called Sharon, for which Symmachus translated "plains," shall be given to the once desolate Church, and its inhabitants shall see the glory of the Lord, and the beauty or loftiness of our God. (Verses 3, 4.) Strengthen the feeble hands, and confirm the weak knees. Say to the fainthearted (or the timorous), be strengthened, and fear not: behold your God will bring the vengeance of retribution: God himself will come, and will save you (or, as the LXX translated, us). Then shall the eyes of the blind be opened, and the ears of the deaf shall be unstopped (or, shall hear). Then shall the lame man leap as a hart, and the tongue of the dumb shall be free, for waters are broken out in the desert, and torrents in the wilderness, and that which was dry shall become a pool (or marshes), and the thirsty ground springs of waters.

In the dens where dragons formerly dwelt shall rise the greenness of reed and rush (in place of which the LXX translated: There shall be there the joy of birds, and folds of flocks). And there shall be there a path and a way (or a clean way), and it shall be called the holy way; the polluted shall not pass over it. And this shall be for us a straight way, so that fools shall not err through it (or, as the LXX translated: neither shall there be any unclean way there; but they who are scattered shall pass through it, and shall not err). There shall not be there, he says, a lion, and no evil beast shall go up by it, neither shall it be found there, but they that have been delivered shall walk in it. And the redeemed of the Lord shall be converted, and shall come to Sion with praise, and everlasting joy upon their head. They shall obtain joy and gladness, and sorrow and mourning shall flee away.

We have blended both editions together, lest by setting forth each one separately the size of the books be stretched out, which already exceeds the measure of brevity. To the Apostles, of whom it was said above, They themselves shall see the glory of the Lord and the beauty of our God, it is commanded that they strengthen the hands that are scattered among the nations, and confirm the weak knees; so that those who before, with dissolved hands, could not do the work of God, and had a withered right hand, may stretch it out to good works. And those who formerly halted among idols in various errors may walk with firm step upon the truth; and, confirming the fainthearted or the timorous by faith in the Lord, may cause them not to fear, so that in each the fear of God may drive out the fears of all error.

Now the cause of this security and constancy is that Christ is to come, to whom the Father has given all judgment, and he will render to each according to his works. He himself will come and save you, to whom it is said, fear not: or, us, so that the Apostles may say that salvation is common to themselves along with believers. Then shall the eyes of the blind be opened, and the ears of the deaf shall be unstopped. Then shall the lame leap as a hart, and the tongue of the dumb shall be free.

And although this was fulfilled by a great abundance of signs, when the Lord spoke to the disciples of John who had been sent to him: Go and tell John what you have heard and seen: the blind see, the lame walk, the lepers are cleansed, the deaf hear, the dead rise again, the poor have the gospel preached to them; nevertheless it is fulfilled daily among the nations, when those who were formerly blind, and stumbled against wood and stones, now behold the light of truth. And those who could not hear the words of the Scriptures with deaf ears now rejoice in the precepts of God; when those who were formerly lame, and did not keep the straight way, leap like harts, imitating their teachers, and the tongue of the dumb is loosed, whose mouths Satan had closed, so that they could not confess the one Lord.

And for this reason the eyes are opened, the ears hear, the lame leap, and the tongue of the dumb is loosed, because the waters of the saving baptism of the Church have broken out, or burst forth, in what was once a desert, and torrents and streams in the wilderness, namely the diverse spiritual graces: and that which was dry has been turned into a pool and marshes, so that it not only lacks the burning of thirst but is navigable and well-watered, and has very many springs, which the hart desires, and whoever drinks of them can bless the Lord, according to what is written: Bless the Lord from the fountains of Israel.

In the dens of the souls of the Gentiles, where dragons formerly dwelt, there shall be reed and rush, on which the faith of the Lord may be written, and in which the weary limbs may rest, once tired; or there shall be the joy of birds, and folds of flocks: that they may take up the wings of the dove, and, leaving lowly things, may hasten to the heights, and be able to say with the Psalmist, The Lord feeds me, and I shall want nothing: in a place of pasture there he has set me: he has brought me up beside the waters of refreshment. There shall be a path, and a most clean way, which shall be called holy, and which itself says of itself: I am the way, through which he who is polluted cannot pass. Whence also it is said in the psalm, Blessed are the undefiled in the way.

And this way shall be for us—that is, our God—so straight and level and open, that it has no error in it; and fools and the senseless may be able to walk through it, to whom Wisdom speaks in the Proverbs: If anyone is a little one, let him come to me. And to the foolish she has spoken, come and eat my bread, and drink the wine which I have mingled for you. Leave childishness, and live, and walk in the ways of prudence. For God has chosen the foolish things of the world: of which fools the prince speaks in the psalm, God, thou knowest my foolishness. And the foolishness of God is wiser than men. Whence the LXX translated: And they who had been scattered, and separated from the fellowship of the Lord, shall in no way err. There follows, There shall not be there a lion: our adversary the devil, who goes about roaring, seeking how he may enter the fold of the Lord (I Peter).

And evil beasts, his satellites, shall not go up by it. For not even the track of a serpent can be found upon a rock. But they shall walk in it who have been delivered from the bonds of sins, and redeemed by the blood of the Savior, and have done penance; and shall come to Sion, of which we have often said: You have come to mount Sion, and to the city of the living God, the heavenly Jerusalem; lest, in the Jewish manner, we should seek a golden Sion, and a bejewelled Jerusalem, which, according to the prophecy of Daniel, has been dissolved into eternal ashes. And there shall be everlasting joy upon the head of those who praise the Lord, so that, after they have overcome the world, they may be able to say with the Apostle and the Prophet: I have finished my course, I have kept the faith; henceforth there is laid up for me a crown of justice: and, Lord, thou hast crowned us as with a shield of thy good will.

Then, joy and gladness succeeding, sorrow and mourning shall flee away, when he who is to deliver shall come out of Sion. All of which we, following the apostle Paul, interpret of the first coming of the Savior: but the Jews, and our own who Judaize, refer to the second, on the occasion of one little verse, They shall be converted and come to Sion with praise—desiring the blood of victims, and the servitude of all the nations, and the beauty of wives.

It is difficult, indeed impossible, to please everyone: nor is there as great a diversity of faces as there is of opinions. In the exposition of the twelve prophets I seemed to some to have been longer than was fitting; and for this reason, in the little Commentaries on Daniel, I strove for brevity, except in the last and next-to-last vision, in which, because of the great obscurity, I was obliged to extend my discourse—especially in the exposition of the seven, and the sixty-two, and the one week, in the discussion of which I briefly set down what Africanus, the writer on chronology, what Origen, and Eusebius of Caesarea, and Clement also, presbyter of the Alexandrian Church, and Apollinaris of Laodicea, and Hippolytus, and the Hebrews, and Tertullian thought—leaving it to the judgment of the reader to choose which of the several he would prefer.

And so, what I did out of modesty in judging, and out of honor for those who were going to read it, may perhaps not please some, who wish to know not the opinions of the ancients, but my own view. To these the answer is easy: that I did not wish so to adopt one opinion as to seem to condemn the others. And indeed if men so great and so learned displease fastidious readers, what would they do to me, who, because of the slenderness of my poor talent, lie open to the bites of the envious? But if I have named the above-mentioned men teachers of the Church, let them understand that I do not thereby approve the belief of all of them, who are certainly at variance among themselves; but that I spoke thus in distinction from Josephus and Porphyry, who discussed this question at great length.

But if, in the exposition of the statue and its feet and toes, and their discrepancy, I have interpreted the iron and the clay as referring to the Roman kingdom—which the Scripture perhaps portends as first strong, then weak—let them not impute this to me, but to the Prophet. For rulers are not to be so flattered that the truth of the sacred Scriptures is neglected, nor is a general discussion an injury to any one person. Though this was guarded against by the kindly zeal of my own people, it was suddenly taken away by the judgment of God, so that the zeal of friends on my behalf, and the plots of rivals, might be shown forth. But of this elsewhere: now let us pursue what we have begun.

The eleventh book on Isaiah, O virgin of Christ, Eustochium, since it is going to discuss a large part of the history, will be easier at the beginning, and up to two-thirds of its length; the rest must be dictated in similar fashion, and brevity must be so pursued that no loss to understanding results.

And it came to pass in the fourteenth year of king Ezechias, that Sennacherib king of the Assyrians came up against all the fortified cities of Juda, and took them. And the king of the Assyrians sent Rabsaces from Lachis to Jerusalem to king Ezechias with a heavy force, and he stood by the aqueduct of the upper pool, in the way of the fuller's field. And there went out to him Eliacim son of Helcias, who was over the household, and Sobna the scribe, and Joahe son of Asaph the recorder; and Rabsaces said to them: Say to Ezechias: Thus says the great king, the king of the Assyrians: What confidence is this in which you trust? Or by what counsel and strength do you intend to rebel? On whom do you rely, that you have withdrawn from me? Behold, you trust in this broken reed of a staff, in Egypt: on which if a man lean, it will go into his hand and pierce it: so is Pharaoh king of Egypt to all who trust in him.

But if you answer me, We trust in the Lord our God, is not this he whose high places and altars Ezechias has taken away; and said to Juda and Jerusalem: You shall worship before this altar? And now give yourself over to my lord the king of the Assyrians, and I will give you two thousand horses, and you will not be able to furnish riders for them from yourself. And how will you withstand the face of one judge, of the least of the servants of my lord? And if you trust in Egypt, and in chariots and horsemen: and now have I come up against this land without the Lord, to destroy it? The Lord said to me: Go up against this land, and destroy it. The history is plain, and needs no interpretation; and these same things are recorded more fully in the books of Kings and of Chronicles, that in the third year of Osee son of Hela king of Israel, Ezechias son of Achaz king of Juda began to reign.

He was, it says, twenty-five years old when he began to reign, and he reigned twenty-nine years in Jerusalem, and did what was good before the Lord, according to all that David his father had done. And a little after: He hoped in the Lord God of Israel, and after him there was none like him among all the kings of Juda, nor even among those who were before him: he clung to the Lord, and did not depart from following him: and he kept his commandments, which the Lord had commanded Moses: whence the Lord was with him, and in all things to which he went forth, he acted wisely. But he rebelled against the king of the Assyrians, and did not serve him: in the sixth year of whose reign, Salmanasar king of the Assyrians took Samaria, and the ten tribes which were called Israel; and transferred them into Assyria, and settled them in Hala and Habor, rivers of Gozan, in the cities of the Medes.

But after seven years, that is, in the fourteenth year of Ezechias, Sennacherib king of the Assyrians, entering Judaea, besieged its fortified cities, wishing to take them. And while he was besieging Lachis, Ezechias sent messengers to him, saying: I have sinned, withdraw from me, and whatever you impose on me I will bear. And when he had paid three hundred talents of silver, and thirty of gold, at the king's command, breaking the doors of the Temple of the Lord, and stripping off the plates which he himself had affixed, the king of the Assyrians sent Thartan and Rabsaces from Lachis to king Ezechias with a strong force to Jerusalem: who, when they had gone up, came to Jerusalem, and stood by the aqueduct of the upper pool, which is in the way of the fuller's field, and called for the king.

And there went out to them Eliacim son of Helcias, the overseer of the household, and Sobna the scribe, and Joahe son of Asaph, the recorder; and Rabsaces said to them: Speak to Ezechias: Thus says the great king, the king of the Assyrians, and the rest which the history contains. In this the arrogance of Rabsaces is to be noted, that, as though with a certain rival strength, he imitates the custom of the Prophets, so that what they are wont to put in their prologues, "Thus says the Lord," to show the authority and greatness of the speaker, he now said: "Thus says the great king, the king of the Assyrians." And there went out to him Eliacim son of Helcias, who was overseer of the household, and Sobna the scribe, and Joahe son of Asaph, the recorder.

This is the Eliacim son of Helcias, of whom we read above in the Vision of the valley of Sion: I will call my servant Eliacim son of Helcias, and I will clothe him with your tunic, and strengthen him with your girdle, and give your authority into his hand, and he shall be as a father to the inhabitants of Jerusalem, and to the house of Juda, and so forth. But these things are said concerning Sobna, who before him had been overseer of the Temple, of whom it is written in the same vision: Go and enter to him who dwells in the tabernacle, to Sobna the overseer of the Temple, whom the Hebrews relate to have been so terrified by the threat of Rabsaces that he handed over into the hands of the Assyrians, and betrayed the lower part of Jerusalem to the enemies, and that, except for the citadel of Sion and the Temple, nothing else remained which the Assyrian did not hold.

Hence those err who think that the Sobna who now goes out with Eliacim and Joahe to Rabsaces is the same as the one above. For there Sobna is set as overseer of the Temple, who is said to be about to be taken by the Assyrians: but here Sobna is a scribe, that is γραμματεύς, who in Hebrew is called SOPHER סופר, and is a namesake (ὁμώνυμος) of the former. As for Rabsaces, who spoke in the Hebrew tongue, the Jews assert that he was the son of the prophet Isaiah, who himself was a traitor: and that the other son of Isaiah who was left was called Jasub, which in our language means "a remnant." Others, however, think that he was a Samaritan, and that therefore he knew the Hebrew language, and so boldly and impiously blasphemed the Lord. Let us then consider the words of Rabsaces; and first, what he says: "You trust in this broken reed of a staff, in Egypt," is false: for no history relates that Ezechias sent to the Egyptians, and sought Pharaoh's help.

And what he adds: "If you answer me, We trust in the Lord our God," is true. But again he joins falsehood to truth, in saying that Ezechias had taken away his high places and altars. For this he had done not against God, but for God; so that, idolatry and the old error having been destroyed, he might command God to be worshipped in Jerusalem, where his Temple was: although we read that, by a very evil custom, an altar having already been built on the mountains and hills, the people had offered victims to God there. And as for his wishing to show the fewness of the besieged, promising two thousand horses, for which Ezechias could not furnish riders, this does not come from the weakness of the Jewish people, who lacked skill in riding, but from observance of the commandments of God, who through Moses had commanded concerning the king over Israel: He shall not multiply horses for himself: and he shall not have many wives.

But if, he says, you cannot withstand me, a servant of Sennacherib, who am the least of his servants, how will you withstand so great a power of the king? And as to what he had said, "If you answer me, We trust in the Lord God," he answered cunningly and prudently, that he had come not of his own will, but by the commands of the Lord. And this is his argument: certainly I could not have come here without the will of the Lord. But since I have come and taken many cities, and part of Jerusalem remains untouched, it is clear that I have come by his will. I have read in a certain commentary that this is the same Sennacherib who also took Samaria, which is altogether false. For sacred History relates that first Phul king of the Assyrians, under Manahen king of Israel, laid waste the ten tribes. Second, Theglathphalasar, under Phacee son of Romelias, came against Israel to Samaria. Third, Salmanasar, under Osee king of Israel, took all of Samaria.

Fourth was Sargon, who conquered Azotus. Fifth, Asaraddon, who, having transferred Israel, sent Samaritan settlers into the land of Judaea as guards. Sixth, Sennacherib, who, under Ezechias king of Juda, having taken Lachis and the other cities of Judaea, besieged Jerusalem. But others think that one and the same person is called by many names. (Verse 11 and following.) And Eliacim and Sobna and Joahe said to Rabsaces: Speak to your servants in the Syrian language, for we understand it; do not speak to us in Judaean in the hearing of the people who are upon the wall. And Rabsaces said to them: Has my lord sent me to your lord and to you, to speak all these words, and not rather to the men who sit upon the wall, that they may eat their own dung, and drink their own urine with you? And Rabsaces stood, and cried out with a loud voice in the Judaean tongue, and said: Hear the words of the great king, the king of the Assyrians.

Thus says the king: Let not Ezechias deceive you, for he will not be able to deliver you, and let not Ezechias make you trust in the Lord, saying: The Lord will surely deliver us; this city shall not be given into the hand of the king of the Assyrians. Do not listen to Ezechias. For thus says the king of the Assyrians. The accusation of Rabsaces is itself a testimony to Ezechias: that, all the cities of Judaea having been taken, he trusted in the Lord, and said to the people: Fear not, nor be afraid of the king of the Assyrians, and of all the multitude that is with him; for there are more with us than with him. With him is an arm of flesh; with us is the Lord our God, who is our helper, and fights for us. And the people, it says, were strengthened by these words of Ezechias king of Juda.

Hence Rabsaces wishes to destroy what he had built up; and he speaks to the people: Let not Ezechias deceive you; and let him not make you trust in the Lord God. And as for the fact that Eliacim and Sobna and Joahe humbly beg: Speak to your servants in the Syrian tongue, for we understand it; and do not speak to us in Judaean in the hearing of the people who are upon the wall, this has the sense: What need is there for the people to be stirred by false terrors, and to have empty valor cast before them? Speak a language which the people do not understand. Since we indeed have knowledge of your language: and we know the Syrian tongue, which is common to both. To which Rabsaces arrogantly replies: Has my lord, he says, sent me to your lord and to you, and not rather to the men who sit upon the wall?

And again, increasing the terror by threat, that they may eat, he says, their own dung, and drink their own urine with you? By which he shows that they are to be taken by famine and want and thirst. And at the same time he joins enticement to fear: that those whom he had not conquered by terror, he might deceive by promises and persuasion, saying, from the speech of the king of the Assyrians, (Verses 16-18.) Make a blessing with me, and come out to me, and eat each one of his own vine, and each one of his own fig tree, and drink each one the water of his own cistern: until I come, and take you to a land which is like your own land: a land of grain and wine, a land of bread and vineyards. Let not Ezechias trouble you, saying: The Lord will deliver us. Have the gods of the nations delivered each one his own land from the hand of the king of the Assyrians?

For which, in the book of Kings, it is read: Make with me what is profitable, and come out to me. The sense, therefore, is the same. Do, he says, what is profitable for you, and may turn to your blessing. Or else he says this: Bless the Assyrian king, and praise him, and confess the Lord, that you may obtain rewards, and until I return from Egypt, or, having taken Lobna, come back, dwell in your city; and enjoy your possessions. Afterward I will come, and transfer you to a land which is like your own land, of grain, wine, and oil. Nor does he name the region, because he could not find one equal to the land of promise: but he promises a likeness. For this is what each one desires, the land in which he was born. Some think that the land of the Medes was promised to them, which had a likeness to the land of Judaea, both in situation and in produce.

And what he adds. (Verse 19 and following.) Where is the god of Hemath and Arphad? Where is the god of Sepharvaim? Have they delivered Samaria from my hand? Who is there among all the gods of these lands, who has delivered his land from my hand, that the Lord should deliver Jerusalem from my hand? And they were silent, and answered him not a word. For the king had commanded them, saying: Do not answer him. This shows that Samaria had served all these gods, and for that reason had been taken. But if, he says, with such great gods presiding, we have easily overcome ten tribes, how much more shall we conquer you, indeed Jerusalem alone, with only one God presiding, more easily still? And all the people were silent, and answered him nothing. For they had received the king's command, that they should not answer him. Truly just was Ezechias, doing all things faithfully and with counsel in everything.

And he had commanded that no answer be given to the blaspheming Assyrian, lest he provoke him to greater blasphemies. Hence it is written: Do not kindle the coals of the sinner; and in the psalm we read: While the sinner stood against me, I was dumb, and was humbled, and kept silence from good things; and again: Set, O Lord, a watch before my mouth, and a door of safety around my lips: lest my heart incline to words of malice.

(Verses 1 and following.) And Eliacim the son of Helcias, who was over the household, and Sobnas the scribe, and Joahe the son of Asaph the recorder, entered to Ezechias with their garments rent, and reported to him the words of Rabsaces. And it came to pass, when king Ezechias heard it, that he rent his garments, and was wrapped in sackcloth, and entered into the house of God.

And he sent Eliacim, who was over the household, and Sobna the scribe, and the elders of the priests, covered with sackcloth, to Isaias the son of Amos the prophet, and said to him: Thus says Ezechias: This day is a day of tribulation and rebuke, and of blasphemy, for the children have come to the birth, and there is no strength to bring forth. It may be that the Lord your God will hear the words of Rabsaces, whom the king of the Assyrians his master has sent to blaspheme the living God, and to reproach him with words which the Lord your God has heard. Lift up therefore a prayer for the remnant that is left. And the servants of king Ezechias came to Isaias; and Isaias said to them: Thus shall you say to your master: Thus says the Lord: Do not fear because of the words which you have heard, with which the servants of the king of the Assyrians have blasphemed me.

Behold, I will give him a spirit, and he shall hear a rumor, and shall return to his own land, and I will cause him to fall by the sword in his own land. Leaving what is plain, let us discuss only those things in which there is a hidden sense. They rend their garments because they hear Rabsaces blaspheming. The king himself also rends his garments, because he believed that it was on account of his own sins and those of the people that Rabsaces had come as far as the gate of Jerusalem, and had spoken such things against the Lord. Hence the high priest also, because he believed the Savior had blasphemed, rent his garments. And Paul and Barnabas, when the Lycaonians would have offered them divine worship, rent their garments. Instead of royal attire, therefore, he was wrapped in sackcloth; and going from the palace to the Temple, he sent Eliacim the priest, and Sobna the scribe, and the elders of the priests to Isaias the son of Amos the prophet.

In this the king's humility and prudence are to be considered. He himself proceeds to the Temple; the princes of the people and the elders of the priests he sent, covered not with priestly robes but with sackcloth, to Isaias the son of Amos the prophet. Concerning this it is read in the book of Kings: He himself, covered with sackcloth, entered the house of the Lord, and sent Eliacim, who was over the household, and Sobna the scribe, and the elders of the priests, covered with sackcloth, to Isaias the prophet, the son of Amos. Here, because Isaias himself was writing the history about himself, he did not call himself Prophet, but the son of the Prophet; but there, because another was the writer of the history, he calls him the Prophet.

This same thing we read also of Matthew the Evangelist, that Matthew himself called himself a publican; but the other Evangelists were silent about the name of publican, and set forth only his apostolic dignity; and that in the enumeration of the Apostles, he is second in his own list, but first in that of the others. And they said to him, it says: Thus says Ezechias—not "the king," not swelling with the name of his rule: This day is a day of tribulation, and of rebuke, and of blasphemy: of tribulation for us, of rebuke from God, of blasphemy from the enemies. And he sets forth the likeness of a woman in labor and suffering, that she has come even to the birth and cannot bring forth, nor can she say: From fear of you, O Lord, we have conceived, and been in pain, and have brought forth the spirit of salvation. There follows: It may be that the Lord your God will hear the words of Rabsaces.

For we do not dare to call the Lord of all, at whose wrath we suffer so much, our Lord; but we call him your Lord. And we have this confidence of vengeance: that the living God is blasphemed by a worshiper of dead idols. And they have reproached him with words which the Lord your God has heard: Lift up therefore a prayer—ours lying prostrate—not for the whole people, who have already perished, but for the remnant, which is besieged. And when the servants of king Ezechias had come to Isaias, again he was silent about the name of Prophet, so as to preserve the humility he had begun. Isaias anticipates them: for by the same spirit by which he knew future things, he had also heard of the absent king; and he tells them what they ought to answer to their Lord, they being humbled in that confidence of conscience.

Say, he says, to your master—who is your master; for my Lord says these things: Do not fear the words by which not you, but I, have been blasphemed. Nor do I tell all that I am about to do to the king of the Assyrians, lest I seem to boast of my power; but only that a spirit shall be given him—not of God, but an adversary. And having heard a rumor, let him return to his own land, and fall there by the sword, so that Ezechias might hear both things equally which he desired: that he himself would be freed from siege and danger, and that the enemy and angry king would die in his own land.

If anyone should ask why, in the book of Prophecy, the history which is written in the books of Kings and of Chronicles seems to be mixed in, let him consider that prophecy is joined to history, both concerning the deliverance of the city, and the destruction of the Assyrian, and the return of the sun by ten hours, and the extension of a space of fifteen years—which is both prophecy and history. (Verses 8 and following.) But Rabsaces, returning, found the king of the Assyrians fighting against Lobna; for he had heard that he had departed from Lachis. And he heard concerning Taracha king of Ethiopia, saying: He has gone forth to fight against you. And when he heard this, he sent messengers to Ezechias, saying: Thus shall you say to Ezechias king of Juda, speaking: Let not your God deceive you, in whom you trust, saying: Jerusalem shall not be given into the hand of the king of the Assyrians.

Behold, you have heard all that the kings of the Assyrians have done to all lands which they have destroyed: and shall you be able to be delivered? Have the gods of the nations delivered them, whom my fathers have destroyed, Gozan and Haran, and Reseph, and the children of Edem, who were in Thalassar? Where is the king of Hemath, and the king of Arphad, and the king of the city of Sepharvaim, Ana and Ava? In the same words and with the same meaning it is written in the books of Kings and of Chronicles, that Rabsaces, according to the will of the Lord, abandoned the siege of Jerusalem, and went to his master, whom he had learned—Lachis being either abandoned or captured—was going to attack Lobna. Sennacherib himself also, hearing that Taracha king of the Ethiopians was bringing war against him, went to meet him as he came, and nevertheless sent messengers and letters to Ezechias, so that those whom he had not yet taken by force, he might terrify by words.

And just as he had said to the people: Let not Ezechias deceive you: with the same blasphemy he speaks to the king: Let not your God deceive you. And he sets forth examples of former nations, that just as their gods could not deliver other lands from their hands, so neither shall Jerusalem be delivered. In the enumeration of the other nations, however, he places ANA and AVA, which the Septuagint blended together, saying Anavegava, placing the conjunction "and," that is "vau," between the two nations Ana and Ava, in the Hebrew tongue, so that to those who do not know, it seems to be one nation or city. Let us pass over what is plain, that we may linger on what is doubtful.

That Sennacherib king of the Assyrians fought against the Egyptians, and besieged Pelusium; and that when ramparts had already been built for taking the city, Taracha king of the Ethiopians came to their aid, and in one night, near Jerusalem, one hundred eighty-five thousand of the Assyrian army perished by pestilence—this is related by Herodotus, and most fully by Berosus, the writer of Chaldaean history, whose reliability is to be sought from their own books.

And Ezechias took the letters from the hand of the messengers, and read them; and he went up into the house of the Lord, and spread them before the Lord, and prayed to the Lord, saying: Lord God of hosts, God of Israel, who sits upon the Cherubim, you alone are God of all the kingdoms of the earth: for you have made heaven and earth. Incline, O Lord, your ear, and hear: open, O Lord, your eyes, and see, and hear all the words of Sennacherib, which he has sent to blaspheme the living God. For truly, O Lord, the kings of the Assyrians have laid waste the lands and their regions: and have given their gods to the fire: for they were not gods, but the works of men's hands, wood and stone; and they destroyed them. And now, O Lord our God, save us from his hand: and let all the kingdoms of the earth know that you alone are God. Against the blasphemies of king Sennacherib, Ezechias took up his accustomed weapons.

And again he proceeds to the Temple, and spreads out his letters before the Lord. Before, he had been silent, for terrified by fear of the Lord he did not dare to open his mouth in the Temple, nor to pour out free prayers to God. But now, because he had already heard Isaias saying: Do not fear because of the words which you have heard, with which the servants of the king of the Assyrians have blasphemed me, and so on: boldly he entreats the Lord, and asserts that God alone is living—by which we understand idols to be images of the dead.

And what he adds: For truly, O Lord, the kings of the Assyrians have laid waste the lands and their regions: and have given their gods to the fire: for they were not gods, but the works of men's hands, wood and stone; and they destroyed them—is proved by many histories, which write that the kings of the Persians came into Greece, and overthrew and despoiled the temples of the Greeks: and he asks for vengeance, that by occasion of his own case all the kingdoms may know that he alone is God, who is able to deliver his own from peril.

Then Isaias the son of Amos sent to Ezechias, saying: Thus says the Lord God of Israel: as touching that for which you have prayed to me concerning Sennacherib king of the Assyrians, this is the word which the Lord has spoken concerning him: The virgin daughter of Sion has despised you and mocked you: the daughter of Jerusalem has shaken her head after you. Whom have you reproached, and whom have you blasphemed, and against whom have you lifted up your voice, and raised the height of your eyes, against the Holy One of Israel? By the hand of your servants you have reproached the Lord, and said: With the multitude of my chariots I have gone up to the height of the mountains, the sides of Libanus, and I will cut down the tall cedars thereof, and the choice fir trees thereof, and I will enter the height of its summit, the forest of its Carmel.

I have dug and drunk water, and with the sole of my foot I have dried up all the streams of the embankments. Because Ezechias entreated the Lord so boldly, and did not send to Isaias as he had sent before, the Prophet himself does not go to him, but sends messengers who should tell him, in the words of God: Concerning Sennacherib, against whom you pray, this is the sentence of the Lord: The virgin of Sion, and the daughter of Jerusalem (who is therefore called virgin and daughter, because while all the nations worship the images of dead men, she alone preserves the chastity of religion toward God, and the worship of the one Godhead) has mocked you and despised you; and she, who did not respond in his presence, lest she provoke him to greater blasphemy, after his departure shook her head, certain of vengeance, secure of punishment.

And this is what she said: It is not against me, but against the Lord, that you have been proud; nor by yourself, but by your servants, that the arrogance of the blasphemer might be greater. For you said that with the multitude of your chariots you would go up to the height of the mountains, and the sides of Libanus, and cut down the tall cedars and fir trees thereof. This we ought to understand either μεταφορικῶς (figuratively) of all the nations and their princes, or of Jerusalem, which is interpreted "Libanus," so that its cedars and fir trees refer to the mighty men and the nobles: but the height of its summit and the forest of its Carmel we should refer to the Temple. For he had said above: Have you not heard what the kings of the Assyrians have done to all the lands which they have destroyed? Therefore neither shall you be able to be delivered.

And what he adds: I have dug and drunk water, and with the sole of my foot have dried up all the streams of the embankments, can be understood historically, that because of the multitude of the army, he dried up all the streams, so that he was compelled to dig wells for himself. According to the figurative sense: that he laid waste, with his army, all the peoples who are sometimes described under the name of waters. For which the Septuagint alone have translated: and I have set up a bridge, and made the waters desolate, and every gathering of waters: meaning that no nation was impassable to him, but that he trod with his foot upon the waters of all peoples. (Verse 26. Seqq.) Hast thou not heard what I did to it of old? From ancient days I formed it, and now I have brought them, and it has come to pass in the uprooting of fighting hills, and of fortified cities.

Their inhabitants, shortened of hand, trembled, and were confounded: they became like the grass of the field, and the herb of the pasture, and the grass of the housetops, which withered before it came to ripeness. I have known thy dwelling, and thy going out, and thy coming in, and thy madness against me, when thou didst rage against me. Thy pride has come up into my ears; I will therefore put a ring in thy nostrils, and a bit in thy lips: and I will lead thee back by the way by which thou camest. These things are to be understood as spoken from the person of God against the words of the Assyrian, since the Lord thus answered his blasphemy: Dost thou not know that these things which thou hast done, thou hast done by my will, and that I foretold these things to come, and commanded them to be done through thee?

Therefore what I decreed of old has been fulfilled in time, that the hills, that is, the princes who before fought among themselves, and the most fortified cities, by my withdrawing my hand and not affording the accustomed help, should be uprooted and tremble, and perish: and be compared, not to the olive and the vine, and fruitful trees, but to hay and grass, and the herbs of the housetops, which are a hindrance to crops and wither before they reach maturity. Therefore I knew beforehand also thy sitting down, and thy going out, and thy coming in, and the madness with which thou wast about to rage against me, having spoken through the Prophets who foretold it: through whom I knew that thou wouldst one day say: I will ascend into heaven: above the stars of heaven I will set my throne, and I will be like the Most High.

Therefore thy fury and thy pride have come up into my ears, and I will no longer bear with thee, that thou mayest understand that thou wast able to do this not by thine own strength, but by my will. For the impious nations, like unfruitful trees, deserved that through thee, as through my axe and my saw, they should be cut down and fall. Therefore I will put a ring, or hook, in thy nostrils, and I will bind thy blaspheming mouth, and thou shalt no longer dare to speak such things: and I will cast a bit upon thy lips, which shall tame thy ferocity, and lead thee back to the Assyrians. By which figure of speech Scripture also makes use against the impious in the Psalms: Bind their jaws with bit and bridle, who do not draw near to thee.

(Verse 30. Seqq.) But this shall be a sign unto thee: Eat this year the things that grow of themselves, and in the second year eat of the fruits: but in the third year sow, and reap, and plant vineyards, and eat the fruit thereof. And that which shall be saved of the house of Judah, and that which remains, shall send forth a root downward, and shall make fruit upward, because out of Jerusalem shall go forth the remnant, and salvation out of mount Sion. The zeal of the Lord of hosts shall do this. All these things the Prophet speaks through messengers to Ezechias, what Sennacherib had said, what the Lord had answered him: now he speaks directly to him, lest perhaps he doubt the things foretold as to come.

And on this account especially the Prophets held credit with the people for their words: because they recorded not only things that were to come after many ages, but also things that were to be fulfilled at once, and after no great space of time: namely that within two years both the king of the Assyrians would perish, and security would be restored to the city of Jerusalem. This, he says, shall be the sign of the things which I foretell as to come, that this year thou eat the things that grow of themselves. Or, according to the Septuagint, the things which thou didst sow before. But in the second year, according to Symmachus, eat of the fruits: or, according to the same, the things which have sprung up from the former crops and from seed fallen upon the ground. But in the third year, the Assyrian now put to flight and the siege relaxed, sow, and reap, and plant vineyards, and eat their fruits.

Since indeed the remnant of this small city, which is now hemmed in by a hostile army, and does not believe that it will escape, shall receive such abundance and prosperity of all things, that, like a tree founded upon a deep root, they shall be filled with the densest fruits. For out of Jerusalem, and out of mount Sion, shall the remnant go forth, and shall fill the land of Judea, not by their own merit, but by the mercy of God, or rather by the zeal which he has shown against the impious for his people.

Verse 33. Therefore thus saith the Lord concerning the king of the Assyrians. He shall not enter into this city, nor shoot an arrow there, nor shall a shield come near it, nor shall he cast a mound around it. By the way that he came, by the same he shall return, and he shall not enter this city, saith the Lord: and I will protect this city, and will save it for my own sake, and for the sake of David my servant. He returns to his purpose, and after the hope of things to come, he shakes off present fear. For there was not so great joy over the things which he had promised to come after a long time, as there was care about things imminent.

And when he says that the Assyrian will withdraw, and will not lift up a shield against Jerusalem, nor shoot missiles, nor hem in the city with fortifications and a mound, and that the adversary will return by the way by which he came, and that the city will be freed from the present siege, and at the end he adds: for my own sake and for the sake of David my servant, he signifies this, that they are preserved not by their own merit, but by the clemency of God, or rather by the memory of their father David. In which they are admonished both of their own negligence, and of his faith and justice, that God loves justice so greatly, that he even protects the descendants of holy men, not by their own merit, but by the virtue of their forefathers. (Verse 36. Seqq.) And the angel of God went out, and smote in the camp of the Assyrians a hundred and eighty-five thousand: and they arose in the morning, and behold, all were dead bodies.

And he went forth and departed, and Sennacherib king of the Assyrians returned, and dwelt in Nineve. And it came to pass, as he was worshipping in the temple of Nesrach his god, that Adramelech and Sarasar, his sons, smote him with the sword; and they fled into the land of Ararat; and Asaraddon his son reigned in his stead. A hundred and eighty-five thousand of the strongest men are cut down by one angel in one night, and, without wounds upon the slain, savage death runs through, separating souls from bodies, by the will of God. Concerning which it is read in Paralipomenon: And the Lord sent an angel, who smote every mighty man and warrior, and prince of the army of the king of the Assyrians: and he returned with shame into his own land. He was preserved for this reason, that he might know the power of God, and restrain his blaspheming mouth, and become a witness of that majesty which he had a little before despised.

And as to what he adds: And they arose in the morning, let us understand this either of the Israelites, or of the rest of his armies: although it is written in the book of Kings, that when the king himself arose at dawn, he saw all the bodies of the dead. Pharaoh too was preserved through ten plagues of Egypt, that he might perish last: which this man also suffered. For when he had returned to Nineve, the chief city of his kingdom, and was worshipping in the temple of Nesrach his god, as though he were bringing back victory over his enemies, and was entering the shrine of his idol in triumph and rejoicing, the despiser of the true God is slain in the temple of a false deity: nor does he perish by the sword of the angel, which would have been common with many others, but by the parricide of his own sons.

And when they had fled into the land of Ararat, which is understood to be Armenia, Asaraddon succeeded in his father's place, whom Scripture testifies to have sent inhabitants to Samaria, lest the land remain uncultivated. Now Ararat is a plain region in Armenia, through which the Araxes flows, of incredible fertility, at the foot of Mount Taurus, which extends as far as thither. Therefore the Ark also, in which Noe was saved with his children, when the Flood had ceased, did not come to rest generally upon the mountains of Armenia, which is called Ararat, but upon the loftiest mountains of Taurus, which overhang the plains of Ararat.

(Verse 1.) Seqq.) In those days Ezechias was sick unto death: and Isaias the son of Amos the prophet came in to him, and said to him: Thus saith the Lord: Set thy house in order, for thou shalt die, and not live.

And Ezechias turned his face to the wall, and prayed to the Lord, and said: I beseech thee, O Lord, remember, I pray thee, how I have walked before thee in truth, and with a perfect heart, and have done that which is good in thy sight: and Ezechias wept with great weeping. Whom the Lord loves, he chastens, and scourges every son whom he receives. Lest the heart of Ezechias should be lifted up after his incredible triumphs, and his victory from the midst of captivity, he is visited with infirmity of his body, and hears that he is to die, that, being turned to the Lord, he might bend his sentence. Which indeed we read also in the case of the prophet Jonah, and in the threats made against David, which are said to be coming, and were not fulfilled—not that God changes his sentence, but that he provokes mankind to the knowledge of himself. For the Lord repents of the evils he has threatened.

And Ezechias turned his face to the wall, because he could not go to the Temple. Or to the wall of the Temple, according to which Solomon had built his palace. Or simply to the wall, lest he should seem to display his tears to those sitting by. Or indeed, according to Jeremias, to his own heart; for he calls the heart (קיר), that is, the wall, "heart," so that with his whole mind he might entreat the Lord. And he said: I beseech thee, O Lord, remember, I pray thee, how I have walked before thee in truth, and with a perfect heart, and have done that which is good in thy sight. And hearing that he was to die, he does not pray for life and many years, but leaves it to the judgment of God to grant what he wills.

For he knew that Solomon had pleased God for this reason, that he did not ask for a greater length of years; but, about to go to the Lord, he recounts his works, how he had walked before him in truth and with a perfect heart. Happy is the conscience which, in the time of affliction, recalls good works: Blessed are the pure in heart, for they shall see God. And whereas it is written elsewhere: Who shall boast that he has a pure heart? This is thus resolved: that perfection of heart is here said of this, that he destroyed the idols, overturned the vessels of the temple of Baal, broke in pieces the brazen serpent, and did the other things which Scripture records. But he wept with great weeping, on account of the promise of the Lord to David, which he saw would perish at his death. For at that time Ezechias had no sons; for after his death Manasses began to reign in Judea, being twelve years old.

From which it is clear that Manasses was born after the third year of the life granted to him. Therefore all this weeping was because he despaired that Christ would be born of his seed. Others assert that, although holy men are terrified by death, on account of the uncertainty of judgment, and ignorance of the sentence of God, as to what seat they will have. And at the same time the question of fate is resolved, and the bonds of necessity and of causes, that by no means is the day of death fixed beforehand for each one, but by the will of God, and by causes unknown to mortals, one either lives or dies: especially since even the fixed necessity of death is now sometimes deferred, and we have read of many raised up again after death. (Verses 4 ff.) And the word of the Lord came to Isaiah, saying: Go and say to Hezekiah: Thus says the Lord God of David your father: I have heard your prayer, I have seen your tears.

Behold I will add fifteen years to your days, and I will deliver you and this city from the hand of the king of the Assyrians, and I will protect it. And this shall be a sign to you from the Lord: that the Lord will do this word which he has spoken: Behold I will make the shadow of the lines by which it had gone down on the sundial of Achaz in the sun go backward ten lines: and the sun went back ten lines by the steps by which it had gone down. In reversed order, as it were in prophecy, the history is here recounted which is read more consecutively in the book of Kings. When Hezekiah wept with great weeping, before Isaiah went out of the middle part of the court, the word of the Lord came to him, saying: Return, and say to Hezekiah the leader of my people: I have heard your prayer, and I have seen your tears; behold I have healed you.

And Hezekiah said to Isaiah: What shall be the sign that the Lord will heal me? To whom the Prophet answered: This shall be the sign from the Lord that the Lord will do the word which he has spoken: Do you wish the shadow to advance so many lines, or to go back the same number of steps? To whom Hezekiah said: It is easy for the shadow to grow by ten lines, nor do I wish this to happen; but rather that it go back ten steps. And when, upon Isaiah's invoking the power of the Lord, the sign had been accomplished, Isaiah ordered a lump of fresh figs to be brought; which when they had brought and placed upon his wound, he was cured.

Now the Prophet returns to the king by the Lord's command, so that he who had struck him might himself heal him; and Hezekiah is called the leader of his people, and son of David, whose works he followed, for he had done what was right according to all that David his father had done: and his prayer is heard, and his tears are seen, because he had walked before the Lord in truth and with a perfect heart, and had wept with great weeping; and he had done what was pleasing in his eyes. Fifteen years are added to his life, which he had not asked for, and moreover, while he lives, security of the kingdom is promised. But if, as some think, to live in the body is a condemnation, and according to that which is said: Return, my soul, to your rest.

And in another place: Bring my soul out of prison, death would be to be desired, that we might be freed from prison: how then does the Lord now grant, as a benefit, that he who was to be freed should yet live fifteen years in prison? But the sign is given, that the sun should go back ten steps, which we, following Symmachus, have rendered as "lines" and "sundial," he having understood the steps as lines, so as to make the sense clearer to readers. Or else the steps were constructed by mechanical art in such a way that the shadow, descending over each one, marked off the spaces of the hours. Which sign was a type both of the present time and of the future; so that just as the sun returned to its starting point, so too Hezekiah's life returned to the years unwound; and to us, living in the seventh and eighth ages, through the resurrection of Christ, the spaces of life are prolonged.

The guides of the holy places in this province are accustomed to show, within the enclosure of the Temple, the steps of Hezekiah, or of Achaz, by which the sun is said to have descended. But I will never believe—I do not say of Achaz, who was an impious king, but of any righteous king—that his house was within the Temple of God: since Solomon is said to have offended God among other things because he built Millo on high, whence, walking on the tower of the palace, he was accustomed to look down upon the courtyard of the Temple. (Verse 9.) The writing of Hezekiah king of Judah, when he had been sick and had recovered from his sickness. The LXX: The prayer of Hezekiah king of Judah, when he was sick, and rose up from his sickness.

I wonder how the Seventy alone put "prayer" for "writing," since prayer is called THEPHELLATH (תפלה), and not MACHTHAB (מכתב), which is written in the present place; otherwise it would consistently be called a prayer, if it were of the present time, and not of the past. For it is clear that after health was restored, rising from his sickness, he wrote these things; hence it is not a prayer, but a thanksgiving for the benefit which he had received. (Verses 10 ff.) I said in the midst of my days: I shall go to the gates of hell: I sought the residue of my years. I said, I shall not see the Lord God in the land of the living: I shall not behold man any more, nor the inhabitant of rest. My generation has ceased: it is taken away and rolled up from me like the tent of shepherds. My life is cut off as by a weaver: while I was still weaving, he cut me off: from morning to evening you will finish me.

I hoped until morning: like a lion, so has he broken all my bones. From morning to evening you will finish me. The LXX: I said in the height of my days, I shall go to the gates of hell: I shall leave the remaining years: I said, I shall no more see the salvation of God in the land of the living, nor shall I see man any more with those who dwell. I have failed from my kindred. It has gone forth and departed from me, like a tent which he who had pitched it takes down: like a web my spirit has departed, when it is cut off by the weaver. On that day I was delivered up until morning: like a lion, so he broke all my bones. From day until night I was delivered up.

He relates what, in the time of pressing anguish and impending sickness, he silently thought; I said, he says, in my heart, in the midst of my days—or as Aquila and Symmachus and Theodotion have interpreted, in the weakness and silence of my days, for which the LXX interpreted "height," on account of the similarity of the letters, reading RAME (רמי) for DAME (דמי): although some have rendered DAME as "blood," so that the sense would be, In the blood of my days, when my blood, and my death, were being sought. Therefore in despair I said: I shall go to the gates of hell, either by the common law of nature, or those gates concerning which, because he was delivered, the Psalmist sings, You who lift me up from the gates of death, that I may declare all your praises in the gates of the daughter of Zion. These I think are the gates of hell, which do not prevail against Peter, because he slept in the fulness of his days.

The saints fulfill their days, such as was Abraham, who died full of days, in a good old age. But sinners and the impious die in the midst of their days, of whom the Psalmist also speaks: Men of blood and deceit shall not live out half their days. For they do not fulfill the works of virtue, nor strive by repentance to amend their offenses. Whence in the middle of the course of life, and in the darkness of their errors, they are led down to Tartarus. I sought, he says, the residue of my years, thinking that I would no longer live. I said, I shall not see the Lord, the Lord, in the land of the living. Instead of "Lord" and "Lord," IA (יה) is twice put in the Hebrew, which sounds in the final syllable of ALLELUIA (הללויה), for which the LXX translated: I shall no more see the salvation of God in the land of the living. Concerning which it is written elsewhere: I shall be pleasing to the Lord in the land of the living.

And again: I shall be pleasing to the Lord in the light of the living. The region of the saints, then, is that which is called the light of the living. For God is not the God of the dead, but of the living. Now this is all that he fears, that he might, being led to hell, be unable to behold the salvation of God. There follows: I shall not behold man any more, nor the inhabitant of rest. Which we formerly, because of the ambiguity of the word, had joined to the following verse; for the Hebrew word HOLED, if read or written ELED (חלד), means "rest"; if EDEL (חדל), it means "the West." He fears, then, lest with the saints and men of God he not dwell in rest, lest he not see the Lord in the land of the living, lest his generation be dissolved like a tent, lest it be cut off like a web at the very beginning of the weaving, and lest Christ should by no means arise from his seed.

That our body is called a tabernacle, the Apostle also teaches, saying: We who are in this tabernacle groan, being burdened. From morning, he says, until evening you will finish me: I hoped until morning: which Job also says he endured in his anguish and in the torments of his body, when in the day he awaited the night, and looked for light in the darkness, thinking that by the change of times the torments might be changed. This is known to be true by one who burns with great fevers, whose inward fire, like a lion, consumes all his bones, and who, because of the greatness of his pain, thinks he will no longer live. (Verse 15.) Like the young of the swallow, so will I cry: I will meditate like a dove: my eyes have grown weak looking up on high. Lord, I suffer violence; answer for me: what shall I say, or what will he answer me, since he himself has done it?

The LXX: Like a swallow, so will I cry: like a dove, so will I meditate. For my eyes have failed looking up to heaven on high to the Lord: who delivered me, and took away the sorrow of my soul, and he himself did it. Imminent death, and the pain of the sickness bearing down, like a lion broke all the bones of my body; but I, after the likeness of the swallow and the dove, joined weeping and groaning day and night; and from God alone, who could help, with eyes lifted up on high, I awaited aid. And I said to him: I suffer more than my merits demand; but even if I have erred in anything, I shall turn to what is better; answer for me: For it is not of him who wills, nor of him who runs, but of God who has mercy. And again he turns back upon himself: What shall I say, or what shall I plead against you, my maker?

Or what will he answer me, who himself has done what he willed? Whatever therefore he has decreed must be endured. Instead of "the young of the swallow," or "the swallow," as the LXX translated, it is written in Hebrew, Sus agor (סוס עגור), which Aquila interpreted as "the horse Agor": Theodotion, Sis agur (סיס עגור); for the middle vowel letter, vau, if placed between two Samechs, is read "sus," and is called "horse"; if "jod," it is read "sis," and is called "swallow." But Symmachus translated it thus: Like a caged swallow, so will I sing. This word "agor" is also read in Jeremiah, where it is written: The kite in the sky knows its time: the turtledove and the swallow and the stork have kept their times. (Verses 16 ff.) I will recount all my years in the bitterness of my soul. Lord, if life is thus lived, and in such things is the life of my spirit, you will chastise me, and you will make me live. Behold, in peace is my bitterness most bitter.

But you have delivered my soul, that it might not perish: you have cast all my sins behind your back. For hell will not confess to you, neither will death praise you: they that go down into the pit will not wait for your truth. The living, the living, he shall confess to you, as I do this day. The father shall make known your truth to the children. Lord, save me, and we will sing our psalms all the days of our life in the house of the Lord.

LXX: Lord, concerning this it was announced to thee: and thou didst raise up my spirit, and thou didst comfort and make alive. Behold in peace my bitterness: for thou hast delivered my soul, that it should not perish, and thou hast cast behind me all my sins. For neither shall they in hell praise thee, nor shall the dead bless thee. Nor shall they that are in hell hope for thy mercy: the living shall bless thee, as I also do. For from this day I will beget children, who shall declare thy justice, O Lord of my salvation, and I will not cease blessing thee with the psaltery, all the days of my life, in the sight of the house of God. Nothing of mortal things is lasting, and all the felicity of the world, while it is held, is lost. For when the time of tribulation comes, all that is past helps nothing him that endures it. Whence foolish is the opinion of Epicurus, who asserts that present evils are mitigated by the recollection of past goods.

Therefore Hezekiah says that he reckoned up all the years of his reign, and of his past, as he supposed, happiness, in his present bitterness. And because he is now secure, and does not suffer the things he relates, he philosophizes about the human condition, and says: Lord, if it is thus that life is lived, and we are begotten under such a condition, thou hast chastised me, but thou hast made me alive, and hast granted peace, the Assyrian being put to flight; but my peace was more bitter to me than all bitterness, because, tranquility being restored to the peoples, and the city being secure, I alone entered the threshold of death. But thou hast rescued my soul, that it should not perish, whether for the present life or the future. For thou hast cast behind thy back all my sins, that I might not look upon them sorrowfully, but might contemplate thy mercy.

For hell and death shall not confess, nor shall they praise thee, according to that which is written: But in hell who shall confess to thee? And confession is taken here not for penitence, but for glory and praise, just as we read also in the Gospel, I will confess to thee, Lord, Father of heaven and earth. They that go down into the pit, he says, shall not wait for thy truth: better than in the LXX, mercy. For he who is in hell does not wait for the truth of judgment, but for the mercy of God: especially since the Savior descended into hell, that he might free the bound from the underworld. For "pit," the same translators more clearly rendered "hell." The living, the living, he shall confess to thee, as I also do this day. And here confession is put for praise. For he does not confess his own sins; but he gives thanks to God: and praise is not comely in the mouth of a sinner.

And since hell and death do not confess nor praise God, on the contrary life and the living glorify the Lord. And what follows: The father shall make known thy truth to the children, signifies this, which is said in Deuteronomy: Ask thy father, and he will declare to thee; thy elders, and they will tell thee, so that through successions and each generation the clemency of God toward posterity might be proclaimed.

Instead of which the Septuagint put: For from today I shall make sons, who shall announce your justice. And the causal conjunction joins what follows with what precedes: namely, that, both living and he himself living, they bless God, because from this day he is going to make sons who will announce his truth—which certainly was not within his own power. For no children were promised to him through the Prophet, but present life was granted. Especially since he begot a most impious son, Manasseh, who filled Jerusalem with blood from gate to gate, and did not bless but cursed God, persecuting his saints. We can therefore say, following the LXX, that he did not say, "I will make sons," but παιδία, which we understand as either little ones, or boys, or infants and descendants, so that from the fact that he himself obtained mercy, all posterity to come, knowing this, might praise his incredible clemency.

"Save me, then, O Lord; and all of us who believe in you, and who are freed by your help, will sing of you in the Temple all the days of our life." Verse 21. And Isaiah commanded that they take a mass of figs, and apply it as a poultice upon the wound, and that he be healed. And Hezekiah said, What shall be the sign, that I shall go up into the house of the Lord? This must be read before the prayer of Hezekiah, or the Scripture which we have just now interpreted: for the poultice was applied to the wound, and a sign of future health was sought by him, before he gave thanks to the Lord, which he is said to have done once healed. The Hebrews say that the word SCHIN (שחין), which the LXX omitted, means "ulcer," not "wound." For Aquila, Symmachus, and Theodotion translated it as ἕλκος, by which they wish it to be understood as the "royal disease" (i.e.

Leprosy or a similar ailment), to which all things sweet, whether taken as food or applied to the body, are thought to be contrary. Therefore, so that the power of God might be shown, health was restored through harmful and adverse things. Others suspect that SCHIN means not an ulcer but an abscess: when the swollen body is filled with cooked and putrefying pus. And according to the art of physicians, all matter is drawn to the surface of the skin by drier figs, pounded together: and thus that this medicine should not be scorned, which is established by use and experience: because God also made this. Thus far the prayer and thanksgiving have been written. But as for what sign was given, the earlier order of the history has already narrated it.

(Verse 1.) At that time Merodach Baladan, son of Baladan, king of Babylon, sent letters and gifts to Hezekiah: for he had heard that he had been sick and had recovered.

And Hezekiah rejoiced over them, and showed them the storehouse of spices, and of silver, and of gold, and of perfumes, and of the best ointment, and all the storehouses of his furnishings, and everything that was found in his treasuries: there was no word that Hezekiah did not show them in his house and in all his dominion.

Above we read that in the fourteenth year of King Hezekiah, Sennacherib king of the Assyrians went up against all the fortified cities of Judah, and took them, and afterward besieged Lachish, passed on to Libnah, sent part of his army to Jerusalem, and that a hundred eighty-five thousand of his army were slain by the Angel, and that he himself fled to Nineveh, and was killed by his sons in the temple of his god, and that Assaraddon his son reigned in his place: that Hezekiah fell sick, and received health through the Prophet's message; that an incredible sign was made, so that the sun returned by the space of ten hours to its rising, and the day was nearly doubled. Now we read that at that time, that is, in the same year in which all these things happened, Merodach Baladan, son of Baladan, king of Babylon, sent letters and gifts to Hezekiah; not Assaraddon, who had succeeded his father Sennacherib in the kingdom among the Assyrians, of whose death or life Scripture is silent.

From this it is clear that the kingdom of the Assyrians was then one thing, and that of the Babylonians another. For indeed the Assyrians took Samaria, that is, the ten tribes. But we read that afterward the Chaldeans, whose king was Nebuchadnezzar, took Judah and Jerusalem. And because among them there is observance of the stars, and the course of the stars known through long use and practice—which is also shown at the Lord's nativity—they understood that the sun had turned back, the spans of the day doubled, in service to him whom they thought to be the only God. And when they inquired into the causes and reason of this miracle, as the report flew through all nations, they learned that, on account of the illness of the king of Judah, even the course of that most brilliant sign had been changed.

That this is not my opinion, but the faith of Holy Scripture, the words of Chronicles bear witness, which say, after other things: "This is Hezekiah, who stopped up the upper spring of the waters of Gihon, and turned them below to the west of the city of David. In all his works he did prosperously what he wished; yet in the embassy of the princes of Babylon, who had been sent to him to inquire about the portent that had happened upon the earth, God left him, that he might be tempted: and that all things that were in his heart might become known" (2 Chron. 32:30-31). And he was left to temptation for this reason, that after so great a victory, and the return of the sun, and the congratulation of so powerful a kingdom, his heart was lifted up. Moreover it is written in the same book: "Many brought sacrifices, and offerings to the Lord in Jerusalem, and gifts to Hezekiah king of Judah: and he was exalted before all nations.

In those days Hezekiah was sick unto death, and prayed to the Lord; and he heard him, and gave him a sign; but he did not requite according to the benefits he had received, because his heart was lifted up; and wrath came upon him, and upon Judah and Jerusalem" (2 Chron. 32:23-24). And again Holy Scripture says that the elevation of his heart was mitigated by penitence, adding: "And he was humbled afterward, because his heart had been lifted up, both he himself and the inhabitants of Jerusalem: and therefore the wrath of the Lord did not come upon them in the days of Hezekiah." He rejoiced, then, at the coming of the envoys of Merodach, whom the Hebrews claim to have been the father of Nebuchadnezzar; and at the offering of gifts, and the congratulation on his health.

And he showed them, according to the Seventy, the house NECHOTHA (נכתה), for which Symmachus translated "of his spices"; and the treasures of silver, and of gold, and of perfumes, and of the best ointment: which in the Hebrew is written "of good oil"; and all the treasures of the vessels of the "gaza," or, as it is read there, "of his vessels." Now "gaza" in the Persian tongue means "riches": nor is it a Hebrew word, but a foreign one. There was not, he says, a word (which according to Hebrew usage is often taken for "a thing") that he did not show them in his house and in all his dominion.

Whence the most just wrath of God, since he showed them not only his own treasures and those of the palace, but even of the Temple: which certainly was within his own power, from whose doors he had already once taken plates of gold. (Verse 3 and following.) Then the Prophet Isaiah went in to King Hezekiah, and said to him: What did these men say, and from where did they come to you? And Hezekiah said: They came to me from a far country, from Babylon. And he said: What did they see in your house? And Hezekiah said: They saw all that is in my house: there was no word, or thing, which I did not show them in my treasuries. And Isaiah said to Hezekiah: Hear the word of the Lord of hosts. Behold, the days will come, and all that is in your house, and that which your fathers have treasured up until this day, shall be carried away into Babylon: nothing shall be left, says the Lord.

And of your sons who shall go forth from you, whom you shall beget, they shall take: and they shall be eunuchs in the palace of the king of Babylon. And Hezekiah said to Isaiah: Good is the word of the Lord which he has spoken. And he said: Only let there be peace and truth in my days. The Hebrews relate that Hezekiah fell sick for this reason, because after the unheard-of victory of the Jews, and the destruction of the Assyrian king, he did not sing praises to the Lord, such as Moses sang when Pharaoh was drowned, and Deborah when Sisera was slain, and Hannah when Samuel was born. Whence he was admonished of his own frailty. And again, after the health of his body, and the greatness of the sign, another occasion of pride was offered him, which, as a prudent man and worshipper of God, he ought to have avoided; nor should he have shown foreigners his riches, which he possessed by God's bestowal.

From which, according to the laws of tropology also, we learn that pearls are not to be cast before swine, nor what is holy given to dogs. For he who is faithful in spirit hides matters; and whoever does not do this, all his virtue is weakened; and his posterity perishes, and, having lost manly strength, is reduced to womanly softness. Isaiah, therefore, goes in to the king, and asks as though ignorant: What did these men say, and from where did they come? He asks two things, what they said and from where they came. Hezekiah answers to one, omitting the other: which must be read with emphasis and pride: "They came to me from a far country, from Babylon"; as if the farther the land from which they came, the more glorious he was, on whose account they came. "And they came," he says, "to me"—whereas he ought to have said, they came to glorify God on account of the greatness of the sign—from Babylon, which city is the most powerful in the whole world.

And again Isaiah says, "What did they see in your house?" And he answers partly the truth, that they saw all things in his house, and there was nothing which he did not show them in his treasuries. But he is silent about the other matter, of which he feared reproach—that he had shown them all that he had in his power, doubtless including the furnishings of the Temple as well. On account of which Isaiah, by the word of God, utters the sentence: "Hear the word of the Lord of hosts: The time shall come when all these things that are in your house, and that were gained not by your labor, but by that of your fathers, shall be carried over into Babylon, and of your seed there shall be eunuchs in the royal court." From which the Hebrews hold that Daniel, Ananias, Misael, and Azarias, who were of the royal seed, were made eunuchs, who without doubt were in the service of King Nebuchadnezzar.

And so Hezekiah said: "Good is the word of the Lord which he has spoken." In this he is reproved by the Hebrews, for not having imitated the goodness of Moses, who spoke to the Lord: "Either forgive them this sin: or if you do not, blot me out of your book which you have written". Whence also the apostle Paul wishes to be anathema from Christ for the sake of his brethren who are Israelites; and therefore Hezekiah is not approved by the words of God, who in what follows says: "Comfort, comfort my people, says your God," so that those for whom he had not prayed might be comforted by the mercy of the Lord.

(Verses 1 and following.) Comfort ye, comfort ye my people, saith your God: Speak ye to the heart of Jerusalem, and call unto her; for her wickedness is accomplished, her iniquity is forgiven. She hath received of the Lord's hand double for all her sins.

The Septuagint: Comfort ye, comfort ye my people, saith God ÷ ye priests *, speak ye to the heart of Jerusalem: comfort her: for her humiliation is full. Her sin is loosed, for she hath received of the Lord's hand double her sins. According to the other interpreters, others are commanded to comfort both the people of God and Jerusalem alike: according to the Hebrew, the people itself is commanded to comfort, and to speak to the heart of Jerusalem, and to call unto her. Now to speak to the heart is an idiom of the Scriptures. For whoever speaks to one mourning, and is a comforter in blandishing terms, is said to speak to the heart. Let Shechem the son of Hamor teach us this, who, after violating Dinah, spoke to her heart, and comforted her. And wherever you find something similar, it has this sense. And the cause of comfort is the remission of sins; and the cause of remission is that she has received of the Lord's hand double for all her sins.

For he who knows the will of his Lord, and sins, shall be beaten with many stripes. And everyone who has within him the indwelling Holy Spirit, whom the Savior promised to the Apostles, saying: I will ask my Father, and he will give you another Comforter, that he may abide with you forever, the Spirit of truth; and again: But when the Comforter is come, the Holy Spirit, whom my Father will send in my name, he will teach you all things; and again: When the Comforter is come, whom I will send unto you from the Father, the Spirit of truth who proceedeth from the Father, he shall testify of me; and: It is expedient for you that I go away; for if I go not away, the Comforter will not come unto you; he is the Comforter to whom it is now commanded that he comfort the people of God.

Whence also the Apostle Paul spoke to believers: Blessed be God and the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of mercies, and the God of all comfort, who comforteth us in all our tribulation, that we may be able to comfort them who are in any trouble, by the comfort wherewith we ourselves are comforted of God: because as the sufferings of Christ abound in us, so through Christ doth our comfort also abound; and again: And our hope for you is steadfast; knowing that as ye are partakers of the sufferings, so shall ye be also of the consolation. But who this people is, who is comforted through the Apostles and men of the Church—not Israel, and Jacob, and Judah, as Scripture mentions in other places, but the people of God—Zechariah the Prophet testifies, saying: Sing and rejoice, O daughter of Zion: for lo, I come, and I will dwell in the midst of thee, saith the Lord.

And many nations shall flee unto the Lord in that day, and shall be his people, and shall dwell in the midst of thee: and they shall know that the Lord Almighty hath sent me unto thee. By which testimony it is clearly shown that very many nations were to be turned into the people of God. And these things saith the Lord, sent by the Lord, whose name is Almighty. And it is to be noted that our sins are not loosed, unless we have received them from the hand of the Lord. Nor is it the same for sins to be loosed and to be forgiven. For he to whom they are forgiven has no need of loosing, as he hears in the Gospel: Be of good cheer, son, thy sins are forgiven thee. But he to whom they are loosed, they are loosed for this reason, because they are purged and released through punishments.

According to the historical sense, Jerusalem received of the Lord's hand double for her sins; once from the Babylonians, and a second time from the Romans. And that which is added by the Septuagint, "Priests," is to be marked with an obelus. (Verses 3 and following.) The voice of one crying in the wilderness: Prepare ye the way of the Lord, make straight in the desert the paths of our God. Every valley shall be exalted, and every mountain and hill shall be made low: and the crooked shall be made straight, and the rough places plain: and the glory of the Lord shall be revealed, and all flesh together shall see that the mouth of the Lord hath spoken. The Septuagint: The voice of one crying in the wilderness: Prepare ye the way of the Lord: make straight the paths of our God. Every valley shall be filled, and every mountain and hill shall be made low: and the crooked shall be made straight, and the rough places into plains.

And the glory of the Lord shall appear: and all flesh shall see the salvation of God, for the Lord hath spoken. Mindful of this voice, the Scribes and Pharisees and rulers of the Jews, when they had heard John preaching in the wilderness the baptism of repentance, and teaching the people, sent to ask him whether he himself were the Christ, or Elias, or the Prophet. And when he had answered that he was none of these, they asked again: Tell us then, who art thou? That we may give an answer to them that sent us. What sayest thou of thyself? And he answered: I am the voice of one crying in the wilderness: Make straight the way of the Lord; as said Isaias the Prophet.

In which it must be noted that the straight ways of the Lord and the paths of our God: the filling of valleys and the humbling of mountains and hills, and the correction of crooked things, and the making plain of rough places and rocks: and the glory of the Lord and the salvation of our God, are not proclaimed in Jerusalem, but in the wilderness of the Church, and in the desert multitude of the nations, of which we read above (On chap. Xxxv, 1): Let the thirsty desert rejoice: let the wilderness exult, and blossom as the lily. For this was a desert of the knowledge of God, and was held down by idols, humbled in confession, raised up in pride, rough and untractable in savagery.

But after the glory of the Lord appeared; and all flesh saw the salvation of God, all things were suddenly changed, and the way of the Lord prepared, so that the glory of God appeared in the wilderness; when the Lord was baptized in the Jordan, and the heavens were opened, and the Holy Spirit descended in the form of a dove, and remained upon him: and the voice of the Father thundering from above was heard: This is my beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased: hear ye him. And all flesh saw the salvation of God. And it was called flesh for this reason, because before it did not have the Holy Spirit. Of which the Lord also says: My spirit shall not remain in these men, because they are flesh. But that flesh shall see the salvation of God, of which he also spoke through Joel: I will pour out of my Spirit upon all flesh, and they shall prophesy.

This was proclaimed not only at that time by John, who is rightly called the voice, as the forerunner and precursor of the Word of God; but even today, in the wilderness of the nations, the teachers of the Churches cry out: that we may make straight the ways and paths in our hearts for God, and be filled with virtues, and be bowed down with humility; that we may change crooked things into straight, and turn rough things into smooth: and so may deserve to see the glory of the Lord and the salvation of God. (Verses 6 and following.) The voice of one saying, Cry. And I said: What shall I cry? All flesh is grass, and all the glory thereof as the flower of the field. The grass is withered, the flower is fallen; because the spirit of God hath blown upon it: surely the people is grass. The grass is withered, the flower is fallen; but the word of our Lord shall stand forever.

The Septuagint: The voice of one saying, Cry: and I said, What shall I cry? All flesh is grass, and all the glory of man as the flower of grass. The grass is withered, and the flower is fallen, because the spirit of God hath blown upon it: surely the people is grass; the grass is withered, the flower is fallen; but the word of our God abideth forever. This which is marked with asterisks: because the spirit of God hath blown upon it: surely the people is grass: the grass is withered, the flower is fallen—has been added from the Hebrew and the edition of Theodotion. From which it is clear that it was either omitted by the Septuagint, or gradually erased by a fault of copyists, since both the preceding and the following verse end in "flower." We read above, the Prophet saying: And I heard the voice of the Lord saying: Whom shall I send, and who will go to this people?

And I said: Behold I, send me; and he said: Go and say to this people: Hearing ye shall hear, and shall not understand; and seeing ye shall see, and shall not perceive, and so forth. Having suffered hard things for that preaching, now, with the Lord's voice saying "Cry," fearing similar things, he inquires what he ought to cry; and beginning from the general, All flesh is grass, and all the glory thereof as the flower of grass, he arrives at the particular, so that he says nonetheless concerning the people: Surely the people is grass. And indeed if one considers the frailty of the flesh, and how within the space of hours we grow and diminish, and do not remain in the same state: and that very thing which we speak, dictate, and write flies past as part of our life: he will not doubt to call the flesh grass, and its glory as the flower of grass, or the meadows of the fields.

He who was lately an infant, is suddenly a boy; he who was a boy, is suddenly a youth; and up to old age he is changed through uncertain stretches; and he perceives himself an old man before he wonders that he is no longer a youth. The beautiful woman who once drew after her flocks of young men, has her brow wrinkled and contracted: and she who before was loved, afterward is loathed. Which also a distinguished orator among the Greeks writes: that the beauty of the body either fails with time, or is consumed by sickness. Therefore the flesh is dried up, and its beauty has fallen; because the spirit of the wrath and sentence of God has blown upon it (to return from the general discussion to the order of Scripture), that is, upon him who bears the image of the earthly, and serves vices and luxury; and is grass and a fading flower.

But he who has and keeps the image of the heavenly, that is the flesh which sees the salvation of the Lord, which is daily renewed unto knowledge according to the image of the Creator, and receiving an incorruptible and immortal body, changes its glory, not its nature. But the word of our Lord, and those who are joined to the word, remain forever. (Verses 9 and following.) Get thee up upon a high mountain, thou that bringest good tidings to Sion: lift up thy voice with strength, thou that bringest good tidings to Jerusalem: lift it up, be not afraid, say to the cities of Judah: Behold your God: behold the Lord God will come with strength, and his arm shall rule. Behold his reward is with him, and his work before him. He shall feed his flock like a shepherd: he shall gather the lambs in his arm, and shall take them up in his bosom, and shall himself carry them that are with young.

The Septuagint: Get thee up upon a high mountain, thou that bringest good tidings to Sion: lift up thy voice with strength, thou that bringest good tidings to Jerusalem: lift it up, be not afraid: say to the cities of Judah: Behold your God, behold the Lord God will come with might, and his arm with dominion: behold his reward is with him, and his work is before him. He shall feed his people like a shepherd, and shall gather the lambs with his arm: and shall comfort them that are with young. It is enjoined upon the choir of the Apostles that, for the preaching to all flesh which shall see the salvation of God, they should climb to the heights: and that, being about to speak of great things, they should abide on the heights. Now the Hebrew and the other translators put this in the feminine gender, so as to say, thou (fem.) that bringest good tidings to Sion, and thou (fem.) that bringest good tidings to Jerusalem.

This word, according to the Greeks, is ambiguous, so that we may understand it either of her who announces, or of him to whom it is announced. Whether then it is Sion and Jerusalem that announce the word of God and the salvation of the Lord—for out of Sion shall go forth the law, and the word of the Lord from Jerusalem—or whether it is announced to them by the Apostles, they ought to climb to the heights, and pass over to the mountains. And it is wonderful that, although Sion itself is a mountain, as Scripture says: Mount Sion, in which thou hast dwelt, it is bidden to ascend a mountain higher still, on which the prince of Tyre was wounded.

And because the teaching of the Apostles was to meet with much opposition, and they were to be brought before rulers and tribunals, there is added: lift it up, be not afraid: say to the cities of Judah, that is, to the synagogues and peoples of the Jews, of whom the Lord spoke: I am not sent but to the lost sheep of the house of Israel. And the Apostle Paul says: To you it behooved that the word of God should first be spoken. But what is it that they are bidden to say? Behold your God, whom you always awaited: behold the Lord God will come with strength, whom you despised when he came in lowliness. And his strength shall rule, he who first took the form of a servant, having become obedient to the Father even unto death (Philipp. II). According to what he himself says in the Gospel: For the Son of man shall come in the glory of his Father, and he shall render to every man according to his works.

He shall feed his flock like a shepherd. He who is afterward to come in majesty first takes the form of a shepherd, and says of himself: I am the good shepherd, and I know my sheep, and mine know me, and I lay down my life for my sheep. Of whom the Father speaks in Zechariah: I will strike the shepherd, and the sheep shall be scattered. In his arm, it says, he will gather the lambs; not bulls, and rams, and goats, and the fat sheep, against whom he threatens through Ezekiel, because they feed on milk and are clothed with wool, and crush the weak flock, but the lambs still tender, of the still-untaught infancy in Christ, who have lately been reborn in baptism, of whom the Lord himself spoke to Peter: Feed my lambs.

Whence also in the same Ezekiel it is written: I will raise up over them one shepherd, and he shall feed them, my servant David; and he shall be their shepherd, and I the Lord will be to them a God, and David a prince in the midst of them. I the Lord have spoken, and I will make with David a covenant of peace. In which it is to be considered that, after many ages, David—the gluttonous shepherds having been rejected—says that he will raise up our Lord, who is of the stock of David, who shall gather the lambs, and cherish them in his bosom, and himself carry on his shoulder the young of the sheep, or the sheep with young. As we read in the Gospel, that he brought back on his shoulders to the fold the sheep that had strayed and remained apart from the usual flock.

We may understand by the sheep with young the Apostles and apostolic men and all the teachers of the Church, who travail in giving birth to the salvation of many, and say with the Apostle: My little children, of whom I travail again in birth, until Christ be formed in you. The Hebrews assert, and there is no doubt among them on this point, that the Holy Spirit is called in their tongue in the feminine gender, that is, Ruah qodshah (רוח קדשה). And that which is said in the sixty-seventh psalm: The Lord shall give the word to them that preach the gospel with great power: they understand it thus: The Lord shall give the word to them that preach the gospel with great power: namely, to those souls which have attained to the Holy Spirit. And likewise that saying: As the eyes of the handmaid are on the hands of her mistress—they interpret the soul as the handmaid, and the Holy Spirit as the mistress.

But also in the Gospel which is written according to the Hebrews, which the Nazaraeans read, the Lord says: Just now my mother, the Holy Spirit, took me up. But let no one be scandalized on this point, that among the Hebrews the spirit is said to be of feminine gender, while in our language it is called masculine, and in Greek speech neuter. For in the Godhead there is no sex. And therefore in the three principal languages, in which the title of the Lord's passion was written, it is named in three genders, that we may know that what is of diverse gender is of no gender at all. (Verses 12 and following.) Who hath measured the waters in the hollow of his hand, and weighed the heavens with his palm? Who hath poised with three fingers the bulk of the earth, and weighed the mountains in scales, and the hills in a balance? Who hath helped the spirit of the Lord? Or who hath been his counsellor, and hath shewn it to him?

With whom hath he consulted, and who hath instructed him, and taught him the path of justice, and taught him knowledge, and shewed him the way of understanding? Behold the nations are as a drop of a bucket, and are counted as the smallest grain of a balance: behold the islands are as a little dust. And Lebanon is not sufficient to burn, nor the beasts thereof sufficient for a burnt offering. All the nations are before him as if they had no being at all, and are counted to him as nothing, and vanity. The Septuagint: Who hath measured the water in his hand, and heaven with the span, and all the earth in a fist? Who hath weighed the mountains in scales, and the hills in a balance? Who hath known the mind of the Lord? Or who hath been his counsellor? Who hath taught him, from whom hath he received counsel, and who hath instructed him? Or who hath shewn him judgment, and the way of understanding, who hath shewn him?

If all the nations are counted as a drop of a bucket, and as the smallest grain of a balance, and are counted as spittle. Lebanon is not sufficient to burn, and all the four-footed beasts are not sufficient for a burnt offering, and all the nations are as nothing, and are counted as nothing before him. Lest anyone should think the calling of the nations difficult, and that all flesh should see the salvation of God; they who preach the gospel to Sion were bidden to climb the high mountain; and the Lord himself would come in strength, and render to every man according to his work; and, like a shepherd, would cherish the lambs in his bosom, and himself carry those with young: his greatness is described, that nothing is impossible to him; and that he who founded all things, and is the Creator of all, is able to accomplish even these things which, by comparison with those, are small.

Now that he calls it a fist and a palm, he uses words and measures of human custom, that we may learn the power of God through our own words. Where the Septuagint translated: Who hath measured the water in his hand? Or as we translate: Who hath measured the waters in the hollow of his hand? Aquila translated: Who hath measured the waters with the smallest finger? For this is what λιχάς means: namely, that not with the whole hand, but with the little finger, which is commonly called the taster, the whole vastness of the waters is weighed: but σπιθαμή, that is, the span, signifies the hand outstretched from the thumb to the tip of the finger. But if we contract the hand, it becomes a fist: so that by the span and the fist we may know the outstretched heavens and the globe of the earth.

For the fist which the Septuagint translated in the taking of the earth, in the Hebrew it is written SHALISH (שליש), which Symmachus interpreted τρίτον, and Aquila τρίσωμον: and we, to make it clearer, rendered it "three fingers"; namely, that he weighed the mass of the earth and the heights of the mountains and hills as it were with three little fingers and with the small poise of a balance: through which the majesty of God and the power of the Creator are shown. Who, it says, hath helped the spirit of the Lord, or who hath been his counsellor, and hath shewn it to him? For which Symmachus translated: Who hath prepared the spirit of the Lord, and who hath shewn him the man of his counsel? With whom he took counsel, and gave him understanding, and taught him the way of judgment, and instructed him with knowledge, and shewed him the path of prudence? By which he shows more clearly that the spirit was prepared, or established, of whom it is read in the Apostle: Now the Lord is a Spirit.

And, Upon whom the Spirit of God rested, the Spirit of wisdom and understanding, and the rest. Who says in what follows: The Spirit of the Lord is upon me: because he hath anointed me. For he himself is the spirit of the Lord, and the man of his counsel, in whom dwelt all the fulness of the Godhead bodily. With him he took counsel, of whom we spoke above (on chap. IX, 6): Wonderful, Counsellor. And in Proverbs it is written, God founded the earth by wisdom: and established the heavens by prudence. Now the Septuagint, understanding that it would be absurd to assign this to Christ, called the Holy Spirit the mother of Jesus. They said: Who hath known the mind of the Lord, and who hath been his counsellor?

By this they wish it to be understood that the mind and reason and sense of God, through whom all things were made, and without whom nothing was made, is he of whom it is sung in the Psalms: By the word of the Lord the heavens were established, and all the power of them by the spirit of his mouth. All the nations who did not know their Creator, or the whole race of mortals in comparison with God, are as a drop of a bucket, and as the smallest grain of a balance, which is tipped to one side by a light weight. And just as, if a small drop should flow from a bucket, it is disregarded by the one who carries it: so the whole multitude of the nations, compared to the supernal ministries and the multitude of the Angels, is counted for nothing. The islands too are reckoned as spittle, or, as Symmachus and Theodotion put it, taking the Hebrew word itself, like DOQ (דק), that which falls off: for which Aquila translated λεπτόν βαλλόμενον.

Now the Hebrews say that by this word is signified the finest dust, which, caught up by the wind, is often driven into the eyes, and is felt rather than seen. The tiniest particles of dust, then, almost invisible, are called by this word: which perhaps Democritus, along with his Epicurus, calls atoms. And there are many names which are read in Greek just as they are set down in Hebrew, on account of the difficulty of translation, and by comparison with the Hebrew tongue, the poverty of both the Greek and the Latin speech. At the same time, that he may gradually draw men away from idolatry, he removes the ceremonies of sacrificial victims; and teaches that all the trees of Lebanon and the herds that graze in it cannot suffice for his burnt offerings.

But if all the nations are thus in his sight as though they were not, and are counted as nothing and vanity (and among all nations Israel too is included), then it too is as though it were not, and is counted as nothing and vanity. This we say, that its pride may be broken, and that it may know itself to be like the other nations. (Verse 18. And following.) To whom then have you likened God: or what image will you set up for him? Has the craftsman cast a graven image, or has the goldsmith shaped it with gold, and the silversmith with silver plates? Perhaps the skillful artificer has chosen wood, and one that does not rot: and he seeks how to set up an image that may not be moved.

Having described the greatness of God, and having in part shown his power, and having reckoned the nations and the islands as a drop from a bucket, and as a moment on the scale, and having refuted the dust and the ceremonies of sacrifices, he teaches by the following words why all nations are as nothing in his sight, and are reckoned as vanity: To whom have you likened God: or what image will you set up for him, who is spirit, and is in all things, and runs through everywhere, and holds the earth as it were in his fist? At the same time he mocks the folly of the nations, in that a craftsman or a bronze-worker, or a goldsmith or a silversmith, makes a god for himself, and joins it together with plates and nails, and sets it up firmly, lest it be knocked down by the blowing of the winds.

And as to what follows: perhaps the skillful artificer has chosen wood, and one that does not rot, in the Hebrew it is said AMSUCHAN (המסכן); which is a kind of wood that does not rot, and of which idols are especially made. Now he says this so that, with idols rejected, he may prepare the way for the Gospel teaching, and all crooked things may be made straight; that the valleys may be exalted and the hills made low; and that the glory of the Lord may be revealed, so that all flesh may see the salvation of God.

According to the tropology we may say that the princes of the heretics are being rebuked, who fashion various idols out of their own heart; either by the charm of eloquence, which is interpreted as silver; or by the splendor of gold, which refers to meaning; or by imperishable wood, which are the baser doctrines: and these are thought by their fashioners to be everlasting, and are strengthened by the art of dialectic, lest they be moved and fall, but stand fixed on a solid root. (Verse 21. And following.) Shall you not know? Shall you not hear? Has it not been told you from the beginning? Have you not understood the foundations of the earth? He who sits above the circle of the earth: and its inhabitants are as locusts. Who stretches out the heavens like nothing, and spreads them out like a tent to dwell in. Who makes the searchers of secrets as though they were not: he has made the judges of the earth as vanity.

Indeed their stock is neither planted, nor sown, nor rooted in the earth: he blew upon them suddenly and they withered, and a whirlwind will carry them away like stubble. And to whom have you likened me and made me equal? Says the Holy One. Lift up your eyes on high, and see who has created these things: who brings out their host by number, and calls them all by name. Because of the greatness of his might and strength, and of his power: not one has been lacking. The Septuagint: Shall you not know? Shall you not hear? Have you not known the foundations of the earth? Who holds the circle of the earth, and its inhabitants as locusts. Who has set up the heaven like a vault, and stretched it out like a tent to dwell in. Who gives princes to rule as nothing, but has made the earth as nothing. For they shall not be planted, nor sown, nor shall their root be made firm in the earth.

He blew upon them, and they were dried up, and the tempest shall take them away like stubble. Now then to whom have you likened me? Shall I be made equal to them? Said the Holy One. Lift up your eyes on high, and see who has shown all these things. Who brings out his adornment according to number, he will call them all by name, from great glory and by strength of might: nothing escapes you. From the beginning, he says, I taught you by the natural law, and afterward I bore witness through Moses by the written Law, that the idols were nothing, and that the Creator of the world was himself God, who had founded so great a mass of earth upon the seas, and had set it upon the rivers: so that the heaviest element should hang by the will of God over thin waters, who, like a king, sits above the circle of the earth: from which some contend that it is like a point and a globe, and its inhabitants like locusts.

For if we consider the various nations throughout the whole world, and from Ocean to Ocean, that is, from the Indian sea to the British, and from the Atlantic to the rigor of the North, where the waters freeze and beautiful amber congeals, we see the whole race of men in between dwelling as it were like locusts. Why then does earth and ashes grow proud?

Because the heaven—nay, to use the authority of the Scriptures, the heavens—are stretched out, as a vault; or, as is contained in the Hebrew, as DOC, of which we have spoken above: for which the Septuagint there translated "spittle": and they rendered the one word now as spittle, now as a vault, that is, an arch; and he has stretched out over them so great a breadth as a tent and a pavilion, so that in the likeness of a roof it covers men, and makes them dwell as it were in a most spacious house: why then should we wonder if the small bodies of men are reckoned as locusts, and as tiny creatures? Again in this place also they contend that a hemisphere overhangs the earth, and that the heaven is in the likeness of a sphere, misusing the word "vault," as though the middle part of the sphere covers the earth: whereas in the Hebrew we read not "vault," but DOC, that is, the finest dust.

In place of which the spittle that is cast upon the ground, and mingled with dust, and perishes, shows that the whole magnitude of bodies should be reckoned as nothing. Now he who stretches out the heavens and spreads them abroad: so that either above the multitudes of angels might dwell, or beneath men might abide, and made as it were a great house for rational creatures: he himself, according to the quality of the times, appoints princes, or the searchers of secrets, so that they are as though they were not: and he has made the judges of the earth as vanity. For which the Septuagint translated, "but he has made the earth as nothing"; since also at the beginning of Genesis where it is written: "But the earth was invisible," others have translated: "But the earth was empty and nothing." How many kings does Greek and Barbarian and Roman history relate! Where is that innumerable army of Xerxes? Where is the Israelite multitude in the desert? Where is the incredible power of kings?

Why should I speak of ancient things? Let present examples teach us, that princes are as nothing, and the judges of the earth are reckoned as vanity. These princes and judges of the earth (or, as others suppose, of heaven) are neither sown, nor planted, nor made firm with a solid root, and suddenly at God's command they are so taken away and perish, as stubble is snatched away by a whirlwind and a tempest; according to that which is written: "And I passed by, and he was not; and I sought him, and his place was not found." Since then the power and majesty of the Creator is so great, to what likeness do you compare God? And do you not rather understand the Founder from the greatness of his creatures? If you do not believe words, at least believe your own eyes; and from the servitude of the heavens and of all the elements, consider the power of the Lord.

Who brings out their host—that is, of the heavens—by number, and calls them all by name, namely, the stars. Of whom it is also sung in the Psalms: "Who numbers the multitude of the stars: and calls them all by their names." Or let us interpret the "host of heaven" as the angels, and all the armies of the heavens, of whom Daniel also speaks: "Thousands of thousands ministered to him, and ten thousand times ten thousand stood before him." Whence also he is called the Lord of Sabaoth, which in our tongue is said, the Lord of hosts and armies, or of powers.

Now he brings out the host of the heavens according to number: so that the sun, and the moon, and the other stars, which Abraham was not able to number, are numbered by him, and serve their appointed office: while the sun completes the same course of heaven in one year, the morning and evening star in two years, the moon each month, and all the stars accomplish their courses at fixed times, and some of them are called wandering, and we perceive with our eyes, not with our minds, their unequal motions, nor do we so much understand as marvel at them. For the greatness of God's strength makes all things serve in their own order. Or according to the Septuagint, from the multitude of his glory and the power of his might, nothing can escape him: but by the majesty of the Creator he knows the ways and reasons and courses of all things.

No writer is so unskilled that he does not find a reader like himself: and much greater is the number of those who turn the pages of Milesian tales than of those who read the books of Plato. For in the one there is play and delight, in the other difficulty and toil mixed with labor. Indeed, even Tullius himself, who translated Timaeus disputing about the harmony of the world and the course and numbers of the stars, confesses that he does not understand it. But the Testament of Grunnius Corocotta the Little Pig is chanted in the schools by throngs of laughing boys. Let our own Luscius Lanuinus, then, enjoy his witnesses—nay, his supporters—and let him conquer by numbers, since perhaps he conquers by wit.

For me the testimony of a few suffices, and I am content with the praise of friends, who in seeking out my little works, are moved by love of me and zeal for the Scriptures; and I suppose there will be some who will contend that this very discourse which I am addressing to you, Eustochium, lies open to detraction, not considering that Holda and Anna and Deborah prophesied while men kept silence: and that in the servitude of Christ the difference of sex avails nothing, but that of minds. The twelfth book, then, of the explanations on Isaiah will have this beginning.

(Verse 27. And following.) Why do you say, Jacob, and speak, Israel: My way is hidden from the Lord: and my judgment passes from my God? Do you not know, or have you not heard? The everlasting God, the Lord who created the ends of the earth, will not faint, neither will he labor, nor is there any searching out of his wisdom.

He gives strength to the weary: and to those who have no might he multiplies strength. Boys shall faint and shall labor, and young men shall fall by infirmity. But they who hope in the Lord shall renew their strength, shall take wings like eagles, they shall run, and not labor; they shall walk, and not faint. The Septuagint: For do not say, Jacob: and what have you spoken, Israel: My way is hidden from God, and my God has taken away my judgment, and has withdrawn: and now do you not know, and have you not heard? The eternal God, the God who created the ends of the earth: he shall not hunger, nor labor, nor is there any finding out of his understanding. Who gives strength to the hungry: and grief to those who are not grieving. For the young men shall hunger, and the youths shall labor, and the chosen shall be weak. But they who wait for God shall renew their strength.

They shall take wings as eagles: they shall run, and not labor: they shall walk, and not hunger. Since the greatness of Almighty God is so great that nothing escapes him, and all things are governed by his will, why do you say, Jacob—that is, the two tribes that were called Judah; and speak, Israel—the ten other tribes in Samaria, who have already been led captive into Assyria: My way is hidden from the Lord: and my judgment passes away from my God? And the sense is: You say that earthly things do not pertain to God, nor does he consider what each one of us does. Whence also we are unjustly oppressed by our enemies, and, according to Habakkuk, are destroyed like beasts and fishes without any ruler.

To whom God replies: Do you not know; have not the words of the preceding Scriptures taught you, or, according to the Septuagint, are you ignorant because you have not heard, that the eternal God and Creator and Lord of all knows all things, contains all things, dispenses all things by his majesty? Nor does he ever faint or labor, so that he should not understand your judgment, and your ways should be hidden from him? Nor is there, he says, any searching out of his wisdom, from which place I judge that saying of the Apostle to be taken: "His judgments are incomprehensible, and his ways unsearchable"; or, as the Septuagint translated, he shall not hunger, and shall not labor. For where there is food, there is often hunger, if you take away the food: and where there is hunger, there is also labor. But since these things are not in God, why do you attach human passions to him?

Rather he himself gives strength to the hungry and the weary, and to those who seem in the world to be as nothing he multiplies power and strength; or, according to the Septuagint, he who gives grief to those who are not grieving—for there is a sadness that leads to death, and there is a sadness that leads to life. Whence to those who have an impenitent heart, he gives sadness that they may understand their sins. And because many rejoice in bodily health, and think their youth and childhood to be everlasting, he adds and says that flourishing age quickly falls, and robust bodies wither. But they who place their confidence not in their own strength but in God, and who always await his mercy, renew their strength, and go from strength to strength: and take wings like eagles, and hear: "Your youth shall be renewed like the eagle's"; let them run to the Lord, and not grow weary in their desire for him; let them walk, and never faint.

We have often said that the old age of eagles grows young again by the changing of their feathers, and that they alone can gaze upon the brightness of the sun and behold the splendor of its rays with unflinching eyes: and they test by this experiment whether their young are of noble stock. So also do the saints become young again, and, by the assumption of an immortal body, do not feel the toil of mortals, but are caught up in the clouds to meet Christ, and, according to the Septuagint, do not hunger at all, because they have the present Lord as their food.

(Verses 1 seqq.) Let the islands keep silence before me, and let the peoples change their strength: let them come near, and then speak: let us come near together to judgment. Who raised up the just one from the East, called him to follow him?

He shall give the nations before his face, and shall make him rule over kings: he shall give them as dust to his sword, as stubble driven by the wind to his bow. He shall pursue them: he shall pass in peace, no path shall appear beneath his feet. Who hath wrought and done this, calling the generations from the beginning? I the Lord, I am the first and the last. The islands saw and feared: the ends of the earth were astonished, they drew near and came. Every one shall help his neighbour, and shall say to his brother, Be of good courage. The coppersmith encouraged, striking with the hammer him that forged then, saying, It is good for soldering: and he strengthened it with nails, that it should not be moved. The Septuagint: Be renewed unto me, O islands, for the princes shall change their strength: let them draw near, and speak together: then let them announce judgment. Who raised up righteousness from the East: called it to his feet, and it will go?

He shall give it before the nations, and shall put kings in amazement, and shall give their swords to the ground: and as stubble cast away shall their bows be: and he shall pursue them, the way of his feet shall pass in peace. Who hath wrought and done these things? He shall call it, who calls it from the beginning of generations. I, God, am the first, and in the things that are to come I am. The nations saw and feared: the ends of the earth were astonished and drew near: they came together, each one judging to help his neighbour and his brother: and he shall say: the artificer and the coppersmith prevailed, striking with the hammer, and forging it together; sometimes indeed he says, the joining is good. They strengthened it, they shall fasten it with nails: and it shall not be moved.

The nations, that is, the islands, which are beaten by the false and bitter waves of this age, are bidden to hear and to shut their mouths, and to know that which was said to Israel: Hear, O Israel, and be silent; and to change their strength, lest through their former weakness they be unable to hear the word of God, so that they may first draw near to the Lord, and that they be not content with their own salvation only; but that, having learned, they may teach others, and dispute with the Lord, whether the God of all has kept just dealings. Now he questions them thus, and provokes them to answer, that by his questioning he may teach what they do not know: Who raised up the just one, or justice, from the East? For he is not the God of the Jews only, but also of the Gentiles, who called Christ the Lord and Saviour, who was made unto us wisdom from God, and righteousness, and sanctification, and redemption.

In whom, according to the same Apostle, the righteousness of God is revealed. He called him that he might follow him in all things, and do the works of the Father; and fulfill that saying: O God, I have desired to do thy will. Before him kings and nations shall bow their necks, and hostile powers shall be laid low like stubble and dust before his sword and arrows. He shall pursue them, that is, the kings and princes of the several nations: And he shall pass in peace, calling all to peace, that they may be reconciled to God. No path shall appear beneath his feet, that is, he shall not feel the toil of the way, nor any weariness of human weakness; but he shall drink of the brook in the way, and therefore shall he lift up his head. Who, he says, has wrought and done this? Who raised up the just one, or justice? Who gave him nations and kings? Who subjected all things to his sword and his bow?

Surely he who from the beginning of the world foretold these things to come, who is the maker of all things. And because he had said in the manner of one inquiring: Who raised up the just one from the East, all being silent, he himself answers: I am the Lord, I am the first and the last. He it is who also speaks in the Apocalypse of John: I am Alpha and Omega, the beginning and the end. The islands saw, that is, the nations, or the Churches gathered from the nations, which endure the storms of this world; and they feared the Lord: For the fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom. All the ends of the earth trembled at the words of the Apostles, drawing near, and coming together to the Gospel of Christ.

And when they perceived that they themselves had been saved, they fulfilled by deed what they had heard above: let them draw near, and then speak; that they might help their neighbours, and wished to strengthen their brethren in the Lord, and say to them: Withdraw from idols, despise the ancient images of demons, which the hand of man has fashioned, which were produced by the striking of the hammer, which are joined with glue, which are fastened with nails, that they be not moved; and when they have stood, cannot walk.

These things, which we have interpreted concerning the person of Christ and the calling of the Gentiles and the preaching of the Gospel and the condemnation of idols, some refer to Cyrus, king of the Persians, saying that he was raised up against the Babylonians from the East, and made to obey his command, laying low many nations before him, and subjecting all things to his sword and bow: and they refer the rest that follows to his person, namely, that idols availed nothing to the Babylonians, which were made by human labour, and fashioned by the craft of the coppersmith.

Some of the Hebrews think it was said of Abraham, who was called just from the East, that is, from the Chaldeans, because he alone was found just; and that he followed him, going out from his country into a land which he knew not, and that he delivered kings into his hand, who had come against Sodom and Gomorrah; and that before his sword and bow he made them as stubble and dust; and that he pursued them, and returned in peace, and did not feel the course of a long journey, and that this he did not by his own strength, but by the mercy of the Lord, who knew from the beginning these things to come. The islands, he says, saw, that is, the nations round about, and were terrified by his power: and the ends of the earth.

Namely Shem the son of Noah, who at the last time of the earth had escaped the Flood with his father and his brothers; and had been kept until that time: whom they wish to be understood as Melchisedec, and to have come to meet Abraham returning from battle, and to have received him, and blessed him, and strengthened him with the blessings of God: and to be the very coppersmith who forged Abraham, and by the hammer of his craft brought him to better things: and to have said to him, It is good that you be glued and joined to him by the fear of the Lord. And he strengthened him, or fastened him with the nails of the Lord's precepts, that he might not be moved, but remain in his fear. (Verses 8 seqq.) But you, Israel my servant, Jacob whom I have chosen, the seed of Abraham my friend.

In whom I have taken hold of you from the ends of the earth, and called you from its remote parts, and said to you: You are my servant: I have chosen you, and have not cast you off. Fear not, for I am with you: turn not aside, for I am your God, I have strengthened you, and have helped you: and the right hand of my just one has upheld you. Behold, all who fight against you shall be confounded and put to shame: they shall be as if they were not: and the men that contend with you shall perish. You shall seek them, and shall not find them: the men that rebel against you shall be as if they were not: and as a thing consumed, the men that war against you. For I the Lord your God have taken hold of your hand, saying to you: Fear not, I have helped you. Fear not, you worm Jacob, you who are dead of Israel.

I have helped you, says the Lord: and your Redeemer is the Holy One of Israel. I have made you as a new threshing wain, having teeth like a saw. You shall thresh the mountains and break them small: and you shall make the hills as chaff. You shall fan them, and the wind shall carry them away, and the whirlwind shall scatter them: and you shall rejoice in the Lord, you shall be glad in the Holy One of Israel. The Septuagint: But you, Israel my child, Jacob whom I have chosen, the seed of Abraham whom I loved, whom I took from the ends of the earth, and called you from its heights, and said to you: You are my child: I have chosen you, and have not forsaken you. Fear not, for I am with you, that you err not; for I am your God who have strengthened you, and helped you, and confirmed you with my righteous right hand.

Behold, all your adversaries shall be confounded and put to shame: for they shall be as if they were not: and all your enemies shall perish. You shall seek them, and shall not find them, the men who rave against you. For they shall be as if they were not, and shall not be fighting against you. For I the Lord your God, who hold your right hand: who say to you, Fear not, Jacob, little Israel. I have helped you, says God, who redeem you, the Holy One of Israel. Behold, I have made you as new wheels of a threshing wain, in the manner of saws: and you shall thresh the mountains, and break the hills small: and you shall make them as dust and shall fan them, and the wind shall carry them away, and the tempest shall scatter them. But you shall rejoice in the Lord and in the Holy Ones of Israel. Paul the Apostle teaches that there is a carnal Jacob and Israel, and a spiritual one: Behold Israel according to the flesh.

From which we understand that there is another according to the spirit; and to the carnal is it said, Israel: If you were the children of Abraham, you would do the works of Abraham. To whom also above (on chap. 40:27) it is said: Why do you say, Jacob, and speak, Israel: My way is hidden from the Lord, and my judgment is passed over from my God? On the contrary, now God speaks to the spiritual Israel, who received the coming of his Lord, whom first he calls servant, then chosen, at the last the seed of Abraham. For at first we received the spirit of bondage in fear; and afterward, being chosen, we are joined into friendship with God.

After the calling of the Gentiles, therefore, when the islands saw and feared, the ends of the earth were astonished; they drew near and approached, the remnant are called, according to the election of grace, of whom the Gospel also writes: These twelve Jesus chose, whom he also named Apostles, who after the servitude of the pedagogy of the Law were chosen in the Gospel; and deserved to be the seed of Abraham the friend of God. For in him he took hold of them from the end of the earth, and called Israel from its remote borders out of all nations, gathering first the people of the Jews, of whom Paul the Apostle also says: It was necessary that the word should first be preached to you: but since you reject it, we turn to the Gentiles.

To you, therefore, who are both my servant and my chosen one, who are to preach among the Gentiles, and to endure very many persecutions, I say, fear not, for I am with you, to whom I speak in the Gospel: Behold, I am with you all days, even to the consummation of the age (Matt. Last, 20). Err not, nor turn aside from the truth, nor deceive yourself with false persuasion, that by your own strength, unskilled and bare, you penetrate the forest of the nations, and call the most savage peoples to gentleness. I am he who have strengthened you, and have helped you; and the right hand of my just one has upheld you, or protected you, that is, of the Lord Saviour, or my right hand, as the Septuagint translated. For behold your adversaries, the people of the Jews and all who fight against you, and your persecutors shall be turned to nothing, and you shall seek your adversaries, and shall not find them.

And the reason is given why he shall not find his adversaries: Because they shall be as if they were not. These adversaries are said to rave against the Apostles, or, according to the Hebrew, to be consumed. You should not fear for this reason, because I have taken hold of your hand, I who say to you, Fear not: I have helped you; fear not, you worm Jacob, you who are dead of Israel, or as the Septuagint has it, the very few of Israel. What we have set down, I have helped you: fear not, you worm Jacob, is not found in the Septuagint. Now the worm, which in Hebrew is called THOLATH (תולעת), is on account of its lowliness and contempt applied to the company of the Apostles, imitating the Saviour, who says in the psalm: I am a worm, and no man; the reproach of men, and the outcast of the people. For as the worm penetrates the earth, so the apostolic word penetrated the cities of the nations, and entered first into the hardest hearts.

And rightly are they called few of Israel, because in comparison with the whole world, very few of the Jewish nation believed, to whom the Lord speaks in the Gospel: Fear not, little flock. Or according to the Hebrew, dead of Israel, who with the Apostle say: I die daily. And elsewhere: I am crucified with Christ. Yet I live, now not I; but Christ lives in me. And what follows: I have made you as a new threshing wain, having teeth like a saw, signifies that the evangelical preaching crushes the hostile powers, and the spiritual wickedness that exalts itself against the knowledge of God: which, for the variety of their pride, are called mountains and hills. And these being removed, and scattered like a whirlwind, let Israel exult and rejoice in the Holy One of Israel.

We may also say that the man of the Church, having the teeth of evangelical preaching like a saw in a new wain, which works not at all in the oldness of the letter, but in the newness of the spirit, crushes the hardest hearts of unbelievers: separating the wheat from the chaff, and breaking small the mountains and hills, that is, all the leaders of heretics, who, being broken and crushed, are reduced to dust, and are shown to be nothing, so that they who had been badly gathered together may be divided for their own good. (Verses 17 seqq.) The needy and the poor seek waters, and there are none: their tongue has dried up with thirst. I the Lord will hear them: I the God of Israel will not forsake them. I will open rivers in the high hills, and fountains in the midst of the plains. I will make the wilderness into a pool of waters, and the impassable land into rivers of waters.

I will give in the wilderness the cedar, and the thorn, and the myrtle, and the olive tree. I will set in the desert the fir tree, the elm, and the box tree together: that they may see, and know, and consider, and understand together, that the hand of the Lord has done this, and the Holy One of Israel has created it. The Septuagint: And the poor and the needy shall rejoice: for they shall seek water, and there shall be none; their tongue has dried up for thirst. I the Lord God will hear them, I the God of Israel: and I will not forsake them: but I will open rivers on the mountains, and fountains in the midst of the plains: I will make the desert into marshes, and the thirsty land into watercourses.

I will set in the waterless land the cedar, and the box tree, and the myrtle, and the cypress, and the poplar: that they may see, and know, and consider, and understand together that the hand of the Lord has done these things, and the Holy One of Israel has shown it. The poor and needy people of the Gentiles, who had not the knowledge of the truth, seeks through various masters, and the diverse dogmas of philosophers, wholesome waters: and finds them not, because they are not; their tongue has dried up with thirst, without the Law and the Prophets. For according to the faith of the Gospel, she had spent all her substance upon physicians; and could not be freed from the blood of idolatry, and the blood of sacrifices. Therefore the Lord God of Israel did not utterly forsake them, nor suffer them to perish for ever; but he opened rivers on the high hills, or on the mountains, and fountains in the midst of the plains.

Which rivers took their beginning from that river of which it is read in the Psalms: The rushing of the river makes glad the city of God. And in another place: The river of God is full of water. Which waters and fountains flowed from that fountain, of which he speaks through Jeremiah: They have forsaken me, the fountain of living water. And above in this same Prophet it is said: They shall drink waters from the fountains of the Saviour. Of which also it is sung in the Psalms: Bless the Lord God from the fountains of Israel. And he made, he says, the desert into a pool of waters, and the impassable land into rivers of waters. Of which waters the Saviour also, in the Gospel, in mystical speech, said: He who shall drink of the water which I shall give him, shall not thirst for ever: but the water which I shall give him, shall become in him a fountain of water springing up into eternal life.

And again: If any man thirst, let him come to me and drink. He who shall drink of the water which I shall give him, out of his belly shall flow rivers of living water. Now this, says the Evangelist, he spoke of the Holy Spirit, which they who believed in him were to receive. Because, then, the multitude of the Church, once a desert, had been watered with living waters, therefore, according to the Septuagint, there arise in it the cedar, and the box tree, and the myrtle, and the cypress, and the poplar: according to the Hebrew, and the other translators, the cedar, the setta, and the myrtle, and the olive tree, and the fir, and the elm and the box together. These varieties of trees signify the diversity of spiritual grace. And since the nature of the others is known to all, let us explain only the Hebrew SETTA (שטה), which Theodotion translated as thorn.

It is a kind of tree growing in the wilderness, having the likeness of a white thorn; from which all the wood of the ark, and the instruments of the tabernacle were made, which are called Settim: which wood, being imperishable and very light, surpasses all woods, both in strength and in beauty, in solidity as well as in comeliness. But the cedar and cypress and myrtle are of the best odour, and imperishable. The elm also and the poplar, or box, are joined for the marrying of vines, or are most fit for various works. Now all these are set together in the wilderness, lest even one string of the Lord's harp, and any virtue of the graces, seem to be lacking to the Church.

That all may understand, and know together in mind, that the hand of the Lord has accomplished all these things, so that in the dryness of the nations streams of virtues might be found, and in a land once desert and full of saltiness, the cedar and the cypress and other trees might spring up, whose loftiness and summit, hastening toward the things of heaven, the wood of the olive tree, which is the nourishment of light and the rest of those who labour, might illuminate. (Verses 21 seqq.) Bring your cause near, says the Lord: bring forth, if you have anything, said the King of Jacob. Let them come near, and declare to us whatsoever shall come to pass: declare the former things, what they were: and we will set our heart, and shall know the latter end of them: and tell us the things that are to come. Show the things that are to come hereafter: and we shall know that you are gods.

Do good also, or do evil, if you can: and let us speak, and see together. Behold, you are of nothing, and your work of that which has no being: he that has chosen you is an abomination. The Septuagint: Your judgment draws near, says the Lord God: your counsels have come and drawn near, says the King of Jacob. Let them draw near and declare to us the things that shall come to pass: or tell the former things, what they were: and we will apply our mind: and we shall know what are the latter things. Tell us also the things to come, and declare the things that shall be in the last time: and we shall know that you are gods. Do good and do evil, and we shall marvel: and we shall see together whence you are, and whence is your work: they have chosen you out of the land of abominations.

As we have said above, there is a twofold Jacob and Israel, of those who believe not and of those who believe in the Lord the Saviour: so, the Gentiles being called, and rivers and fountains bursting forth in the desert once of the Church, and, in a wondrous manner, with a variety of trees luxuriant, all most abundantly fruitful, those who from the Gentiles refused to believe in Christ are summoned to judgment, that they may answer why they refused to see, and to know, and to consider, and to understand, that the hand of the Lord has done these things, and the Holy One of Israel has created all things. Let your idols, he says, come near, which you think to be most powerful. Or bring forth, if you have anything within you; and lay open your counsels, by what reasoning, by what sense you have refused to receive the manifest truth. And at the same time there is an apostrophe to the idols themselves, which are insensible, and possess neither the faculty of hearing nor of answering.

Tell us, he says, either the past or the future, and demonstrate your power by the outcome of events. Now this signifies that after the coming of Christ all idols fell silent: where is the Delphic Apollo, and Loxias, and the Delian, and the Clarian, and the other idols, promising knowledge of things to come, which deceived the most powerful kings? Why could they foretell nothing of Christ; nothing of his Apostles; nothing of the ruin and abolition of the temples? If then they could not foretell their own destruction, how could they announce things belonging to others, whether evil or good? But if anyone shall say that many things were foretold by idols, this must be known, that they always joined falsehood to truth, and so tempered their sayings, that whether good or evil should happen, either could be understood. As is that saying of Pyrrhus, king of the Epirotes:

I say that thou, son of Aeacus, canst conquer the Romans.

And of Croesus: Croesus, having crossed the Halys, will destroy great kingdoms. There is also another sign that idols are not gods, that they cannot do good, nor evil. Not that idols, or the demons dwelling beside idols, have not often done evil; but that unless power were granted to them by the Lord, they could not do this. Hence in the Gospel they beg to have power over the herd of swine. And in Job we read that, without the Lord's command, he (the Devil) was not able to destroy even the cattle and possessions of the holy man. Nor is this to be wondered at concerning God, since even the Apostle Paul hands over certain men to Satan, that they may learn not to blaspheme. Or this may be said, that mute images of men, and insensible, can neither do good nor evil, nor know things past or future, because they are made from nothing, and from that which is not, and that not so much they themselves, as he who worships them, is worthy of abomination.

For the idols of the nations are silver and gold, the works of men's hands. They have a mouth, and they shall not speak. How then can they know and announce things to come, or relate things past, and do good or evil, they who have neither the sense of men nor of brute animals? Nor does it matter of what material they seem to be made, since all things earthly are alike. (Verse 25 and following.) He has raised up one from the north, and he shall come from the rising of the sun: he shall call upon my name, and he shall bring magistrates as clay: and as a potter treading down the ground. Who has declared it from the beginning, that we may know: and from the beginning, that we may say: He is just. There is none announcing, nor foretelling, nor hearing your words. First to Sion he shall say: Behold, they are here, and to Jerusalem I will give one bringing good tidings.

And I looked, and there was none, not even one of these, that would take counsel: and being asked, would answer a word. Behold, all are unjust, and their works are vain: wind and empty are their images. LXX: But I have raised up him who is from the north, and who is from the rising of the sun: they shall be called by my name. Let princes come, and be as clay of the potter: and as a potter treading down clay, so shall you be trodden down. For who shall announce to you the things that are from the beginning, that we may know the things to come: and we shall say that it is true: there is none who foretells, nor who hears your words.

I will give the beginning to Sion: and I will comfort Jerusalem on the way: for of the nations there is none, and of their images there was none who announced: and if I shall ask them, whence are you, they will not answer me: for they are your makers, and they lead you astray in vain. He is still speaking against idols, and against those who, after the coming of Christ, would not leave them. And while they remain in error, he himself says that he has raised up from the north a people of the nations. For from the north evils shall be kindled upon all the inhabitants of the earth. And it is said to Jeremiah: What do you see, Jeremiah? And he answered: A seething pot: and its face is from the face of the north. But they are raised up from the north, that they may believe in him who has come from the rising of the sun. Of whom we read above: Who has raised up the just one, or justice, from the East?

And in another place: Behold a man, the East is his name. Who shall call them by my name, that having abandoned images, they may worship the one God. For he himself speaks in the Gospel: I have come in the name of my Father, and you have not received me: another will come in his own name, and him you will receive. He himself shall tread down princes and magistrates, and all the pride of the world, and they shall be made subject to him as clay to the potter, that he may make of them one vessel unto honor, another unto dishonor. These things which I say I have done, according to the prophetic custom, as though they were already past, or, according to Symmachus, I promise as future things, no demon nor idol can foretell. Whence all the oracles have fallen silent, because there is none who announces, none who hears, while the brute hearts of the nations have at length understood their own error, and abandoned their false prophecies.

And the Lord shall first speak to Sion, that is, to his Church, and shall say to her: Behold, your children are here, whom I have given you through my faith. But he signifies the Apostles, who preached the Gospel throughout the whole world. Sion and Jerusalem differ in name; but as there is one city, so there is one Church. Let all the nations, therefore, which follow the error of idols, be questioned by us, that they may answer whence they are. And this shall be the answer of all, that all follow vanity and winds, and worship the works of their own hands. Whatever we have said of idols and the nations, let us refer to the doctrines of perversity; and to their princes, the heresiarchs, that while Christ announces peace to the Church, and shows them the way of truth, they themselves follow error; and are compared to wind and whirlwind.

The Hebrews interpret "raised up from the north, and coming from the rising of the sun" as the Assyrian and the Persian, who came to Jerusalem, and trod down all her princes; and none of the idols which they worshipped knew that this was to come, except the Lord alone, who avenged them for their sins.

(Verse 1.) Seq.) Behold my servant, I will uphold him: my elect, in whom my soul is well pleased. I have given my spirit upon him: he shall bring forth judgment to the nations. He shall not cry, nor accept a person: nor shall his voice be heard abroad. A bruised reed he shall not break: and smoking flax he shall not quench: he shall bring forth judgment in truth. He shall not be sad, nor troublesome, until he set judgment in the earth: and the islands shall wait for his law. LXX: Jacob my servant, I will take him up: Israel my chosen, my soul has received him.

I have given my spirit upon him: he shall bring forth judgment to the nations: he shall not cry, nor let go: nor shall his voice be heard abroad. A broken reed he shall not break, and smoking flax he shall not quench: but he shall bring forth judgment in truth: he shall shine, and shall not be broken, until he set judgment upon the earth: and in his name shall the nations hope. Jacob and Israel are not found in the present chapter, since the Evangelist Matthew did not include them, following the Hebrew truth. We say this to shame those who despise our work. Of this matter we have discussed more fully in the little commentaries on Matthew, and in the book which we recently wrote to Algasia. And meanwhile it should be noted that where it is written of the choir of the Apostles, they are called both Jacob and Israel, and the seed of Abraham: to whom, as though men and servants, it is accordingly said: Fear not, worm Jacob, and you few in number, Israel.

But where the prophecy concerns Christ, it is read without Jacob and Israel: Behold my servant, I will uphold him; my elect, in whom my soul is well pleased. And in what follows: I have given you for a covenant of the people, for a light of the nations: to open the eyes of the blind, and to bring out the bound from their chains, and those who dwell in darkness from the house of the prison. Nor is it strange if he is called a servant, made of a woman, and made under the law; who, though he was in the form of God, humbled himself, taking the form of a servant, and being found in fashion as a man (Philipp. II). In whom the soul of God was well pleased, seeing in him all the virtues: nay rather, that he himself is the power and wisdom of God. I have given, he says, my spirit upon him: which descended in the form of a dove. He shall bring forth judgment to the nations, which before they knew not.

He shall not cry: for he shall be meek and gentle; and he shall not accept a person in judgment, or shall not lift up, it is understood, his voice on high. Or, according to Symmachus, he shall not be deceived, understanding all the snares of the devil: or, according to the LXX, he shall not abandon, namely, the people of the Jews, calling them to repentance. Nor shall his voice be heard abroad, for he did not preach the Gospel outside Galilee and Judea among other nations. But if we read that he was in the borders of Tyre and Sidon, or in the confines of Caesarea Philippi, which is now called Paneas: yet it must be known that it is not written that he entered those very cities. A bruised reed, or broken, he shall not break. For he shall be placable to all, and shall grant pardon to sinners, saying to the woman: Take courage, daughter, your sins are forgiven you.

And smoking flax, or as others have translated, dim and dark, he shall not quench: those who were near to being extinguished were preserved by the clemency of the Lord (which we have discussed concerning the Jews and the nations in the works mentioned above); but he shall judge all things with truth; fearing not at all the Scribes and Pharisees, whom he confidently called hypocrites (throughout). But what follows: He shall shine, and shall not be broken, until he set judgment upon the earth, the Evangelist Matthew did not include: whether the intervening words between judgment and judgment were removed by the error of a scribe. But it signifies that, rising again from the dead, he enlightened all men, nor was broken by death, until he set judgment upon the earth: who said in the Gospel: For judgment I have come into this world: that they who do not see may see, and they who see may become blind.

For which we have translated: He shall not be sad, nor troublesome; but shall preserve an equal countenance at all times: which they falsely boast of the philosopher Socrates, that he was never, beyond his wont, either sad or joyful. For which Aquila and Theodotion have translated: He shall not be darkened, and he shall not run, until he set judgment on the earth. And the sense is: no sadness of countenance shall deter him, nor shall he hasten to punishment, he who has reserved the truth of judgment for the last time. And what follows: and the islands shall wait for his law, the LXX have set forth more plainly: in his name shall the nations hope: those which in the Scriptures are called islands, because on every side they lie open to the incursions of persecutors. But let us understand his law, not that which was given through Moses, but the Gospel: For out of Sion shall go forth the law, and the word of the Lord from Jerusalem (Above, II).

Of which law Jeremiah also prophesies: Behold, the days come, says the Lord: and I will make a new covenant, not according to the covenant which I formerly made with their fathers. (Verses 5, 6 and following.) Thus says the Lord God: Creating the heavens, and stretching them out: establishing the earth, and the things that spring from it: giving breath to the people that are upon it, and spirit to those who tread upon it. I the Lord have called you in righteousness, and taken hold of your hand, and preserved you: and given you as a covenant of the people, for a light of the Gentiles. That you might open the eyes of the blind, and bring forth the bound out of confinement, those who sit in darkness out of the prison-house. I the Lord, this is my name; my glory I will not give to another, nor my praise to graven images.

The things that were first, behold they have come, and new things also I announce: before they arise I will make them heard by you. It was uncertain who had said before: Behold my servant, I will uphold him; my chosen one, in whom my soul is well pleased. I have put my spirit upon him; he shall bring forth judgment to the nations. For after the condemnation of idols a sudden statement had burst forth. Behold my servant, and the rest, which we have interpreted as spoken by the Person of the Father concerning Christ. And so, lest he leave it ambiguous who had said the foregoing things, he adds and says: Thus says the Lord God, creating the heavens, and stretching them out. Or, as the Septuagint translated: Who made the heaven, and fixed it fast.

Therefore the Creator and Lord of the universe himself promised the coming of his Christ—he who not only stretched out the heavens and fixed them fast, but also established the earth with its lofty mass, and all things that are born from it: so that his invisible things also might be seen, understood through the things that are made, and likewise his everlasting power and divinity. He who gave breath to all who dwell upon the earth, by the first law of mortals. For God breathed into the face of Adam the breath of life, and he became a living soul. But he gave spirit properly to those who tread upon the earth, and who subject the wisdom of the flesh to their own power.

He, then, whose praises are so great, spoke these things to him whose law the islands and the nations await: I the Lord have called you in righteousness—of whom he himself speaks in the Gospel, Righteous Father, the world has not known you; that he might be God not only of the Jews, but also of the Gentiles. And I have taken hold of your hand, because whatever the Son works, the Father works. And I have preserved you, who yourself preserve all things. And I have given you as a covenant to the people Israel, to whom I had before promised your coming. And as a light of the Gentiles, who were sitting in darkness and in the shadow of death, that you might open the eyes of the blind who before did not see God. And bring forth the bound out of confinement—for each one is bound by the cords of his own sins. And in the Gospel, him whom Satan had bound, the Lord loosed.

Those who sit in darkness out of the prison-house, who dwelt in the night and gloom of error. And when he adds: I the Lord, this is my name; my glory I will not give to another, this does not exclude the Son, to whom, when he says in the Gospel: Father, glorify me with the glory which I had with you before the world was, he himself answered: And I have glorified, and I will glorify. For he did not say: My glory I will give to no one—for if he had said that, he would have excluded the Son too—but, My glory I will not give to another, apart from you, to whom I have given it, to whom I am about to give it. Whence I greatly admire the precision of Holy Scripture, that all the Interpreters translated the word AHER (אחר) with one consonant voice, “another,” who in many other places are accustomed to differ.

But that we may know that by this statement the Son is not excluded, but idols, the following words attest: nor my praise to graven images. For which the Septuagint has: nor my powers to images. For since Christ is the power of God, and the wisdom of God, he contains within himself all the powers of the Father. There follows, The things that were first, behold they have come. And the sense is: The things I have spoken, which I promised through Moses and the Prophets, have all been fulfilled. But now I announce to you the Gospel, the calling of the Gentiles, the passion of Christ, the newness of faith: so that just as you see the former things fulfilled in fact, so also you may believe that the things I now promise are to come. (Vv. 10, 11 and following.) Sing to God a new song: his praise from the ends of the earth: you who go down to the sea, and its fullness; the islands and their inhabitants.

Let the desert lift up its voice, and its cities: Cedar shall dwell in its houses, praise, you inhabitants of the Rock, let them shout from the top of the mountains. They shall give glory to the Lord, and declare his praise in the islands. The Lord shall go forth as a mighty man, as a man of war he shall stir up zeal: he shall cry out, yea, roar; he shall prevail against his enemies. I have held my peace always, I have been silent, I have been patient: I will speak like a woman in labor: I will destroy and swallow up together. I will make the mountains and hills desolate, and dry up all their grass, and I will turn rivers into islands, and dry up the pools. And I will lead the blind by a way they know not, and I will make them walk in paths they know not. I will make darkness before them into light, and crooked things into straight.

These are the things I have done for them, and I have not forsaken them. They are turned back: let them be confounded with confusion who trust in the graven image, who say to the molten image: You are our gods. The Septuagint: Sing to the Lord a new song: his dominion is glorified, and his name from the uttermost part of the earth: they that go down to the sea and sail upon it, the islands and their inhabitants: let the desert rejoice, and its villages: the hamlets and inhabitants of Cedar. They that dwell in the Rock shall rejoice: they shall cry out from the top of the mountains. They shall give glory to God, they shall declare his mighty works in the islands. The Lord God of hosts shall go forth and shall crush war, he shall stir up zeal, and shall cry out against his enemies with strength. I have kept silence from the beginning, shall I always keep silence and endure?

Like a woman in labor I have acted patiently, I will burst forth and dry up together, I will lay waste the mountains and hills, and dry up all their grass. And I will turn rivers into islands, and dry up the marshes. And I will lead the blind by a way they knew not, and cause them to tread paths they were ignorant of; I will make darkness into light for them, and crooked things into straight. These things I will do for them, and I will not forsake them, but they themselves have turned back; be confounded with confusion, you who trust in graven images, who say to molten things: You are our gods.

He who had earlier said: “The former things, behold, they have come to pass; new things also I announce; before they arise, I will make them heard by you,” and had promised that he would declare something they did not know—what those new things are, he attests in the following discourse, instructing the Apostles and apostolic men to sing a new song, by no means in the oldness of the letter, but in the newness of the spirit. And not only in the Old Testament, but in the New; and let his praise penetrate even to the ends of the earth. For “his going forth is from the highest heaven, and his circuit unto the ends of it”. “Their sound has gone out into all the earth, and their words unto the ends of the world.” Or, according to the Septuagint: Glorify his name in the ends of the earth: that in the whole world the name of Christ may be announced to the nations.

But who these are who ought to sing the new song, the following words attest: “You who go down,” he says, “into the sea, and sail upon it,” or “the fullness of the sea.” For Jesus, seeing the Apostles on the shore by the Sea of Galilee mending their nets, called them and sent them into the great sea; that from fishermen of fish he might make fishers of men, who preached the Gospel from Jerusalem even to Illyricum and Spain, capturing in a short time even the power of the city of Rome itself. Or certainly they went down into the sea and sailed upon it, enduring the storms and persecutions of this age. By islands too and their inhabitants understand either the diversity of nations, or the multitude of Churches. “Let the desert,” he says, “and its cities lift up” their voice, of which we have spoken above. Or “let the desert rejoice and its villages,” and Cedar, which was once an uninhabitable region beyond the Arabia of the Saracens.

And the inhabitants of the Rock, which is itself also a city of Palestine. This signifies that the people of the nations, previously deserted of the knowledge of God and bound by the errors of idolatry, are converted to the praises of the Lord. Or because Cedar is interpreted “darkness,” and according to the Apostle the rock is Christ, it is commanded to all believers, that those who were formerly in darkness and now believe in the Lord Savior, should shout from the top of the mountains, and openly preach Christ, to whom it was also said above: “Go up upon a high mountain, you who bring good tidings to Zion. Lift up your voice with strength, you who bring good tidings to Jerusalem.” “And I will set his glory in the islands,” of which we spoke before.

And the prophetic discourse describes the glorious coming of the Savior, of which the Apostle Paul also speaks: “According to the illumination of the glory of the great God and our Savior Jesus Christ”; and he compares him to a most valiant man, who is about to fight against his adversaries, about to stir up zeal. Concerning which it was also prophesied in the Song of Deuteronomy: “They have made me jealous with that which is not God, and provoked me with their idols; and I will make them jealous with a nation that is not a nation, and I will provoke them with a foolish nation”.

He shall also cry out and shout against his enemies, openly reproving their unbelief, and pronouncing with a cry: “I have held my peace, I have always been silent, I have been patient,” or as the Septuagint translated: “I have kept silence, shall I always keep silence?” That what is said by Solomon may be fulfilled: “A time to keep silence, and a time to speak.” And the sense is: For a long time I have often borne with you sinning; but because I had been silent before, I will no longer be silent. And as a woman in labor brings forth into light an infant, and makes open what before was kept closed within the womb: so I will now bring forth my grief and the dissimulation which I have always had over your crimes, and I will scatter your counsels: and at one time I will swallow up the whole nation, and all the pride of the mountains and the swelling of your hills.

And the grass, of which it was said above: “Truly the people is grass,” that is, both the princes and the ignoble common people, I will reduce to a desert. What is added in the Septuagint from Theodotion's edition, who had passed over these words in silence. And when I have dried you up and destroyed you from head to foot, then I will make the rivers of my doctrine run in the islands of the nations, and I will reduce your pools or marshes to dryness, that among the nations there may be knowledge of the Scriptures, and among you the dryness of doctrine.

And I will lead the blind by a way which they did not know before, of whom we also read above: “I have given you for a covenant of the people, for a light of the Gentiles, to open the eyes of the blind.” These shall be led by the way of which Christ speaks: “I am the way,” or the way of the knowledge of God, and I will make them walk through the prophetic paths. Then their darkness shall be changed into light, and crooked things shall be turned into straight, that they may understand what they read, and with the eyes of the heart may behold the clear light of Christ in the Old Testament. And at the same time he adds: “These are the words which I have done,” or will do for them, promising nothing further to come; but rendering what he had promised before.

But while I say these things, the people of the Jews turned backward, so as not to believe the one promising, and to be confounded in their own errors, and to neglect the pledge of God, who had believed in idols before. Or, when the fullness of the Gentiles shall have entered in, then also the people of Israel shall be converted, and shall repent of its error, by which it had formerly served idols. Or certainly, after the calling of the nations, it will return to its beginning: so as to say, that all the nations who refused to believe the Gospel are to be confounded in their own idols. (Vv. 18, 19 and following.) Hear, you deaf, and look, you blind, that you may see. Who is blind, but my servant? And deaf, but he to whom I have sent my messengers? Who is blind, but he who is sold? And who is blind, but the servant of the Lord? You who see many things, will you not observe them?

You who have open ears, will you not hear? And the Lord was pleased that he should sanctify him, and magnify the law, and exalt it. But this people is plundered and laid waste: a snare for the young, all of them, and they are hidden in prison houses: they have become a prey, and there is none to deliver: for spoil, and there is none to say, Restore. Who among you will hear this, will attend and hearken to the things to come? Who gave Jacob for a spoil, and Israel to those who plunder him? Was it not the Lord himself, against whom we have sinned? And they would not walk in his ways, nor hear his law. And he poured out upon him the indignation of his fury, and a strong war: and he burned him round about, and he knew it not: and he set him on fire, and he understood it not. The Septuagint: Hear, you deaf, and look up, you blind, that you may see.

Who is blind, but my servants: and deaf, but those who rule over them? Who is blind (according to the Complutensian edition of the Septuagint) but he who has received: and the servants of God are blinded. You have seen often, and have not observed; your ears are open, and you have not heard. The Lord God was pleased that he should be justified, and magnify his praise. And I saw, and the people was laid waste and plundered. For a snare is everywhere in their lairs, and likewise in the houses, in which they hid them. They have become a spoil: and there was none to rescue the prey: and there was none to say, Restore. Who among you will hear these things, and know the things to come? Was it not God, against whom they have sinned? And you would not walk in his ways, nor hear his law.

And he brought upon them the anger of his fury: and war prevailed against them, and those who burned them round about: and no one understood, nor did they lay it to heart. Lest anyone should think that what is said, “Hear, you deaf, and look, you blind, that you may see,” pertains to the people of the nations, who had formerly been deaf and blind (as the Jews strive to prove by a foolish interpretation), the prophetic discourse itself shows who ought to be understood as the deaf and the blind. “Who,” he says, “is blind, but my servant: and deaf, but he to whom I have sent my messengers?” There is no doubt that he signifies the Prophets. Who is blind, but he who is sold to his own sins? Who is blind, but he who was formerly a servant of the Lord? To whom it is said: O Israel, who see many things, and have very many Prophets, through whom you may know the commands of God, will you not keep what has been commanded you?

You who have open ears, will you not hear what is said, of which we also read above: “Hearing you shall hear, and shall not understand: and seeing you shall behold, and shall not see: for the heart of this people is grown fat”. “The Lord,” he says, “was pleased that he should sanctify him, and magnify his Law,” and raise up and lift up the people who lay prostrate. But he was unwilling to do the will of God: and therefore he was plundered and laid waste by his adversaries, whom we ought to understand either as demons or as enemies. “A snare for the young, all of them, and they are hidden in prison houses.” Or as the Septuagint translated, “A snare everywhere in their lairs: and likewise in the houses, in which they hid them”: signifying the Scribes and Pharisees, who deceived the miserable people, and everywhere set snares against the Lord Savior and his Apostles: having the key of knowledge, neither entering themselves, nor allowing others who wished to enter.

And beautifully he called their breasts, in which the worst thoughts dwelt, prisons. Therefore they became a prey, and a spoil: nor was there any to free them, and to speak on their behalf. At the same time the Prophet exhorts them, that if all cannot hear, at least a few may know and understand the things to come, and by whom they have suffered these things. And let them recognize the causes of their desolation, they who were unwilling either to hear or to do what was commanded by the Law. Therefore the Lord poured out upon them all his wrath and the indignation full of fury, so that he who had before been silent should no longer keep silence, and should correct them not with words, but with punishments and torments, and that a most mighty war should seize them, which they could by no means escape, showing the ferocity of the Romans.

And though he be burned on every side, and have nothing sound in himself, yet he does not understand the cause of his punishment, that he was therefore punished because he did not receive the Son of God.

(Verses 1 and following.) And now thus says the Lord, who created you, Jacob, and formed you, Israel: Fear not, for I have redeemed you, and called you by your name: you are mine. When you shall pass through the water, I will be with you, and the rivers shall not cover you. When you shall walk in fire, you shall not be burned, and the flame shall not burn you: because I am the Lord your God, the Holy One of Israel, your Savior; I have given for your ransom Egypt, Ethiopia, and Saba in your stead. Since you have become honorable in my eyes and glorious: I have loved you, and I will give men for you, and peoples for your soul.

Fear not, for I am with you: from the East I will bring your seed, and from the West I will gather you. I will say to the North, give up: and to the South, do not withhold: bring my sons from afar, and my daughters from the end of the earth. And every one that calls upon my name, I have created him for my glory, and formed him, and made him. Bring forth the people that is blind, yet has eyes: that is deaf, yet has ears. All the nations are gathered together, and the tribes are assembled. Who among you shall declare this, and shall make us hear the things that are first? Let their witnesses come forth and be justified: and let them hear, and say: Truly you are my witnesses, says the Lord, and my servant whom I have chosen, that you may know and believe me, and understand that I am he. Before me there was no God formed: and after me there shall be none.

I am, I am the Lord, and there is no savior besides me. I have declared, and I have saved: I have made it heard, and there was no strange one among you. You are my witnesses, says the Lord, and I am God, and from the beginning I am he, and there is none that can deliver out of my hand: I will work, and who shall turn it back? LXX: And now thus says the Lord who made you, Jacob, and created you, Israel, Fear not, for I have redeemed you: I have called you by your name, you are mine: and if you shall pass through the water, I am with you, and the rivers shall not cover you. And if you shall pass through fire, you shall not be burned: the flame shall not scorch you: because I am the Lord your God, the Holy One of Israel, your Savior. I have made your exchange Egypt, and Ethiopia, and Syene for you.

Since you have become honorable, and have been glorified in my sight: and I have loved you, and I will give men for you, and princes for your head. I will say to the North, bring: and to the South, do not withhold: bring my sons from a far land, and my daughters from the ends of the earth, all who are called by my name: for I have created him for my glory, and formed him, and made him: and I have brought forth the people that is blind, who have eyes, and are blind, and whose ears are deaf. All the nations are gathered together, and their princes have come together. Who shall declare these things? Or the things that are from the beginning, who shall declare them to you? Let them bring forth their witnesses, and be justified, and let them hear and speak the truth.

Be witnesses to me, and I am witness, says the Lord God, and my servant whom I have chosen, that you may know and believe and understand that I am he: Before me there was no other God, and after me there shall be none. I am God, and there is no Savior besides me. I have declared, and I have made you safe: I have reproached, and there was no strange one among you. You are my witnesses, and I am the Lord God from the beginning, and there is none that can deliver out of my hands. I will act, and who shall turn it back? The Hebrews interpret these things of the second Advent of the Savior, when after the fullness of the nations all Israel shall be saved. But we by no means think that the promise is made to those of whom it was said above: Who is blind, but my servants, and who are deaf, but they that rule over them? And the servants of God have been blinded.

And again: The people has become wasted and plundered, and other such things. Finally he adds: He has poured out upon him the indignation of his fury, and a strong war: and it burned him round about, and he knew it not, and set him on fire, and he understood it not. Therefore, as we said above, there are two Jacobs, and two Israels, one carnal, the other spiritual—of those who would not believe in the Savior, and of those who received the Son of God: this too is now to be understood, that the choir of the Apostles is here called forth, and the first Church of Christ gathered from the people of the Jews, that it may know its Creator and maker, who is the founder both of its soul and of its body. Nor let it fear persecutors, since it has been redeemed by the blood of Christ, who has called it by his own name: and because of this familiarity specially calls it his own people; but let it preach unhesitatingly, and dread no perils.

And what follows—waters and rivers, and fire and flames—describes the onslaught and fury of persecutors, who envy the salvation of the nations, and are unwilling that the gospel word be preached. Although the Jews wish waters to be understood of the Egyptians, rivers of the Babylonians, fire of the Macedonians, flame of the Romans. He commands them not to fear for this reason, because the Lord God their Savior, and the Holy One of Israel, is with them, who made them to preach to Egypt, Ethiopia, and Syene, and to the farthest ends of the world. Instead of Syene, the other Translators put SABA, whence came the queen of the South, who came to hear the wisdom of Solomon. Wherefore the choir of the Apostles has become honorable in the sight of God, and beloved by him: and the salvation of all men and peoples, who through them have been called to the Gospel, shall be reckoned to the salvation of their souls.

Hence he adds and says: Fear not, I am with you, I who speak to you in the Gospel: Behold I am with you all days, even to the consummation of the world. For from the East and from the West I will bring your sons, who shall rest in the bosom of Abraham, and from all parts of the world a people of my sons and daughters shall be gathered, who either call upon my name, or are called by my name, that they may be called Christians unto the glory of their Founder. And what follows: Bring forth the people that is blind, yet has eyes; that is deaf, yet has ears—many think is said of the people of the nations, who through the teaching of the Apostles began to hear and to see. But let us also understand this of the scattered Israel, who was called through the Apostles, and first believed; to whom Paul also speaks: To you it was necessary that the word of God should first be preached.

And the Lord himself in the Gospel: Go to the lost sheep of the house of Israel. Then follows: All the nations are gathered together, and the tribes are assembled, that is, together with the people who believed from among the Jews, so that there be a double calling, of the circumcision and of the uncircumcision. But what is said, Bring forth, is spoken to the Son. Or, according to the LXX, the Father speaks concerning the Son, that he has brought forth his people, blind and deaf, and joined them to the nations, and made from them many rulers of the Church. And the prophet marvels that no one among the nations could have foreknown these things, nor known the counsels of God; but only his people who had received the Law, and had the prophets: For God is known in Judea; in Israel his name is great. Or God himself is the witness of his own words, and the doer, and his boy and servant whom he chose.

There is no doubt that he means Christ, of whom he also said above: It is a great thing for you to be called my servant. And all these things shall come to pass, that the truth may be preached to the world, and that they may know, and believe, and understand—those whose mind was formerly brutish and insensible—that besides the one God, there is no other God, neither before nor after. For the Maker of times has no beginning in time, since "at some time" is itself a term of time. And just as it is now said: I am witness, says the Lord God; and the boy whom I have chosen, the Lord himself saying this very thing in the Gospel: The testimony of two men is true. I am he who bears witness of myself, and he who sent me, the Father. So also is his divinity to be understood, that there is no God except him who speaks, and his boy whom he has chosen.

And beautifully, besides God the Father there is no other God: because Christ is the power of God, and the wisdom of God, who says in the Gospel: I am in the Father, and the Father is in me. For just as the one Lord Christ does not take away from the Father his being Lord: so the one God the Father does not take away from the Son his being God: he who in the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God: this was in the beginning with God. And what follows: And there is no Savior besides me, shows that in the Father the Son saves all things. Of whom the same prophet testifies: And the Lord shall send them a Savior, who shall save them. For God, wise and strong, cannot be without his own wisdom and power. Since therefore from the beginning I have foretold these things to come, there shall be none who can refuse my will; nay, none can make void what I shall have done.

These things indeed are said to Jacob and Israel, but they are referred to the apostolic choir and to all who from the people of the Jews shall be willing to believe in Christ. Verse 14. Thus says the Lord your redeemer, the Holy One of Israel. For your sake I have sent into Babylon, and brought down all the bars, and the Chaldeans glorying in their ships: I am the Lord your holy One, creating, Israel your king. LXX: Thus says the Lord God, who has redeemed you, the Holy One of Israel: For your sake I will send into Babylon, and I will rouse up all the fugitives, and the Chaldeans shall be bound in their ships. I am the Lord God, the Holy One of Israel, who have shown Israel your king.

According to the Hebrew, the prophetic word is still directed to Israel, saying that their redeemer the Lord, and the Holy One of Israel, has spoken these things to them: For your sake, who preach the Gospel with me, to whom I said above: Fear not, for I am with you, who are witnesses of my will, and announce my servant as another witness to an unbelieving world, none other than my Son, into Babylon and the confusion of this age. And I have brought down all its bars, which in Hebrew are called BARIHIM בריחים, which Theodotion translated as "the strong ones." And the Chaldeans, he says (understood ἀπὸ κοινοῦ, i.e. "brought down"), who gloried in their ships: namely, in those who tossed like ships among idols. Concerning the Chaldeans no one doubts that they signify demons. I the Lord have foretold these things to come, who am your Creator and King of Israel.

But according to the LXX the meaning is quite different: I the Lord, who have freed you from dangers, and the Holy One of Israel: for your sake I will send into Babylon the king of the Medes and Persians, and I will make its inhabitants flee: and the Chaldeans who had taken you captive shall be bound and carried across the Caspian Sea to other nations. I the Lord have decreed these things to come, who have shown that Israel shall be king of those who believe. (Verses 16, 17 and following.) Thus says the Lord, who gave a way in the sea, and a path in the raging waters. Who brought forth the chariot and the horse, the army and the strong: they lay down together, they shall not rise again; they are crushed, extinguished like flax. Remember not the former things, and consider not the things of old. Behold, I make new things, now they shall spring forth; surely you shall know them. I will make a way in the desert, and rivers in the wilderness.

The beast of the field shall glorify me, the dragons and the ostriches; because I have given waters in the desert, rivers in the wilderness, that I might give drink to my people, my chosen. This people have I formed for myself; they shall declare my praise. The Septuagint: Because thus says the Lord, who gives a way in the sea, and a path in the raging water. Who brings forth chariots and horses, and a very mighty multitude. But they have slept, and shall not rise again: they are extinguished like extinguished flax. Do not remember the former things, and do not think back on the old things. Behold I will make new things, which now shall spring forth, and you shall know them, and I will make a way in the desert, and rivers in the waterless place.

The beasts of the field shall bless me, the sirens and the daughters of ostriches, because I have given water in the desert, and rivers in the waterless place, that I might give drink to my chosen race, my people, whom I have acquired, that it may declare my mighty deeds. The Lord who destroyed and cast down Babylon, and dragged down its mightiest ones from their power, and made all the Chaldeans, who were sailing prosperously on the waves of this age, become captives: he himself, in the raging waters of the Red Sea, found a way, that his people, freed from Egypt, might pass through. Or, he who gave a way in the Red Sea, the same found a path also in the raging waters of the river Jordan, so that both the departure from Egypt and the entrance into the land of promise might have their miracle. He himself sank the chariots and horses and the whole army of Pharaoh in the deep, and they slept a perpetual sleep.

They are crushed and extinguished, like flax, in a brief space of time, in a point and a moment. For flax not yet caught by fire, because of the lightness of its substance, is at once extinguished and dissolves into ash. Therefore this I enjoin upon you, that among my signs and miracles, by which the most powerful city of Babylon was overthrown, and by which a way was opened for my people in the Red Sea and the Jordan, you should by no means remember the old things, since in the Gospel I am about to do things far greater; in comparison with which the past things ought to be kept silent. For no longer in the Red Sea, but in the desert of the whole world will I find a way. Nor will a single river, or spring, burst forth from the rock, but many rivers, which will refresh not bodies as before, but thirsting souls, and that may be fulfilled which we read above: You shall drink waters from the fountains of the Saviour (on chap.

XII, 3). Then that which has never been done will be done, that all the beasts and dragons, and ostriches who dwelt in the wilderness of the nations, and who were like beasts in the blood of idolatry and the savagery of their manners, shall glorify me and praise me together. Instead of "dragons," which alone Theodotion, as it is written in the Hebrew, called THANNIM (תנים), the rest have translated "sirens," monstrous animals, which by sweet and deadly song used to cast sailors down to be torn apart by Scylla's dogs. And this signifies that those formerly given over to pleasure and luxury are converted to the service of the Lord: although it is better to understand "dragons," since "ostriches" are joined with them, so that, since he was speaking once of the beasts of the wilderness, he set down these creatures which are familiar to the desert.

But he says they shall praise me, and the beasts of the field, and the dragons, and the ostriches shall glorify me, because I have given waters in the desert of the nations, and rivers in the dryness of the peoples, that my people, whom I have chosen for myself, might drink, or my chosen race, and the people whom I have acquired by my blood, that it may declare my praises and my mighty deeds. (Verses 22, 23 and following.) You have not called upon me, Jacob: neither have you labored for me, Israel. You have not offered me the ram of your holocaust, and with your victims you have not glorified me. I have not made you serve in offering, nor given you labor in incense. You have not bought me sweet cane with money, nor have you satisfied me with the fat of your victims. But you have made me serve in your sins: you have given me labor in your iniquities.

The Septuagint: I have not now called you, Jacob, nor have I made you labor, Israel. You have not brought me sheep for your holocaust: nor have you magnified me with your victims: nor have I made you serve with sacrifices, nor given you labor with incense, nor have you bought me incense with money, nor did I desire the fat of your victims, but in your sins I was offended by you, and in your iniquities. While the beasts of the field, the dragons and the ostriches, praise me, you, Jacob, have by no means been willing to call upon me, nor afterward to labor, that you might amend your sin by repentance. But as for what you suppose, that you offered me victims, and sacrificed rams, know that these were not accepted by me, because they were common to me and to idols alike. And he repeats that sense of which he had said above: To what purpose is the multitude of your sacrifices to me, says the Lord?

I am full of the holocaust of rams, and the fat of lambs, and I do not desire the blood of bullocks and goats. For I have not, he says, required of you anything costly: as though I made you labor in gardens for it. I have not demanded offerings from you, nor sought incense: not cane, nor incense, and the various perfumes of every kind, with whose smoke you might satisfy and gratify me. But obedience, which is above sacrifice: and the sacrifice of which David speaks in the Psalms: A sacrifice to God is a troubled spirit: a contrite and humbled heart God does not despise—that I wanted, that I sought. But you have made me serve and labor in your sins, so that I was compelled to say: I have labored bearing with you; and I can no longer bear you. Whence also through Hosea God speaks the same: What shall I do to you, Ephraim: shall I protect you, Israel? What shall I do to you? As Adamah shall I make you, and as Zeboim?

But what the Septuagint have put, "but in your sins I defended you, and in your iniquities," can be joined to what precedes in this way, that it is the labor of God, and his weariness, to defend sinners. (Verses 25, 26 and following.) I am, I am he, who blots out your iniquities for my own sake, and I will not remember your sins. Bring me to remembrance, that we may be judged together: tell if you have anything, that you may be justified. Your first father sinned, and your interpreters have transgressed against me. And I have profaned the holy princes, I have given Jacob to utter destruction, and Israel to reproach. The Septuagint: I am, I am he who blots out your iniquities, and I will not remember. But do you remember, and let us be judged. Do you first declare your iniquities, that you may be justified. Your fathers sinned, and your princes dealt wickedly against me, and they defiled my holy princes. And I have given Jacob up to destruction, and Israel to reproach.

You, he says, Jacob and Israel, have made me labor in your sins, and I have scarcely been able to bear the burdens of your iniquities—you whom I by no means call my servants or my children, but call by the simple name of Jacob and Israel, that I may show and reprove sinners. But I, for my own sake, because I am merciful and patient, and of many mercies, will blot out all your iniquities in the sprinkling and blood of the New Testament: I will blot out the old handwriting that was written against you; and I will no longer remember your sins, which, if you are willing to believe, I am about to forgive in baptism. Bring me therefore to remembrance: if you have anything just to answer me, I will gladly accept it: that we may be judged together, and you may prove that I have not done for you what I ought to have done.

This same sense we read more fully in Micah: My people, what have I done to you, and in what have I wearied you? Answer me: for I brought you out of the land of Egypt, and freed you from the house of bondage, and sent before your face Moses and Aaron and Miriam. And in the fiftieth psalm David speaks to God: That you may be justified in your words, and may overcome when you are judged. Tell then if you have anything, that you may be justified. And the sense is: I will not speak first against you, lest you should say that you are overwhelmed by a multitude of words; but if you have anything just, speak for yourself; that you may be seen to be enduring these things which you suffer, undeservedly.

And that you may know that I have pity on you, not for your merit, but because of my clemency, I will trace it back from your fathers and ancestors, that you may understand that you were begotten of sinners: Your father sinned first in the wilderness: that is, the whole people of Israel. Or the author of your race, Abraham, is convicted of having sinned, when the Lord promised the land of promise to his seed, and he answered: Whereby shall I know that I shall possess it? And your interpreters, he says, have transgressed against me: Aaron and Moses at the water of contradiction, who spoke as mediators between me and you. And that we may understand this is not a forced interpretation, there follows: And I have profaned the holy princes, of whom it is also sung in the psalm: Their judges were swallowed up beside the rock. Whom he says he profaned for this reason, that they did not enter the land of promise.

And I have given Jacob to utter destruction, and Israel to reproach; so that none, except two of those who had come out of Egypt, entered into Judea: but their bodies lay in the wilderness. According to the Septuagint, who added of their own: Do you first declare your iniquities, that you may be justified, God calls them to repentance, that they may understand their crimes and sins, and obtain pardon. For it is written also in another place: The just man is his own accuser at the beginning of his speech. And their princes and fathers are said to have violated the Lord's holy things, not serving the Law of God, but seeking after the traditions and commandments of men: because of whom Jacob perished, and Israel was given up to reproach, cast out of his own land, and made an exile and pilgrim of the whole world.

(Verses 1 ff.) And now hear, Jacob my servant, and Israel whom I have chosen.

Thus says the Lord, who made and formed you from the womb, your helper. Fear not, my servant Jacob, and Most Upright whom I have chosen. For I will pour out waters upon the thirsty one, and streams upon the dry ground: I will pour out my spirit upon your seed, and my blessing upon your offspring. And they shall spring up among the grass, like willows beside the flowing waters. This one will say, I am the Lord's: and that one will call upon the name of Jacob, and this one will write with his own hand, To the Lord: and shall be surnamed by the name of Israel. The Seventy: But now hear, Jacob my child, and Israel whom I have chosen. I am the Lord God, who made you, and formed you from the womb, you shall still have help.

Fear not, my child Jacob, and beloved Israel whom I have chosen, still I will give water in thirst to those who walk in the waterless place: I will put my spirit upon your seed, and my blessings upon your children. And they shall spring up as grass in the midst of water, and like a willow beside the flowing waters. This one will say, I am God's: this one will cry aloud in the name of Jacob. And another will write on his hand, I am God's, and shall cry aloud in the name of Israel. Where the people of the Jews is accused for unbelief and blasphemy, it is called by bare names, without any dignity of title: You have not called upon me, Jacob, nor have you labored for me, Israel; and again: I have given Jacob to utter destruction, and Israel to reproach (Above, XLIII, 22, 28). But where he addresses the company of the Apostles, who are from the Jews, the privileges of the names are joined together as well.

Hear, Jacob my servant, and Israel whom I have chosen: so that the first is servitude, the second election. Thus says the Lord, your maker and former, who helped you from the womb (Genesis XXV): so that while still in your mother's womb you seized your brother's heel. Or who, in the beginning of the rising Church, preserved you from persecutors. Fear not their cruelty, my servant Jacob, and Most Upright whom I have chosen. By another name he calls him Israel; for ISURUN (ישרון) is a Hebrew word, which the rest have interpreted εὐθύτατον, or εὐθῆ, that is, "most upright," or "upright"; the Seventy alone have rendered it "most beloved," adding of their own, Israel. For properly, according to the Hebrews and the faithfulness of the letters, ISRAEL (ישראל) is called "the upright one of God." Now a man seeing God is not in the elements, but in the sound of the voice. Whence also the book of Genesis is called εὐθής, that is, "of the just," Abraham, Isaac, and Israel.

Fear not, therefore, Jacob and Israel, for I will pour out waters upon the thirsty and dry ground, of which it has often been spoken: And I will pour out, or place, my spirit upon your seed, and my blessing upon your offspring, which shall be reborn from water and the Holy Spirit in baptism. Which also the Savior promised in the Gospel, saying: If anyone thirst, let him come to me and drink. And immediately it is added: But this he said concerning the Holy Spirit, whom those believing were to receive. He also compares those reborn in baptism to green grasses, and to the willow which grows beside flowing waters: and it bears fruit contrary to the nature of things, for it was formerly barren, or its seed, taken as food, makes barren. Which indeed is read in the first psalm: And he shall be like a tree that is planted beside the courses of waters, which shall give its fruit in its season, and its leaf shall not fall off.

Others understand a twofold calling among the grasses and the reborn willows: so that the people of the nations are in the grasses; in the willows, those who believed from Israel. At the same time he describes the variety of believers: One will say, I am the Lord's, who trusts that the works of righteousness are in him: another will call, understood, sinners to repentance in the name of Jacob; so that they too may trip up vices and sins. Another will write with his own hand, I am God's. Or as the Seventy translated, he will write on his hand, I am God's; so that by a new novitiate of servitude he may glory in being a soldier of Christ. And shall be surnamed by the name of Israel.

For not all from Israel, but a great part from the multitude of the nations, shall be surnamed by the name of Israel: so that it may receive the Law and the Prophets, and all the graces of the Holy Spirit, which were promised to the people Israel. (Verses 6 and following.) Thus says the Lord, the king of Israel, and his redeemer the Lord of hosts: I am the first and I am the last, and besides me there is no God. Who is like me? Let him call and announce, and set forth the order to me, from the time that I established the ancient people: let them announce to them the things that are to come and that shall be. Do not fear, neither be troubled: from that time I made you hear, and announced it: you are my witnesses. Is there a God besides me, and a maker whom I have not known? The makers of an idol are all nothing, and the things most dear to them shall not profit them.

They are their own witnesses, because they do not see, nor understand, that they may be confounded. Who has formed a God, and cast a graven image profitable for nothing? Behold, all its partakers shall be confounded: for the craftsmen are but men: they shall all assemble, they shall stand, and be afraid, and be confounded together. The blacksmith has worked with a file: he has formed it among the coals and with hammers, and has worked with the strength of his arm. He shall hunger, and faint, he shall not drink water, and shall be weary. The carpenter has stretched out the rule, he has formed it with the plane: he has made it with the corners, and turned it with the compass; and has made the image of a man, as a beautiful man dwelling in a house. He has cut down cedars, taken the holm-oak and the oak, which had stood among the trees of the forest.

He has planted a pine, which the rain nourished: and it became fuel for men: he took of it, and warmed himself: he kindled it, and baked bread. But of the rest he made a god, and worshipped it: he made a graven thing, and bowed down before it. Part of it he burned with fire, and of the midst thereof he ate flesh. He cooked pottage, and was satisfied, and was warmed, and said: Aha, I am warm, I have seen the fire. But the rest of it he made into a god, and a graven image for himself: he bows down before it, and worships it, and entreats it, saying: Deliver me, for you are my god. They have not known, nor understood: for they are blinded, that their eyes may not see, that they may not understand with their heart.

They do not reflect in their mind, neither do they know nor perceive, so as to say: I have burned part of it with fire, and have baked bread upon its coals, I have cooked flesh, and eaten, and of the rest thereof shall I make an idol? Shall I fall down before the trunk of a tree? A part of it is ashes: his foolish heart has worshipped it: and he has not delivered his soul, nor will he say, perhaps there is a lie in my right hand.

After the preaching of the Apostles, the calling of the Gentiles, the coming of the Savior, and the outpouring of the Holy Spirit, which he promised he would give to all who believe, when, according to the variety of merits, one shall say, I am the Lord's; another shall call himself by the name of Jacob; another shall write with his own hand that he belongs to the Lord, and though he arose from the unbelieving crowd of the Gentiles, shall in name be likened to Israel, so that, having abandoned idols, he may be a worshipper of the one God: here begins another περικοπή (pericope), which we have set forth all together, lest we divide the continuity of a single sense. And because the Septuagint in this chapter, apart from a few words, does not disagree with the Hebrew, we are content with our own edition, understanding which, the others also will be known.

Now this is a discourse against the idolaters of that time, when the prophet Isaiah was announcing to the peoples the things to come, and he rebukes those who, having despised the religion of the omnipotent God, bow down to wooden images, and worship the works of their own hands. Let us then run through each point. Thus says the Lord, king of Israel, who is to believe in me, and his redeemer, who shall receive the coming of my Son: the Lord of hosts and of powers, and the Almighty. For this is what SABAOTH means in Hebrew. I am the first, and I am the last, I am Alpha and Omega; and besides me there is no God, because the child whom I have chosen, is God in me. Of whom I said above: Behold my servant, whom I have chosen: my elect, whom my soul has received: he shall bring forth judgment to the Gentiles: and in his name shall the Gentiles hope.

Nor does he say that he alone exists, but, besides his own power and wisdom, that there is no other, external God, condemning the opinion of many gods, and their images: Who, he says, is like me? Let him call the things that are not as though they were, and set forth the order of my creation, I who have weighed all things by reason, from the time I made man upon the earth. Nor do I wish this alone, but I seek also the knowledge of things to come. Whence do you, Israel, whose king and redeemer I am, not fear the images, which you have learned on Mount Sinai to be nothing? Or is there perhaps another Creator, whom I have not known? Or besides this one is there another world, which might show forth the power of an unknown God? Nor indeed shall those things alone which are made, but also they who make them, be held for nothing.

And when the time of vengeance shall come, in no way will the works of their hands be able to deliver them, works which, blind and senseless, confound their own makers. For who could believe this, that a God is formed by adze, file, and awl and hammer? And that images are either cast among the coals; or that by rule, plane, and corners, and compass, they suddenly rise up into gods? Especially since by the hunger and thirst of the craftsman the cheapness of the art is shown. For a wooden statue is made, expressing human form, and the more beautiful it is, the more constrained is thought to be the god. It is placed in a shrine, and shut up in an eternal prison—that which for a long time grew in the woods, and, according to the variety of trees, was cedar, or holm-oak, or oak, or pine.

And in a wondrous manner its cuttings and shavings are thrown into the fire, to warm the maker of the god, and to cook various dishes: but the other part is formed into a god, so that, the work being finished, its maker may worship it, and beg the help of his own work; nor does he understand or reflect, indeed he does not perceive with the eyes either of flesh or of mind, that that cannot be God a part of which has been burned by fire: nor that divine majesty can be made by the hand of man. And the prophetic discourse is more fully woven together concerning the derision of idols, matters which are of easy understanding, and require no elaborate, indeed no superfluous exposition. Concerning which also Flaccus writes in a Satire, mocking the images of the Gentiles (Satire VIII, Book I).

Once I was a fig-tree trunk, useless wood: When the craftsman, uncertain whether to make a bench or a Priapus, Preferred that I be a god: thence I became a god, of thieves and birds The greatest terror [lacuna] Whatever, moreover, has been said concerning idols, can be applied also to the leaders of heresies, who fashion with crafty heart the images of their doctrines and of falsehood, and venerate the things which they themselves know to be counterfeit. Nor is their own error enough for them, unless they have deceived also the simple among them into worship.

Who think piety to be a means of gain, and devour the houses of widows, and abusing the ignorance of the common people, form their god by dialectical art, as though by adze and awl, file and plane, and forge him with a hammer, and gild him with the charm of rhetorical speech: whose god is the belly, and whose glory is in their shame. (Verses 21 and following.) Remember these things, Jacob, and Israel, for you are my servant: I have formed you, you are my servant, Israel, do not forget me. I have blotted out your iniquities like a cloud, and your sins like a mist. Return to me, for I have redeemed you. Praise, O heavens, for the Lord has done it: shout for joy, ends of the earth, resound, mountains, in praise, the forest, and every tree therein: for the Lord has redeemed Jacob, and Israel shall glory. The Seventy: Remember these things, Jacob and Israel, for you are my child: I have formed you, my child: and you, Israel, do not forget me.

For behold, I have blotted out your iniquities like a cloud, and your sins like a mist. Return to me, and I will redeem you. Rejoice, O heavens, for God has had mercy on Israel. Sound the trumpet, foundations of the earth, cry out, mountains, in gladness: hills and all the trees that are in them, for God has redeemed Jacob: and Israel shall be renowned. Since these things are so, and you know that the idols of men are but figments, O Jacob, and my child Israel, do not forget your Creator, nor do injury to yourself, by bowing down to the work of your own hands. Which, because at the coming of my child whom I have chosen they are utterly to be destroyed; therefore know with the whole eagerness of your mind, that just as cloud and mist and fog are either dissolved by the heat of the sun, or thinned by the carrying wind: so I will cause your iniquities, and all your sins, by which you had formerly offended me, to be dissolved.

Only return to me, and do penance, for you are to be redeemed by precious blood. And if you do this, know that in your salvation the heavens and the earth rejoice, and all the elements sing together. Whether the angels who dwell in the heavens, and other powers, by whom the foundations of the earth are borne. Or indeed the Apostles and Prophets, of whom the Apostle also spoke: Built upon the foundation of the Apostles and Prophets. The mountains too and forests, or the hills, which according to the variety of virtues have held the first, the middle, and the last places, are bidden to shout for joy, and to sound the trumpet, knowing that the Lord has redeemed Jacob, and rejoices in the conversion of Israel, or that Israel himself, converted from error, becomes renowned. (Verses 24 ff.) Thus says the Lord your redeemer, and he who formed you from the womb: I am the Lord who makes all things, who alone stretches out the heavens, who establishes the earth, and there is none with me.

Making void the signs of diviners, and turning soothsayers into madness; turning the wise backward, and making their knowledge foolish. Raising up the word of his servant, and fulfilling the counsel of his messengers. Who say to Jerusalem: You shall be inhabited, and to the cities of Judah: You shall be built, and I will raise up her deserts. Who say to the deep: Be desolate, and I will dry up your rivers. Who say to Cyrus: You are my shepherd, and you shall fulfill all my will. Who say to Jerusalem: You shall be built; and to the temple: You shall be founded. LXX: Thus says the Lord who redeemed you, and who formed you from the womb. I am the Lord who fulfills all things: I alone stretched out the heaven, and established the earth. Who else has scattered the signs of pythons, and divinations of the heart? I who turn the prudent backward, and make their counsel foolish. And I establish the word of my servant, and I prove true the counsel of his angels.

Who say to Jerusalem, you shall be inhabited; and to the cities of Judah: you shall be built, and her deserts shall rise. Who say to the abyss: You shall be laid waste, and I will dry up your rivers. Who say to Cyrus, that he should have wisdom, and do all my wills; who say to Jerusalem, you shall be built: and I will found my holy house. When the idols and iniquities of Israel are destroyed and sins are blotted out, when all creation together shall rejoice; and according to the faith of the Gospel, the angels in heaven shall rejoice over the repentance of sinners, the power of God is described, that it is by no means a great thing for him to redeem Jacob, and to restore an upright heart to Israel, whom he formed from the womb. And if this seems no small thing to anyone, it should not be difficult for him who alone stretched out the heavens. As is read elsewhere: Who stretches out the heaven like a skin.

Not that the Son is excluded from the stretching out of the heavens; for all things were made through him, and without him was made nothing that was made, but so that, as we have often said, idols may be excluded by this statement. For also in the Proverbs of Solomon, in the person of Christ, the power of God and the wisdom of God, it is said: When he prepared the heaven, I was with him. For he himself spoke, and they were made; he himself commanded, and they were created; and: By the word of the Lord the heavens were established, and by the spirit of his mouth all their power. We insist frequently on these things, lest any occasion for blaspheming Christ be left to heretics. In the stability of the earth also, when he was making firm its foundations, there was no one with God except him who was in him.

This one, then, so great and such, when the appointed time of the mystery shall come, that all idols be destroyed, and the knowledge of God alone be proclaimed in the world, will destroy and overthrow all the prophecies of diviners, and the signs and portents of pythons, by which they deceived the human race; and he will show the wisdom of the philosophers, which is itself a very great part of error, to be foolish: since they are proved by no means to have comprehended the wisdom of God by human reasonings. He will also fulfill in deeds the word of his servant, or of his child, of whom we have spoken above, and the counsel of his messengers: namely, of the Apostles and of all teachers, who will announce to the nations the will of their master.

He, therefore, who is to do such great things, whose power I have described in a brief statement, now also says to Jerusalem, which is to be destroyed by the Babylonians, before it is destroyed, that it will again be inhabited by peoples: and to the cities of Judah, that they will be restored, and he will also raise up her wastelands, that all things may be filled with inhabitants. He, therefore, who says to Jerusalem and Judea and her deserts, that they shall be inhabited and built and raised up, this same one says to the deep or abyss, that is, to Babylon: Be desolate, and I will dry up your rivers, that is, the whole power of kings. Or because he had said "deep" and "abyss," he rightly, by transference, also placed "rivers," concerning which the Psalmist also sings: By the rivers of Babylon there we sat and wept. And he who restores Jerusalem also destroys Babylon.

He also says to Cyrus, king of the Persians, who was the first to destroy Babylon and the Chaldeans: You are my shepherd, or as the Seventy translated, that he may have understanding. The reason for this difference is clear. For the Hebrew word ROI, if we read it with the letter RES (רעי), is understood as "my shepherd"; if with DALETH (רעי), "my knowing one" or "my understanding one," letters whose similarity is distinguished by a small mark, and by this are often confused. It is written at the beginning of Ezra, that by the edict of Cyrus king of the Persians and Medes, the captivity of the people of Israel was loosed, and those who wished to return to Jerusalem were sent back under Zerubbabel son of Shealtiel, and Jesus son of Jehozadak the high priest. For the Lord inspired him to do his will, and to fulfill his precepts. And he significantly added, who say to Jerusalem, you shall be built, and to the Temple, you shall be founded.

For under Cyrus it was commanded that Jerusalem and the Temple be built, of which only the foundations were laid during his lifetime. But under Darius, in his second year, when Haggai and Zechariah were prophesying, the Temple began to be built.

(Verse 1.) Thus says the Lord to my Christ Cyrus, whose right hand I have grasped, that I may subdue nations before his face, and turn the backs of kings, and open before him the gates: and the gates shall not be closed. I will go before you, and I will humble the glorious ones of the earth: I will break in pieces the gates of bronze, and cut asunder the bars of iron. And I will give you hidden treasures, and the secret things of mysteries: that you may know that I am the Lord, who calls your name, the God of Israel. For the sake of my servant Jacob, and Israel my elect, I have called you by your name: I have likened you, and you have not known me.

I am the Lord, and there is none other: besides me there is no God: I girded you, and you did not know me. That they may know, those from the rising of the sun, and those from the west, that there is none besides me. I am the Lord, and there is no other. Forming light, and creating darkness: making peace, and creating evil. I am the Lord who does all these things. I know that in this chapter not only many Latins, but very many Greeks, err greatly, thinking it is written: Thus says the Lord to my Christ, the Lord; so that it should be understood according to what we read elsewhere: The Lord rained from the Lord. And: The Lord said to my Lord. For it is not κυρίῳ, which sounds like "Lord," but Cyrus is said, who is called in Hebrew CHORES (כורש), king of the Persians, who conquered Babylon and the Chaldeans. And having joined the Medes, the driver of a two-yoked team, that is, of camel and ass, is read above.

This one is called Christ, that is, anointed of the Lord, which was among the Hebrews the mark of royal power, just as among us the diadem and purple are given only to emperors: so among the Hebrews those who were to reign were anointed with oil. Whence also Saul is called Christ of the Lord. And in the Psalms we read: Touch not my anointed ones: and do no evil to my prophets. His right hand he grasped and held, so that none could resist his strength. Let us read the history of the elder Cyrus in the eight books of Xenophon, and we shall see the prophecy of Isaiah fulfilled. For what city did not lie open to him? What did not subject the backs of kings? What walls, previously impregnable, were not overthrown by his siege?

Whence God makes an apostrophe to Cyrus himself: I have given you treasures, and the hidden riches of all cities; that you, who before worshipped idols, might perceive by these benefits the one God, especially since you know that your name was foretold long before you were born. This indeed Josephus also relates in the eleventh book of the Jewish Antiquities, that Cyrus read that Isaiah had certainly prophesied of him by name, and therefore loved the Jews exceedingly as being God's own household. But these things, he says, I have granted to you for the sake of Jacob my servant, and Israel my elect, and I have called you by your name, as I called Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob; and long before I foretold it, as I did Isaac and Josiah: lest you should be thought to be that Christ, to whom you are likened, and whose type and image you have prefigured. But you have not known me, that is, you have worshipped idols, not God.

I have girded you with strength; I have made you victor over many nations, and you have not known your helper. At this point I cannot sufficiently marvel at the folly of those readers who refer these things to Christ, through whom the world was reconciled to God. I, he says, am the Lord, and there is none besides me. For apart from my word and reason and power and the wisdom that is in me, there is no other God. And I have done these things, that from East to West the whole world may know that there is no other God besides me. For the Father is in the Son, and the Son is in the Father. He who says in the Gospel: I and the Father are one. And it is set down in the book of Ezra, that Cyrus wrote to all nations that there is no God except the God of Israel alone.

Or it is to be understood thus, that the release of the captives, and the mercy of God toward his people, made God better known to all nations. He, therefore, who gave you strength, and who alone am God, myself do things contrary to one another, light and darkness, that is, day and night: peace and evil, that is, quiet and war, by which he signifies both that he was angry with his people, when they endured the darkness of captivity and the evils of servitude, and again that he was merciful, when, released to their homeland, they received peace and joy. For just as darkness is contrary to light, so war is contrary to peace. Whence let that heresy be confounded which makes God the author of evils by decision, since here "evil" is set not as the contrary of good, but for affliction and war, according to what is written in the Gospel: Sufficient for the day is its own evil.

We can also say these things tropologically of the ecclesiastical man, to whom God has given speech and wisdom, that by his disputation he may overthrow all sects contrary to the truth. As sacred Scripture also records of Stephen, that no one was able to resist his wisdom, and that he might subject to his power the kings, that is, the patriarchs of each heresy: and open and break in pieces what before seemed closed by dialectical art: and bring forth into the open the secrets of the heretics, overcoming and convicting them, that they might know the mysteries of Christ, in whom are hidden all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge. Such a man God calls by his own name, because he is the defender of his child Jacob, and of his elect Israel.

This one he receives, and likens to his own word, who ought to take care lest he think what he speaks is his own, but refer all things to the glory of the giver; lest he too deserve to hear: I girded you, and you did not know me. For when, equipped with the armor of the Apostle, he has taught all that there is no other God but one, who is the God of Jacob and Israel: Marcion will be confounded, who understands two gods, one good, and the other just; one the maker of invisible things, the other of visible things. Of whom the former makes light, the latter darkness; the one peace, the other evil: whereas one and the same God has created both, according to the diversity of merits.

Many mishaps oppress sailors. If a stronger wind blows, the tempest is a source of dread. If a more moderate breeze ripples the topmost surface of the resting element, they fear the ambushes of pirates. And so it happens that, the fragile timber of the soul being entrusted to it, they either fear the danger, or endure it: of which each is more grievous than the other, either to fear death perpetually, or to endure what you have feared. This I see happening to me, sailing on the sea of Isaiah; for while, on an unimpeded course, the sails are spread, and, with hands secure from the elements, the keel glides, plowing the fields of the deep, a sudden whirlwind of illness arising, with such masses of waves and the roar of colliding billows resounding among themselves, has so terrified the fearful hearts of my friends, that they were compelled to say: Master, save us, we perish.

Wherefore, Eustochium, unique example in the whole world of nobility and virginity, let not the pupil of your eye be silent; and cry out in your heart: Abba, Father. And say with the Psalmist: Arise, why do you sleep, O Lord? That, with you praying and Christ having mercy, I may complete the work enjoined upon me concerning Isaiah. For now the thirteenth book of the Explanations is being forged, which has not yet reached its end. And meanwhile, until the merciful and compassionate Lord, patient and of much mercy, restores my former health, I have dictated this little Preface in a hasty manner; so that what is held may be written down in drafts; and the full correction may be reserved to the reader's judgment.

(Verse 8.) Drop down dew, ye heavens, from above, and let the clouds rain the just: let the earth be opened, and bud forth a Saviour, and let justice arise together: I the Lord have created him.

LXX: Let the heaven above rejoice, and let the clouds sprinkle justice: let the earth bud forth, and let mercy arise, and let justice bud forth together: I the Lord who have created thee. There is a twofold interpretation of this passage. For some think that what is said depends upon what precedes, and that, Cyrus the king setting the captives free, heaven and earth rejoice, μετωνυμικῶς (by metonymy), meaning those who dwell in heaven and on earth. Others separate it from what precedes and hold that this is the proper beginning of the chapter, and that it prophesies concerning the coming of the Lord, since it is commanded to the clouds—of which it was written above (On chap. V, 6): I will command the clouds that they rain no shower upon it, that is, upon the vineyard of Israel—and to which the truth of God comes, that they may rain upon the world the just one or justice; and that the earth may be opened and bud forth a Saviour.

Of whom it is sung in the Psalms: Truth is sprung out of the earth, and justice hath looked down from heaven; or according to the LXX: The earth hath brought forth mercy and justice together, that both sinners may attain mercy, and the just their rewards. And as for what follows: I the Lord have created him, or, I the Lord who have created thee—he will not be offended at the name of “creature,” who has read that he was called a worm and a servant, and was made to bud forth from the earth. (Verse 9 and following.) Woe to him that contradicteth his maker, a potsherd of the earthen pots of Samos. Shall the clay say to the potter, What makest thou, and thy work is without hands? Woe to him that saith to his father, Why begettest thou? And to the woman, Why dost thou bring forth?

Thus saith the Lord, the Holy One of Israel, his maker: Ask me of things to come concerning my sons, and concerning the work of my hands give me commandment. I have made the earth, and I created man upon it: my hands have stretched out the heavens, and I have commanded all their host. I have raised him up to justice, and I will direct all his ways. He shall build my city, and shall let go my captives, not for price nor for reward, saith the Lord of hosts. LXX: What have I made better than the potter’s clay? Shall he that plougheth, plough the earth all day? Shall the clay say to the potter, What makest thou, since thou dost not work, and hast no hands? And to his mother, Why dost thou bring forth? For thus saith the Lord God, the Holy One of Israel, who hath made the things to come: Ask me concerning my sons, and concerning the works of my hands give me commandment.

I have made the earth, and man upon it. I with my hand have established the heaven; I have commanded all the stars. I have raised him up as king with justice: all his ways are right. He shall build my city, and shall turn back the captivity of my people, not for price nor for reward, saith the Lord God Sabaoth. Those who wish to refer what is said to the person of Cyrus interpret this passage thus: I promising great things, that because of the return of my people into Judea, I would lay all kingdoms beneath Cyrus’ feet—Woe to him who is incredulous, and does not believe the things to come which I foretell; as if the clay and the broken potsherd should reproach its potter, asking why it was made, or why it was made thus; and the work should speak against the hands of the craftsman; and a son should reproach his father and mother, asking why he was cast forth into the world by the law of nature.

Since therefore I, the Lord, the Holy One of Israel, have formed Cyrus, and he was begotten at my command, it is superfluous for you to be in doubt about things to come; rather you ought to know that I dispose of my sons, the people of Israel, and the work of my hands, not according to your judgment, but according to my will: so that I, who before created for them darkness and evil, may now grant light and peace. For I am the God who did not create the earth in vain, that it should be desert and desolate, but that men might dwell in it. I have stretched out, or established, the heavens, that they might be the dwelling place of the Angels. And I have distinguished them with the variety of the stars, and have commanded each in what order they should run, and fulfill the diverse spans of days, months, and years.

He, therefore, who made heaven and earth—what great thing is it if I should create one king, who would keep my commandments, and whose ways I would direct in all things? For he it is who shall command that my city Jerusalem be built, and that the captives return to Judea. Not for price, nor for reward, but for my own will, saith the Lord God of hosts. But he who applies the beginning of the passage to Christ moderates the words of his explanation thus: Woe to those who contradict God, and do not think that Christ will come; as if the clay and the potsherd from potsherds should contradict its potter. Woe to him who saith to the Almighty Father, Why dost thou beget a son? And to the woman, holy Mary, Why dost thou bring forth? Of whom the Apostle also writes: That Christ was made of a woman, made under the law.

Thus therefore saith the Lord, the Holy One of Israel, who formed the Saviour in the virginal womb, saying through Gabriel: The Holy Spirit shall come upon thee, and the power of the Most High shall overshadow thee; and that which shall be born of thee holy shall be called the Son of God: let the potsherd ask me, and inquire into the secrets of things to come. And let it command me, how I ought to regenerate the adopted sons who shall believe in my Son. The Evangelist John also says: As many as received him, he gave them power to become the sons of God. But if I made the earth, that it might be inhabited by men, and stretched out the heavens above, and adorned them with the variety of the stars, that worshippers of God might dwell upon the earth: what wonder is it if I have sent my Son, the just king, to the world, or have raised him from the dead, whose ways are all right?

For he did no sin, neither was guile found in his mouth (1 Peter II). He who builds my city upon the rock, against which the gates of hell shall not prevail; and which, being set upon a mountain, cannot be hid; and who sets free all those bound before by demonic chains, not for price nor for reward: for we are saved freely, the Apostles hearing and doing: Freely have you received, freely give. Some refer these things to Zorobabel, who led the captives out of Babylon, and built the city, and raised up the temple, Haggai and Zechariah prophesying and saying: The hands of Zorobabel have laid the foundations of this house, and his hands shall finish it. But we say more rightly and more truly, that neither did Cyrus build the city which was afterward built under Nehemiah, nor were all his ways directed.

To him it was said above: I took thee, and girded thee, and thou hast not known me; and the condition of Zorobabel, who was under the rule and power of the Medes and Persians, exceeds all that is said. For Zorobabel neither built the city, nor released the captivity, nor can he be called a king, since, living under other kings, he lacked this title. But what the Seventy meant, who at the beginning of this chapter translated: What have I made better than the potter’s clay? Shall he that plougheth plough the earth? I am not able to know: unless perhaps I should follow the edition of Theodotion, who put in its place: Woe to him that strives against his maker, ploughing the ploughers of the earth: meaning, no doubt, that he wounds the hearts of mortals in repentance, and, after the manner of furrows, breaks them up and overturns them.

But this interpretation too is frivolous. Furthermore, that the potter, that is, our Creator and maker, is called God, the apostle Paul also speaks in the Epistle to the Romans: Does the thing formed say to him who formed it: why have you made me thus? Or has not the potter power over the clay, from the same lump to make one vessel indeed unto honor, and another unto dishonor? And in Jeremiah it is written more at length, who narrates after other things: I went down into the potter's house, and behold, he was making a work on the wheel, and the vessel that he was making with his hands was marred. And again he made another vessel of the same clay, as it pleased him to make it. And the word of the Lord came to me, saying: Cannot I do with you as this potter, O house of Israel, says the Lord? Behold, as clay in the hand of the potter, so are you in my hands, O house of Israel.

And that which is written: I have given command to all the stars, has given occasion to some to think that the stars are rational and have soul and sense. For, they say, he would not command unless beings that understand—not remembering that it is written in Jonah: The Lord commanded the burning wind. And again: He commanded the worm of the morning. And that in the Gospel the Savior rebuked the winds and the sea, in which it is clear there is no sense or reason. (Verse 14 and following.) Thus says the Lord: The labor of Egypt, and the merchandise of Ethiopia, and the Sabeans, men of stature, shall pass over to you, and shall be yours: they shall walk after you, they shall go bound in chains: and they shall worship you, and shall make supplication to you: only in you is God, and there is no God besides you. Truly you are a hidden God, the God of Israel, the Savior.

They are all confounded and put to shame; the makers of errors have gone together into confusion. Israel is saved in the Lord with an everlasting salvation: you shall not be confounded, and you shall not be put to shame, world without end. The LXX: Thus says the Lord Sabaoth: Egypt has labored, and the merchandise of the Ethiopians and of the Sabeans: men of stature shall pass over to you, and shall be your servants, and shall follow you bound in chains, and shall pass over to you, and shall worship you, and shall pray in you: for God is in you, and there is no God besides you. For you are God, and we knew it not: the God of Israel, the Savior: let all his adversaries be confounded and put to shame, and let them walk in confusion. Be renewed unto me, O islands. Israel is saved by the Lord with an everlasting salvation: they shall not be confounded nor put to shame for ever.

And in this place those who follow the historical sense say that Egypt, and the Ethiopians, and the nations of the Sabeans, who are beyond Ethiopia, served Cyrus, and that the farthest nations were subject to him, and that from the wondrous victory they understood that the Lord was in him, and that there was no other God dwelling in him besides. But that which follows: Truly you are a hidden God, the God of Israel, the Savior, how it can apply to the person of Cyrus, I do not understand—unless perhaps they use the edition of Theodotion, who translated: In you is the Mighty One, and there is no other God besides him: therefore you, mighty hidden God of Israel, Savior. Whichever way they turn, they will not be able to escape the snares of the truth.

For grant that God is in Cyrus, and that there is no other God besides him who is in Cyrus—how will it suit the person of Cyrus to be told, Truly you are a hidden God, the God of Israel, the Savior? Therefore it is more rightly and truly understood of God in whom God is, our Lord Jesus Christ, who speaks in the Gospel: I and the Father are one. Who is called the hidden God because of the mystery of the assumed body, and the God of Israel the Savior, which is interpreted Jesus. For he, according to the angel Gabriel, will save his people. They are all confounded and put to shame together—namely, the scribes and the Pharisees. And the makers of error have gone into confusion, who spread throughout the whole world the lie that he was stolen away by the Apostles. But Israel, saved in the Lord with an everlasting salvation, is understood as the company of the Apostles, and those who believed through the Apostles.

Whence it is said to them: You shall not be confounded nor put to shame, not only in the present age, but also in the age to come. That Egypt, and the Ethiopians, and the Sabeans, men of stature and lofty, served him, no one doubts, since one sees the whole world subject to him, and from the name of a few nations dwelling at the ends of the earth perceives that all the poles of the heavens and all the shores of the earth will believe in him. Whence beautifully, as it were of those laboring in the error of idolatry, the labor of Egypt is named as ceasing. For no nation was so given to idolatry, and venerated such countless monstrosities, as Egypt, of which we read above: Behold, the Lord shall ascend upon a light cloud, and shall enter into Egypt, and the idols of Egypt shall be moved at his presence, and the heart of Egypt shall melt in the midst of it.

Furthermore, what is added in the Septuagint: Be renewed unto me, O islands, we can explain thus, that we say the churches gathered from the nations are renewed in Christ, and are called islands, because they endure the rage and storms of persecutors, and, founded upon the rock, are shaken by no mass of whirlwinds. The Hebrews, with foolish contention, strive to assert that up to the place where it is read: Only in you is God, and there is no God besides you, it is spoken either to Jerusalem or to Cyrus.

But that which follows: Truly you are a hidden God, the God of Israel, the Savior, is a sudden apostrophe to almighty God—a thing plain even to fools, that it is one continuous discourse, and that the sense cannot be divided which is joined together in the very order and reasoning of the narrative. (Verse 18 and following.) For thus says the Lord, who creates the heavens, he is God, who forms the earth and makes it, he is its molder: he did not create it in vain, he formed it to be inhabited: I am the Lord, and there is no other. I have not spoken in secret, in a dark place of the earth. I have not said to the seed of Jacob: seek me in vain. I am the Lord speaking justice, announcing right things. Gather yourselves together and come, and draw near together, you who have been saved from among the nations: they have no knowledge who lift up the wood of their carved image, and pray to a god that does not save.

Declare, and come, and take counsel together: who has caused this to be heard from the beginning, who foretold it from then? Is it not I, the Lord, and is there any God besides me? A just God and a Savior, there is none besides me. Turn to me, and you shall be saved, all the ends of the earth; for I am God, and there is no other. I have sworn by myself: the word of justice shall go forth from my mouth, and it shall not return: for to me every knee shall bow, and every tongue shall swear. Therefore he shall say in the Lord: Mine are justice and dominion; to him they shall come, and all who fight against him shall be confounded. In the Lord shall all the seed of Israel be justified and praised. The LXX: Thus says the Lord who made heaven: this is God who showed the earth, and made it, he himself prepared it: he did not make it in vain, but formed it to be inhabited.

I am the Lord, and there is no other. I have not spoken in secret, nor in a dark place of the earth. I have not said to the seed of Jacob, seek in vain: I am the Lord who speaks justice, I announce truth. Gather yourselves and come, and take counsel together, you who are being saved from among the nations; they have not known who carry the wood of their carved image: they pray to gods that do not save. If they announce, let them draw near that they may know together, who has made these things heard from the beginning, then it was announced to you. Am I not the Lord God, and is there no other besides me: a just one and Savior, there is none besides me. Turn to me, and you shall be saved from the ends of the earth. I am God, and there is no other.

By myself I swear: surely justice shall go forth from my mouth: my words shall not be turned back, for to me every knee shall bow, and every tongue shall swear and confess to God, saying: Justice and glory shall come to him, and all who separate themselves from the Lord shall be confounded: all the seed of the children of Israel shall be justified and glorified in God. Egypt, and Ethiopia, and the Sabeans, men of stature, having been named, by which is shown the salvation of all the barbarous nations, and the conversion of the whole world to God, God shows his justice; that he is not only the Lord of the Jews, but also of the Gentiles. For he, the maker of heaven and earth, is equally the God of all, and he created the earth for no other reason than that it might be a dwelling-place for men, who should adore and understand their Creator, and should despise all idols.

For also on Mount Sinai, from its lofty summit, he spoke thus to the peoples who heard him: You shall have no strange gods besides me, nor shall you make yourself an idol. But it is better that we believe this to be said of the Gospel preaching: for Moses spoke in a hidden wilderness to only one people.

But the sound of the Apostles has gone out into the whole world, and their words have reached even to the ends of the earth. I have not said, he says, to the seed of Jacob, seek me in vain. For I promised them the kingdom of heaven, and I spoke to them first: I was not sent but to the lost sheep of the house of Israel. And therefore I have spoken righteousness and announced right things, or truth, that, the images and ceremonies of the Law being abandoned, they might follow the truth of the Gospel. But because they were unwilling to believe, and judged themselves unworthy of salvation; therefore I say to the Gentiles: Gather yourselves together from the whole world; and come and draw near to me together, you who have been saved from among the Gentiles. By which he shows that not all the Gentiles were to believe at once, but gradually and by parts.

Then he rebukes those who remained in their former error, saying: They have not known, who lift up the wood of their carved image, and pray to a god that does not save. And the sense is: They have not understood my words, being weighed down by the burden of their idols, and hoping in them in which there is no salvation. Whence it is commanded to the Apostles that in season, out of season, they should announce the truth, and undertake the counsel of the salvation of the Gentiles. But this, that is, that many should be gathered and come from the nations who would be saved, God spoke from the beginning, and the mouths of all the Prophets sang it, who spoke by the word of the Lord, besides whom there is no other. For the Son is God not apart from him, but in him.

And beautifully he joins: God is just, by no means of one nation only, but of the whole world, to whom he speaks: Be converted to me, and you shall be saved, all the ends of the earth; that which the Father promised to the Son being fulfilled: Ask of me, and I will give you the nations for your inheritance, and the ends of the earth for your possession. And he swears by himself, that the word of his mouth, and the word which he uttered once concerning the salvation of the nations, may in no way become void; but that his promise may be fulfilled in deed, he having said above: Be converted to me, and you shall be saved, all the ends of the earth.

And he swears, according to the Apostle, that through two immutable things, in which it is impossible for God to lie, we may have a strong consolation; but he also swears this, that, the idols being abandoned, every knee should bow to him, of things in heaven, on earth, and under the earth, and every tongue of mortals should swear by him (Philipp. Ii). In which the Christian people is clearly signified. For it is the custom of the Church to bend the knee to Christ: which the Jews, showing pride of mind, do not do at all. But also every tongue of all the barbarous nations, not in the synagogues, but in the Churches of Christ, confesses God. And every tongue confessing Christ shall speak in the Lord, and shall say: Mine are the righteousnesses, and mine is the dominion, not that of the Jewish people.

To him all nations shall come, and those shall be confounded who formerly resisted his Gospel; and all the seed of Israel shall be justified and praised, whose preaching and most fruitful sowing has brought forth the richest fruits throughout the whole world. Or according to the Septuagint, every tongue swearing and confessing God shall say that the righteousness and glory of the whole world comes to him, and that the Jews who separate themselves from him shall be confounded. But those who have sprung from the stock of the children of Israel, and who have sprouted from the seed of the Apostles, and have believed in Christ, shall have righteousness and everlasting glory.

(Verses 1, 2.) Bel is broken, Nabo is crushed: their idols have become for beasts and cattle, your burdens with heavy weight even to weariness. They have wasted away, and are broken together: they could not save the one carrying them, and their soul shall go into captivity.

LXX: Bel has fallen, Dagon is broken: their carved images have become for beasts, and cattle, they being carried tied up as a burden for one toiling, and fainting, and hungry, and not prevailing at all, who shall not be able to save from war: but they themselves have been led captive. After the calling of the Gentiles, and the election of believers from Israel, he testifies that the idols have fallen. Fallen, fallen, or broken, is Bel: whom the Greeks call Belus, the Latins Saturn. Whose worship was so great among the ancients, that to him they offered not only the human victims of captives and ignoble mortals, but even their own children. Nabo, moreover, is itself an idol, which is interpreted prophecy and divination, which he signifies to have fallen silent throughout the whole world after the truth of the Gospel. Or, according to the LXX, Dagon, which however is not found in the Hebrew. And it is the idol of Ascalon, Gaza, and the remaining cities of the Philistines.

And he passes from the specific to the general: Their idols have become for beasts and cattle. Not that the idols of the Gentiles were exposed as prey to beasts and cattle: but that the religion of the nations consists of images of beasts, and brute animals, which especially in Egypt were consecrated to divine worship. Of which Virgil (Æneid. Viii, 698): And monsters of gods of every kind, and barking Anubis. For many of their towns have names from beasts and cattle, κυνῶν from dog, λέων from lion; βμοῦις in the Egyptian tongue from goat, λύκων from wolf, to say nothing of the fearsome and horrible onion, and the crepitation of the swollen belly, which is the Pelusian religion. These, he says, idols which cannot save those carrying them, are nothing else but burdens on the priests, weighing them down even to weariness. Which, when captivity comes, are led away captive first, for the price of the metals of which they are made, and cannot free their own soul, or that of their bearers.

Not that mute idols have a soul and any sense of pain, since they are insensible; but that “soul” is called so by a misuse of language (καταχρηστικῶς), and “members” of things which are without sense and members. Otherwise it is also read in Proverbs: In the hand of the tongue are death and life. Or this should be said, that the heaviest burden among the Gentiles was the error of idolatry, which weighed down its worshippers to the ground, and could not save them, and made their souls captive to the devil and to demons. (Verses 1, 3 following.) Hear me, house of Jacob, and all the remnant of the house of Israel, who are carried by me from the womb, who are borne by me from the belly. Even to old age I myself, and even to gray hairs I will carry you: I have made, and I will bear: I will carry, and I will save. To whom have you likened me, and made me equal, and compared me, and made me like?

You who pour out gold from the bag, and weigh silver in the scale, hiring a goldsmith, that he may make a god: and they fall down and worship. They carry him on their shoulders, bearing him and setting him in his place, and he shall stand, and shall not be moved from his place. But when they cry to him, he will not hear: he will not save them from tribulation. LXX: Hear me, house of Jacob, and all the remnant of Israel who are carried from the womb, and are instructed from infancy even to old age. I am, and until you grow old I am: I sustain you: I have made, and I will carry: I will take up, and I will save you. To whom have you likened me? See, consider, you who err and pour out gold from the bag, and weigh silver in the scale, and hire a goldsmith: they have made works of their hands, and bowing down they have worshipped: they carry it on their shoulders, and they go.

But if they set it in its place, it remains, and is not moved: and whoever cries to it, it will not hear, and will not deliver him from evils. He does not at all call him Jacob, nor Israel, which, without the conjunction of servant and child and elect, we have explained above to be said in disparagement of the people: but far more meanly, house of Jacob, and remnants of Israel, because of the closeness of flesh and blood, and as it were the dregs of the remnants of Israel. And he teaches that they, like children and infants, were thus carried by God, as it were from a mother's womb, and from the belly of one pregnant, out of Egypt. Not that the ineffable and incomprehensible majesty of God has either a womb, or a belly, or feet, and hands, and the other members of a body; but that we may learn the affection of God through our own words.

Otherwise also in the hundred and ninth psalm this same thing is sung from the person of God. For in that place where the Septuagint translated, “from the womb before the daystar I begot thee,” in the Hebrew it is written, MEREHEM מרחם, which is interpreted, “from the belly.” But in the present passage it is written not only “from the womb,” and “from the belly,” that is, MIBBETEN מבטן and MEREHEM מרחם, but MENNI מני, which preposition signifies “from my womb,” or “from my belly.” And the sense is: I who begot you from infancy, and carried you in my womb and belly, will myself protect you even to old age, not mine, but yours, so that divine mercy may teach them that they are to be saved. For the Creator of all spares his creature, and the good shepherd lays down his soul for his sheep. But he who is a hireling, whose own the sheep are not, when he sees the wolf, flees. Therefore because I made and begot children, I will bear them and I myself will carry them.

According to the Septuagint, who said: Who are carried from the womb, and are instructed from infancy even to old age, this signifies, that in vain they meditate on the law of God day and night, having no knowledge of God, but venerating images of men and beasts: to such a degree that they need prophetic reproof, by which God speaks to them: To whom have you likened me, and made me equal? And the rest: that they have poured out gold and silver, and having hired a statuary have made idols, and worshipped the works of their own hands, which are carried on shoulders, and being fixed and set up cannot move themselves, nor profit those by whom they are worshipped. We pass quickly over what is manifest, that we may open what is closed of the mercy of Christ. (Verses 8 following.) Remember this, and be ashamed, and return, you transgressors, to the heart. Remember the former age, for I am God, and there is no God besides, nor is there any like me.

Declaring from the beginning the last things, and from the beginning things which have not yet been done, saying: my counsel shall stand, and all my will shall be done. Calling a bird from the East, and from a far country the man of my will; and I have spoken, and I will bring it to pass, I have created it and I will do it. LXX: Remember these things, and groan: do penance, you who err. Return in heart, and remember the former things from of old: for I am God, and there is none besides me. I who announce the last things before they come to pass and are fulfilled, and I have said, all my will shall stand, and all things which I have thought I will do. Who call a bird from the East, and from a far country, concerning the things I have thought: I have spoken, and I have brought it about: I have created and I have done it.

Because I myself begot you, I myself carried you, and from infancy even to old age, not by your merit, but by my loving-kindness you are saved: forsake the idols which you have made, and return to the worship of the one God. Do penance, groan for the error which held you; nay rather, be ashamed, lest again a sudden whirlwind of idolatry overturn you: and return to the heart, that is, to your mind, you who, worshipping idols like madmen, dashed yourselves against wood and stones. Consider from the beginning of the world, that besides me there is no God, nor could anyone else know things to come, except I, who through the Prophets announce what I am about to do: that when I have fulfilled the things foretold, I may prove my divinity by prophecy.

For I now declare that the mystery which had been hidden from all generations past, indeed my counsel, shall stand; so that when you have seen it accomplished, you may know that there is no God except him who knew these future things, indeed commanded them to come to pass. I am he who calls a bird from the East, as the Hebrews think, Cyrus king of the Persians, or Darius the prince of the Medes; and from a far country the man of my will, who shall fulfill all my will against Babylon and the Chaldeans. Or, as we prove to be true, the Lord the Saviour, of whom Balaam also prophesies: A star shall rise out of Jacob, and a man out of Israel, whose name is the East, whom the Magi coming from the East worshipped. For he himself speaks in the Psalms: O God, I have willed to do thy will, of whom the Father spoke: and he proved his promise by deed.

The LXX, for what we have rendered from the Hebrew, “the man of my will,” put, “concerning whom I have thought.” Therefore according to them, we can understand the birds called from the East as the ministries of the Angels, who run to and fro throughout the whole world at the command of the Lord; who are ministering spirits, and are sent for the salvation of believers. Of whom it is also sung in the psalm: Who makest thy Angels spirits, and thy ministers a burning fire. (Verses 12, 13.) Hear me, you hard of heart, who are far from justice. I have brought near my justice: it shall not be far off, and my salvation shall not tarry: I will give salvation in Sion, and my glory in Israel. LXX: Hear me, you who have lost your heart, who are far from justice. I have brought my justice, and the salvation that is from me, I will not make to tarry. I have given salvation in Sion, and my glory to Israel.

To these he had said above: Hear me, house of Jacob, and all the remnant of the house of Israel. And again: Return to your heart, transgressors; even now according to the Hebrew, on account of unbelief, he calls them hard of heart, and according to the Septuagint, those who have lost heart and mind. Following this, that most learned man, worthy of his name, Stephen the martyr, speaks in his address to the Jews: Stiff-necked and uncircumcised in heart and ears, you always resist the Holy Spirit, as did your fathers. They therefore are far from the justice of God, because they did not believe in it, which God, out of his clemency, made to be near, and to come to the earth—he does not wish it to tarry nor to be kept far off. For he has given his salvation to Sion, and his glory to Israel. Let this be said as prophecy of things to come, and of the coming of the Lord Savior.

But according to the historical sense, salvation is given to Sion, and glory to Israel; because God brought near his own justice, so as to call a bird from the east, and from a far land the man of his will, who would avenge the injuries done to Israel and to overthrown Jerusalem, and, with the Medes and Persians conquering, would destroy Babylon and the Chaldeans, as the following words of the Prophet testify.

(Verses 1 ff.) Come down, sit in the dust, virgin daughter of Babylon: sit on the ground, there is no throne for the daughter of the Chaldeans, for you shall no longer be called tender and delicate. Take the millstone, and grind meal: uncover your shame, bare your shoulder, reveal your legs, cross the rivers. Your disgrace shall be uncovered, and your reproach shall be seen: I will take vengeance, and no man shall resist me. LXX: Come down, sit upon the ground, virgin daughter of Babylon, sit on the ground.

There is no throne for the daughter of the Chaldeans, for you shall no longer be called tender and delicate. Take the millstone, grind meal. Uncover your covering, bare your gray hairs, uncover your legs, cross the rivers: your disgrace shall be uncovered, your reproaches shall appear. What is just I will take away from you, I will no longer hand you over to men.

Just as in Ezekiel, under the figure of a ship and all its equipment, the adornment of Tyre is set forth, which was given to trade; and on account of the abundance of waters the king of Egypt is called a dragon, and his scales and rush and papyrus and little fish are described, and the likeness of harlots and a brothel testifies to Jerusalem's fornication with idols: so in the present passage, under the person of a captive woman, who was once a queen, the servitude of Babylon is indicated: and it is said to her that she should come down from the pride of her kingdom, and sit in the dust. She is called virgin and daughter: either because we are all creatures of God, and Babylon's nature is not damnable according to the heretics; or on account of the luxury and adornment of a city once most powerful, which, though grown old and near its setting, boasted itself to be a little maiden and a girl.

Although from the fact that according to the LXX it is written "daughter of Babylon," some interpret this not of Babylon itself, but of the city of Rome, which in the Apocalypse of John and in the Epistle of Peter is specially called Babylon, and testify that all things now said of Babylon apply to that city's ruin, against which the bird is to be called, and the justice of God: so that after Sion, that is, the Church, has been saved, that city may perish forever.

It is said therefore to Babylon, queen and daughter of the Chaldeans (for she was founded by the Chaldeans), that she shall no longer be called tender and delicate and abounding in delights, she who was carried by the hands of all nations, so that she scarcely pressed the plants of the earth with her foot: and it is commanded her to take the millstone, and grind meal, which is a sign of hard captivity and of extreme servitude; so that she who was once queen should afterward serve at the work of grinding meal. But since it follows: Uncover your shame, even the millstone is understood figuratively by the Hebrews, namely that, after the manner of a harlot, she should lie open to the lust of the conquerors. And that which is written in the Book of Judges concerning Samson, that he was condemned by the Philistines to the mill, they wish to signify this, that he who was the strongest of men was compelled to do this for offspring with foreign women.

Where we have translated, "uncover your shame," for which the LXX rendered "uncover your covering," Theodotion put the Hebrew word itself, SAMTHECH (צמתך); since that saying of Job is well known: "My wife grinds for another": that is, let her be a harlot for another. And Horace, book 1, satire 2, verse 35, said "to grind another's wife." See Festelius, Adversaria, book II, and Buxtorf's Catalecta, chapter 138.

Aquila has SEMMATHECH; Symmachus, τὸ σιωπηλόν σου: which we can express as "your taciturnity," that which ought to be kept silent for modesty's sake. This indeed we also read in the Song of Songs, where the bride's beauty is described; at the end it adds: "Apart from your taciturnity": the translators being unwilling to render the name, which in Holy Scripture would sound like shame. And rightly he uses shameful names against Babylon (though there is no shame in calling a member of the human body by its own name), she to whom it is commanded to bare her breasts, and open her legs and thighs, and go into captivity, and let her disgrace be seen, and lie open to everlasting reproach. And the Lord says he has done this, in order to take vengeance on her who oppressed his people, and that no one should hear a suppliant on her behalf, who might try by his intercession to soften the Lord's anger.

He signifies moreover the angel presiding over the Babylonian nation, who speaks with the other angels: "We have tended Babylon, and she is not healed." As for what the Septuagint rendered, "What is just I will take away from you, I will no longer hand you over to men," "you" is understood to mean Babylon: or certainly this "what is just" is that which has been taken away from Babylon. The Stoics dispute that many things are shameful in reality, but by human custom of speech are called honorable in words—such as parricide, adultery, homicide, incest, and other such things. And again, that things honorable in reality seem shameful in name—such as begetting children, relieving the swelling of the belly by breaking wind, relieving the bowels by excrement, easing the bladder by the discharge of urine: finally, that we cannot, as we say, make "rutula" from "ruta," nor thus diminutively make "mentula" from "menta." Therefore SEMMATHECH, which Aquila used, as we said, is the name for a woman's private parts.

Its etymology among them sounds like "your thirsting one"; so as to indicate the insatiable lust of Babylon. (Verses 4 ff.) Our Redeemer, the Lord of hosts is his name, the Holy One of Israel. Sit silent, and go into darkness, daughter of the Chaldeans; for you shall no longer be called the mistress of kingdoms. I was angry against my people, I have polluted my inheritance, and I have given them into your hand: you showed them no mercies. Upon the old man you have laid your yoke very heavily, and you have said, I shall be mistress forever: you have not laid these things to your heart, nor remembered your latter end. LXX: He who delivered you has spoken, the Lord Sabaoth, his name is the Holy One of Israel. Sit compunctioned, enter into darkness, daughter of the Chaldeans: you shall no longer be called the strength of the kingdom: I was angry against my people, I have polluted my inheritance.

I gave them into your hand, but you did not show them mercy: upon the old man you laid the yoke very heavily, and you said, I shall be mistress forever: you did not understand these things in your heart, nor remember your last things. The first verse, according to the Septuagint, is joined with what precedes, so that the sense is: And these things he will do, who delivered you, the Lord Sabaoth, whose name is the Holy One of Israel. But according to the Hebrew, the Prophet speaks in the person of the people, that the Lord of hosts, whose name is the Holy One of Israel, has done these things against Babylon. And again the speech is directed to Babylon herself. Sit silent, or compunctioned, and remember your crimes. Enter into darkness: because for confusion and shame you cannot bear the light: you shall no longer be called mistress, not of one kingdom, but not even of all kingdoms.

And at the same time, because a hidden question arose: why God should be angry against the Chaldeans, whom he himself sent to capture Israel: he answered, that he was angry against his own people, wishing to correct them, not to destroy them; to scourge them, not to kill them. But that they abused their cruelty, and inflicted more blows than God's vengeance demanded: and it is a great sign of Babylon's cruelty, that she did not even spare the elderly, whose age is venerable even among enemies. But this too is a sign of pride, that being deceived by present felicity, she did not consider the uncertainties of the future.

Therefore we ought always, in prosperity, to be wary of what is to come; and not to oppress those handed over to us, who are being trained for this purpose, that they may become better. (Verses 8 ff.) And now hear this, you delicate one, and dwelling confidently, who say in your heart: I am, and there is none besides me any more: I shall not sit a widow, and I shall not know barrenness. And these two things shall come upon you suddenly in one day, barrenness and widowhood: all things have come upon you, on account of the multitude of your sorceries, and on account of the great hardness of your enchantments. And you had confidence in your wickedness, and said: There is none who sees me: your wisdom and your knowledge, these have deceived you, and you said in your heart: I am, and besides me there is no other.

Evil shall come upon you, and you shall not know its rising, and calamity shall rush upon you, which you shall not be able to expiate; misery shall come upon you suddenly, which you shall not know. Two things shall come at once upon Babylon, barrenness and widowhood, so that she has neither children, that is, peoples subject to her, nor a husband, whom we can understand as her king: which while she does not expect, she suddenly endures. For she could not imagine that the Persians, of no previous strength, would overcome her under Cyrus's rule, and subject her to their own power. What you have suffered, he says, is not only on account of pride and the abundance of all wealth and delights, but also on account of the multitude of your sorceries, and your enchantments, in which you had confidence. And evil shall come upon you which you did not know before, and whose rising you did not know.

Or as the Septuagint translated: Destruction shall come upon you, and you shall not know it: a pit, and you shall fall into it: so that you who prepared the evil of captivity for all nations, should yourself fall into the pit which you prepared. What is clear we pass over quickly in our discourse. (Verses 12 and following.) Stand now with your enchanters, and with the multitude of your sorceries, in which you have labored from your youth, if perhaps it may profit you, or if you can become stronger. You have grown weary in the multitude of your counsels: let the astrologers of heaven stand and save you, who used to gaze upon the stars and reckon the months, that from them they might announce to you the things to come.

Behold, they have become as stubble, the fire has burned them: they shall not deliver their souls from the hand of the flame: there are no coals by which to warm themselves, nor a hearth by which to sit: so have these things become to you in all in which you had labored: your traffickers from your youth have each wandered in his own way: there is none to save you. The Septuagint: Stand now in your enchantments and in your many sorceries, which you learned from your youth, if they can profit you: and you have labored in your counsels: let the astrologers of heaven stand and make you safe, who gaze upon the stars: let them announce to you what shall come upon you. Behold, all shall be burned like brushwood in the fire, and they shall not rescue their soul from the flame; for you have coals of fire, you shall sit upon them. These shall be for your help.

You have labored in your bartering from your youth: man has erred in himself: but for you there shall be no salvation. That Babylon and all Chaldea had a devotion to enchanters and augurs and diviners and Gazarenes, whom we call haruspices, the reading of the prophet Daniel proves, who records that the kings of Babylon did everything according to their counsel. And for what we, following Symmachus and Theodotion, have translated: Let the augurs of heaven stand and save you, the Septuagint translated more plainly: Let the astrologers of heaven stand and make you safe; who are commonly called mathematicians, and who think that human affairs are ruled by the course of the stars and the falling of the constellations. Whence also the Magi came from the East, saying that they had seen the star of the Lord, either from the knowledge of their art, or from the prophecy of their prophet Balaam, who in Numbers had said: A star shall rise out of Jacob, and a man out of Israel.

Let these, therefore, who reckon the months, and count the years, and weighing the moments of the hours, promise knowledge of things to come, tell you what the Lord has thought concerning you; and while they are silent, the Prophet answers what shall come to pass: Behold, they have become like stubble, the fire has devoured them; so that those who promised salvation to others were ignorant of their own punishments: nor is there doubt that, when the city burned, the devouring flame consumed its inhabitants. And what follows: There are no coals by which to warm themselves, nor a hearth by which to sit, the Hebrews explain thus. They have no knowledge of warmth, nor any illuminating sense that could dispel their darkness and drive off the cold of error.

For which, wishing something I know not what, the Septuagint translated: You have coals of fire, you shall sit upon them: these shall be for your help; unless perhaps we can say this, that the fire and the burning are far more useful to Babylon than the magi and the Gazarenes, the astrologers and enchanters, were. For the former calls them to repentance through punishments and torments; the latter leads them through error to pride. All her labor and her traffickers, whom we understand to be the magi, accomplished only this, that each wandered in his own way; and being himself lost, he could offer no salvation to another. Let us ask those who assert that there are different natures, whether Babylon is of an evil nature, or of a good one. If they say evil, as there is no doubt they will answer, how is she called to repentance, and told: Sit in confusion, enter into darkness, O daughter of the Chaldeans?

And afterward, after the enumeration of sins and crimes, You have coals of fire, you shall sit upon them: these shall be for your help? And what does it mean, as added according to the same Septuagint: You have labored in your exchange from your youth? What is this exchange? Certainly from good to evil. From which it is clear that men are good by nature, but become evil by will. Then it is added: Man has erred in himself, not by nature, but by the choice of his mind.

(Verses 1 and following.) Hear this, house of Jacob, who are called by the name of Israel, and who came forth from the waters of Judah: who swear by the name of the Lord, and make mention of the God of Israel, not in truth nor in justice. For they were called from the holy city, and they are established upon the Lord of Israel: the Lord of hosts is his name.

These things I foretold as coming upon the Chaldeans and Babylonians, and it is necessary that what I have spoken through my prophets be fulfilled in fact. But you, house of Jacob, and you who are called by the name of Israel, and who came forth from the water of Judah, and the rest that follows, hear more attentively what I am about to say. And it should be noted that he by no means calls them Jacob, but the house of Jacob; nor Israel, since they are falsely called by this name, as they do not deserve the name. And of the waters, he says, of Judah you came forth, calling seed “waters” more modestly, so as by no means to show them to be sons of the virtues of the Patriarchs, but of the flesh. And rightly he called the waters of Judah, because at that time only that tribe still remained in the land of Judea; and the royal seed of David was preserved at that time.

You, he says, who swear by the name of the Lord, not that you may honor the Lord, but that, having taken up the name, you may commit injury, since you wish him to be a witness to your lie, and you rest in the holy city, and lean upon the Lord of Israel; so that you boast that you are inhabitants of the city of Jerusalem, and possess the privilege of the Lord of Sabaoth, while you assume in vain the names of Jacob, Israel, and the holy city, and of the almighty God. (Verses 3, 4 and following.) I have announced the former things from of old, and they went forth from my mouth, and I made them heard: suddenly I acted, and they came to pass. For I knew that you are hard, and your neck is an iron sinew, and your forehead is bronze.

I foretold it to you from of old: before they came to pass, I declared it to you, lest perhaps you should say: my idols have done these things, and my carved and molten images have commanded these things. What you have heard, see all of it: but you have not declared it. I have made new things heard to you from of old: and things preserved which you do not know: they are now created, and not from of old: and before the day, and you have not heard them, lest perhaps you should say: behold, I knew them. You have neither heard, nor known, nor has your ear been opened from of old: for I know that you will surely transgress, and I called you a transgressor from the womb. For the sake of my name I will put my fury far off: and I will restrain you with my praise, lest you perish. Behold, I have refined you, but not as silver: I have chosen you in the furnace of poverty.

For my sake, for my own sake, I will do it, that I may not be blasphemed: and I will not give my glory to another. The Septuagint: I have announced the former things still: and they went out from my mouth, and it was made known: I did it suddenly, and they came to pass, I know that you are hard: and your neck is an iron sinew, and your forehead is bronze: and I announced it to you long ago before they came upon you. I made it known to you: lest perhaps you should say, that idols made these things for me, that carved and molten images commanded them to me. You have heard all things, and you have not understood them: but I have made new things known to you now which are to come. And you have not said, now they come to pass, and not long ago: and not in the former days.

Lest you also say, I knew them: neither have you known them, nor do you know them, nor did I open your ears from the beginning. For I know that you will surely transgress: and you will still be called unjust from the womb. For the sake of my name I will show you my fury: and I will bring my glorious deeds upon you, that I may not destroy you. Behold, I have sold you, not for silver: but I have rescued you from the furnace of poverty: I will act for my own sake, because my name is being profaned: and I will not give my glory to another. I foretell to you that the Babylonians are to be overcome by the Medes and Persians, and that what I have threatened will suddenly come to pass, lest, when the things foretold come to pass, you should think they happened either by the will of the gods you worship, or by chance.

Nor do I merely display knowledge of future things, but I speak because of your unbelief, whose unbelieving heart, and iron neck, and bronze forehead I have known from the beginning. Behold, you have heard all the things that are to come, and yet you conceal the truth in silence. Nor do I recount the past events by which my power has often been proven, how I led the people out of Egypt, drowned the Egyptians in the Red Sea, gave you the land of promise, subjugated various nations to you. But I announce the new things which I am about to do against Babylon, that the shameless lie of your mouth may be refuted, you who claim to know what you do not know. For from the beginning you have been a transgressor of my commandments; and God called you a transgressor from the womb, when, freed from Egypt, you were as it were conceived and reared and instructed from my womb.

You desired the head of the calf of Egypt, saying: These are your gods, O Israel, who brought you out of the land of Egypt. Not therefore by your merit, but by my mercy, have I deferred my fury, lest you utterly perish, and for the praise of my name I will restrain you, that you may follow me like a beast of burden, and like a horse under the reins, unwillingly. Behold, I have refined you, that is, I have tested you, as silver is smelted. Or rather, I wished to prove you not in riches, but in the furnace of poverty. By which it is shown that many are tempted both by riches and by poverty, if they either abuse the former wickedly, or fail to bear the latter with virtue. Therefore I will act for my own sake, lest my name be blasphemed among the nations, and they think that you were overcome not by my wrath, but by the help of your idols.

And what follows, I will not give my glory to another, signifies that the idols should not be thought to have overpowered the people of God. Or certainly, when he says, I will not give it to another, he shows that he has already given it to another, for “another” is said in distinction from the former. Many of our writers, to touch briefly upon a few points according to the Septuagint translators, suppose that the coming of Christ is here prophesied, that he comes suddenly, unexpected, and shows his presence to a most hardened people; to whom God never opened their ears, because their heart was thickened, and they heard heavily with their ears. And as soon as the Lord was brought forth from the virgin womb, he was called a transgressor and unjust, by those seeking to kill him.

And what follows: For the sake of my name I will show you my fury, and I will bring my glorious deeds upon you, is used with a different meaning by the Apostle, or rather the Apostle Paul takes his testimony from this passage, that the wrath of God may be revealed to terrify those who sin, and that afterward glory may be given to those converted: Behold, he says, I have sold you not for money, but I have sold you in your sins, and I have rescued you from the furnace of poverty. For this reason Solomon also does not wish to have either riches or poverty, but asks only for necessities, lest either his heart be lifted up in pride by the former, or he be compelled by the latter to do what he does not wish, and, pressed by want, blaspheme God. Whence also the Apostle says: Having food and clothing, let us be content with these. (Verse 12, 13. Seqq.) Hear me, Jacob and Israel, whom I call.

I, I am the first, and I am the last. My hand also founded the earth, and my right hand hath measured the heavens: I called them, and they shall stand together. Assemble yourselves, all of you, and hear: who among them hath declared these things? The Lord hath loved him: he shall do his pleasure on Babylon, and his arm shall be on the Chaldeans. I, I have spoken, and called him: I have brought him, and his way is made prosperous. Come near unto me, and hear this: I have not spoken in secret from the beginning: from the time before it was, there I was. And now the Lord God hath sent me, and his Spirit. The Septuagint: Hear me, Jacob and Israel, whom I call. I am the first, and I am forever: and my hand hath founded the earth, and my right hand hath made firm the heaven. I will call them, and they shall stand together: and all shall be gathered, and shall hear: Who hath announced these things to them?

Loving thee, I have done thy pleasure upon Babylon, that I might take away the seed of the Chaldeans. I have spoken, and I have called. I have brought him, and made his way prosperous. Bring them to me, and hear this: I have not spoken in secret from the beginning: when it was made, there I was. To those to whom he had already said before: Hear these things, house of Jacob, who are called by the name of Israel, and who come forth from the waters of Judah, he now speaks to the same: Hear me, Jacob and Israel, whom I call. For many are called, but few are chosen. Hence he calls them not "chosen," because they had not yet received the Saviour, but "called." I am, he says, the Alpha and Omega, the first and the last, who live, and was dead; so that you may refer "life" to the beginning, and "the last" to him who died.

He who emptied himself, taking the form of a servant, and became obedient to the Father; he humbled himself even unto death, even the death of the cross. My hand founded the earth. Whence also in Proverbs he says: God by his wisdom founded the earth, and his right hand hath measured, or "made firm the heavens" or "heaven," as the Septuagint translated. He calls upon the heavens, that they may obey his command, and declare his glory. But if the heavens obey the will of the Lord, and run in their own order, why does earth and ashes boast, and know not its own frailty? Assemble yourselves, all of you, and hear—either the heavens, or the whole creation, or the whole multitude of Israel. What is it they are bidden to hear? That the Lord hath loved him—there is no doubt that this signifies Cyrus and Darius, who did the will of the Lord against Babylon, and exercised his arm upon the Chaldeans.

And he himself spoke and called him by his own name, and brought him, and his way was made straight, so that none dared resist his power by force. Whence he calls upon them to come near and hear, and to know, by the Lord's foretelling, that the king of the Persians and Medes is to come, who shall overthrow Babylon and destroy the Chaldeans. And that he may announce these things, the Prophet says that he was sent by the Lord and by his Spirit. This is according to the Hebrews and their opinion. But according to Symmachus, who interpreted: Who hath announced these things to him?

Whom the Lord hath loved, who doeth his will in Babylon: and according to the Septuagint, that he might take away the seed of the Chaldeans—it is referred to the person of the Lord: who is truly beloved of the Father, and who did all the will of the Father, and who overthrew in Babylon, that is, in the confusion of this world, all the seed of the Chaldeans, who are interpreted as demons. He himself spoke, and brought the Son, and brought him who speaks to believers: Come unto me, all ye that labor and are heavy laden. And hear these things which from the beginning I have spoken in secret, that is, through enigmas and mysteries of the Prophets, which had been unknown to all preceding generations.

When all things were being made by the Father, he himself was with him, rejoicing together, who even now says: I, who was always with the Father, and in the Father, and never without the Father, even now speak: and according to the frailty of the assumed flesh I say that the Lord God hath sent me, and his Spirit: and in a brief little verse the mystery of the Trinity is shown to us. (Verse 17, 18. Seqq.) Thus saith the Lord, thy redeemer, the Holy One of Israel: I am the Lord thy God, teaching thee profitable things, guiding thee in the way wherein thou walkest. Oh that thou hadst hearkened to my commandments! Then had thy peace been as a river, and thy righteousness as the waves of the sea. And thy seed had been as the sand, and the offspring of thy body like the gravel thereof; they should not have perished, nor his name been cut off from before my face.

Because he has promised future things to Israel, he gives the reasons why he had earlier afflicted them, which if they had avoided, they would by no means have suffered similar things. If, he says, thou hadst hearkened to my commandments—as the Septuagint translated: or indeed in the affection of one wishing, would that thou hadst hearkened to my commandments—which if thou hadst done, thy peace would have been as rivers, and thy righteousness as the waves of the sea, signifying the abundance and plenty of all things. And what follows: and thy seed would have been as the sand, and the offspring of thy body like its gravel—this indeed seems to remain in the people of the Jews, who to the present day swarm like little worms with sons and grandsons; but how is this to be taken as a promise, since they do not have peace and righteousness? For either he is angry with them, or reconciled. If angry, how does their seed multiply daily?

If reconciled, how do they serve in bondage, and not possess peace and righteousness? From which it is clear that this is now said of the Apostolic seed, of which also above (on chap. I) we read: Unless the Lord of Sabaoth had left us a seed, we should have been as Sodom. Because this by no means appears to have been fulfilled at that time, it is fulfilled at the coming of Christ: and before his face the seed of Israel remains. Verse 20, 21, 22. Go ye forth from Babylon, flee ye from the Chaldeans: with a voice of exultation declare, make this heard, carry it forth even to the end of the earth, and say: The Lord hath redeemed his servant Jacob. They thirsted not in the desert when he led them forth; he brought forth water for them out of the rock; and he clave the rock, and the waters flowed. There is no peace to the wicked, saith the Lord.

Those who above, in the place where it is written: I, I have spoken, and called him: I have brought him, and his way is made straight, understand this of Cyrus and Darius, refer these things also to the times of that same one; when the people went forth from Babylon, and fled from the Chaldeans, and were redeemed by the Lord their God. This also which is said: They thirsted not in the desert when he led them forth, he brought forth water for them out of the rock, and clave the rock, and the waters flowed—though they cannot show it to have been fulfilled according to the history; for under Zerubbabel and Ezra they did not come through the desert, nor did a cleft rock furnish them water, as is narrated to have happened to those going forth from Egypt—nevertheless they attest that these things were fulfilled hyperbolically, in likeness to the former felicity, when they came through the desert of the nations into Judea, and were freed from captivity.

And that we might know, they say, that this was prophesied not of Christ but of Cyrus, it is joined: There is no peace to the wicked, saith the Lord: and the sense is, Perfect felicity shall not be except under Christ, which is reserved for the last time. But those who refer these things more truly and rightly to the coming of the Saviour, of whom it is said: He hath sent me to preach to the poor, to proclaim release to captives, understand this as an exhortation of those who preach the Gospel of the Lord and Saviour himself, that we should go forth out of Babylon, that is, out of the confusion of this world; and flee the Chaldeans, of whom it has often been spoken: For the Lord hath redeemed his servant Jacob with his own most precious blood, and led him through the desert of the age, and clave water out of the rock. Concerning which also the Apostle speaks: Now that Rock was Christ.

But the divine word is divided, and split into many parts, so that what we cannot receive as a whole, we may take up in parts. And lest it should be thought that this preaching is said of all the seed of Jacob, and not only of those who would believe through the Apostles, it is added and joined: There is no peace to the wicked, saith the Lord: namely to those who remained in their former error, who did not deserve to drink from the rock. Whose side—that I may speak in a new way—wounded by a lance, flowed with water and blood, consecrating for us baptism and martyrdom.

(Verses 1 and following.) Hear, O islands, and hearken, ye people from afar: The Lord hath called me from the womb, from the belly of my mother he hath been mindful of my name. And he hath made my mouth like a sharp sword: in the shadow of his hand he hath protected me.

And he hath made me as a chosen arrow: in his quiver hath he hidden me; and he hath said to me: Thou art my servant, Israel, for in thee will I glory. And I said: I have laboured in vain, I have spent my strength without cause and in vain: therefore my judgment is with the Lord, and my work with my God. The Seventy: Hear me, O islands, and hearken, ye nations. After a long time it shall stand, saith the Lord. From the womb he hath called me, and from the belly of my mother he hath called my name. And he hath made my mouth as a sharp sword, and under the protection of his hand he hath hidden me. He hath made me as a chosen arrow, and in his quiver hath he hidden me. And he hath said to me: Thou art my servant, Israel: and in thee will I be glorified. And I said, I have laboured without cause, in vain, and have given my strength for nothing.

Wherefore my judgment is with the Lord, and my labour before my God. I know that both these words and those below which we are about to discuss belong to the understanding or meaning of a single chapter, and that all of them ought to be taken as spoken in the person of Christ. But I did not wish, by proposing everything at once, to burden the reader’s understanding, nor by its very magnitude to confound what could more easily be said in parts. Hence I have also set down both editions: so that what seems obscure in the one may be unlocked by the reading of the other.

After, then, the calling of the remnants of Israel, and the rejection of the people persisting in unbelief, of whom he had said, “There is no peace to the wicked, saith the Lord,” he passes over to the Churches gathered from the Gentiles, and speaks to them under the name of “islands.” These lie open to the snares of persecutors as if to the waves of the sea, and, with shipwreck raging on every side, are battered rather than moved. And lest anyone think our exposition forced, and suppose that what is said pertains not to the Gentiles but to the synagogues of the Jewish people, there follows: “And hearken, ye peoples,” or nations, “from afar,” that is, from the farthest ends of the earth. Or, as the Septuagint rendered it, “after a long time it shall stand,” that is, not at this time in which these things are spoken, but after many ages they shall come to pass.

The Lord, he says, hath called me from the womb, and from the belly of my mother he hath been mindful of my name. What now, in the meantime, seems obscure to those who hear, shall afterward be made known to all nations, when Gabriel shall have spoken to Joseph of the virginal birth: “And thou shalt call his name Jesus: for he shall save his people.” He hath also made his mouth as a sharp sword, that by the breath of his mouth he might slay the wicked.

Of this sword he himself also speaks in the Gospel: “I came not to send peace upon earth, but a sword,” separating the evil from the good: “For I am come to set a man at variance against his father, and the daughter against her mother, and the daughter-in-law against her mother-in-law.” And “in the shadow,” he says, “of his hand he hath protected me,” that the vileness of the flesh might be covered by the power of divinity, the Angel announcing to the Virgin: “The Holy Spirit shall come upon thee, and the power of the Most High shall overshadow thee.” He hath made me, he says, as a chosen arrow, in his quiver hath he hidden me. When he says “a chosen arrow,” he shows that God has very many arrows, but not chosen ones: these arrows are the Prophets and Apostles, who run throughout the whole world.

Of whom it is also sung in another place: “Thy arrows are sharp, O most mighty; the people shall fall under thee”; and again: “The sharp arrows of the mighty, with coals that lay waste.” But Christ, out of many arrows and very many sons, is the one chosen arrow, and the Only-begotten Son: whom he hid in his quiver, that is, in a human body, that in it the fullness of the Godhead might dwell bodily. And rare is the faith of believers: of which it is also said above, “Thou art indeed a hidden God, and we knew it not.” By this arrow, too, the bride, receiving a wound, speaks in the Song of Songs: “I am wounded with love.” And he said to me: Thou art my servant, Israel: for in thee will I be glorified. A servant, because though he was in the form of God, he deigned to take upon him the form of a servant (Philipp. II); and Israel, because he was born of the seed of the Jews.

And what can be understood of no other of the servants is joined: “For in thee will I be glorified.” For he himself also says in the Gospel, “Father, glorify thy name”. He who in the psalm speaks to the Son: “Arise, my glory, and arise, psaltery and harp”, that is, the whole choir of virtues. But when the Father says to me these things which I have related, I answered him: How am I glorified in thee, Father, seeing that I have laboured in vain, and could not recall the greater part of the Jewish people to thee? But all these things are said to show the free will of man. For it is God’s part to call, and ours to believe: nor, if we do not believe, is God at once rendered powerless; rather he leaves his power to our free will, so that the will of the just may attain its reward.

Because, therefore, they were unwilling through me to believe in thee, my judgment is with thee, that I have done all things which I ought to have done for them, saying in the Gospel: “I have glorified thee upon earth, having finished the work which thou gavest me to do”; and again: “I have manifested thy name to men.” And my work, or labour and sorrow (for this is what πόνος signifies), is in thy sight.

For he also wept over Jerusalem in the Gospel, and in the psalm, on account of the multitude of unbelievers, says that he had suffered, as it were, in vain: “What profit is there in my blood, while I go down into corruption?” And according to the Hebrew, hanging on the cross he speaks: “Far from my salvation are the words of my complaints”. (Verses 5, 6 and following.) And now saith the Lord, that formed me from the womb to be his servant, that I may bring back Jacob unto him, and Israel shall not be gathered: and I am glorified in the eyes of the Lord, and my God is made my strength. And he said: It is a small thing that thou shouldst be my servant to raise up the tribes of Jacob, and to convert the dregs of Israel. I have given thee for a light to the Gentiles, that thou mayest be my salvation even to the farthest part of the earth.

The Seventy: And now thus saith the Lord who formed me from the womb to be his servant, that I might gather Jacob unto him and Israel: I shall be gathered and glorified before the Lord, and my God shall be my strength. And he said to me: It is a great thing for thee to be called my child, and to raise up the tribes of Jacob, and to convert the dispersion of Israel. Behold, I have set thee for a covenant of the race, for a light of the Gentiles, that thou mayest be salvation even to the farthest part of the earth. When I said, “I have laboured in vain, I have spent my strength without cause and in vain,” because the Jews were unwilling to believe, and “my judgment is with the Lord”; and “my work,” which, with his help, I have accomplished, is with the Lord: the Lord answered me, who formed me from the womb to be his servant.

From which it is shown that he is called “servant” who was formed from the womb. He who also says in the psalm: “From my mother’s womb thou art my God”. What, then, does the Lord say to him? That he should bring back Jacob to him who had wandered away, who, having deserted the Creator, served idols. Whence he himself also speaks to his disciples: “Go ye not into the way of the Gentiles, and into the cities of the Samaritans enter ye not; but go rather to the lost sheep of the house of Israel”; and in another place: “I was not sent but to the lost sheep of the house of Israel”.

This, then, was the will of the Father, that the most wicked vine-dressers should receive the Son sent to them, and render the fruits of the vineyard—who instead slew him, saying, “Come, let us kill him, and the inheritance shall be ours”; and this is what is now said: “And Israel shall not be gathered,” that is, shall not return to the Lord. And I marvel greatly how the common edition has overturned, by a different interpretation, so strong a testimony against the perfidy of the Jews, saying: “I shall be gathered and glorified before the Lord”; whereas Theodotion and Symmachus agree with our interpretation. As for Aquila, I do not wonder, since, though a man most learned in the Hebrew tongue, and one who expresses word for word, in this passage he either feigned ignorance, or was deceived by the perverse exposition of the Pharisees, wishing to interpret, “and Israel shall be gathered to him,” that is, to God.

Whereas the Hebrew word Lo, in this place, is not written with LAMED and VAV (לו), which would mean “to him” or “to it”; but with LAMED and ALEPH (לא), which properly means “not.” Since, therefore, Jacob was not brought back to God, nor was Israel gathered: therefore the Son speaks concerning those who do not believe: “I am glorified in the eyes of the Lord.” For in me the whole world has believed: “and my God is made my strength,” who has also consoled me, sorrowful over the rejection of my people; and he said to me: It is a small thing that thou shouldst serve me to raise up the tribes of Jacob, which have fallen through their own fault; and to convert the dregs, or remnants, of Israel. For this is what the Hebrew word NESURE (נצורי) signifies. For them I have given thee for a light of all the Gentiles, that thou mayest illumine the whole world, and cause my salvation, by which all are saved, to reach even to the ends of the earth.

But that which is read in the Septuagint, “I shall be gathered, and glorified before the Lord,” can be understood thus, that the Lord is gathered together with those who believe. And what follows: “He said to me: It is a great thing for thee to be called my child,” let us refer “great” to the man and to the child, who in comparison with God is small. (Verse 7.) Thus saith the Lord, the redeemer of Israel, his Holy One, to the despised soul, to the abhorred nation, to the servant of rulers. Kings shall see, and princes shall rise up, and worship, because of the Lord, for he is faithful: and the Holy One of Israel, who hath chosen thee. The Seventy: Thus saith the Lord, God of Israel, who delivered thee. Sanctify him who despises his own soul, who is an abomination to the nations, who is the servant of princes.

Kings shall see him, and princes shall rise up, and shall worship him because of the Lord: for the Holy One of Israel is faithful, and hath chosen thee. Instead of what we rendered: “to the despised soul, to the abhorred nation, to the servant of rulers,” Theodotion translated: “to him who despises the soul, who is an abomination to the nation, who is the servant of princes”—which plainly fits the person of Christ. For he, the good shepherd, laid down his soul for his sheep, and despised it, he who is an abomination to the nation of the Jews, whom daily under the name of Nazarenes they curse in their synagogues. Who was the servant of princes, and so humble that he stood before Annas and Caiaphas, and was sent to be crucified to Pilate and to Herod.

With this interpretation Aquila agrees, and, in part, the Septuagint, although they have altered and weakened the sense in that, instead of “nation,” they render “nations,” and instead of “servant,” “servants.” But others think this is said of the nation of the Jews, which despised its own soul, and is an abomination to the whole world; and serves the princes, of whom it is written: “Who devour my people as they eat bread”. But the interpretation concerning Christ is better. What, then, does the Father, once the redeemer and Holy One of Israel, say to the Son? Kings shall see and princes shall rise up, and shall worship, when he shall come in the glory of the Father with his Angels, and shall sit upon the throne of his glory, judging the living and the dead: then all shall worship him because of the Lord his Father, who chose him.

Or thus it may be understood: Kings, whose heart is in the hand of God, and the princes of the Church of God, shall worship thee: for the Lord is faithful, the Holy One of Israel who hath chosen thee. But all these things he refers to him who despised his own soul, who is abhorred by the nation, who is the servant of princes. (Verses 8 and following.) Thus says the Lord: In an acceptable time I have heard you, and in the day of salvation I have helped you. And I have kept you, and given you for a covenant of the people, that you might raise up the earth, and possess the scattered inheritances: that you might say to them that are bound, Go forth; and to them that are in darkness, Show yourselves. They shall feed in the ways, and their pastures shall be in all the plains.

They shall not hunger nor thirst, neither shall the heat nor the sun smite them: for he that has mercy on them shall rule them, and shall lead them by the fountains of waters. And I will make all my mountains a way, and my paths shall be exalted. Behold these shall come from afar, and behold these from the north, and from the sea, and these from the south country. Praise, O heavens, and rejoice, O earth, sing praise, O mountains, for the Lord has comforted his people, and will have mercy on his poor. The Septuagint: Thus says the Lord: In an acceptable time I have heard you, and in the day of salvation I have helped you. And I have formed you, and given you for a covenant of the nations, that you might establish the earth, and possess the desolate inheritances.

And you shall say to them that are in bonds, Go forth, and to them that are in darkness, Show yourselves: they shall feed in all the ways, and their pastures shall be in all the paths. They shall not hunger nor thirst, neither shall the heat nor the sun smite them; but he that has mercy on them shall comfort them, and shall lead them through fountains of water. And I will make every mountain a way, and every path pastures for them. Behold these shall come from afar, these from the north and from the sea, and others from the land of the Persians. Rejoice, O heavens, and let the earth exult, let the mountains break forth in joy: for God has had mercy on his people, and has comforted the humble ones of his people. This testimony the Apostle Paul used in the second Epistle to the Corinthians, saying: In an acceptable time I have heard you, and in the day of salvation I have helped you. Behold, now is the acceptable time.

If, then, the vessel of election refers what is said here to the understanding of the first advent, let us also follow the tracks of his exposition, and, like little children, trace our letters over the shadowed lines drawn by the teacher. The acceptable and opportune time, and the day of salvation, is the passion of the Saviour and his resurrection, when he prayed on the cross: God, my God, why have you forsaken me? And he kept him, or formed him, death being overcome, and gave him for a covenant of the people of the Jews, namely of those who from among them were willing to believe: that he might raise up the earth, which lay in the errors of idolatry, and might possess the scattered, or desolate, inheritances, which had no God dwelling in them, and might say to those who were in bonds, Go forth, who were bound by the bonds of sins, because each man is bound by the cords of his own sins; and to those who were in darkness, Show yourselves.

They who sat in darkness and in the shadow of death, and could not see the light. Who, after they shall have been converted, and shall have beheld the bright light of Christ, shall feed in the ways and in the paths of the holy Scriptures, and shall say: The Lord feeds me, and I shall want nothing, he has set me in a place of pasture: he has brought me up beside the waters of refreshment. But he who has been fed and nourished in ways and paths of this kind shall neither hunger nor thirst, nor feel the heat of the sun: and there shall be fulfilled in him that which is written: By day the sun shall not burn you, nor the moon by night. So that he shall feel neither the adversities nor the prosperities of this age. For the merciful and compassionate Lord himself will comfort and rule them, and will lead them to the fountains of waters.

Or he will give them drink at the fountains, of which it is written: Bless the Lord from the fountains of Israel. And in another place: Draw waters from the fountains of the Saviour. These fountains are in the Old Testament and the New. And all the stumbling-blocks which could hinder the steps of believers, the Lord will turn for them into level ground, and will humble the high places, and will exalt the low, so that they may have a level and open way. But who these are for whom the way is prepared he sets forth more plainly: Behold, these shall come from afar: and behold, these from the north and the sea, and these from the south country.

Showing the four regions of the world, East and North, West and South, he set "from afar" in place of the East: for the southern region, in the Hebrew is read SINIM (סינים), which the Septuagint interpreted as "of the Persians." The others rendered it as it is read in the Hebrew, sinim, which we have interpreted as "from the south": supposing this, that Mount Sinai is situated in the southern part, according to the Prophet Habakkuk: God shall come from the south, and the Holy One from Mount Pharan, shady and thickly wooded. But if by sinim, as the Septuagint translated, we understand the Persians, who are situated toward the East, then that which is said above, Behold, these shall come from afar, we may refer to the South. And it is commanded to the heavens and the earth, or to those powers which dwell in heaven and on earth, or to angels and men, that they sing the praises of God.

And they who are set on high in virtues shall testify to the joy of the mind with jubilation and exultation. For the Lord has comforted his people, those who from among the Jews were willing to believe. And he has had mercy on his poor and humble ones: or on all his people, who from East and West, North and South, have been called to him, having neither the Law nor the Prophets, nor spiritual riches: but desolate, poor, and humble, they lay subject to all the demons. (Verses 14 and following.) And Sion said: The Lord hath forsaken me, and the Lord hath forgotten me. Can a woman forget her infant, so as not to have mercy on the son of her womb? And if she should forget, yet I will not forget thee. Behold, I have graven thee upon my hands: thy walls are always before my eyes. Thy builders are come: and they that destroyed thee and pulled thee down shall go forth from thee.

Lift up thy eyes round about, and see: all these are gathered together, they are come to thee. As I live, saith the Lord, thou shalt be clothed with all these as with an ornament, and as a bride thou shalt put them about thee, for thy waste and desolate places and the land of thy destruction shall now be too narrow by reason of the inhabitants, and they that swallowed thee up shall be driven far away. The children of thy barrenness shall still say in thy ears: The place is too strait for me, make me room to dwell in. And thou shalt say in thy heart: Who hath begotten these for me? I was barren and not bearing, a captive and removed to and fro: and who hath brought up these? I was destitute and alone: and these, where were they? The Septuagint: But Sion said: The Lord hath forsaken me, and God hath forgotten me. Can a woman forget her little one, so as not to have mercy on the offspring of her womb?

But if a woman should even forget these things: yet I will not forget thee, saith the Lord. Behold, I have painted thy walls upon my hands: and thou art ever before me. And thou shalt quickly be rebuilt by those by whom thou wast destroyed: and they that scattered thee shall go forth from thee. As I live, saith the Lord, thou shalt be clothed with all these as with an ornament, and thou shalt put them about thee as a bride's necklace: for thy waste places, and the things that were scattered and that fell down. Now thou shalt be straitened by reason of thy inhabitants: and they that humbled thee shall be far from thee. For thy sons, whom thou hadst lost, shall say in thy ears: The place is too strait for me; make me room that I may dwell. For I was childless and a widow, and who hath brought up these for me? I was left alone, and these, where were they?

We have often noted that Jerusalem and Sion are to be understood in the Holy Scriptures in four ways. In one way, according to the Jews, as she whom the Lord bewails in the Gospel: Jerusalem, Jerusalem, thou that killest the prophets, and stonest them that are sent to thee. And in another place: When you shall see Jerusalem compassed about with an army, then know that the desolation thereof is at hand. Second, it is the congregation of the Saints, who, established in the peace of the Lord and in the citadel of the virtues, are rightly called Sion, of whom it is said: Its foundations are in the holy mountains: the Lord loveth the gates of Sion above all the tabernacles of Jacob. For the foundations of the Judaic Sion, which we see to have been destroyed, were not loved by the Lord; nor could that which was loved by the Lord be destroyed. Third, Jerusalem is called the multitude of Angels, Dominations, and Powers, and everything that is established in the ministry of God.

Of this Jerusalem the Apostle also spoke: But that Jerusalem which is above is free, which is the mother of us all. And in another place: But you are come to mount Sion, and to the city of the living God, the heavenly Jerusalem. Fourth, Jerusalem is called that which the Jews, and our Judaizers, following the Apocalypse of John, which they do not understand, suppose is to be set down from heaven, golden and jeweled, whose boundaries and boundless breadth are also described in the last part of Ezekiel. This being so, we must now consider more carefully which of the four Sion meant when she said: The Lord hath forsaken me, and the Lord hath forgotten me. And there is no doubt that the congregation of the Saints, which was first among the Jews and was forsaken by the Lord, recalls these things, and with a tearful voice complains that she has been abandoned, and left destitute of the Lord's help.

To whom God replies, using a natural comparison: If it can be, that a mother should forget her infant, and that mercy should not be moved toward the offspring of her own womb, then I too will forget thee. I will say something more: even if she should forget, her mind's hardness overcoming the laws of nature; yet I will not forget my creature, and I will always keep the souls of the Saints in my heart. For know, thou who dost think thyself utterly forsaken, that thou art graven and painted upon my hands; and that thy walls stand continually before my eyes. From this we learn that Jerusalem is by no means to be sought in the region of Palestine, which is the worst of all the province, roughened with rocky mountains, and suffering want of water, so that it must use the rains of heaven, and console the scarcity of springs by the building of cisterns; but rather in the hands of God, to which it is said: Thy builders have hastened.

Or according to the Septuagint: Thou shalt quickly be rebuilt by those by whom thou wast destroyed. For destroyed by the Jews, she was built by the Jews. She who, through the fault of the Scribes and Pharisees, was deserted, has been gathered at the preaching of the Apostles of Christ, both from the Jews and from the Gentiles. There follows: And they that destroyed thee and pulled thee down shall go forth from thee: the worst teachers; so that thou mayest by no means follow the commandments and traditions of men, but the law of God. And it is said to her, that she should lift up her eyes round about, and see the sons who have been gathered to her. Of whom the Lord also spoke: Lift up your eyes, and see, for the fields are already white for the harvest.

And to make us secure: As I live, saith the Lord (which, according to the old Testament, is said by custom of swearing), thou shalt be clothed with all these as with an ornament, and thou shalt put them about thee, as a bride puts on her necklace. Happy is he who is of such merit, and of such virtue, that he is called the ornament of the Church. I think, moreover, that these signify the diverse spiritual graces by which the bride's adornment is arrayed. Of which it is also sung in the forty-fourth psalm: The queen stood at thy right hand in gilded clothing, surrounded with variety. For those things that had first been deserted, and had fallen into wastes and ruins, at the coming of Christ's Gospel, will be restored, and will have so great a multitude of inhabitants that they cannot contain them. Provided, however, that the persecutors are driven far away, or those of whom we spoke above: They that destroyed thee, and scattered thee, shall go forth from thee.

And the children of thy barrenness, whom thou didst think thou hadst utterly lost, and that thou wast widowed of them, shall say in thy ears: The place is too strait for me in the synagogues, make me room in the Churches, that I may dwell more broadly, that I be not compressed by the blasphemies of the Jews, that thy breadth may contain the whole world with me. But thou, unable to utter with thy mouth the greatness of thy joy, wilt silently ponder in thy heart, and say: Who hath begotten these for me? I was barren and a widow, deserted and captive among the people of the Jews, I had ceased to have children, I had not borne for a long time. After Haggai and Zechariah and Malachi, I had seen no other Prophets until John the Baptist; and how is it that I, who was alone, and destitute of the help of a husband, have now begun to have so many children?

But that we may know that Sion is built upon the rock and foundation of Christ from both peoples, Paul speaks to the believers: Built upon the foundation of the Apostles and Prophets, Jesus Christ himself being the chief corner stone. From which it is clear that the one foundation of the Apostles and Prophets is our Lord Jesus Christ. (Verses 22, 23.) Thus saith the Lord God: Behold, I will lift up my hand to the Gentiles, and will set up my standard to the peoples: and they shall bring thy sons in their arms, and thy daughters shall be carried upon their shoulders. And kings shall be thy nursing fathers, and queens thy nurses: they shall worship thee with their face toward the earth, and lick up the dust of thy feet; and thou shalt know that I am the Lord, for they shall not be confounded that wait for him.

The Septuagint: Thus saith the Lord God: Behold, I lift up my hand over the Gentiles, and over the islands I will lift up my standard, and they shall bring thy sons in their bosom, and thy daughters shall they carry upon their shoulders. And kings shall be thy nursing fathers: and princesses thy nurses: upon the face of the earth they shall worship thee, and lick up the dust of thy feet; and thou shalt know that I am the Lord, and they shall not be confounded that wait for me. To what the Church had said: I was barren and captive, who hath begotten these for me? I was destitute and alone, and these, where were they here? The Lord replies: Dost thou wonder why these things have come to pass? Thou wilt not wonder at all when thou hearest that I have lifted up my hand to the Gentiles. Of this the Saint also speaks: Thou hast formed me, and hast laid thy hand upon me.

And the Saviour himself: No man can pluck out of my Father's hand. And the Apostle Peter: Be humbled under the mighty hand of God, that he may exalt you in the time of visitation. This hand lifted up to the Gentiles is that of which this same Prophet speaks here: There shall be a root of Jesse, who shall rise up to rule the Gentiles: in him the Gentiles shall hope. And not only will he lift up his hand to the Gentiles; but he will also raise up his standard among the peoples. There is no doubt that this is the banner of the cross, that what is written may be fulfilled: The earth is full of his praise. And again: In all the earth his name is admirable. Then they shall bring the sons of Sion in their arms, or in their bosom, and shall carry her daughters upon their shoulders.

Such was Lazarus, and all the saints who rest in the bosom of Abraham, and the souls of believers, to whom the Apostle Paul spoke: I have fed you with milk. And elsewhere: My little children, of whom I am in labor again, until Christ be formed in you. And in another place: As a nurse cherisheth her children: so, desiring you, we would gladly impart unto you not only the Gospel of Christ, but our own souls also. Otherwise it would be ridiculous, in Jewish fashion, for grown sons and daughters to be carried in arms and on shoulders. But the nursing kings, and the queen princesses who are nurses, plainly show the Apostles and Apostolic men: such was also Abraham, to whom it is said: Thou art a prince of God among us; and those whose heart is in the hand of God: who say to believers: As newborn babes, desire the rational milk without guile.

Princess too, that is, ἄρχουσα, which is what the name Sarah means: and queens, or the queen, of whom it is sung in the forty-fourth psalm: The queen stood at thy right hand in gilded clothing, daily nurses the little ones of Christ, and brings them to perfect age: and every age, sex, and dignity shall worship Sion because of him who dwells in her. For if the head of the Church is Christ, the head is worshiped in the body.

And if it is said to some: Exalt ye the Lord our God, and adore his footstool (not that the footstool is to be worshiped, but that the majesty of his feet may be signified), why should not the Church be worshiped, which embraces the whole body of Christ, that what is written in Zephaniah may be fulfilled: Every one shall worship him from his place: all the islands of the Gentiles, so that they may by no means come to Jerusalem three times a year in Jewish fashion, but worshiping the Lord in their own place, may possess Jerusalem. And what follows: and they shall lick up the dust of thy feet, signifies this, that kings and princes shall wipe and lick away with their word whatever of earthly work has clung to the feet of the Church. Whence also the Apostles are commanded to shake off the dust of their feet. And it is said to Peter, that he who has once been washed need only wash his feet.

By all these things the Church learns that there is no other Lord besides him, whom they that have waited for shall possess eternal glory. (Verses 24 ff.) Shall the prey be taken from the mighty? Or that which has been captured by the strong be safe? For thus says the Lord: Even the captivity shall be taken away from the mighty man, and that which has been taken by the strong shall be delivered. But I will judge those who have judged thee, and I will save thy sons. And I will feed thine enemies with their own flesh, and they shall be made drunk with their own blood as with new wine: and all flesh shall know that I am the Lord that saveth thee, and thy Redeemer, the mighty One of Jacob. The Septuagint: Shall anyone take spoils from a giant? And if anyone should unjustly lead captive, shall he be safe?

Thus says the Lord: If anyone shall have taken the giant's spoils, he shall receive them, and he who takes from the strong shall be safe. But I will judge my own judgment. And I will deliver my sons, and those who have afflicted thee shall eat their own flesh, and shall drink their own blood as new wine, and shall be made drunk: and all flesh shall know that I am the Lord who delivered thee, and the help of the strength of Jacob. Our Lord and Savior, who had before spoken through Isaiah, himself in the Gospel repeats the same meaning: how can anyone enter into the house of the strong man, and plunder his goods, unless he first bind the strong man, and then he will plunder his house? The strong man and giant is the devil, who had subjugated all nations to his rule, daring to say to the Savior: All these things have been given to me, and I will give them to thee, if falling down thou wilt worship me.

For the world lies in the evil one, whom none of the righteous was able to overcome, nor, according to Amos, to take the prey out of the lion's mouth. The question having therefore been proposed, that no one could overcome the strong man and giant, nor save what had been snatched by him, the Lord answered that all things were to be accomplished by his own coming: namely, that the nations, previously captured by the giant, would be taken away, and all his household goods and his whole family would be divided among the Apostles. That which is written having thus been fulfilled: The King of virtues of the beloved, and of the beauty of the house, to divide the spoils. For it is he who, ascending on high, led captivity captive, gave gifts among men: namely, he received into life those who had before been taken captive unto death. Whence Symmachus interpreted more plainly: But even the captivity of the strong shall be taken away, and the plunder of the horrible one shall be safe.

Wishing to be understood as the strong and horrible one, the devil, who was overcome by the power of the Lord. Therefore the Lord, judging those who had oppressed Sion, or judging her judgment, will free her sons who had been captured by the giant, and will save them, and will feed the adversary powers with their own flesh, and will make them drunk as with new wine, so that they may be sated not at all by the death of others, but by their own death. And those who are flesh, because they have lost the Spirit of God, feed on their own flesh. This indeed the Saint also says in the Psalms: When they that afflicted me drew near, that they might eat my flesh. For it is not the spirit, which is incorporeal, but the flesh that is eaten, laid open to the bites of fierce beasts.

And then Sion shall say: nay, all flesh shall see the salvation of God, that its Redeemer and Savior is he who wrestled with Jacob, or was the helper of the strength of Jacob: that, lifted up in his passion, he might bless those who crucified him: Father, forgive them: for they know not what they do.

Thus says the Lord: Where is the bill of divorce of your mother, with which I put her away? Or who is my creditor, to whom I sold you? Behold, you were sold for your iniquities, and for your crimes I have put away your mother. Because I came, and there was no man: I called, and there was none to hear. The Septuagint: Thus says the Lord: What kind of bill of divorce of your mother is this, with which I put her away? Or to what creditor and exactor of mine did I sell you? Behold, you were sold for your sins, and for your iniquities I put away your mother, because I came, and there was no man: I called, and there was none to obey.

After the calling of the nations, and the kings and princes, the nursing fathers and nursing mothers, and the captivity of him who was formerly strong and mighty, whose prey was distributed to the Apostles, and after the madness of the demons, who were sated with their own flesh and made drunk with their own blood; when all flesh had come to know that the Redeemer and mighty One was God himself of Jacob, he speaks to the people of the Jews concerning Sion, which had before said: The Lord has forsaken me, and the Lord has forgotten me. Do you think that by my harshness your earthly mother Jerusalem was cast off, and that I, by rigidity of mind, gave her a bill of divorce, and do you not rather understand, what is true, that she withdrew from me by her own fault?

For when I said to her: Cease to do wickedly, learn to do good, she would not hear me; but she turned her shoulder against me and withdrew: whence I spoke to her children: Woe unto them, for they have withdrawn from me. Manifest are those who have done impiously against me. And to her herself: Thine own apostasy shall reprove thee, and thy wickedness shall correct thee; and thou shalt know that it is an evil thing to thee to have forsaken me. But perhaps you cannot show the bill of divorce, and some creditor of mine, demanding payment, since I had nothing to render, takes you in compensation for the debt? It is not so: but I will show you why I forsook the mother together with her children. Your crimes and sins sold you to demons, so that, entangled in the pleasures of the present age, you both forsook your parent, and she forsook her spouse. Whence I could no longer keep hold of your adulterous mother, but permitted her to depart, since she was willing.

That each one is sold by his own sins, while, left to his own will, we are led by our own choice either to good or to evil, the Apostle Paul also teaches: But I am carnal, sold under sin. For he who commits sin is the servant of sin. And just as the covetous and the rapacious are servants of mammon; so every sin lords it over sinners. To whom it is said: Let not sin reign in your mortal body. But that you may know that your mother was not divorced by me, but withdrew of her own will, after many benefits I assumed a human body, and spoke not through the Prophets, but present in person. I came, and there was no man, or human being. For all men, abandoning the image of man and of humanity, took on the images of beasts and serpents. Whence also to Herod, on account of his wickedness, it is said: Go, and tell that fox. And to the Pharisees: Generation of vipers.

And to the lustful: They have become as raging horses after women. And of the voluptuous: Cast not your pearls before swine. And to the shameless: Neither give that which is holy unto dogs.

And of all in common: The vision of the four-footed beasts that were in the desert. So the Lord came, and found no man. For man, when he was in honor, did not understand: he is compared to senseless beasts, and made like unto them. I called, he says, them as a rational animal, and said: Incline your ear to the words of my mouth, and my people did not hear my voice. I cried out, and said: Let him who thirsts come to me, and drink. And in another place: Come unto me, all you who labor and are heavy laden. And there was none to hear; whence I spoke to them in the Gospel: You have neither seen the form of God, nor heard his voice, because you have not his word abiding in you. (Verse 2.) Is my hand shortened, and become small, so that it cannot redeem? Or is there not strength in me to deliver?

Behold, at my rebuke I will make the sea a desert, I will turn rivers into dry land: the fish shall rot for lack of water, they shall die of thirst. I will clothe the heavens with darkness, and will make sackcloth their covering. The Septuagint: Can not my hand deliver, or does it not prevail to rescue? Behold at my threatening I will make the sea a desert, and I will make the rivers a wilderness, and their fish shall wither: because there is no water, and they shall die of thirst. And I will clothe the heaven with darkness, and will make its covering as sackcloth. Against those who thought that the Lord could not deliver his people from captivity, he sets forth reason and examples in abundance. For he who made the Red Sea passable for his people, dried up the streams of the Jordan, and, the rivers of Egypt drying up, turned their fish to rot.

And he who for three days in Egypt made the darkness so palpable that heaven seemed as if covered with sackcloth and darkness: surely he would have been able also to deliver his own people from danger. Or, since he had said above: I came, and there was no man: I called, and there was none to hear, we may say this: that he who is the doer of such great signs, and who makes heaven and earth and seas serve his will, could himself also have escaped the cross, saying in the Gospel: Do you think that I cannot ask my Father, that he would presently furnish me with more than twelve legions of Angels? According to the anagogical sense, at the Lord's rebuke the sea becomes a desert, when all the bitterness of this age is dried up, and the rivers are made desolate, of which the spiritual dragon said in Egypt: The rivers are mine, and I made them.

And of which we read elsewhere: What have you to do with the way of the Assyrians, that you should drink the waters of the rivers? The fish also, the net having been cast into the sea, shall rot, those which have been separated from the good fish. And what follows: I will clothe the heaven with darkness, and it shall be as sackcloth for its covering, let us understand either that everything which is above us is called heaven, just as the flying creatures that are in the air are called celestial; and the adversary powers are said to be celestial, which range between heaven and earth. Or certainly the heaven is clothed with darkness, when it is covered with clouds. According to that which is written: Who covers the heaven with clouds, and gives rain to the earth. And in the threat of drought God speaks: I will make the heaven brass, and the earth iron. Not that the nature of the elements is changed, but that through brass and iron the greatness of the punishments is shown.

The philosophers say that the clouds are not lifted more than ten stadia above the earth, and hide the splendor of the sun. Therefore the heaven is not wrapped in sackcloth, but, the light of heaven being shut off, the air which is beneath is darkened by the shadow of the cloud. We may interpret the heavens wrapped in darkness, and covered with sackcloth, thus, that we say all are under sin, and that even the saints have need of the mercy of God.

The Lord who looks upon the earth, and makes it tremble; who touches the mountains, and they smoke, who speaks in the song of Deuteronomy: I will kill, and I will make alive: I will strike, and I will heal, has made even my own earth, to which it was said: Earth thou art, and unto earth thou shalt go, tremble with frequent illnesses. And, forgetful of the human condition, he frequently warns me, that I should know myself to be both a man and an old man, and soon to die. Of which it is written: Why is earth and ashes proud? Whence he who had struck me with sudden sickness healed me with incredible swiftness: that he might rather terrify than afflict, and correct rather than scourge.

And so, knowing to whom belongs everything by which I live, and that perhaps my sleep is for this reason delayed, that I might complete the work begun on the Prophets, I give myself wholly to this study, and, as though placed upon a watchtower, I contemplate the storms and shipwrecks of this world, not without groaning and grief; thinking not of present things, but of things to come, dreading not the fame and idle talk of men, but the judgment of God.

And you, Virgin of Christ, Eustochium, who by your prayers helped me in my illness, now that I am healed also entreat the grace of Christ for me, that with the same spirit with which the Prophets sang of things to come, I may be able to enter into their cloud and darkness, and to know the word of God, which is heard not at all by the ears of the flesh, but of the heart; and to say with the Prophet: The Lord gives me the tongue of instruction, that I may know when it is fitting for me to speak. Which testimony is the beginning of the fourteenth book on Isaiah, which I now desire to discuss.

(Verses 4 ff.) The Lord hath given me a learned tongue, that I should know how to sustain by word him that is weary. He wakeneth in the morning, in the morning he wakeneth mine ear, that I may hear him as a master.

The Lord God hath opened mine ear, and I do not contradict: I have not gone back. I have given my body to the smiters, and my cheeks to them that plucked them. I have not turned away my face from them that rebuked me and spit upon me. The Lord God is my helper, therefore I am not confounded: therefore have I set my face as a most hard rock, and I know that I shall not be confounded. LXX: The Lord giveth me the tongue of instruction, that I should know when it behooveth me to speak a word. He set me in the morning, he added unto me an ear to hear; and the instruction of the Lord openeth my ears. But I do not refuse, neither do I contradict. My back I have given to the scourges, and my cheeks to blows. And my face I have not turned away from the shame of spittings.

And the Lord is my helper, therefore I am not confounded: but I have set my face as a most strong rock, and I know that I shall not be confounded.

The Jews, separating this chapter from what precedes, wish to refer it to the person of Isaiah, that he says he received from the Lord a discourse for how he might sustain the weary and erring people, and call them back to salvation; and that in the manner of little children, who are instructed in the morning hours, he hears from the Holy Spirit what he should speak: and that he did not contradict his command, but when the Lord asked, "Whom shall I send, and who will go to this people?" he answered him: "Behold, I, send me". And that because he had said: "Hear the word of the Lord, ye princes of Sodom: give ear to the law of our God, ye people of Gomorrah", he suffered such hardships that he was exposed not only to insults of words, but also to the pains of blows.

Yet that in the consciousness of God's command he was in no way terrified; but according to what is said to Ezekiel: "Behold, I have made thy face stronger than their faces, and thy forehead harder than their foreheads, I have made thy face as adamant and flint", he crushed all their assaults. These things they say who by every argument strive to overturn the prophecies concerning Christ, and to twist them by perverse interpretation to a wrong understanding: as though, if these things too were written of Isaiah, they could remove other testimonies concerning Christ, which are so clear that they pour a manifest light into the eyes of all. To the person of the Lord, therefore, in whom the preceding book also ended, these things too must be referred: that according to the dispensation of the assumed body he was instructed, and received a tongue of instruction, that he might know when he ought to speak, when to be silent.

Finally, he who was silent in the Passion now speaks through the Apostles and Apostolic men throughout the whole world. And it is a mark of great knowledge to give food to fellow-servants in due season, and to consider the persons of the hearers. Whence also the Apostle Paul, to those who did not accept the faith of the Prophets, speaks with the testimonies of their own authors: "As certain also of your own poets have said, For we are also his offspring", meaning Aratus. And again from the Comic poet: "Evil communications corrupt good manners"; and the hexameter verse of Epimenides: "The Cretans are always liars, evil beasts, slow bellies". And if in translation they do not keep the order and measure of the meters, one must know that in Greek they run in feet. Now he did this because he had received a tongue of instruction, that he might know when it behooved him to speak a word.

To whom was added an ear by grace, which he did not have by nature: that we may understand that the ears to be received are by no means those of the body, but of the mind: of which the Lord also spoke in the Gospel: "He that hath ears to hear, let him hear". This instruction and teaching opened his ears, that he might transmit the Father's knowledge even unto us; who did not contradict him, but became obedient unto death, even the death of the cross. So that he set his body, or his back, for stripes; and the breast that contains God let them cut with scourges, and he did not turn away his cheeks from blows. That he suffered this at the hand of the servant of the high priest there is no doubt: so that the peoples of the Jews also mocked him in rivalry.

Who, being struck and spat upon, was not ashamed, but was led as a lamb to the slaughter; and as a sheep before her shearer he opened not his mouth. And that the Son, according to the mystery of the assumed body, heard from the Father what he should speak, we learn more fully in the Gospel, where he himself says: "And the Father who sent me hath given me a commandment, what I should say and what I should speak." And again: "As I hear, so I judge". (Verses 8, 9.) He is near that justifieth me: who shall contend with me? Let us stand together. Who is mine adversary? Let him come near to me. Behold, the Lord God is my helper: who is he that shall condemn me? Behold, they shall all wax old as a garment, the moth shall eat them up. LXX: He that is near justifieth me: who is he that will be judged with me, let him withstand me together? And who is he that will enter into judgment against me?

Let him draw near to me. Behold, the Lord is my helper, who shall afflict me? Behold, all of you shall wax old as a garment, and the moth shall eat you up. If anyone, he says, thinks me justly condemned to the cross and to have committed some sin, let him resist me. Who is he that will be judged with me, so that not by the power of my majesty, but by reason, he may be overcome? Now one is judged with the Lord, not by the authority of one reigning, but by comparison of virtues: just as the Apostles judge the twelve tribes of Israel, and the Ninevites and the Queen of Sheba judge the people of the Jews. In accord with which sense it is said to Jerusalem: "Sodom is justified compared to thee". Since, therefore, no one can be justified in the presence of the Lord, all shall wax old as a garment. And that which grows old is near to perishing. And as a moth, he says, shall eat them.

That is, the consciousness of sins; and the zeal of the saved Gentiles. Of which it is said at the end of this volume: "Their worm shall not die." And in Micah against perverse princes: "I will take away their goods as a moth eating away, and walking upon the rule in the day of watching" (Micah VII, 4, according to the LXX). And in Proverbs: "A moth of bones is an understanding heart". For "moth" in the present passage, Symmachus has interpreted "rust," Aquila "worm." (Verses 10, 11.) Who among you feareth the Lord, hearing the voice of his servant? He that hath walked in darkness, and hath no light: let him trust in the name of the Lord, and lean upon his God. LXX: Who is among you that feareth the Lord, let him hearken to the voice of his child: they that walk in darkness have no light. You trust in the name of the Lord, and lean upon God. You have scourged me, you have spat upon my face; yet I call my persecutors to repentance.

For I will not the death of the sinful people, but only that he should return and live. And I say: who is among you that feareth the Lord, and heareth the voice of the servant or child, that is, of his Son? Of whom the one pertains to the assumed flesh, the other to the nature. Nor indeed let us think it a small thing to fear the Lord, according to what is said in Proverbs: "The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom". Perfect love, indeed, casteth out fear: for fear hath punishment. But he that feareth is not perfect in charity. But here fear is set for timidity, and for εὐλάβεια (reverent caution); of which elsewhere too we read: "Blessed is he who feareth all things", on account of εὐλάβεια, that is, on account of timidity: whom in common speech men call the "God-fearing" in religion. For the Lord protects their way; and keeps the path of the God-fearing.

Of this fear it is written: "The fear of the Lord surpasseth all things." And elsewhere: "There is no want to them that fear him". Finally, after many degrees of virtue one arrives at this kind of fear of the Lord. For the divine word speaks under the person of a master and father instructing a disciple and son: "If thou call upon wisdom, and give thy voice to understanding, and if thou seek her as money, and search for her as for treasures: then shalt thou understand the fear of the Lord, and shalt find the knowledge of God". This is the fear which keeps the souls of the saints whole and chaste and pure, of which it is said: "The holy fear of the Lord remaineth forever." To which the divine sayings exhort us: "Fear the Lord, and give him glory".

He, then, who so fears the Lord, let him hear the voice of the servant or child of him, who walked in darkness and had no light; who had no form nor glory, but in the likeness of sinful flesh took upon him the form of a servant, that he might overcome sin in the flesh. Of him it is said that he should trust in the name of the Lord, and lean upon his God: that whatever belongs to human frailty he might strengthen and sustain by divine majesty. This is according to the Hebrew. But according to the Septuagint it is said of sinners, who would not obey the voice of his Son, and walk in the darkness of error, and therefore have no light. For it could not be that wisdom should enter into a perverse soul. They who neither knew nor understood; and therefore walk in darkness.

For they did not do the works and commandments of the Lord, nor sowed for themselves righteousness, nor gathered the vintage of the vine, that they might kindle for themselves the light of knowledge. For he who desires wisdom, let him keep the commandments, and the Lord will grant it to him. Whence also it is said to God: "Thy precepts are light." And elsewhere: "The commandment of the Lord is bright, enlightening the eyes". And the wicked are commanded to trust in the Lord, and, falling in sins, to lean upon and be sustained by his help. (Verse 11.) Behold, all you that kindle a fire, girded with flames, walk in the light of your fire, and in the flames which you have kindled: this hath been done to you from my hand, in sorrows shall you sleep. LXX: Behold, all of you kindle a fire, and strengthen the flame; walk in the light of your fire, and in the flame which you have kindled; these things have been done to you because of me.

In sorrow shall you sleep. Exhortation profits nothing; nor after crimes is there hope of salvation. All have gone astray, they are together become unprofitable; all kindle for themselves a fire, and strengthen the flame. For they have in themselves hay, wood, stubble, thorns, and briers, and tares, which are to be delivered over to eternal burning. Whence also it is written in Proverbs: "Fire thrives with much wood". But if a small fire catches great material, how great a devastation will a great flame make? It is also said in the Epistle which is called to the Hebrews, of the earth which, bringing forth thorns and briers, is reprobate, and near to a curse, whose end is to be burned. Therefore they who are girded and surrounded with flames, and have strengthened for themselves a conflagration, are urged to salvation, and it is said to them: "Walk in the light of your fire, and in the flames which you have kindled," that in punishments and torments they may learn the power of God, and return to salvation.

Now it signifies the devastation of the Jewish people, by which they were handed over to the Romans, and up to now they endure the yoke of captivity. For all these things were done by the hand of Christ, and they shall sleep in sorrow and in pains; because neither by benefits nor by torments would they receive the Son of God. Whence he says to them: "Go into everlasting fire, which God hath prepared for the devil and his angels". This is what the Apostle also says: "For wrath is come upon them to the end". By this chapter we learn that, according to the quality of sin, each one kindles for himself a fire.

And just as, remaining in the same place, and if it can be said, in the same little bed, some are healthy, others are inflamed with the heats of fevers, according to the diversity of humors and phlegm feeling diverse punishments: so the fire which is kindled by sinners has its material in sins, and in iniquity, of which it is written: "Iniquity shall burn as fire, and shall be devoured like dry grass by the flame".

Hear me, you who follow after what is just, and seek the Lord. Look to the rock from which you were hewn, and to the hollow of the pit from which you were cut. Look to Abraham your father, and to Sarah who bore you: for I called him alone, and blessed him, and multiplied him. Therefore the Lord shall comfort Sion, and shall comfort all her ruins, and shall make her desert as a delight, and her wilderness as the garden of the Lord. Joy and gladness shall be found therein, thanksgiving and the voice of praise. LXX: Hear, you who follow after what is just, and seek the Lord. Look to the strong rock which you have hewn, and to the pit of the ditch which you have dug. Look to Abraham your father, and to Sarah who bore you, because he was one, and I called him, and blessed him, and loved him, and multiplied him: and now I will comfort you, Sion.

And I have comforted all her deserts as a paradise, and those regions which are toward the west as the paradise of the Lord: exultation and gladness they shall find in her, confession and the voice of praise. To those sleeping in mourning and perpetual sorrow, who have kindled a fire for themselves, and made most vehement flames, you who follow after justice and seek the Lord (he means the choir of the Apostles and of those who believe through the Apostles), look to the rock, that is, to Abraham your father, from whom you were hewn, and to the hollow of the pit from which you were cut, that is, to Sarah who bore you. And consider this, that when he was one man and a hundred years old, and had a barren wife, I multiplied his sons like the stars of heaven, so that their multitude surpassed all number.

If then from one man so many thousands of peoples were born, what great thing is it for me to restore the ruins of Sion, and change her deserts into the paradise of delight, and into the garden of the Lord which God planted in Eden toward the East: and that in her, in place of various trees, joy and gladness, confession and the voice of praise be found? The Jews refer this to the times of Zorobabel, because after the devastation of Babylon Sion was restored, the Temple built, and the ancient religion restored. But how is it, as was said above (at chap. XLIX, 22, 23) to Sion: They shall bring your sons in their arms, and shall carry your daughters upon their shoulders. And kings shall be your nursing fathers, and queens your nursing mothers.

And: Behold, these shall come from afar, and those from the north and the sea, and these from the south country; when Sion shall say: The place is too narrow for me: make me room that I may dwell—all of which exclude the mediocrity of those times, and are not known to have been fulfilled concerning the earthly Jerusalem: so also here the Lord speaks to those who follow after what is just, according to that which is said elsewhere: Seek peace, and pursue it; and again: Pursuing hospitality. And they seek the Lord, so that from past events they may conjecture the present: since much more difficult things have already come to pass, let them not doubt that these things which are promised will come to be.

Moreover, according to the LXX, it is said to the persecutors of justice, that they should look to the most solid rock which they hewed, and to the pit of the ditch which they dug, that is, to the Lord the Savior, of whom the Apostle speaks: Now the rock was Christ. And elsewhere it is written: He set my feet upon a rock. And again: He exalted me upon a rock. For they pierced his side with a lance, from which came out blood and water, and they pierced his hands and feet, the Lord Savior himself saying: They pierced my hands and my feet, they numbered all my bones. We may call the hewn rock the sepulcher of the Savior, in which he was laid, and rising from the dead, begot innumerable sons. And he was called Abraham, that is, father of many nations. As Sarah, formerly barren, is interpreted as the Church, which by another name is called Sion, which the Lord has comforted, and made her deserts as a paradise.

For the children of the desolate are more numerous than of her who has a husband. And as for what is said: And those regions which are toward the West I will make into the paradise of the Lord, or into the garden of God, it signifies that for those sitting in darkness and the shadow of death a sudden light has arisen. Instead of paradise, in whose place we render "delights," in the Hebrew is placed EDEN (עדן), of which it is written at the beginning of Genesis.

And this is to be noted, that in Sion, which is compared to the paradise of God, there ought to be nothing else but joy and gladness, confession and the voice of praise, so that what the saints will do in heaven with the angels of God, this also they should meditate on earth in the continual praise of the Lord. (Verses 4, 5.) Attend to me, my people, and my tribe, hear me: for a law shall go forth from me, and my judgment shall rest for a light of the peoples. My just one is near, my savior has gone forth: and my arms shall judge the peoples. The islands shall wait for me, and shall look for my arm. LXX: Hear me, hear me, my people, and kings, attend to me: for a law shall go forth from me, and my judgment for a light of the nations. My righteousness draws near quickly, and my salvation shall go forth as light: and in my arm the nations shall hope.

The islands shall wait for me, and shall hope in my arm. Once it is said in the Hebrew: Attend; a second time according to the Septuagint, hear me, hear me; so as to teach us that we ought to hear both with the ears of the body and with the sense of the soul. And the multitude of the nations, which is the people of God, is provoked to hear diligently what is said, concerning which Zechariah says: Many nations shall flee for refuge to the Lord, and shall be to him a people. Or, as some hold, the people is called the remnant of believers out of Israel; and the tribe, or nations, are those who have believed out of the multitude of nations, as Moses says by reasoning in the Song of Deuteronomy: Rejoice, you nations, with his people.

Instead of "tribe," which we have translated, Theodotion has "race": Symmachus, "nation": the LXX translated "kings." For we are both the tribe, and the nation, and the race of the Lord, royal and priestly, such as Abraham also was, who was called a king, and the rest of the saints, of whom it is written: Touch not my anointed ones. What is it that we are commanded to hear? That a law, he says, shall go forth from me, and my judgment for a light of the peoples, or of the nations. Here the spiritual law of the Gospel is shown, which shall go forth from Sion; not the law of Moses, which was formerly given on Sinai: and my judgment shall go forth for a light of the nations, by which he has established and decreed that all nations are to be saved. And lest perhaps we should think that what he promised would come only after a long time, he adds, my just one, or my justice, is near.

For Christ was made for us by the Father wisdom and redemption, sanctity and justice, and everything by which virtue is named. And it is beautifully said that justice shall go forth, so that not one nation only, but the whole world may be saved. And that the Savior, or salvation, which in Hebrew is called Jesus, is called the Son of God, who was sent by the Father, Simeon, holding the child in his arms, says: Now you dismiss your servant, Lord, for my eyes have seen your salvation, which you have prepared before the face of all peoples, a light for the revelation of the nations. And what follows: And my arms shall judge the peoples. Or, according to the LXX, and in my arm the nations shall hope, signifies either that all shall be judged by his power, or that all nations shall believe in Christ, who is the arm and strength of God. It is also said elsewhere: Your arm is with power. Let your hand be strengthened, and your right hand be exalted.

And again: Sing to the Lord a new song: his right hand has saved for him, and his holy arm. For the right hand and arm of the Lord is he himself, who first saved those who were lost for himself, so that none of those whom the Father had given him should perish. And that the islands, or the souls of the Saints, who in the persecutions of this world are fixed in faith with firm solidity toward God, or the multitude of the Churches from the nations, is meant, we have often explained. And as the arm of the Lord we understand the Savior: so his arms, which shall judge the peoples, we may understand as all the saints, in whom God shall judge the world. (Verse 6.) Lift up your eyes to the heavens, and look beneath upon the earth: for the heavens shall melt away like smoke, and the earth shall be worn away like a garment: and its inhabitants shall likewise perish. But my salvation shall be forever, and my justice shall not fail.

LXX: Lift up your eyes to heaven, and look upon the earth beneath, because heaven has been made fast like smoke. But the earth shall grow old like a garment, and its inhabitants shall die in like manner. This is what the Lord says in the Gospel: Heaven and earth shall pass away, but my words shall not pass away. And David sings in the psalm: In the beginning, O Lord, you founded the earth, and the heavens are the work of your hands. They shall perish, but you remain, and all of them shall grow old like a garment; and like a cloak you shall fold them up, and they shall be changed. By which it is shown that the perishing of the heavens does not signify destruction, but change for the better. Concerning which it is said: There shall be a new heaven and a new earth: which I will make to endure before my face.

For if it is written of the saints: "We shall all indeed sleep, but we shall not all be changed": and in the titles of four psalms we read: "For those who shall be changed": how much more is this to be believed concerning heaven and the sun and the stars, when the moon shall receive the light of the sun and the sun shall glow with sevenfold brightness? Whence also every creature groans and travails, awaiting the revelation of the sons of God, that it may be changed for the better. And not only the souls of men, which are immortal: but also bodies shall be changed into a glorified substance. For this corruptible must put on incorruption, and this mortal must put on immortality.

But when heaven and earth grow old, consequently also the things that are contained within the circle of heaven, and men, who are the inhabitants of the earth, shall likewise die: not unto their destruction, but unto the abolition of their former baseness, and the renewal of future glory; when the just shall shine like the sun; and, the old and former things passing away, all things shall be made new. Some take "perish" and "grow old" to mean abolition and death. According to that which we read in the catholic Epistle: The heavens which now are, and the earth, by the same word are stored up for fire. And again: The elements burning shall be dissolved. This indeed is also the opinion of the philosophers of the world, that all things which we see shall perish by fire. Whence also the Apostle says: The fashion of this world passes away, while we look not at the things which are seen, but at the things which are not seen.

For the things which are seen are temporal: but the things which are not seen are eternal. Something like this the apostle John also writes: The world passes away, and its desire.

And in the Hebrew it is said: The heavens shall melt like smoke. Or, according to Aquila and Symmachus, they shall be crumbled into nothing, and shall be ground down after the manner of salt and vanish, of whom the former said, ηλισθησαν; the latter, αλισουσιν; which manifestly draws its etymology from the crumbling and dissolving of salt. As to which I wonder what the Seventy meant to say, "the heaven was made firm like smoke": for if firmness is taken for strength, how is that which is firm compared to smoke? Unless perhaps we may say this, that all the firmness and strength and might of the heavens is made equal to the emptiest wind and to smoke, which dissolves into air, according to Ecclesiastes: Vanity of vanities, and all is vanity. And this too must be said, that if heaven and earth shall perish and grow old, by what consequence should its inhabitants die and perish just as those things do, since we know that souls are perpetual, and that bodies are to rise again?

From which it is clear that heaven and earth do not perish and are not reduced to nothing, but are changed into something better. Verse 7. Hear me, you who know what is just, my people: my law is in their heart. Fear not the reproach of men, and be not afraid of their blasphemies. For the worm shall eat them up like a garment, and the moth shall devour them like wool: but my salvation shall be for ever, and my righteousness from generation to generation. The Septuagint: Hear me, you who know judgment, my people, whose law is in their heart. Fear not the reproach of men, and be not overcome by their contempt. For like a garment they shall be consumed by time, and like wool they shall be eaten by the moth. But my righteousness shall be forever, and my salvation from generation to generation.

He who had said above: The law shall go forth from me, and my judgment for a light to the nations, now speaks to those same people, who know his judgment and have his law in their hearts, so that they may do all things with judgment, and may have the law which the Lord promises through Jeremiah, saying: I will establish a new covenant, not according to the covenant which I made with their fathers; but I will establish a covenant, giving my laws into their minds, and I will write them upon their heart; and I will be their God, and they shall be my people: so that they may live not at all according to the letter, but according to the spirit, renewing the natural law in their hearts, concerning which the Apostle also writes: For when the Gentiles, who have not the law, do by nature the things that are of the law: these, not having the law, are a law to themselves, who show the work of the law written in their hearts.

Of which law it is signified in the psalm: The mouth of the righteous shall meditate wisdom, and his tongue shall speak judgment. The law of his God is in his heart, and his steps shall not be supplanted. And because the prophetic spirit knew that many persecutions would come upon believers, he exhorts them to fortitude, indeed to contempt of those who will persecute them. This the Lord also spoke in the Gospel: Fear not those who kill the body but cannot kill the soul; but rather fear him who can destroy both soul and body in hell. And in another place: Rejoice, when they shall say every evil against you falsely. For as a garment is consumed by the worm, or by time; and as wool is devoured by the moth: so all the reproach of persecutors shall pass away together with the persecutors. Whence the Apostles also gloried, that they were counted worthy to suffer insults for the Lord.

And they gloried, because the salvation and righteousness of the Lord, which had promised them victory and rewards, that is, the Lord and Savior, abides forever, whether in either generation, of the former people and of the latter, who received his coming, of whom it is also said above: My righteous one is near, my savior has gone forth. (Verse 9 and following.) Awake, awake; put on strength, O arm of the Lord. Awake as in the days of old, in the generations of ages past. Was it not you who struck the proud one, who wounded the dragon? Was it not you who dried up the sea, the water of the mighty deep, who made the depths of the sea a way, that the delivered might pass through? And now those who have been redeemed by the Lord shall return and come to Sion with praise; and everlasting gladness shall be upon their heads: they shall hold joy and gladness, sorrow and mourning shall flee away. The Septuagint: Arise, arise, Jerusalem, and put on the strength of your arm.

Arise as in the beginning of the day, as an everlasting generation. Are you not the one who cut through the breadth, who dissolved the dragon? Are you not the one who made the sea a desert, the many waters of the deep: who made the depth of the sea a way of passage for those who had been freed and redeemed? For by the Lord they shall be led back, and they shall come to Sion with everlasting gladness and exultation. For upon their head praise and gladness shall take hold of them. Sorrow and grief and groaning shall flee away. The name "Jerusalem," which is here added by the Seventy, is found neither in the Hebrew nor placed by any of the three Interpreters, whence it must be marked with an obelus, and thus the following chapter is to be joined with the preceding sense. The Lord had exhorted those who believe in him, saying: Fear not the reproach of men, and be not afraid of their blasphemies.

And he had promised them his salvation and everlasting righteousness as a help, which is none other than Christ, the arm of the Lord, concerning whom he had said above: And the nations shall hope in my arm. Whence the people speak to the arm of the Lord, and beseech his coming, and implore the promised help, saying: Awake, awake: put on strength, O arm of the Lord. Awake as in the days of old, and exert your whole strength, that you who through many ages delivered your saints from dangers, may also protect us by your strength. For you are the one who struck the proud one, who wounded the dragon, namely Pharaoh king of Egypt, who is also called the great dragon in Ezekiel. You dried up the Red Sea, so that through the most violent waters and the depths of the sea your people might find a way, and flee the pursuing Egyptians.

You therefore who did these things: now also lead back those redeemed and freed by your blood into Sion, and into the heavenly Jerusalem, that is, into the Church which you have prepared for yourself by your blood: in which, when they shall be, they will rejoice with everlasting gladness, and will say: Lord, you have crowned us as with a shield of your good will. For they shall have joy and gladness, sorrow and groaning fleeing away. This is according to the Hebrew. But according to the Seventy, Jerusalem, that is, the sinning soul, is exhorted to put on the strength of her arm, and to take up her former works, as she was before she fell, when she dwelt in day and light. For you are the one, it says, who overcame the broad and spacious way that leads to death, and dissolved the dragon, the twisted serpent: of whom it is also read in the Psalms: You broke the heads of the dragons in the waters.

Remember your former strength, that you trampled the sea of this age, and made it a desert, and found a way in the midst of the waves. Whence also the Apostle Peter passed through the sea of this age to the Lord, and he who walked by faith began to sink through unbelief, save that he was upheld by the right hand of the Lord. Therefore, just as the former victory was granted by the Lord's help: so also to those who return after repentance, and who hear: Shall not he who falls, rise again? Says the Lord. And, Turn to me, you children who turn, and I will heal your bruises, he himself will stretch out his hand, and will lead them back into Sion, the watchtower and summit of virtues, with everlasting joy and gladness, and will set praise and gladness upon their head.

For the eyes of the wise man are in his head; and this crown they shall have, and with this diadem they shall be protected, so that they may always rejoice and praise the Lord, because for sorrow, grief, and groaning, joys shall have come in their place. (Verses 12, 13.) I, I myself will comfort you. Who are you, that you should fear from mortal man, and from the son of man, who will wither like grass? And you have forgotten God your maker, who stretched out the heavens and founded the earth: and you feared continually all the day from the face of the fury of him who troubled you; and he had prepared to destroy. Where now is the fury of the oppressor? He will come quickly, going forth to open, and he will not kill unto utter destruction: nor shall his bread fail. But I am the Lord your God, who stirs up the sea, and its waves swell: the Lord of hosts is my name.

I have put my words in your mouth: and in the shadow of my hand I have protected you, that you may plant the heavens and found the earth, and say to Sion: You are my people. Septuagint: I am, I am he who comforts you. Know who you were and feared from mortal man, and from the son of man, who have withered like grass, and you have forgotten God your maker: who made the heaven, and founded the earth, and you feared always all the days the face of the fury of him who troubled you, as he devised to take you away; and now where is the fury of him who troubled you? For when you shall have been made safe, it will not stand, nor remain: and it shall not perish in corruption, and his bread shall not fail, because I am your God who stirs up the sea, and makes its waves to sound. The Lord of hosts is my name.

I will put my words in your mouth, and in the shadow of my hand I will protect you: in which I established heaven, and founded the earth; and Sion shall say, You are my people. The people of believers had entreated the arm of the Lord, who is himself the power of God and the wisdom of God, to arise and afford himself help, and, he fighting for the saints, that they might possess joy and gladness, sorrow and groaning having been put to flight. And so either the arm of the Lord, or the Lord himself, answered: I am, I am; and it is not through the Prophets, but I myself will comfort you: the God of mercies, and the Father of all consolation. And I marvel how, when I said above: Fear not the reproach of men, nor be afraid of their blasphemies, you have feared the rage of persecutors, and did not know that they are mortal, who wither like grass and perish suddenly.

And surely at the time when you feared them, you forgot the Lord your maker. For if the remembrance of me had always dwelt in your heart, you would never have feared men, who are to be dissolved into ashes. And of whom have you forgotten? Of God who by incredible power suspended the heavens, and founded the earth with stable mass. And you feared your adversaries, not for a brief time, which might in some part have been allowed you; but continually and all day long, so that, though you had the light of faith, the darkness of fear possessed you, and of him who thought you would perish. Where then is now the pride of the persecutors? Where the worldly power, with which they raged against you with rabid mouth? Quickly my son will come, marching and treading down your adversaries, that he may open to you the way of victory: or that he may unlock the underworld, who will not kill unto utter destruction; but will wish to save those who turn back.

Finally, his bread, which, the Gospel proving it, is interpreted as doctrine, will never fail, but will always lie open to those willing to eat. At the same time he makes an apostrophe to the Son, whom he promises to be coming quickly, and whose bread he says is perpetual: that he himself, according to the dispensation of the flesh assumed, is the Lord his God, who causes the sea to be troubled, and its waves to swell, so that against his servants the pride of the persecutors may be puffed up, which again, the Lord helping, may be quieted. And he says that he has put his words in his mouth. For whatever the Son speaks, they are the words of the Father, and he has protected him in the shadow of his hand. And therefore he is protected so that he may plant new heavens, and found a new earth, and say to Sion, that is, to the Church: You are my people. Therefore Sion is none other than the people of God.

Symmachus, in the place where we said, He will come quickly, going forth to open, and he will not kill unto utter destruction, interpreted thus: Quickly hell shall be opened, and he shall not die into corruption—understood as Christ, who in the fifteenth psalm says: You will not leave my soul in hell, nor will you allow your holy one to see corruption. Also in that place where, following the Hebrew and Aquila, we translated: I have put my words in your mouth, and in the shadow of my hand I have protected you, that you may plant the heavens, and found the earth, and say to Sion: you are my people, he translated thus: I will put my words in your mouth, and in the shadow of my hand I will protect you, in which I have planted the heaven, and founded the earth, and that I may say to Sion: you are my people.

According to the Seventy, this is said to every believing soul, because, created in the image and likeness of God, it has been ignorant of its own dignity; but has feared man and the son of man, who can only kill the body, and has not known that it is itself immortal, nor said with the Prophet: The Lord is my light and my salvation, whom shall I fear? The Lord is the protector of my life, of whom shall I be afraid? And again: The Lord is my helper, I will not fear what man may do to me. The Lord is my helper, and I will look down upon my enemies. But what man is, is shown in another verse: In the Lord will I hope: I will not fear what flesh may do to me. Whence also here it is said: You have feared mortal man, and the son of man, who have withered like grass.

For all flesh is grass, and all its glory as the flower of grass, and, terrified by the power of the judge, you have forgotten that he himself was your protector, who made heaven and earth, and all the elements which we behold; or those heavens which bear the image of the supercelestial, and that earth which multiplies the seed of the Lord. But that which is said above: And he shall not kill into corruption, and his bread shall not fail, is added from the edition of Theodotion out of the Hebrew. He himself stirs up the sea, and makes its waves to sound, to whom also it is sung in the Psalms: You rule the power of the sea and calm the surging of its waves. In Jeremiah also it is written: Will you not fear me, says the Lord, and will you not be afraid before my face, who have set the sands as a boundary to the sea, an everlasting decree which it shall not pass?

The seas were troubled, when the net of the Lord drew out a multitude of fish. And the Lord has put his words in the mouth of the believer, and protected him in the shadow of his hand. He also speaks in the Gospel: When they shall deliver you up, do not be anxious how or what you shall speak; for it shall be given you in that hour what you shall speak. For it is not you who speak; but the Spirit of your Father, who speaks in you. And in another place he says to the righteous man: Open wide your mouth and I will fill it. And again: Open your mouth for the word of God: for the Lord will give the word to those preaching with great power. Whence God speaks to the inner man of Jeremiah, after he touched his mouth: Behold, I have put my words in your mouth. Who could sing with the Psalmist: He has put in my mouth a new song, a hymn to our God.

But who has wrought all these things, but the Lord and Savior, who made heaven and earth, and says to Sion: You are my people? Which properly belongs to the Church gathered from the nations. And in Hosea he promises to believers, saying: I will call not-my-people, my people: and he himself will say to me: You are my God. (Verse 17. And following.) Rise up, rise up, stand up, O Jerusalem, thou who hast drunk from the hand of the Lord the cup of his wrath: to the very dregs of the cup of stupor hast thou drunk, and hast drunk down even to the lees. There is none to sustain her, of all the sons whom she bore: and there is none to take hold of her hand, of all the sons whom she nourished. Two things have befallen thee, who shall be sorrowful over thee? Devastation and destruction, and famine, and the sword: who shall comfort thee?

The Septuagint: Rise up, rise up, stand up, O Jerusalem, thou who hast drunk from the hand of the Lord the cup of his fury. For thou hast drunk to the full and emptied the cup of ruin, the κόνδυ (bowl) of fury: and there was none to comfort thee of all the sons whom thou didst bear; and there was none to take hold of thy hand: nor of all thy sons whom thou didst raise up. These two things are contrary to thee: who shall be sorrowful with thee? Ruin and destruction, famine and the sword: who shall comfort thee?

I have often taught that Jerusalem and Sion are διώνυμον (of two names): of which Sion, which is interpreted "watchtower," because it is situated on a mountain, is called the citadel: but the remaining part of the city is called Jerusalem, which was formerly called Jebus and Salem: which the Prophet now exhorts to rise, she who had previously fallen through denial, saying at the Lord's passion: Crucify, crucify such a one: we have no king but Caesar: and to do penance, and to feel by the evils of captivity why she offended her Creator. Physicians are accustomed to give the bitterest antidote, which takes its name from its taste, to a nauseated stomach, so that it may vomit forth the harmful humors, and be able to pass cooked and digested foods into the belly, which the excess of phlegm had not allowed to be digested.

So too Jerusalem, who drank from the cup of the Lord's fury, and from his κόνδυ, which Symmachus translated as "goblet," and which, according to the book of Genesis, Joseph ordered to be hidden in the sack of his brother Benjamin, is bidden to rise up from her drunkenness, because she drank it, and emptied it, and drank it down to the lees: which three interpreters expressed in one word, Ἐξεστράγγισας ("thou hast wrung out to the last drop"). This is the cup of which we read in the Psalms: The cup is in the hand of the Lord, full of pure wine mixed. And he poured out from this to that, but the dregs thereof are not emptied: all the sinners of the earth shall drink. Of which also God speaks to Jeremiah: Take the cup of pure wine from my hand: and thou shalt give it to drink to all the nations to whom I shall send thee. And they shall drink, and vomit, and go mad because of the sword which I will send among them.

And when he says he has given it to drink to other nations, and to Jerusalem, and the cities of Judea, he adds: Thus says the Lord Almighty God of Israel: Drink, and be drunk, and vomit: and fall before the sword which I will send among you. And it should be noted that this cup of the Lord's fury is his sword, which is sent into the midst of sinners. In which a question arises: how, after drinking, drunkenness, vomiting, and ruin, is it said in Jeremiah that Jerusalem cannot rise up, and now through Isaiah he speaks to her: Rise up, rise up, stand up, O Jerusalem? This is resolved thus: as long as one is drinking the cup, and is made drunk, and raves, and vomits, and falls, he cannot rise up, for he has not yet drunk the Lord's cup to the end, nor come to the dregs, so as to have drunk it to the bottom.

But now he speaks to Jerusalem of past time: thou who hast drunk from the hand of the Lord the cup of his fury: and not, who drinkest. At the same time it must be considered, that no prophet, no Apostle was thereafter in Judea to comfort her, and take hold of her hand, and raise her up as she lay. From which it is clear that these things are spoken of after the last captivity: otherwise, history tells that in Babylon and after Babylon, she had Ezekiel and the other Prophets. But as to what he says: Two things have befallen thee, or these two things are contrary to thee: who shall be sorrowful over thee? And instead of two, he adds four: devastation and destruction, famine and the sword: this is like what is sung in the Psalter: God has spoken once, these two things I have heard: that power belongs to God, and to thee, O Lord, mercy: for thou wilt render to each according to his works.

For there too God speaks once, that he is omnipotent, and the Prophet hears two things, that his omnipotence prevails in both directions, so that he grants mercy to the penitent, and renders to those who remain in sin the punishments they deserve. According to which, in another place also, two things have befallen Jerusalem, which each have two parts. For ruin, or devastation, is followed by destruction: famine and the sword by death. We can understand these things also according to the anagogical sense, concerning the sinful soul, which, unwilling to drink the cup of the Lord's fury, says in the psalm: O Lord, rebuke me not in thy fury, neither chasten me in thy wrath. But if she has drunk it, it is good for her to feel her own punishments, and to hear the Lord saying: When the wrath of my fury has passed, I will heal again. And elsewhere: Shall not he that falls rise again, says the Lord?

Verse 20. Thy sons are cast out, they have slept at the head of all the ways, like an oryx caught in a snare: full of the indignation of the Lord, the rebuke of thy God. The Septuagint: Thy sons are needy and sleeping at the head of all the ways: like a half-cooked beet, full of the fury of the Lord, and failing from the Lord God. Instead of "half-cooked beet," the other interpreters translated it as an oryx caught and ensnared, which in Hebrew is called THO (תוא), a kind of beast born in the desert, placed among the clean animals in Leviticus and Deuteronomy. For which the Septuagint, in the Syriac tongue, thought of "thoreth," which is called "beet." Let us pass from the name to the meaning. Thy sons, like an oryx entangled in the hunters' snares, have slept at the crossroads and in the open squares, and laying their naked limbs on the bare ground, have shown by their own miseries the indignation of the Lord and the rebuke of their God.

Further, according to the Septuagint: those who did not wish to have spiritual riches in every word, and knowledge, and good works; but were poor who could not endure the threat, shall by no means dwell in the houses which are built by virtues, but at the beginnings of the ways, and at the exit, touching all things and forsaking all things. Who are rightly said to sleep that sleep, of which it is written: They have slept their sleep, and found nothing. With which sleep the king of Assyria lulled them to rest. And they are compared to a half-cooked beet, which is a kind of the vilest and most fragile vegetable. Of which vegetables I think it is said in the Psalms: Be not jealous of the wicked, neither envy those who work iniquity. For they shall quickly wither like grass, and fall away like the herbs of the fields. For it is the food of the sick. He who is once an unbeliever is called a raw beet.

But he who, content with simple faith, without reason or the truth of doctrines, performs the works of righteousness, can be called a cooked beet. Further, he who wavers midway between vices and virtues, and approaches the service of God with a double heart, is most rightly called a half-cooked beet, to whom also in the Apocalypse of John God speaks: I would that thou wert either cold or hot: but now, because thou art lukewarm, I will spew thee out. Those who are lukewarm and sleeping are full of the fury of the Lord, and dissolved, or failing, through the Lord God: not that the Lord is the cause of their dissolution, he who made not death, nor delights in the destruction of the living: but because those who have sinned under the Law shall be judged by the Law, which works the wrath of God upon those who are its transgressors. (Verse 21. And following.) Therefore hear this, thou poor little one, and drunk, but not with wine.

Thus says thy sovereign the Lord, and thy God, who fought for his people: Behold, I have taken from thy hand the cup of stupor, the dregs of the cup of my indignation: thou shalt not drink it any more. And I will put it into the hand of those who humbled thee, and said to thy soul: Bow down, that we may pass over, and thou didst lay thy body like the ground, and like a road for those passing by. The Septuagint: Therefore hear, thou humbled one, and drunk, but not with wine. Thus says the Lord God who judges his people: Behold, I have taken from thy hand the cup of ruin, the κόνδυ of my fury: and thou shalt not drink it any more: and I will give it into the hands of those who unjustly oppressed thee, and humbled thee: who said to thy soul, Bow down, that we may pass over, and thou didst make thy middle parts level with the ground for those passing by outside.

O Jerusalem, to whom I have said: Rise up, rise up, stand up, and do penance: for thou hast drunk from the hand of the Lord the cup of his fury, and hast drained it to the dregs: and thy sons, who are scattered through the whole world, and led captive, lay in the streets, and at the heads of the ways; know that thou art poor and humbled, and drunk, not with wine, but with the fury of the Lord. Therefore if thou dost do penance, and, being raised up, dost stand, thou shalt know that the cup of stupor and ruin, or, according to Symmachus and Theodotion, of laceration and commotion, is to be taken from thy hand: and that the condy, for which also in this place Symmachus translated "goblet," thou shalt no longer drink: but it shall be handed over to thy adversaries, who said to thy soul, Bow down, that we may pass over: and, at their bidding, thou wast bowed down of thine own will.

And thou didst lay thy body, or back, like the ground: or, according to the Septuagint, thy middle parts and neck, for those passing by outside. Let this be said according to the historical sense, that if Jerusalem should wish to rise and stand up, she would by no means drink the cup of the Lord's fury, nor suffer any more what she had suffered before. But that we may come, according to the Septuagint, to the spiritual understanding, it is said of the soul humbled by vices, and drunk with disturbances, that she should know that the Lord is her judge, and that she must render account of all things.

But if she has been turned to better things, the cup of ruin is to be taken away from her hands, and the goblet of the Lord's fury, which contained the punishments, of which also Ezekiel says to Jerusalem: Thou shalt drink the cup of thy sister Samaria, deep and wide, that thou mayest be made drunk, is to be handed over into the hands of those who humbled her. There is no doubt that he signifies the adversary powers, who said to her soul: Bow down, that we may pass over. In which likewise it must be noted, that they did not bend her, nor use force, so that she who was formerly upright should be bent down to the earth: but she left herself of her own free will. But she of her own will laid her neck or back, or her whole body, not inward, but outward, for those who trampled upon her.

Something of this kind we read in the Gospel, that for eighteen years Satan had bent a woman double, whom the Lord raised up to her former state, so that she could say: I have lifted up my eyes to the mountains, whence help shall come to me; and: To thee have I lifted up my eyes, thou who dwellest in heaven.

(Verse 1.) Arise, arise, put on thy strength, O Sion: put on the garments of thy glory, Jerusalem, city of the Holy One: for henceforth the uncircumcised and the unclean shall no more pass through thee. The Septuagint: Arise, arise, Sion: put on thy strength, Sion, and put on thy glory, Jerusalem, the holy city: no more shall the uncircumcised and unclean pass through thee. Again in this place the name Sion, as above, has been added by the Seventy, and therefore let it be run through with a spear.

To her, then, to whom above He had said: Awake, awake, arise, O Jerusalem: now He speaks to the same, saying: Arise, arise, put on thy strength, O Sion. But who Sion is, the following verse shows: Put on the garments of thy glory, O Jerusalem. This we have said, that we might prove Jerusalem and Sion to be one city. And she is bidden to put off her mourning garments, and to be clothed with those which she had before she drank from the Lord’s hand the cup of fury. And she is called the city of the sanctuary, for this is what CODES (קדש) means, because of the temple which was built in her. Or of the Holy One, because of the knowledge of God; or holy, because she alone in the whole world had received the law. Whence also after the resurrection of the Saviour, the bodies of the dead appeared in the holy city. Which city, indeed, because of the blasphemy and the hands laid upon the Lord, could not be holy.

And that which is promised, that if she should arise after her ruin, and be clothed with her strength and glory, the uncircumcised and unclean should no more pass through her, this signifies what the Apostle Paul also says: What fellowship hath righteousness with iniquity? What communion hath light with darkness? What concord hath Christ with Belial? Or what part hath the believer with the unbeliever? What agreement hath the temple of God with idols? These things indeed, as we have begun to expound, are all to be referred also to the state of the soul. But if through penance she has recovered her former strength, let her be called the dwelling of the Holy One, and let her become the temple of God, and let no uncircumcised and unclean thought (λογισμὸς) pass through her. Of which it is said: Cleanse me, O Lord, from my hidden sins, and from those of others spare thy servant. If they shall not have dominion over me, then shall I be blameless, and I shall be cleansed from the greatest sin.

But all the things that are promised to Sion and Jerusalem are not said, as the Jews dream, of her stones and ashes and cinders, that they should be restored to their former state; but of the people of Jerusalem, who slew the prophets, and stoned those who were sent unto them, and at last even laid hands upon the Son of God. Which people, having fallen in the passion of Christ, was raised up in His resurrection: when many thousands of the Jews believed, and a remnant was saved. The same we can say also of the Church, which is the vision of peace and the watchtower, that if she should fall into heresy, she is bidden to come forth and take up again the ornaments of her former faith. And if she has been raised up, the rewards of holiness and continence are promised to her, that the uncircumcised and unclean should never pass through her.

Which cannot be referred to the cutting off of the flesh and the foreskin, but to the uncleanness or cleanness of works, so that we may call those uncircumcised and unclean who serve the pleasure and lust of the body. Finally, Jeremiah speaks to those circumcised in flesh, not in spirit: All the nations are uncircumcised in the flesh: but the children of Israel are uncircumcised in their hearts. And the blessed Apostle, discussing virginity and continence and marriage, inserts in the midst: Is any man called being circumcised? Let him not become uncircumcised. Is any called in uncircumcision? Let him not be circumcised. Which seems to me to say in other words: If a man was called without a wife, and has believed, let him not take a wife. Or on the contrary: he who has a wife, and has believed in Christ, let him by no means make a divorce.

Which sense he keeps, not only in circumcision and uncircumcision, but in liberty and servitude, so that he calls virgins and the continent “free,” and those who render the debt to their wife “servants.” For it is not in our power to bring on a foreskin after circumcision, according to those who in the book of Maccabees are said to have made themselves foreskins: which is said of the sons who were born, and not of the fathers. Or he who was called free, is rather a servant of Christ, since in the baptism of Christ there is no difference between Jew, Gentile, Greek and Barbarian, man and woman, free and bond. (Verses 2, 3.) Shake thyself from the dust, arise, sit down, O Jerusalem: loose the bonds from off thy neck, O captive daughter of Sion. For thus saith the Lord: You were sold for nought, and you shall be redeemed without money. The Septuagint: Shake off the dust, and arise, O Jerusalem. Loose the bond of thy neck, O captive daughter of Sion.

For thus saith the Lord: You were sold for nothing, and you shall be redeemed without money. The Prophet’s word is by no means addressed to Jerusalem, that is, to the ruins of her stones, and to ashes and cinders, but to the people who dwell in her; and that because of the effeminacy of soul she is named “daughter,” the following verse shows, in which it says: Loose the bonds of thy neck, O captive daughter of Sion. For truly captive is the people of the Jews, who to this day bears the yoke of Nebuchadnezzar, and is bound with the cords of their sins and blasphemies: who was sold for nought, and has done nothing worthy for which they could be redeemed. To whom it is also said above: Behold, you were sold for your sins: and for your iniquities have I put away your mother. And He gives the reasons why they were sold, why they were cast off.

Because, He says, I came, and there was no man: I called, and there was none to hear. From which it is clear that they were therefore given over to error and to demons, because they had not heard Him crying out: Come to me, all you that labor and are burdened. But they shall be redeemed who are willing to believe, not with silver and money, but with the precious blood of Christ, so that they may hear through the Apostles: Grace to you and peace. For it is not by merits, but by grace and by faith in Christ that we are reconciled to God. It is said also to the soul, which, defiled with the filth of vices, had lost the brightness of her former manner of life, that she should shake off the dust which clung to her feet, along with the Apostles.

For it could not be that she who, being cast down, had bowed her neck to those passing by outside, and had joined herself with the midst of the earth, and had said: My soul is humbled in the dust, my belly cleaves to the earth, should not have taken on the image of the earthly. From which the Apostle calls us back, saying: As we have borne the image of the earthly, so let us also bear the image of the heavenly. Whence they that are in the flesh cannot please God. Not that the nature of the flesh is condemned, whose maker is God, and in which very many have pleased God, and reign with Christ: but that the works of the flesh are repudiated, of which the same Apostle speaks: But I am carnal, sold under sin. Finally, to men of this kind he says: Whereas there is among you envying and strife, are you not carnal, and walk according to man?

And on the contrary to the saints: But you are not in the flesh, but in the spirit, if so be that the Spirit of God dwell in you. Let the dust be shaken off, then, of which it is written: Shall the dust confess to thee, or declare thy truth, that the bonds of our neck may be loosed; and that we may not hear: an iron sinew is thy neck; but that with the bride we may deserve to hear: How beautiful are thy cheeks, as the turtledove’s: thy neck as jewels. And again: I have put bracelets on thy hands, and a chain on thy neck; that, freed from the heavy burden, and receiving again our former ornaments, we may cease to be captives: redeemed by Him who came to preach deliverance to the captives. And of whom it is written (above, XLV, 13): He shall build my city, and bring back the captivity of my people, not for price nor for reward.

With which meaning the Apostle Peter agrees: Knowing that you were not redeemed with corruptible things as gold or silver, from your vain conversation of the tradition of your fathers, but with the precious blood of the immaculate lamb (I Peter I, 18). (Verses 4 and following.) For thus saith the Lord God: My people went down into Egypt in the beginning, to sojourn there: and the Assyrian oppressed them without any cause. And now, what have I here, saith the Lord? For my people is taken away for nothing: they that rule over them treat them unjustly, saith the Lord, and continually all the day long my name is blasphemed. Wherefore my people shall know my name in that day: for I myself who spoke, behold, I am here. The Septuagint: For thus saith the Lord: My people went down into Egypt at first to sojourn there: and they were carried off by force into Assyria; and now what shall be here, saith the Lord? For my people is taken away for nothing; be amazed and wail.

Thus saith the Lord: For your sake my name is continually blasphemed among the nations. Therefore my people shall know my name in that day: for I myself who spoke, am here. He reproves the people of the Jews, and foretells things to come. That Jacob, having gone down of his own will into Egypt, and having sojourned in the time of necessity and famine in the land of Gessen: afterward suffered wrongful accusation from the Assyrians, whom he had in no way injured; and was carried into captivity to Babylon. Whence He adds: And now what have I here, saith the Lord? And the sense is: I have nothing left for the sake of which I should remain in this region, from which my people has been taken away for nothing, and sold for their sins, and caught like a wild goat in a net, whether by the might of the Romans, or by the snares of the devil, by which he is held bound even until now.

But that they should suffer these things, their rulers and teachers dealt unjustly; who, according to Symmachus and Theodotion, shall wail; according to Aquila, shall weep, when they shall have been delivered over to torments. For they it is who stirred up the people against the Saviour, so that with one voice they cried out: Crucify, crucify such a one. Of whom He had already said before: The Lord himself will come with the elders of the people and with its princes. But you, why have you set fire to my vineyard, and the spoil of the poor is in your houses? Wherefore, according to the Seventy, He speaks to them: For your sake my name is continually blasphemed among the nations. And it should be known that “among the nations” is not found in the Hebrew, but absolutely, “my name is continually blasphemed,” so that it may be understood, “in your synagogues”: who day and night blaspheme the Saviour, and under the name, as I have often said, of Nazarenes, three times a day heap curses upon Christians.

While they, then, blaspheme and curse the Lord, His people, of whom mention has often already been made, that is, the Christian people, shall know the name of Him who is to come in the name of the Father. And therefore they shall know, because He himself, who spoke before through the prophets, present, will teach the peoples. According to the Seventy, God speaks to Israel, that he went down into Egypt of his own will. Moses saying in Deuteronomy: Your fathers went down into Egypt with seventy souls: and by the Assyrians they were carried off captive by force. Whence it is said to them: And now what are you doing here? What are you doing in the land of Judea, you who, after the murder of the prophets, laid hands on the Son of God? Or certainly God speaks to the angelic powers, and to the angels set over the Temple: Why do you do this here, why do you not leave the blaspheming people?

Which Josephus also relates: that suddenly the doors of the Temple, opened of their own accord, which many men could scarcely close, and a voice came out of the inner shrine of the Temple, saying: Let us go hence from these seats. In which the propriety of the words is to be noted, that they did not say, “let us withdraw,” but “let us pass over” to the people of the nations. Whence also the veil of the Temple was torn in two from the top to the bottom, that all the ceremonies of the Jews might be laid open, and that at that time might be fulfilled what is said in this same Prophet: Out of Sion shall go forth the law, and the word of the Lord from Jerusalem. And he shall judge among many nations even unto that which is afar off. For their sound went out into all the earth, and their words unto the ends of the world.

And in every place incense is offered to God, and a clean sacrifice (Micah I), when the prophetic word was fulfilled: All the ends of the earth shall remember and shall be converted to the Lord: and all the kindreds of the Gentiles shall adore in his sight; for the kingdom is the Lord’s, and he shall have dominion over the nations. Whence it is said to the princes of the Jews: Be amazed, and wail, for you are the cause of the ruin of the people. Furthermore, according to the anagogical sense, we can say that the people of God goes down into the Egypt of this world by its own will, when it is a lover rather of pleasures than of God, and does not hear that prophetic word: Woe to them that go down into Egypt for help.

Which, when it has been softened by vices, and has dwelt in a place of waters and rivers, which has not the dryness of chastity: then it shall be handed over by force to the Assyrians, that they may rule over it, who afterward reprove and convict it in its sin. For these are indeed both enemies and avengers, of whom he speaks to Israel: And now what have you to do with the way of Egypt, that you should drink the water of Gehon: and what have you to do with the way of the Assyrians, that you should drink the water of the rivers. He, then, who goes down into Egypt, and has fallen from the height of Jerusalem to lower things: and going down to Jericho, another Egypt, has received many wounds from robbers, to him it is said: And now what have you to do here?

Why do you pretend to be in the land and in the Church of God, you who by zeal and every desire went down into Egypt, and are possessed by the Assyrians, and are made captive: and ought rather to wail and mourn; because on account of your vices and sins, the name of God is blasphemed among the nations? To whom it is said in Ezechiel: You have profaned my name among the nations. And as in the Gospel the Lord says to His disciples: Let your light shine before men, that they may see your good works, and glorify your Father who is in heaven: so on the contrary, when we have done evil works, the name of God is blasphemed among the nations because of us. Therefore he who has knowledge of the name of God, and knows that he was made in His image and likeness, shall walk in the light.

And it shall be in that day of which Abraham rejoiced that he might see it; of which also the holy David speaks: This is the day which the Lord has made; let us rejoice and be glad in it. For they who have kindled for themselves the light of knowledge, and have the everlasting light which is promised to believers: The Lord shall be to you an everlasting light, walk honestly in the day, and are children of the light and of the day; and they know Him who says to Moses: Go, tell the children of Israel, He who is has sent me: and Him whom they had rightly known in the saints, they shall know to be present with themselves also.

Verse 7. How beautiful upon the mountains are the feet of him that announces and preaches peace, and announces good tidings: preaching salvation, and saying to Sion: Thy God shall reign. The voice of thy watchmen: they have lifted up their voice: they shall praise together, for eye to eye they shall see, when the Lord shall convert Sion. The Septuagint: As the hour upon the mountains: so the feet of him that evangelizes the hearing of peace, evangelizing good things: for I will make my salvation heard, saying: Sion, thy God shall reign. The voice of them that keep thee is exalted, and they shall rejoice together with voice, for eyes to eyes shall they see, when the Lord shall have had mercy on Sion.

Following on from him who had said above: I myself who was speaking, behold I am here, the Prophet now testifies that he himself preached the Gospel upon the mountains, that is, upon the Apostles, of whom it is written: Draw near to the everlasting mountains; and whose doctrine is the illumination of God. Whence it is said to him in the Psalms: Thou dost wonderfully enlighten from the everlasting mountains. This one has announced and preached peace to those who were far off, that is, the Gentiles; and to those who were near, that is, the Jews: reconciling the world to God, of whom under the name of Solomon it is sung in the psalm: In his days shall justice arise, and abundance of peace, till the moon be taken away.

And in this same Prophet, concerning the child that is born, and the son that is given to us, whose government is upon his shoulder, and who shall be called the Angel of great counsel, it is said after other things (above, 9:7): And of his peace there shall be no end. For he himself is our peace, who made peace for all things through the blood of his cross, in heaven and on earth. Who spoke to the Apostles: My peace I give unto you, my peace I leave with you. And he has announced to us good things, not those which are called by the Philosophers "indifferent things"; but those which are truly good, which the Father gives to those who ask him, that is, all the graces of the Holy Spirit. Then another Evangelist writes in the same place: How much more will your Father who is in heaven give the Holy Spirit to those who ask him?

These are the good things which the Lord promises to believers: Hearken to me and you shall eat good things; and your soul shall delight itself in fatness; and he has announced not only good things, but salvation to all, which he himself has provided who says to Sion, that is, to the Church: Thy God shall reign. Whence the Apostle also speaks to the Saints: Let not sin reign in your mortal body, that you should obey the lusts thereof. And writing of sinners, he says: Death reigned from Adam to Moses. And what follows: The voice of thy watchmen, or of thy keepers, signifies the Apostles, of whom also in another place (below, 62:6) God speaks to the Church: Upon thy walls I have set watchmen, who shall never hold their peace, remembering the Lord, who shall lift up their voice, discoursing from the heights. Whence it is said to them (above, 40:9): Get thee up upon a high mountain, thou that bringest good tidings to Sion.

Lift up thy voice with strength, thou that bringest good tidings to Jerusalem. These shall praise God with one voice, and shall see eye to eye. Which the Apostle expresses in other words: Face to face; when the Saint sings: My eyes are ever toward the Lord. And: To thee have I lifted up my eyes, who dwellest in heaven. And the Lord will answer him: For the eyes of the Lord are upon the just, and his ears unto their prayer. What the Seventy have translated, "as an hour" (ὥρα), that is, hour, upon the mountains: so the feet of him that evangelizes the hearing of peace, and the rest, Paul, following the sense of the Hebrew Truth, sets down in the Epistle to the Romans: How beautiful are the feet of them that evangelize good things, that evangelize peace: meaning the Apostles to be understood, whose feet the Lord washed, that they might be clean and beautiful for preaching, and might run through the whole world, and in a brief teaching fill the world with the doctrine of Christ.

Now ὥρα, that is, "hour," according to the Septuagint, and the ambiguity of the Greek word, signifies either time or beauty. If time, it will be fitted to that: In an acceptable time have I heard thee, and in the day of salvation have I helped thee. Whence the Apostle infers: Behold, now is the acceptable time: behold, now is the day of salvation. For at the opportune time he shed his blood for all: when all had gone astray, they were become unprofitable together. There was none that did good, no not one: that he might taste death for all, because all had sinned and were in need of the glory of God.

But if we refer it to beauty, as is said in the psalm: Beautiful in form above the sons of men; (for what is more beautiful than that the form of a servant should become the form of God, and that he should sit and reign with Christ in the heavens?) then ὥρα, according to the breadth of the Greek language, can be called "care" and "solicitude," according to what the Saint says: Thou wilt multiply me in my soul, by thy power. For "thou wilt multiply me," in the Greek it says πολυωρήσεις με, which means, "thou wilt hold me worthy of much care and solicitude." And elsewhere: According to thy height thou hast πολυωρήσεις (i.e. Held in much regard) the sons of men: which in other Greek words is said, πολλῆς ὥρας, that is, τοῦτ᾽ ἔστι, thou hast deemed worthy of much thought. But these matters are superfluous; and it is rather the feet of Christ or of the Apostles that should be understood as beautiful, which, apart from the Septuagint, all have translated similarly, Paul approving their interpretation.

Verse 9. Rejoice and praise together, O waste places of Jerusalem, for the Lord hath comforted his people: he hath redeemed Jerusalem. The Lord hath prepared his holy arm in the eyes of all the Gentiles: and all the ends of the earth shall see the salvation of our God. The Septuagint: Let the waste places of Jerusalem break forth in joy together, for the Lord hath had mercy on her, and hath rescued Jerusalem. The Lord will reveal his holy arm in the sight of all the Gentiles. And all the ends of the earth shall see the salvation of our God. When the people of the Jews had been led into captivity, and the city burned, there was in Jerusalem either a scanty or no inhabitant at all.

But after he who had formerly spoken in the Prophets, and who was in the beginning with God, God the Word, dwelt among us, and was made flesh, the waste places of Jerusalem were restored; and he came of whom it is written: This one shall build my city, and shall bring back the captivity of my people: so that it should no longer be lamented by Jeremiah: How doth the city sit solitary that was full of people: she is become as a widow that was great among the nations; but rather it should hear David singing, When the Lord turned again the captivity of Sion, we became like men comforted. And a little after: We are made joyful.

And that we may know that these things are said not at all of the people of the Jews, but of all who through the apostles are to believe in the Lord, he sets it down and says: he who has comforted her, or had mercy on her, and who has rescued or redeemed her, he himself has prepared, or revealed, his holy arm, in the sight of all the Gentiles: and all the ends of the earth shall see the salvation of our God. From which it is clear that, once the spiritual Jerusalem, that is, the Church, which had been abandoned by the Jews, was built up through the Apostles, the arm of the Lord is revealed to all the Gentiles, and all the ends of the earth see his salvation. This may be understood in two ways. For either the Father reveals his arm to all the Gentiles, or the Son reveals his own strength. Of whom it is written: For power went out from him and healed all.

And again: I perceived that power had gone out from me, which healed the woman with the issue of blood. That the Son of God is called the right hand and arm of the Father, there are many testimonies, of which we shall give but a few: His right hand shall save him, and his holy arm. And elsewhere: In my arm shall the Gentiles trust. Of whom Jacob says: This shall be the expectation of the nations. And the eighty-eighth psalm: Thy arm with might. By this arm the Lord led the people of Israel out of the land of Egypt. Of whom he was speaking to the prince of the Apostles: Blessed art thou, Simon Bar-Jona, for flesh and blood hath not revealed it to thee, but my Father who is in heaven. And the Apostle Paul says of himself: When, he says, it pleased God, who separated me from my mother's womb, that he might reveal his Son in me.

That he has joined all the ends of the earth to all the Gentiles, who shall see the salvation of God, this is shown by what is said also in another place: Be converted to me from the ends of the earth, and you shall be saved; and through Jeremiah: To thee shall the Gentiles come from the ends of the earth; and again: All the kindreds of the Gentiles shall remember, and shall be converted to the Lord; for the kingdom is the Lord's, and he shall have dominion over the nations; so that not only the variety of the several nations, but also all the corners of the world, should be foretold as about to believe in Christ. According to what he himself says: And when this Gospel shall have been preached in the whole world, then shall the end come.

Others wish "the summits and ends of the earth" to be understood as those who, not standing in the middle of the earth, but in its extremities like the rims of wheels, forsake lowly things and hasten to the heights. (Verses 11-13.) Depart, depart, go out from thence, touch no unclean thing: go out from the midst of her, be clean, you who bear the vessels of the Lord. For you shall not go out in tumult, nor go in flight: for the Lord will go before you, and the God of Israel will gather you. LXX: Depart, depart, go out from thence, and touch not the unclean thing: go out from the midst of her: be separated, you who carry the vessels of the Lord, for you shall not go out with tumult, neither shall you go with flight: but the Lord shall go before you, and the God of Israel who gathers you. And this the Jews try to explain thus: Go out of Babylon, and abandon their idols.

Go out from the midst of her, and the vessels which Nebuchadnezzar, when Jerusalem was captured, had taken away, Cyrus setting the captives free under Zorobabel and Esdras, carry back into the temple; nor as you formerly fled from Egypt with tumult and fear, so go out from Babylon; but with peace and by the will of the king of the Persians and Medes, in whom the will of the Lord appeared, who protected and gathered you together. Others interpret what we have said of Babylon as concerning the Roman kingdom, saying that all these things will be fulfilled at the coming of Christ, who will liberate them. But we, having heard above: How beautiful upon the mountains are the feet of him that brings good tidings and preaches peace. And: The Lord will reveal his arm in the sight of all nations: And, all the ends of the earth shall see the salvation of our God, understand this in no way of the Jews, but of the choir of the Apostles and of all the Saints.

To whom it is commanded that they should depart from Jerusalem, and preach the Gospel in the whole world, the Lord the Savior saying: Go and teach all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit: that they should in no way remain with the blaspheming Jews, against whose slaughter the Roman army was being prepared; but should abandon the polluted, and be separated from them and be cleansed, they who carry the vessels of the Lord. For they are the temple of the Holy Spirit, and the vessels of gold and silver of the great house. Such was the Apostle Paul, who is called a vessel of election, for he had prepared himself into a precious vessel fit for the ministry of God. Or certainly this must be said, that the vessels of the Lord are the spiritual armor of God.

Of which the Apostle Paul also spoke: Put on the armor of God, and he enumerates them one by one: the breastplate of righteousness, and the shield of faith, and the helmet of salvation, and the sword of the spirit, which is interpreted the word of God. To these he adds, the belt of truth, and feet shod in preparation of the gospel of peace. And in another place: Laying aside therefore the works of darkness, let us put on the armor of light. There follows: You shall not go out in tumult, nor go in flight. For they did not depart from Jerusalem as the conquered, but as victors: so that they who daily preached the Gospel of God in the Temple, and had subjected many thousands of Jews to the faith of Christ, might also subjugate the world to his Gospel.

For they had the Lord going before them, who would gather them together, the God of Israel, that is, would make one flock out of the whole world, that what the Lord speaks to the Father in the Gospel might be fulfilled: Grant that as I and thou are one, so these also may be one in us: that with the same understanding and the same purpose, forsaking mutually opposing and contrary vices, they might grasp one and the same virtue alone. For vices and disturbances do not follow one another in the same way that is said of virtues, in which there are neither ὑπερβολαί nor ἔλλειψις, that is, neither more nor less, but all things tempered. But among vices all things are contrary to one another, as fear to boldness, superstition to impiety, luxury to frugality. Behold my servant shall understand, he shall be exalted and lifted up, and shall be exceedingly high. As many have been astonished at thee: so shall his visage be inglorious among men, and his form among the sons of men.

He shall sprinkle many nations: kings shall shut their mouths at him: for they to whom it was not told of him have seen; and they that have not heard have beheld. LXX: Behold my child shall understand, and shall be exalted, and shall be glorified exceedingly. As many shall be astonished at thee: so thy appearance shall be without glory from men, and thy glory from the sons of men: so many nations shall marvel at him, and kings shall shut their mouth, because they to whom it was not announced concerning him shall see, and they that have not heard shall understand. Lest any ambiguity be left to readers as to who it is that says: I who was speaking, behold I am here; and that it is the holy arm of the Lord which has been revealed to all nations, God the almighty Father teaches plainly: Behold my servant, or my child, shall understand—concerning the difference of which we have spoken above.

But he shall understand not as the Word of God, and as wisdom; but as servant and child. Who, though he was in the form of God, deigned to take the form of a servant: made obedient to the Father even unto death, and the death of the cross. Wherefore he exalted him, and gave him a name above every name. Who speaks in the psalm: I will bless the Lord, who has given me understanding; and of whom David sings: Who made the heavens in understanding. For he himself is wisdom and understanding, who advanced as it were a child in age and in wisdom: of whom Peter also speaks: The God of our fathers has glorified his Son Jesus, whom you indeed delivered up, and denied before the face of Pilate, who wished to release him.

But you denied the holy and just one, of whom we have also shown it written above: I am witness, says the Lord, and my servant whom I have chosen: at him many shall be astonished, when they shall have seen his signs. And hence there will be a greater miracle, that his visage will be inglorious among men: not because it signifies deformity of form, but because he came in humility and poverty. Who, though he was rich, became poor for us; and said to believers: Learn from me, because I am meek and humble of heart: of whom also Clement, an apostolic man, who after Peter ruled the Roman Church, writes to the Corinthians: The scepter of God, the Lord Jesus Christ, did not come in the boastfulness of pride, though he was able to do all things, but in humility. To such a degree that, when struck by a servant of the priest, he answered: if I have spoken evil, bear witness of the evil; but if well, why do you strike me?

Having twelve thousand angels who would obey his nod. He shall sprinkle many nations, cleansing them by his blood and consecrating them to servitude in the baptism of God. Kings shall shut their mouth at him, and the princes of the age, whose whole wisdom has been overthrown by the preaching of the cross: and those who had not had the Law and the Prophets, and to whom it had not been announced concerning him, they themselves shall see and understand. Of whom the Savior also speaks: Blessed are they who have not seen and have believed. In comparison with whom the hardness of the Jews is condemned, who, seeing and hearing, fulfilled in themselves the prophecy of Isaiah, saying: Hearing you shall hear, and shall not understand: and seeing you shall see, and shall not perceive. For the heart of this people has grown fat, and their ears have heard heavily.

Who has believed our report? And to whom is the arm of the Lord revealed? And he shall grow up as a tender plant before him, and as a root out of a thirsty ground: there is no beauty in him, nor comeliness: and we have seen him, and there was no sightliness: and we have desired him. Despised, and the most abject of men, a man of sorrows, and acquainted with infirmity: and as it were his face was hidden and despised, whereupon we esteemed him not. Surely he has borne our infirmities, and carried our sorrows: and we have thought him as it were a leper, and as one struck by God, and afflicted. LXX: Lord, who has believed our report, and to whom is the arm of the Lord revealed? We have declared him as a little child in his sight: as a root in a thirsty ground.

He has no form nor glory, and we have seen him, and he had no form nor comeliness: but his form was without honor, and lacking beside the sons of men. A man in plague, and knowing how to bear infirmity, for his face was turned away, despised and not esteemed. This one bears our sins, and grieves for us, and we thought that he was in sorrow, and in plague and in affliction.

After the words of the Father, by which he had announced to the world that his Son was to come; and before the scandal of the cross, of which he was about to say: His visage shall be inglorious, and his form beside the sons of men, he had sent before the glory of the resurrection: He shall be exalted and lifted up, and shall be exceedingly high: so that the humility of the cross should anticipate the glory of the resurrection, the choir of the Prophets has answered that it has fulfilled its office, and, as far as was in its power, has announced his arm and power to all. But in that he says: Who has believed our report, and to whom is the arm of the Lord revealed? He signifies the rarity of believers among the Jews.

And in what follows: He shall grow up as a tender plant before him; for which the LXX translated, We have declared him as a little child before him: for "tender plant," Symmachus interpreted "branch," so as to show the man assumed who proceeded from the virginal womb. Of whom he adds: As a root out of a thirsty ground. For "thirsty," Aquila interpreted "pathless," so as to demonstrate the privilege of virginity, that without any human seed he was created from ground that was before pathless. This is he of whom we also read above: A rod shall come forth out of the root of Jesse, and a flower shall rise up out of his root; so as to signify his birth and his rising in the world.

But if he had no form nor glory; but his form was ignoble and lacking beside the sons of men, or as it is in the Hebrew, despised and the most abject of men, how is it said in the Psalms: Gird your sword upon your thigh, most mighty one, with your beauty and comeliness? This is easily resolved. He was despised and ignoble when he hung upon the cross, and, made a curse for us, bore our sins. And he said to the Father: God, my God, why have you forsaken me? But he was renowned and comely in appearance, when at his passion the earth trembled, the rocks were rent, and, the sun fleeing, the elements feared an eternal night. Of whom also the bride in the Song of Songs: My brother-kinsman is white and ruddy, chosen out of thousands.

White with the fullness and purity of virtues, ruddy in the passion, of which we shall read afterward: Who is this that comes up from Edom, his garments dyed red from Bosor; chosen out of thousands in the resurrection; that he who was the firstborn of all creation might become the firstborn from the dead. But what follows: A man in sorrow and knowing how to bear infirmity, or a man of sorrows, and acquainted with infirmity, shows a true body of man, and a true soul, who, knowing how to bear infirmities, overcame them all by his divinity. And his face was hidden and despised, so that by the human body the divine power might be concealed. Of whom it was said above: Truly you are a hidden God, and we knew it not. Who truly bore our infirmities and sins, and grieves for us, not in appearance, that is, to dokein, as the old and new heresy suppose; but he was truly crucified. He truly grieved, saying in the Gospel: My soul is sorrowful even unto death.

And: Now is my soul troubled. And we thought him to be unclean, or in sorrow, as the Seventy translated, for which Aquila and Symmachus put "leprous," Theodotion, "scourged." Which in other words, in the Hebrew idiom, is understood as leprosy, according to that which is written in the psalm: And the scourge shall not come near your tabernacle. And the sense is: We thought him to be struck by God for his own sins, he who was humbled for our sake, and crucified with thieves.

For that which Symmachus translated Ἐν ἁφῇ ὄντα, that is, "in leprosy"; Aquila put ἁφῃμένον, that is, "leprous": which many, not understanding, think means "abandoned," and others read καθήμενον, that is, "sitting." At the beginning of the chapter, where according to the Septuagint it is said: Lord, who has believed our report: and to whom is the arm of the Lord revealed, a testimony which the apostle Paul also uses in writing to the Romans, expounding it concerning the Lord's passion: "Lord" is not found in the Hebrew, but has been added for the understanding of the person to whom it is spoken.

(Verses 5-7.) But he was wounded for our iniquities, he was bruised for our sins. The chastisement of our peace was upon him, and by his bruise we are healed. All we like sheep have gone astray, every one hath turned aside into his own way: and the Lord hath laid upon him the iniquity of us all. He was offered because he himself willed it, and he opened not his mouth. LXX: But he was wounded for our sins, and was made weak for our iniquities. The chastisement of our peace was upon him: by his bruise we are healed. All we like sheep have gone astray, man hath erred in his own way. And the Lord delivered him up for our iniquities, and he, on account of the affliction, opened not his mouth. We, he says, esteemed him as a man of sorrows; or, according to the Septuagint, that he was in sorrow, and smitten by God, and bearing our own sins.

But he was wounded for our iniquities, saying in the psalm: They have dug my hands and my feet, that by his own wound he might heal our wounds; and he was bruised, or made weak, for our sins, that, having become a curse for us, he might free us from the curse. For cursed is every man that hangeth on a tree. Hence the chastisement of our peace is upon him. For what we ought to have endured for our own sins, he suffered for us, making peace through the blood of his cross, whether for things on earth, or things in heaven. For he himself is our peace, who made both one, and, breaking down the middle wall of partition, dissolved the enmity in his flesh, and by his bruise we are healed. From which it is clear that, just as his body, scourged and torn, bore the marks of injury in weals and bruises, so also his soul truly grieved for us, lest the truth in Christ be believed partly true and partly false.

All we, he says, like sheep have gone astray, and needed the mercy of God, saying in the psalm: I have gone astray like a lost sheep; which, in the parable of the Gospel, was carried back on the shoulders of the good and careful Shepherd. But who these sheep are, the following verse shows. Man hath erred in his own way; or, every one hath turned aside into his own way, so as to follow his own error, and, forsaking the right way, to think differently concerning the Crucified. But the Lord laid upon him the iniquity of us all, since he delivered him up for our sins; so that what we could not bear because of the weakness of our strength, he might bear for us, he who was offered because he himself willed it. For it was not by necessity, but by will, that he endured the cross, saying in the Gospel: The cup which my Father hath given me, shall I not drink it?

And to Peter, who was scandalized at the mention of the cross, because he did not know the mystery, and trembled with human fear: Get thee behind me, Satan, thou art a scandal to me, because thou savorest not the things that are of God, but the things that are of men. Otherwise, if he had not been offered of his own will, he who was able to point out and foretell the betrayer, and said to the Apostles: All you shall this night be scandalized because of me, could have avoided those who had been sent against him, whom he met undaunted, and offered himself freely, saying: Whom seek ye? Who immediately fell backward; for they could not bear the voice of the present God. And beautifully he added: And he opened not his mouth. He who, when Pilate said, Speakest thou not to me? Refused to answer. Or, according to the Septuagint: Being afflicted, he opened not his mouth.

Or, according to Symmachus and Theodotion: Hearing, he opened not his mouth. (Verses 7 and following.) As a sheep he shall be led to the slaughter, and as a lamb before his shearer he shall be dumb, and he shall not open his mouth. He was taken away from distress and from judgment. Who shall declare his generation? Because he is cut off out of the land of the living: for the wickedness of my people I have struck him. And he shall give the wicked for his burial, and the rich for his death: because he had done no iniquity, neither was there deceit in his mouth. And the Lord was pleased to bruise him in infirmity. The Seventy: As a sheep he was led to the sacrifice, and as a lamb before his shearer is dumb, so he opened not his mouth. In humiliation his judgment was taken away. Who shall declare his generation, for his life is taken away from the earth?

For the iniquities of my people he was led to death; and I will give the wicked for his burial, and the rich for his death. Because he did no iniquity, nor was there deceit in his mouth: and the Lord wills to cleanse him from the plague. This testimony, when in the Acts of the Apostles the Eunuch of Queen Candace was riding in a chariot, and reading did not understand it, Philip interpreting it concerning the passion and name of the Savior, he understood, and was immediately baptized, and in the blood of the lamb which he was reading, he deserved to be called a man, and was sent as an Apostle to the people of the Ethiopians. He therefore who was offered up to Pilate, because he himself willed it; and answered not, that he might ascend the gibbet condemned for us, he as a sheep was led to the slaughter, and as a lamb before his shearer was dumb.

For indeed Christ our passover is sacrificed, whom John the Baptist pointed out, saying: Behold the Lamb of God, behold him who takes away the sins of the world. And in the Apocalypse of John the Evangelist, the slain lamb is often remembered. He who speaks of himself in Jeremiah: But I was like an innocent lamb, that is led to the victim, and I knew it not. For though he knew no sin, he was made sin for us. And as a lamb when led to the victim does not resist: so he suffered willingly, that he might destroy him who had the power of death, humbling himself unto death, even the death of the cross.

This is the lamb, in whose type the lamb was sacrificed, whose blood smeared on the doorposts drove away the destroyer of Egypt; who not only redeemed us with his blood, but also covered us with his wool, so that us who were chilled by unbelief he might warm with his own garment, and we might hear the Apostle speaking to us: As many of you as have been baptized into Christ have put on Christ. And in another place: Put on the Lord Jesus Christ. And what follows: He was taken away from distress and from judgment; or as the Seventy translated, in his humiliation his judgment was taken away, signifies this, that from tribulation and judgment he ascended victorious to the Father; or that the judge of all found no truth in his judgment; but without any fault, he was condemned by the sedition of the Jews and the voice of Pilate. Whence the Prophet marvels, that the God of all handed himself over to suffering.

Of which Paul speaks: For if they had known it, they would never have crucified the Lord of glory. There follows: Who shall declare his generation? Which is understood in two ways: for either it must be taken of his divinity, that it is impossible to know the mysteries of the divine birth; of which he himself speaks in Proverbs: Before all the hills he begot me; according to that which we read elsewhere: Who has known the mind of the Lord: or who has been his counselor? That is, no one; or of the birth from the Virgin, which can hardly be explained. Finally when it was said to Mary by the Angel: Thou shalt conceive and bear a son, she answered: How shall this be, since I know not a man? To whom the Angel again said: The Holy Spirit shall come upon thee, and the power of the Most High shall overshadow thee, so that only the sacraments of this birth are told, whether by the Angel or by the Evangelist.

Of whom the narrator is very rare, according to that: Who is wise, and will understand these things: who is prudent, and will know them? But if the prudent reader should answer with a silent thought: And how is it written: No one knows the Son but the Father: and no one knows the Father, but the Son, and he to whom the Son will reveal him? And he who knows the Father and the Son, can surely also declare the mystery of his generation. Let him hear that it is one thing to know, another to utter, because often what we conceive in the mind, we cannot unfold in speech. Therefore even the mystery of the divine birth in the body, the saints can know by faith rather than express in words. Otherwise even the Apostle, caught up into the third heaven and into paradise, heard words which no human tongue is able at all to utter. But also the Spirit intercedes for us with unspeakable groanings.

Of him, therefore, whose generation either no one, or scarcely anyone, can declare, life was taken away from the earth; that he might live not on earth at all, but in heaven. Or, he was cut off out of the land of the living, that what is written in the Apocalypse of John might be fulfilled concerning him: I am the first and the last: who was living, and am dead: and behold I live for ever; so that after the life which he lived on earth, having died to the earth, he might live in the heavens forever. And what is joined: For the wickedness of my people I struck them; or, according to the Seventy, for the iniquities of my people he was led to death, has a double sense.

For either he struck the persecutors and the wicked of his own people by his death: or on account of the greatness of the sins of the people, whom he always held as his own, he was led to death, that he might call them back to life by his death. He himself gave the wicked, for his burial; and the rich, for his death. Or the worst, for his burial; and the rich, for his death: signifying both peoples, so that in the evil and the worst, who before had no knowledge of God, the multitude of the Gentiles is shown: in the rich, whose was the Testament and the Legislation and the Prophets, the Jewish people is signified. Therefore the Lord suffered and was buried for this reason, that he might gather to himself a Church from both peoples.

Or this must be said, that the Scribes and Pharisees, and Sadducees, priests and pontiffs, who formerly reigned among the people, and abounded in excessive wealth, God, after the Lord's passion, handed over to the Romans, and subjected to eternal servitude. He, for whose burial and death, the wicked and the rich were handed over, did no iniquity, nor was deceit found in his mouth. Which can be understood of absolutely no man at all, that he sinned neither in deed nor in word, Scripture saying: No one is clean of filth, not even if his life were but one day. And, we have all gone astray like sheep, every one has turned aside in his own way: except of him, who bore our sins, and grieves for us, and was wounded for our iniquities, and was afflicted for our transgressions, by whose stripes we are healed.

Concerning whom also Peter, prince of the Apostles, expounding this testimony, says: For unto this you are called, because Christ also suffered for us, leaving you an example, that you should follow his steps. Who did no sin, neither was guile found in his mouth. Who when he was reviled, did not revile: and when he suffered, he threatened not (1 Peter 2:21ff). But the Lord willed to cleanse him from the wound, which he had received, struck by the soldier's lance. Or to crush him in weakness and wound: of which he himself also said: For they persecuted him whom thou hast struck. And through Zechariah God speaks: I will strike the shepherd, and the sheep shall be scattered. Therefore that he should suffer was not of necessity, but of the will of the Father and his own, to whom he himself said: O God, I have willed to do thy will.

Of whom we also read above: He was offered up, because he himself willed it. (Verses 10, 11.) If he shall lay down his life for sin, he shall see a long-lived seed, and the will of the Lord shall be directed by his hand. Because his soul has labored, he shall see and be satisfied: by his knowledge shall this my just servant justify many, and he shall bear their iniquities. The Seventy: If you shall give for sin, your soul shall see a long-lived seed: and the Lord wills to take away his soul from sorrow, to show him light, and to form understanding. To justify the just one who serves many well: and he shall bear their sins. According to the Hebrew the sense here is: If he shall lay down his life for sin—he whom the Lord willed to bruise, or to cleanse—he shall see a long-lived seed, which he sowed in good earth.

Of which it is written in the Gospel: He that sows went out to sow; and again: The kingdom of heaven is like to a man who sowed good seed in his field. And the will of the Lord shall be directed in his hand, that whatever the Father willed, may be fulfilled by his powers, he saying to the Father: I have kept them in thy name whom thou hast given me. I have guarded them, and none of them has perished, but the son of perdition. He shall see an everlasting seed, and the will of the Father shall be directed in his hand: because his soul labored for a long time, finding no rest among the Jews, and saying in the Gospel: Foxes have holes, and the birds of the air, nests: but the Son of man has nowhere to lay his head. And in this same Prophet: I have labored in enduring. Because therefore he labored, he shall see the Churches rising up in the whole world, and shall be satisfied by their faith.

Finally when hungry and thirsty he sat upon Jacob's well, at midday with the sun scorching, he refused to use bought food, because already he was satisfied by the faith of the Samaritan woman, and of the city of Sychar going out to him. According to which sense he said among the eight beatitudes: Blessed are they that hunger and thirst after justice. By his knowledge, that is, by his teaching, he the just one, who did no sin, nor was deceit found in his mouth: and the servant of the Father, who had taken the form of a servant, and had served the Father's will, shall justify many believing out of the whole world. And he shall bear their iniquities, which they were not able to bear, and by whose weight they were oppressed.

According to the Seventy this is said: O you, for whose sins the Son of God was led to death, who were the worst, and rich in evil, given for his burial and death, if you will do penance, and offer for your sins a sacrifice pleasing to God, a contrite spirit, your soul shall see a seed of a long time, the Lord Savior himself. Of whom in the eighty-eighth psalm it is sung: His seed shall endure for ever, and his throne as the sun before me. And again: I will set his seed for ever and ever, and his throne as the days of heaven. Which in other words Gabriel spoke to the Virgin: Behold thou shalt conceive in the womb and bring forth: who shall be called the Son of the Most High. And the Lord God shall give him the throne of David his father, and he shall reign over the house of Jacob for ever: and of his kingdom there shall be no end.

For the Lord wills to take away his soul from sorrow, he who had said: My soul is sorrowful even unto death, that the shame of the cross might be tempered by the glory of the resurrection. And to show him light, that all through him might see themselves illumined. And to form understanding, understand: him, upon whom the spirit of wisdom and understanding descended. And to justify the just one, who served many well; for he came not to be served, but to serve, at Peter's feet, washing away the sins of all the Apostles. Who appeared in the flesh, was justified in the spirit. Of whom Judas the traitor also confesses: I have sinned, in betraying innocent blood. And Pilate's wife: Have thou nothing to do with that just man: for I have suffered many things today in a dream because of him. And it must be noted that he was not justified so as to become just from being unjust.

But the just one is justified, not that he might begin to be what he was not; but that what he was might appear to all. This just one suffered for the unjust, that he might offer all of us to God. Of whom it is said to the Jews: And you denied the holy and the just one, and asked that a murderer be given to you. And their sins, it says, he himself bore; as a physician bears the sicknesses of the sick, which those who are healthy do not need, but those who are ill. (Verse 12.) Therefore will I divide him very many, and he shall divide the spoils of the strong: because he has delivered his soul unto death, and was reputed with the wicked: and he has borne the sins of many, and has prayed for the transgressors.

The Seventy: Therefore he himself shall possess many, and shall divide the spoils of the strong: because his soul was defiled in death, and he was reputed with the wicked, and he himself received the sins of many, and for their iniquities was delivered up. He gives the reasons why after the passion Christ obtains many rewards. Because, he says, he suffered, and did all the things which the preceding discourse described, and he himself bore the iniquities of many: therefore I will divide him very many, that for the portion of the Lord, Jacob, and the lot of his inheritance, Israel, believers might come from East and West, and recline in the kingdom of God with Abraham, Isaac and Jacob: that which is written being fulfilled: Ask of me, and I will give thee the nations for thine inheritance, and the ends of the earth for thy possession.

Of which it is also read in this same Prophet: There shall be the root of Jesse: and he who shall rise up to rule the Gentiles, in him shall the Gentiles hope. But these very many were once held by the strong; and under the appearance of the ass and the colt, they had many masters, to whom the Apostles said: The Lord has need of them. Who were strong before Christ assumed a human body, and, the strong one being overcome, plundered his house. He therefore handed over and divided the spoil of the strong to his Apostles, so that Peter, James, and John became princes of the circumcised people, and Paul and Barnabas were sent to the Gentiles, separated in place, not in mind, and under one Lord stood in different battle-lines, that by the victory of each host they might raise up a triumph for the Savior.

From which those who truly say that the dispensatory contention between Peter and Paul was a real quarrel and strife, to satisfy the blaspheming Porphyry: and assert that the ceremonies of the old Law must be kept in the Church of Christ, from the stock of believing Israel, must also expect a golden Jerusalem in the thousand years, that they may offer sacrifices, and be circumcised, that they may sit on the sabbath, sleep, be filled, be drunk, and rise up to play, which play offends God. We have said this on account of what is now prophesied: And he shall divide the spoils of the strong. According to that which is written in another place: When the heavenly one scattered the kings in it. And again: The king of hosts is beloved, and the beauty of the house is to divide the spoils.

Finally concerning Paul the apostle, who was of the tribe of Benjamin, according to the Hebrew it is said: Benjamin is a ravening wolf: in the morning he shall eat the prey, and in the evening he shall divide the spoils. Of whom we have also already said before: They shall rejoice before thee, as they that rejoice in the harvest, and as they that divide the spoils, dividing for themselves the Churches of Christ in the whole world. Therefore he shall receive very many nations, he who came to preach to the captives remission, and led captive the captivity that had before been captive to the devil and demons, and gave it as a gift to men and believers, because he delivered his soul unto death, and was reputed with the wicked or the unjust.

For if his Apostle became as one without the law to those who were without the law; though he was not without the law, but was under the law of Christ: why should not Christ too be reputed with the wicked, that he might redeem the wicked from sin, and become all things to all men, that he might save all? For he bore our sins in his body, fastening them to the wood of the cross, that he might blot out the handwriting which we had made with the devil and his angels, written by the hands of the soul, that is, by its works. Of which the apostle Paul speaks: And you, when you were dead in sins, and in the desires of the flesh, he made to live together with Christ, forgiving us all our sins.

And he blotted out the handwriting that was against us, which was contrary to us; and he himself took it out of the way, fastening it to the cross: spoiling principalities and powers, he put them to open shame, triumphing over them confidently. But the wicked with whom he was reputed, Mark the Evangelist understands to be the robbers, writing: And they crucified with him two thieves: one on his right hand, and the other on his left. And the Scripture was fulfilled which says: And he was reputed with the wicked. Which can also be understood more deeply, the Lord saying of himself: I am counted with them that go down into the pit: I am become as a man without help, free among the dead. For truly he was reckoned among sinners and the wicked, that he might descend into hell; which in many places of Scripture is called a pit, and might free those bound in prison. Who was delivered up for our sins, and rose again for our justification.

And of such clemency was he, that for transgressors, nay even for his own persecutors, he prayed on the cross, and said: Father, forgive them: for they know not what they do.

I know that I have said often, Eustochium, that the Apostles and Evangelists, wherever they set forth testimonies from the Old Instrument, if there is no difference between the Hebrew and the Septuagint, are accustomed to use either their own words or those of the Seventy Translators. But if the sense is one way in the Hebrew and another in the old edition, they follow the Hebrew rather than the Seventy Translators. Finally, just as we have shown in many places that they set down things from the Hebrew which are not found in the Septuagint; so let our rivals show some testimonies taken from the Septuagint which are not in the Hebrew books: and the controversy is ended. I have said this because the present chapter, though one in sense, differs in words. With the explanation of this the fifteenth book after the tenth on Isaiah begins.

(Verse 1.) Praise, O barren one, who dost not bear: sing forth praise and neigh, thou who hast not travailed: for the children of the desolate are more than of her that had a husband, saith the Lord. LXX: Rejoice, O barren one, who dost not bear: break forth and cry out, thou who dost not travail: for the children of the desolate are more than of her that hath a husband.

For the Lord hath said. Symmachus interpreted this passage thus: Rejoice, O barren one, who hast not borne. Rejoice in exultation, and neigh, thou who hast not travailed: For the children of the scattered one are more than of her who was under a husband. From him Theodotion and Aquila do not differ except in a few words. After the birth of the Saviour, and the order of his life and virtues, the passion of the cross, and the glory of the resurrection, when, laying down his soul, he saw a long-lived seed, and by his knowledge the Just One himself justified many, and divided the spoils of the strong, and made intercession for transgressors, giving place for repentance, he passes on to the calling of the nations, and describes in full discourse those who would believe in him.

This very passage the apostle Paul indeed, under the names of Sarah and Isaac, refers to the Church, because the former people from Mount Sinai and Hagar serves along with her children; but the one that follows is free, of whom Isaiah says: Rejoice, O barren one, who dost not bear: break forth and cry out, thou who dost not travail: for the children of the desolate are more than of her that hath a husband; and immediately: But we, he says, brethren, are children of promise according to Isaac. But as then he who was born according to the flesh persecuted him who was born according to the Spirit, so also now. But what saith the Scripture? Cast out the bondwoman and her son. For the son of the bondwoman shall not be heir with the son of the free woman. But we, brethren, are not children of the bondwoman, but of the free: with which liberty Christ has made us free (following).

If then the vessel of election, taking a testimony from Isaiah, which we now have in hand, referred it to the children of promise, and to the Church gathered from the Gentiles, or from both peoples, which had been deserted and forsaken among the Jews, which had not had God for her husband, nor received the Law nor the Prophets, we are compelled by that very reasoning to follow in the footsteps of our predecessor, and to call her deserted, of whom we read above (On chap. Xxxvi): Rejoice, thou deserted one, and the rest similar to this. Of her also it is written in Jeremiah, in the person of God: She who bore seven has been made empty, her soul also has failed. Her sun has set while it was yet midday. And in the book of Samuel: The barren has borne seven, and she that had many children has been weakened. And in the Psalms: Who maketh the barren woman to dwell in a house, the joyful mother of children.

Now the synagogue is said to have borne seven sons, on account of the mystery of the week and the sabbath, to which the former people had been bound. Or, instead of seven, "many" is to be understood, according to the ambiguity of the Hebrew word, by which both the sabbath and "many" are signified. Of this more fully in the book of Hebrew Questions which we wrote on Genesis. This one, then, as long as she had God for her husband, and was joined to the divine word and to the Law, bore many sons to God: but when she received a bill of divorce, and refused to answer him who called her, and heard: Thou art the daughter of thy mother, who hast forsaken thy husband. And again: Thou hast not called me as Lord: nor as father and prince of thy virginity: therefore in this same Prophet she is lamented: How is the faithful city become a harlot, Sion full of judgment: in which justice lodged, but now murderers.

But this too must be noted, that when he says: The children of the desolate are more than of her who hath a husband, the synagogue is not entirely excluded from childbearing; but the multitude of the Gentiles is preferred to her. For she herself, in the Apostles and through the Apostles, first begot a people from among the Jews. Whence the two chief Apostles divided among themselves the ranks of those believing in Christ, of the Circumcision and of the Gentiles, so that from both peoples they might build up Jerusalem, formerly deserted and poor. But that the Hebrew has put "neighing" for joy signifies the greatness of joy, in the likeness of a horse neighing for victory.

Of this more fully is written in Job. This passage and what follows the Jews, and our own Judaizers, refer to Jerusalem, which they say is to be restored in the thousand-year kingdom, and to be the same city which formerly had a husband and afterward ceased to have one, and is to have many more children after the divorce than she had before with her husband. Whereas the comparison of two women is plainly set forth, of her who had a husband and was put away, and of her who was always deserted and without a husband. Nor is it to be wondered at concerning the Jews, whose eyes and ears are closed, that they do not see the plain truth.

Of Christians I know not what to say, who, though the Apostle declares that these things are allegorical and refer to the two Testaments, the old and the new, relating Sarah and Hagar thereto, yet hand themselves over to the Jews, out of desire for earthly pleasures in a thousand years. (Verses 2, 3.) Enlarge the place of thy tent, and stretch out the skins of thy tabernacles: spare not: lengthen thy cords, and strengthen thy pegs. For thou shalt pass on to the right hand and to the left, and thy seed shall inherit the nations, and shall inhabit the desolate cities. The Septuagint: Enlarge the place of thy tabernacle, and fix the skins of thy curtains, spare not. Stretch forth thy cords, and strengthen thy pegs still more, spread out on the right hand and on the left, and thy seed shall possess the nations, and thou shalt cause the desolate cities to be inhabited.

To her to whom it had been said: Rejoice, thou barren, that bearest not; break the bonds by which thou wast formerly held bound, and cry out in confession of the Lord, thou who hadst no children, now the same is bidden, after the likeness of the tabernacle of Moses, which he once had in the desert, to enlarge her tent and stretch out her skins; and to make the cords longer, and to drive the pegs, by which every tent is shaped, deep into the ground, and to strengthen them, lest it be scattered by the blasts of the winds. And let her pass on to the right hand and the left, and by no means imitate the narrowness of the Jewish tabernacle, which measured a hundred cubits in length and fifty in breadth, nor be shut up in the smallness of the Temple, which had sixty cubits in length and twenty in breadth. But let her not cease to take up room on the right hand and on the left.

And lest we should think this is said of Zion according to the frivolous contention of the Hebrews, that she is to be restored by the Lord to her ancient state, he sets forth more plainly what lay hidden: And thy seed shall inherit the nations. Of which we read also in the Gospel: The sower went out to sow; and again: Didst thou not sow good seed in thy field? Which seed shall also cause the desolate cities to be inhabited, so that Churches of the Gentiles may arise throughout the whole world. Or certainly the seed must be understood as the Apostles, and the remnant of the Jewish people. Of which it is said in this same Prophet: Unless the Lord of hosts had left us seed, we should have been as Sodom, and should have been like Gomorrah. And the Apostle says: The remnant shall be saved. This refers to the greatness of the Churches, which, instead of the one place of Judea, and that a very narrow one, will spread their boundaries over the whole world.

Let us come to the spiritual understanding. He who is in a tent does not possess a fixed and permanent dwelling; but always changes his place, and hastens on to what lies further ahead, saying in the psalm: I will pass over into the place of the wonderful tabernacle, forgetting the things behind, and stretching forward to what is before, until he attain to the prize of the heavenly calling. Of this tabernacle we read also in another place: How beloved are thy tabernacles, O Lord of hosts! My soul longeth and fainteth for the courts of the Lord. And afterwards he adds: Blessed are they that dwell in thy house; they shall praise thee for ever and ever. For the end of the tabernacles is the possession of the eternal house, which does not change its foundations, nor is transferred from one place to another.

For they who are planted in the house of the Lord first flourished in his courts, so that from the flowers they may come to the fruit, and may be able to say: But I am like a fruitful olive tree in the house of God. Finally, the holy man, hastening to pass beyond the tabernacles, and desiring to see the house of God, says that he has but one wish, that he may never go out from the house of God: One thing have I asked of the Lord, this will I seek after: that I may dwell in the house of the Lord all the days of my life.

The tent, therefore, must be enlarged, and the curtains and skins stretched out, and the cords of manifold and varied discourses drawn out longer, and the pegs firmly fixed by reason on the right hand and the left, that the seed of the word, that is, of the teaching of God, may be able to possess the nations; and to make habitable the cities which he received who had doubled his mna. Now the right hand and the left in the Holy Scriptures are then taken in a good sense, when we understand them both according to the spirit, and according to the letter, by the armor of righteousness on the right hand and on the left, so that the humbler understanding of life may hold to the instruction and examples of our elders, and the spiritual and lofty understanding may transfer us from present things to future ones.

This is what the Lord also said to the Pharisees when they questioned him: Render unto Caesar the things that are Caesar's, and unto God the things that are God's: that we may both be subject to the powers of this age, which do not unjustly bear the sword for the punishment of those who do evil, which is understood as the left hand: and render unto God the things that are God's, so that we fear no one else, but him who has power both of soul and of body, which is taken as the right hand.

Finally, it is said of the wisdom of God, to which nothing precious can be compared, that in her right hand she has length of days, and many years; but in her left hand riches and glory, so that those riches may be understood which are found in present knowledge and good works, and the glory which he receives through whose works God is glorified among the nations; while length of life and many years signify eternal life, which, neglecting present things, hastens on to the things to come. (Verses 4, 5.) Fear not, for thou shalt not be confounded, neither shalt thou blush: for thou shalt not be ashamed, because thou shalt forget the confusion of thy youth, and shalt remember no more the reproach of thy widowhood. For he that made thee shall have dominion over thee, the Lord of hosts is his name: and thy Redeemer, the Holy One of Israel, shall be called the God of all the earth.

The Septuagint: Fear not, for thou art confounded: neither be thou confounded, for it was cast in thy teeth: for thou shalt forget the everlasting confusion, and shalt not remember the reproach of thy widowhood: for the Lord who made thee, the Lord of Sabaoth is his name: and he who delivered thee, the God of Israel, shall be called the God of all the earth. A question arises, how, if it is said to the Church gathered from the nations: Rejoice, thou barren, that bearest not; and: More are the children of the desolate, than of her that hath a husband, namely, because she had no husband, who afterwards made many children, and she who formerly had a husband was turned into barrenness: how it is now said to her who had no husband: Thou shalt remember thy widowhood no more, and shalt forget the confusion of thy youth. From which the Jews wish it to be understood that all these things are said to Jerusalem, which, having been forsaken by God, is to be restored again by him.

But they are easily refuted, when they are reminded that it is said in the person of the Lord in Zachariah: And I took unto me two rods: one I called Beauty, and the other I called a Cord: and I fed the flock. Of which we have spoken more fully in its own place, and now it shall be said in part. The two rods are both peoples, of the Gentiles and of the Jews, of whom the first was called the multitude of the Gentiles, which received the natural law fixed in their hearts, of which Paul, writing to the Romans, argues most powerfully; than which rod nothing is more beautiful, in that every creature is called equally to the worship of its Creator. But the second, that is, the people of the Jews, is called the Cord: which, after the offense of the Gentiles, is called the portion of the Lord, and the cord of his inheritance, Israel.

Finally, after Israel was called in Abraham, the Lord says: I took my rod, which was called Beauty: and I cut it asunder, that I might make void my covenant which I had made with all the peoples. Therefore at the coming of Christ it is said to the rod which had been cut off: Fear not, nor blush, nor let shame cover thy face. For thou shalt no more be confounded as thou hadst formerly been confounded, nor shalt thou remember the confusion of thy youth, and thou shalt not recall thy widowhood, by which thou wast forsaken by God: for thy Maker himself shall have dominion over thee, whose name is Almighty, who reigns, not over one Jewish nation, but over the whole world. Finally it follows: He who had made thee, he himself redeemed thee with his own blood: and he shall be called the God of all the earth: that is, of all who dwell upon the earth.

From which it is plainly evident that this is by no means said of Jerusalem, which never held dominion over the whole world: but of the Church of Christ, whose inheritance is the possession of the world. (Verses 6, 7.) For as a woman forsaken and mourning in spirit the Lord hath called thee: and as a wife cast off from her youth, said thy God. For a small moment have I forsaken thee: but with great mercies will I gather thee. In a moment of indignation have I hid my face for a little from thee: and with everlasting kindness have I had mercy on thee, saith the Lord thy Redeemer. LXX: Not as a woman forsaken and faint-hearted hath the Lord called thee, nor as a woman hated from her youth, said thy God. For a little time have I left thee: and with great mercy will I have mercy on thee.

In a small wrath I turned away my face from thee: and with everlasting mercy will I have mercy on thee, said the Lord who redeemed thee. Here the friends of the Jews cheapen the meaning, saying that the forsaken woman and the wife cast off from her youth, whom the Lord forsook for a moment and for a little while, is Jerusalem. He who, hiding his face for a little while, received her again in everlasting mercies, and changed her past sorrow into joy. This is according to the Hebrew. Moreover, according to the Septuagint, he does not call her a forsaken woman, and one called faint-hearted by the Lord; nor as a wife who was hated from her youth; but that he left her for a little while, and turned away his face, in order that he might have mercy on her forever.

If then the Jews, and those of us who Judaize, say that Israel was forsaken for a little while, so that at the coming of Christ God might have mercy on it; and they interpret “a little” in comparison to the whole of eternity: why do they not grant to us also to call that time “little” during which the Gentiles were cast off: so that those who had been rejected in the midst, who in their youth had belonged to God, might afterward in their old age obtain everlasting mercy? Especially since, in the time of Israel’s calling, the multitude of the Gentiles was never excluded; but the door of return always lay open to them through proselytes, so that just as we seem for a little while excluded by their calling, so by their perpetual exclusion a return to God may be granted to us. But we have said “perpetual exclusion” only if they do not repent. Otherwise the apostle Paul says: God hath concluded all under sin, that he might have mercy on all.

This we have interpreted concerning the Church gathered from both peoples; and the Jews take it of Jerusalem: those who follow only the tropology, and in the most difficult places, fleeing the excursions of free disputation and the questions that arise, refer it to the sinning soul, which was cast off by God, not out of hatred, but out of dispensation, so that, pressed by the weight of evils, it might return to its former husband: and, having lost its substance, might not despair of the father’s clemency.

Is it not a great mercy to run to meet the returning son, to offer him the ring and the robe, and the kiss, and to say to the envious brother, according to the likeness of another parable: Friend, if I am good, why is thy eye evil? (Verses 9, 10.) As in the days of Noe this is to me: as I have sworn, that I would not bring in any more the waters of Noe upon the earth: so have I sworn not to be angry with thee, and not to rebuke thee. For the mountains shall be moved, and the hills shall tremble: but my mercy shall not depart from thee, and the covenant of my peace shall not be moved, saith the Lord that hath mercy on thee. LXX: From the water which was under Noe this is to me: as I swore to him at that time, that I would no longer be angry with the earth against thee, nor at thy threatening remove the mountains: neither shall thy hills be removed.

So neither shall my mercy fail, nor shall the covenant of my peace be taken away, saith the Lord who is merciful to thee.

That the congregation of the saints may believe the mercy of the Lord to be everlasting, and that therefore we were forsaken only for a point and a brief while, so that we might be joined to the friendship of God by an eternal covenant, he sets forth examples of the ancients, saying: As when the whole world sinned, after all the earth had corrupted the way of the Lord, the flood was brought in: and with all the authors of sins, all sins were blotted out, and in one man, Noe, the human race was preserved: to whom I swore that a flood should never again be brought upon the earth: and my promise has been kept until now, and shall never be made void; so I swear to my Church, which I redeemed to myself by my blood, that I shall never be angry with those on whom I have had mercy, nor shall my clemency ever be changed by any hardness of rebuke.

For more easily shall the mountains and hills be moved than my sentence be changed. According to what he also says in the Gospel: Heaven and earth shall pass away, but my words shall not pass away. This, moreover, he says, is my mercy, that the covenant of peace, by which the world is reconciled to me, should be preserved not according to the merit of those to whom it is given, but by my own clemency. According to the Septuagint the sense is confused, and everything is so disturbed that what is said can scarcely be understood: not that I am ignorant of what a most learned man has said on this chapter, but because it does not satisfy my mind. For he sets forth a tropological flood, which he interprets as the baptism of the Savior, gathering together very many examples, such as this: The Lord maketh the flood to dwell.

And again: The Lord is sweet to them that wait for him in the day of tribulation: and he knoweth them that fear him, in the flood of passing he maketh an end (Nahum 1:7, according to the LXX): meaning, of course, that he blotted out all sins in baptism, saying elsewhere: I am, I am he who blots out thy iniquities. For all have gone astray, they are become unprofitable together. There was none that did mercy, nor truth: neither was there knowledge of God upon the earth. Cursing, and lying, and murder, and adultery, and theft have overflowed, and blood hath touched blood. Whence he speaks through the Prophet: Woe is me! For the one returning from the land hath perished.

There is none that doeth right among men, all are judged in my blood. Every man doth hunt his brother with a net. And they make ready their hands for evil (Micah 7:2, according to the LXX): and other things like these. Among which is this: None is clean from filth, no, not if his life be but one day upon the earth. Whence the Lord is said to have made the flood, he who, according to the apostle Peter, was put to death indeed in the flesh, but enlivened in the spirit; and preached to the spirits that were in prison, when the patience of God waited in the days of Noe, bringing the flood upon the ungodly. In figure of which, water cleanses us: not washing away the filth of the flesh, but the examination of a good conscience toward God.

But the mountains and hills which are not to be moved, though they had been shaken in that former flood, he wishes to be understood as the saints, having received the everlasting covenant: who in the earlier flood had been shaken, and had abandoned their own firmness. He calls "mountains" also the demons and the adversary powers, who saw the daughters of men, that they were good, and wounded with the dart of love, took to themselves wives of all whom they chose, and lost their former strength: and shall by no means be in this flood. This he may have meant; the explanation of it I leave to the judgment of the reader. (Verses 11, 12.) O poor little one, tossed with tempest, without all comfort. Behold I will lay thy stones in order, and will lay thy foundations with sapphires, and I will make thy bulwarks of jasper: and thy gates of graven stones, and all thy borders of desirable stones.

All thy children shall be taught of the Lord: and great shall be the peace of thy children. And thou shalt be founded in justice. LXX: Humble and unstable, without comfort. Behold, I prepare for thee a carbuncle for thy stone, and thy foundations of sapphire: and I will make thy bulwarks of jasper, and thy gates of crystal stones, and thy walls of choice stones: and all thy sons disciples of God, and great peace shall be to thy children, and thou shalt be built in justice. Where we have said, "I will lay thy stones in order," the Hebrew has written BAPHEPHUCH (בפוך), which all except the Septuagint have translated similarly: "I will lay thy stones in antimony," in the likeness of an adorned woman, who paints her eyes with antimony, so as to signify the beauty of the city. And where we, following the LXX, have said "jasper," the Hebrew has written there CHODCHOD (כדכד), which Symmachus alone translated as χαλκηδόνιον (chalcedony).

For "crystal" also, in whose place among the Hebrews ECDA (אקדח) is read, Symmachus and Theodotion put "engraving," that is, γλυφῆς, Aquila "boring," τρυπανισμοῦ: which word conveys the sense of gems bored through and carved. We have spoken of the diversity of translation: let us come to the sense.

He still speaks to the Church, once humble and poor, which had neither the Law, nor the Prophets, nor the word of God: and tossed by tempest or unstable, which had endured many whirlwinds of the age, and was tossed among various errors of idols: which had no comforter, and vainly spent all her substance on physicians; that he himself would come, he himself would descend, and build on earth the heavenly Jerusalem, which in the Apocalypse of John is called the bride and wife of the Lamb, having a light like a precious stone, as it were the jasper stone and the crystal, and a great wall, and twelve gates inscribed with the names of the tribes of Israel, of which three were on the east, and three on the north, and three on the south, and three on the west: and the wall supported by twelve foundations, whose whole structure was of jasper stone, and each of the wall’s foundations had its own stone, the first jasper, the second sapphire, the third chalcedony, the fourth emerald, the fifth sardonyx, the sixth sardius, the seventh chrysolite, the eighth beryl, the ninth topaz, the tenth chrysoprase, the eleventh jacinth, the twelfth amethyst; reading which, we cry out and say: O the depth of the wisdom and knowledge of God!

How incomprehensible are his judgments, and his ways unsearchable! For who hath known the mind of the Lord, or who hath been his counsellor? And again: Who is wise, and will understand these things: prudent, and will know them (Hosea 14:10)?

Let those answer who love only the letter that killeth, and who for a thousand years prepare choice foods for gluttony and luxury, whose god is their belly, and whose glory is in their shame; who, after the second coming of the Savior in glory, hope for marriages, and infants of a hundred years, and the injury of circumcision, and the blood of victims, and a perpetual sabbath; who say, with Israel, in a perverse manner: Let us eat and drink, for tomorrow we shall die: what then is that heavenly Jerusalem, to whom it is now said: Behold, I will lay thy stones in order; or according to the LXX: Behold, I prepare for thee a carbuncle, thy stone: so that the whole city may be full of carbuncles, and have foundations of sapphire, and bulwarks of jasper, or chalcedony, and gates of crystal, or of engraved gems, and a wall round about of precious stones: and all her sons shall not have men for their masters, but God, and shall be called disciples of God; and there shall be perpetual peace in her, and the edification of justice.

From which it is clear that, under the occasion of "justice," which is the name of a virtue, we ought also to seek the other virtues for the building up of the Church: and not to follow after Jewish ravings. Let them explain then what that means which is said of wisdom in Proverbs: She is more precious than all precious stones. For if Christ is the power of God and the wisdom of God, it is foolish to compare Christ to insensible stones. And again we read of the judgments of God: The judgments of the Lord are right, justified in themselves: more to be desired than gold and much precious stone.

From which it is plain that this stone is compared to the other stones, concerning which above in this same Prophet it is said in the person of God: Behold I will set in the foundations of Sion a corner-stone, a chosen and precious stone: and he that shall believe in it shall not be confounded. This stone the builders rejected, namely the Scribes and Pharisees and the princes of the Jews, which stone was made the head of the corner. Concerning which the Apostle Peter also, disputing, says: To us therefore who believe he is honour, the corner-stone precious and chosen. But to unbelievers he is a stone of stumbling and a rock of scandal.

He also, in the Acts of the Apostles, speaks to the princes of the priests: This is the chosen and precious stone which you rejected, despising it; which was made the head of the corner, and contains two peoples, of the Gentiles and of Israel; who built the city, whose maker and founder is God: concerning which the Apostle also writes to the Corinthians: You are God's building. And: As a wise architect I have laid the foundation, another builds upon it. But let every man take heed how he builds thereupon. For other foundation can no man lay than that which is laid, which is Christ Jesus. Now if any man build upon this foundation gold, silver, precious stones, wood, hay, stubble; every man's work shall be made manifest. Concerning this foundation he speaks also in another Epistle: Built upon the foundation of the Apostles and Prophets, Jesus Christ himself being the chief corner-stone; and again: In whom you also are built up, living stones, into a holy priesthood, to offer up spiritual sacrifices.

Of these stones it is said mystically: Holy stones are rolled upon the earth, of which Christ builds his Church upon the rock, saying in the Gospel: Upon this rock I will build my Church. He who has deserved to enter this city speaks rejoicing to the Lord: As we have heard, so have we seen, in the city of the Lord of hosts, in the city of our God: God has founded it forever. Concerning the founder of this city it is said also in another place: This one shall build my city, and shall bring back the captivity of my people. But as to the nature of the twelve stones and gems, it is not the business of this occasion to speak, since many both of the Greeks and of the Latins have written of them.

Of whom I shall name only two: the man of holy and venerable memory, the bishop Epiphanius, who left us an outstanding volume of his genius and learning, which he entitled Περὶ λίθων (On Stones); and Pliny the Second, likewise among the Latins an orator and philosopher, who in his most beautiful work, the Natural History, filled the thirty-seventh book, which is also the last, with a discussion of stones and gems. These twelve stones are recorded in order in Exodus and in Ezekiel, that is, in the ἐν τῷ λογείῳ (breastplate) of the pontiff, and in the crown and diadem of the prince of Tyre. Let us speak first of Exodus: Four rows of stones were woven in. The first row had the stone sardius, topaz, emerald. The second row, carbuncle, sapphire, jasper. The third row, ligure, agate, amethyst. The fourth row, chrysolite, beryl, onyx, surrounded with gold; and they were inscribed with the names of the twelve tribes of the sons of Israel.

In which it is to be noted that the second row of stones is also placed in the present Scripture: carbuncle, sapphire, and jasper. For we do not yet retain perfect things, nor have we attained to the first things, because now we see through a glass in a dark manner. Moreover in Ezekiel we find it written thus: You are the seal of resemblance, and the crown of beauty, you were in the delights of the paradise of God. You were covered with every precious stone: sardius, topaz, and emerald, carbuncle, and sapphire, and jasper, silver also and gold, and the ligure, and agate, and the amethyst, and the chrysolite, and the beryl, and the onyx; and you filled your treasures and your storehouses with gold. From the day you were created, when I placed you with the Cherub upon my holy mountain, you were in the midst of the fiery stones, blameless in your days, from the day you were created, until iniquity was found in you.

For who is so foolish and of so senseless a mind, as to believe that the prince of Tyre, whoever he may be thought to be, placed in the paradise of God, and created among the Cherub, and dwelling among the fiery stones (which we understand without doubt to be the Angels and heavenly Powers), was one adorned with earthly stones, and bore their likeness and seal? Concerning the nature therefore of all the stones, and of each one individually, it is not the business of this occasion to speak; for not all things must always be said. Let us now discuss only carbuncle, sapphire, and jasper. The carbuncle which is prepared, or set in order, seems to me the fiery word of doctrine, which, having put to flight the error of darkness, illumines the hearts of believers.

This is the one which one of the Seraphim took, having grasped it with tongs, to purge the lips of Isaiah: which is born, according to the account in Genesis, in the land of Evila, where there is the finest gold, and the carbuncle stone, and the leek-green stone. Moreover the sapphire, which is placed in the foundations, has the likeness of the sky, and of the air above us: which is such that it can say that saying of Aristophanes with Socrates: Ἀεροβατῶ καὶ περιφρονῶ τὸν ἥλιον; which we can render into Latin: I walk in the air and look down upon the sun. Or, with Paul the Apostle: But our conversation is in heaven. The Scripture of Ezekiel also recalls that the place in which the throne of God is has the likeness of sapphire, and the glory of the Lord consists in this colour, which bears the image of what is above the heavens.

But also the bulwarks of the Lord's city, that is, the ramparts of the walls, are strengthened with jasper, which is able to destroy and refute every height that raises itself against the knowledge of God, and to subject falsehood to truth. He therefore who is most strong in disputation, and fortified by the testimonies of the holy Scriptures, is the bulwark of the Church. There are many kinds of jasper: for there is one having the likeness of emerald, which is found in the springs of the river Thermodon, and is called Grammatias, by which they say all phantasms are put to flight. Another is greener than the sea, and tinged as though with flowers; this they report to be born in the mountain of Ida in Phrygia, and in its deepest caves. Another is said to be found near the Iberians and Hyrcanians and the Caspian Sea, and especially near the lake Nensis. There is also another jasper like snow and the foam of sea waves, and gently reddish as though mixed with blood.

We have said this, that we may recognize all the spiritual graces in the bulwarks of the Church; which whoever has, puts vain fears to flight, and can say with the bride: My beloved is white and ruddy. Now the gates of this city are of crystal stone, which is carved in various ways, than which no stone is purer. Indeed, by the most violent colds of the Alps, and in caves inaccessible to the sun, waters are said to congeal into crystal: and to the touch it is stone, to sight it is water. By which it is shown that those who are at the gates of the Church ought to be stained by no filth, but should be of the purest faith, and say with the prophet: I have understood by your commandments. And to hear that: Blessed are the pure in heart: for they shall see God.

Now the walls of the city, or its boundaries and περίβολος (enclosure), are built up with chosen stones, by which we may understand the rest of the stones, and that all its sons are learned, that is, disciples of God: which testimony the Lord uses in the Gospel of John, saying: No man can come to me, except the Father who sent me draw him, and everyone that has heard and has learned of the Father, comes to me. And shortly after, it is written in the prophets: They shall all be taught by God. He also speaks through Jeremiah: Giving my laws into their minds, and I will write them upon their heart; and they shall no longer teach every man his neighbour and his brother, saying: Know the Lord. But all shall know me from the least even to the greatest. For I will be merciful to their iniquities, and their sins I will remember no more.

Now the doctrine of the disciples of God has an abundance of peace, which has been left them by the Lord: and the building of the most beautiful city is completed by righteousness; so that God is not of one nation only, but of the whole world, calling to his faith slaves and free, Greeks and Barbarians, rich and poor, noble and ignoble, men and women, children and old men, and all things which in the world seem to be contrary. We have exceeded the measure of brevity, which is useful in all things that must be said: seeking, not, as the Hebrews and our own Semi-Jews do, the city of God on earth, but in the heavens, which, being set on the mountain that is Christ, cannot be hidden. (Verse 14.) Depart far from calumny, for you shall not fear; and from terror, for it shall not come near you. LXX: Depart from the unjust man, and you shall not fear, and trembling shall not come near you. A most beautiful order.

He had consoled the poor and humble one, promising her spiritual graces. Now he teaches what she ought to do, if she does not wish to fear the assaults of adversaries. And the sense is: Do you not wish to fear your enemies? Do these things which I say: Depart far from calumny, or from iniquity: for all iniquity and rapine is born of calumny; and you shall not fear, and trembling and terror shall not come near you, so that you fear not men, but God, saying with Moses: I am trembling and fearful; and with one of the friends of Job: Horror and trembling came upon me, and greatly shook my bones; and with the prophet: At the voice of my prayer trembling entered into my bones; and: Upon whom does the Lord rest, but upon him that is humble and quiet, and that trembles at his words? Moreover there is another trembling, that of the wicked, which is born of fear of punishment.

Concerning which it is written: Trembling has seized the wicked. (Verse 15.) Behold a settler shall come, who was not with me; a stranger of yours formerly shall be joined to you. LXX: Behold proselytes shall come to you through me, and shall be your settlers, and shall take refuge with you. And the Jews think this is said of Jerusalem, because many of the Gentiles are to become proselytes, and take up the law of Moses and its ceremonies. Which we, following the interpretation we have begun, refer to the Church, which was gathered by the apostles from both peoples, which has neither spot nor wrinkle, which is free, and the mother of all believers. To gather these proselytes and strangers, the Lord sent his disciples, saying: Teach all nations, that they might take refuge in the Gospel, and take up the new Law, that those who were once dwellers in idolatry might become settlers of the Church. Concerning whom it is said in the psalms: The Lord makes the wise blind.

Or as it is read in the Latin codices: The Lord enlightens the blind, the Lord loves strangers: so that after the blind have received the light of truth, and the foolish have learned wisdom, then, passing over to the Church, they may be loved by the Lord, and hear through the prophet: I will call her that was not my people, my people; at whose entering into the Temple of God, zeal seizes the untaught people. (Verses 16, 17.) Behold, I have created the smith blowing the coals in the fire, and bringing forth a vessel for his work: and I have created the destroyer to bring to ruin. No weapon that is formed against thee shall prosper: and every tongue that shall resist thee in judgment, thou shalt judge. This is the heritage of the servants of the Lord, and their justice with me, saith the Lord. The Septuagint: Behold, I have created thee, not as a smith blowing the coals in the fire, and bringing forth a vessel for the work.

But I have created thee not for destruction, to kill: no vessel that is made against thee shall prosper; and every voice shall rise up against thee in judgment; thou shalt overcome them all ÷ and thy debtors shall be in it. There is an inheritance to those who serve the Lord, and you shall be just to me, saith the Lord. Let us say first, according to the Hebrew: If thou wilt not fear, and if terror is to be far from thee, do the things which the preceding word narrated; for I am he through whom thou art to have proselytes. I who created the smith blowing the coals in the fire, that is, the devil, the artificer of all evils, not by necessity of nature but by choice of mind. He stirred up fires, and will bring forth vessels against thee: such as Simon and Elymas the magicians were, resisting the apostles Peter and Paul. I have created the destroyer of those who are to be unbelievers.

Not that I am the cause of their perdition, but that the adversary, created for battle, is both the ruin of the vanquished and the cause of rewards for the victors. And all who have been fashioned against thee by the blowing smith shall not prosper, but shall feel both present and future punishments. And what before seemed hidden is said more plainly in what follows: And every tongue that resists thee in judgment thou shalt judge, destroying the wisdom of the wise, and rejecting the prudence of the prudent. And thou shalt condemn by thy judgment all the leaders of heretics, and the teachers of the Jews, and the philosophers of the world, whom that smith had forged. Just as the Queen of Sheba condemned the unbelievers, and the Ninevites: and on the contrary Sodom shall be justified by comparison with a worse Jerusalem. After this it is added what the rewards of the future shall be, lest they think the struggle vain, and ended by present death.

This is the heritage of the servants of the Lord, that is, the kingdoms of heaven, and life everlasting, and the recompense of labors, which eye hath not seen, nor ear heard, nor hath it entered into the heart of man, which God hath prepared for them that love him.

But if for those who love him, then also for those who serve him, who have no other Lord but God. And this is the justice of those who are with God, saith the Lord, that present tribulation may be compensated by future joy. Further, according to the Septuagint this seems to me to be the sense: I thy Creator have not made thee as the devil, the worst of smiths, blows with an unclean spirit the vessels of iniquity, and brings them forth unto destruction: he ought to know that vessels of this kind do not have a prosperous journey, but are broken in the midst of their course. But what these vessels are, he shows in the following word; and: Every voice that shall rise up against thee in judgment, thou shalt overcome them all. Vessels of iniquity have a voice, which voice rises against the Church, when heretics set their mouth against heaven, and their tongue passes through the earth.

And what follows: And thy debtors shall be in it, we have marked with an obelus, since it seems to have been added not so much by the Seventy as by bad scribes. But when the Church shall have overcome every voice rising against it, then for those who serve the Lord and obey there shall be an inheritance, an everlasting possession. Of which it is said in Jeremiah in other words: There is a reward for thy works. And the inhabitants of the Church shall be just to the Lord. For everyone who does justice is born of God. To whom the Lord speaks: Be ye holy, for I am holy.

(Verse 1.) All you that thirst, come to the waters: and you that have no money, make haste, buy, and eat: come ye, buy wine and milk without money and without any price. Why do you weigh out silver, and not for bread; and your labor, not unto fullness?

The Septuagint: You that thirst, go to the water, and as many as have no money, go, buy, and eat, and walk, and buy without money, and your labor, not unto fullness? The Hebrew word הוי, of which I spoke above in the prophecy against Ariel (on chapter 29), as being ambiguous, and signifying either an interjection of calling, or "woe," here, placed at the beginning of the chapter, is read not with the affect of one lamenting, but of one calling.

Since therefore he had said that every weapon formed against the Church would be broken, and every voice and tongue which had armed itself against the knowledge of God would be overcome: he calls the believers to the river of God, which is filled with waters, and whose stream makes glad the city of God, that they may drink the waters from the fountains of the Savior, who speaks to the Samaritan woman: If thou knewest the gift of God, and who it is that saith to thee, Give me to drink; thou wouldst have asked of him, and he would have given thee living water. The water that I shall give him shall become in him a fountain of water springing up into life everlasting. Of these waters he cried out in the Temple: If any man thirst, let him come to me, and drink. He that shall drink of the water which I shall give him οὐκ ἐν ἄρτοις not for bread.

Rivers of living water shall flow from his belly, signifying the Holy Spirit, whom believers were to receive, and of whom the Prophet resounded in mystic speech: My soul hath thirsted after the living God; and again: With thee is the fountain of life. Who himself spoke of himself: They have forsaken me, the fountain of living water: and have digged to themselves broken cisterns, that can hold no water. These waters the clouds scatter, unto which the truth of God has come. As it is written: And let the clouds rain down justice. It is commanded to the thirsty that they should by no means drink the turbid waters of Shihor, and the swelling whirlpools of the Assyrians; but should proceed to the waters of Siloe, which go with silence; nor should they fear the poverty of speech, if perhaps they have no silver, but should hear the Apostle saying: By grace you are saved; and the Lord to his disciples: Freely you have received, freely give.

And in a wondrous manner they buy the waters without money; and they do not drink them, but eat them. For he himself is both water and bread, who came down from heaven. Therefore what is read in certain copies: Buy, and drink, has been altered by unskilled scribes, who thought it more consistent that the waters should rather be drunk than eaten. But there is also a very bad money, or silver, which Scripture rejects, saying: Money given with guile shall be reckoned as a potsherd; and in another place: Your silver is reprobate. And there is a silver which is compared to the words of God: The words of the Lord are pure words: silver tried by the fire, purified seven times. Having therefore spurned that silver and those moneys, with which we cannot buy the waters of the Lord, let us go to him who, holding the cup of the Sacrament, said to his disciples: Take and drink, this is my blood, which shall be shed for you unto the remission of sins.

Which wine wisdom also mixed in her bowl, calling all the fools of the age, who have not the wisdom of the world, to drink: and that we may drink not only wine, but also milk, which signifies the innocence of little ones—a custom and type which is preserved even to this day in the Churches of the West, that to those reborn in Christ wine and milk should be given. Of which milk Paul also said: I gave you milk to drink, not solid food. And Peter: As newborn babes, desire the rational milk. Whence also Moses, understanding wine and milk in the Passion of Christ, testifies in mystic speech: His eyes are more beautiful than wine, and his teeth whiter than milk. In place of milk in the present passage the Seventy translated "fat." Of which holy David says in the psalm: Let my soul be filled as with marrow and fatness; and in another place: He fed them with the fat of wheat, and filled them with honey out of the rock.

Which fats sound nothing other than the mystical flesh. To which the Lord exhorted his disciples, saying: Except you eat my flesh, and drink my blood, you shall not have life in you. Whence also he was betrayed in Gethsemane, which signifies a valley of fatness, or very rich. At the same time he rebukes those who follow worldly wisdom and the perverse and feigned doctrines of heretics, and the traditions of the Pharisees, and all knowledge falsely so called, which is lifted up against God, and at great cost and with continual labor weigh out silver for that discipline in which there is no bread, and sweat for those foods in which there is no fullness. From which it is shown that the wisdom to be pursued is that which is not in the leaves and flower of words, but in the marrow and fruits of meanings; which does not merely fly past the ear, but refreshes the mind.

To learn which, we do not cross the seas, nor need great expense, but the word is near, in our mouth, and in our heart.

Verse 2. Hear, you that hear me, and eat that which is good, and your soul shall delight itself in fatness. Incline your ear, and come to me: hear, and your soul shall live. And I will make an everlasting covenant with you, the sure mercies of David. The Septuagint: Hear me, and eat good things, and your soul shall delight itself in good things. Give ear with your ears, and follow my ways: hear me, and your soul shall live in good things. And I will make with you an everlasting covenant, the sure holy things of David. Lest anyone should think that the hearing to which the divine word exhorts those who are to hear belongs to the flesh and not to the mind, it promises them not goods of the flesh, but of the soul. For, he says, if you will hear me, you shall eat the good things of the land. Or "good," he who says: I am the good shepherd.

And your soul shall delight itself in good things and in the fatness of your soul. Therefore the good things promised to the soul are not riches, and bodily health, and the dignities of the world, which even the philosophers call "indifferent things," that is, neither good nor evil, and which vary according to the character of those who use them; but those things are to be believed good, to which God exhorts us: Turn away from evil, and do good. But if the good things of the soul are called honor and virtues; then the evils also must be understood not as poverty, and bodily infirmity, and low birth, but as all vices, which are truly evil. Finally, Abraham did not have good things because he was rich, but because he used his riches well. And Lazarus, who afterward rested in his bosom, did not endure evils because he suffered, along with want, the torments of diseases, but by those things which were thought evils in the world he attained true goods.

Whence also that rich man clothed in purple received his good things in his lifetime, which were good to him who thought them good; and of Lazarus it is not said in contrast: He received his evil things in his lifetime; rather, he received evil things in his life which seemed evil not to him who suffered them, but to others. Blessed Job gives us an example of both matters, who was overcome neither by the good things nor the evil things of the world, but endured all with equal firmness of mind. Wherefore Solomon prays to God: Give me neither riches nor poverty. But grant me only what is necessary and sufficient for my sustenance, lest being full I become false, and say: Who sees me? Or being in want I steal, and profane the name of the Lord.

But if he prays for this, that he have neither riches nor poverty, but only the necessities of sustenance, of which the Apostle also says: Having food and clothing, with these we are content: it is clear that riches and want, health and sickness, pleasure and torment, are neither good nor evil, but become good or evil according to the diversity of those who endure them. Therefore it is not according to the Chiliasts—an abundance of wealth, and delicate foods, and bodily fatness, and pheasants and stuffed turtledoves, mead, wine, the beauty of wives, swarms of children—that the Lord promises to the soul, but those delights to which he mystically calls us, saying: Delight yourself, or enjoy delights, in the Lord, and he will give you the petitions of your heart; and elsewhere: I believe to see the good things of the Lord in the land of the living; and in another psalm: Bless the Lord, O my soul, and all that is within me, bless his holy name. Who satisfies your desire with good things.

Finally he adds: Hear me, and your soul shall live. The promise of all good things is life everlasting. But if you are willing to hear, and your soul shall live forever, I will make with you an everlasting covenant, the sure mercies of David. Of these the same Psalmist sang: I will sing the mercies of the Lord for ever. I will declare your truth to all generations. And that we may know what these mercies are, he shows in the following discourse: I have sworn once by my holiness: I will not lie unto David; his seed shall endure forever, and his throne as the sun before me, and as the moon perfect forever, and a faithful witness in heaven. He is therefore called "faithful" because he has fulfilled his promises. For which the Septuagint translated, the sure holy things of David: which can be taken as meaning firm and strong things. As in that saying: All his commandments are sure: confirmed forever and ever.

And in another place: God is faithful, and there is no iniquity in him. And the apostle Paul: If we deny him, he says, he remains faithful: he cannot deny himself. And in another place, writing to Timothy: Faithful is the saying, and worthy of all acceptance. But this covenant which the Lord promises will not be brief and for one time only, as it was for the people of the Jews, but will endure forever, so that the true David may come, and in the Gospel may be fulfilled what was promised in the person of God: I have found David my servant; with my holy oil I have anointed him. Whose hand he has set in the sea, and his right hand in the rivers. Whom, according to Ezekiel, though David had already slept for many ages, he calls his servant and shepherd, saying: I will raise up for them one shepherd, my servant David. Verse 4. Behold, I have given him for a witness to the peoples, a leader and a commander to the nations.

Behold, you shall call a nation which you knew not, and the nations that knew not you shall run to you, because of the Lord your God, and the Holy One of Israel, for he has glorified you. The Septuagint: Behold, I have given him for a testimony among the nations, a prince and commander to the nations; the nations which knew you not shall invoke you, and the peoples who did not know you shall flee to you, because of the Lord your God, the Holy One of Israel, who has glorified you. He had called upon the people of the Jews to believe, that they might incline their ear, and receive the everlasting covenant which the Lord had promised to David, and to Abraham and his seed, saying: In your seed shall the nations be blessed. Which the apostle Paul, expounding, says: He does not say, in seeds, but, in your seed, which is Christ.

And because he knew that, they not believing, the peoples of the nations would believe, he passes over to the nations; and says that he has sent his Son as witness or testimony of all the nations, who should announce his precepts and commandments to the peoples, who speaks of himself: This gospel must be preached in the whole world, for a testimony to all nations. Finally he refutes the arrogant Pilate with this saying: For this I was born, that I might bear witness to the truth. Of whom the apostle Paul writes to Timothy: There is one mediator of God and men, the man Christ Jesus, who gave himself a redemption for all, a testimony in its proper times: in which I am appointed a herald and an apostle. All things, therefore, that are said, must be referred to him who was led as a sheep to the slaughter, and as a lamb before its shearer opened not his mouth.

Of whom it is said above: We have seen him, and he had no form nor comeliness; and: He himself has borne our sins, and grieves for us. To him fled, or ran, those who before did not know him, saying: Our God is our refuge and strength; and again: Lord, you have been our refuge from generation to generation. Of whose faith we also read above: They to whom it was not told of him shall see, and they who had not heard shall understand. He is the witness of all things which the Father promised to the world and fulfilled, whose mystery Paul briefly comprehends in a saying to the Ephesians: God, he says, the Father of glory of our Lord Jesus Christ: of whom it is now written: Because of the Lord your God, and the Holy One of Israel, who has glorified you, and with that glory which he had before the world was made.

Of which the Prophet also testifies: The glory of God shall appear, who is the brightness of glory, and the form of his substance, when every tongue shall confess that the Lord Jesus is in the glory of the Father. Who answered the Son, asking for the glory which he had had before: And I have glorified, and will glorify. Of whom the apostle John also says: We have seen, he says, his glory, the glory as of the only-begotten of the Father, full of grace and truth. Therefore, when he speaks of him who in the beginning was with God, the Word who was God, he is called the Father of glory: but when he speaks of him who says in the Gospel: Why do you persecute me, a man who speaks the truth to you? He is called the God of our Lord Jesus Christ.

Not that there is one and another (which is the worst error of many), but because the one and the same Son of God speaks now according to the affections of his own divine glory, now according to our nature, which he deigned to assume.

Verse 6. Seek the Lord while he may be found: call upon him while he is near. Let the wicked forsake his way, and the unrighteous man his thoughts, and let him return to the Lord, and he will have mercy on him, and to our God: for he is abundant in forgiving. The Septuagint: Seek the Lord: and when you have found him, call upon him. And after he has drawn near to you, let the wicked man forsake his ways, and the unrighteous man his thoughts, and let him turn to the Lord: and he shall obtain mercy: for he will abundantly forgive your sins. Therefore, since, as we have already said above, you were unwilling to accept the everlasting covenant, and the sure mercies of David, which, you being unwilling to receive them, the multitude of the nations received, I, the Prophet, admonish and adjure you, my own people: while there is time, do penance. Turn to him who now speaks to you through the Prophets, who will afterward speak in person.

Seek him while he may be found, while you are in the body, while place for repentance is given, and seek him not by place, but by faith. But how God is to be sought is said more fully in another place: Think of the Lord in goodness, and seek him in simplicity of heart: for he is found by those who do not tempt him: and he appears to those who are not faithless and unbelieving. Wherefore we also, knowing that saying about sinners: They who go far from you shall perish, let us speak to the Lord: Where shall I go from your spirit, and where shall I flee from your face? If I ascend into heaven, you are there: if I descend into hell, you are present. And let us call upon him while he is near, lest by our vices and sins he withdraw far off. For he draws near to those who draw near to him, and runs rejoicing to meet the son returning after a long time.

Wherefore the holy one sings in the psalm: But it is good for me to cleave to God. And Moses alone drew near to the Lord. And through Jeremiah God speaks: I am a God who draws near, and not from afar. Drawing near to those who draw near to me by faith, and withdrawing far from those who depart far from me through unbelief. On account of which it is said to believers: Draw near to God, and he will draw near to you. And lest we should think this could suffice, he immediately adds: Resist the devil, and he will flee from you. Of whom he had said above: Your adversary the devil, as a roaring lion, walks about seeking whom he may devour. Against whom resist, strengthened by faith.

Nor is it enough to seek the Lord, and, while the time of repentance lasts, to find him, and to call upon him while he is near, unless the wicked man has left his former ways, and his old thoughts by which he had turned away from the Lord. For then we shall return to the Lord, who will have mercy on us; and to the most merciful Father, who is abundant in mercies and ready to forgive, when we have left our former thoughts and ways, so that afterward we may deserve to hear: Blessed are they whose iniquities are forgiven, and whose sins are covered. (Verses 8, 9.) For my thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways, says the Lord. For as the heavens are exalted above the earth, so are my ways exalted above your ways, and my thoughts above your thoughts. The Septuagint: For my thoughts are not as your thoughts, nor as my ways, your ways, says the Lord.

But as far as heaven is distant from earth, so far is my way distant from your ways, and your thoughts from my thought. Do not think, he says, that what I promise is difficult, and let it not seem incredible to you, that the impious and unjust man can be saved, whether the people of the Jews, or all who among the nations did not know God: consider this, that there is much difference between my counsels and yours, and as great a diversity of will as there is of nature. For many are the thoughts in the heart of man, but the counsel of the Lord abides for ever. You, as men, often repenting of a promise, overturn an old will with a new one. For the Lord scatters the counsels of the nations, and rejects the thoughts of the peoples, and makes void the wills of princes. But the thoughts of his heart endure from generation to generation; and whatever he has decreed cannot be changed.

Do you wish to know the difference between my counsel and yours? As far as the place of heaven is distant from the earth, and the dwelling of angels is one thing, that of men another, so far are my thoughts separated from your counsels. For of my thoughts it is said: His judgments are unsearchable, and his ways past finding out. But of yours: They have devised a plan, which they could not establish. And in another place: Whatever counsel you take, it shall be scattered, and whatever you shall speak, it shall not stand among you.

These need no clear interpretation, and therefore are rather condensed than expounded. (Verses 10, 11.) And as the rain and the snow come down from heaven, and return not thither again, but soak the earth, and water it, and make it bring forth, and give seed to the sower, and bread to the eater: so shall my word be, which shall go forth from my mouth; it shall not return to me void, but it shall do whatsoever I have willed, and shall prosper in the things for which I sent it. The Septuagint: As if rain or snow should come down from heaven, and should not return, until it has soaked the earth, and has caused it to bring forth and bud, and given seed to the sower and bread for eating: so shall my word be, which shall go forth from my mouth: it shall not return until it fulfills what I have willed, and I will make its ways and my precepts prosperous.

What is said here depends on what precedes, and briefly the sense is this: let not the people of the nations be incredulous, that after such great crimes the impious man is suddenly saved. For my thoughts are not as the thoughts of men, and as far as heaven is distant from earth, so far are my thoughts separated from the thoughts of men. For I am most merciful, and abundant in forgiving. Do you wish to receive another comparison as well? As the rain and snow come down from heaven, and do not return thither again, but soak the earth, and water it, and cause various seeds to sprout, so that from full harvests loaves may be produced for the use of men: so the word of my promise, which I have once promised, and which has gone forth from my mouth, shall not be in vain; but all things shall be fulfilled in deed.

According to the anagogical sense there is a twofold understanding, that the word of the Lord may be either he of whom it is written: In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. Who shall not return to him empty, unless he has done the Father's will; and has fulfilled all the things for which he had been made incarnate, and has reconciled the world to God. Who is said to proceed from the mouth, and from the womb and belly: not because God has these members, but that we may learn the nature of the Lord through our own words. Or certainly this must be said, that the discourse of Gospel teaching is called rain, and the showers which the spiritual clouds pour upon the good earth, clouds to which the truth of God has come.

Which rain, and which showers, Moses promises in the Song of Deuteronomy: Let the earth hear the words of my mouth: let my speech be awaited like rain, and let my words descend like dew; that those who have sown in tears may reap in joy. And that those who have sown in righteousness and in spirit may reap the fruit of eternal life, and receive the bread of Gospel teaching, of which it is written in Proverbs and in Ecclesiastes: Open your eyes, and be filled with bread; and again: Cast your bread upon the water, for in the multitude of your days you will find it. For it must not be believed that this is a command given to those putting on clothes, that in order to eat this bread, by which bodies are nourished, they must open their eyes, and thus be satisfied with the loaves which the poor man eats in secret in Habakkuk. But he exhorts to the bread of God's teaching, which, unless we open the eyes of our heart, we cannot eat.

Of which Paul also often writes, to those who are nourished by the words of faith and truth. And it is commanded to the teacher, that he send the bread of his teaching upon every water, and pour spiritual grace upon all, and know that if he does what is commanded, he will receive rewards in the last time. And it would seem quite unjust, that he who gives alms, from the mammon of iniquity makes for himself friends, who may receive him into everlasting habitations: and that he who bestows spiritual food, and gives his fellow servants their portion in due time, should not find them after many ages, which Ecclesiastes calls the multitude of days. (Verses 12, 13.) For you shall go out with joy, and be led forth with peace. The mountains and the hills shall sing praise before you, and all the trees of the country shall clap with their hands. Instead of the thorn shall come up the fir tree, and instead of the nettle shall grow the myrtle.

And the Lord shall be named for an everlasting sign, which shall not be taken away. The Septuagint: You shall go out with joy, and be led forth with gladness. The mountains and the hills shall leap, awaiting you with gladness, and all the trees of the field shall applaud with their branches. And instead of στοιβή (that is, the vilest sticks) shall come up the cypress: and instead of the conyza shall come up the myrtle. And the Lord shall be for a name and for an everlasting sign, and shall not fail. My word, he says, shall not return void, but after it has fulfilled all things which I have willed, and has done my will on earth, then it shall come to me; and that shall be fulfilled which is written: The Lord said to my Lord, sit at my right hand: until I make your enemies your footstool.

For you shall go out with joy from the blood of idolatry, and shall be led forth in peace; that you may hear from the Apostle: Grace to you and peace. Or you shall be led forth in joy: that after the shadow of the Law you may learn the truth of the Gospel. For the mountains and the hills, which we can understand as the Angels, and the souls of the Saints, which by reason of variety of virtues are called mountains and hills, shall rejoice over those repenting, and shall show the gladness of their mind by leaping. Which the Lord also says in the Gospel: There shall be joy among the Angels in heaven over one sinner doing penance. All the trees of the field also shall applaud with their hand, or with their branches, which are planted beside the courses of waters, which shall give their fruit in due season, and their leaf shall not fall.

Of which one tree was speaking in the psalm: But I am like a fruitful olive tree in the house of the Lord. Let us ask those who follow only the simple history, and eat the boiled flesh of the lamb. Whether trees applaud with branches, and clap with a hand, and that which is said of the rivers: The rivers shall clap with their hands, in what sense it is to be understood. Not only shall the mountains and hills leap and sing; and all the trees of the field, which the Lord has blessed, applaud with their branches, and clap with their hands: but also στοιβή and κόνυζα, or the thorn and the nettle, shall be turned into the fir, and into the myrtle and cypress. Στοιβή according to Symmachus and the Septuagint is written in the Hebrew NESUS (נעצוץ): which Aquila and Theodotion have translated κόνυζαν. Now κόνυζα is a most vile and bitter herb, and of the worst odor. But where the Septuagint have translated κόνυζαν, which in the Hebrew is called SARPHOD (סרפד), Symmachus renders it, nettle.

Whatever the propriety of the names may be, this must be said, that evils are turned into goods, and that in place of vices virtues are born, that is, for iniquity, righteousness; for rashness, fortitude; for luxury, temperance; for folly, prudence. Let us give examples from the greater ones: Matthew and Zacchaeus and the publicans were the thorn, and στοιβή, and useless stumps, and κόνυζα of bitter taste, and most foul odor, saying: My scars have rotted and are corrupted, because of my foolishness. These men, suddenly changed into Apostles, became the cypress, and the fir, and the myrtle, of the best odor, and useful for various works. Paul too, the persecutor of the Church, when he heard from the Lord: Saul, Saul, why do you persecute me? It is hard to kick against the goad, was a nettle, having the stings of persecution. But when he preached the Gospel in the whole world, and could say: We are the good odor of Christ, he is rightly called the cypress, and the myrtle.

Harlots and publicans go before the Pharisees into the kingdom of God, and the thief passes from the cross into paradise. Therefore that which is said in the Gospel: A good tree cannot bear evil fruits, does not at all refer to the property of nature, as the heretics wish, but to the choice of the mind. Finally it is added: Either make the tree good, and its fruits good. From which it is clear that each one by his own will makes his soul a good or evil tree, whose fruits are various. There follows: And the Lord shall be for a name and for an everlasting sign, which shall not fail. For those who are changed from evil into good, the Lord shall be for a name and for an eternal sign, that they may be called Christians from his own name, and be branded with the mark of his cross.

Of which sign Simeon, holding the little one in his arms, was speaking: This one shall be for the fall and the rising again of many, and for a sign which shall be contradicted: of which it was also said above: The Lord himself shall give you a sign: And the saint sings in the psalm: Work with me a sign for good, O Lord. And he himself who is the sign: When you shall see, he says, the sign of the Son of man, which shall not fail, nor be changed by any end, but shall pass from present conversation into the future.

(Verse 1.) Thus says the Lord: Keep judgment, and do justice; for my salvation is near to come, and my justice to be revealed. The Septuagint, instead of justice, translated mercy, the rest similarly.

The oracle concerning the Gentiles being concluded, which at the coming of the word of God are to be changed from bramble and nettle into cypress and myrtle, Isaiah speaks to the hearers of that time, that they may do all things which are right, and prepare themselves for the coming of the Saviour, because he himself is the justice and mercy of God. For if the thoughts of the Saints are judgments, and we ought to have senses exercised for the discernment of good and evil, why should we not at all times keep judgment, lest we despise the person of the poor in judgment, or be terrified by the power of the rich; but let us judge the great as we do the small, knowing according to Moses, that judgment belongs to the Lord, who judges the judges; according to what is also read in the psalm: God stood in the assembly of the gods; and in the midst he judges the gods.

To this saying now spoken, Keep judgment, and do justice, that is similar: Blessed are they who keep judgment, and do justice at all times; that they may justly pursue what is just. Although in the name of justice, every place seems to me to be signified, because he who has done one act of justice is said to have fulfilled all the virtues which follow one another, and cling to each other: so that he who has one has all, and he who lacks one lacks all. Something like this the fourteenth psalm also expresses: He who walks blameless, and works justice. And elsewhere it is written: Learn justice, you who dwell upon the earth.

But that the Saviour, who was made for us justice, and sanctification, and redemption, is himself the mercy of God, the words of the saints testify: And God sent his mercy and his truth. (Verse 2.) Blessed is the man who does this, and the son of man who lays hold of it: keeping the sabbath, that he defile it not: keeping his hands, that he do no evil at all. The LXX: Blessed is the man who shall do these things, and the man who holds fast to these, and keeps the sabbaths, that he profane them not, and keeps his hands, that he do no iniquity.

He who can say with the apostle Paul: When I was a child, I spoke as a child; I understood as a child, I thought as a child; but when I became a man, I put away the things of a child: such a one attains present blessedness, forgetting the things that are behind, and stretching forward to what is before, until he arrives at the unity of the faith, and the knowledge of the Son of God, unto a perfect man, unto the measure of the stature of the fulness of Christ; so that that psalm may be fittingly applied to him: Blessed is the man who has not gone in the counsel of the wicked.

This man, therefore, and son of the inner man, of whom it is more often said in Leviticus: Man, man: is blessed in this, that he does first, and lays hold of these things: namely judgment and justice and the salvation of the Lord, which is near, and to be revealed to all nations: so that he not only does what is commanded, but holds it with a firm hand; and keeps the sabbath, lest he defile it. But what the sabbath is which he commanded to be observed, the following verse shows: Keeping his hands, that he do no evil at all. For it does not profit to sit on the sabbath, or to sleep, and gape after banquets. But if, doing good, he rests from evils, and keeps a perpetual sabbath from iniquity, that is, leisure, and does only those things which pertain to the salvation of the soul, and moves not to any servile work. For he who commits sin is the servant of sin.

But we have been called into liberty, with which liberty Christ has endowed us, that we should by no means labor for the food that perishes; but cleaving to the Lord, let us say with the Prophet: But it is good for me to cleave to God. Let us become one spirit with him, and fulfill the delicate sabbaths, lest we be of the six days in which the world was made, of which the Apostles were not, to whom the Lord spoke: If you were of this world, the world would love its own. But now you are not of this world, because I have chosen you, and therefore the world hates you. (Verse 3.) And let not the son of the stranger, who cleaves to the Lord, say: The Lord will surely separate me from his people: and let not the eunuch say: Behold I am a dry tree. The LXX: Let not the alien, who is joined to the Lord, say: Will the Lord perhaps separate me from his people?

And let not the eunuch say, that I am a dry tree. Those who understand this passage humbly refer what is said to the proselytes from the Gentiles and to true eunuchs, since both the strangers, if they have received the law of the Lord, and are circumcised, and the eunuchs, such as was that man of Queen Candace, who could not even be idle on his journey, and while seeking an interpreter of the reading, found Christ whom he sought, are not strangers to the salvation of God. But this, they say, is spoken against the Jews, who boast of the nobility of their race, and say that they are the sons of Abraham, and think blessed those who have seed in Zion, and household in Jerusalem. But we, whom above we interpreted through bramble and nettle and κονύζη and στοιβή (Above at ch.

LV), as turned into fir and cypress and myrtle, understand these same to be now called to the faith of the Gospel: that they ought not to despair, if they have cleaved to the Lord; nor should they think themselves separated from the people of God. For all who have been baptized in Christ have put on Christ. There is no Jew and Gentile, Circumcision and Uncircumcision, to whom it is commanded in the Song of Deuteronomy: Rejoice, you nations, with his people, that is, of God who had the Jewish people first. Who, coming from the East and the West, shall rest in the bosom of Abraham. This is what John the Baptist also said: And do not say, we have Abraham for our father. For I say to you, God is able of these stones to raise up children to Abraham.

And just as among proselytes there is no diversity, but both men and women are equally called to salvation: so also among eunuchs who have castrated themselves for the kingdom of heaven, both sexes are included; who have mortified their members which are upon the earth, fornication, uncleanness, passion, evil desire: until they all come to a perfect man, and say with the Apostle: We know no one according to the flesh. And if we have known Christ according to the flesh, yet now we know him so no longer. Therefore among eunuchs, those are by no means to be understood whom the ardent poet describes, saying (Lucan. Bk. X):

Nor the unhappy youth cut off by the sword,
And the manhood excised [lacuna]

But those of whom the Lord speaks in the Gospel: Who have made themselves eunuchs for the kingdom of heaven: such as were also the Apostles, to whom, marveling and speaking on account of the difficulty of the matter: Who then can be saved? The Saviour answered: He who can receive it, let him receive it. Whence also the Apostle, concerning eunuchs of this kind, that is, concerning virgins, testifies that he has no commandment of the Lord, but gives counsel as one who has obtained mercy from the Lord, wishing all to be as himself: For the time, he says, is short: it remains, that those who have wives be as though they had none.

For he who has been called free from servitude and conjugal duty, this one is truly the servant of Christ. (Verses 4, 5.) For thus says the Lord to the eunuchs: If they shall keep my sabbaths, and shall choose the things that I willed, and shall hold fast my covenant: I will give them in my house, and within my walls, a place: and a better name than sons and daughters: I will give them an everlasting name, which shall not perish. The LXX: Thus says the Lord to the eunuchs: Those who keep my sabbaths, and choose what I will, and hold fast my testament, I will give them in my house, and within my wall, a place with a name, better than sons and daughters: I will give them an everlasting name, and it shall not fail. He had proposed two classes, proselytes and eunuchs. First he speaks of eunuchs, and gives them precepts for living, and promises the rewards of things to come.

And after them he comes to the proselytes, promising similar things to them as well. He speaks, then, to the eunuchs, who in despair said, Behold I am a dry tree, lest they think themselves subject to the curse which was said to the barren: Cursed is the barren one who bears no seed in Israel.

If, he says, they shall keep my sabbaths, and shall choose from my precepts those things which I willed, and not those things which I conceded because of the weakness of the hearers, and shall keep my covenant or testament with all fidelity, I will give them in my house, and in my Temple, and within the walls of my most firm city, a place and a name better than sons and daughters, which shall be blotted out by no forgetfulness. Who the eunuchs are we have said above, those who are solicitous for the things that are of God; to whom also Wisdom speaks, which is inscribed with the title of Solomon: Blessed is the barren undefiled woman, who has not known the marriage bed in sin; she shall have fruit in the visitation of souls. And the eunuch, who has wrought no iniquity with his hand, nor thought wicked things against the Lord: for a choice gift shall be given to him for his faithfulness, and a most delightful lot in the temple of the Lord.

This barren woman is fruitful in virginity; this eunuch does violence to the kingdom of heaven, and forcefully seizes it. This one is a keeper of the sabbaths, that he may never perform the works of marriage. This one has chosen what the Lord willed, that he may offer more than was commanded: that he may consider not the indulgence of the Apostle, but his will. This one holds fast the everlasting covenant of the Lord, that he not devote himself to prayer for a time, and then return again to the same thing, but may know that he is to receive, in the house of the Lord, which is his Church, the best place. For there are many mansions with the Father. And whoever shall have been a eunuch, and shall have done all the things that are written, shall have the best place within his walls, so that he becomes, that is, a tower of the Lord, and stands in the priestly rank, and instead of sons of the flesh, has many spiritual sons.

That such a eunuch was John the Evangelist, whom Jesus loved most, the ecclesiastical histories relate, who reclined upon the breast of Jesus; who, while Peter walked more slowly, borne up on the wings of virginity, ran to the Lord; who, plunging himself into the secrets of the divine nativity, dared to say what all the ages did not know: In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and God was the Word: this was in the beginning with God. Let therefore every cavil of the Jews cease, and let it stop offering itself to ridicule, opening the kingdom of heaven to the half-men, since chastity lies not in the weakness of the body, but in the will of the mind.

Verse 6. And the sons of the stranger, that adhere to the Lord, to worship him, and to love his name, to be his servants: every one that keepeth the sabbath from profaning it, and that keepeth my covenant, I will bring them into my holy mountain, and I will make them joyful in my house of prayer. The Seventy: And to the foreigners, who are joined to the Lord to serve him, and to love his name, to be to him for servants and handmaids, and all that keep my sabbaths, that they may not profane them, and that hold my testament, I will bring them into my holy mountain, and I will make them joyful in the house of my prayer.

After the eunuchs he passes to the foreigners, whom he had named before, and to them also he promises rewards: that if they shall have served him, and passed from servitude to the love of his name, they should be his servants: as was also the Apostle Paul, writing at the beginning of his Epistles: Paul, a servant of Jesus Christ. And Moses, the servant of God. But that which is added in the Seventy, "and handmaids," we have marked with an obelus. For it cannot be that in spiritual gifts there is any diversity of sex: since in Christ Jesus there is neither male nor female; but all of us are one in him. Of the sabbath and the everlasting covenant we have spoken above. Whosoever, then, shall have done these things, God will bring him into his holy mountain, and will fill him with joy in the house of his prayer.

The holy mountain is either the doctrines of truth, and the confession of the Trinity: or the Lord himself, unto whom in the last time (according to this same Isaiah and the prophet Micah) very many nations shall flow together. And the house of prayer is the Church, which is spread throughout the whole world, and not the Temple of the Jews, which was confined within the very narrow bounds of the land of Judea.

Verse 8. Their holocausts and their victims shall please me upon my altar: for my house shall be called the house of prayer for all peoples, saith the Lord God, who gathereth together the outcasts of Israel: I will still gather to him his gathered ones. All ye beasts of the field, come to devour, all ye beasts of the forest. The Seventy: Their holocausts and victims shall be acceptable upon my altar. For my house shall be called a house of prayer for all nations, saith the Lord, who gathereth together the dispersed of Israel: for I will gather unto him a gathering. All ye wild beasts, come, eat, all ye beasts of the forest. We learn the difference between victims and holocausts more fully in Leviticus. Holocausts are those which are burned whole upon the altar. Victims and sacrifices are those of which a part is offered on the altar, and a part given to the priests. It must not be believed, then, that the sacrifices of foreigners and eunuchs are required according to the Jewish rite.

But this we ought to know, that the eunuchs offer holocausts, who consecrate themselves wholly to God; but the foreigners offer victims, who devote themselves to prayer for a time, of whom God speaks: The sacrifice of praise shall glorify me; and in another place: Offer to God the sacrifice of praise. Of these victims and holocausts the Lord speaks through Hosea: I desire mercy and not sacrifice: the knowledge of God, more than holocausts, which are offered upon the altar of the Lord (Hosea VI, 6). This is what John testifies in the Apocalypse that he saw in heaven, under which were the souls of the martyrs. From this altar one of the Seraphim, having taken a coal with tongs, brought it to Isaiah's lips to be cleansed. This is the altar, and this the tabernacle, after whose likeness all things made in Exodus are said to be fashioned, unto which spiritual victims were offered to God.

Otherwise, concerning bodily sacrifices and holocausts, God himself testifies above: To what purpose do you offer me the multitude of your victims? Saith the Lord. I am full of the holocausts of rams, and the fat of lambs, and the blood of bullocks and goats I desire not. For my house shall be called a house of prayer for all peoples. Not for one nation of Judea, nor for one place, Jerusalem and the city, but in the whole world: no more of bullocks and goats and rams, but of prayer. Which testimony the Lord used, speaking against those who sold, under the name of the Holy Spirit, doves as gifts in the Temple, and sat in the chairs of pestilence, and had the tables of the money-changers, doing all things for the sake of base gain, not knowing that which is written: Freely you have received, freely give. But these things to come the Lord promised, who gathereth together the dispersed of Israel.

To whom also the Apostle Peter writes an Epistle: of whom the Evangelist speaks: But this he spoke not of himself; but being the high priest of that year, he prophesied that Jesus should die for the nation, and not for the nation only, but that he should gather together in one the children of God, that were dispersed, and that what was said might be fulfilled: The gathering of peoples shall surround thee: for this cause turn thyself to the heights. But the remnants of Israel having been gathered together by the Apostles, and reduced into one flock, those who had before been scattered, all the beasts are summoned to come and devour Israel, namely, those who refused to believe, of whom the Apostle says: For the end shall come upon them. And the Lord in the Gospel: But when you shall see Jerusalem surrounded by an army, then know that its desolation is at hand.

Or this may be said, that they were delivered to the beasts to be devoured, which the Prophet detests, saying: Deliver not up to beasts the souls that confess to thee: concerning these beasts we have spoken tropologically above, that a certain part of the Lord was devoured, Syria from the rising of the sun and the Greeks from the west, who devour Israel with the whole mouth. And in Jeremiah: Israel is a wandering sheep, the lions have driven her out: first the king of Assyria devoured her, and last the king of Babylon has broken her bones. This too may be said, that when the raging nations were provoked to faith before the people Israel, so that, having left the forests, which had slain very many of Absalom's army, they might come to the Church and eat the heavenly bread, and be sated with the flesh of the Lamb.

(Verses 10-12.) His watchmen are all blind, they are all ignorant: dumb dogs not able to bark, seeing vain things, sleeping, and loving dreams. And most impudent dogs, they never had enough: the shepherds themselves knew no understanding: all have turned aside into their own way, every one after his own gain, from the first even to the last. Come, let us take wine, and be filled with drunkenness: and it shall be as today, so also tomorrow, and much more. The Seventy: Behold that all are blinded: they have not known, all of them; dumb dogs, that shall not be able to bark: dreaming of their couch, loving to slumber. And the dogs are impudent in soul, they have not known satiety. And they are evil, not knowing understanding: they have all followed their own ways. Every one together from his highest place. Come, and let us take wine, and be drunk, and let tomorrow be like this day, yea much more abundantly.

That all, he says, the beasts of the forest may come and devour those gathered together, whether it be that in the place of the Jews the multitudes of the nations succeed, the cause lies with their watchmen—namely, the Scribes and Pharisees: because all being blind knew not the Lord the Savior, nor were willing to see the light present before them. To whom the Lord spoke: Fools and blind, which is greater, the gold, or the altar that sanctifieth the gold? And again: Blind guides, who strain out a gnat and swallow a camel; and: The blind leading the blind, both fall into the ditch. That teachers are called watchmen we have read above also. For in that place where according to the Seventy it is said: The voice of thy keepers is lifted up, in the Hebrew it is written: The voice of thy watchmen. Of these was Ezekiel, to whom God says: Son of man, I have made thee a watchman to the house of Israel. But those watchmen were not blind.

Indeed they were called seers. But these of whom the Prophet now speaks are called not only blind watchmen, but also dumb dogs, not able to bark. For those who ought to have guarded the flock of the Lord, and driven away the wolves, and barked on behalf of the Lord, love dreams, and delight in demonic visions. And the sense is: They cannot speak the truth, but only utter lies of every kind. Nor are they content with this end, those who slept while keeping guard over the Lord's flock, and could not bark, and loved their couch, by which the pleasure of the body is signified; but among their own, impudent in soul, they never knew satiety, who are never satisfied with their own error. They devour the people of the Lord as the bread of food, and the houses of widows: and they serve gluttony and lust.

For they cannot say: The commandment of the Lord is lightsome, enlightening the eyes, nor do they know what is written: The wisdom of a man shineth in his countenance. And they are dumb dogs against enemies, of whom it is written: Give not that which is holy to dogs. And sleeping dogs, who know not the precept: Give not sleep to thy eyes, nor slumber to thy eyelids; and again: Watch, for you know not at what hour your Lord will come. And therefore, giving place to the devil, they are the most impudent of dogs, who are never satisfied. For they vomit what they have eaten, and return to their vomit. Of whom also the Apostle Peter speaks: That saying of the proverb has happened to them: The dog is returned to his vomit, and the sow that was washed to her wallowing in the mire. That these watchmen and dogs are the same as the shepherds, the following sentence shows: The shepherds themselves knew no understanding.

For the Hebrew word ROIM (רעים), which is written with four letters, res and ain and jod and mem, if read roim, sounds "shepherds"; if raim, sounds "most wicked ones." This we have said, that we might show the reasons for the varying interpretation. For all sought their own things, and not the things which are God's, nor did they walk in the way of the Lord, of which it is written: Ask ye for the good way, and walk ye in it. But according to what is read in the Book of Judges: There was no king in Israel; every man did what seemed right to himself, and followed his own errors. And that which follows: Every one after his own gain, from the first even to the last: come, let us take wine, and be filled with drunkenness, and it shall be as today, so also tomorrow, and much more, is not found in the Seventy Interpreters, but has been added from the Hebrew, and is marked with asterisks illuminating it.

Indeed, none of the ecclesiastical interpreters has discussed these little verses, but they leap over and pass by them as if by a pit lying open in the middle of the road. But what he says is this, that because, turning aside from the way of the Lord, they have followed their own paths, therefore they burn with avarice from the first even to the last, from the princes even to the people, so that after they have begun to strike their fellow servants, and to eat and drink with the drunken, they say: Come, let us take wine, and be filled with drunkenness: let us eat and drink: for tomorrow we shall die. And it shall be as today, so also tomorrow: and much more. This is what he said above: They knew no satiety: they are not satisfied even with past pleasure, but prepare future delights, much greater than those which they had before enjoyed.

If this is said of the princes of the Jews, on whose account the people of the Lord were devoured by beasts, let us avoid the examples of the worse, and not be drunk with wine, wherein is luxury, nor be overwhelmed with pleasures; nor let us be dumb as to speaking, nor be raging dogs against our adversaries; but let us follow God's ways rather than our own, and let us hear the Scripture admonishing: Think of the Lord in goodness. And again: Good understanding to all that do it. And if we have been dogs, let us not despair of salvation, hearing the words of the Canaanite woman saying to the Lord: Yea, Lord, for even the little dogs eat of the crumbs that fall from the table of their masters. For which cause, having obtained mercy, she hears from the Lord: O woman, great is thy faith: be it done to thee as thou wilt. For she could have said with the Prophet: I have run the way of thy commandments.

And again: Lead me in the right way.

(Verse 1, 2.) The just perisheth, and no man layeth it to heart: and men of mercy are gathered, because there is none that understandeth; for the just is taken away from before evil. Let peace come: let him rest in his bed that hath walked in his uprightness. The Seventy: See how the just man has perished, and no one takes it to heart: and righteous men are taken away, and no one considers it. For the just man is taken away from before the face of iniquity: his burial shall be in peace: he has been taken away from the midst.

On account of the blind watchmen and dumb dogs, who are themselves the shepherds, not knowing understanding, nor sated with present pleasures, but always preparing themselves for future ones, the just man has perished, of whom Pilate's wife says: Have thou nothing to do with that just man. Who, having washed his hands, says, I am innocent of the blood of this just person. In which it must be considered that the word "perdition," concerning which heretics often make a false accusation, as though it signified destruction and perpetual annihilation, is applied to Christ, whose perdition surely denotes the magnitude of the persecution, and not the end of his substance. And there is none, he says, who takes it to heart, or lays it up. For it was not possible that the blind and dumb, seeing vain things and loving dreams, and ignorant of understanding and wisdom, should think of the things that are of God.

And what follows: And men of mercy, or just men, are gathered and taken away, signifies the Apostles, who are killed by the impious, and are gathered by the Lord. And he gives the reasons why the just man was killed and taken away, saying: For the just man is taken away from before the face of malice, so that he should not see the evils of the world. Or on account of the malice of men, whose sins he himself was bearing, he ascended to the Father as victor. But as it is said according to the Hebrew: Let peace come, let him rest in his bed: let him walk in his straight way, the sense indeed is clear, but the sequence of the words, which stands in the idiom of its own language, seems to us to be disturbed. What he says, however, is this: Let the peace of the Just One come, which, ascending to the Father, he left to the Apostles, saying: My peace I give unto you, my peace I leave with you.

And when the peace of Christ, which surpasses all understanding, shall have come, his Apostles will rest in their beds, and their death will be a rest. By which he shows that the martyrs do not perish, but conquer, and rest in an eternal seat. But he himself, whose peace it is, and whose Apostles rest in their beds, walks in his straight way, ascending by the right path to the Father as victor. Further, as it is read in the Septuagint: The just man is taken away from before the face of malice, his burial shall be in peace, it is taken away from the midst, all these things refer to Christ without any mixture of the person of the Apostles, whose burial is in peace, and is taken away from the midst. For his flesh did not see corruption, nor did he remain in the tomb, he who is free among the dead, the angel saying to the women: Whom seek ye, Jesus? He is not here: come, and see the place where the Lord was laid.

The Jews think that both this and what follows are to be understood either generally of all the just, whose blood Manasses shed, and filled Jerusalem from gate to gate; or certainly that Isaiah is prophesying of his own death, that he was to be sawn asunder by Manasses with a wooden saw, which is a most certain tradition among them. Whence also very many of our own writers refer that which is set down in the Epistle to the Hebrews concerning the passion of the Saints: They were sawn asunder, to the passion of Isaiah.

There is an excellent saying of a most eloquent orator: the arts would be happy, if only their craftsmen judged them.

And lest I seem to take an example only from profane sources, this indeed is that which the Prophet demonstrates in other words: Blessed is he who speaks in the ears of hearers: with which happiness thou, daughter Eustochium, hast made me a sharer; for when thou wast reading the little preface of the preceding book, in which I asserted that the Apostles and Evangelists set forth only those testimonies from the Seventy Interpreters, or in their own words, or in theirs, which agreed with the Hebrew: but that whatever was added by others, they altogether disregarded: at once thou didst bring to me no small little question, namely that the Apostle used eight verses, which are read in the Churches, and are not found in the Hebrew, of the thirteenth psalm, writing to the Romans: Their throat is an open sepulchre: with their tongues they have dealt deceitfully: the poison of asps is under their lips: whose mouth is full of cursing and bitterness: their feet are swift to shed blood: destruction and unhappiness are in their ways: and the way of peace they have not known: there is no fear of God before their eyes.

When I had heard this, as though struck by a most powerful boxer, I began silently to grow hot, and to mark the stupor of my mind with the pallor of my face. A Hebrew, said I, of the Hebrews, a Pharisee according to the law, and educated at the feet of Gamaliel, either was ignorant of these things, or made use of the ignorance of those who were to read. Of which the one is a mark of the unlearned, the other of one crafty for malice, and belongs to neither him who said: And though rude in speech, yet not in knowledge; nor again to him who said: in simplicity and sincerity I have announced to you the word. At length, coming back to myself, I asked for the space of one day, so that my answer might be by no means the argument of human ingenuity, but the fruit of assiduous reading.

And so, surveying the whole of Scripture in my mind, I noticed that, just as almost the whole Epistle to the Romans is built upon the Old Instrument, so also this testimony is woven together from the Psalms and Isaiah (verse 11). For the first two verses: Their throat is an open sepulchre: with their tongues they have dealt deceitfully, are from the fifth psalm (verse 11). But that which follows: The poison of asps is under their lips, is from the hundred and thirty-ninth Psalm (verse 4). And again, that which is said: Whose mouth is full of cursing and bitterness, is taken from the ninth psalm (verse 29).

But the three little verses that follow: Their feet are swift to shed blood: destruction and unhappiness are in their ways: and the way of peace they have not known, I have found in the prophet Isaiah, which I am about to expound in the sixteenth book of the explanation of him, which I now desire to dictate. But the last verse, that is, the eighth: There is no fear of God before their eyes, is at the beginning of the thirty-fifth psalm. Nor let it seem to anyone a discrepancy in this, if that which is spoken in its own place in the singular number, is spoken by the Apostle in the plural, who was writing to very many, and was bringing together many examples into one sense. I think your question has been resolved, and that our rule concerning the translation of the Old Instrument has been shaken rather than moved.

And that it is not so much that the Apostle took from the thirteenth psalm what is not found in the Hebrew, as that those who did not know the Apostle's art of weaving Scriptures together sought a fitting place, where they might insert the testimony taken by him, which they did not think was set down in Scripture without authority. Finally, all the Greek commentators who have left us commentaries of their learning upon the Psalms note these verses as false and pass them by, confessing clearly that they are not found in the Hebrew, nor are they in the Seventy Interpreters, but in the Vulgate edition, which is called in Greek κοινή, and is different throughout the whole world. But now it is time for us to devote ourselves to the work begun, and to pursue what remains.

(Verses 5, 4.) But draw near hither, ye sons of the sorceress: seed of an adulterer and a harlot: upon whom have you jested? Upon whom have you opened wide your mouth, and put out your tongue?

LXX: But draw near hither, ye sons of iniquity, seed of adulterers and of a harlot, in whom you have jested? Upon whom have you opened wide your mouth: and upon whom have you put out your tongue? The just man having been taken away, whose burial is in peace, nay rather taken from the midst, you who are sons of iniquity, draw near to me, and hear what I shall say. For as he who commits iniquity is the servant of iniquity, so he who, like the traitor Judas, is the son of perdition, can be called the son of iniquity. Finally it is written of the Lord the Saviour: And the son of iniquity shall not add to afflict him. Instead of "iniquity," or "they have done iniquity," which the LXX translated, Theodotion set down the very Hebrew word ONENA (עננה), which we, following Symmachus, have rendered "sorceress," namely because Jerusalem, who is the mother of the hearers, was always given over to idolatry.

Wherefore he calls them the seed of an adulterer, or of adulterers (of whom it is said: And they committed adultery with wood and stone) and of a harlot: there is no doubt but that he means the same city of which we read above: How has the faithful city become a harlot, O Sion? Upon whom, he says, have you jested, spitting in his face, and plucking his beard; and upon whom have you opened wide and enlarged your mouth, and put out your tongue, saying to him: Thou art a Samaritan, and hast a devil? And again: This man does not cast out devils, but by Beelzebub the prince of the devils. And afterward in the passion: Crucify, crucify such a one. And again: His blood be upon us, and upon our children. And elsewhere: Ah, thou that destroyest the temple, and in three days buildest it up again. He saved others, himself he cannot save.

Let him now come down from the cross, and we will believe him. (Verses 4, 5.) Are not you children of transgression, a lying seed, who comfort yourselves in gods under every green tree, sacrificing little children in the torrents under the overhanging rocks? LXX: Are not you sons of perdition: an unrighteous seed, who invoke idols under the leafy trees: sacrificing your sons in the valleys in the midst of the rock? You, he says, have done these things which the preceding discourse has narrated. Who are sons of transgression, or of perdition, such as was also Judas the traitor, who was called the son of perdition: and an unrighteous seed, or one of falsehood and lying, who take delight in gods under every leafy tree, and sacrifice your sons in the torrents. Concerning which both the history of Kings and of Chronicles relates, that they sacrificed their sons to gods, and consecrated them in fire.

And it is not doubtful that both Achab king of Israel, and Manasses king of Juda did this, who proceeded from the parricide of their children to the blood of the Prophets, concerning which also in Hosea: Sacrifice men, he says, for the calves have failed. Or as it is written in the Hebrew: Sacrificing men, you adore calves. And in the psalms it is written more fully: They were mingled with the nations, and learned their works, and served their graven images, and it became a stumbling-block to them. And they sacrificed their sons and their daughters to demons, and shed innocent, or guiltless, blood: the blood of their sons and of their daughters, and they sacrificed them to the graven images of Chanaan. And the land was infected with blood, and was polluted with their works.

Since therefore the history is manifest, that the sons are the murderers of Christ, of those who did these things, a question arises, how they can be called sons of perdition, as against those who wish there to be diverse natures: one which is lost and evil, and cannot be saved; and another good, which cannot perish. For if, as they think, the sons of perdition are of the worst nature, how is that found which was previously lost? Finally in the parables of penitents, both the lost sheep out of a hundred sheep, and the coin which had been lost out of ten, are found, and the lost son is found, of whom the father had said to the elder: This thy brother was lost, and is found: was dead, and is come to life again. For nothing ever perishes, except what was first safe; and nothing ever dies, except what had lived before.

Therefore these who are now called sons of perdition, or of iniquity and wickedness, by their own fault forsook the Lord, and from being sons of the Lord, began to be sons of perdition, this same Prophet saying to them: You have forsaken the Lord, and have provoked to anger the Holy One of Israel. We can take these things also according to tropology, of the heretics, who are sons of perdition, and the worst seed, or of falsehood. For from the beginning they are liars, like the devil, who is their father, who is the father of all lying. These call those whom they have deceived to idols, or to the images of their own doctrines, under leafy and wooded trees, promising them pleasures and delights, or concealing their own impurities. Whence also Adam, after he had sinned, hid himself in paradise under a tree, lest he should be exposed to the gaze of God.

Nor is it doubtful that sons of perdition of this kind, and unrighteous seed, have very many sons, whomsoever they have deceived, and that they slay them in the deep valleys, and in the abyss of impiety under the overhanging rocks, which always threaten ruin, which, according to the diversity of the lie, and the variety of perverse doctrines, are called by many names of rocks. But we have one rock, which always follows the people of God, from which the people of Israel once drank, when they enjoyed familiarity with the Lord.

Verse 6. In the parts of the torrent is thy portion: this is thy lot, and to them thou hast poured out a libation, thou hast offered a sacrifice: shall I not be angry at these things? The Septuagint: This is thy portion, this is thy lot: and to those thou hast poured out libations, and for these thou hast prepared victims. Shall I then not be angry at these things? What is said fits well the times of Isaiah: for all the mountains, valleys, and torrents were full of the worship of demons, of whom Jeremiah speaks: that fathers and sons gather wood, and kindle a fire, to make cakes for the host of heaven, women kneading and mixing dough with fat, to provoke the Lord to wrath. No one doubts that these signify cakes, or little pastries prepared by the hand of a craftsman. For this is what "chavonas" means in our language.

Concerning these, Moses, speaking in the person of the Lord by the prophetic spirit, sang beforehand in the Canticle of Deuteronomy: They provoked me with strange gods, and stirred me to anger with their abominations: they sacrificed to demons and not to God. And this they did of their own will, since it lies within our own judgment to choose good or evil. Finally, to those who offered themselves to God by their virtues it is said: He has chosen for us his inheritance: the beauty of Jacob, which he loved. And in another place: The Lord’s portion is his people Jacob: Israel is the cord of his inheritance. And in the Acts of the Apostles it is recorded that very many gave themselves as a share and lot to Paul and Silas. Whoever, then, shall be the portion and lot of the Lord, like the Levites, shall have the Lord’s portion and shall be able to say with David: The Lord is my portion.

We may also take this in reference to the persons of heretics: for they, having abandoned the worship of God, venerate the images of their own errors, and offer victims to them and pour out libations, doing in secret things which it is shameful even to mention, and leading captive silly women burdened with sins, who are led away by various desires, always learning, and never coming to the knowledge of the truth. Since, therefore, the impious do these things in either kind of impiety, is it not just that the wrath of God be provoked against them?

Verse 7. Upon a high and lofty mountain thou hast set thy bed, and thither thou didst go up to offer victims. And behind the door, and behind the post, thou hast set up thy memorial. The Septuagint likewise. That Israel offered sacrifices to the gods of the nations on high mountains and hills, and, like a most shameless harlot, spread her feet wide for all the demons, sacred history relates: nor was there any place that was not defiled with the filth of idolatry, so much so that they set up idols behind the doors of their houses, which they call household Lares, and shed the blood of their own souls both publicly and privately.

With this error and most wicked custom of antiquity the cities of many provinces are still afflicted: and Rome herself, mistress of the world, venerates in each of her tenement-blocks and houses, with wax candles and lamps, the image of the Tutela, which they so call for the protection of their dwellings, so that both those entering and those leaving their houses may always be reminded of the deep-rooted error. Heretics too, whose heart is lifted up in pride, and who, having despised the humility of the Church, promise themselves lofty things, climb the most towering mountains of their own doctrines, and there prostitute their bed to demons. And because, according to the Prophet, they have turned back, imitating the wife of Lot, they are changed into a pillar of salt, having the semblance of ecclesiastical seasoning but wholly lacking its savor: they are cast outside, and are useful for nothing except to be trampled underfoot by all. Wherefore the Lord warns in the Gospel that he who holds the plough-handle should not look back behind him.

Verse 9. For thou hast uncovered thyself next to me, and hast received an adulterer: thou hast enlarged thy bed, and hast made a covenant with them: thou hast loved their bed with an open hand; and thou hast decked thyself for the king with ointment, and multiplied thy perfumes. Thou hast sent thy messengers far off, and hast been humbled even unto hell. The Septuagint: Thou thoughtest that if thou hadst withdrawn from me, thou wouldst have something more. Thou hast loved those who slept with thee, and multiplied thy fornication with them, and hast made many go far from thee, and hast sent messengers beyond thy borders, and hast been humbled even to hell. Let us first discuss the Hebrew, which in this passage differs much from the Septuagint.

To this text, above, he had said: Upon a high and lofty mountain thou hast set thy bed, and had accused her, as it were, of harlotry, prostituted at the entrances of houses and in dark places behind doors, so that whoever wished to enter a house might have pleasure openly displayed before his eyes: now he accuses and confutes her as an adulterous wife, because, sleeping with her husband, she secretly received an adulterer, and uncovered the covering, indeed widened her bed, and made a pact, as if drawing up a dowry contract with adulterers. But he says this to show that they worshipped idols not only in the fields and houses, but also set up an image of Baal in the Temple itself, which Ezekiel too says he saw after the wall was broken through. Thou hast loved, he says, their bed with an open hand, so that thou wouldst not blush at thy sin, nor wish to hide the shame of thy fornication, but wouldst sin with complete freedom.

And thou hast decked thyself for the king with ointment, and multiplied thy idols. And the sense is: Thou hast sought various adornments, so as to entice adulterers both by sight and by scent. Now what is said, "thou hast decked thyself for the king with ointment," is understood in two ways: either for God the king, in that thou art adorned with the very things he had given thee, and hast prostituted thyself to idols with them; or else for the idol-king of the Ammonites, who is called Moloch, which in our language means "king"; whom, according to the Septuagint, we read elsewhere as Melchom. And thou hast sent thy messengers far off, that thou mightest have zeal for fornication not only with the idols of neighboring nations, but even with those situated far away. This signifies the gods of Babylon and Egypt. And thou hast been humbled, he says, even unto hell. Not with that humility which is praiseworthy, but with that by which Ammon humbled his sister Thamar.

And truly it is a great humiliation, indeed a headlong plunge unto hell, to be cast down from the light and height of chastity into the darkness of a brothel, indeed into the abyss of lusts. To her it is said elsewhere: Thou shalt be brought down even to hell. Following the Septuagint, in the points where it differs, the sense seems to me to be this: Didst thou think, O harlot, that if thou hadst withdrawn from me and joined thyself to thy lovers, thou wouldst find something more? To whom God also speaks through Ezekiel: To all harlots gifts are given; but thou hast given gifts, and in thee this has been done perversely. For not only didst thou receive nothing from thy lovers, but thou even lost what thou hadst received from thy husband. And what follows: Thou hast enlarged thy bed, and made a covenant with them, is not found in the Septuagint. She loved those blind watchmen who slept with her, and those dumb dogs, who, sleeping, see dreams of vanity.

And she multiplied her fornication, so that she was joined not once with one, but often and with very many. On account of which she made many withdraw far from her: the Angels who were her guardians, or the holy men who withdrew from fellowship with such a harlot. This indeed we may also say of heretics, who, having forsaken God, follow their own errors, and think they have something more, while, following lies, they have lost the truth, and have multiplied their fornication, not in one doctrine but in many, and have made the Angels who preside over the Churches withdraw from them: who, not content with fornication nearby, send messengers beyond their own borders to the doctrines of the nations and the errors of barbarous peoples, that by the novelty of their words they may deceive their hearers.

Verse 10. In the multitude of thy way thou hast labored, and hast not said: I will rest: thou hast found the life of thy hand, therefore thou hast not entreated me. The Septuagint: Thou hast labored in thy many journeys, and hast not said, I will stop: thou hast been strengthened to do these things: therefore thou hast not asked me. He who walks in one and the royal way does not labor, of which God commands through Moses: Thou shalt walk in the royal way, and shalt not turn aside to the right hand or to the left. There is one way of truth, which says in the Gospel: I am the way, the truth, and the life: and there are many ways of lies, through which Jerusalem is now charged with having walked, the difference of which ways God, knowing it, speaks above to those who err: Not as my ways are, are your ways, to which they say to the Lord in confession: Thou hast made our ways turn aside from thy ways.

Having known, then, the one royal way, let us see what are the ways to the right and to the left, by which we are forbidden to walk. The royal way is tempered, having in itself neither excess nor defect. For example, the straight and royal way is prudence. We turn aside to the right, if we are wiser than we ought to be wise, and love cunning instead of prudence: because the serpent was more prudent than all the beasts in paradise: and the children of darkness are more prudent than the children of light. And we turn to the left when we are foolish, and are less wise than is necessary. Of whom it is said: The fool has said in his heart, There is no God. Piety also and true religion is the royal way. He turns to the right who is superstitious, and deserves to hear, Be not overmuch just. To the left, he who neglects the worship of God, and is numbered among the kids and he-goats.

Liberality also and good stewardship is a very great virtue, from which he turns to the right who is stingy, and gives neither to others nor even to himself what is necessary. To the left, he who consumes his substance with harlots, and says with Israel: Let us eat and drink, for tomorrow we shall die. Fortitude also and constancy is a royal way, from which he turns to the right who is rash and obstinate: to the left, he who is timid and fearful. Wherefore the holy man, desiring to walk on the straight way, prays: Lead me, O Lord, in the straight way. And in another place: Make known to me, O Lord, the way in which I should walk; for I have lifted up my eyes to thee. Of this same way Scripture also mentions elsewhere: Seek the good way, and walk in it, and you shall find the purification of your souls.

Jerusalem, therefore, has for this reason been humbled even to hell, because she labored in many ways, and did not say: I will correct my error by repentance; but on the contrary, I will be strengthened in what I have begun, nor will I heed the counsel of him who warns: Turn away thy foot from the rough way, and thy throat from thirst. Finally there follows: But she answered, ἀνδρίσομαι, that is, I will act manfully, which is now expressed by another word: I will be strengthened. And because she did those things which the preceding discourse related, therefore she did not entreat the Lord, having confidence rather in her own strength than in God. Furthermore, what is set down according to the Hebrew: Thou hast found the life of thy hand, therefore thou hast not entreated, has this sense and meaning: Because thou hast abounded in all things and overflowed with riches, therefore thou hast neglected the Lord: which riches even Solomon declines to have, lest he forget God.

And of Sodom it is said through Ezekiel, that because she was sated with bread, therefore she grew proud. But not riches alone, but poverty also, tests a man. Whence it is written above: I have tested thee in the furnace of poverty, in which Lazarus also was tested as a poor man, who endured want together with infirmity.

Verse 11. For whom wast thou solicitously afraid, that thou hast lied, and hast not remembered me, nor thought of it in thy heart? Because I held my peace, and as one that seeth not, and thou hast forgotten me. LXX: Whom fearing thou wast terrified, and thou hast lied unto me, nor hast thou remembered me. Neither hast thou set me in thy mind, nor in thy heart. And I, seeing thee, despise thee, and thou hast not feared me. Because, being full of the possessions of the fatherless, thou hast trust in riches, thou wouldst not ask of me, and therefore thou didst fear a multitude. For thou couldst not say: The Lord is my helper, and I will look down upon my enemies; and again: The Lord is my light and my salvation, whom shall I fear? And if thou didst at any time wish to say this against the conscience of thy own mind, thou hast lied.

For how couldst thou call upon me, thou who hadst no remembrance of me, nor ever didst think of the precepts of him who says: Honor the Lord, and thou shalt be strengthened, and apart from him fear nothing? For I am he who, according to Symmachus and Aquila, always kept silence concerning thy sins, and whatever crimes thou didst commit I passed over by dissimulation, as though I did not see them, so that if not by fear of me, at least by patience thou mightest return to me. I who question the sons of men not with eyes but with eyelids. But thou, on the contrary, hast forgotten me, and hast deserved to hear: Thou hast forgotten the law of thy God, and I will forget thy children (Hosea iv, 6). And again: They have walked perversely against me, and I will walk against them in perverse fury.

The word "mind," which in the LXX is joined with "heart," is not written in the Hebrew, but is added as it were by way of interpretation, to show what is to be understood by "heart" in the Scriptures. Verse 12. I will declare thy righteousness, and thy works shall not profit thee. When thou shalt cry, let those who are gathered with thee deliver thee. LXX: I will declare thy righteousness and thy evils, which shall not profit thee. When thou shalt cry, let them deliver thee in thy tribulation. I who have always kept silence, and, as though I did not see, overlooked thy sins, will no longer keep silence, but will say what I have already said before: I have held my peace; shall I always hold my peace? And I will declare thy righteousness, and thy works. This is to be read ironically, as if one should say to a man caught in crimes: Behold thy good works!

Wherefore, if at any time the season of tribulation shall come upon thee, and thou shalt begin to stretch out thy hands, not to the idols which thou hast worshipped, but to heaven, and to implore the help of God, let those whom thou hast securely worshipped hear thee, and deliver thee from danger. Which also God speaks to the same people through Jeremiah: Where are thy gods whom thou hast made? Let them arise and save thee in the time of thy evils. For that which the LXX translated, "let them deliver thee in thy tribulation," and we have said, "let those who are gathered with thee deliver thee," Symmachus translated: "let thy synagogues deliver thee." He speaks, therefore, properly to the Jews, in that the multitude of their synagogues is not able to deliver them in the time of siege. Verse 13. And the wind shall carry them all away, the breeze shall take them off. But he who hath trust in me shall inherit the land, and shall possess my holy mountain.

And I will say: Make ye the way, prepare the path, turn aside out of the way, take away the stumbling-blocks out of the way of my people. LXX: For the wind shall take away all these, and the tempest shall carry them off. But those who hope in me shall possess the land, and shall obtain by inheritance my holy mountain, and they shall say: Make clean the ways before his face, and take away the stumbling-blocks out of the way of my people. The Jews assert that these things are prophesied concerning the Babylonians, in that, when these are overcome by the power of God, the people should return into Judea, and possess Mount Sion, and all obstacles of the way should be removed, and it should suffer the ambushes of no nation; because the Lord should make the way smooth for his people. And they contend that these things were fulfilled under Zorobabel and Ezra.

But we, joining what is said here to what precedes, assert this: that all the idols which were not able to deliver them, the wind and tempest shall carry away, and they shall be as dust which the wind casts up from the face of the earth. But those who shall have had trust in the Lord shall possess the land, of which we shall read further in this same Prophet: He will lift thee up to the good things of the land. From which it is clear that this land is not below, but above. To which the wounded man, the Lord lifting him up, shall ascend, of which we have often said: Blessed are the meek, for they shall possess the land; and: I believe to see the good things of the Lord in the land of the living.

But the holy mountain of God is to be understood as that of which he who writes the Epistle to the Hebrews speaks: Ye are come to Mount Sion, and to the city of the living God, the heavenly Jerusalem, and to many thousands of angels, and to the church of the firstborn who are written in heaven. We can understand by the land and mountain of the Lord, which the saints are to possess, the Holy Scriptures also, which the Lord threatens to take away from the Jews, saying: The kingdom of God shall be taken from you, and shall be given to a nation bringing forth the fruits thereof; so that they may find in them that mountain of which we read in this same Prophet, and in Micah: It shall come to pass in the last days that the mountain of the Lord shall be made manifest (Micah iv, 1).

And the Lord himself commanded the Apostles and all the teachers of the Church, that whatever seemed harsh and difficult they should resolve by their own interpretation, and provide a way of understanding, and remove all stumbling-blocks from the midst, so that the people of the Lord might understand what they read without any hindrance, and might advance in the fear of God. Concerning these ways John the Baptist also said: Prepare ye the ways of the Lord. Where we have put it in the person of God, "and I will say," the LXX have put "and they shall say": namely, those who shall possess the land, and shall obtain by inheritance the holy mountain of God. Nor shall they be content with their own salvation, but shall also urge others on to lead the peoples. Symmachus interpreted this passage thus: But he who trusts in me shall possess the land, and shall obtain by inheritance my holy mountain, and shall say: Make straight the way, and so on.

Behold, he who shall have possessed the land and the mountain instructs the rest, that they may prepare the way of the Lord. Verse 15. For thus saith the high and lofty One, that inhabiteth eternity, and his name is holy: dwelling in the high and holy place, and with him that is of a contrite and humble spirit: that he may revive the spirit of the humble, and revive the heart of the contrite ones. LXX: Thus saith the high one, and he that dwelleth on high forever: holy among the holy ones is his name. The high one, resting among the holy ones, giving patience to the fainthearted, and life to those who are contrite of heart.

The prophetic discourse had begun against the people of the Jews, whose teachers he called blind watchmen, and dumb dogs, and shepherds without understanding, and iniquitous sons, and the seed of adulterers and of a harlot; after which he comes to Jerusalem, whose fornication he reproaches, in that she enlarged her bed for her lovers, and received them with open hand, and adorned herself with all idols, and sent messengers afar off, that she might enjoy foreign lovers also. This reproach being finished, he comes to those who trust in the Lord, and to whom he had promised the land and the mountain to possess, and for whose return he had commanded the way to be prepared: no doubt to the Apostles, at whose preaching, from both peoples, men believed. Whence he begins from the praises of God, and testifies in the following discourse what he had promised concerning the return of his people.

For thus saith the Lord, high and exalted, who dwelleth on high, and holy among the holy ones, not by place, but by the merit of those in whom he dwells, one of whom says in the psalm: I will exalt thee, O Lord, for thou hast lifted me up. And again: Be thou exalted, O Lord, who judgest the earth; not that God is lifted up by human words, but according to that which is said elsewhere: The Lord is become my salvation, so that he becomes exalted even to the humble. He who resists the proud, and gives grace to the humble, that he may lift them up and dwell in the high places. For the Lord is exalted, and regardeth the lowly. And in the Gospel the angels cry out: Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace. And again in the Psalms: Praise the Lord from the heavens: praise him in the high places. And not only does the exalted one dwell on high, but also the holy one among the holy ones.

He who says in another place: Be ye holy, because I am holy. And just as wisdom does not enter into a perverse soul, nor dwell in a body subject to sins, so the holy one dwells among the holy ones; and wherever there is filth, cleanness cannot dwell, the saint saying to the Lord: But thou dwellest in the holy place, the praise of Israel. Whence we too dare to say in prayer: Our Father, who art in heaven, hallowed be thy name. And in the second psalm we read: He that dwelleth in the heavens shall laugh at them, and the Lord shall deride them. For Christ does not dwell in those who are earthly, but in those who are supercelestial, who declare the glory of the Lord, of whom it is said: May he hear him from his holy heaven.

And again: The heaven of heaven is the Lord's: to which sense Moses also, the servant of God, agrees with equal voice: Behold, the heaven of the Lord thy God, and the heaven of heaven; which we must certainly not take in the Jewish manner, as though God were enclosed in any place and dwelt only in heaven, he who is spread everywhere, and by whom all things are contained; but let us understand the high places and the heavens rightly as the saints and the Virtues. For this is he who dwells in heaven, of whom it is written in the Gospel: No one ascends into heaven but he who descended from heaven, the Son of man who is in heaven. He rests among the holy ones and dwells among the humble and among those who are contrite in spirit. Of whom it is said: A sacrifice to God is a troubled spirit; a contrite and humbled heart God will not despise.

He himself gives patience to the fainthearted, that, being set in straits, they may endure tribulation in hope of things to come. He himself gives life, namely to those who were dead in sin. Of whom it is said: With thee is the fountain of life. He who says in the Gospel: I am the way, the truth, and the life.

Verse 16. I will not contend forever, neither will I be angry unto the end: for the spirit shall go forth from my face, and the breath I will make. LXX: I will not take vengeance on you forever; neither will I be angry with you always. For the spirit shall go forth from me, and I have made every breath. The Lord, who dwells on high, and regards the lowly, whose name is holy, and who rests among the holy ones: who sustains the afflicted, and gives life to the oppressed, has spoken thus: I will not be angry forever, nor be continually indignant. I who strike for this, that I may correct; therefore I kill, that I may make alive. For I have mercy on my creature; and those whom I myself have made I will not suffer to perish forever. My spirit also, which shall go forth from me, or which, according to the Hebrew, Aquila, Symmachus and Theodotion, encompasses all things (for this is what περιληθήσεται and περιβάλλει signify), is the vivifier of all things.

And breath, or in the plural, "breaths" (for this is what NESHAMOTH נשמות means), I have made, of which it is written elsewhere: Let every breath, or everything that breathes, praise the Lord. Concerning which spirit and breath it is written at the beginning of Genesis: God breathed into him the breath of life, and man was made into a living soul. Something like this Job also says: The spirit of the Lord which is in my nostrils, and the breath of the Almighty which teaches me. Since, then, the spirit goes forth from me, and by my breath and inspiration all things are quickened and live, it is not just that those should perish forever who are sustained by my breath and spirit.

Some of our own writers say that this is the spirit by which the whole world is inspired and governed, and all things have knowledge of God, which, following the Stoics, the famous poet writes, saying (Virgil, Aeneid vi): In the beginning, the sky and the earth and the watery plains, The shining globe of the moon, and the Titanian stars, A spirit within nourishes: and, infused through the limbs, Mind moves the whole mass, and mingles itself with the mighty frame.

And the rest. But others understand the Holy Spirit, who in the beginning was borne over the waters, and gave life to all things: who proceeds from the Father, and on account of the fellowship of nature, is sent by the Son, saying, It is expedient for you that I go away. For if I go not away, the Paraclete will not come to you: but if I go, I will send him unto you. Of whom again he says: When the Paraclete is come, whom I will send unto you from the Father, the Spirit of truth who proceeds from the Father. Let it not scandalize anyone, if the Spirit is said to proceed from the Father, since the Son also said of himself: I proceeded from the Father, and came; for I have not come of myself, but he sent me. Of this Spirit he was speaking: I will ask the Father, and he will give you another Paraclete, that he may be with you always, the Spirit of truth.

This is the Spirit of whom Moses also writes: Would that all the people of the Lord were prophets, and that the Lord would put his Spirit upon them? And Joel, in the person of God: I will pour out of my Spirit upon all flesh, and your sons and your daughters shall prophesy. And Zechariah: Nevertheless receive my words and my statutes, which I command in my Spirit, to my servants the Prophets. And again: I will pour out upon Jerusalem the Spirit of grace and mercy. And many other things from both Testaments which it would now be tedious to repeat. We say only this, that the same Prophet spoke of this Spirit and breath together: Thus says the Lord God who made the heaven.

And after a little: Who gives breath to his people upon it, and spirit to those who tread upon it. (Verses 17 and following.) Because of the iniquity of his avarice I was angry, and I struck him: I hid myself, and was indignant: and he walked mourning in the way of his own heart. I have seen his ways, and healed him: and I brought him back, and rendered comfort to him and to his mourners. I have created the fruit of the lips, peace, peace to him that is far off and to him that is near, says the Lord, and I have healed him. But the wicked are like the raging sea, which cannot rest, and its waves cast up mire and dirt. There is no peace, says God, to the wicked. The LXX: Because of sin I grieved him a little, and struck him: and I turned my face away from him, and he was grieved and walked sad in his ways.

I have seen his ways, and healed him: and I have comforted him, and given him true comfort, peace to those who are far off, and to those who are near, says the Lord, and I will heal them. But those who are unjust shall be tossed, and shall not be able to rest. There is no joy for the wicked, says the Lord God. After the rejection of the people of the Jews and of those who were unwilling to believe in the Savior, he had promised to those having confidence in him the land of the meek and the mountain of the saints, and had commanded the Apostles: Make a way for the people returning, and remove all stumbling-blocks from the midst. And lest it should seem incredible, he sets forth his power, that being lofty and great he can easily grant pardon to the penitent, and that it is just that the Creator should have mercy on his creature.

To which he adds, that he was angry and grieved his people: therefore he did this because he had sinned, and had the iniquity of avarice, nor was content with one iniquity; but always added sins to sins. And I struck him, he says, for a short time, that I might heal him, and I hid, understood, my face, that he might desire me the more, and say: Show your face and we shall be saved. And I was indignant; which he, perceiving, went about sad, saying: All the day I went about sad. And he walked mourning, or turned, in the way of his own heart, that he might do penance not before the face of men, but in his heart. Therefore, seeing the ways of his conversion, I healed the wounds with which I had struck him before. And I brought him back to me, whom I had before cast out, and I rendered to him true comfort. For many comforts are false, by which the human race is deceived.

Or, I comforted his mourners, saying in the Gospel: Blessed are they that mourn, for they shall be comforted. And what follows: I have created the fruit of the lips, has this sense: I have fulfilled what I had promised, saying: As I live, says the Lord, I prefer the repentance of the sinner rather than his death. Or, I have given all things which I had before promised. And what is the Lord's promise? My peace I give unto you: My peace I leave with you. And this is what he now says: Peace upon peace; not to one nation only, but to the whole world: namely to those who were far off, and those who were near, that is, first to the Gentiles, and afterward to those from Israel who were willing to believe. Of whom the Apostle also says: It was necessary that the word of God should first be spoken to you; but because you judge yourselves unworthy of salvation, behold, we turn to the Gentiles.

Who, writing to the Ephesians, and discoursing most fully of the people of the Circumcision and of the Gentiles, added: But now in Christ Jesus, you who were once far off, are made near in the Blood of Christ. For he himself is our peace, who made both one, and the middle wall of partition, dissolving the enmity in his flesh, and the rest; and again: And coming, he announced peace to you who were far off, and peace to those who were near. For through him we have access, both, in one spirit, to the Father: giving peace upon peace to those who had been far off, and to those who were near, and who had not had the Law and the Prophets; and those who had before received him, he received and healed. But the wicked, or the unjust, shall be tossed about, like the raging sea, and shall never be able to rest.

Though this can be understood of every wicked person, yet it is properly referred to the people of the Jews, who cried out with one accord, and persevered in their impiety, saying: Crucify, crucify such a one. We have no king but Caesar. Therefore, just as the raging sea cannot rest, but its waves overflow, and roll back to the shores, and are again drawn back, and broken upon themselves, make the mire which is trodden underfoot: so the wicked shall lie subject to eternal trampling, of whom there is no joy, and who rest in no peace, in that the wicked persevere. Some understand this passage specifically of the Savior: that because of the sins of the world he was a little grieved, saying: My soul is sorrowful even unto death. And that the Father struck him, who speaks through Zechariah: I will strike the shepherd, and the sheep shall be scattered; who also himself said in the sixty-eighth psalm: For they have persecuted him whom you have struck.

And God turned his face away from him, that he might for a little take the form of a servant, walk sorrowful, and mourning the sins of the people, weeping and lamenting over Jerusalem. And the Father, seeing his ways, therefore healed him, who was free among the dead: and his flesh did not see corruption, so that he who was struck on the cross, might be healed in the resurrection. And I comforted him, he says, giving him, in place of the one nation of the Jews, the whole world. And his mourners, understood, I comforted. Nor is there any doubt that he signifies the Apostles. And he fulfilled the fruit of his lips, who had said to him: Ask of me, and I will give you the nations for your inheritance, and the ends of the earth for your possession: peace upon peace, reconciling the world to God, that he might call both peoples to himself, and be healed by the Father.

But the wicked, of whom we spoke above, he compares to the sea, which can never be at rest, but even in the greatest calm, its waves are broken and rolled upon the shores, and its end is mire and trampling.

(Verse 1.) Cry, cease not: lift up your voice like a trumpet, and declare to my people their wicked doings, and to the house of Jacob their sins. The LXX: Cry aloud, and spare not: lift up your voice like a trumpet, and declare to my people their sins, and to the house of Jacob their iniquities. Having finished the former chapter, in which peace is announced to the just, and no rest to the wicked, God commands the prophet Isaiah to cry aloud, and, like a trumpet, to lift up his voice, and not to fear to declare the sins and wicked deeds of the people of Israel, in no wise fearing death, nor the terrors and reproaches of the wicked; but rather to consider the Lord who commands.

And because they have deaf ears, and can scarcely hear, according to Symmachus and Aquila, let him turn his throat into a trumpet, which in Hebrew is called SOPHAR (שופר), which they have interpreted as κερατίνη, that is, made of horn. And indeed above, where it was said to the Apostles, Get you up into a high mountain, you that bring good tidings to Zion: lift up your voice with strength, you that bring good tidings to Jerusalem: lift it up, be not afraid; neither trumpet nor horn is taken up, but they are commanded to ascend the mountain. But here, because they were sinners to whom the message must be declared, and they remained below, the prophet is not commanded to ascend the mountain: but only to lift up his voice like a trumpet, and to announce to them the wars to come.

Otherwise, on the day of judgment, when at the resurrection of the dead it is called the last trumpet, it is written, For the trumpet shall sound, and the dead shall rise incorrupt: so that just as they are to be judged at the sound of the trumpet, so Israel, dead in sin, may hear of its wicked deeds; and at the same time is called the people of God, that it may learn what kind of father it has lost, who even calls a sinning people his own. (Verse 2.) For they seek me daily, and desire to know my ways: as a nation that has done justice, and has not forsaken the judgment of their God. The LXX likewise.

This properly fits the Jews, who run day by day to the synagogues, and meditate on the law of God, desiring to know what Abraham, Isaac and Jacob did, and what the other saints did, and, turning over from memory the books of the Prophets and of Moses, chant the divine commandments—to whom this may most fittingly be applied: The wicked shall seek me, and shall not find me. For it is written thus: Every one who seeks finds: whoever does not find is convicted of having sought wrongly; for the Lord is found by those who seek him in goodness, and shows himself to those who are not unbelieving toward him.

Since therefore they have abandoned the justice and judgment of God, by which names Christ is shown, as the psalmist says: O God, give your judgment to the king, and your justice to the king's son: for Christ has been made unto us redemption, sanctification, and justice: in vain do they boast of the knowledge of the law, since the saint glories not in the knowledge of the Scriptures, but in works, saying: I have run the way of your commandments, when you enlarged my heart.

Verse 3. They ask of me the judgments of righteousness, and desire to draw near to God. Why have we fasted, and thou hast not looked upon it? We have humbled our souls, and thou hast not known it? Behold, in the day of your fast your own will is found, and ye have exacted all your debtors. Behold, ye fast for strife and contention, and strike with the fist wickedly. The Septuagint: They ask of me now righteous judgment, and desire to draw near to God, saying: Why have we fasted, and thou hast not seen it? For in the days of your fasts your own wills are found, and ye afflict all who are subject to you, fasting for judgments and quarrels, and ye strike the lowly with your fists. There is another rashness of the Jews, as it were a confidence of good conscience, in that they demand righteous judgment, and imitate the words of the saints who say: Judge me, O Lord, for I have walked in mine innocence.

And again: Prove me, O Lord, and try me: burn my reins and my heart. And in another place: Judge my cause, and redeem me. And they desire to draw near to God: whereas this is not a matter of place, but of affection, nor of an idle mind, but of laborious work. Finally, Scripture teaches what it is to draw near to God, saying: Seek the Lord. But when he shall have drawn near to you, let the wicked man forsake his ways, and the unjust man his thoughts. For the Lord draws near to those who draw near to him, and to those who justly pursue what is just, and who can say: But it is good for me to cleave to God. For if Almighty God the Father is of truth and righteousness, whoever is a liar and unjust cannot draw near to God, of whom it is written: The malignant shall not dwell near thee, nor shall the unjust remain before thine eyes. Why have we fasted, they say, and thou hast not looked upon it?

They accuse the Lord of injustice, as if he did not regard good works, and they offer to God only the hunger of the belly, without the work of virtues: not eating those foods which God created for the faithful and for those who know the truth, that they might partake of them with thanksgiving: but those foods of which it is written in Proverbs: For these are nourished with the food of impiety, and are made drunk with the wine of iniquity. Filled with feasts of this kind, the Pharisee, among his other words of pride, boasted that he fasted twice in the sabbath: he who had not drunk wine of the vineyard of Sorec, but of the vineyard of Sodom, whose wine is the fury of dragons, and the incurable fury of asps, and whose grape is a grape of gall: whom God rebukes by the Prophet: They eat up the sins of my people. And again: Why have ye kept silence concerning their impiety, and have vintaged iniquities, and eaten the grain of falsehood?

Since therefore they had proposed this question to God, desiring to know why they had fasted and humbled their souls, and God had not looked upon it: forgetting the ancient history, why he did not look upon the offerings of Cain; who indeed offered rightly, but did not rightly divide with his brother, not seeing the charity of God, Scripture saying: Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with thy whole heart, and thy neighbor as thyself: therefore God answered, that he does not reject fasts, but the works which are done in fasts, saying: In the days of your fasts your own wills are found, so that you do not the will of God, but your own wills, which Paul, writing to the Ephesians, condemns: According to the prince of the power of the air, the spirit that now worketh in the children of disobedience, among whom also we all once lived, in the desires of our flesh, doing the will of the flesh and of our thoughts. And we were by nature children of wrath, even as others.

And what follows according to the Septuagint: And ye vex, or afflict, all who are subject to you; Theodotion and Symmachus have translated better, whom we have followed in this place: And ye exact all your debtors. By which he shows that it is not without peril to exact from a poor man who has not the means to pay, nor to fail to return to a shivering debtor the cloak which you took in pledge, lest his cry come up to God. For he who has mercy on the poor, lends to God. And on the contrary, he who exacts from one who has nothing, does violence to God. And that we may know this to be the sense in the present passage, we shall read also in what follows in this same chapter: Loose the bonds of impiety, undo the bundles that weigh down.

There is no doubt that this signifies bonds of debt: for what does it profit to make the mouth pale with fasting, and to fast for strife and quarrels, Scripture saying, He who loves sins, rejoices in quarrels? But the servant of the Lord ought not to quarrel, but to be gentle, and to imitate him who says: Learn of me, for I am meek and lowly of heart: that humility be not affected, but of the heart, seeking not the glory of men, but the conscience of the soul. Ye fast, he says, and strike the lowly with your fists, and beat them with blows. Wherefore a bishop ought not to be a striker. For how can he restrain lust, who cannot even control his hand or his tongue? Fasts of this kind the Lord rebukes also at the beginning of this prophet, saying: Fasting and idleness, new moons and sabbaths, and your other solemnities, my soul hateth.

Wherefore it is commanded by Joel: Sanctify a fast: proclaim a healing; that we may fast from vices, and that, with good works and sins healed, the fasts may become holy. Then follows: Let the bridegroom go forth from his chamber, and the bride from her bridal room; that in the time of fasting we may be free for prayer: lest our inner man feed on the flesh of the dragon, which is given for food to the peoples of the Ethiopians. And we say this, not that we condemn fasts, by which Daniel, the man of desires, learned things to come, and the Ninevites appeased the wrath of God, and Elijah and Moses, by a hunger of forty days, were filled with the familiarity of God, and the Lord himself fasted the same number of days in the wilderness, that he might leave us solemn days of fasting: but that it profits nothing to carry an empty belly, and to do other things which displease God.

And, to pass over other things, to disfigure their faces, that they may appear to men as fasting, who, obtaining glory in the present, are excluded from the kingdom of God, because they have received their reward. Wherefore the Apostle also, even if he should deliver his body to martyrdom, that it be burned, or that he glory (for both readings are found in the copies) without the charity of God, which is in the conscience of the heart, says that he sheds his blood in vain.

Verse 4. Fast not as ye have done unto this day, that your cry may be heard on high. Is it such a fast that I have chosen, that a man should afflict his soul for a day? Is it to twist his head about like a circle, and to spread sackcloth and ashes? Wilt thou call this a fast, and a day acceptable to the Lord? The Septuagint: Why do ye fast unto me, as today, that your voice may be heard in crying? I have not chosen such a fast, and a day for a man to humble his soul. Nor, if thou bow down thy neck like a circle, and strew sackcloth and ashes beneath thee: not even so shall ye call it an acceptable fast. Lest he seem to reject the fasting which he himself had commanded, he teaches how one ought to fast: nay, before he teaches what they should follow, he instructs what they ought to avoid: That your cry, he says, may be heard on high.

Do not bring a clamor to your prayer, praying in synagogues and corners of the streets, that you may be seen by men, and lift up your voice on high, and, like the Pharisee who is condemned by the judgment of the Lord, proclaim your fasts and works. Wherefore the Lord, rejecting the prayer of the Pharisees, teaches his disciples how they ought to pray, with the chamber of their breast shut, that they may speak to God alone, who can hear the silence of the heart; that they may cry in their hearts, Abba, Father; and not disfigure their faces, but wash them with water, and anoint their heads with oil. Of which also John the Evangelist writes: And ye have an unction from the Holy One: with which, when they have been anointed, they themselves also become holy. For God does not seek affliction alone, and the humbling of the soul through the injury of the body: that the body be twisted like a circle, and the neck bowed down, and one walk about sad.

According to that which is said in the Psalms: I have been afflicted, and bowed down even to the end: I went about mourning all the day. Nor that one be clothed with sackcloth, and sleep in ashes, which we read of David and of Ahab: but that with these things he do the things which follow. Otherwise the Apostle also says that he fasted frequently, and the Lord, when the bridegroom shall have been taken away from his disciples, teaches that they shall fast: and in the Psalms the penitent speaks: I have eaten ashes like bread, and mingled my drink with weeping. And when they troubled me, I put on sackcloth. From which we learn that these things which the Lord wills must be done first, and no others passed over.

Verse 6. Is not this rather the fast which I have chosen? Loose the bonds of wickedness, undo the bundles that oppress: Let those who are broken go free, and break every burden. Break your bread to the hungry, and bring the needy and the wandering into your house. When you see one naked, cover him, and do not despise your own flesh. The Septuagint: Have I not chosen such a fast, says the Lord: but loose every bond of iniquity. Undo the bonds of violent contracts. Let the broken go free, and tear up every unjust writing. Break your bread to the hungry, and bring the poor without shelter into your house. If you see one naked, cover him, and do not despise those of your own household of seed. After he taught what kind of fast he rejects, he shows what kind he willingly accepts.

Loose, he says, the bonds of wickedness: undo the bundles that oppress: or, as the Seventy translated more plainly, the bonds of violent contracts, which our translators, deceived by the ambiguity of the word—that is, συναλλαγμάτων—rendered as "commutations" instead of "bonds" (chirographs). He signifies bundles of documents, in which the frauds of moneylenders are contained, and by which the poor are oppressed with debt, which in all cities is a chief cause of sedition. Whence also the Roman people seized the neighboring hills, and demanded "New Tablets," which the Greeks call χρεῶν ἀποκοπάς (cancellation of debts). The Prophet does not, therefore, command that no one should exact what is owed, especially what was given justly and is justly demanded back: otherwise he would be a champion of tribunician sedition. But where the contract is unjust, where the poor are oppressed by fraud: there the bundles of contracts, and all the bonds of iniquity, must be broken.

Or certainly this may be said, because the discourse concerns fasts, and fasting involves the affliction and humbling of the soul: but the affliction of the body pleads for the forgiveness of sins. The divine Scripture teaches that we should forgive our debtors, so that our heavenly Father may also forgive us our debts. Ancient history relates that in the seventh year of remission, or the fiftieth, which is the true Jubilee, all possessions returned to their owners, and the pristine liberty was restored to slaves, and all the bonds, which are commonly called contracts, were made void. But if this is commanded in the Old Law: how much more in the Gospel, where all good things are doubled: and we are commanded not at all to pluck out eye for eye, tooth for tooth, but to offer the cheek to the one who strikes!

And that we may know that which we said above—"You demand back all your debtors"—is written of creditors, it is joined more plainly concerning debtors: Let those who are broken go free, that is, those who are broken by poverty, whom want has afflicted, lest you allow their children to beg. And every burden by which they are weighed down, break. In place of which the Seventy translated more plainly, "and tear up every unjust writing": which Symmachus translated: "And break every false bond." But someone might say: I have no debtors, what ought I to do, that my fast may be accepted? There follows: Break your bread to the hungry. Not many loaves, lest you plead poverty, but one loaf. Nor even the whole of it, but a part of the bread which, had you not been fasting, you would have eaten; so that your fast may not be a gain for your purse, but a satiety for your soul.

And he beautifully added "your," lest you make alms out of plunder: For the ransom of a man's soul is his own riches. And elsewhere: Honor the Lord with your just labors. Certainly, if you have no bread, there being a great multitude of the hungry, offer from that by which you suffer no loss. In that which involves no loss, bring the poor without shelter into your house. Or, as it is in the Hebrew, "into the house," so that if you have no house of your own, you may bring them into a little lodging, which you possess either by rent or by kindness. If you see one naked, cover him: which the Lord also spoke in the Gospel: He who has two tunics, let him give one to him who has none.

For he did not command that one be torn and divided, which many do for the sake of popular favor: but that the other not be kept, increasing the precepts of justice, so that he even said that a cup of cold water given would have its reward. And your own flesh, do not despise it. For every man is our flesh. And according to the Gospel parable, of him who was going down from Jerusalem to Jericho, and was wounded by robbers, he is called neighbor who showed mercy. Or certainly, according to the Septuagint who said: "And do not despise those of your own household of seed," let us understand the household of the seed as sons, of whom the Apostle also teaches, that alms are to be given to all, but especially to the household of faith. For they are our flesh, and our seed, who are begotten of one parent with us. To whom the Savior also extended his hand, saying: My mother and my brothers are these, who do the will of my Father.

And that we may know that there is one Lord of both the New and the Old Testament, the same Lord speaks in the Gospel about those who on the day of judgment shall stand at the right hand: Come, blessed of my Father, possess the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world. For I was hungry, and you gave me to eat. I was thirsty, and you gave me to drink. I was sick, and in prison, and you came to me. A stranger, and you took me into your house. And naked, and you clothed me. And when they humbly said that they had done nothing for the Lord Savior, he answered: As long as you did it for one of the least of these my brethren, you did it for me.

According to the tropology we may say this: He who fasts from all evils, and wishes his fast to be regarded, let him not only turn away from evil, but also do good, so that he may loose every bond of iniquity by which any simple believers are bound by the frauds of heretics. And στραγγαλιὰς, the bonds of violent dealings, which the Prophet also shows in the psalm, saying: But those who turn aside to bonds, the Lord will lead away with the workers of iniquity. For all who are bound by the chains of heretics turn away from the Lord; and like an ox led to the slaughter; and choose and exchange a lie for the truth.

Such men, therefore, who are broken in judgment, let the man of the Church release and set free; and every writing of the heretics, of whom this same Prophet says here: Woe to those who write iniquity: for writing, they write malice, seizing the judgment of the poor of my people, let him loose and tear apart, so that they may in no way hold any simple souls entangled in their snares. And when he has done this, let him break his bread of ecclesiastical doctrine to the hungry, which the Lord also did, giving broken loaves to the Apostles, which he left them in seven baskets and twelve baskets, not whole as they were kept in the Law, but broken and shattered in the Gospel, so that they might have something to give generously to the poor.

Those whom you see not having the warmth of faith, but shivering outside the Church in the cold of unbelief, as strangers and wanderers, bring, he says, into the house of the Church, and cover with the cloak of incorruption; so that, clothed in the tunic of Christ, they may no longer remain in the tombs, as we read of him who, possessed by a legion of demons, dwelt naked among the tombs of the dead. And when, he says, you have done these things and your generosity has been shown to all, do not especially despise the household of the faith.

Verse 8. Then your light shall break forth as the morning, and your health shall spring forth speedily, and your righteousness shall go before your face: and the glory of the Lord shall gather you. Then you shall call, and the Lord shall answer: you shall cry, and he shall say: Behold, I am here. The Septuagint: Then your morning light shall break forth, and your healings shall spring forth speedily, and your righteousness shall go before your face, and the glory of God shall surround you. Then you shall cry, and God shall hear you. While you are yet speaking, he will say, Behold, I am here. When you have not done those things which the preceding discourse recounted, and have done those things of which we have now spoken: then your fast will be acceptable, and your morning light will break forth; namely, the sun of righteousness, of whom the prophet Malachi speaks in the person of God the Father: The sun of righteousness shall rise for you who fear my name, and health in its wings.

What is there called "sun" is here called "light." For as the morning light dissolves the darkness, so the light of knowledge and truth puts to flight all errors. And your healings, he says, shall spring forth speedily. In place of which Aquila, rendering word for word, put: And the scar of your wound shall be closed speedily; so that, namely, the wounds of our sins, at the rising of the sun of righteousness, may be closed quickly with a scar. Whereas the Seventy translated τὰ ἰάματά σου, that is, "your healings," the Latin interpreters, misled by the similarity of the name—ἱμάτια, that is, "garments"—put that instead. Whence many, deceived by the falsity of the translation, use this testimony to prove the resurrection of the body, wishing the body to be understood as the garment of the soul, which arises on the day of resurrection. And your righteousness, he says, shall go before your face. According to that which Jacob says: My righteousness will answer for me tomorrow; and that which is written will be fulfilled: Behold the man, and his works.

And the glory of the Lord shall surround you, as with a most beautiful garment, that you may be glorified before God and before men. Then you shall call, and the Lord shall answer: you shall cry, and he shall say: Behold, I am here—not by voice, but by deed; not by response, but by benefits. Which, according to the letter, is also confirmed in the Gospel, when the leper said to the Lord, If you will, you can make me clean, the Lord answered, saying: I will, be clean. (Verse 10.) If thou take away the chain from the midst of thee, and cease to stretch out the finger, and to speak that which profiteth not. When thou shalt pour out thy soul to the hungry, and shalt satisfy the afflicted soul: then shall thy light rise up in darkness, and thy darkness shall be as noonday.

The Septuagint: If thou take away from thee the binding, and the ordination, and the word of murmuring, and give thy bread to the hungry from thy soul, and satisfy the humbled soul: then shall thy light rise up in darkness, and thy darkness shall be as noonday. The Hebrew word MOTA (מוטה), which in Jeremiah is rendered "iron yoke", is read twice in the present chapter. For in the place above where, following the Septuagint, we said: "Loose the bonds of violent exchanges," let us know that for the one word MOTA they set down "violent cautions," for which Aquila translated "error," Symmachus "declination," Theodotion κλοιὸν, that is, "collar." Again in the present place, where we have translated: "If thou take away the chain from the midst of thee," and for "chain" the Septuagint rendered σύνδεσμον, that is, "binding" or "bond"; Aquila, as above, interpreted it "error"; Symmachus, yielding to Theodotion's decision, put "collar." Let this be said concerning the variety of translation.

Otherwise the sense is joined thus with what precedes: Thy morning light shall arise, and thy healings shall quickly spring forth: and thy righteousness shall go before thee, and the glory of the Lord shall crown thee. And He will hear thee at once when thou callest, and will show Himself present. This will be so only if to the works already mentioned thou add these also, that thou take away from thyself the bond and the chain by which thy soul is bound. Of which Peter also spoke to Simon: "For I see thee to be in the gall of bitterness, and the bond of iniquity". And Paul grieved, seeing the city of the Athenians bound by idolatry. For everyone is bound by the cords of his own sins. Of these bonds of the soul David also prayed in the Psalm: "Cleanse me from my hidden faults, O Lord, and spare thy servant from those of others". It is hard to find one who is not bound by these chains.

Rarely is a soul found which does not have this most grievous collar wrapped about its neck, pressing it down to earthly works, so that it looks in no wise to heaven, but to earth. This is also told of the woman in the Gospel, whom Satan had bound for eighteen years, so that, being bent over, she could not see the things of heaven. If, then, He says, thou take away from the midst of thy heart this chain, and dissolve bonds of this kind, and χειροτονίαν, for which the three other translators with one voice rendered "outstretched finger": so that not only dost thou not think evil thyself, nor do it, but neither dost thou detract from thy neighbor, nor mark individuals as with a finger, nor speak what does not profit thy soul, considering not thy own evils but the errors of others: thou shalt receive what the following discourse subjoins.

Many of our writers understand χειροτονίαν, that is, the ordination of clerics—which is fulfilled not only by the imprecation of the voice but by the imposition of the hand (lest, as we have laughed at in certain cases, a clandestine imprecation of the voice should ordain clerics unknowing)—in such a way that they take up the testimony of Paul writing to Timothy: "Lay hands hastily on no man, neither be partaker of other men's sins". For it is no light sin to cast pearls before swine, and to give what is holy to dogs: and to bestow the ordination of the clergy not upon the holy and those most learned in the law of God, but upon one's own followers, and ministers of base offices, and—what is more disgraceful than these—upon the entreaties of little women.

In which one should consider the wisdom of Christ the Apostle speaking within himself, who, in order to show the peril of ordination, joined the torments of sinners: "Neither be partaker of other men's sins." As therefore in the ordinations of the wicked he who appoints such is a partaker of their sins, so in the ordination of holy men he who chooses the worthy is a partaker of their righteousness.

There follows: "And the word of murmuring," to be understood ἀπὸ κοινοῦ, "if thou take away from thee." Now the word of murmuring is when God speaks against us: "Let the murmuring of this people cease from me, and it shall not die"; and we refer our sins to God, to make excuses for excuses in sins, and say: "The ardor of the body overcame me, the incitements of youth conquered me, I was created such by God: poverty compelled me to theft." Therefore if we do not do these things that have been mentioned, and do those things that ought to be done, so that to the hungry we give not, as above, our bread, but our soul, that we may help him in whatever ways we can, and give not as out of sadness and necessity, but from the heart, receiving rather than giving the benefit—for "God loveth a cheerful giver"—so that we may refresh the hungry or afflicted soul not in part but fill it to the full: and teach with those who mourn, and mourn with those who mourn, then shall our light rise in darkness, He who says: "I am come a light into the world: that whosoever believeth in me should not abide in darkness, but should have the light of life".

For the lamp of our body is the eye: if it be single, our whole body shall be full of light. But if that which ought to be light has been turned into darkness, then the whole body shall be full of darkness, and it shall be said to us: "If the light that is in thee be darkness, how great is that darkness!" Let us consider by what virtues we may come to the light of God, so that darkness may be turned into noonday, and we may say with the bride: "Where thou feedest, where thou liest down, at noon?" (Verse 11.) And the Lord will give thee rest continually, and will fill thy soul with brightness, and will deliver thy bones. And thou shalt be like a watered garden, and like a fountain of waters whose waters shall not fail. The Septuagint: And thy God shall be with thee always: and thou shalt be filled as thy soul desires, and thy bones shall grow fat.

And they shall be like a drunken garden, and like a fountain to which water shall not fail. What is added in the Alexandrian copies at the beginning of this chapter: "And still my praise shall be in thee always"; and at the end: "and thy bones shall spring up like grass, and shall grow fat, and shall possess an inheritance unto generation and generations," is not found in the Hebrew, nor even in the corrected and true copies of the Septuagint: whence it must be marked with an obelus. When, he says, the darkness of thy breast, with the light arisen, shall have been dissolved, and for palpable night noonday shall have arisen, then thou shalt always have God dwelling in thee, who fills thy soul with brightness. Of these it is read in the Psalm: "With thee is the beginning in the day of thy power, in the brightness of the saints: from the womb before the daystar I begot thee".

Or thou shalt be filled with all that thy soul desires, because thou thyself hast satisfied a hungry soul, and thou shalt be able to say: "Bless the Lord, O my soul, who fills thy desire with good things"; and thy bones shall be delivered from destruction and everlasting fire. Or they shall grow fat, so as to recover their former stoutness, which had been wasted by hunger for the word of the Lord. This indeed we can understand also literally, of the resurrection of those bodies which are to fall, and of the virtues of the soul, as the saint speaks in the Psalm signifying this: "All my bones shall say, Lord, who is like unto thee?" Of these it is also written in Proverbs: "A good report maketh the bones fat". And to those to whom rewards are promised: "There shall be health to thy body, and a cure to thy bones". Of these again it is written: "The Lord keepeth all their bones, not one of them shall be broken".

On the contrary, he who is a sinner, and has lost the strength and virtue of his soul, laments and says: "Our bones are scattered by the side of hell". For we cannot believe that the bones of sinners are not in hell but beside hell. And "a good report maketh the bones fat", which does not pertain to the fattening of the body. There follows: "And thou shalt be," or "it shall be," that is, either thou, or thy soul, like a watered garden: of which it is written: "A fountain went out and watered the whole face of paradise", for which in the Hebrew "garden" is read. This fountain we can call none other than Him of whom it is said: "With thee is the fountain of life": who waters unceasingly His Church, and the hearts of all who believe. (Verse 12.) And the deserts of ages shall be built in thee: thou shalt raise up the foundations of generation and generation: and thou shalt be called the builder of hedges, turning the paths unto rest.

The Septuagint: And the deserts of old shall be built for thee, and thy foundations shall be everlasting unto generations and generations: and thou shalt be called the builder of the wall, and thou shalt make the paths to rest in the midst. Not only, he says, shall thy light rise up in darkness, and thy darkness shall be as noonday, and the Lord will give thee rest continually, and thou shalt be like a watered garden, and so forth; but there shall be built in thee those things which had long been deserts; and foundations of thy buildings shall be laid that will endure through many generations: so that thou thyself shalt be called the builder of hedges and walls; or there shall arise in thee one who shall be the builder of hedges, and turn the paths unto rest, or, according to the Septuagint, make the paths rest in the midst. These things the Jews and the friends of the mere letter of the West refer only to the restoration of the cities of Palestine.

And they contend that this either was done under Zerubbabel and Ezra and Nehemiah, or is to be done in the last time: and that for the restoration of Jerusalem and the cities round about, the deepest foundations are to be laid, and walls so high built, that no enemy could enter, and the entrance of all enemies into them be barred. But we, following the order of the explanation begun, say that the things which had been deserts among the Jews are being built in the Church, not for a short time, but forever, and that its foundations are to be raised up from both peoples, that is, in two generations. Whence the Apostle said: "As a wise architect, I have laid the foundation: another builds thereon: but let each one see what he builds thereon"; and in another place: "We are God's husbandry, God's building"; and again: "Built upon the foundation of the Apostles and Prophets"; and it is to be called, or he who is born in it, the builder of hedges.

Of whom we read in the Psalm: "A man is born in her: and the Most High Himself hath founded her". These hedges and walls—for this is what the Greek word φραγμοὺς signifies—Scripture records as surrounding fields and vineyards: "Thou hast brought a vineyard out of Egypt: thou hast cast out the nations, and planted it"; and shortly after: "Why hast thou broken down its wall: and all they who pass by the way pluck off its grapes"? And in this same Prophet: "A vineyard was made for the beloved"; describing which in beautiful language, he adds: "I built a tower, and surrounded it with a wall". Whoever breaks it down, according to Ecclesiastes, a serpent shall bite him. It was surrounded for this reason, that the access of all beasts into the vineyard of God might be barred.

Now this is the twisting serpent, who deceived Eve in paradise, who, because she had broken the commandments of God, therefore lay open to his bites, and heard from the Lord: "Thou shalt watch his head; and he shall watch thy heel". In the place where we, following the Septuagint, so as not to seem to innovate, since the testimony is well known, translated "and thou shalt be called the builder of hedges," in the Hebrew it is read, "and it shall be called in thee," Gider pheres גדר פרץ, which Aquila translated περιφράκτης διακοπῆς, which we may render according to sense as "one who sets himself against the raging wrath of God." Finally Symmachus translated it, "a wall set against one who is smiting", such as Moses and Aaron and Samuel were, who withstood the wrath of the Lord, and, as it were, by a wall built up, set a limit to His indignation.

This is also said to Jeremiah: "Do not run to meet the Lord, nor be willing to resist His wrath," and to shut in His indignation, as it were with a wall, by prayers: and to Moses, as though the Lord were being held back by him: "Let me alone," He said, "and I will strike this people". Such a builder, then, of walls and hedges will turn the paths unto rest, so that God may no longer rage so fiercely, but the Lord may be appeased toward them, and all the paths of indignation may come to rest. (Verse 13.) If thou turn away thy foot from the sabbath, from doing thy own will on my holy day, and call the sabbath delightful, and the holy of the Lord glorious, and glorify him, while thou dost not thy own ways, and thy own will is not found, that thou mayest speak a word. The Septuagint: If thou turn away thy foot on the sabbaths, that thou do not thy own wills on the holy day.

And thou shalt call the sabbaths delightful, holy to the Lord: thou shalt not lift thy foot to work, nor shalt thou speak a word in anger from thy mouth. To him to whom he had said above: Is not this rather the fast that I have chosen, loose the bonds of wickedness, undo the heavy burdens, and so forth: now also he promises rewards, if he shall be willing to do what follows; namely, that here he restrain his foot on the sabbaths, and not do his own wills, and not defile with his own wills the holy day of the Lord. It is commanded by the law that we should not do servile work on the sabbaths, that we should not kindle fire, that we should sit in one place, that we should do only those works which pertain to the salvation of the soul. But if we take this according to the letter, it cannot be fulfilled at all.

For who can do this, that sitting the whole day and night on the sabbath he should not depart from one place, nay, should not even move himself slightly; and if he should do so, would he be a transgressor of the law? From one commandment, therefore, which according to the letter is impossible, and the rest, we are compelled to understand spiritually, that we should not do servile work, and lose the freedom of the soul; for he who commits sin is the servant of sin: let us bear that burden on the sabbath, of the sort which he bore who says: My iniquities are gone up over my head; they are made heavy upon me as a heavy burden. Let not the iniquity that sits upon the talent of lead have power in us: let not the pleasure of the body and lust set us on fire: For all adulterers are as an oven their hearts (Osee vii); and the fiery darts of the devil are so that he may shoot in the dark the upright of heart.

It is also commanded to us that, having taken hold of the plough, we should not look back: that having climbed to the height of the roofs, we should by no means wish to come down to take up the garments of this age; but as we hear with Moses, But stand thou here with me; and let us sit with the Lord, ourselves in the way of this age, at the well of the Samaritan woman, thirsting for the conversion and salvation of those who err, that we may hear the Apostle admonishing, Stand firm and immovable, lest we suffer that which Judas the betrayer suffered, who lost the place of his ministry, and became a transgressor, and let us always remember his saying: If the spirit of him that has power ascend upon thee, leave not thy place. He who so rests on the sabbath, washes his hands among the innocent, and does not move his feet, so as to do his own wills: this man celebrates the delightful sabbaths of the Lord.

Which sabbath-keeping, according to the Epistle written to the Hebrews, is promised to us in the heavens, and glory is prepared: so that while we do not do our own ways on the sabbath, nor is our will found, that we may speak a word, that is, that we sin neither in deed nor in speech. Otherwise, if these things only are forbidden on the sabbath, then on the other six days liberty is granted to us to sin. But if it is foolish to believe this, it remains that the sabbath, which is interpreted "rest," should be sanctified by the faithful at all times, while they do the wills not of the flesh, but of the soul. And that which is joined, according to the Septuagint, "in anger from thy mouth," is not found in the Hebrew.

To this sabbath, to be celebrated with every festivity, the Saviour invites us in the Gospel, saying: Come to me, all you that labor and are burdened, and I will give you rest; for this is what ἀναπαύσω ὑμᾶς signifies, that is, that laying aside the burdens of sins, we may keep sabbath in Christ, and say: He has set my feet upon a rock, and avoid that which the saint says he almost suffered, But my feet were almost moved. (Verse 14.) Then shalt thou delight over the Lord: and I will lift thee up above the heights of the earth, and will feed thee with the inheritance of Jacob thy father. For the mouth of the Lord has spoken. The Septuagint: And thou shalt be confident over the Lord: and he shall lift thee up above the good things of the earth, and shall feed thee with the inheritance of Jacob thy father.

After thou shalt have called the sabbaths delightful, and shalt not move thy foot on the sabbath to do servile work; nor shalt thou have spoken a word, that is, thou shalt have kept silence always, and shalt have fulfilled what is commanded: Keep thy tongue from evil, and let thy lips not speak guile: then shalt thou delight in the Lord, and shalt see fulfilled in thee: Delight in the Lord, and he will give thee the petitions of thy heart. Or thou shalt have confidence in the Lord, according to that which is written: He who trusts in the Lord is blessed. And in Jeremiah: Blessed is the man who trusts in the Lord, and the Lord shall be his hope. And elsewhere: It is good to trust in the Lord, rather than to trust in man. And the Lord shall lift thee up and raise thee above the heights and good things of the earth. For the land of the meek, and the land of the living, is not below, but above.

Finally, to Lot fleeing from Sodom and Gomorrha in the valley it is said: Save thyself in the mountain. To which after he had come, the sun rose upon him in Segor. Of this land the Lord was speaking: Blessed are the meek, for they shall possess the land. And many other things which we have often used, of which this is one: Honor thy father and thy mother, that thou mayest be long-lived upon the land which the Lord thy God shall give thee. This cannot stand entirely according to the letter. For many honor their parents, and die quickly; and others, parricides, live a long time. But that we may know more certainly that this land is set on high, let us briefly recall the thirty-sixth psalm, in which it is written: The meek shall possess the land, and shall delight in the abundance of peace.

After which is added: Wait on the Lord, and keep his ways: and he will exalt thee, that thou mayest possess the land: of which in another place it is sung, The just shall possess the land, and shall dwell forever and ever upon it. This too is itself impossible. For if the earth shall pass away, how indeed shall the just dwell upon this, which we now inhabit, forever and ever? From which we learn that there is a land which is set on high. After which is added: And I will feed, or, the Lord will feed thee with the inheritance of Jacob thy father. For as he who has the faith of Abraham is called a son of Abraham: so he who tramples underfoot vices and sins is called a son of Jacob. And of whatever virtue one is an imitator, of that one he is also called a son.

But the good things of the land which is set on high, with which the son of Jacob is satisfied, are to be understood as those which eye has not seen, nor ear heard, nor have entered into the heart of man. Of which it is written in the Epistle to the Hebrews: For they that say these things, declare plainly that they seek a country: and if indeed they had been mindful of that from whence they came out, they had doubtless time to have returned. But now they desire a better country, that is to say, a heavenly Jerusalem. From which we learn that the fable of the thousand years, in which again marriages are promised, and foods, and the manner of earthly life, is to be rejected.

For if in the resurrection they neither marry, nor are given in marriage, but shall be like the angels; because they are the children of the resurrection; and the Apostle speaks of the belly and foods: Meat for the belly, and the belly for meats: but God shall destroy both it and them, how then shall we again seek, in an incorruptible and spiritual and immortal body, the vices of the former mortal and corrupted flesh? And we say this, not that we deny the substance of the glorified body, but that we entirely remove from it the former works, in those who are like the angels. Otherwise even in this present body, through fastings and continence, and perpetual chastity and charity, we imitate the angelic virtues, and yet we do not lose the substance of our bodies.

That we may believe all these things are to come, let us know they are promised by God, whose mouth has spoken: so that as we understand work in the hands, and walking in the feet, and generation in the belly, and hearing and sight in the ears and eyes: so we may understand speech in the mouth of God.

(Verses 1, 2.) Behold, the hand of the Lord is not shortened, that it cannot save: neither is his ear heavy, that it cannot hear; but your iniquities have divided between you and your God, and your sins have hid his face from you, that he should not hear. The Septuagint: Cannot the hand of the Lord save you: or is his ear heavy, that it cannot hear? But your sins separate between you and God: and because of your sins he has turned away his face from you, that he may not have mercy.

I could do the things which I have now said I would do: Thou shalt be confident in the Lord, and he shall raise thee up to the good things of the earth, and shall feed thee with the inheritance of Jacob thy father, and fulfill it even sooner. For neither is my hand shortened and contracted, so that I cannot stretch it forth to free my people: nor do I have deaf ears, so that I cannot hear. From this it is shown that the ears of the Lord, which hear the just, and do not hear sinners, are not at all like our ears, which hear equally a voice sent forth whether of righteousness or of unrighteousness; but your sins, he says, like a certain wall placed in the middle, divide you and God. Whence also the Saviour in his passion made both one, and breaking down the middle wall of partition, destroyed the enmity in his flesh, that those whom the wall of sins had divided, the blood of Christ might join together.

He who opened the gate of paradise, which had for a long time been shut, and quenched the fiery sword with his own blood, that the thief might hear: Today thou shalt be with me in paradise. And that which follows: And because of your sins he has turned away his face from you: that he might not hear, or that he might not have mercy, this shows, that he could not bear the stench of their sins and their iniquities, but turned away his face, lest he should behold their shame, and be compelled at once to strike. Whence the sinner, desiring to see the countenance of the Lord, says in the psalm: How long, O Lord, wilt thou forget me unto the end, how long dost thou turn away thy face from me? And elsewhere: Show us thy face, and we shall be saved. (Verses 3, 4.) For your hands are defiled with blood, and your fingers with iniquity: your lips have spoken lies, and your tongue utters iniquity.

There is none that calls for justice, neither is there any that judges truly: but they trust in nothing, and speak vanities. The Septuagint: For your hands are defiled with blood, and your fingers with sins. Your lips are defiled with iniquity, and your tongue meditates injustice. No one speaks just things: neither is there righteous judgment. They trust in vain things, and speak empty things, iniquities and sins. What he named above in general, he now sets forth in particulars. And it is to be considered that he by no means charges them with the idolatry with which they were held in the times of Isaiah, but with the shedding of blood, of which he had already said above: The just man perishes, and there is none that lays it to heart. And righteous men are taken away, and no man understands it in his heart. For the just man is taken away from before the face of iniquity: his burial shall be in peace, and he shall be taken out of the midst.

And although they themselves did not lay hands on the Lord the Saviour, yet crying out with a common voice of impiety: His blood be upon us and upon our children, they are guilty of his death, and have hands defiled. Of whom the same Prophet testifies, saying: When you lift up your hands to me, I will not hear. Your hands are full of blood. Their lips also and tongue speak iniquity and lies, so that instead of Christ they promise themselves Antichrist, and there is no one in the people who calls upon justice, and judges truth, or as it is in the Hebrew, faith, namely that he believe in Christ; but they trust in nothing, and speak vanities. Whence the Apostle commands, that we should not give heed to Jewish fables, and commandments of men that turn themselves away from the truth.

For truly they trust in nothing, and follow vanities, in which the prophecy of the Lord is fulfilled: I am come in my Father's name, and you have not received me: if another shall come in his own name, him you will receive. (Verses 5, 6.) They have conceived toil, and brought forth iniquity: and they have broken the eggs of asps, and woven the webs of spiders. He that shall eat of their eggs shall die: and that which is brought forth, breaketh out into a basilisk. Their webs shall not be for clothing, neither shall they cover themselves with their works. The Septuagint: For they travail in pain, and bring forth iniquity. They have broken the eggs of asps, and woven the web of a spider. And he who shall wish to eat of their eggs, breaking one, shall find it putrid, and in it a basilisk: their web shall not be for clothing, nor shall they be covered with their works.

Those who await the coming of Antichrist, and who cannot say: Through fear of thee, O Lord, we have conceived, and have been in pain, and have brought forth, we have wrought the spirit of thy salvation upon the earth, rightly conceive pain, and bring forth iniquity: so that what they seek with much labor, they receive in iniquity; concerning whose father it is written: He conceived pain, and brought forth iniquity. These break and burst asunder the eggs of asps, so as to receive their venom into their own mind, to whom in the Gospel it is said: Serpents, generation of vipers. And fittingly he set the eggs of asps and serpents, which eggs are said first to bring forth.

And because they not only retain the venoms of malice in their hearts, but meditate day and night, not in the law of the Lord, but muttering old wives' tales, therefore it is said: And they weave webs of spiders: by which they catch flies and gnats and small living creatures; but when by chance something greater comes upon them, it flies through as through empty air. He that shall eat, he says, of their eggs shall die, that is, he who shall have acquiesced in their counsels, just as Abel acquiesced to Cain saying, Let us go into the field, shall straightway be slain: or, as the Seventy have translated it: He who shall wish to eat of their eggs, breaking it, shall find it putrid, and in it a basilisk.

For he who at first sight, being deceived, has thought them to be the eggs of hens or of other birds, whose eating is harmless: if he breaks it before eating, he will at once know the most foul stench and putrid smell, and that which has been brought forth he will find to be a basilisk. Or, according to Symmachus and Theodotion, an asp. But Aquila set down "viper"; for which in the Hebrew is read EPHEE (אפעה). Whoever, therefore, hearing the Jewish traditions, wishes to prepare himself for the feasts of a thousand years, and, ensnared by the delights of the promises, stretches out his hand to the egg: if, before he eats—that is, before he acquiesces in the death-bearing words—he wishes first to consider what is said, and to examine each utterance, and weigh the reasoning of them, he will straightway find in them the Antichrist being prepared. Therefore, according to the Hebrew, he who eats of their eggs shall die.

But he who, according to the Septuagint, wishes first to break it, and to look more diligently and see what lies hidden, will find the most foul stench, and will find that the prince of all serpents, the devil, lies hidden in their traditions. And because he had said above: They weave webs of spiders, he explains that the weaving of these webs profits nothing. Their labor, he says, and all their teaching does not make the garment of Christ, nor the cloak by which the nakedness of the soul might be covered, but they sweat in vain toil, as this same Prophet says: This people honors me with their lips, but their heart is far from me. And in vain do they worship me, teaching the doctrines and precepts of men: which, following, they neglect the law of God. And that we may know that works are signified by the web, he added: Neither shall they be covered with their works.

Some expound this passage thus: They have split, or broken, the eggs of asps, that is, biting, they have abandoned all the sayings of the Prophets, and have woven for themselves the flattering utterances of the false prophets: of which whoever eats shall be struck by the serpent; and he will understand that the words of falsehood have profited him nothing. (Verses 7, 8.) Their works are useless works: and the work of iniquity is in their hands. Their feet run to evil: and they make haste to shed innocent blood. Their thoughts are useless thoughts: wasting and destruction are in their ways. They have not known the way of peace: and there is no judgment in their steps. Their paths are made crooked for them: whoever walks in them knows not peace. The Septuagint: For their works are works of iniquity: and their feet run to malice. Swift to shed innocent blood: and their thoughts are the thoughts of fools.

Destruction and misery are in their ways: and they have not known the way of peace: and there is no judgment in their ways. For their paths are perverse, which they pass through, and they know not peace. Therefore they are not covered by their works, because their works are works of iniquity, which the Apostle calls unfruitful, that is, having no fruit. And their feet run to evil, and they make haste to shed innocent blood. For this was their custom also in the slaying of the Prophets. To these Stephen spoke: For which of the Prophets have not your fathers persecuted? And the Lord in the Gospel: Jerusalem, Jerusalem, who killest the Prophets, and stonest them that are sent to thee; and again: Upon you shall come all the righteous blood that has been shed upon the earth, from the blood of the righteous Abel unto the blood of Zacharias the son of Barachias, whom you slew between the temple and the altar.

Whence also above it is said to them: For your hands are defiled with blood: and your tongue speaks iniquity. And through this meditation of cruelty and blasphemy, they arrived at the killing of the Lord. Just as Judas, through the path of avarice, came to homicide, or rather to sacrilege joined with avarice. And what follows: Their thoughts are the thoughts of fools: destruction and unhappiness are in their ways, and they have not known the way of peace. And above: Their feet are swift to shed blood, the Apostle placed this in Romans: which many, not knowing, think is taken from the thirteenth psalm, which verses were added in the Vulgate edition, and are not found in the Hebrew. Of which we have spoken more fully in the preface of this volume. Rightly, however, they were ignorant of the way of peace, who refused to receive its author. For he himself is our peace, who speaks to the Apostles: My peace I give you, my peace I leave with you.

And to Jerusalem: If you had known the things that are to your peace, for the days shall come upon you, and your enemies shall surround you with a rampart, and besiege you, and dash your children to the ground. But they who did not receive peace, consequently have no judgment in their ways either. That one of whom it was said above: Behold my servant whom I have chosen, my beloved in whom my soul is well pleased, he shall bring forth judgment to the Gentiles. It follows: Their ways are perverse, not by nature, but by their own will. For whatever is perverted and made crooked is twisted from the straight into the crooked. All the teaching of the Pharisees is a subversion of truth, walking in which one not only does not find peace; but does not even know it, so as to know what he ought to seek. Therefore judgment is far from us, and justice does not overtake us. We have waited for light, and behold darkness: for brightness, and we have walked in darkness.

We have groped for the wall like the blind: and as if without eyes we have felt our way: we have stumbled at noon as if in darkness: in dark places as dead men. We shall all roar like bears: and moan like mourning doves. We have waited for judgment, and it comes not: for salvation, and it is far from us. The Septuagint: Therefore judgment has withdrawn from them: and justice has not overtaken them. When they expected light, darkness was made for them. Waiting for it, they shall walk in darkness: they shall grope like the blind for the wall: and as if not having eyes they shall feel their way. They shall fall at noon, as in the middle of the night: they shall groan as though dying: like a bear, and like doves they shall walk together. We have waited for judgment, and it is not: salvation has withdrawn far from us.

After the accusation of the people of the Jews, the Prophet responds in their person, saying what those repenting ought to say, if indeed they wish to receive healing after their wounds. And I wonder why the Seventy have woven this as though the Prophet were speaking about them, and not as though they themselves were responding in words to the Prophet, since in what follows, overcome by the truth, they have done this very thing, saying: We have waited for judgment, and it is not; salvation has withdrawn far from us. For our iniquity is great in your sight; and our sins have stood against us, and so on. In the present time, therefore, all these things are fulfilled. Judgment is removed far from the Jews, which has been announced to the Gentiles. And justice does not overtake them, which has been apprehended by the nations. They waited for light, saying: Send forth your light and your truth, which had been promised to them through the Prophets, and they were seized by the darkness of error.

They waited for brightness; and they walked in darkness. Thus they groped the holy Scriptures like the blind feeling a wall, seeking in them only the words and the leaves, not the sense and fruit which is contained in the letters. Then he joins and says: We have stumbled, or fallen, at noon as if in darkness: in dark places, as dead men. For in the whole world, while the sun of justice shines brightly, they linger in darkness, namely as dead in sin. We shall roar, he says, like bears, and moan like mourning doves; that they may be both cruel and wretched: fierce and savage toward the humble and subject; timid and trembling before those who are stronger, whom they dread like hawks. We read also in another place: Like a bear robbed of her cubs. And in Daniel, a bloody kingdom in which there are three rows of teeth is compared to a most ferocious bear. And like doves moaning, without sense or understanding of the Scriptures, only meditating on words which they chant from memory.

But how like doves, of whom it is written: Ephraim is like a dove without sense (Hosea vii, 11); and how in the Gospel, against the malice of serpents, the simplicity of doves is set forth: so in the present place, simplicity without prudence, which is close to folly, is shown in the mere meditation of words. They shall wait for judgment, and it shall not be: for salvation, it is understood, they shall wait, and it shall not be, because it has migrated far off to the Gentiles. In which it must be noted, that all things are said in the future tense, so that what the Jews now endure might be indicated. Our iniquities have multiplied before you, and our sins have answered against us: for our crimes are with us, and we have acknowledged our iniquities. To sin and to lie against the Lord: and we have turned away, that we might not go after the back of our Lord, to speak calumny, and we have conceived rebellion, and have spoken from the heart words of falsehood.

And judgment is turned back, and justice has stood far off, because truth has fallen in the street, and equity could not enter in. And truth is fallen into oblivion, and he who departed from evil lay open to plunder. The Septuagint: For our iniquity is great before you, and our sins have stood against us. For our iniquities are within us, and we have known our injustices. We have acted impiously, and have lied, and have withdrawn from our God. We have spoken iniquitous things, and have been disobedient. We have conceived and meditated in our hearts iniquitous words. And we have withdrawn from judgment, and justice has stood far off, because truth has been consumed in their ways, and they could not pass through by the straight path. And truth has been taken away: and they have turned their mind so as not to understand.

He gives the reasons why they roared like bears, and moaned like doves; why they waited for judgment which was not, for salvation which passed over to the Gentiles: because, he says, our iniquities have multiplied before you: from which for a long time you had turned your face, so as not to see them, so as not to strike. And our sins have answered against us, that we might receive what we deserved. And our crimes are with us: and we have acknowledged our iniquities, which for a long time we perpetrated thinking them to be righteousness. But what are the iniquities? To sin and to lie against God: or, as Aquila translated according to the Hebrew, to deny God: which refers to the Savior. And we have abandoned, they say, our God, saying: We know that God spoke to Moses: but as for this man, we know not whence he is, so as to speak calumny. As though, if he were of God, he would not break the Sabbath.

And: He casts out demons by Beelzebub, prince of demons. And rebellion, which is more significantly called in Greek ἀπόστασις (apostasy), when one denies God and is convicted of prevarication. We have conceived and spoken from the heart words of falsehood, despising the law of God, and following the traditions of men: which they call δευτερώσεις, and which we have feigned in our heart: And judgment is turned back, and justice has stood far off. For what part has justice with iniquity? What agreement has Christ with Belial? Justice has stood among the Gentiles, and has withdrawn from us, because truth has fallen in the street. For broad and spacious is the way that leads to death: because they were unwilling to enter the narrow way, in which truth abides. And truth is fallen into oblivion, of which it is written: Truth has sprung up from the earth, and justice has looked down from heaven. In which it is to be noted that truth is frequently named, so that the person of Christ might be shown, whom, having deserted, they followed falsehood.

And he who departed from evil lay open to plunder. Although this seems obscure, it can be explained thus: while we were fashioning falsehood from our own heart and abandoning the law of God, justice stood far off, and truth fell in the streets, and equity could not enter unto us, and the Son of God, who is truth, was forgotten: to such a degree that whoever began to depart from the traditions of the Jews was immediately exposed to plots and persecutions; so that they expelled from the synagogues the man blind from birth, who had received his sight.

And after the resurrection of the Lord the Savior, all who believed in him were persecuted and stripped bare; to whom, from the whole world of the Gentiles, the ministries of the Church directed offerings, which they distributed through the hands of the Apostles. (Verses 16, 17.) And the Lord saw, and evil appeared in his eyes; because there is no judgment, and he saw that there was no man, and he was astonished, because there is none to meet him. And his own arm brought salvation to him: and his justice itself upheld him. He put on justice as a breastplate, and a helmet of salvation upon his head. He put on garments of vengeance, and was covered as with a cloak of zeal. As for retribution, so as recompense of indignation to his enemies, and requital to his foes, he will render recompense to the islands. The Septuagint: The Lord saw, and it did not please him: because there was no judgment. And he saw, and there was no man.

And he considered, and there was none to defend. And he took vengeance on them with his arm, and sustained them with mercy. And he put on justice as a breastplate, and set the helmet of salvation on his head. And he was clothed about with the garment of vengeance, and with a cloak, as one repaying reproach in vengeance to his adversaries. Up to this point the prophetic discourse has been woven in the person of the people: now the prophet speaks in his own person. While they were saying these things, the Lord saw that they were boasting of repentance with their mouth, and not doing it in their heart, and it did not please him. For he sought in them the truth of judgment, which had been transferred to the Gentiles, and did not find it. He desired some righteous man, who might be able to meet him in his wrath, and did not find one; he who had also said above: I came, and there was no man: I called, and there was none to hear.

And because among them, persisting in wickedness, not even one just man was found: but all have turned aside, together they have become useless: and there is none that does good, not even one, by his own arm and justice, or mercy, he strengthened himself, so that whoever wished to be converted from error, might be preserved not by their own merit, but by God's clemency. Then he put on the breastplate of justice, and the helmet of salvation, and the garments of vengeance, and was wrapped in a cloak of zeal; and thus armed he went forth to war, to render vengeance to his enemies: doubtless meaning the Jews, persisting in blasphemies; and requital to his foes, when the Roman army surrounded them. In their conquering, the Lord is shown to have fought. Paul used this testimony, writing to the Ephesians: wishing us to be clothed with the armor of Christ, whereby we might be able to resist the fiery darts of the devil.

And what is not found in the Seventy Interpreters: He will render recompense to the islands, signifies the cities of Judea, which the Roman army laid waste. For above also the Lord speaks through the Prophet to the inhabitants of the island, that is, Jerusalem. (Verses 19, 20.) And they shall fear the name of the Lord from the West, and his glory from the rising of the sun: when he shall come like a violent river, which the spirit of the Lord drives: and the redeemer shall come to Sion, and to those who return from iniquity in Jacob, says the Lord. This is my covenant with them, says the Lord: My spirit which is in you, and my words which I have put in your mouth, shall not depart from your mouth, nor from the mouth of your seed's seed, says the Lord: from now and forevermore. The Septuagint: And they that are from the West shall fear the name of the Lord, and they that are from the rising of the sun, his illustrious name.

For the wrath of the Lord shall come like a violent river, it shall come with fury, and there shall come from Sion one who shall deliver. And he shall turn away impieties from Jacob, and this shall be to them a testament from me, says the Lord. My spirit which is in you, and my words which I have given in your mouth, shall not fail from your mouth, nor from the mouth of your seed, says the Lord, from now and forever.

After the Lord shall have been clothed with the breastplate of justice, and the helmet of salvation, and the garments of vengeance, and the cloak of zeal, for battle, and shall have come to the contest and to vengeance, to repay his foes, and render to his enemies, and to overturn their islands, that is, their cities and villages, then the foreigners who shall come from the West and the East, that they may rest in the bosom of Abraham, of whom it was also said above: Behold, these shall come from afar, some from the West, and some from the North, and some from the land of the Persians, shall fear the Lord, with that fear which is the beginning of wisdom. Of which we read in many places, of which let us set down a few: Blessed is the man who fears the Lord. And: There is no want to those who fear him. And: The fear of the Lord is discipline and wisdom. And: Come, children, hear me: I will teach you the fear of the Lord.

And: Blessed is the man who fears the Lord. And: The fear of the Lord adds days. But that, Israel being rejected, the multitude of the Gentiles should succeed, the prophet Malachi teaches more fully, in whom it is said to the Jews: My will is not in you, says the Lord Almighty. And I will not accept a sacrifice from your hands. And again concerning the multitude of the nations: For from the rising of the sun even to its setting, my name has been glorified among the Gentiles. Of this blessedness he is the author, who shall come like a violent river, which the spirit of the Lord drives. Or, as Aquila translated, like a narrow river, the spirit of the Lord is its seal. Or Theodotion, like a river assailing, the spirit of the Lord has been sealed. In this testimony, therefore, which the Seventy translated, like a violent river, the wrath of the Lord shall come with fury, the last part is not found in the Hebrew.

For in the promises of God, wrath and fury are not to be set down: since in the things which follow, there is blessedness for the future, and threat and punishment for sinners. But according to Aquila and Theodotion, the spirit of the Lord who has been sealed in Christ, confirms that example which is read in John the Evangelist: For him God the Father has sealed; of whom it was already said before: A rod shall come forth from the root of Jesse, and a flower shall rise from his root, and the Spirit of the Lord shall rest upon him, the spirit of wisdom and understanding, the spirit of counsel and might, the spirit of knowledge and piety, and he has filled him with the spirit of the fear of the Lord. Whence we also say: The light of your countenance, O Lord, is sealed upon us. And in Ezekiel, the foreheads of the groaning men are marked with the impression of THAV, the Hebrew letter which among them is the last.

But if we wish to know how the Holy Spirit is a violent river, let us read again the Acts of the Apostles, in which it is written: And when they were gathered together, suddenly there came a sound from heaven as of a violent wind, and it filled the whole house where they were sitting. And there appeared to them divided tongues as of fire: and it sat upon each of them. And they were all filled with the Holy Spirit. It follows: The redeemer shall come to Sion: and to those who return from iniquity in Jacob, says the Lord. For which the Seventy translated: There shall come out of Sion one who shall deliver: and turn away impieties from Jacob. If, then, one shall come from Sion, who shall turn away impieties from Jacob, we understand this, that a man was born in Sion, and the Most High founded it, who turns away the crimes of Jacob.

But if the redeemer shall come to Sion, and to those who return from iniquity in Jacob, says the Lord, the sense is this: Christ shall come who will redeem Sion by his blood. Or, according to the Hebrew property, he who is near of kin to Sion, and is born of the stock of Israel, for this is what GOEL (גואל) means, that is, ἀγχιστεύς. And lest we think that all Sion is redeemed and freed from crimes, she who is stained with the blood of the Lord, he added significantly: to those who return from iniquity, if they be willing to do penance, in whom the prayer of the Lord might be fulfilled: Father, forgive them, for they know not what they do. Of these, then, is the redemption in Sion: and the kinsman, to those who have received him from Jacob, and he promises to them, saying: This is my covenant with them, or pact, as all others translated, or testament, as the Seventy set it down.

But what this covenant, pact, and testament is, the following verse shows: My spirit, he says, which is in you, and my words which I have put in your mouth, shall not depart from your mouth, nor from the mouth of your seed, from now and forevermore. Which is said either to Isaiah, as it seems to me, or to the Lord, as many suppose. To Isaiah, then, the order connects thus: This is the everlasting covenant of the Gospel, that my spirit which is in you, and my words which I have put in your mouth, through which you foretell things to come, shall not depart from your mouth, nor from the mouth of your children and grandchildren, and of your seed, so that the whole succession of generation might be shown: namely, that the grace of the Prophets should come into the Apostles, and through them to those from Israel who will believe through the Apostles.

And what he adds: From now and forevermore, agrees with that testimony: Heaven and earth shall pass away: but my words shall not pass away. This passage Paul, expounding diligently, writes to the Romans, that there is no distinction between Jew and Greek, but the same Lord of all, rich unto all who call upon him; and that the Gentiles did not so believe, that Israel should be utterly cast out. For I also, he says, am an Israelite, of the seed of Abraham, of the tribe of Benjamin. God has not cast away his people whom he foreknew. And after a little, having set forth the example of Elijah, seeking of the Lord because he alone was left, and hearing from him that the Lord had reserved to himself seven thousand men, who had not bowed the knee before Baal, he adds: So then at this present time also there is a remnant according to the election of grace saved. But if by grace, then it is no more of works; otherwise grace is no more grace. What then?

That which Israel sought, this he has obtained: but the election has obtained it: and the rest have been blinded. And if they abide not in unbelief, they shall be grafted in. For God, he says, is able to graft them in again, not contrary to nature from the wild olive, as the multitude of the Gentiles has been grafted in; but according to nature into the good, that is, their own olive tree. And at the end he set this down, so as to arrive at the present chapter: For I would not, brethren, have you ignorant of this mystery, lest you be wise in your own conceits. That blindness in part has happened to Israel, until the fullness of the Gentiles should come in: and so all Israel should be saved, as it is written: There shall come out of Sion one who shall deliver, and shall turn away impieties from Jacob, and this shall be my covenant to them, when I shall have taken away their sins.

We have therefore pursued this matter at greater length here, that whatever promises we have both read, and are about to declare, concerning Sion and Jerusalem, we may understand to be spoken not generally to all the Jews, but specially to those who have been chosen out of Israel in the Apostles and through the Apostles.

How many mysteries the number seventeen, to which the book of Explanations on Isaiah has now arrived, contains in the sacred Scriptures, I would wish, O virgin of Christ Eustochium, to run through in a brief discourse. But since I cannot say everything in every place, I note this in passing: that the psalm which is inscribed with the title of this number belongs to the servant of the Lord, David, and he sang the words of the Canticle on the day on which the Lord delivered him from the hand of all his enemies and from the hand of Saul, and he said: I will love thee, O Lord, my strength, and the rest. Now that servant is he to whom the Father speaks in Isaiah: It is a great thing for thee to be called my servant. And in another place: Behold my servant whom I have chosen, my beloved in whom my soul is well pleased.

This servant, whose name is interpreted "strong of hand," on the day on which the Lord delivered him from the hand of Saul; which in our tongue means "sought out," or "hell," and from all his enemies, who cried out against him: Crucify, crucify such a one, when he ascended victorious to the Father in tawny garments from Bosra, spoke among other words of triumph: Deliver me from the contradictions of the people: thou shalt make me the head of the Gentiles. A people whom I have not known has served me: at the hearing of the ear they have obeyed me. And again concerning the people of the Jews: Strange children have lied to me: strange children have grown old, and have halted from their paths; to whom also Elijah had said: How long do you halt between two sides? Finally—what is rarely found elsewhere—this psalm is contained both in the history of Samuel and in the history of Chronicles.

Which, advancing by increments from one number to the seventh, comes to the twenty-eighth psalm, which is itself inscribed of David, at the completion of the tabernacle, when the angels are commanded: Bring to the Lord, O sons of God: bring to the Lord the sons of rams. And all the mysteries of saving baptism and of the Church are sung together: The voice of the Lord is upon the waters: the God of majesty has thundered: the Lord is upon many waters, the voice of the Lord in power: and a little after: The voice of the Lord preparing the hinds, and he will reveal the thick woods, and in his temple all shall say glory. And that he might show the multitude of believers, he added: The Lord makes the flood to dwell: and the Lord shall sit king forever. And again, with an eighth added to the sacrament, he makes the thirty-sixth psalm alphabetical, whose beginning is: Be not emulous of evildoers, neither be envious of them that do iniquity.

The exposition of which belongs not to this preface but to its own volume. And that we may not now repeat many things, growing by increases up to the fifteenth number, in which are the psalms of the steps, and the vessel of election tarries with Peter at Jerusalem, it makes the hundred and twentieth number, which was of the first believing in Christ. Who were believers and ascended with the Apostles into the upper room of faith: and the Holy Spirit descended upon them. And afterward, proceeding in order up to the number seventeen, and possessing evangelical dignity, at the Lord's command from the right side, it catches a hundred and fifty-three great fish, and places them in the Church. To whom also now the prophet Isaiah speaks.

(Verse 1.) Arise, be enlightened: for thy light is come, and the glory of the Lord is risen upon thee. For behold darkness shall cover the earth, and a mist the peoples: but the Lord shall arise upon thee, and his glory shall be seen upon thee.

And the Gentiles shall walk in thy light, and kings in the brightness of thy rising. The Septuagint: Be enlightened, be enlightened, O Jerusalem, for thy light is come, and the glory of the Lord is risen upon thee. Behold darkness shall cover the earth; and a mist upon the nations. But the Lord shall appear upon thee, and his glory shall be seen upon thee. And the Gentiles shall walk in thy light, and kings in thy brightness. What seemed good to us concerning the restoration of Sion and Jerusalem, and all the things which are promised to her by prophetic prediction, we discussed more fully at the end of the previous book, where we interpreted what that little verse signified: The redeemer shall come to Sion, and to those who return from iniquity in Jacob. Now it must be touched upon briefly what most people think about this passage, so that, once the error is perceived, we may more easily embrace the truth.

The Jews and our semi-Jews, who look forward to a golden and bejeweled Jerusalem from heaven, contend that these things will come to pass in the thousand-year kingdom, when all the nations shall serve Israel, and the camels of Midian and Epha coming from Sheba shall bring gold and frankincense, and all the flocks of Kedar shall be gathered, and the rams of Nebajoth shall come, to be sacrificed upon the altar of the temple which will have been built. Concerning the islands too, and especially the ships of Tarshish, that her daughters will fly like doves, bringing riches of gold and silver: and that the walls of Jerusalem will be built by foreigners, over whom the kings of the nations will preside, and that the gates of the city will always be open, so that day and night the riches of Jerusalem and the sacrificial victims may be brought in.

And that all things which are desolate shall be built with the cypress, and the pine, and the cedar cut down from Lebanon: especially the Temple of the Lord, in which there shall be everlasting joy: so that it shall suck the milk of the nations, and eat the riches of kings, and there shall be such an abundance of all things, that instead of brass they shall have gold, instead of iron silver, instead of wood, brass, instead of stones, iron. Its princes also shall enjoy eternal peace, and bishops shall preside over the peoples in justice, and moreover the gates shall be carved. And, what is greater than these things, instead of the sun and the moon, the Lord himself shall shine with everlasting light: and instead of one man she shall have a thousand mighty men, and instead of little ones, she shall possess the strongest nations.

These things they say, who desire earthly pleasures, and seek the beauty of wives, and a multitude of children, whose god is their belly, and whose glory is in their shame (Philipp. Iii), and whoever follows their error confesses himself, under the Christian name, to be like the Jews. Others, however, assert that all these things were promised carnally to the Jews, if they had received him who says in the Gospel: I am the light of the world, which enlightens every man coming into the world, so that, just as sacrifices were granted to the people of Israel, not because they were good in themselves, but lest they be offered to demons: so also to the gluttonous Jews, who sought nothing but bodily pleasures, the Lord promises these things, that at least for the sake of carnal desires and abundance of wealth they might receive the Son of God; but since they did not receive him, the promises also became void.

Finally, to the Canaanite woman pleading for her daughter, he said: I was not sent but to the lost sheep of the house of Israel. And to his disciples: Go not into the way of the Gentiles, and enter not into the cities of the Samaritans: but go rather to the lost sheep of the house of Israel. For which reason also the Apostles first announced the Lord in the synagogues; and when they did not receive the Gospel, they say to them: To you indeed it was necessary that the word should be preached: but because you have not received salvation, behold we turn to the Gentiles. For the light came into the world: and the Jews loved darkness rather. Whence also the Lord, when he had wept over Jerusalem, added: If thou also hadst known the things that are for thy peace.

Which because she did not receive, he added: But now the days shall come upon thee: and thy enemies shall surround thee with a rampart: and shall straiten thee, and level thee to the ground, with thy children. But let us, according to the former sense, believe that all these things are said to the Church: which was first gathered from the Jewish people, and transmitted through the Apostles to the Gentiles the light which had arisen over her. To her it is said: Arise, be enlightened; so that she who fell among the unbelieving may arise among the faithful: she who fell in the synagogues, may arise in the churches: and after she has arisen, may be enlightened, so that they may in no wise have the darkness of error. For thy light is come, he says, which all the prophets promised, which thou didst constantly await.

And the glory of the Lord, which once was over the tabernacle and his Temple, has risen upon thee: of which it is said: Glorious things are said of thee, O city of God. For behold darkness shall cover the earth, those who savor earthly things; and a mist the peoples, or as it is read in the Hebrew: the tribes: which properly refers to the Jews, of whom it is written in another psalm: For thither went up the tribes, the tribes of the Lord, the testimony of Israel. But the Lord shall arise upon thee, the sun of righteousness, and his glory shall be seen upon thee: of which it is written: And we saw his glory, the glory as of the only-begotten of the Father, full of grace and truth. And the Gentiles shall walk in thy light. We all shall walk in the light of the Apostles, which shines in the world, and the darkness did not comprehend it.

And kings, he says, in the brightness of thy rising: when first thou wast born in Christ. Which is fulfilled both spiritually and carnally, so that kings, whose heart is in the hand of the Lord, and over whom sin does not reign in their mortal body, may walk in the brightness of the rising Church, or in him who arose in the Church, and bend their necks in faith to the true king Christ. Which we see fulfilled daily, when, the error of idolatry being removed and the rage of persecution ceasing, Roman princes pass over to the faith and tranquility of Christ. There are those who look for all these things which we mention as fulfilled, in part, from the first coming of the Savior up to the consummation of the world, and in part still to be fulfilled, in a future time, when, the fullness of the Gentiles having entered in, all Israel shall be saved.

Whose opinion is by no means to be rejected, provided we understand that these things are to be fulfilled spiritually, and not carnally. Further, the name "Jerusalem" and "of the Gentiles," which is here placed by the Seventy, is not found in the Hebrew, and should be marked with an obelus, against those who assert that everything which is said, is said to Jerusalem.

Verse 4. Lift up thy eyes round about, and see: all these are gathered together, they are come to thee: thy sons shall come from afar, and thy daughters shall rise up at thy side. The Septuagint: Lift up thy eyes round about, and see all thy children gathered together. All thy sons are come from afar, and thy daughters shall be carried upon shoulders. This is said to the Church, which was first gathered as Zion through the Apostles, of whom we also read in the Acts of the Apostles, that from the whole world there were religious men in Jerusalem, who received the word of God, and either heard others speaking in the tongues of their own and of foreign nations, or themselves spoke to the others. And it is commanded that they lift up their eyes round about; which the Lord also commanded the Apostles, saying: Lift up your eyes, and see, for the fields are already white for the harvest.

For out of Sion, and by no means out of Mount Sinai, shall the law go forth, and the word of the Lord from Jerusalem. It is commanded that with eyes lifted up she should see her children gathered together, who come from afar. To her it is also said in another place: Rejoice greatly, O daughter of Sion, proclaim, O daughter of Jerusalem: Behold I come, and I will dwell in the midst of thee, saith the Lord; and, Many nations shall come to the Lord: and they shall be to me a people, and I will be to them a God. But we are the sons who have come from afar to the Lord, once strangers to the Testament of God and to his promises, having no hope, and without God in the world. But what does the Apostle say? You who were sometime afar off, are now made near.

And what follows: And thy daughters shall rise up at thy side, signifies this, that souls, nursing in Christ, and in the baptism of little ones, of whom also Peter the apostle speaks, As newborn babes, desire the reasonable milk without guile, may suck the milk of the apostles. To these little ones and nursing babes Paul also spoke: My little children, of whom I am in labor again, until Christ be formed in you. And in another place: As a nurse cherishing her children, so, desiring you, we long to impart to you not only the Gospel of Christ, but also our own souls.

But as to what is said in the Septuagint instead of this, "thy daughters shall be carried upon shoulders," this must be attended to more carefully. For the sons, who are strong, themselves come from afar of their own accord, and are gathered together to the faith of the Lord. But the daughters, who are weaker, and by reason of the frailty of their sex have not yet come to perfect manhood, are carried on the shoulders of the Apostles, that they may be brought to the bosoms of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. (Verse 5.) Then shalt thou see, and abound, and thy heart shall marvel and be enlarged: when the multitude of the sea shall be converted to thee, the strength of the Gentiles shall come to thee. LXX: Then shalt thou see, and fear, and be astonished in heart: because the riches of the sea, and of the Gentiles, and of the peoples shall be transferred unto thee.

When thou shalt have lifted up thine eyes, and shalt behold thy sons and daughters coming swiftly of their own accord, or borne on the shoulders of the saints, then thou shalt rejoice, and shalt be flooded with sudden waters, after the manner of rivers, and thy heart shall marvel, and be astonished, nay, shall be enlarged, hearing the Apostle say: My mouth is open unto you, O Corinthians. And again: Be ye enlarged, we also; lest through straitness of breast you should not be able to have Christ as your guest, who says in the Gospel: I and the Father will come, and will make our abode with him. But that which is added in the LXX, "and thou shalt fear," is not found in the Hebrew. Unless perhaps after the greatness of the joy fear steals in, lest so great a good should be lost.

Or is it not joy, to behold riches, and the multitude of the sea being transferred and converted to oneself, and the strength of the Gentiles coming to oneself, so that whatsoever is in the world and in the whole earth becomes one's own; and, the faith of the Gentiles being strengthened, to say: I can do all things in him who strengthens me, Jesus Christ? (Verses 6, 7.) The multitude of camels shall cover thee, the dromedaries of Midian and Ephah: all they from Sheba shall come, bringing gold and frankincense, and showing forth praise to the Lord. All the flocks of Kedar shall be gathered together unto thee: the rams of Nebaioth shall minister unto thee: they shall be offered upon my acceptable altar: and I will glorify the house of my majesty. LXX: And there shall come unto thee flocks of camels, and camels of Midian and Gephar shall cover thee: all they from Sheba shall come, bringing gold and frankincense: and they shall announce the salvation of the Lord.

All the sheep of Kedar shall be gathered together unto thee, the rams of Nebaioth shall come, and shall be offered acceptable upon my altar: and the house of my prayer shall be glorified. After the riches of the sea and the strength of the Gentiles, flocks also of camels, and dromedaries of Midian and Ephah are promised to Jerusalem, all of which shall come from Sheba, bearing gold and frankincense: and, what is greater than these, announcing the salvation of the Lord. All the sheep of Kedar also shall be gathered together to the Church, and the rams of Nebaioth shall come, or as it is written in the Hebrew, shall minister, and shall be offered, or shall offer victims upon the altar of the Lord, that his house may become renowned. Midian and Ephah are regions across Arabia, fertile in camels, and the whole province is called by that name because "thou wast forsaken," verse 16.

Sheba, whence also was the queen of Sheba, who came to hear the wisdom of Solomon: and she herself bringing gold and frankincense, bearing many things to the peaceable king, and receiving greater things from him. But Kedar is the region of the Saracens, who in Scripture are called Ishmaelites. And Nebaioth is one of the sons of Ishmael, from whose names the wilderness is called, which, lacking in crops, is full of flocks. Through the familiar names, then, of the barbarian nations, which are neighbors to Israel, the conversion of the whole world is proclaimed. For Midian in this place is interpreted "iniquity." Ephah, "dissolved," or "pouring out." Sheba, "conversion," or "captivity." Kedar, "darkness." Nebaioth, "prophecy." Therefore the flocks of camels, loosed from the bonds of iniquity, and pouring out their souls to God, shall cover Jerusalem with gifts, and all shall come from captivity, and by their conversion, bringing the gold of faith, and the frankincense of sacrifice.

And by these gifts, being by no means content with their own salvation, they shall advance so far as even to preach the salvation of God to others. That rich man, who like a camel was carrying in the Gospel the weights of riches, and was a camel, was unwilling to hear the counsels of the Lord, nor to be unburdened, so that, the load being cast off, he might fly to heaven on the wings of a dove; therefore he went away sorrowful. And of a camel of this kind the Savior speaks: It is easier for a camel to pass through the eye of a needle, than for a rich man to enter into the kingdom of heaven. He set forth the difficulty of the thing, not its impossibility. Indeed, of blessed memory, thy mother Paula, and thy brother Pammachius, passed through the eye of a needle, that is, through the narrow and strait way that leads to life, into the kingdoms of heaven, leaving behind the broad way with its burdens, which leads to hell.

Nay rather, whatsoever they had, they carried into the gifts of the Lord, fulfilling that which is written: The redemption of a man's soul is his own riches. For the things that are impossible with men are possible with God. Having in their gifts the principal things, gold in understanding and frankincense of the sweetest odor, and saying: Let my prayer be directed as incense in thy sight. And: We are the good odor of Christ in every place; by the example of their virtue, they daily announce the salvation of the Lord, that all the sheep of Kedar may be gathered together in the Church, and pass from the darkness of error to the light.

And the rams of the Prophets, of whom it is sung in the twenty-eighth psalm: Bring to the Lord, ye sons of God, bring to the Lord the young of the rams, let them come and be offered, or according to Theodotion, let them offer themselves as a sacrifice to the Lord, and become acceptable victims, that the Church of Christ may be glorified. Of sheep of this kind the Savior spoke to his disciples: Go to the lost sheep of the house of Israel. And again: My sheep hear my voice. And in Ezekiel more fully: Behold I will seek my sheep, and will visit them: as a shepherd seeks his flock. Thus says the Lord: I will seek that which was lost, and will bring back that which strayed, and will bind up that which was broken, and will strengthen that which was weak, and will keep that which was strong, and will feed them with judgment.

And that we might know who the sheep were, he sets it forth more plainly: And ye shall know that I am the Lord your God; and this is my people the house of Israel, says the Lord God: and ye are my sheep, and all of you are the sheep of my flock, and I am the Lord your God. If therefore anyone among the Gentiles is rich, let him be saved as a camel, not without gifts and offerings, so that he may be able to preach the word of the Lord. If anyone has the simplicity of sheep and the authority of rams, let him ascend or be offered on the altar of the Lord by those who prevail, that his house may be glorified. But that which we noted as written in the Hebrew: "The rams of Nebaioth shall minister unto thee, and shall offer upon my acceptable altar," is properly understood of those who, chosen from the Gentiles for the priesthood, are ministers of the Savior.

But if anyone is contentious, and carnally contends about these promises, let us answer him: We have no such custom, neither the Church of God. And let us say this also, that even if these things were promised carnally to the Jews, yet they were promised under a condition, namely, that if they had received their own light, which had been sent to them, then these things also would have followed; that is, through the desire of gold, and abundance of wealth, and of carnal things, by whose enticements this nation was always captivated, they would have received to themselves the Son of God who was sent; whom, because they did not receive, all things have been taken away, and the inheritance restored to those who receive spiritually. (Verses 8, 9.) Who are these, that fly as clouds, and as doves to their windows?

For the isles wait for me, and the ships of the sea in the beginning, that I may bring thy sons from afar; their silver and their gold with them, to the name of the Lord thy God, and to the Holy One of Israel, because he has glorified thee. LXX: Who are these that fly as clouds, and as doves with their young to me? The isles have waited for me, and the ships of Tarshish among the first, that they may bring thy sons from afar, and their silver and gold with them, for the sake of the holy name of the Lord: and because the Holy One of Israel has been glorified. Because the Lord entered Egypt upon a light cloud, and commanded the clouds of the Prophets that they should not rain a shower upon Israel, unto whom the truth of God has come, the Church marvels—gathered first from the people of the Circumcision—that the throng of the Gentiles flies to her from the whole world.

And having taken up the wings of the Holy Spirit, she hastens, according to Symmachus and Theodotion, to her windows; according to Aquila, to her cataracts, that they may enter the Church. Or the teachers with their disciples, that is, doves with their young, fly to the Church from the islands of the Gentiles, which according to the prophecies of the Prophets shall wait for the Lord. The ships also of TARSHISH (תרשיש), that is, of the sea, of which we have spoken more fully in the vision of Tyre, shall bring the sons of the Church at the beginning of the faith, bearing gold and silver. For with the heart man believes unto justice; but with the mouth confession is made unto salvation. Of which gold and silver it is written in the sixty-seventh psalm: The wings of a dove covered with silver, and its hinder parts with the paleness of gold.

And in the seventy-first psalm: The kings of Tarshish and the isles shall offer gifts, and the kings of the Arabians and of Sheba shall bring gifts. All of which are brought to the name of the Lord God, and to the Holy One of Israel, who has glorified him. (Verse 10 and following.) And the sons of strangers shall build up thy walls, and their kings shall minister to thee. For in my indignation I struck thee, and in my reconciliation I have had mercy on thee: and thy gates shall be opened continually, they shall not be shut day nor night, that the strength of the Gentiles may be brought to thee, and their kings may be led in. For the nation and kingdom that will not serve thee shall perish: and the nations shall be laid waste with desolation. LXX: And strangers shall build thy walls, and their kings shall stand by thee. For because of my wrath I struck thee, but because of my mercy I have loved thee.

And thy gates shall be opened always: they shall not be shut day nor night, that they may bring in to thee the strength of the Gentiles, and their kings who are to be brought in. For the nations and kings that shall not serve thee shall perish: the nations shall be made desolate with desolation. Among the other things with which the Church is enriched, and the city of the Savior is built up, strangers also and the sons of foreigners build her walls, lest the enemy be able to enter, nor perfidy find a place. But strangers and foreigners properly signify the people of the nations, who truly built up the Church of Christ: so much so that their kings and princes minister to, or stand by, her. This may be understood either carnally or spiritually. If carnally, we see the Roman emperors bending their necks to the yoke of Christ, and building churches at public expense, and enforcing the decrees of the laws against the persecutions of the Gentiles and the snares of heretics.

If spiritually, whoever among them are princes in continence, in eloquence, in holiness, and subjugate the servitude of the flesh to the rule of the soul, these administer, and stand by, or assist her, whom she often deserts through negligence, or whom the rod of persecutors strikes, that she may love again on account of mercy shown to her. Or certainly this must be said, that her who was once afflicted and delivered to captivity in the people of the Jews, he reconciles to himself in the calling of the Gentiles, so that her gates may always be open, and be shut neither by day nor night, and may lie open continually to those desiring to be saved, that is, that entry may not be denied to those willing to believe in her, whether in joy or in tribulation. And let the strength, or the riches, of the Gentiles be brought in to her; and let their kings minister, or be led to her as captives.

This thou wilt understand when thou seest the most eloquent men led to the faith of Christ; and the wisdom of the wise made foolish, and the prudence of the prudent rejected: so that the foolishness of God may be wiser than men. But the nation and their kings, who shall be unwilling to render to the Church a good and profitable service, so as to transfer it into apostolic dignity, shall perish with that destruction which is prepared for the impious, and whatever shall have been in them shall be reduced to a wilderness, since they were unwilling to have God as their guest. (Verses 13, 14.) The glory of Lebanon shall come to thee, the fir tree and the box tree and the pine tree together, to beautify the place of my sanctuary; and I will glorify the place of my feet.

And the sons of them that afflicted thee shall come bowing down to thee, and all that despised thee shall worship the steps of thy feet, and shall call thee the city of the Lord, the Sion of the Holy One of Israel. Septuagint: The glory of Lebanon shall come to thee in cypress and pine, and cedar together, that my holy place may be glorified, and I will glorify the place of my feet. And the sons of them that afflicted thee and provoked thee shall go to thee fearing, and all who provoked thee shall worship the steps of thy feet; and thou shalt be called the city of the Lord, Sion of the Holy One of Israel. Many things are lacking in the Septuagint, which I have set from the Hebrew under asterisks, and what they added, I have marked with an obelus. Lebanon is a mountain of Phoenicia, planted with lofty trees, which the Psalmist describes, saying: I have seen the wicked highly exalted, and lifted up like the cedars of Lebanon.

And in another place: The Lord shall break the cedars of Lebanon. And many other things which, for the sake of brevity, I pass over. Concerning this, Hiram king of Tyre once sent wood to Joppa for Solomon, to build the Temple of God. Concerning this also Scripture now promises that the fir and box and pine, or according to the Septuagint, the cypress and pine and cedar, or according to Aquila, the fir, thaadaor, and thaassur; or according to Theodotion, Brais, Thadaar, and Theassur, are to be cut together, that the temple of Sion may be built. But if this is so, where will the golden and bejeweled Jerusalem be? Where the wife of the Lamb? Where the twelve gates distinguished by the variety of gems? Unless perhaps it will have walls and foundations of gems, while the Temple, which ought to be its ornament, will be built of wood.

For this reason we are compelled to understand all things spiritually, that the fir, cypress, pine, and cedar—once the lofty trees of Lebanon—have glorified the Temple of God, and the place of his feet, and made it renowned. And, not to draw out my discourse at length: does it not seem to you that the holy and most eloquent martyr Cyprian, and Hilary, the confessor of our own time, were once lofty trees in the world that built up the Church of God? And what follows: And the bowed-down, or returning, sons of them that afflicted thee shall come to thee: and all who detracted from thee shall worship the steps of thy feet—of these we ought to understand those who are Christians not by will but by necessity, and who, out of fear of offending those in power, bend with timid hearts. Or certainly those who were formerly persecutors and afterward believed. Such was the apostle Paul, who persecuted the Church of God, and afterward was called a vessel of election.

When these things shall have been fulfilled, so that the fullness of the Gentiles may enter in, then all Israel shall be saved. And it shall truly be called the city of the Lord Sion, of the Holy One of Israel, which stands upon a watchtower, and is gathered from both peoples. (Verses 15, 16.) Whereas thou hast been forsaken, and hated, and there was none that passed through thee, I will make thee to be an eternal glory, a joy from generation to generation: and thou shalt suck the milk of the Gentiles, and thou shalt be nursed with the breast of kings. And thou shalt know that I am the Lord thy Savior, and thy Redeemer the mighty One of Jacob. Septuagint: Whereas thou hast been forsaken, and hated, and there was none to help: I will make thee an everlasting exultation, a joy of generations to generations. And thou shalt suck the milk of the Gentiles, and shalt eat the riches of kings.

And thou shalt know that I am the Lord who has saved thee, and who delivered thee, the God of Jacob. She who had formerly been forsaken and hated, having had her branches broken off in thee, because they had not borne fruit—which branches were therefore broken, because there was none to pass by and give help there: of whom it is said in the Psalms: And they that passed by did not say, The blessing of the Lord be upon you; therefore I will make thee an everlasting glory, or an exultation and joy of two generations: instead of the former branches, others being grafted in from the wild olive of the nations, which contrary to the nature of the model shall bring forth fruits, not of the former bitterness, but of the sweetness which they have taken from the root. Thou shalt also suck the milk of the Gentiles, and be nursed with the breast of kings.

What sense this passage bears we have set forth more fully above, when discussing that verse, Thy sons shall come from afar, and thy daughters shall be nursed at thy side. Or, according to the Septuagint, thou shalt eat the riches of kings. These riches, according to the Hebrew truth, are the breasts of kings and teachers, by which the infancy of those being born in Christ is instructed and nourished. When thou shalt have sucked these and come to solid food, so as to eat also the riches of such kings, then thou shalt know that I am thy Savior, who redeemed thee with my blood, or the mighty God of Jacob. (Verses 17 ff.) For brass I will bring gold, and for iron I will bring silver, and for wood, brass, and for stones, iron: and I will make thy visitation peace, and thy overseers righteousness. Iniquity shall no more be heard in thy land, wasting nor destruction within thy borders, and salvation shall possess thy walls, and praise thy gates.

Septuagint: For brass I will bring thee gold, and for iron I will give thee silver, and for wood I will grant thee brass, and for stones, iron. And I will make thy princes in peace, and thy bishops in righteousness, and iniquity shall no more be heard in thy land, neither destruction nor misery within thy borders: but thy walls shall be called Salvation, and thy gates, Sculpture. The same thing, according to the property of places, is a genus to one and a species to another. And lest I seem to be saying something about the arts, rhetoric and dialectic, I will give common examples, which may instruct the simple reader. My son, who to me is a species, and has me as his genus, is himself a genus to his own son. I will say another thing too, which is greater to one and less to another. A centurion is greater than a common soldier, less than a tribune. Five is few compared to ten: many compared to one.

So, in the restoration of the spiritual Jerusalem, wood shall be turned into brass, and stones shall be changed into iron, that is, men once brutish and insensible shall be changed into those materials which can furnish some usefulness to the city. And brass and iron themselves, through the increase of virtues, shall be changed into gold and silver: so that they may have not merely the appearance of usefulness, but also value and beauty. What gold and silver signify in the sacred Scriptures we have often said. I will make, he says, thy princes in peace, and thy bishops in righteousness. For which in the Hebrew it is written: I will make thy visitation peace, and thy overseers righteousness.

In this the admirable majesty of sacred Scripture appears, in that it has named the future princes of the Church "bishops," whose whole visitation is in peace, and the title of whose dignity is in righteousness: so that they may in no wise show partiality in judgment, nor may anything unjust be heard in the land of the Church, nor destruction and misfortune within its borders. For wherever there is iniquity, and righteousness is not kept, and peace is lost, all these things follow. But instead of all these, he says, salvation shall possess thy walls, or the Savior, who in Hebrew is read as Jesus, which properly signifies the name of the Lord. For he himself is the strength of the walls of the Church, which has gates in the praise of the Lord: so that those who enter it may first learn to praise the Lord, and to confess his name.

And as for what the Septuagint has translated for "praise" as γλύμμα, that is, "sculpture," we may say this, that the gates of the Church ought to be resplendent with all virtues, through which we may enter into her. (Verses 19, 20.) The sun shall no more be thy light by day, neither shall the brightness of the moon light thee: but the Lord shall be to thee for an everlasting light, and thy God for thy glory.

Thy sun shall go down no more, and thy moon shall not withdraw itself, for the Lord shall be an everlasting light unto thee, and the days of thy mourning shall be ended. Septuagint: And thy sun shall no more be for the light of the day, nor shall the rising of the moon give thee light by night; but the Lord shall be to thee an everlasting light, and God thy glory. For thy sun shall not go down, and thy moon shall not fail thee. And the Lord shall be an everlasting light, and the days of thy mourning shall be ended. From this chapter we are compelled to refer everything that has been said and is to be said to the final time: when heaven and earth shall pass away, and the office of sun and moon shall cease. And the Lord himself shall be a perpetual light, so that what the chiliasts assert must be fulfilled carnally, we should believe to be future spiritually, differing in the quality of the promises, not in the time.

To whom it must briefly be answered, that if for false prophets and sinners the sun sets at noon, and on the contrary, for those who fear the Lord, the sun of righteousness rises: why should not he who says, I am the light of the world, who shines in darkness, and the darkness did not comprehend him, be always so to the Saints? For the sun shall not burn us by day, nor the moon by night. Because we have the Lord as a perpetual light, and the days of our mourning shall be fulfilled, not for those who mourn at the overthrow of Jerusalem, but for those who rejoice at the building up of the Church. For blessed are they that mourn, for they shall be comforted. Blessed are they that weep, for they shall laugh. Blessed are they that hunger and thirst after righteousness, for they shall be filled.

So that after they have been filled with the flesh of the Lord, they may belch forth the word of the Lord, and speak of their works to the King. (Verses 21, 22.) Thy people also shall be all righteous, they shall possess the land forever, the branch of my planting, the work of my hand, to glorify me. The least shall become a thousand, and the smallest a strong nation. I the Lord will suddenly do this in its time. Septuagint: Thy people shall be all righteous, they shall possess the land forever: keeping the plantation, the works of their hands unto glory. He who is small shall become thousands, and he who is least, a great nation. I the Lord will gather them in due time. When the days of mourning are ended and completed, when sorrow shall be turned into joy, the people of Sion shall be wholly righteous, not for a short time, but forever, and because it is righteous, it shall possess the land of the meek.

Nor is it to be wondered at, if to receive the good things of the promise, it should hold the land of the meek and of the living, which the Prophet sighs after, saying: I believe to see the good things of the Lord in the land of the living, since it is the branch of the Lord's planting, and the work of his hands, unto the glorifying of God. For every plant, he says, which my heavenly Father hath not planted, shall be rooted up. Or according to the Septuagint, the people keeping the plantation of God, and the works of the hands of the Lord, shall be preserved unto the glory of the Creator. Of the good plantation God speaks through Jeremiah: I planted thee a good vineyard, wholly true seed, which in Isaiah is called the vine of Sorec.

And because Paul, conscious of the virtues of Christ speaking in him, could say: Be imitators of me, as I also am of Christ, he therefore spoke to the Corinthians: I have planted, Apollos watered, but God gave the increase. For those planted in the house of the Lord shall flourish in his courts. Then he who was least shall become thousands, hearing from the Lord: Have authority over five, or over ten cities; so that he shall be called χιλίαρχος (commander of a thousand).

And he who had said with the Apostle: To me, the least of all the saints, is given this grace, shall be a prince of a great nation in the heavens, when at the appointed time the Lord shall send forth his angels, and they shall gather to him all the Saints, from the utmost part of heaven to the utmost part thereof: not only from Israel, but also from the people of the nations, of whom, signifying this, he spoke: And other sheep I have which are not of this fold, and them also I must bring, that there may be one fold and one shepherd. This he will do suddenly, so that when all things have been despaired of, then they shall be gathered into a most mighty nation. And although we see this in part fulfilled daily in the Church, yet it shall be more fully accomplished at the consummation of the world, and at the second coming of the Savior.

(Verses 1 and following.) The Spirit of the Lord God is upon me, because the Lord hath anointed me: he hath sent me to preach good tidings to the meek, that I might heal the contrite of heart, and preach deliverance to the captives, and the opening of the prison to them that are bound: and that I might proclaim the acceptable year to the Lord, and the day of vengeance to our God: that I might comfort all that mourn: that I might appoint unto them that mourn in Sion: and give them a crown for ashes, the oil of joy for mourning, the mantle of praise for the spirit of heaviness.

The LXX: The Spirit of the Lord is upon me, wherefore he hath anointed me: he hath sent me to preach the gospel to the poor, to heal the contrite of heart: to preach to the captives remission, and to the blind that they may see: to call the acceptable year of the Lord, and the day of recompense: to comfort all that mourn: to give unto them that mourn in Sion: to give them glory for ashes, the anointing of gladness to them that mourn, a garment of glory for the spirit of heaviness. He who had said above, I the Lord will gather them together in due time, or according to the Hebrew, I the Lord in his time will suddenly do this thing, speaks next, saying, The Spirit of the Lord God is upon me: not that the Lord God has a Lord God, but that according to the dispensation of the flesh assumed, he speaks the things that are lowly.

To whom the Psalmist had already said: Thou hast loved justice and hated iniquity; therefore God, thy God, hath anointed thee with the oil of gladness above thy fellows. For when fellows are named, understand the nature of the flesh: for God has no fellows of his own substance. And because it was a spiritual anointing, and by no means of the human body, as it was among the priests of the Jews; therefore he is recorded as anointed above his fellows, that is, above the rest of the saints. His anointing was fulfilled at that time when he was baptized in the Jordan, and the Holy Spirit descended upon him in the form of a dove, and remained upon him. Of whom this same prophet had also said above: There shall come forth a rod out of the root of Jesse, and a flower shall rise up out of his root, and the spirit of the Lord shall rest upon him, the spirit of wisdom and understanding, the spirit of counsel and fortitude, the spirit of knowledge and godliness.

Whence also the Savior, when he had come into Nazareth, where he had been brought up after he was baptized in the Jordan, went, according to custom, into their synagogue on the sabbath day. And when he had risen up to read, there was delivered unto him the book of the prophet Isaiah, and when he had opened it, he found it written: The Spirit of the Lord is upon me, wherefore he hath anointed me: he hath sent me to preach the gospel to the poor: to preach to the captives remission, and sight to the blind: to set at liberty them that are bruised: to preach the acceptable year of the Lord.

And when he had rolled up the book, he gave it back to the minister, and sat down; and the eyes of all that were in the synagogue were fastened on him, and he began to say unto them: This day is this scripture fulfilled in your ears; and all bore witness to him, and wondered at the words of grace which proceeded out of his mouth. If then the prophecy was fulfilled at that time, how do some refer to the consummation the times of which it is spoken; unless perhaps we can say this, that it was then fulfilled in part, but is to be more fully fulfilled when the whole people of God shall be just? For now we know in part, and we prophesy in part: but when that which is perfect is come, those things which are in part shall be done away.

He was therefore anointed with the Holy Spirit, that he might announce good tidings to the poor, or to the meek, saying to them in the Gospel: Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven. And: Blessed are the meek, for they shall possess the earth. And he was sent to heal those who are contrite of heart, and it is said: A broken and humbled heart God doth not despise. Or according to Symmachus and Theodotion, to bind up the wounds of sinners, to preach remission to the captives, that the blind may see, or the opening of the prison to them that are shut up, which Symmachus rendered more clearly, loosing to them that are bound. Of whom, or rather to whom, it is said above: Behold, I have set thee for a light of the Gentiles, to open the eyes of the blind, to bring out them that are bound from their chains, and them that sit in darkness out of the prison house.

But by the acceptable year, and the day of recompense, understand the whole time of his preaching while he dwelt in the flesh. Which also the apostle Paul interprets of the first coming of the Savior, saying: Behold, now is the acceptable time; behold, now is the day of salvation. Of which we have spoken more fully above (On chap. Lx). But if recompense be understood not in the merits of the good, but in the punishments of sinners, according to which it is called the day of vengeance, it must be understood of the Jewish people, upon whom, immediately after his passion, the wrath of God came. And he comforted all that mourn, saying: Blessed are they that mourn, for they shall be comforted; that he might appoint unto them that mourn in Sion, and give them glory and a crown for ashes.

Of these was also the apostle Paul, who mourned for Sion and said: For I have great sorrow and continual grief: And again: I wished myself to be accursed from Christ for my brethren, my kinsmen according to the flesh, who are Israelites. And therefore those who mourned and lamented received the oil of joy for ashes, seeing that very many of the Jews had believed, and received the purest robe instead of the garment of mourning. (Verses 3-5.) And they shall be called in it the mighty ones of justice, the planting of the Lord to glorify him. And they shall build the deserts of old, and shall raise up the ancient ruins, and shall repair the desolate and destroyed cities, generation after generation. And strangers shall stand and feed your flocks: and the sons of foreigners shall be your husbandmen and vinedressers. LXX: And their generations shall be called generations of justice: the planting of the Lord for glory.

And they shall build the everlasting deserts, which had before been desolate, they shall be raised up, and they shall renew the desolate cities, wasted through generations, and foreigners shall come, and shall feed your sheep, and men of other nations shall be your ploughmen and vinedressers.

After that the apostles and apostolic men have received, in place of ashes and the spirit of mourning, the oil of gladness and the mantle, or, according to the Septuagint, the robe of glory and praise, then shall be called the generations of justice, the glorious planting of the Lord; or according to the Hebrew ELE (אלי), with both syllables lengthened, the mighty ones, and of God's justice, or the planting of the Lord unto glorification: so that, when they have been glorified, or have themselves glorified the Lord, they may build the cities that have been desert from of old, and raise up the ancient ruins, both of the people of the Jews and of all the nations, who shall have not only the skill of building and restoring cities, but shall also be the best of shepherds, so that the former shepherds being cast out, to whom God had said through Ezekiel: O shepherds of Israel, do the shepherds feed themselves, and not rather the sheep? They may hear along with the apostle Peter: Feed my sheep.

And in a wondrous manner they shall pass from being masons and shepherds into husbandmen, that is, into ploughmen and vinedressers, so that they may say with the Apostle: We are God's building, God's husbandry. Finally, the Savior asks the Scribes and Pharisees, the vinedressers and husbandmen of the Jews, what he shall do to the wicked vinedressers and husbandmen? And when they answered: He will miserably destroy those wicked men, and will let out his vineyard to other husbandmen, he added: The kingdom of God shall be taken from you, and given to a nation bringing forth the fruits thereof. This matter needs no interpretation. For how few indeed of the princes of the Churches are of the Jews, and not of foreigners and men of alien nations?

Who, formerly serving idols, and strangers to the covenant of God, and pilgrims from his promises, having no hope, and without God in the world, now preside over the Churches, and with the ploughshare of faith subdue the hard hearts of the nations, hitherto untamed, to bear fruit; that they may multiply the seed of the Lord's teaching by the abundance of good works. (Verses 6, 7.) But ye shall be called the priests of the Lord, the ministers of our God, it shall be said unto you: Ye shall eat the wealth of the Gentiles, and in their glory ye shall boast yourselves. For your double confusion and shame they shall praise their portion: therefore in their land they shall possess double, everlasting joy shall be unto them, for I the Lord love judgment, and hate robbery in a burnt offering. LXX: But ye shall be called priests of the Lord, ministers of our God. Ye shall eat the strength of the nations, and in their riches ye shall be admired.

So they shall possess the land a second time, and everlasting joy shall be upon their heads. For I am the Lord, who love justice, and hate robberies from iniquity. The builders of desolate cities and shepherds of flocks, who are themselves ploughmen and vinedressers, that is, the sons of foreigners, are themselves also priests of God, to whom the prophet now says: But ye shall be called priests of the Lord, and ministers of our God, it shall be said unto you: without doubt he signifies the princes of the Churches. Or certainly it is to be understood of the Apostles, so that the order is: when masons, shepherds, ploughmen and vinedressers from among the Gentiles shall have been set over the Churches, ye, of whom it is said: A remnant shall be saved. And: Except the Lord of Sabaoth had left us a seed, we should have been as Sodom, and we should have been like unto Gomorrah, shall be called priests and ministers of God, such as the sons of David also were.

Of whom Scripture says: And the sons of David were priests of God. These shall eat the wealth of the Gentiles, and shall be admired in their riches. For the crown of the fathers is the glory of the children, and the increase of the people is the feast of the priests. Of riches of this kind Paul wrote to the Corinthians: I thank my God through Jesus Christ, that in everything ye are made rich in him, in all utterance, and in all knowledge, even as the testimony of Christ was confirmed in you, so that ye come behind in no gift. But the wealth of the nations is the triumph of the Martyrs: and we are proud in their glory, not with that pride which is a vice, which God resisteth, that he may give grace to the humble; but with that which is taken for power and glory. Whence also the face of Moses was horned, who could say: In thee we will push down our enemies with the horn.

And for the pride of glory, Aquila rendered, καὶ ἐν δόξῃ αὐτῶν πορφύρᾳ ἐνδύσεσθαι, that is, ye shall be clothed in purple; that he might show the mark of royal splendor. And that which follows: For your double confusion, and for your shame they shall praise their portion, which is not found in the Septuagint, seems to me to be thus explained. In place of the double confusion which you had, both concerning the people of the Jews, who had departed from God, and concerning the nations, who served idols, you shall see them converted to the fear of God, praising their portion. Without doubt meaning the Lord, of whom the saint also spoke: The Lord is my portion. But this no one can say, except one who has no other portion.

Because therefore you had a double confusion and shame concerning them, over the sin of them who themselves did not blush for it, therefore in their own land, that is, in the land of the meek and of the living, they shall possess double: since they shall have believed both in things present and in things to come. And they shall have everlasting joy. In place of which the Septuagint reads, so they shall possess the land a second time. And everlasting joy shall be upon their head, so that they who had possessed the land within the very narrow bounds of Judea, may afterward possess the whole world. Of which land the Father speaks to the Savior: Ask of me, and I will give thee the nations for thine inheritance, and the ends of the earth for thy possession. This the Lord has granted, who loves the truth of judgment, and hates robbery in the burnt offering. In place of which the Septuagint translated, robbery from iniquity: as though there were some robbery that did not consist of iniquity.

Therefore what he says is this: God loves the poverty of the just more than the gifts of the rich, which come of robberies and iniquity.

Verse 8. And I will give their work in truth, and I will make an everlasting covenant with them. And their seed shall be known among the nations, and their offspring in the midst of the peoples. All that see them shall know them, that they are the seed which the Lord hath blessed. The Septuagint: And I will give their labor to the just, and I will set an everlasting testament with them. And their seed shall be known among the nations, and their grandchildren in the midst of the peoples. Every one who shall see them shall know them, that they are the seed blessed by God.

God who loveth justice and judgment, and detesteth violent holocausts (for whatever is of plunder He reckons as the wages of a harlot, and the price of a dog), He Himself will give labor to the just—that is, to those who shall a second time possess the land, and whom He shall crown with a double gladness—or, as it is better held in the Hebrew, in truth: so that it shall be by no means, as in the Law, the shadow of truth, but the very truth itself. And He shall strike an everlasting covenant, not such as He had given to Moses, which has passed away; but the covenant of the Gospel, of which Christ speaks: Heaven and earth shall pass away, but my words shall not pass away. And then shall be known among the nations the Apostolic seed, and all future generations shall receive the sowing of the doctrine of God: by no means saying that in which the people of the circumcision formerly erred, saying: What else does God seek but seed?

Every one that shall see them shall know at first sight that it is the seed which the Lord hath blessed. For who, from the order of life, the gentleness, the continence, the hospitality, and all the virtues, would not recognize the people of God? And who, on the contrary, would not detest the bloody hands of Israel, against whom the Prophet imprecates, saying: Fill, O Lord, their faces with shame.

Verse 10. Rejoicing I will rejoice in the Lord, and my soul shall exult in my God: for He hath clothed me with the garments of salvation, and hath surrounded me with the robe of righteousness, as a bridegroom decked with a crown, and as a bride adorned with her jewels. For as the earth bringeth forth its bud, and as a garden causeth its seed to spring forth: so shall the Lord God cause righteousness and praise to spring forth before all the nations. The Septuagint: They shall rejoice with joy in the Lord, let my soul exult in the Lord. For He hath clothed me with the garment of salvation, and hath wrapped me in the tunic of gladness. As a bridegroom with a mitre, and as He hath adorned a bride with womanly ornament, and as the earth putting forth its flower, and as a garden causeth its seeds to spring forth: so the Lord God bringeth forth righteousness and praise in the sight of all the nations.

The beginning of the chapter, according to the Septuagint, who said: They shall rejoice with joy in the Lord, is joined to the end of the preceding chapter. But according to the Hebrews it is the beginning of another chapter, in which the Church is introduced as responding to the words of Christ: Rejoicing I will rejoice in the Lord, and my soul shall exult in my God. Not in the fathers, as the Jews boasted, saying: We are the seed of Abraham, and we have never served any man; but in God, Scripture saying: Now the multitude of believers had one heart and one soul. And she gives the causes of her joy: Because He hath clothed me with the garment of salvation, and with the robe, or tunic, of righteousness and gladness, which in Hebrew is called MAIL (מעיל), He hath adorned and wrapped me. For as many of us as have been baptized into Christ have put on Christ, and we have the tunic of righteousness: who was made unto us sanctification, righteousness, and redemption.

And she sets forth the likeness of two companies in the Church, the perfect and the beginners. She compares the perfect to the beauty of the bridegroom; the beginners she likens to the adornment of the bride. Paul was perfect, who, like a bridegroom decked with a crown and about to be crowned—or, as Aquila translated it, ἱερατευμένος στεφάνῳ, which in our tongue is said, bearing a crown as a priest—speaking with the authority of Christ within him, said: I have fought the good fight, I have finished the course, I have kept the faith: henceforth there is laid up for me a crown of righteousness. And in another place: As many, then, as are perfect, let us be thus minded. But he was a beginner in comparison with fullness, when he spoke in the person of beginners: When I was a child, I spoke as a child, I understood as a child, I thought as a child. And again: We see in part, and we know in part, until that which is perfect is come.

And therefore she is likened to the adornment of the bride, who is adorned with womanly ornament, or, as others have translated it, with vessels, or with her jewels. And she sets forth examples of another comparison, of which the first refers to the bridegroom, the following to the bride. As the earth bringeth forth its bud, and is watered by the rains of heaven: and as a garden causeth its seed to spring forth, which desires the waters of springs and rivers: so, she says, the Lord will cause righteousness and gladness to spring forth before all the nations—by no means before Israel alone, so as to cast down the pride of the Jews, but before all the nations who are gathered together in the Church.

(Verse 1.) For Sion's sake I will not hold my peace, and for Jerusalem's sake I will not rest, until her just one go forth as brightness, and her saviour be kindled as a lamp.

And the Gentiles shall see thy just one, and all kings thy renowned one, and thou shalt be called by a new name, which the mouth of the Lord shall name. And thou shalt be a crown of glory in the hand of the Lord, and a royal diadem in the hand of thy God. The Septuagint: For Sion's sake I will not hold my peace, and for Jerusalem's sake I will not desist: until her righteousness go forth as light, and her salvation burn as a lamp. And the Gentiles shall see thy righteousness, and all kings thy glory, and He shall call thee by a new name, which the mouth of the Lord shall name. And thou shalt be a crown of beauty in the hand of the Lord, and a royal diadem in the hand of thy God.

The Lord and Savior had said: The Spirit of the Lord is upon me, wherefore He hath anointed me, down to that place where it is written: All who shall see them shall know that they are the seed which the Lord hath blessed. After which promise, the Church answered: Rejoicing I will rejoice in the Lord—she who in the third gradual psalm, in the person of the penitent people, joyfully sang: I was glad because of the things that were said to me; we shall go into the house of the Lord—now the person of the prophet is introduced, saying: For Sion's sake I will not hold my peace, and for Jerusalem's sake I will not rest. By day, he says, and by night I will not close my mouth, nor shall my prayer ever be silent; but I will cry out so long, and join prayer to prayer, until He come who was promised, and illumine the whole world with His splendor.

Who this is whom he seeks, whom he desires to come, he sets forth more plainly: Until her just one go forth as brightness, and her saviour be kindled as a lamp. Or according to the Septuagint: Until her righteousness go forth as light, and her salvation burn as a lamp. He who said in the Gospel: I am the light of the world: who, when He shall have been kindled in Sion and in Jerusalem, shall by no means shine in Judea alone, as Victorinus prefers, but it shall be said to her: The light which is in thee is kindled; that which went forth from the Father hath begun to burn in thy borders, and shall illumine all the nations.

And all kings shall see thy renowned one, O Jerusalem and Sion: he who was born of thy stock, who, being exalted upon the gibbet in thee, drew all men to himself: so that the nations may see his righteousness, whereby the Creator of all became merciful to the nations: and kings may see his glory, whereby he was glorified upon the cross, and subjected all kingdoms to his rule. And finally, she shall by no means be called Jerusalem and Sion, but shall receive a new name, which the Lord shall have imposed upon her, saying to the apostle Peter: Thou art Peter, and upon this rock I will build my church, and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it. Which name he derived from the name of the Lord, so that it is called Dominical. And her people shall by no means be called by the old name, Israel, but by the new, that is, Christian.

And she shall be as a crown of beauty in the hand of the Lord, and as a royal diadem in the hand of her God, when the crowd of believers shall have crowned her, and the diadem of empire, which the Martyrs shall have adorned with the variety of their jewels, shall be in the hand of God, that He may crown His Son with their victories. Whence also the apostle Paul spoke to the Saints: My joy and crown.

Verse 4. Thou shalt no more be called Forsaken, and thy land shall no more be called Desolate: but thou shalt be called My delight in her, and thy land Inhabited; because the Lord hath been well pleased with thee: and thy land shall be inhabited. The Septuagint: And thou shalt no more be called forsaken, and thy land shall no more be called desert. For thou shalt be called My will, and thy land inhabited. Instead of Sion and Jerusalem thou shalt be called Church, and Dominical: instead of Jews they shall be called Christians.

Nor shalt thou be content with this ending of names; but whereas thou wast first called Forsaken, which in Hebrew is called AZUBA (עזובה), thou shalt be called HEPHSI-BAH (חפצי־בה), which is interpreted, My delight is in her; and thy land, which was formerly called SHEMAMAH (שממה), desolate or deserted, shall afterward be called BEULAH (בעולה), which Aquila interpreted ἐσχημένη; Symmachus and Theodotion, συνοικισμένη; the Septuagint, οἰκουμένη—all of which signify "inhabited" and "possessed." Now this is the Hebrew custom, that names are always imposed upon things from the event: as Abram, who was first called "exalted father," when he heard the promise: And in thy seed shall all nations be blessed, was called father of many nations, that is, Abraham. And upon the Lord and Savior a name is imposed above: Take away the spoils quickly, make haste to take the prey. The sons of Zebedee also, one of whom could utter a voice of thunder: In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God, were called BENE-REGESH (בני רגש), which is interpreted, sons of thunder.

But what follows: Because the Lord hath been well pleased with thee, and thy land shall be inhabited, was passed over by the Septuagint; and he gives the reasons why she is called HEPHSI (חפצי) and why she is called BEULAH (בעולה), namely, because the Lord shall have been well pleased with himself in Sion, and shall have made her land habitable, which before, through Jewish error, had been desolate. Or we may refer this same thing to the Church, which, having been formerly possessed by idols, had been forsaken by God.

Verse 5. For the young man shall dwell with the virgin, and thy children shall dwell in thee. And as the bridegroom rejoiceth over the bride, so shall thy God rejoice over thee. The Septuagint: And as a young man dwelling with a virgin, so shall thy children dwell. And it shall be, as a bridegroom rejoiceth over the bride, so shall the Lord rejoice over thee. The Apostle also says: Husbands, love your wives, as Christ also loved the Church. And when in another place he had set forth the example: For this cause shall a man leave father and mother, and shall cleave to his wife, and they two shall be in one flesh, he added: This is a great sacrament: but I speak in Christ and in the Church. If, then, on account of the shortness of the time, which is straitened, husbands ought so to have their wives as though they had them not: how much more shall there be a holy union between the bridegroom and the bride?

This is the bridegroom of whom it is sung in the eighteenth psalm: And he as a bridegroom coming out of his chamber. And this is the bride who is more frequently written of in the Song of Songs, who has neither spot nor wrinkle. Whom Paul desires to present as a chaste virgin to one husband, that she may be holy in body and spirit. Of whom also, under the name of the most dear one, the forty-fourth psalm sings: The queen stood at thy right hand, in gilded clothing, surrounded with variety. Therefore as the bridegroom rejoices in the bride, and the young man with the virgin, in which examples there is a holy union: so shall the Lord rejoice in her whose names shall have been changed.

Verse 6. Upon thy walls, O Jerusalem, I have set watchmen: all the day and all the night they shall never hold their peace. You that are mindful of the Lord, hold not your peace, and give him no silence, till he establish, and till he make Jerusalem a praise in the earth. The Septuagint: And upon thy walls, O Jerusalem, I have set watchmen, all the day and all the night, who shall never hold their peace, being mindful of the Lord: for there is none like you, if he shall correct, and shall make Jerusalem a joy upon the earth. The Prophet had said: For Sion's sake I will not hold my peace, and for Jerusalem's sake I will not rest, and so on down to the place where the chapter now ends: The bridegroom shall rejoice over the bride: thy God shall rejoice over thee.

And he had promised that he would ask by day and by night that the Savior and the Just One who had been promised might come, and, like a lamp, illumine the whole world. After this the person of God speaking to Jerusalem is introduced, that is, to the Church of the firstborn, and to that which was built in the Apostles and through the Apostles: Upon thy walls I have set watchmen, whom we may understand either as Angels, or as Apostles, and all her rulers and teachers. Who guard the walls of the Church, lest our adversary the devil, who goes about like a roaring lion seeking whom he may devour (1 Peter), take occasion to lay waste the flock of the Lord. Which watchmen ought neither by day nor by night to hold their peace, neither in joy nor in sorrow. But always to beseech the Lord's clemency, that His flock and the walls of Jerusalem may be guarded and fenced about by His help.

Whence also to these same watchmen and teachers the word is directed: O ye who make mention of the Lord, and weary His clemency day and night with prayers, take heed lest ever prayer be silent in your mouth. Give Him no silence, that is, no silence to the Lord; but be always importunate, in season, out of season, and imitate the woman who besieged the harsh judge with her petitions. For if he, by continual entreaty, laid aside the ferocity of his mind, how much more will the heavenly Father give good things to those who ask Him? And you ought to keep asking until Jerusalem, which fell among the Jews, and has become an example and a curse, is turned into praise throughout the whole world.

And I marvel what the Seventy meant, when, for what is found in the Hebrew, "give Him no silence, until He establish and make Jerusalem a praise in the earth," they say something whose sense does not cohere with what precedes: "For there is none like unto you, if He amend and make Jerusalem a joy upon the earth." Unless perhaps we may fit this together by a figurative interpretation, so that it is said to the watchmen of the Church that none of them shall be found equal to those who by their preaching have brought it about that Jerusalem be amended and made a joy of all the earth. (Verses 8, 9.) The Lord has sworn by His right hand and by the arm of His strength.

Surely I will no more give your grain to be food for your enemies; and the sons of the alien shall not drink your wine, for which you have labored: but they that have gathered it shall eat it, and shall praise the Lord; and they that have brought it together shall drink it in the courts of my sanctuary. LXX: The Lord has sworn by His right hand, and by the strength of His arm, Surely I will no more give my grain to be food for your enemies, and the sons of the alien shall no more drink your wine, for which you have labored; but they that have gathered shall eat them, and shall praise the Lord; and they that have gathered shall drink them in my holy courts.

Almighty God, who had said to the Church, "Upon your walls I have set watchmen, who shall never keep silent," to whom He commands that they never cease to pray until they have obtained what they ask, now swears by His right hand and the arm of His strength. Of which we have often said that it is our Lord and Savior, who, according to the Apostle, is the power of God and the wisdom of God. He swears, moreover, that the grain and wine of Jerusalem shall by no means pass into the food of enemies, nor shall foreigners enjoy the fruit of her labor; but whoever have sown in tears shall reap in joy, and they who have reaped, and, the chaff cast away, have gathered the pure grain into barns, shall themselves eat the labors of their own hands, and shall extol the Lord with everlasting praise, and shall drink wine in His holy courts.

By which we understand either the many mansions with the Father, if we take it of the future blessedness in the kingdom of heaven, or certainly the Churches scattered throughout the whole world, in which, once planted, we shall afterward flourish in the house of the Lord. Now when He says: "I will no more give your grain to your enemies, and the alien shall not drink your wine, for which you have labored," He shows that formerly the labor of the Jews, and all their works, were possessed by demons, when they wavered between God and idols, when Elijah said to them: "How long do you halt between two opinions? If the Lord be God, follow Him". And according to the typical history related in the book of Judges, the Midianites used to come and lay waste the fruits even as far as Gaza, so that the food of men was turned into fodder for brute beasts (Judges 6).

This is that grain, and this that wine, which they shall not eat except in praising the Lord, and shall not drink except in His holy courts, of which the Lord spoke in His passion: "Amen, amen, I say to you, I will not drink of the fruit of this vine until I drink it new in the kingdom of my Father". Which is fulfilled in part in the Church, when the Lord says to His disciples: "Drink, my friends, and be inebriated, brethren," for "wine gladdens the heart of man". And in full light and at midday it is drunk by Joseph with his brothers. And it shall be fulfilled more fully when the earth shall be made drunk with the blessings of the Lord.

The grain also, from which the heavenly bread is made, is that of which the Lord speaks: "My flesh is meat indeed." And again of the wine: "And my blood is drink indeed". (Verses 10-12.) Pass through, pass through the gates, prepare the way for the people, make the path plain, gather out the stones, lift up a standard for the peoples. Behold, the Lord has caused it to be heard to the ends of the earth: say to the daughter of Zion, Behold, your Savior comes; behold, his reward is with him, and his work before him. And they shall call them the holy people, redeemed of the Lord. And you shall be called Sought Out, a city not forsaken. LXX: Go through my gates, and make a way for my people; and cast the stones out of the way. Lift up a standard among the nations: for behold, the Lord has caused it to be heard even to the end of the earth.

Say to the daughter of Zion: Behold, your Savior comes, having his reward with him, and his work before his face; and he shall call him the holy people, redeemed of the Lord. But you shall be called the city sought out, and not forsaken. He commanded the watchmen of the walls of Jerusalem, to whom He had before commanded not to keep silent, never to cease from prayer, that they pass through the gates of Jerusalem, and make a way for the people. Which the semi-Jews contend will come to pass in the last time, when, after the fullness of the Gentiles, Israel is to be saved and to return to the Lord.

Others, however, think it is to be fulfilled in the kingdom of heaven, when there shall be true gladness, and each one shall receive according to his merit, and they shall no longer behold the Lord in humility, but perceive Him in the guise of a judge, when He shall come upon the clouds with a multitude of angels, to render to each according to his work. We, however, following the interpretation we have undertaken, may understand these things also of the first coming, so as to say that it is commanded to the Apostles and apostolic men that they enter and pass through the gates against which hell does not prevail, and remove all hindrances from the way, so that without any offense the people may enter the Church of the Savior. Whence also John cried in the wilderness: "I am the voice of one crying in the desert, as Isaiah said: Prepare the way of the Lord, make straight his paths: every valley shall be filled, and every mountain and hill shall be brought low".

And in other words the same sense is now expressed. The man of the Church "gathers out the stones," who softens all the hardness from the heart of believers. Of whom the same Baptist said: "God is able of these stones to raise up children to Abraham". Or, according to the Seventy, he "casts out of the way" the stones which separate the unbelieving from the believing. And lest the Jews should think this said of themselves, it is joined: "Lift up a standard among the nations," and to the peoples of the nations, so that the anguish of salvation might not be confined to the one land of Judea, but that it might be heard to the ends of the earth, that the whole world might hear of the passion of the Creator of all.

"Say," He says, "to the daughter of Zion." She is called the daughter of Zion for this reason, that she first arose from among the Jews, of whom it is said in the Song of Songs: "My mother's sons fought against me"; or certainly a daughter for this reason, that she received from God the name of adoption. For as many as received Him, He gave them power to become sons of God. What, then, is it that the teachers and masters are bidden to announce to the daughter of Zion? "Behold, your Savior comes," who in Hebrew is called Jesus. Whence also Gabriel said to Joseph: "And you shall call His name Jesus, for He shall save His people from their sins". Which Savior is the judge of all believers, that He may render to each according to his works: to the just, rewards; to sinners, eternal punishments. "They shall call them," it says, the Lord and Savior Himself.

Or, according to the Hebrew, the Apostles and apostolic men shall call them the holy people and redeemed of the Lord, who have been redeemed by the blood of Christ. The city itself also shall by no means be called forsaken, as it had formerly been called, whether among the Jews, on account of dealings with idols, or among the Gentiles, on account of idolatry, but "sought out," as it is said in Hebrew, DRUSHAH (דרושה); so that, in proportion to the increase and variety of virtues, they might ever receive new names.

(Verse 1.) Who is this that cometh from Edom, with dyed garments from Bosra? This one, beautiful in his robe, walking in the greatness of his strength. The Septuagint: Who is this that cometh from Edom, in tawny garments from Bosor? Thus beautiful in his robe, with violence together with strength.

This whole passage, from the place where according to the Septuagint it is said: Be illuminated, be illuminated, O Jerusalem, for thy light is come, and the glory of the Lord is risen upon thee, up to the present chapter, where it is said: Who is this that cometh from Edom, with dyed garments from Bosra? Many of our own refer to the end of the world, in which—whether carnally or spiritually (for the opinion of most is diverse)—they contend it is to be fulfilled.

But since we have also read above in this same chapter: The Spirit of the Lord is upon me, wherefore he hath anointed me, he hath sent me to preach to the poor: which the Lord and Saviour, after reading the scroll of Isaiah in the synagogue of the Jews, showed to have been fulfilled in himself, saying: This day is this Scripture fulfilled in your ears; and now the same is said of him, that after his passion he ascended bloodstained to the Father—we are compelled by necessity to take all that is said as belonging to the first coming of the Saviour.

For it cannot be, as most of our commentators strive to do, that things joined together by their content should be split apart in time; nor do we deny that it is a matter of the greatest labor to join all these things together, and thus show them to be fulfilled spiritually at the consummation, so that we may teach that in Christ, both according to the flesh and according to the spirit, they are already fulfilled. Since therefore the Saviour has come to the daughter of Zion, whose reward is with him and his work before him; and the just one has gone forth as splendor, and the Saviour has been kindled as a lamp, and the bridegroom has rejoiced over his bride the Church—indeed his God has exulted over her, who is himself both bridegroom and Lord: therefore, according to the assumption of flesh and the passion of the cross, it is said to him: That thy foot may be dipped in blood.

And under the name of Judah it is prophesied in Genesis: Judah, thy brethren shall praise thee: thy hand shall be on the necks of thine enemies, the sons of thy father shall bow down to thee. Judah is a lion's whelp: to the prey, my son, thou art gone up, resting thou hast couched as a lion, and as a lioness: who shall rouse him up? And again: Binding his foal to the vine, and, O my son, his ass's colt to the choice vine; he shall wash his robe in wine, and his garment in the blood of the grape. This is he whom the angelic powers, seeing him ascend bloodstained to the Father, command the other angels, and hear from them: Lift up your gates, O ye princes, and be ye lifted up, ye everlasting gates, and the King of glory shall enter in. Who is this King of glory? The Lord who is strong and mighty, the Lord mighty in battle. And again: The Lord of hosts, he is the King of glory.

We have set forth these things beforehand, so as to show that the present chapter also agrees with other testimonies. Whence also in the Song of Songs it is said: My kinsman is ruddy and white; ruddy in his passion, white in his resurrection. The angels therefore inquire, terrified at the novelty of the matter (for the mystery of the passion and resurrection of Christ, according to the apostle Paul, had been unknown to all the generations before). Who is this that comes bloodstained from the land of Edom? For EDOM (אדום) is rendered into our tongue both as "earthly" and as "bloody." With dyed garments from Bosra?

Which many, fallen into a pious error, think is to be understood of the flesh of the Lord: that is, BASAR (בשר); which word, if it signified "flesh," would be written with the letter SIN in the middle, but now it is written with SADE, and is interpreted as "firm" and "fortified": which we take either of Jerusalem, which was formerly surrounded by very strong walls, in which the Lord suffered; or of hell, of which it is written in the fifty-ninth and the hundred-seventh psalm: Who will lead me into the fortified city? In which the souls of the dead are shut up, and it is surrounded by the strongest guards. It should also be known that, according to the historical sense, BOSRA (בצרה) is not in Edom, but in Moab. There follows: Thus beautiful in his robe, walking in the greatness of his strength. Of whom the forty-fourth psalm also sings: Beautiful in comeliness above the sons of men. Gird thy sword upon thy thigh, O most mighty.

With thy comeliness and thy beauty, proceed prosperously, and reign. For which the Seventy translated, "with violence together with strength." Let the prudent reader inquire what sense this may bear.

I that speak justice, and am a defender to save. The Septuagint: I that speak justice, and saving judgment. The Lord answered the angels who asked: Do you seek who I am, who ascend to the heavens bloodstained, and the blood with which I am sprinkled has given me not deformity but comeliness? I am he to whom the Father has given all judgment. Of whom the Psalmist also said: Give to the king thy judgment, O God, and to the king's son thy justice. I that speak justice: that I may render to the evil, evil, and to the good, good; who have come to fight against the adversary powers, and to preach remission to captives, and to free the bound from prison, so that both the adversaries may feel punishment, and the captives feel liberty. (Verse 2.) Why then is thy apparel red, and thy garments like theirs that tread in the winepress? The Septuagint: Why are thy garments red, and thy raiment as of one that treadeth the full winepress, trodden down?

Where it now says "red," in the Hebrew is read EDOM (אדום). Therefore also above, where "Edom" is written, it is not the name of a place, but the name of blood. Again the angels inquire and say: We have learned that thou art he who speaks justice, and that the salvation of all is established in thy judgment. Now we wish to know why thy garments are as though stained with must, or what cause there was that the tunic which was woven from above, and cannot be torn, and which from the Virgin's womb had such whiteness as no fuller upon earth could produce, thou shouldst stain with blood? For clemency befits thee more than cruelty; whiteness more than gore. To whom the Lord replied, not in a single verse, as before, but at length, so as to teach the ignorant all things, lest they be compelled to ask again. (Verses 3 ff.) I have trodden the winepress alone, and of the Gentiles there is not a man with me.

I have trodden them in my fury, and have trampled them in my wrath: and their blood is sprinkled upon my garments, and I have stained all my raiment. For the day of vengeance is in my heart, the year of my redemption is come. I looked about, and there was none to help: I sought, and there was none to give aid. And my own arm saved me, and my indignation itself helped me. And I have trampled down the peoples in my fury, and have made them drunk in my indignation, and have brought down their strength to the earth. The Seventy, for what we have said as "I have trodden the winepress alone," translated "trodden down, full," which is to be read rather with the preceding chapter than as the beginning of what follows. The rest they translated thus: And of the Gentiles there was not a man with me, and I trampled them in my fury, and broke them as the earth, and brought down their blood to the earth, and stained all my garments.

For the day of retribution has come upon them, and the year of redemption is at hand. I looked, and there was no helper; I considered, and there was none to give aid; and my arm delivered them, and my fury came, and I trampled them in my wrath, and brought down their blood to the earth. For "winepress," which in Hebrew is called GETH (גת), Theodotion put the Hebrew word itself, PHURA (פורה). But Symmachus is better in this place, whom we also have followed. For the word PHURA is ambiguous, and often signifies both a winepress and a small flask. It must therefore be said concerning the winepress, that according to the custom of holy Scripture, it is sometimes set for the vengeance and punishments of sinners, sometimes for the gathering in of new fruits. It is put for punishments and torments, when Jeremiah, lamenting the overthrow of Jerusalem in the Lamentations, says: The Lord has trodden the winepress for the virgin daughter of Judah; therefore I weep.

In a good sense are inscribed the eighth and eighty-third psalms, "for the winepresses." Of which, in their proper places, if life shall attend, with the Lord granting it, we shall speak. This winepress, in which both punishments for the wicked and rewards for the good are trodden by the Saviour, he alone has trodden, and had no helper. For neither Angel, nor Archangel, nor Thrones, nor Dominations, nor any of the heavenly powers assumed a human body, and suffered for us, and trampled down and crushed the adversary powers—none but he who speaks in the psalm: Save me, O Lord, for the holy one has failed; to such a degree that even Peter, the most confident and firmest apostle in truth of faith, was terrified with fear and fled, indeed denied the Lord.

And what follows: And their blood is sprinkled upon my garments, and I have stained all my raiment, is by no means to be understood as if we should believe that demons and the adversary powers have blood; but all these things are to be taken tropologically, when the most merciful God, in order to instruct his people and free them from the bonds of captivity, is compelled to strike his enemies. For, he says, the day of vengeance is in my heart: the year of my redemption is come. Of which we read above (on Chap. LXI) that in a good sense the acceptable year of the Lord is proclaimed, and the day of retribution to our God; and now it is spoken both in a bad and a good sense. In a bad sense: For the day of vengeance is in my heart.

In a good sense: The year of my redemption is come; so that at the time when the adversaries are punished, the people of God might be set free—indeed redeemed by the precious blood of the Lamb who in John's Apocalypse is said to have been slain. Of this day of retribution Moses also prophesied by the Holy Spirit: And he will render vengeance to his enemies, and will repay those who hate him. He who also had said in the psalm: And I looked for one that would grieve with me, and there was none, and for one that would comfort me, and I found none.

For he, though he was in the form of God, thought it not robbery to be equal with God, but emptied himself, taking the form of a servant, and became obedient to the Father unto death, even the death of the cross; and therefore he gave him a name above every name, that he might save by his right hand those who believe in him; and his indignation, which was against the adversaries, might set free the people of God.

Either he delivers those who believe by his arm, and delayed his fury no longer: and he brought down their blood to the earth—either of the demons tropically, or certainly the blood of the Jews: for which the other interpreters translated "contention"; who strove with all zeal to release the bound people. (Verse 7.) I will remember the mercies of the Lord; the praise of the Lord for all the things that the Lord hath bestowed upon us, and for the multitude of good things to the house of Israel, which he hath given them according to his kindness, and according to the multitude of his mercies. The Septuagint: I have remembered the mercies of the Lord, I will remember the powers of the Lord in all things that he hath rendered to us: the Lord is a good judge to the house of Israel, he will render to us according to his mercy, and according to the multitude of his justice.

Having finished—as we think—the first, or, as most reckon, the second coming of the Saviour, in which is understood the voice of one judging, indeed of one fighting and slaying his own adversaries and those of his people, being described as bloodstained and victorious: another section begins, in which the Prophet speaks in the person of the people, recounting the benefits of God towards himself, and the hardness of his own heart, on account of which Jerusalem was given over to fire and Israel to captivity. Which the Jews refer to the times of Babylon. But we have shown, by order and reason, that it is spoken of the present time, in which they serve the Romans, and, Israel being excluded, the multitude of the Gentiles has succeeded. Let us therefore run through the individual members of the discourse, and—lest the exposition be tangled—briefly set them forth.

Pressed by the weight of evils, I have hope in nothing else but the mercy of God; who shows mercy unto thousands of them that love him, and extends his mercy to those who know him. From which it is shown that mercy of the Lord comes to the aid of those who love and know God. For it is not of him that willeth, nor of him that runneth, but of God that showeth mercy. And unless the Lord build the house, and keep the city, he that builds and keeps it watches in vain. For he himself will grant the strength, that we may act with fortitude, and be able to say: My strength and my help, and my refuge in the day of my troubles.

These things in the present passage we ought to understand not with reference to vices and sins, but to distresses. Now as to what follows according to the Septuagint: "I will remember the virtues of the Lord in all things which he has repaid to me," in place of which the Hebrew has "the praises of the Lord," let us understand thereby signs and miracles, for which "virtues" is often used, as in that place: "My glory I will not give to another, nor my virtues to graven images." And elsewhere: "His virtues shall be declared in the islands," whether of the nations of the whole world, or of the Churches which are founded upon a firm mass, and are struck rather than overthrown.

Sometimes, however, "virtue" is taken not for strength and miracles, but for good conduct, as in that saying of the Apostles, of Peter: "In your knowledge minister virtue"; and of Paul: "If there be any virtue, and if there be any praise." According to which it is also said in another place: "Better is barrenness with virtue." The former understanding of virtue befits God; the second, men.

Now as to what we have rendered: "For all things which the Lord has repaid to us," which can be taken both in a good and in a bad sense, Symmachus set it forth more plainly with reference to a repayment of good things, saying: "For all things in which he has done good to us, and for the abundance of goodness which he has exercised upon the house of Israel." In place of which the Seventy translated: "The Lord, a good judge to the house of Israel, will repay us according to his mercy, and according to the abundance of his justice." But this none can say, save one who understands that he justly endures what he suffers.

Accordingly, in the seventy-second psalm, whose beginning is: "How good is God to Israel, to those who are upright in heart," the prophet speaks in the person of those who are troubled by the judgments of God: "But as for me, my feet were almost moved: my steps had well nigh slipped," seeing the peace of sinners, and so forth, even to the end of the psalm. Whence the apostle Paul, who had known the Lord as a good and just judge, speaks confidently: "There is laid up for me a crown of justice, which the just judge will render to me. And not to me only, but also to all who love the coming of the Lord and our Saviour." Nor is there, as the heretics would have it, any distance between "good" and "just," since the same writer says: "Wherefore the law is holy, and the commandment holy, and just, and good," so that clearly "goodness" is understood as the genus, and "justice" as the species.

Wherefore he writes to the Romans: "For scarcely for a just man will one die: yet perhaps for a good man one might dare to die." (Verses 8 ff.) And he said: Surely they are my people, children that will not deny me: and he became their Saviour. In all their tribulation he was not troubled, and the angel of his face saved them: in his love and in his indulgence he redeemed them, and carried them, and lifted them up all the days of old. But they provoked to wrath and afflicted his Holy Spirit: and he was turned to be their enemy, and he himself fought against them. And he remembered the days of old, of Moses and his people: Where is he that brought them up out of the sea, with the shepherds of his flock? Where is he that put in the midst of them his Holy Spirit? That led Moses by the right hand with the arm of his majesty? That divided the waters before them, to make himself an eternal name?

That led them through the depths, as a horse in the wilderness that stumbles not? As a beast that goes down into the plain, the Spirit of the Lord was his guide. Thus did you lead your people, that you might make yourself a glorious name. What is said is this: After the people, set in such great evils, had remembered the mercies of the Lord, and had confessed that they were justly suffering these things, God, returning again to his ancient clemency, speaks: Surely they are my people, and children that will not deny me, who do not call me Father in vain, nor deny their Creator: and he became their Saviour, not for one day, or for one time, but in all their tribulation.

"He was not troubled"—in place of which in the Hebrew is written LO, which, if written with Lamed and Aleph, denotes negation; if with Lamed and Vau, signifies "to him." Whence both the Seventy and Theodotion translated: "Neither an envoy nor an angel, but the Lord himself saved them." But Symmachus and the Fifth Edition: "In all their tribulation he was not troubled." This also we have followed, and set down: "In all their tribulation he was not troubled," so as to show the clemency of God, who, after the likeness of man, is said to be afflicted in the affliction of the saints, and to suffer with those who suffer. Whence also it is written in another place: "He who touches you touches the apple of my eye." And in the Gospel: "What you have done to one of the least of these, you have done to me." And again: "Saul, Saul, why do you persecute me?" when he was persecuting the disciples on earth, and the Lord cried out in the heavens.

"And the angel of his face saved them"—the Lord himself, who says: "I am your face." And: "No one sees my face and lives." And he of whom it is written: "The Angel of great counsel." "In his love and in his indulgence he himself redeemed them, and carried them, and lifted them up all the days of old." This is said more fully in Exodus: how the Lord carried them in the desert, as a nurse is wont to carry her little one. "But they provoked to wrath and afflicted his Holy Spirit." This also Stephen says in the Acts of the Apostles: "You always resist the Holy Spirit, as your fathers also did." "And he was turned to be their enemy, and he himself fought against them." For he who had been their protector became their assailant.

"And he remembered the days of old, of Moses and his people." When they were enduring these things, they remembered the ancient times, and Moses, and the people that then was, and they said: "Where is he that brought them up out of the sea, with the shepherds of his flock?" that is, with Moses and Aaron. As a beast that goes down into the plain, the Spirit of the Lord was his guide." All these things are referred to the praise of God, who through Moses and Aaron delivered the people from Egypt, and led them across the Red Sea with dry footstep, and through the wilderness of the desert, where there were no paths, led them without any stumbling, as a horse in the plain and desert, and as beasts that go down to pasture. "Thus did you lead your people, that you might make yourself a glorious name." All these things, he says, you did, that your name might be celebrated among the nations. He led them through all the days of the age.

But they provoked him to wrath, and afflicted his Holy Spirit; and he turned to be their enemy, and he himself fought against them. The Septuagint: And he said: Not my people, my children will by no means reprove. And he became to them salvation from all their tribulation: not a messenger, nor an Angel, but he himself saved them, because he loved them and spared them; he himself redeemed them, and took them up, and exalted them all the days of the age. But they did not believe, and provoked his Holy Spirit to bitterness: he turned to be their enemy, he himself fought against them. Where we have translated: In all their tribulation he was not troubled, which in Hebrew is said LO, and it is an adverb of negation, in place of "not"; but it can also be read "himself," so that the sense would be: In all their tribulation he himself was troubled, that is, God: so that he might bear not only our sins, but also our tribulations.

For he himself bears our infirmities, and grieves for us. Moreover the Seventy have added something not found in the Hebrew, "not a messenger, nor an Angel, but he himself saved them"; concerning which we shall speak in its own place. God then, who is a just judge of the house of Israel, and who tempers the severity of justice with the clemency of a judge, said: I have indeed begotten sons and exalted them, and they have despised me. Nevertheless, because they are my people, and once named children, they shall not perish forever; if they cease to despise and deny me, they will experience the Saviour: because in all their tribulation he himself was troubled. Or, "he was not troubled," in the sense that he abandoned them for a little while, and, stripping them of his help, compelled them to entreat him. Or else, he by no means afflicted them, but on the contrary, while others were persecuting them, he was their helper, and sent his Angel to free them from danger.

Or, according to the Septuagint, he did not wish to save his people through Angels and Prophets and other holy men; but he himself came down to the lost sheep of the house of Israel, that he might carry the sick sheep on his own shoulders, and find the lost coin, and run joyfully to meet the prodigal son returning. For which reason the bride says in the Song of Songs: Let him kiss me with the kiss of his mouth. Not through the Patriarchs, Moses, and the Prophets, but let him assume my body, dwell in my flesh, let the Word become flesh, and so kiss me, dwelling in me, that he may be Emmanuel. Therefore he will save those who received salvation neither as a messenger nor as an Angel, but he himself will save them: not by the merit of works, but by the love of God. For God so loved the world, that he gave his only-begotten Son, that whosoever believes in him should not perish, but have everlasting life.

But if a discerning reader should silently think and ask, why then were not many saved, if he himself saved them, and loved them, and spared his sons, and redeemed them with his blood, and took them up and exalted the ones he had assumed?—a clear cause is given: But they did not believe, and provoked to bitterness his Holy Spirit, or the Spirit of his Holy One, which in Hebrew is called CADESO (קדשו). God, therefore, wished to save those who desired it: and he called them to salvation, so that the will might have its reward; but they were unwilling to believe. Otherwise, it is also written of John: There was a man sent from God, whose name was John: this man came for a witness, to bear witness of the light, that all men through him might believe. Nor is it immediately a fault, if many were unwilling to believe, but this was the will of him who came, that all should believe and be saved.

But whoever provokes and afflicts the Holy Spirit, or His Holy One, that is, Christ, provokes God: for the Holy Spirit is of the same nature with the Father and the Son. Wherefore the Apostle enjoins: Grieve not the Holy Spirit, in whom you were sealed. This Holy Spirit withdraws from a body subjected to sins: and wisdom does not enter into a perverse soul. Whence David also, conscious of his sins, lest he lose the Holy Spirit, prayed, saying: And take not your Holy Spirit from me. And that we may know that everyone who provokes the Holy Spirit offends God, and turns from a friend into an enemy and foe, Peter the apostle speaks more clearly in the Acts of the Apostles: Why has it come to pass that you should agree together to lie to the Holy Spirit? You have not lied to men, but to God.

This is the Holy Spirit, of whom the Lord said in the Gospel: If you love me, keep my commandments: and I will ask the Father, and he will give you another Paraclete, that he may abide with you forever, the Spirit of truth. Concerning whom we also find in Wisdom, which is written in the name of Solomon: For the Holy Spirit of discipline will flee deceit, and will withdraw from thoughts that are without understanding. (Verse 11 and following.) And he remembered the days of old, of Moses, of his people. Where is he who brought them up out of the sea with the shepherds of his flock? Where is he who put in the midst of them his Holy Spirit? Who led Moses by the right hand with the arm of his majesty: who divided the waters before them, to make himself an everlasting name? Who led them through the depths, as a horse in the wilderness that does not stumble.

As an animal descending into the plain, the Spirit of the Lord was its guide: so did you lead your people, to make yourself a name of glory. The Septuagint: And he remembered the days of old, who brought up from the land the shepherd of the sheep. Where is he who put among them the Holy Spirit? Who led Moses by the right hand, the arm of his glory? So he led his people through the mighty water in his sight, to make himself an everlasting name. He led them through the deep, as a horse through the wilderness, and they did not labor. And as cattle go down into the plain, the Spirit went forth from the Lord, and was their guide: so did you lead your people, to make yourself a name of glory.

The Lord, who from being the protector became the adversary of the people of the Jews, who provoked his Holy Spirit to wrath, and he fought against them: he himself remembered the days of old, when Moses interceded for them in the wilderness, saying: Either forgive them this fault: or if you do not, blot me out of the book which you have written. Isaiah then, remembering the ancient history, says: Where is that Moses who led them out of the Red Sea? Where is the shepherd of the sheep? Where is he who labored along with the other shepherds of the Lord's flock? Who obtained, by his prayer and entreaties, and set the Spirit of God amid the flock of the Lord? Or surely it is to be understood thus: where is that clemency of the Lord, by which he once had mercy on his people, so as to grant them also the grace of the Holy Spirit?

Who led by the right hand, not the left, Moses his servant, with the arm of his majesty: who divided the waters before them, to make himself an everlasting name, that even to the present day his power might be told? For he led his people through the immense depths of the waters, as a horse through the wilderness, and as cattle through the plain, and the Spirit of the Lord was its guide, that is, of the Lord's flock. But here we ought to understand "Spirit" as the Angel who was the guide of the people of Israel, according to that which is written: Who makes his Angels spirits, and his ministers a burning fire. And in the Epistle to the Hebrews: These are ministering spirits, who are sent to minister for those who shall inherit salvation. Let us consider what is written in the Acts of the Apostles: The Spirit of the Lord caught away Philip, and the eunuch saw him no more: whether we ought to take this concerning an Angel.

There are those who assert that an Angel did this in the Holy Spirit. Let us pass over what is clear, that we may dwell on the more obscure matters. (Verse 15 and following.) Look down from heaven, and behold from your holy habitation, and the habitation of your glory. Where is your zeal and your strength? The multitude of your bowels, and of your mercies, have withheld themselves from me. For you are our father: and Abraham did not know us, and Israel did not acknowledge us. You, Lord, are our father, our redeemer; your name is from everlasting. The Septuagint: Turn from heaven, and behold from your holy house, and of your glory: where is your zeal and your strength? Where is the multitude of your mercies, and of your compassions, with which you sustained us? For you are our father, because Abraham did not know us, and Israel did not acknowledge us. But you, Lord, our father, deliver us: from the beginning your name is upon us.

You who bestowed on your people such great things as the preceding discourse has told, so as to make us worthy of the fellowship of your Spirit, now also look down from heaven, and behold our works, if indeed they are worthy of you. Why do you turn away your face from us? Heaven is called the holy habitation, and the house of his glory, according to that which is said: Heaven is my throne, and the earth is the footstool of my feet; and in another place: He who dwells in the heavens shall laugh at them; and: To you I have lifted up my eyes, who dwell in heaven. Not that Almighty God, who holds heaven in his palm and the earth in his fist, is confined to any place; but that those things which are more holy are said to be his place and habitation. Thus Solomon, who built the house of God, says in prayer to him: The heaven of heavens and the earth are not sufficient for you.

And in the Lord's Prayer it is said: Your will be done, as in heaven, so also on earth. Wherever, then, the will of God is done, that is his habitation, and the house of God. But as to what follows, Where is your zeal and your strength? Let us explain by that testimony which God speaks through Ezekiel to Jerusalem, who had followed after her lovers: Now I will no longer be angry with you, and my zeal has withdrawn from you. And the sense is: Because we have sinned, and you began to hate us, your zeal has withdrawn from us, which does not withdraw when he speaks through Zechariah: I have been zealous for Zion and Jerusalem with great zeal. Whence also in what follows he says: And I will be angry against the nations that are gathered together against her round about.

But when zeal withdraws, the strength of God also withdraws, and the affection of paternal tenderness is overcome, while by the greatness of sins the incredible clemency of God is overcome, so that he restrains himself from helping me, who could not bear to see me oppressed. For you, he says, are our father, who are the creator of all things. Abraham does not know us, and Israel does not acknowledge us, because we have offended, nor do they recognize the sons whom they understand not to be loved by their God. A sudden question arises, why he named Abraham and Israel, that is, Jacob, and left the name of Isaac unspoken? To which we shall answer, that with the beginning and the end set forth, the middle also is named. Or thus: Abraham was called to the faith from among the Gentiles, and by reason of the quality of his former and subsequent condition, he obtained a change of name. Jacob likewise, in order to be called Israel, arrived at it through much labor.

Whence also Abraham had three wives, and Jacob four: but Isaac, from the beginning to the end, kept his ancient name, and, signifying the chastity of the Church, was content with one wife. Those, therefore, who entreat on behalf of sinners for a change to a better condition, take on the likeness of those to whom joy succeeded after sorrows. But this is all that they ask, that because he is their father, and has deigned to give them this name, he should not forget his children; lest through them the name of God be blasphemed among the nations. (Verses 18, 19.) Why hast thou made us err, O Lord, from thy ways: hast hardened our heart, that we should not fear thee? Return for thy servants' sake, the tribes of thy inheritance. They have possessed thy holy people as nothing: our enemies have trodden down thy sanctification. We are become as in the beginning, when thou didst not rule over us, and thy name was not called upon us.

LXX: Why hast thou led us astray, O Lord, from thy holy way: hast thou hardened our hearts, that we should not fear thee? Return for thy servants' sake, for the tribes of thy inheritance, that we may possess a little of thy holy mountain: our adversaries have trodden down thy sanctuary: we are become as in the beginning, when thou didst not rule over us: neither was thy name called upon us. The epistle which Paul writes to the Corinthians, although it is written to the people of a single city, on account of the variety of its inhabitants, that is, of saints and sinners, now praises them, now rebukes them, now teaches, now reproves, urges to continence; does not refuse marriage; draws back from idolatry; instructs concerning the resurrection; extends a hand to second marriage, lest it give occasion to fornication.

We have said this, so that we may understand that the present chapter also, which is entirely woven from the prayer of a people beseeching God, belongs either to the just or to sinners: and that it now praises the Lord, now raises a question against the Lord, and refers its own fault back to God. Whence also, after the rest, they say this too: Why hast thou made us err, O Lord, from thy ways, or hast thou led us astray from thy way: hast thou hardened our heart that we should not fear thee? Not that God is the cause of error and hardness, but that his patience, awaiting our salvation, while he does not chastise offenders, seems to be the cause of error and hardness. Whence, being greatly angered against certain ones, he withholds his hand from striking, and says: I will not visit upon your daughters when they shall have played the harlot, nor upon your spouses when they shall have committed adultery (Hosea iv, 14).

For he scourges every son whom he receives, and strikes for this reason, that he may amend him. Finally, of those who have by no means lost the name of sons, but are drawn back to repentance through punishments, he says: I will visit their iniquities with a rod, and their sins with stripes: but my mercy I will not take away from them. For there is a sorrow which leads to life, and there is a sorrow which leads to death. Whence also the sinner says in the psalm: Thou hast made our paths to decline from thy way, and hast humbled us in the place of affliction. And for forty years the people wander in the desert, so that they may not find the former way, nor return to the Egyptians. In Hosea also the paths of Jerusalem are hedged in and closed with thorns, lest she follow her lovers, and, compelled by necessity, return to her former husband (Hosea ii).

And it is said that God hardened Pharaoh's heart, so that he would not let his people go, and that he might be afflicted with ten plagues. Which question Paul has most diligently discussed in his letter to the Romans. And we have touched upon it in a certain work of ours. Return, he says, O Lord, or convert us, for the sake of thy servants Abraham and Israel, who have not known us, or whom we believe to be among the people. For as it were to nothing and without any labor our adversaries have possessed thy holy people. Or, convert us, that according to the Septuagint, we may possess a little of thy holy mountain, since we cannot possess thy whole mountain, so that, having a part of it, we may come to its fullness and contemplate the glory of the Only-begotten of the Father, full of grace and truth. Of whom it is said in this same prophet: In the last days the mountain of the Lord shall be made manifest.

But as to what was said above: Why hast thou made us err? In what sense it is to be understood, Jeremiah teaches most fully: Thou hast deceived me, O Lord, and I am deceived: thou hast been strong, and hast prevailed. For while thou dost promise me clemency, and, as a merciful father, dost dissemble hardness, and, like a skillful physician, dost hide the sharpest blade, lest thou terrify the sick man before thou heal him, thou hast made me negligent; on account of which God also says of Jerusalem: Behold, I will lead her into the wilderness, and will speak to her heart: and I will make her a desert, and I will set her as a land without waters: and I will give her possessions from thence, and the valley of Achor for opening understanding (Hosea ii, 14, 15). Let us consider the order of each point: he leads her astray, and makes her be deserted, and without water, that she may suffer thirst for virtues.

After she shall have said: My soul hath thirsted after thee, how many ways doth my flesh long for thee, then he will speak to her heart, and will console her as she mourns. And he will give her possession from thence, that is, from repentance and sorrow which works salvation. And the humility of her troubled heart (for this is what the valley of Achor means) opens understanding, lest she not know her Creator. Our enemies, he says, have trodden down thy sanctuary. There is no doubt that this signifies the Temple, which the victorious Romans trod under foot. And we are become as in the beginning before we were called in Abraham, and while we were in Egypt, having no God, nor kings, nor princes, nor prophets, nor the Law of God's commandments (Hosea iii), all of which things were fulfilled after the Passion of the Lord, and are fulfilled to this day.

For since they said: His blood be upon us, and upon our children, an everlasting curse remains, and God does not rule over them, nor is his name called upon them, since they are by no means called the people of God.

Oh, that thou wouldst rend the heavens and come down: the mountains would melt away at thy presence. As when the melting fire burneth, the waters would burn with fire, that thy name might be made known to thy enemies: the nations might tremble at thy presence. When thou shalt do wonderful things, we shall not be able to bear them: thou camest down, and the mountains melted away at thy presence. LXX: If thou wouldst open the heavens, trembling shall seize the mountains because of thee: and they shall melt as wax melts before the fire: and fire shall burn up the adversaries: and thy name shall become manifest among the adversaries: at thy presence the nations shall be troubled. When thou shalt do glorious things, trembling shall seize the mountains because of thee.

Since our enemies have trodden down thy sanctuary, and we are become as in the beginning, when thy name was not called upon us: therefore we beseech and say: Oh, that thou wouldst rend the heavens, and come down; and thou, who art always promised, wouldst at last fulfill thy promises. Now this was said at a time when the Saviour had not yet come, nor had he assumed from the virginal womb a man of our nature and substance, whom he might save: that just as we have borne the image of the earthly, we might bear the image of the heavenly. But if thou wert to do this, they say, and the heavens, or heaven, were opened, at the coming of thy majesty the mountains would melt away, or trembling would seize the mountains, and they would be consumed, as wax is consumed before the fire. And to Ezekiel the heavens were opened, and he saw a great vision.

But Moses also, in the blessings of Deuteronomy, prays: May the Lord open to thee his good treasure, the heavens, that he may give thee blessing. And in the Gospel John the Baptist is said to have seen the heavens opened, and the Holy Spirit descending upon the Lord in the likeness of a dove. But the mountains which, at the coming of the Lord, of whom it is written: God is a consuming fire, shall be consumed like wax and shall melt, are the adverse powers, and all who exalt themselves against the knowledge of God. Of whom it is also sung in the ninety-sixth psalm: He saw, and the earth was moved. The mountains melted like wax at the presence of the Lord, at the presence of the God of all the earth. For if thou wert to come down, and fulfill thy promises, the waters of the sea would waste away (according to Symmachus), and that fire would consume all their saltiness.

Of which it is also written in another psalm: As smoke vanisheth, let them vanish: as wax melteth before the fire, so let sinners perish at the presence of God. And this is to be noted, that when the waters of the sea shall have been consumed by divine fire, then the name of the Lord the Saviour shall become known to his enemies. Of whom it is said in the sixty-seventh psalm: The tongue of thy dogs shall be red with the blood of the enemies from him; that they who had not perceived him through his benefits, may recognize him through the overthrow of their city and their own captivity. And at his presence the nations shall be troubled, or, as it is more forcefully said in the Hebrew, shall be moved: that they who were formerly immovable may come to salvation.

And when he shall have done wondrous things, and shown signs in the Gospel, which he once showed in Egypt and in the wilderness, they will confess that they cannot bear the glory of his coming, or that trembling has seized the mountains. And beautifully, according to the Hebrew, as though those who had prayed above were heard: Oh, that thou wouldst rend the heavens and come down, the mountains would melt away at thy presence, they afterward add: Thou camest down, the Word was made flesh, and dwelt in us, truly Emmanuel, which is interpreted, God with us. And therefore at thy presence all the mountains melted away, of which we spoke above.

The Hebrews explain this passage thus: Thus fire shall burn up the wicked, as waters boil with the heat of fire; for AMASIM (המסים) they wish to be understood not as consumption and wasting, as others have interpreted, but as "the wicked." (Verses 4, 5.) From of old men have not heard, nor perceived with the ears: the eye hath not seen, O God, besides thee, what things thou hast prepared for them that wait for thee. Thou hast met him that rejoiceth and doth justice: in thy ways they shall remember thee. LXX: From of old we have not heard, neither have our eyes seen a God besides thee, and thy works, which thou wilt do for them that wait for thy mercy: for he meets those who do justice, and they shall remember thy ways.

The Apostle Paul, as a Hebrew of Hebrews, takes the paraphrase of this testimony from the authentic books in the Epistle which he writes to the Corinthians, not rendering word for word, which he altogether disdains to do; but expressing the truth of the meanings, which he uses to confirm what he intends. Whence let the ravings of the apocrypha be silent, which on the occasion of this testimony are foisted upon the Churches of Christ. Of which it can truly be said, that the devil sits in ambush with the rich in the apocrypha, that he may slay the innocent. And again: He lies in wait in the apocrypha as a lion in his den: he lies in wait, that he may catch the poor. For the Ascension of Isaiah, and the Apocalypse of Elijah, have this testimony.

And through this occasion, and many things of this kind, the little women of the Spains, and especially of Lusitania, have been deceived, laden with sins, led about by various desires, ever learning, and never coming to the knowledge of the truth, so that they have taken up the monstrosities of Basilides, of Balsamus and Thesaurus, of Barbelo also and Leusibora, and the rest of such names. Concerning whom the apostolic man Irenaeus, bishop of Lyons and martyr, writes most diligently, explaining the origins of many heresies, and especially of the Gnostics, who through Marcus the Egyptian first deceived the noble women of Gaul around the Rhone, then of the Spains, mingling pleasure with fables, and claiming for their ignorance the name of knowledge (Irenaeus, book I, On Heresies). Now as to what the people say in the present passage, that is, that they have never known with ears nor with eyes what God prepares for his saints in the future: that he meets those who do justice, and who remember his ways.

Furthermore, according to the Septuagint, they say that they have never known any other God besides him who is truly God, nor have they seen such and so great works of any other, which he is about to do for those who wait for his mercy, and who do justice, and remember his ways. And how is it written: No man hath seen God at any time? And again: No man shall see my face and live? Therefore God is by no means explained by words, nor is he beheld by eyes, but he is seen by those of whom it is written: Blessed are the clean of heart, for they shall see God. (Verse 6.) Behold, thou art angry, and we have sinned; in them we have always been, and we shall be saved. And we are all become as one unclean, all our righteousness as the rag of a menstruous woman. And we have all fallen as a leaf, and our iniquities like the wind have carried us away.

The Septuagint: Behold, thou art angry, and we have all sinned: therefore we have erred, and we are all become as unclean, all our righteousness like the rag of a woman sitting apart: and we have fallen away like leaves because of our iniquities: even so the wind will carry us away. The order is reversed. It is not because thou art angry that we have sinned; but because we have sinned, thou art angry. And because we have sinned, thou art angry with us, O Lord; therefore have we erred, and left the right way. Or, according to the Hebrew, we who have always been in sins, shall be saved only by thy mercy, we who through our own doing are unclean; and whatever righteousness we seem to have is compared to the rag of a woman sitting apart, or of a menstruous woman.

For which Theodotion put the Hebrew word itself, EDDIM (עדים), which Symmachus interpreted ἀνυουσῶν, that is, of women in childbirth; Aquila, μαρτυριῶν, that is, of testimonies: when the blood is shown as proof in a virgin's first marital union. And we have fallen away, he says, like leaves from the trees, which because of our iniquities are scattered by the blasts of the winds. Wherein it must be considered, that the righteousness which is in the Law, in comparison with evangelical purity, is called uncleanness. For that which was before glorified has not been glorified, by reason of the surpassing glory.

Whence also the apostle Paul, who according to the righteousness which is in the Law had fulfilled all things, says that he counted all things as loss, that he might gain Christ, and because of the surpassing knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ, for whose sake he counts all things as dung, that he may gain Christ, and be found in him, not having his own righteousness, which is of the Law, but that which is through the faith of Christ, the righteousness which is of God. For he is just who perishes in his own righteousness, if after the truth of the Gospel he wishes to practice the shadows of the Law, and not justly to pursue what is just. Whence, according to the most wise Solomon, every man seems just to himself, while he dwells in the law: to whom the Lord speaks in the Gospel: You are they that justify yourselves before men. Which Paul, fleeing from, says: I know nothing by myself; yet am I not hereby justified.

But from sin comes the righteousness of God, of which the same Solomon speaks: Understand true righteousness. Therefore there is another righteousness which does not have truth, and this is the true righteousness, of which again it is said in the Gospel: Blessed are they that hunger and thirst after righteousness. Which many prophets and righteous men desired to see, and saw it not. But Abraham saw this righteousness, and rejoiced, in no wise following the killing letter, but the life-giving spirit. Nor is it strange that these things are said of men, since even the stars, compared to God's righteousness, are not clean, and he found something perverse to charge against his angels.

If anyone, therefore, after the Gospel of Christ, and the coming of the Son of God, observes the ceremonies of the Law as a pedagogue, let him hear the people confessing, that all that righteousness is compared to a most filthy rag, to which also Esther compares her diadem, which was the emblem of royal power, which she wore not at all by her will, but by necessity: Thou knowest my necessity: that I detest the sign of my pride, which is upon my head in the days of my public appearance: I abhor it as a menstruous rag: nor do I wear it in the days of my quiet (Esther, xiv, 16). (Verse 7.) There is none that calleth upon thy name, that riseth up and taketh hold of thee. Thou hast hid thy face from us, and hast crushed us in the hand of our iniquity. The Septuagint: And there is none that calleth upon thy name, and who remembering takes hold of thee.

For thou hast turned thy face away from us, and hast delivered us up because of our iniquities. Because like leaves from the trees we have fallen, which the wind, once dried, scatters, therefore no one has been found who would call upon thy name, and rising from the ruin of his iniquities, would take hold of thee or hold thee fast, and say with the bride: I found him whom my soul loves: I will hold him, and not let him go. Wind in Scripture is used in three ways: either for the greatness of temptations, or for the perversity of doctrine, or simply for the wind by which clouds are gathered, and the air is driven into clouds. Concerning temptations, there is that Gospel saying: The floods came, the winds blew, and beat upon that house, and it fell not: for it was founded upon a rock. Concerning the perversity of doctrine: That we be not carried about with every wind of doctrine, in the wickedness of men.

Concerning wind simply: And they could not sail, for the wind was contrary: not that this too may not be understood tropologically, but that it offers a likeness suited only to the present sense. For when the Lord turns his face away from us, we are crushed in the hand of our own iniquity, or are delivered over to temptations because of our sins. From which we learn, that iniquity too has a hand, and all sins, which desire to hold us firmly bound. Whence also in the hand of the tongue are death and life; and the saint prays: Let not the foot of pride come against me. But we, because the Lord has turned his face away from us, knowing that which is written: Whosoever shall call upon the name of the Lord shall be saved, let us call upon his name, and say: I have made known my sin to thee, and my iniquity have I not hidden.

I said, I will confess against myself my injustice to the Lord, and thou hast forgiven the wickedness of my heart. And immediately we shall have the Lord answering: Thy iniquities are blotted out like a mist, and thy sins like a cloud, and we shall say, Show thy face, and we shall be saved: that we may in no wise be servants of sin, but thy servants. For everyone that commits sin is the servant of sin. (Verses 8 and following.) And now, O Lord, thou art our father: and we are the clay: and thou art our maker, and we all are the work of thy hands. Be not very angry, O Lord, and remember not our iniquity any more. Behold, see, we are all thy people. The city of thy sanctuary has become a wilderness, Sion has become a wilderness, Jerusalem is desolate: the house of our sanctification and our glory, where our fathers praised thee, is become a burning of fire, and all our desirable things are turned into ruin.

Wilt thou refrain thyself for these things, O Lord, wilt thou hold thy peace, and afflict us exceedingly? The Septuagint: And now, O Lord, thou art our father: but we are clay, the work of thy hands, all of us; be not very angry with us, O Lord, and remember not our sins forever. And now behold, for we are all thy people, the city of thy sanctuary Sion has become a desert: Jerusalem has become as a wilderness, a curse: the house of our sanctuary and of glory, which our fathers blessed, has been burned with fire, and all our glorious things have fallen. And upon all these things thou hast endured, O Lord: and thou hast held thy peace, and hast humbled us greatly. If we consider our own merits, we must despair. But if we consider thy clemency, who scourgest every son whom thou receivest, we dare to pour forth prayers. For thou art our father, who hast deigned to say: Israel is my firstborn son.

And although we are clay, and the work of thy hands, and thou art our maker; nor can the vessel answer the potter, why it was made thus or thus; yet knowing that we are sons, we dare to say: Be not very angry, O Lord. We do not forbid anger, nor do we seek further thy patience, through which we have treasured up for ourselves wrath against the day of wrath. But this we ask, that thou be not very angry with us, that in the time of vengeance and retribution thou remember not our iniquity: but rather look upon thy people, who were once called thy people. And have mercy on the city of thy sanctuary, in which thy name was invoked. Which city is called Sion and Jerusalem, which the rush of the river makes glad; and in which once was the watchtower of virtues and the contemplation of peace.

Thy house also, that is, the Temple of our sanctification and glory, in which our fathers praised thee, has fallen into ruins and ashes, and by the ravaging fire has been destroyed; so that no longer are victims offered in it; the Passover is not celebrated; nothing is done of the ceremonies which thou didst command to be done; but all our desirable things are turned into ruins. Since therefore these things stand thus, wilt thou, O Lord, over these things restrain thy mercy, and be silent to adversaries blaspheming, and afflict us and humble us, not in the accustomed way, but exceedingly? All of which the Jews think were fulfilled in the times of the Assyrians and Babylonians. But we, according to what follows in the person of the Saviour: I have appeared to them that asked not for me.

I was found by them that sought me not; refer all these things to the time of the Roman victory, which Josephus, the writer of Jewish history, sets forth in seven volumes, to which he gave the title of the Jewish Captivity, that is, περὶ ἁλώσεως: and it is superfluous to discourse in words of things that lie open to the eyes, since all their desirable things are turned into ruins, and the Temple, celebrated throughout the whole world, has become the dunghill of the new city, which was called by its founder Aelia; and has passed into a dwelling place of owls: and in vain do they say daily in their synagogues: Over all these things, O Lord, wilt thou endure and afflict us, and humble us exceedingly? We can refer these things to the Church, or to the soul of a holy man, which can rightly be called a watchtower and vision of peace, when the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit shall have dwelt in it.

But if by fault, either our own or the people's, such a Sion shall have been forsaken by the Lord, it will immediately lie open to the burning of the devil's fiery arrows: For all committing adultery, their hearts are like an oven. And once the coolness of chastity has been driven out, the flame of lust will rage in the temple of God, so that whatever was formerly glorious and renowned in us may collapse, be blotted out, and perish. And that saying in the Psalms be fulfilled: They have burned thy sanctuary with fire, they have profaned on the earth the tabernacle of thy name. Which he alone can quench, from whose belly flow rivers of living water.

The eighteenth book on Isaiah, indeed the last book, is dedicated to your name, O daughter Eustochium, and to that of your holy mother Paula, so that those whom I have revered with equal honor I may now recall with equal remembrance: especially since she too, while she lived, along with you frequently requested this work, and your most learned brother Pammachius, both then and afterward, did not cease to press me with frequent letters: and to me the same devotion applies both to present friends and to absent ones, and to men and women sleeping in Christ, that is, the charity of souls, not of bodies. Nor am I ignorant how great a diversity of opinions exists among men.

I do not speak of the mystery of the Trinity, whose correct confession is the ignorance of knowledge: but of other ecclesiastical doctrines, namely of the Resurrection, and of the state of souls and of human flesh, of the Promises concerning things to come, how they ought to be understood, and by what reasoning the Apocalypse of John should be interpreted, which, if we take it according to the letter, we must judaize; if we discuss it spiritually, as it is written, we shall seem to contradict the opinions of many ancients: of the Latins, Tertullian, Victorinus, Lactantius: of the Greeks, to omit the rest, I will mention only Irenaeus, bishop of Lyons, against whom that most eloquent man Dionysius, bishop of the Church of Alexandria, writes an elegant book, mocking the fable of a thousand years, and a golden and bejeweled Jerusalem on earth, the restoration of the Temple, the blood of victims, the leisure of the sabbath, the injury of circumcision, marriages, childbirths, the raising of children, the delights of banquets, and the servitude of all nations: and again wars, armies, and triumphs and the slaying of the conquered, and the death of the hundred-year-old sinner.

To whom Apollinarius replied in two volumes, whom not only the men of his own sect follow, but also a very great multitude of our own, at least in this respect, so that I already foresee with prophetic mind how great a rage is to be stirred up against me. I do not envy them, if they love the earth so much that in the kingdom of Christ they desire earthly things: and after an abundance of foods, and the gluttony and greed of the belly, seek those things which are under the belly. Concerning whom the apostle Paul says: Food for the belly, and the belly for foods: but God will destroy both this and those. And, The kingdom of God is not food and drink. And the Lord and Savior: You err, He says, not knowing the Scriptures nor the power of God. For in the resurrection they neither marry nor are given in marriage: but they shall be like the Angels.

Nor in saying this do I take away the reality of bodies, which I confess shall rise incorrupt and immortal: so that they change their glory, not their substance. And thus one must walk along the straight path, so that we turn aside neither to the left nor to the right, that is, that we follow neither the Jewish nor the heretical error. Of whom some, who are of the flesh, love only flesh: others, ungrateful for the benefits of God, refuse to hold that which Christ, both when born and when rising, possessed. For when the Apostles thought Him a spirit, or, according to the Gospel which the Nazarenes of the Hebrews read, an incorporeal demon, He said to them: Why are you troubled, and why do thoughts arise in your hearts? See my hands and feet, that it is I myself: Handle me and see, for a spirit does not have flesh and bones, as you see me to have. And when He had said this, He showed them His hands and feet.

And again He spoke to Thomas who doubted: Bring your finger here, and see my hands: and reach out your hand, and put it into my side, and do not be unbelieving, but believing. Finally, to prove the reality of the body, He is recorded to have taken food, which He had also ordered to be given to the daughter of the ruler of the synagogue, whom He raised from the dead. And Lazarus, lest His resurrection be thought a phantom, is recorded to have shared a banquet with the Savior. Not that after the resurrection we shall eat and drink, as our Chiliasts wish, and that immortal and incorrupt bodies must be sustained by earthly foods: otherwise, where there is food, diseases follow also: where diseases, a physician must be applied: where physicians, death frequently follows: and again resurrection, and a wholly new manner of life; but that the taking of food might confirm the faith of the resurrection.

These things we guard against with great care, and speak more cautiously, knowing that we must walk among serpents and scorpions, which bite and strike in secret. Concerning whom Ecclesiastes also says: If a serpent bites in silence, he who detracts secretly has nothing less than it; and his father David: You sat and spoke against your brother, and against your mother's son you laid a stumbling-block. These things you have done, and I was silent: you thought, unjustly, that I would be like you. I will reprove you, and set them before your face; so that what you charge against others, you yourself may be shown to have. But if to anyone the length of the explanations on the Prophets displeases: let him hear frankly that I have said much less than the obscurity of the matter demands, and that anyone may make for himself brief little commentaries out of our fuller treatment, which nevertheless will not suffice for full understanding.

For the Prophets do not narrate a simple history and order of events: but all things are full of riddles; and one thing sounds in the words, another is held in the meanings: so that what you may judge plain, and running smoothly in the reading; is again involved in the obscurities of what follows. But it is time that I bring an end to this prophetic volume, in the exposition of which, if I have been more prolix than usual, allowance must be made for the final parts, which I was unwilling to divide, lest the number of books be increased.

(Verse 1.) They sought me who before did not inquire after me: they found me, who did not seek me. I said: behold I am, behold I am, to a nation that did not call upon my name. LXX: I appeared to those not seeking me: I was found by those who did not inquire after me. I said: behold I am, to a nation that did not call upon my name. To the prayer of the people mixed with complaints, in which it had said: Why have you made us err, O Lord, from your way: you have hardened our hearts, that we should not fear you? He answered, as the Jews would have it, God the Father; as we prove, the Lord and Savior: I am not so rigid and cruel that I prefer the sinner's death rather than his repentance: nor do I repel repentant children, who yet have preserved the dignity of their own name, so that I am even willing to save others not my own.

For those who were not seeking me, and could not say: We have found Jesus, of whom Moses in the Law, and the prophets, wrote; to these I appeared, of whom the Prophet elsewhere also testified: They to whom it was not announced concerning him shall see, and they who have not heard shall understand. But you who meditate on the law of God day and night, boast in vain of a repentance whose works you do not perform. Whence the Evangelists and apostles, always desiring to strengthen the coming of the Lord with the testimonies of the old Testament, said: That it might be fulfilled which was spoken through the Prophet. The centurion was not seeking the Lord, and heard from the Lord: I have not found so great faith in Israel. The Syrophoenician woman knew not the words of the Prophets, and is praised by the voice of the Lord: O woman, great is your faith.

The nobleman, who in Greek is called βασιλικός, whom we may more correctly render as "palatine," from the royal court, found health not only for his son, but for his whole household. But what is said according to the Hebrew: They sought me who before did not inquire, refers to the same sense: that those who before had no knowledge of God, afterward seek the Lord, and know him by revelation: he who was also revealed to Paul while he was persecuting the Church of believers. And to the apostle Peter he says: Blessed are you, Simon Bar-Jona: for flesh and blood have not revealed this to you; but my Father who is in heaven. This one Moses too was seeking, speaking to God: If I have found grace with you, show yourself to me plainly, that I may see you. Esteeming the reproach of Christ greater riches than the treasures of Egypt, while he desired the reward of things to come, he contemplated in his mind the invisible God as though he saw him.

Of whom it is also read in the Psalms: The hope of all the ends of the earth, and in the sea afar off. And in Genesis: He shall be the expectation of nations. And what follows: I said: behold I am: to a nation that did not call upon my name, fits that sense: He who is has sent me to you. Who, though he was in the form of God, thought it not robbery to be equal with God; but calling forth the nations of the whole world, made one nation of his own name, the Christians. (Verse 2.) I have spread out my hands all the day to an unbelieving people, who walk in a way that is not good, after their own thoughts. LXX: I have spread out my hands all the day to an unbelieving and contradicting people, who have not walked in a good way: but after their own sins.

What has been said above: I appeared to those who did not inquire after me: I was found by those who did not seek me, the apostle Paul, writing to the Romans, when he had explained it concerning the person of the Gentiles, added: But to Israel he says: I have spread out my hands to an unbelieving and contradicting people, who, though overcome by the benefits of the Lord, and though they saw signs beyond man, said: This man casts out demons only in Beelzebub, the prince of demons. And again: You are a Samaritan, and have a demon. And again: though you are a man, you make yourself God. And elsewhere: This man is not from God, who does not keep the sabbath. And many other things, which it would be long to weave together. Finally, when He on the cross stretched out His hands to the unbelieving people, and said: Father, forgive them: for they know not what they do: they, on the contrary, said: Ah!

You who destroy the Temple, and in three days build it up: let him now come down from the cross, and we will believe him. He saved others, himself he cannot save. Of this also Simeon, holding the child in his arms, prophesied: Behold, this one is set for the fall and the rising again of many, and for a sign that shall be contradicted. At Rome the Jews say to Paul: Concerning this sect it is known to us that it is everywhere contradicted. We may also take the spread hands as the generosity of one giving, in that he denied nothing to those who asked: but immediately restored health to the leper who asked: and the man blind from birth received his eyes: and the hungry in the desert, besides children and women, thousands of the people were filled. The spread hands also signify the clemency of a parent, eager to receive his children into his bosom. Who, on the contrary, walked in a way that is not good, and followed their own thoughts.

To whom the Lord speaks through the Prophet: Turn your foot away from the rough way. For they loved strangers, and like a harlot said: I will go after my lovers. And forsaking the good way, which says in the Gospel: I am the way, they walked through the broad and spacious way, which leads to death, and followed their own thoughts, which the Prophet, avoiding, entreats the Lord: Cleanse me, Lord, from my hidden faults, and spare your servant from strange ones. If they shall not have dominion over me, then I shall be blameless. And the Apostle teaches that those who did not have the knowledge of God were handed over to a reprobate mind and to evil works, to do those things which are not fitting. But let us say in the voice of the Psalmist: Lead me in the right way. (Verse 3.) A people that provoketh me to wrath, before my face always: they that sacrifice in gardens, and burn incense upon bricks.

The Septuagint: This people who exasperate me before my face: they always sacrifice in gardens, and burn incense upon brick ÷ to demons which are not. *. The Lord saying: Thou shalt not make thee an idol, nor the likeness of anything that is in heaven, or that is upon the earth. And through Moses rebuking those who did this: They provoked me with strange gods, and with their abominations they provoked me to bitterness. They sacrificed to demons, and not to God, out of an eagerness for sinning, as though they would irritate and provoke God; not only did they do what was unlawful, but they did it continually and always, sinning in the sight of the Lord, whose eyes behold all things, or in his Temple, offering victims to idols.

And lest anything be lacking to their sacrilege, they sacrificed in gardens, and burned incense upon bricks, joining luxury to idolatry, and pleasure to sacrifices, and instead of the one altar which by God's law was built of unhewn stones, they stained baked bricks and turf of the fields with the blood of victims. Let this be said according to the letter: otherwise, according to the spiritual understanding, every heretic provokes the Lord to wrath, and in the falsehood of his dogmas offers unclean sacrifices, by no means firm and lasting forever, but like gardens, green only for a short time, providing for the pleasures of the flesh. To such it is said: All flesh is grass, and all its glory as the flower of grass. The grass has withered, and the flower has fallen: but the word of the Lord, which is preached in the churches, endures forever. Naboth, unwilling that these should become gardens made from his vineyard, poured out his blood before the most impious king Achab.

For it was not fitting that his paternal inheritance should perish, and that, the vineyards being cut down, which bring forth fruit that gladdens the heart of man, in the place of virtues there should spring up herbs of pleasures and vices. There is reported a saying, deservedly celebrated and praised, of the wisest man among the Greeks, who calls all the pleasures of this age, and the pomp of the world and its swiftly passing luxury, the gardens of Adonis. Heretics also sacrifice upon stones, when they strive to establish their errors and elaborate lies by the art of dialectic, and to build them up foursquare: and by, as they say, γραμμικαῖς ἀνάγκαις, that is, geometrical necessities, to strengthen them, as it were cut in the brick of dust and marked out by lines.

But what is read in the Septuagint: "to demons which are not," and is not found in the Hebrew, must be taken in this sense, that both according to the letter and according to the spirit, demons do not truly subsist, since they have already fallen away from God, who truly is; nor do the sects of heretics, which retain no truth, but pass into the likeness of shadows and perish. Whence also Esther speaks to the Lord: Give not thy inheritance to those that are not (Esther XIV, 11). And the saint prays in the psalm: Forgive me, that I may be refreshed before I go hence, and be no more.

For he who, while he lives in this body, has not obtained pardon for his sins, and so departs from life, perishes to God, and ceases to be, although he continues to subsist for himself in punishments. (Verses 4, 5.) Who dwell in the sepulchres, and sleep in the shrines of idols: who eat swine's flesh, and profane broth is in their vessels: who say, Depart from me, come not near me, for thou art unclean. The Septuagint: In sepulchres and in caves they sleep for the sake of dreams: who eat swine's flesh and the broth of sacrifices, all their vessels being profane: who say, Go far from me, come not near me, for I am clean. There was no sacrilege which the people of Israel omitted, not only sacrificing in gardens, and burning incense upon bricks, but also sitting, or dwelling, in sepulchres, and sleeping in the shrines of idols, where they were accustomed to lie upon the spread-out hides of victims, in order to learn future things through dreams.

This error the heathen still practice to this day at the shrine of Aesculapius and many others, which are nothing else but tombs of the dead. Nor were they content with this measure of impiety, but they also fed on the flesh of swine, which was forbidden by the law, and devoured with greedy jaws yesterday's broth, which the Greeks call ἕωλον. Whence both they themselves and their vessels were unclean, and they daily took on such increase of insolence and pride, that whoever was not led by a like error, him they judged unclean, and fled his touch, just as the Samaritans and the Jews do to us, and all the heretics, such as have lately sprung up in Gaul under a hare-brained master, who, avoiding the basilicas of the Martyrs, flee from us who habitually celebrate prayers there, as though we were unclean. But it is not so much they who do this, as the demons dwelling in them, unable to bear the strength and lashes of the holy ashes.

Now which of the heretics does not rest at the memorials, does not sleep in the caves of their masters? Such was Marcion, and Valentinus, and lately Eunomius, attesting the uncleanness of his mind by leprous flesh, who, abandoning the light of the Holy Spirit, and the upper room in which the Apostles dwelt, linger in the darkness of the devil, and love caverns, which Jeremiah condemns in a mystical saying: My inheritance has become to me as a cave of the hyena, which our people call a beast: for that animal always pursues corpses, and lives on the juice and gore of dead bodies. Against these, who dwell in caverns, Habakkuk too said with a lamenting voice: Woe to him that gives his neighbor a drink of turbid liquor, and makes him drunk, that he may gaze upon his caverns.

Of these caverns the Lord also spoke: It is written, My father's house shall be called a house of prayer, but you have made it a den of thieves, in which you slay the souls of those deceived, so that you may not see in them visions, of which the same Savior says: I have multiplied visions, and have been likened in the hands of the Prophets (Osee XII, 10). And another says to him: Thou hast spoken, he says, in a vision to thy children; but they believe in dreams and phantasms, in which the Lord commanded that no trust be placed. These feed on the flesh of swine, of whom it is said: Cast not your pearls before swine. And they eat profane broth, which has been prepared by heretical art in their books.

Whose vessels are all unclean, both their bodies, that is, and their doctrines, and they come to such madness, that whoever is not like them, him they abhor as one utterly lost. (Verses 6, 7.) These shall be smoke in my fury, a fire burning all the day. Behold it is written before me: I will not keep silence, but will render and requite into their bosom your iniquities, and the iniquities of your fathers together, saith the Lord, who have sacrificed upon the mountains and upon the hills, they have reproached me, and I will measure back their former work into their bosom. The Septuagint: This is the smoke of my fury; a fire burns in it all the days. Behold it is written in my sight: I will not keep silence, until I render and requite into their bosom their sins, and those of their fathers, saith the Lord, who burned incense upon the mountains and upon the hills, they reproached me; I will requite their works into their bosom.

Because of your works, and the incredible arrogance of your mind, whereby, being unclean, you thought yourselves clean, you shall be smoke, a burning fire, which has been kindled by my fury. Now fury, forgetfulness, wrath, repentance, we must understand as applied to God in the same way as feet, hands, eyes, ears, and the other members which the incorporeal and invisible God is said to have. Not that He is subject to these disturbances, He who by the gift of His grace extinguishes them in us; but that through our own words we may understand God's disposition toward us.

For wrath, which is the desire of vengeance, is not defined in God as it is in men, for in men it has its matter in our vices, not in the will of the Lord: we who treasure up for ourselves wrath against the day of wrath, and of the revelation of the just judgment of God, so that the wise flame may consume our thistles and thorns and tares, which we have brought forth instead of the seed of God, and also the wood, hay, and stubble which we have built upon the foundation of Paul. Of this perpetual fire we also read in the Song of Moses: A fire is kindled from my fury, and it shall burn even unto the lowest hell. It shall devour the earth and its offspring; it shall burn the foundations of the mountains, and my arrows shall consume them. The sense of this testimony is that the fire of God and His vengeance ever burns against sinners, and pursues them even unto hell.

Such was that rich man in the Gospel, clothed in purple, who, while Lazarus rested in Abraham's bosom, was tormented with eternal burnings. The earth also, that is, our flesh, and its offspring, that is, the desires of the flesh, the same flame shall burn, together with the foundations of the mountains which lift themselves up against the knowledge of God. The very mountains too shall the darts of God destroy, that, being humbled by punishments, they may cease to be mountains. Behold, he says, it is written before me. For all our sins lie open to the eyes of God, and are written in those books of which we read in Daniel: The thrones were set, and the books were opened. Of which it is said elsewhere: Let them be written upon the earth. And no longer will he keep silence who had before said, I have held my peace: shall I always hold my peace? Saith the Lord.

But he will render to each one what he has wrought into his bosom, that is, into the secret place of the heart, so that his own conscience may torment him. Of this the prophet Hosea also prophesies: Their princes shall fall by the sword because of the lack of discipline of their tongue. This is their detraction into their own bosom, which proceeds from each one's heart. Something similar is written also in Proverbs: All things are rendered back into their own bosom to the wicked. This bosom, on account of the ruling faculty of the soul (Greek: hegemonikon, ruling faculty), is called by another name the head. I have given their ways upon their heads. And elsewhere: His sorrow shall be turned upon his own head, and his iniquity shall come down upon his crown. But there is also a good bosom, which enjoys the sanctity of conscience, of which the Psalmist said: And my prayer shall be turned into my own bosom.

By bosom is understood any affection or love whatsoever, as when speech is directed to a husband, The wife who is in your bosom; and to a parent, They shall bring your children in their bosom. Whence also all who have Abraham as their father, and have deserved to be like his virtues, rest in his bosom. For we ought not to understand by the "fathers" whose iniquities and sins are now being requited to us, those from whose seed our bodies were born. Otherwise even Moses himself, who had said that the sins of the fathers were to be rendered to the children unto the third and fourth generation, to those who hate God, interprets his own statement, saying: The children shall not die for the sins of the fathers, but every man shall die in his own sin.

Ezekiel confirms the same judgment, that that parable should no longer be spoken: The fathers have eaten a sour grape, and the children's teeth are set on edge, but only the teeth of him who has eaten shall be set on edge; and the soul that sins shall perish, and shall not atone for others' sins. From which we understand that, whether for good or for ill, those are to be taken as "fathers" to whom each one is added when he has departed from this life. Now Israel sacrificed upon the mountains and hills when he set up golden calves at Bethel and Dan. And he reproached God concerning his commandments, when he neglected His ceremonies, and gave the worship of God to demons: whose works are to be rendered into their own bosom.

And every heretic who despises the simplicity of the Church sacrifices on the mountains, and reproaches God, while he despises His commandments. (Verse 8.) Thus saith the Lord: As if a grain be found in a cluster, and one say, Do not destroy it, because it is a blessing; so will I do for the sake of my servants, that I may not destroy the whole. The Septuagint: Thus saith the Lord: As if a grape-berry be found in a cluster, and one say, Do not touch it, because there is a blessing in it: so will I do for the sake of my servant, that I may not destroy all. The Lord had said that Israel was to perish, and that all his sins lay open to His sight, and that He would render to each one his works into his bosom.

After this He adds a comparison, and an example by way of similitude, whereby He teaches that each one perishes by his own sin, and that even if the multitude of sinners be very great, one just man does not perish through the fault of all the rest. If someone, He says, finds in a cluster and grape, which was not able to reach maturity, and bore sour fruits, or was spoiled by some fault of air or soil, one grain unharmed, which gives hope that it may yet grow greater and reach its accustomed ripeness, he says to another, Do not touch it, but let it be, that it may grow, because it is the Lord's blessing that, in so great a multitude of grape-berries, this one alone should escape the dryness: so, He says, out of the countless multitude of the Jews, who have offended God, if I find a few righteous, I will deliver them from the destruction of the many.

And this I will do for the sake of my servants Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, to whom the promise was made, or for the sake of those who serve me among the many sinners. We read something similar also in Genesis, when righteous men are sought, gradually diminishing from fifty down to ten, who might deliver the city from sin, and Lot alone, with his daughters, is rescued from Sodom as righteous. Of whom it is written in the Catholic Epistle that his soul was tormented at seeing wicked deeds committed, and that the judgment of his soul was shown by the condition of his body. Enoch too, alone among a very great multitude of sinners, was caught up to God. And Noah, with his children, on account of all flesh turning away from the service of the Lord, could not by the Flood be blotted out. But Abraham also, from the fire of the Chaldeans, was preserved by the integrity of his faith.

To this sense also agree the words of Jeremiah spoken in the person of the Lord: As warmth in the desert, I found Israel with those slain by the sword. For, He says, when the whole world lay lifeless, wounded by the swords of idolatry, I found Israel in Abraham to have the warmth of faith, like a physician who, after a battle, among the corpses of the dead, wherever he perceives by the pulsing veins that something living remains, applies care to the wounds, that he may restore health. For what is written, ὡς θερμόν, that is, "as warmth," the Latin translator, deceived by the ambiguity of the word, rendered as "lupine" a kind of bean, in which error most of the Greeks also share.

And yet it must be known that in the Hebrew, instead of "warmth," THODA (תודה) is written, which is interpreted "thanksgiving" or "grace": namely, that Israel was saved by the grace of God, and not by the merit of his own works. (Verse 9.) And I will bring forth from Jacob a seed, and from Judah one possessing my mountains: and my elect shall inherit her, and my servants shall dwell there, and the plains shall become folds for flocks, and the valley of Achor a resting-place for herds, for my people who have sought me. LXX: And I will bring forth from Jacob a seed, and from Judah, and he shall inherit my holy mountain, and my elect shall inherit it, and my servants shall dwell there, and there shall be in the forest sheepfolds of the flocks, and the valley of Achor a place of rest for the herds, for my people who have sought me.

Him whom above he called the grape of the cluster, or the single grape, or (as many would have it) the bunch, this same one he now calls the seed of Jacob and of Judah, who is to possess the mountains, or his mountain. By the seed of Jacob and of Judah most understand Christ, of whom it is said in Genesis: Judah, your brothers shall praise you, and so forth. For no one doubts that the Saviour was born of the stock of Judah. Others, however, would have the Apostles understood, of whom we have often said: The remnant shall be saved. And: Unless the Lord of Sabaoth had left us a seed, we should have become as Sodom, and should have been made like Gomorrah. These possessed the mountain of the Lord by the consciousness of Christ dwelling within them, saying: We have come to Mount Sion, and to the city of the living God, the heavenly Jerusalem.

Or his mountains, of which it is sung in the psalms: Mountains are round about it, and the Lord is round about his people. And: Its foundations are in the holy mountains. But the elect of the Lord shall possess Sion, and his servants shall dwell in her. Of whom it is written in the same book: The seed of Abraham his servant, the children of Jacob his elect. Whoever, then, is still seed, and not yet formed into a son, is a servant of the Lord, to whom he says in the Gospel: I know that you are the seed of Abraham, but not yet sons. For if they were the seed of Abraham, they would surely do the works of Abraham. But he who is a son is also elect of the Lord. Hence the elect possesses Jerusalem, and the servants dwell in her, and concerning the difference between sons and servants it is said: You have not received again the spirit of bondage unto fear, but the spirit of adoption.

And there shall be, he says, plains, or forests, turned into folds of flocks. For "plains" the Hebrew has SABON (שרון). The whole region around Lydda, Joppa, and Jamnia is fit for pasturing flocks. Of which it is also written in the Acts of the Apostles: And the woodlands shall be turned into sheepfolds, according to that which is sung in the psalm: The voice of the Lord perfecteth the harts, and he will reveal the woodlands, or the thickets of the forests, so that robbers may cease to lurk there, and beasts and venomous creatures, and places once of ambush and blood, may pass over into the churches of the Lord, and the flocks may be fed there by him who laid down his life for his sheep. Of whom it is written: He himself shall feed us forever. This voice of the Lord, perfecting the harts and revealing the thickets of the forests, cries out through John in the desert: Now the axe is laid to the root of the trees.

Every tree that does not bring forth good fruit shall be cut down and cast into the fire. And again: Every valley shall be filled; of which it is now also said: and the valley of Achor shall be a resting-place for herds, and a rest for my people who have sought me. Of this valley we also read in the book of Joshua the son of Nun, that there Achan was slain, who had stolen from the accursed thing and from the spoils of Jericho, and was slain along with his whole household, and because he troubled the people, the very place where it happened received the name ACHOR (עכור), that is, of trouble and tumult. The valley of Achor, therefore, in which once there was a curse and punishment, shall become a resting-place for herds. Which Paul, expounding, says: Does God care for oxen? Or does he not indeed speak of us, since he who plows ought to plow in hope, and he who threshes the floor ought to thresh in hope of partaking?

Concerning this valley it is also mystically written in Hosea: I will speak to her heart—no doubt Jerusalem's—and I will give her her possessors from there, and the valley of Achor, that it may open her understanding. For this reason the valley of Achor is given over into the possession of the herds of the people of God, and the forests are turned into folds of flocks, that understanding may be opened, and the truth of the Lord known. (Verses 11, 12.) But you who have forsaken the Lord, and have forgotten my holy mountain. Who set a table for fortune, and pour libations upon it. I will number you for the sword, and you shall all fall in slaughter. LXX: But you who have forsaken me, and have forgotten my holy mountain, and prepare a table for fortune, and fill a drink-offering for the demon: I will deliver you to the sword: you shall all fall slain.

In places once wooded and of tumults, in the places of the nations, there shall be folds of sheep, that is, the churches of believers from the whole world. But you, O people of Israel, who have forsaken the Lord, and have provoked the Holy One of Israel to wrath, who have forgotten his holy mountain, of which we have often spoken—either the Lord the Saviour, who is the mountain of mountains and the holy one of all holy ones, or Mount Sion, and the city of the living God, the heavenly Jerusalem—you who do these and these things, I will deliver to the sword, that you may all fall slain together. What the sword is we shall say afterward. You set, he says, a table for fortune, and pour libations upon it: or according to the Septuagint: You prepare a table for fortune, and fill a cup for the demon, or κέρασμα, which all have likewise translated, that is, a mixed drink.

Now there is in all cities, and especially in Egypt and in Alexandria, an ancient custom of idolatry, that on the last day of the year and of their last month, they set a table filled with food of every kind, and a cup mixed with honeyed wine, foretelling the fruitfulness either of the past year or of the coming one. This the Israelites also did, venerating the monstrous images of all the idols, and poured out libations not upon an altar for victims, but upon a table of this kind. And what the Septuagint translated as "demon," the Hebrew has MENNI (מני), which Symmachus interpreted as "without me": so that the sense is: You who prepare a table for fortune, and fill a drink apart from me; to show that it is done not for him, but for the demon. Now the sword by which they are slain is taken for punishment.

For not all the people of Israel were delivered to the sword—we see how many thousands of them are scattered throughout the whole world—but to penalties and torments, to captivity and to the utmost servitude, according to what is said elsewhere: By the sword shall all the sinners of my people die: and in the Song of Deuteronomy: I will make my arrows drunk with blood, and my sword shall devour the flesh of the wounded. It can hardly be believed that the arrows of the Lord are made drunk with blood, and that his sword is satiated with the flesh of the wounded. He speaks of those arrows which pierced Job at every single moment of the hours. The arrows of the Lord are in my body, whose fury has drunk up my spirit; for when I begin to speak, they goad me.

But according to the tropological sense, this must be said: that all who forsake the Church and forget the holy mountain of God, and give themselves over to spirits of error and to the doctrines of demons, these prepare a table for fortune, believing that nothing pertains to God, but that all things are governed either by the course of the stars, or by the variety of fortune: whom Paul rebukes, saying: You cannot partake of the table of the Lord and the table of demons. You cannot drink the cup of the Lord and the cup of demons: because they shall be delivered over to eternal punishments, so that none of them can escape slaughter and ruin.

Verse 12. Because I called, and ye did not answer; I spoke, and ye did not hear: but ye did evil in my eyes, and chose what I did not wish. LXX: For I called you, and ye did not hear: I spoke, and ye despised, and ye did evil in my sight, and chose what I did not wish. You are handed over to the sword, he says, because not only did you abandon me, and forget me, and mix the cup of fortune, but when I was Emmanuel, that is, God with us, of whom John also writes: The Word was made flesh, and dwelt among us, I called you present: return to me, O returning children. And: Come to me, all ye who labor and are burdened, and you were unwilling to answer. I spoke in parables, and did all things that I ought to have done, and you did not hear me, indeed you even despised me.

For I am he who also said above: I came, and there was no man: I called, and there was none to obey. Nor was this impiety sufficient for you, that you should despise me present, and kill the heir sent to you: but you did evil in my sight, and chose what I did not wish, and you blasphemed the Son of God, so as to ask for yourselves Barabbas the robber, the author of murder and sedition; and still you dare to say: Why hast thou made us to err from thy way? For if those who did not know me have found me, and those who did not invoke me have received me, of what torments are you worthy, who were unwilling to receive him who was sent to you and who said: I am not sent but unto the lost sheep of the house of Israel, but moreover fixed him to the cross?

It must be considered what is meant by his saying: And what I did not wish, ye have chosen; or what is the will of the Son of God, who speaks in the Gospel: Not every one that saith to me, Lord, Lord, shall enter into the kingdom of heaven: but he that doth the will of my Father who is in heaven. Of which God himself also says: I willed to do thy will. This is the will of which the Lord himself also spoke: I have found David the son of Jesse, a man after my own heart, who shall do all my wills. Whence the saint also prays and says: Teach me to do thy will, for thou art my God. For all things are lawful, but not all things are expedient. And concerning virgins the Apostle relates that he has no commandment of the Lord, yet he wishes us to be as himself.

By which he shows that the indulgence of the master is by no means to be followed, but his will; and that we ought to choose what is expedient, not what is lawful, as in the matter of a second marriage: I will that the younger women marry, bear children, be mistresses of households. And he gives the reasons why he grants this: For some already have turned aside after Satan. Therefore the will regarding a second marriage is not pure, since it becomes cheap by comparison with fornication. Verse 13. Therefore thus saith the Lord God: Behold my servants shall eat, and ye shall be hungry. Behold my servants shall drink, and ye shall be thirsty. Behold my servants shall rejoice, and ye shall be confounded. Behold my servants shall praise for joy of heart, and ye shall cry for sorrow of heart, and shall howl for grief of spirit. LXX: Therefore thus saith the Lord: Behold my servants shall eat, but ye shall be hungry. Behold my servants shall drink, but ye shall be thirsty.

Behold my servants shall rejoice, but ye shall be confounded. Behold my servants shall exult in joy, but ye shall cry for the sorrow of your heart, and shall howl for the grief of your spirit. Not only shall you who have forsaken the Lord and done evil in his sight and were unwilling to hear him present, fall by the sword, but you shall perceive a great difference between yourselves and the multitude of the nations. For those who shall be servants to me shall eat, and drink, shall rejoice, and shall praise for joy of heart. But you, on the contrary, shall hunger and thirst, shall be confounded, and shall howl for grief of heart and contrition of spirit.

All of which the Chiliasts think are to be fulfilled in a thousand years, believing food and drink to be the kingdom of God, and not understanding what is written: Labor not for the food which perishes, but for the bread of life and truth, desiring to eat the flesh of Christ, and the fruit of the tree of life. Of which the Savior speaks: I am the bread which came down from heaven. And Ecclesiastes: Open your eyes, and be satisfied with bread. And the Psalmist says: I have been young, and now am old, and I have not seen the righteous forsaken, nor his seed seeking bread. All the day he is merciful, and lendeth, and his seed shall be blessed. Concerning this bread and spiritual banquet he was instructing the disciples: You who have continued with me in my temptations, shall eat at the table of my Father in the kingdom of heaven.

But if we take this of ordinary bread, how shall we be able to explain this: The Lord will not slay the soul of the righteous with hunger. And again: The Lord knoweth the ways of the blameless, and their inheritance shall be forever. They shall not be confounded in the evil time, and in the days of famine they shall be satisfied. For how many saints in persecution die worn out with hunger and want; how many righteous hunger, while the impious are stuffed with delicacies! But that drink must be understood which is drawn from the fountains of Israel; which whoever drinks shall have in himself a fountain of water springing up into eternal life. Which the Savior also promises to drink in the kingdom of the Father with the Apostles: which gladdens the heart of man, so that those drinking can say: Thou hast put gladness in my heart. Concerning this food and drink it is said among the eight beatitudes: Blessed are they who hunger and thirst after righteousness.

And the mother of the Lord, full of the Holy Spirit, prophesied: He hath filled the hungry with good things, who before had not the food of the Lord: and the rich he hath sent away empty, who were given over for his burial; and him whom the Prophets had promised, they rejected. Of whom also in another place the Psalmist sings: The rich have wanted and hungered, that is, the people of the Jews. But those who seek the Lord, that is, the multitude of the nations, shall not want any good thing.

And when those serving Christ and believing in him shall have rejoiced, and shall have praised God for exultation of heart and joy: then those others shall be confounded, seeing others succeed to their place; and shall cry out for sorrow of heart, fulfilling what is written: There shall be weeping and gnashing of teeth: when the lambs of the nations and of the righteous shall stand at the right hand, and the goats of the Jews and the impious at the left: some receiving eternal rewards, others eternal punishments. But the contrition of spirit for sorrow of heart is to be understood in the conscience of sinners, according to what is written: They that err in spirit shall know understanding. And: A broken and humbled heart, O God, thou wilt not despise. The spirit is broken when it has been lifted up; which is written of the king, enemy of Israel: The Lord hardened his spirit.

And of the prince of the Babylonians, when his heart was lifted up, and his spirit hardened, so that in his pride he said: This is Babylon, and I have made it. Verse 15. And ye shall leave your name for a curse to my chosen, and the Lord God shall slay thee, and he shall call his servants by another name; in which he that is blessed upon the earth shall be blessed in God, amen: and he that sweareth in the earth shall swear by God, amen. LXX: For ye shall leave your name for satiety to my chosen. But you the Lord shall slay: but to those serving me shall be called a new name, by which he shall be blessed upon the earth: for they shall bless the true God, and those who swear upon the earth shall swear by the true God. Instead of "satiety," which in Hebrew is called SABAA (שבע), the others translated "oath"; which word has many meanings, and varies according to the diversity of accents.

For it can be understood as both oath, and fullness, and satiety, and "many," and "seven." Concerning which we have spoken in the book of Genesis, and in this volume (on chapter 4), where seven women took hold of one man. Again, for what the Septuagint translated as "true," and in the Hebrew it says AMEN (אמן), Aquila rendered πεπιστωμένως, that is, faithfully. But what he means is this: when others have succeeded to your place, your name shall be an oath to my chosen, so that they may take you as an example of evils and detest suffering such things, and swear thus: "I shall not suffer these things which the people of the Jews suffered."

Or your name shall be for satiety: which is customarily said of those whose recollection and memory is hateful, and who have come even to satiety and nausea. Or certainly this must be said, that they leave their name to the chosen of the Lord, so that in their place the multitude of the nations may succeed; and they themselves be called sons of Abraham and Israel. Of whom Paul speaks: Peace upon them, and upon the Israel of God. For they are not Israel who are of Israel; nor are all who are the seed of Abraham his children, to whom it is said: If ye were the children of Abraham, ye would do the works of Abraham. And because they are the seed of Abraham, and not his children, of whose difference we have spoken above: therefore John the Baptist rebukes them, saying: And think not to say, We have Abraham for our father: for God is able of these stones to raise up children unto Abraham.

For how can they be his children who said to wood and stone, "Thou hast begotten me": when on the contrary those who are of faith are called the children of Abraham? But you, he says, the Lord shall slay, so that you may in no way be called circumcision, but concision: so that you may lack eternal life, so that you may not have him who says: I am the life. But his servants, he says, he shall call by another, or new, name, which shall be celebrated throughout the whole world. And it shall be blessed: to such a degree that whoever shall be called by that name shall be blessed in the Lord, and shall receive the sign of true Circumcision, amen: which the Lord often uses in the Gospel in confirmation of what has been said: Amen, amen, I say unto you.

But the new or other name is none other than what is derived from the name of Christ, so that the people of God be called no longer Jacob, and Judah, and Israel, and Ephraim, and Joseph, but Christian. For whoever shall swear on earth shall in no way swear by idols and false gods, but by God: which statement is again confirmed by the seal of amen.

Further, according to the Septuagint, who instead of "amen" translated "the true God," so that the true God be blessed, and those who swear upon the earth swear by the true God, we do not, after the error of the Arians, refer this to the person of God the Father alone, of whom it is written: That they may know thee the only true God, and Jesus Christ whom thou hast sent: but also to the Son, who is himself true God, as the evangelist John says: The Son of God is come, and has given us understanding, that we may know him that is true, and may be in his true Son Jesus Christ. This is the true God and eternal life. For if the Savior says of himself: I am the truth, consequently the true God has taken his name from truth, so that he is called God not according to the false gods, but according to the true God the Father, and he himself is true God.

Otherwise, if he is not true, he will be like an idol, which redounds upon the heads of those who deny that Christ is the true God. This, moreover, is the new name which is written for him in the Apocalypse upon the white stone, by which he is blessed throughout the whole world. (Verses 17, 18.) For the former distresses have been given over to oblivion, and because they are hidden from my eyes. For behold, I create new heavens and a new earth, and the former things shall not be in remembrance, nor shall they come upon the heart: but you shall rejoice and exult forever in these things which I create. The Septuagint: For they shall forget the former tribulation, and it shall not come upon their heart. For there shall be a new heaven and a new earth: and they shall not remember the former things, nor shall it come upon their heart; but they shall find joy and exultation in it.

The cause of gladness and of confession of the true God is that an eternal oblivion of the former distresses will follow, so that they may in no way remember the idols and their former error, but may pass from darkness into light, so as to enjoy eternal blessedness. For they forget past evils, not by oblivion of memory, but by the succession of good things, according to that which is written: In a good day, forgetfulness of evils. And elsewhere: An hour's affliction causes forgetfulness of delights: because those set in distress by no means enjoy their former pleasures in spirit, after the error of Epicurus. Though this too may be said, that in the new heaven and the new earth all memory of the former manner of life is blotted out, lest this very thing—to remember the former distress—should be a part of the evils.

Now those who think that all things which we behold will perish interpret the new heaven and new earth by the testimony of the Gospel: Heaven and earth shall pass away. And of the apostle Paul: For the things which are seen are temporal, but the things which are not seen are eternal. But those who suppose that the newness is a change for the better, and not a destruction of the elements, use this example: In the beginning you founded the earth, O Lord, and the heavens are the works of your hands. They shall perish, but you remain; and all of them shall grow old like a garment, and you shall fold them up like a cloak, and they shall be changed. In which it is clearly shown that destruction and perishing signify not an abolition into nothing, but a change for the better.

Nor does that which is written in another place—The moon shall shine as the sun, and the sun shall receive sevenfold light—signify the destruction of the former things, but a change for the better. That this may be understood, let us set forth examples from our own condition: when an infant has grown into a boy, and a boy into a youth, and a youth into a man, and a man into an old man, he does not perish through each of the ages. For he who was before is the same; but he is gradually changed, and is said to have perished as to his former age. Understanding this, the apostle Paul also said: For the fashion of this world passes away. Let us consider what he said: the fashion passes away, not the substance.

Peter also signifies the same thing: This they willingly are ignorant of, that the heavens were of old, and the earth standing out of the water and in the water, by the word of God: by which the world that then was, being overflowed with water, perished. But the heavens and the earth which are now, by the same word are kept in store, reserved unto fire… so that indeed the world, renewed for the better, may plainly be fitted to men who are renewed for the better. What is to be understood, he teaches afterward: But we look for new heavens and a new earth, and his promise: he did not say we shall see other heavens and another earth, but the old and ancient ones changed for the better. We may also say this: that those converted from idolatry, and having abandoned their former error, see new heavens and a new earth, no longer regarding the elements and the things which grow out of the earth as gods.

Now we confess heaven and earth to be the works of the hands of God: but at that former time we worshipped, in servile obedience, the creature itself. This also David perceived when he sang in the psalm: I will behold the heavens, the works of your fingers: not that he had not seen the heavens at the time when he said this, but because, through the successive increases of virtue and knowledge of things to come, he sees as new what he had already seen as old. As for what is said at the end of this testimony, "which I create," it has been omitted by the Septuagint. (Verse 19.) For behold, I create Jerusalem a rejoicing, and her people a joy: and I will rejoice in Jerusalem, and joy in my people. The Septuagint: For behold, I make Jerusalem a rejoicing, and my people a gladness, and I will rejoice over Jerusalem, and be glad over my people.

You ought, he says, to rejoice and exult with everlasting gladness in the creation of the new heavens and the new earth, and utterly not remember the former things, lest any sadness of ancient remembrance arise in you: because not only will I create new heavens and a new earth, but I will also create Jerusalem in rejoicing, and her people in joy. There is no doubt that what was formerly a joy to one nation alone will, being made new, be a joy to all nations of the whole earth.

And the rejoicing and gladness over the city and people of God will be so great that I myself, its founder, will also exult and rejoice over Jerusalem, and over my people, who will eat and drink and be glad, and will exult in it, and who will be called by a new name. (Verse 20.) And there shall no more be heard in it the voice of weeping, and the voice of crying: there shall no more be an infant of days, nor an old man that shall not fill up his days. For the child shall die a hundred years old, and the sinner being a hundred years old shall be accursed. The Septuagint: And there shall no more be heard in it the voice of weeping, and the voice of crying: neither shall there be there any more one untimely born, nor an old man who does not fill up his time. For the infant shall be a hundred years old, and the sinner who dies a hundred years old shall be accursed.

For it will not be fitting that in the city of Jerusalem and the people of God, who will receive an eternal creation of rejoicing and gladness, the voice of weeping and crying should any more be heard; since sorrow, mourning, and groaning will have departed. For contrary things cannot exist together at the same time. And where there is rejoicing and gladness, which is the fruit of the Holy Spirit, there weeping and lamentation cannot dwell, which are fitting for those who mourn and lament; and especially crying out, which Paul expels from the Church of believers, lest, after the likeness of the Jews, we should raise a clamor instead of judgment.

In such a city there will not be different ages: infant and old man, small and great, who does not fill up his days; but, as children of the resurrection, all will arrive at the perfect man, at the measure of the stature of the fullness of Christ, so that no one shall lack years, nor have too many, and while one does not yet have full strength, another does not cease to be what he was and wither away in decrepit age; and all will attain to the number of a hundred years, such as Abraham was, who received the promise of his son Isaac at that age. Concerning the praises of this number it is not necessary to recall many things, lest the discussion become superfluous. This only we say, that ten decades have equal sides, and possess the firmness of a square figure.

In the promises, too, for the things which we have spent, the Lord promises us a hundredfold multiplied return, and the seed falling into good ground first bears the number a hundredfold as the most abundant fruit. Finally, Isaac too, casting one seed of faith, received his labor multiplied by this number. In that time, therefore, when the age of all will be one, and the saint and the sinner will be made perfect by a like resurrection, and will not differ from one another in time; but one will be drawn to rewards, another to punishments: and in this the sinner will be accursed, that he will suffer eternal punishments in an incorruptible body. That also which we read in the Apocalypse of John, that after the resurrection small and great are presented before the presence of the Judge, signifies differences not of ages but of merits. For he who is small, according to the judgment of Solomon, is worthy of mercy: but the mighty shall be mightily tormented.

To this sense the Lord's words also agree: The servant who knows the will of his lord, and does it not, shall be beaten with many stripes. But he who knows not, and does things worthy of stripes, shall be beaten with few. The blessed apostle Paul, with Christ speaking in him, expounding the ancient Scripture, asserts that the patriarch Abraham is the father not only of circumcision but also of uncircumcision; that is, that two peoples were begotten of him, and that the one born according to the flesh, though a centenarian's son on account of Christ who was begotten of the stock of Abraham, upon whom he laid hands, lies under perpetual malediction.

The Gospels teach this figure, in which it is related that the woman with the issue of blood is said to have begun to be sick at the time when the daughter of the ruler of the synagogue was born, and that when the woman was healed, the girl immediately died, within one and the same span of years—signifying that the new people abides in youth, and the old people dies in unbelief, and is accursed. We have said this according to the Septuagint translators, whose edition is published throughout the whole world, lest in so famous a passage we should seem to take refuge in the citadel of the Hebrew language. Whether you understand this after the resurrection at the second coming of the Savior, or after baptism as belonging to the first resurrection, it is not at variance with the faith of the Church.

The Hebrews contend that these things will occur before the resurrection, in the thousand-year reign upon earth, and that such long spans of future life are promised that a hundred years would be reckoned as infancy; but that the sinner will die in the hundredth year of his age, so that, namely, he might not enjoy the riches prepared for him, but might know himself accursed on account of sin. But if this is so, where will perfect blessedness be, which is violated and corrupted by sin, and where sin is punished by untimely death? (Verses 21, 22.) And they shall build houses, and inhabit them; and they shall plant vineyards, and eat the fruits thereof. They shall not build, and another inhabit: they shall not plant, and another eat. The Septuagint likewise.

Concerning these houses, the prophetic word in the sixty-eighth psalm also promises, saying: For God will save Sion: and the cities of Judah shall be built, and they shall dwell there, and shall acquire it by inheritance, and the seed of his servants shall possess it: and they that love his name shall dwell in it. All of which the Jews take carnally, as though Jerusalem and the cities of Judea were to be restored to their former state. But if we grant them this, let them hear that not only is this promised to Jerusalem, but also to Sodom, as Ezekiel says: Sodom shall be restored to her former estate. Therefore the houses, in which those who build them are to dwell, must be understood either as the Virtues, or as the diverse mansions with the Father; which he who has built them will possess perpetually.

Such houses the midwives also are said to have built for themselves in Exodus, who feared God: though it is written in the Hebrew that houses were built for them by God, because they feared him. And Jacob, because he was simple, or as it is said in Greek, ἄπλαστος, that is, in no way feigned—not such as are condemned in the Epistle of Peter, of whom he says: In covetousness, with feigned words, they make merchandise of you—therefore dwelt in the house which Esau, who took delight in wild beasts and woods, could not possess. Such a house the words of the Savior in the Gospel also describe: Everyone who comes to me and hears my words and does them shall be like a wise man who built his house upon a rock, and so on. Otherwise, according to the letter, many saints build houses and do not dwell in them, being removed either by pilgrimage, or another's plunder, or death.

Such was Job, who, rich in flesh and in spirit, was brought down to such poverty that he sat upon a dunghill outside the gate of the city. On the other hand, that rich man clothed in purple in the Gospel built a house, and dwelt in it, to whom it could most justly be said: Fool, this night your soul shall be required of you; and the things which you have prepared, whose shall they be? But he says not only, "they shall build houses, and dwell in them," but also, "they shall plant vineyards, and shall themselves eat the fruit thereof." According to that which is said in Micah: Every man shall rest under his vine and under his fig tree; and there shall be none to make him afraid. This is the vineyard of which it is spoken in the Gospel: I am the vine, and you are the branches, and my Father is the husbandman. Every branch that does not bear fruit shall be cut off, and cast into the fire.

Of this fruit they eat and drink, and it gladdens the heart of man, and inebriates the friends of the bridegroom, and is drunk daily in the kingdom of God. And he rests under the fig tree, and fears no man's snares, who enjoys the sweetness of the Holy Spirit, and is satisfied with its fruits—charity, joy, peace, faith, continence, patience. Of such a planter it is said: He who plants a fig tree shall eat its fruits. He who builds such houses and plants such vineyards—of which the Apostle also speaks: I planted, Apollos watered, God gave the increase—shall eat the labors of his own hands; and sowing in the spirit, shall of the spirit reap life everlasting: nor shall he be supplanted by the deceits of the devil and his satellites. (Verses 23 and following.) For according to the days of a tree, so shall be the days of my people, and the works of their hands shall grow old for my elect.

They shall not labor in vain, nor bring forth in confusion: for they are the seed of the blessed of the Lord, and their offspring with them. And it shall come to pass, that before they call, I will hear; while they are yet speaking, I will hear. The wolf and the lamb shall feed together, and the lion and the ox shall eat straw, and dust shall be the serpent's bread. They shall not hurt nor kill in all my holy mountain, saith the Lord. The Septuagint: For according to the days of the tree of life, so shall be the days of my people: my elect shall cause the works of their labors to grow old: they shall not labor in vain, nor beget children unto a curse: for they are a seed blessed by the Lord, and their offspring with them. And it shall come to pass, that before they call, I will hear them; while they are yet speaking, I will say, What is it?

Then the wolves and the lambs shall feed together; and the lion, like the ox, shall eat straw, and the serpent the earth like bread. They shall not hurt nor destroy, in my holy mountain, saith the Lord.

The dwelling and planting of the righteous shall be eternal, so that the days of the life of my people may be compared to the days of the life of a tree, of which it is said in the Psalms: The righteous shall flourish like the palm tree, daily triumphing over adversaries, and bearing forth the sign of victory. But if, according to the Septuagint, we read "days of the tree of life," which rather translates the sense from the Hebrew than the words, we understand the tree of life which is situated in paradise. Lest Adam should stretch forth his hand to it that he might live, he was cast out of paradise. For the guarding of which the Cherubim, that is, a multitude of knowledge, and a flaming sword were set, to keep the way of the tree of life, lest Adam, being placed in sin and not yet acknowledging his own transgressions, should eat of it, and die the death of impenitence, despair, and pride.

What this tree of life is, Solomon explains more plainly, who, discoursing on the wisdom of God, says: She is a tree of life to all who come to her, and firmness like that upon the Lord to those who lean upon her; nor is there doubt that this signifies the Word of God, who Himself is the way and wisdom, and speaks of Himself: I am the life. And of whom the Prophet sings: Thou hast made all things in wisdom: the earth is full of thy creation; and the Apostle Paul: Christ, the power of God, and the wisdom of God. The works also of the people of God shall not grow old, but shall be renewed daily, so that they may not walk in the oldness of the letter, but in the newness of the spirit. So that, just as through the disobedience of one man many were made sinners, so through the obedience of one man many are made righteous.

Or certainly this may be said, that the works of those grow old whose house, founded upon the rock, remains forever, and who have built upon the foundation of Christ gold, silver, precious stones: and on the contrary, the works of those perish whose house, founded upon sand, is overthrown by a sudden storm; and who have built upon the foundation of Christ wood, hay, stubble. Does it not seem to you that he grows old in his works daily, who, forgetful of things past, reaches forward into the future? Whence also the Testament is called both old and new: not because the old perishes, but because no other succeeds the new. This too may be said according to the Hebrew, that the works of the people and of those believing in Christ are the fruit of the Apostles, that is, of the elect of God, and are stored up in their treasuries. For many are called, but few are chosen.

These shall not labor in vain, as once the Jews labored; but they shall eat the labors of their hands. Neither shall they beget in confusion, or in cursing, and as it is more expressly put in the Hebrew, εἰς ἀνυπαρξίαν, which in their tongue is called LABALA (לבהלה), that is, that they may cease to exist, and have an end of their substance: for which Aquila, Symmachus, and Theodotion have interpreted "haste": so that they should by no means hasten to believe without reason, but imitate Nathanael, who was praised by the voice of the Lord: Behold indeed an Israelite, in whom there is no guile, who sought Christ by the authority of the Scriptures, and desired to recognize him from the Prophets, saying: Can any good thing come out of Nazareth? And the sense is: How do you bring me a Messiah from Galilee and Nazareth, whom I know was promised from Bethlehem of Judah?

The Apostles, therefore, and apostolic men, shall so beget children, that they instruct them from the holy Scriptures, that they may not imitate the curse of the Jews, but say with the Prophet: From fear of thee, O Lord, we have conceived in the womb, and have been in pain, and have brought forth. For of these it had been said: Blessed is the fruit of thy womb. Such are the children of Abraham, who do his works: and in the old history they are called children of the Prophets: such also in the new Instrument the Apostles begot, Paul begetting Timothy, Luke, and Titus, and many others; Peter begetting Mark the evangelist, and the rest begetting others, whose seed is blessed, and is blessed even to this day, and the children of children remain. Of whom the Prophet says: Blessed is the man that feareth the Lord, he shall delight greatly in his commandments. His seed shall be mighty upon earth: the generation of the upright shall be blessed.

And elsewhere: Thy children like young olive plants round about thy table. Behold, thus shall the man be blessed that feareth the Lord. On the contrary, it is said of Judas the traitor, and of all who are like him: Let his children be fatherless, and his wife a widow. Let his children be continually vagabonds, and beg; let them be cast out of their dwellings. For the end of an evil generation is most wretched. Who conceive sorrow, and bring forth iniquity. Of whose prince it is written: Behold, he hath travailed with injustice, he hath conceived sorrow, and brought forth iniquity. But if this is said of the impious, how is it that Samuel, a blessed and righteous man, begot most wicked sons, who did not walk in the way of their father; and David, from whose seed Christ was born, begot two sons, Amnon and Absalom, of whom the one was the murderer of his brother, the other of his father?

From all these we learn that sons and grandsons ought to be understood according to what we have said. According to which Paul also travails with children until Christ be formed in them, and begets Onesimus in his bonds. And when they shall have cried out, they shall immediately be heard, and while they are speaking the Lord shall say, I am here. All these things also, according to the letter, we see fulfilled in the Acts of the Apostles. For all the nations could not have believed in so short a time, unless their faith had somehow been wrung from them by the miracles of signs. For while the Apostles and apostolic men were speaking and crying out, the Lord answered with the greatness of signs, so that Dorcas rose at Peter's prayers, so that the father of Publius, in the island of Malta, afflicted with fevers and dysentery, ailments which are contrary to one another, was healed by Paul's prayers, and so that the whole world said that they walked as gods among men.

Then the wolf and the lamb fed together, the persecutor Paul, and Ananias the disciple. That wolf, of whom it is written: Benjamin is a ravenous wolf, in the morning he shall devour the prey, and at night he shall divide the spoil; or as it is said in the Hebrew, he shall divide the spoils. Whose teaching was food for believers, and who triumphed throughout the whole world over conquered adversaries. And the lambs are to be believed all those who, in white garments, follow the Lamb wherever he goes, whom the Lord delivered to Peter to feed, saying: Feed my lambs. The lion also, like the ox, shall eat straw, when men most eloquent, and once powerful in the world, deliver themselves to the rusticity of the Scriptures, so that they may by no means feed on worldly eloquence, which drips like honey from the lips of a harlot, but follow the plainness and straw of history, until by much labor and diligence they merit to arrive at the grain of the senses.

Of which straw and grain Jeremiah speaks: What is the straw to the wheat, saith the Lord? And it must be considered, that it is not the ox that is turned into rage, but the lion that is changed into gentleness. The serpent also, who watched for man's heel, and whose head was watched for by man, shall by no means be nourished by the destruction of others, but shall eat the earth, or dust, as bread. Or certainly it may be understood thus, that the devil, who formerly fed on the deaths of men, shall eat only those who are dust and earth: by all which is shown the change of the wicked into good, who shall be harmless, their ancient ferocity having been laid aside: not outside, but in the holy mountain of the Lord, that is, in the Church, and in the confession of that mountain, by which the prince of Tyre was wounded, and which, cut out of the mountain without hands, grew into a great mountain and filled the whole earth.

Let us ask in this place the Jews, and all who under the Christian name still eat the straw of the Scriptures, which, separated from the wheat by the Lord's winnowing fan, shall be given over to the wind and to the flames, what blessedness is to be reckoned this, that in the thousand years' kingdom, on Mount Sion, the city of Christ, the present Jerusalem; and in the most august Temple, wolves and lambs, lions and oxen, serpents and men should eat together, and dwell alike together? And that only those shall be harmless who shall have dwelt in the holy mountain of the Lord? From which we understand that all who are outside the mountain are to be slain.

The whole world, then, shall be laid bare to wolves, lions, bears, leopards, and serpents, and the other beasts; and the vast forests, and the desolation of Egypt, which is fertile in venomous creatures, and, for the height of felicity, the holy city shall be the dwelling not only of men but also of beasts and serpents, so that, according to the earlier prophecy, the wolf shall dwell with the lamb, and the leopard with the kid, the calf and the lion, and the sheep shall feed together with the bears; and a little child shall lead them, and the infant at the breast shall put his hand into the hole of the asp, and in its den shall slay the basilisk. And the cause of so great a felicity is, that the whole earth is filled with the knowledge of the Lord.

(Verse 1.) Thus says the Lord: Heaven is my throne, and the earth the footstool of my feet.

What is this house which you will build for me, and what is this place of my rest? All these things my hand has made, and all these things have been made, says the Lord. The Septuagint likewise. Lest we should understand this as the holy mountain of Sion, and be caught up in the Jewish error of those who think that Jerusalem is to be built up, and that all things which the Lord promises are to be fulfilled there in a carnal sense, he removes this suspicion from us; and he sets forth a testimony which Stephen, the first martyr, used in Christ against the Jewish contention. Solomon built him a house—there is no doubt but that it was for God; but he does not dwell on high in things made by hand, as the Prophet says: Heaven is my throne, and the earth the footstool of my feet. And Paul, in the same volume: God, who made the world and the things that are in it, does not dwell in temples made by hand.

For if, like one sitting upon a throne and reigning, heaven is his throne and earth the footstool of his feet, how could he who fills all things, and in whom all things exist, be shut up in a small place? Whence also Moses says: Do not say in your heart, He is far off: for God is in heaven above, and upon the earth below; and there is no other God besides him. And the Psalmist: Where shall I go from your spirit, and where shall I flee from your face? If I ascend into heaven, you are there; if I descend into hell, you are present. To this also Jeremiah agrees, speaking in the person of God, saying: I am a God who draws near, and not a God from afar. Can anyone hide in secret places, and shall I not see him? Do not I fill heaven and earth? For in him we all are and move.

Now he says this in order to refute the Jewish error, of those who think that the invisible, incorporeal, and incomprehensible God can be enclosed within the temple of Jerusalem. This indeed even Solomon himself, the builder of the Temple, confesses more fully in his prayer to the Lord. And lest we suppose that the greatness of God is to be measured even by heaven and earth, we read of him in another place: Who holds heaven in his palm, and the earth in his fist. By which it is shown that God is both outside and within, both infused and encompassing, since he is not confined by an encircling throne, and yet encloses all things in his fist and palm. He who is creator not only of heaven and earth, but also of the invisible Angels, and Archangels, Dominations, Powers, and of all men, of whom the Apostle speaks: all these things the hand of God has wrought. Of which both Job and the Psalmist make mention: Your hand made me and fashioned me.

For all things were made through him, and without him nothing was made. Of whom again John says: He was in the world, and the world was made through him. For he spoke, and they were made; he commanded, and they were created. And this is what the Scripture of Genesis shows in mystical language: God said, and God made. For by the word of the Lord the heavens were established, and by the breath of his mouth all their power. And there is no place of rest for the Lord, except that which the Prophet subjoins. (Verses 2, 3.) But to whom shall I look, but to the one who is poor and afflicted in spirit, and who trembles at my words? He who sacrifices an ox is as one who slays a man. He who slaughters a sheep is as one who dashes out the brains of a dog.

He who offers an oblation is as one who offers swine's blood. He who is mindful of frankincense is as one who blesses an idol. The Septuagint: And upon whom shall I look, but upon the humble and quiet one, and him who trembles at my words? But the unjust one, who sacrifices a calf, is as one who strikes down a man. He who sacrifices from the flock is as one who kills a dog. He who offers fine flour is as one who offers swine's blood. He who gives incense as a memorial is as a blasphemer. With the altar and earthly Temple taken away, which human hands had built, the sacrifices of the Jews are rightly taken away also, lest perhaps they should say: We are not so foolish as to think that God can be enclosed in a place; but in a separate place set apart for sacrificing, we offer to God the victims that the Law has commanded.

Therefore the Dweller in heaven, or rather the Creator of all things, who denies that he has a temple on earth, gladly takes into his temple the humble and quiet man, who trembles at his words, according to that saying of the Apostle: But you are the temple of God, and the Holy Spirit dwells in you. If anyone violates the temple of God, God will destroy him. For the temple of God is holy, which you are. Whoever therefore is humble and quiet, and trembles at the words of God, upon him the Lord looks; and of him can be understood what is prophesied under the name of earth: The earth trembled and was still, when God arose to judgment.

For its inhabitants, for whom by metonymy "earth" is said, considering the judgment of God, cease from evil works; and sitting in the house, they rest in the eternal sabbath, lest they move themselves to the servile work of sin, as the builders of the tower once moved their feet from the East, and abandoned the rising of the true light. Nor did they hear that which is said to Cain: You have sinned, be still. But according to the Proverbs of Solomon: He who hears God shall dwell confidently, and shall rest without fear from all evil. This is the humble and poor one, contrite in spirit, and trembling at the words of the Lord, of whom it is written in the Gospel: Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven. And elsewhere: Blessed is he who understands concerning the needy and the poor. And again: The Spirit of the Lord is upon me, wherefore he has anointed me, he has sent me to preach good news to the poor.

And that which follows in the Vulgate edition: "But the unjust one," is not found in the Hebrew, but it simply joins and says: He who sacrifices an ox is as one who kills a man. Which is also written in another place: I desire mercy, and not sacrifice: the knowledge of God rather than holocaust. And through Malachi: All the things that I hated you were doing, covering my altar with tears: is it worthy that I should look upon your sacrifice, and accept anything acceptable from your hands? Let the Jews hear that God does not seek sacrifices, but the mind of those who offer them. And he who slaughters, it says, a sheep is as one who dashes out the brains of a dog. Whence also it is written through Moses: You shall not offer the wages of a harlot, nor the price of a dog, in the house of your God. And fittingly the dog and the harlot are joined together, because both animals are prone to lust.

Let us also consider together that he did not say: He who sacrifices a ram is as one who sacrifices a dog; but he says "kills" a dog. Which word is not used of sacrifices, but of those things which are slaughtered unlawfully. He who offers an oblation and sacrifice is as one who offers swine's blood. Which itself is also forbidden by the Law; such are the ceremonies of the Jews. He who offers incense is as a blasphemer, or rather as one blessing an idol. But this sense too is possible: After my Son who came meek and poor, sitting upon the colt of an ass, I do not want flesh, I detest victims, I reject the sacrifices of the Jews, I disapprove the shadows of the Law, because the truth of the Gospel is delightful to me.

But if this is said, that after the lightning-flash of the Gospel, the old religion ceases in the cloud: what will they answer, who, believing from among the Jews, think that they can offer carnal sacrifices without harm to themselves? (Verse 4.) All these things they chose in their ways, and their soul was delighted in their abominations. Wherefore I also will choose their delusions, and will bring upon them the things which they feared. Because I called, and there was none to answer; I spoke, and they did not hear: and they did evil in my eyes, and chose the things which I did not wish. The Septuagint: And they themselves chose their own ways, and their soul willed their own abominations: and I will choose their delusions, and will repay them their sins. Because I called them, and they did not obey; I spoke, and they did not hear. And they did evil in my sight, and chose the things which I did not wish.

To sacrifice an ox, to slaughter a ram, to offer sacrifice, to burn incense—these things God regards just as homicide, and as the offering of a dog: and swine's blood and blasphemy—these they themselves chose; and that they should practice such things was of their own will; according to what he says through Ezekiel: I gave them statutes that were not good, and judgments by which they should not live. And in their own ways, it says, they walked, not in the way of the Lord. And their soul willed their own abominations, that they might be lovers of themselves rather than lovers of God. For which reason, since they chose their own ways, and not him who says, I am the way, the Lord also chose their delusions, or their deluders, who in Hebrew are called THALULE (תעלולי), that is, ἐμπαῖκται (mockers), that he might set up the worst rulers, and bring upon them likewise all their evils, or the things which they feared.

And he gives the reasons why they were handed over to the Scribes and Pharisees, their deluders, of whom the first psalm sings, according to the Hebrews: And he has not sat in the seat of the scoffers, whom the Septuagint call "the pestilent"; such as were the sons of Eli, sons of pestilence, for which in the Hebrew is written BELIAL (בליעל), that is, of the devil. Because, it says, I called, and there was none to answer; I spoke, and they did not hear: and they did evil in my eyes, and chose the things which I did not wish. Which verses he places a second time in the present passage, and also above, where it is said: I will number you to the sword, and you shall all fall in slaughter, because I called and you did not answer, and so on likewise. In what sense this testimony ought to be understood has been stated there.

Verse 5. Hear the word of the Lord, you who tremble at his word. Your brethren who hate you and cast you out for my name's sake, have said: Let the Lord be glorified, and we shall see in your joy: but they shall be confounded. The Septuagint: Hear the word of the Lord, you who tremble at his word. Say to your brethren, who hate you and abominate you, that the name of the Lord may be glorified, and may appear in their joy; and they shall be confounded. Concerning these he had already said before: Upon whom shall I look, but upon him that is humble and quiet, and that trembles at my words? To these he commands that, despising the sacrifices of the Jews and disdaining all the swelling pride of the Scribes and Pharisees, they should pass over to his worship, whom, when he called, they refused to hear, and despised, and did evil in his sight.

Nor is he content with this end of the precepts, but he enjoins upon them the command of the Gospel, that they love their enemies, do good to those who hate them, and pray for their persecutors, and imitate the clemency of the Father, who makes his sun to rise upon the just and the unjust: That seeing, he says, your works, they may glorify your Father who is in heaven. This, after the general understanding, is specially enjoined upon the Apostles and apostolic men, that they should love the Jews their persecutors, and those who abominate them, and hold them in the place of brothers, saying with Peter: Men, brethren, and fathers, hear; and with the Apostle Paul: I have great sorrow, and continual grief in my heart for my brethren who are Israelites. Now the name of the Lord is glorified when men see the ferocity of persecutors broken by our patience, and the hand that strikes confounded by the turning of another's cheek.

To these it is commanded in the Gospel: Let your light shine before men, that seeing your good works, they may glorify your Father who is in heaven; and in the Apocalypse of John: Fear God, and give him glory. Paul also writes to the Corinthians, calling them to continence: That you may glorify God in your body. And again: Whether you eat, or drink, do all things to the glory of God. Whence also the Lord, when reviled, did not revile in return (1 Peter ii), and prayed for his persecutors. But what he commands: Tell your brethren, is not to be taken simply, since otherwise many call others brethren, and do not keep charity in their heart, of whom the Apostle writes: They confess that they know God, but in their works they deny him. Of these also the Lord spoke: Not every one who says to me, Lord, Lord, shall enter into the kingdom of heaven; but he who does the will of my Father who is in heaven.

And thus that sentence can stand: No one says, The Lord Jesus, except in the Holy Spirit. For although heretics say "the Lord Jesus," and many at the resurrection will say: Lord, have we not prophesied in your name, and done many mighty works? The Lord will answer them: Depart from me, I know you not, you workers of iniquity. Therefore to say it is proved, not by the word, which is easy, but by affection and works. From which we learn that the Lord of both Testaments is the same, who commands that if we see the beast of our enemy fallen under its burden, we should not pass by, but lift it up with him, and if we find an ox or an ass going astray, we should return it to him. These things according to the Septuagint.

But according to the Hebrew, this seems to me to be the sense: Hear, O Apostles, hear, my disciples, who tremble at the word of the Lord, I will tell what your brethren have said who hate you, and separate you, and regard you as strangers, not because of your evil deeds, but for my name's sake, since they consider unclean all who from their own nation believe in me, and say: Depart from me, for you are unclean. What then is it that he records them as having said: Let the Lord be glorified, and we shall see in your joy? The sense of this verse is this: Why do you bring in to us a humble God? Why a crucified one, and a man of sorrows, and one who knows how to bear infirmities? We wish to behold him (as you say) reigning in his own majesty: we would look up to him triumphing in his own glory; humble and cast down we cannot bear to see him.

And immediately he adds: But they shall be confounded, understood, those who speak such things, who do not understand the mysteries of the Scriptures, and by their own evils shall feel the power of him whom they had despised on account of his humility.

Verse 6. A voice of roaring from the city, a voice from the Temple, the voice of the Lord that renders recompense to his enemies. The Septuagint, in place of "roaring," has put "a cry," and the rest similarly. We wish to know what is the confusion of the Jews, who said: Let the Lord be glorified, that we may see your joy, and the triumphs of your king, not by empty promises, but that we may behold them with our eyes. A voice, he says, of crying from the city: there can be no doubt but that this signifies Jerusalem surrounded by the Roman army, and within divided into three parts by sedition, when one faction held the Temple, and had possession of all that before was sacred, fighting without against enemies, within against citizens.

At that time both in the city and in the Temple was heard the wailing of priests and Levites, as well as of the ignoble common people, and of women and children, when the Lord rendered recompense to his enemies, fulfilling the threat which he had spoken: Your house shall be left unto you desolate; and that prophecy: I have forsaken my house. When the guardians of the temple, with a voice in harmony with the Angel, said: Let us pass from these seats. Of these things not only Josephus, the writer of Jewish history, testifies, but many ages before the Psalmist bears witness, saying: I have seen iniquity and contradiction in the city, which surrounded its walls all day and all night, so that the city was overthrown (Micah iii), and another prophecy was fulfilled: Sion shall be ploughed as a field, and Jerusalem shall be left as a lodge in a garden of cucumbers. (Verse 7.) Before she was in labor, she gave birth: before her labor came, she brought forth a male.

Who has ever heard the like? Who has seen anything similar to this? Shall the earth be in labor in one day, or shall a nation be brought forth all at once? For Zion has been in labor and has brought forth her sons. Shall I who cause others to bear not myself bear, says the Lord? If I who grant generation to others shall be barren, says the Lord your God. The Septuagint: Before she who is in labor gives birth: before the pain of those in labor comes, may it flee away, and she has brought forth a male. Who has heard such a thing, and who has seen the like? If the earth was in labor in one day; or if a nation was born all at once, because Zion has been in labor and has brought forth her little ones. But I have given this expectation, and you have not remembered me, says the Lord. Have not I made the one who bears and the barren one, says your God?

With the sound of a cry resounding from Jerusalem and its Temple, when it was besieged and overthrown, and while the enemies of Christ, who refused to receive God as king, receive eternal punishments for their impiety and blasphemies, the Church, gathered together in the name of the Lord—of which it is said in the psalm: A man was born in her: and the Most High himself founded her—before she was in labor, brought forth; before her labor came, brought forth a male. For it was not over a long time, as the people of the Jews grew greater through Abraham, and Isaac, and Jacob, and the twelve Patriarchs, and again through their children and grandchildren, but at the preaching of the Gospel the whole world at once conceived, and was in labor, and brought forth a male, whom Pharaoh and Herod attempted to kill, who was saved both in Moses and in Christ in Egypt.

For indeed Abraham and Isaac had male children, and Jacob, father of many sons, begot one daughter, on whose account he suffered harsh things. But if the daughters of Zelophehad receive, by God's sentence, the inheritance of their father, this must be considered, that their father died in his sin, that he had begotten no son, and Moses dared to judge nothing concerning them, but referred it to the Lord, who, lest they remain destitute, commanded them to be joined to their brothers. The book of Genesis also relates that after men began to multiply—a number which is always in fault—and daughters were born to them, they were taken, not by angels, but by the sons of God, from whom the giants arose: or as it is written in the Hebrew, ἐπιπίπτοντες, that is, rushing upon. On the contrary, it is said to the holy man: Your wife is like a fruitful vine on the sides of your house. Your children like young olive plants round about your table.

And again: May you see the children of your children. Zion, therefore, that is, the remnant of Israel and the faith of the believing Apostles, brought forth a male, the Lord the Savior, who was generated at once in the whole world—a thing which no one has heard, which no history relates, nor any teaching, so that all the nations might believe in a short time. And out of all the nations, one nation of Christians would come to be, of which Paul also speaks: If anyone is in Christ, a new creature; old things have passed away; behold, new things have come to be: according to that which is written elsewhere: And all the families of the nations shall worship in his sight; for the kingdom is the Lord's, and he shall have dominion over the nations. For all the nations, he says, which you have made, shall come, and shall worship before you, and shall glorify your name. Of whom Jacob says: He is the expectation of the nations.

And the Psalmist: The hope of all the ends of the earth. And the same Isaiah whom we are now expounding: There shall be the root of Jesse, and he who shall rise up to be prince of the nations, in him the nations shall hope; the Apostles fulfilling what was commanded: Teach all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, so that a new people might be born, of whom also the twenty-first psalm sings: The heavens shall declare his righteousness to a people who shall be born, whom the Lord has made. And again: A people that shall be created shall praise the Lord. But this people was created in one day, whom the sun of righteousness illumines, Scripture saying: The Lord shall be to you an everlasting light.

We can refer this saying: A nation shall arise all at once, because Zion has been in labor and has brought forth her sons, also to that time when in one day three thousand and five thousand of the Jewish people believed. It is also said in the same book of the Acts of the Apostles that out of all the nations under heaven there were in Jerusalem those who heard them speaking in various tongues the great things of God. And what follows according to the Septuagint, But I have given this expectation, and you have not remembered me, says the Lord. Have not I made the one who bears and the barren one, said your God, is put more clearly in the Hebrew, with which the other translators agree: Shall I who cause others to bear not myself bear, says the Lord?

If I who grant generation to others shall be barren, says the Lord your God, according to that which is said elsewhere: He who planted the ear, shall he not hear, and he who formed the eye, does he not consider?; namely, that he who created all men out of nothing can make of all the nations one Church of believers in himself. Finally, in the twenty-eighth psalm, where we read: The voice of the Lord shaking the desert, it is written in the Hebrew: The voice of the Lord causing the desert to bring forth (according to the Hebrew), so that the Church, formerly a desert, might bring forth, and the deer might be brought to perfection when the forests are opened and beaten down. Further, according to the Septuagint, the sense here is that at one time, at the preaching of the Gospels, one nation of the whole world should arise.

Through many prophets I have often promised, and you have not remembered my promise, O city that are full of cries: O Temple that has been forsaken by the Lord: O people, to whom I have rendered its recompense. Have not I, he says, made her both bearing and barren; she who was formerly barren, afterward gave labor and brought forth? Of whom it is written in the psalm: Who makes the barren woman to dwell in the house, a joyful mother of children. Or certainly the order of things has been reversed: She who was bearing has become barren, and she who was once barren has borne very many, because this is the Lord's own sentence. (Verse 10.) Rejoice with Jerusalem, and exult in her, all you who love her. Rejoice with her in joy, all who mourn over her, that you may suck, and be filled from the breast of her consolation, that you may draw milk, and abound in delights from all her glory. The Septuagint: Rejoice, Jerusalem, and hold assembly, all who love her.

Rejoice with joy, all who mourn over her, that you may suck and be filled from the breast of her consolation, that after you have sucked, you may be delighted with the entrance of her glory. It is commanded to the Apostles and to apostolic men, who love both Jerusalems—both her who fell, to those lamenting and mourning, and her who is to rise, to those awaiting with every desire—that they may rejoice with her and in her, who has been built with living stones, which roll upon the earth, and, in the likeness of the wheels of the Cherubim, follow the spirit that goes before: not among those who have been dissolved into eternal ashes. Of whom the Lord was speaking: Amen, amen I say to you, there shall not remain stone upon stone, until all these things are fulfilled. Rejoice, he says, with her in joy, all who mourn over her.

Such as we have shown above to be Peter and Paul the apostles, and all who were awaiting the redemption of Israel, that they may suck and be filled from the breasts of her consolation. For it could not be that she who had brought forth a male, and was a woman newly delivered, should lack abundance of milk for the nurture of that nation and of the little ones who had been born at the same time, so that she might offer them two breasts, not now as formerly in Egypt, broken and lying prostrate, but whole and standing in virginal beauty—of the Old and the New Instrument—to provide rational milk. Of these the bridegroom speaks to her: Your breasts are better than wine. These were they of whom it was said in particular: Blessed are those who mourn, for they shall be comforted. And this must be noted, that they who are little ones need the milk of consolation, and are still dwelling in a mortal place.

But those who, after the milk of consolation, have advanced to solid food, shall abound in delights of truth, and in the knowledge of all-embracing glory, which in Hebrew is called ziz (זיז). For which the Septuagint have translated "entrance"; Symmachus, "fatness"; Theodotion, "multitude." We have said this in order to explain the ambiguous word of the seventy-ninth psalm, where it is written: The boar out of the wood has laid it waste, and the solitary wild beast has fed upon it. For instead of what is read in our copies and in the Greek, μόνος ἄγριος, that is, "solitary wild beast," it is written in the Hebrew Ziz sadai (זיז שדי): which Aquila translated παντόδαπον χώρας, that is, "the all-various of the region," to signify that Israel was laid waste not only by the Romans but by all the nations. Moreover, that glorious entrance of the Church is to be understood, of which the apostle John writes: And in the twelve gates were twelve pearls, and the street of the city was of pure gold like transparent glass.

These pearls the Lord forbids to be cast before swine, which pearls the good merchant, when he has found them among the Prophets and Apostles, goes on to the one most precious pearl, not casting away the former ones, but through them seeking the more precious one. (Verse 12.) For thus says the Lord: Behold, I will turn toward her like a river of peace, and like an overflowing torrent the glory of the nations; which you shall suck: you shall be carried at the breast, and shall be caressed upon the knees. The Septuagint: For thus says the Lord: Behold, I will turn toward them like a river of peace, and like an overflowing torrent the glory of the nations. Their little ones shall be carried on the shoulders, and shall be comforted upon the knees.

Jerusalem having been built up by the Apostles, and restored to her former state, after her children and inhabitants have been comforted with the breasts, and have come, through the abundance of milk, to the delights of truth, through which one arrives at the glory of God: then the Lord will turn toward her a river of peace, of which we have often said: The river of God is full of waters. And: The rush of the river makes glad the city of God; so that with peace possessing all things, and the wars of the nations ceasing—of which Scripture says: Scatter the nations that desire wars—a torrent of the doctrines of God may water the fields of believers. Then her children, or little ones (as the Septuagint translated), shall be carried on the shoulders, and shall receive consolation upon the knees.

On the shoulders, of which it was spoken also in the earlier prophecy, and which Jacob invokes for his son under Issachar: For he put his shoulder to labor, and was called a man of the field. For by sweat and excessive labor we arrive at the abundance of fruits. Whence also it is said to Zion through Jeremiah: Set your heart upon your shoulders, that from the commandments it may understand the Lord, imitating him of whom it is written: Jesus began to do and to teach, so that faith may not be idle, but may run through works to the reward. But what the knees and the bosom signify I have also briefly explained above, and now the example of Abraham can teach us, in whose bosom Lazarus rests, and all who come from East and West, who shall recline with Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. (Verses 13, 14.) As one whom his mother caresses, so will I comfort you, and you shall be comforted in Jerusalem.

You shall see, and your heart shall rejoice, and your bones shall spring up like grass. And the hand of the Lord shall be known to his servants, and he shall be indignant with his enemies. The LXX, for "his servants," put "those who fear him"; for "enemies," "unbelievers"; the rest is similar. We learn the mercy of the Creator toward his creatures from the example of mothers, who, nourishing their children in their bosom with love, surpass every kind of affection. Finally, wishing to show how he loves those whom he created, God says: Can a woman forget, that she should not have mercy on the offspring of her womb? But even if she should forget, yet will I not forget thee. The Gospel saying has the same sense, in which the Lord speaks to Jerusalem: How often would I have gathered thy children, as a hen gathereth her chickens under her wings, and thou wouldest not?

And Deuteronomy, in which something similar resounds: As an eagle protecteth her nest, and hath a longing over her young: spreading her wings, she took them up, and carried them on her shoulders. Those who have written about the natures of living creatures say that in all beasts, and beasts of burden, and cattle and birds, there is an innate affection for their young and their offspring, but that the love of eagles is the greatest, who place their nests in high and inaccessible places, lest a serpent should harm their brood. They say too that an amethyst stone is found among their young, by which all poisons are overcome. If this is true, rightly is God's affection toward his creatures compared to eagles, who protects his children with every kind of guard, lest the dragon and ancient serpent, the devil and Satan, creep upon the new offspring, so that at the name of the stone which is laid in the foundations of Sion, all the plots of adversaries may be broken.

This Jerusalem, moreover, in which children shall be comforted by their mother, and shall be fondled upon her knees, is that of which the Apostle writes: But that Jerusalem which is above is free, which is the mother of us all. Filled with the milk of whose consolation, he used to comfort others who needed his words, saying: Blessed be God, the Father of mercies, and the God of all comfort, who comforteth us in all our tribulation, that we also may be able to comfort them who are in all trouble, by the exhortation wherewith we ourselves are comforted of God. To these, after they have been comforted, it shall be said: And you shall see, and your heart shall rejoice, and your bones shall spring up like grass, or, as they rise, or according to Symmachus, shall flourish. And they shall see, no doubt, God, which is true joy. Of these the Lord spoke: Blessed are the clean of heart; for they shall see God.

Whose vision is perfect joy, which dwells in a heart of full faith: and the springing up of bones follows, of which we have already spoken before. If the reader has forgotten these things, let him return to the previous explanation. For it is better for him to reread what has been written than for us to repeat what has been said. And, it says, the hand of the Lord shall be known to his servants, or to those who fear him, and he shall threaten his enemies, or unbelievers. Now "hand" is taken either for power, that God is able to do all that he promises, according to that which, in the person of God, Moses spoke to Pharaoh: Now I will send my hand, and will strike thee, and will kill thy people, and thou shalt be destroyed from the earth. And again he himself to the same tyrant: Behold, the hand of the Lord shall be upon thy cattle; of which the Psalmist said to God: Thy hand destroyed the nations, and thou plantedst them.

Or certainly the "hand of the Lord" is to be understood as Christ, of whom we read above: My hand hath made all these things. This hand the Lord will make known to his servants and to those who fear him, and he will threaten those who are unbelieving and his enemies, so that to some he may promise rewards, to others threaten punishments. Here the propriety of the words is to be noted, that he did not say: "He will bring upon his enemies," but "he will threaten," so that, terrified by the threat, they too might pass over into the servitude of the Lord. (Verses 15, 16.) For behold, the Lord will come with fire: and his chariots are like a whirlwind, to render his wrath in indignation, and his rebuke in flames of fire. For the Lord shall judge by fire, and by his sword upon all flesh: and the slain of the Lord shall be many.

The LXX: Behold, the Lord will come like fire, and his chariots like a tempest, to render his vengeance in fury: and his rebuke in flames of fire. For all the earth shall be judged in the fire of the Lord: and all flesh shall fall by his sword: many shall be wounded by the Lord. The hand of the Lord, which shall be made known to his servants and to those who fear him, itself threatens the unbelieving, or his enemies, that unless they do penance, they shall endure what follows: For behold, it says, the Lord will come in fire, and his chariots are like a whirlwind or tempest. We ought to understand these as the Angelic powers, when the Lord is about to come in the glory of the Father with his angels, to judge the living and the dead: not that the Lord is fire, but that to those enduring punishment he seems to be fire. And although Moses said, the Apostle confirming the same thing: Our God is a consuming fire.

Yet the Savior, expressing the substance of the divinity, says: God is a spirit. Now between spirit and fire, according to bodily understanding, there is much difference. But if he is fire, or spirit, how is he said to have eyes, and ears, and hands, and feet, and a belly, and the other members of a body, since spirit and fire do not have these? God therefore is called a consuming fire, that whatever vices are in us—hay, wood, and stubble—he may consume, and thorns, that is, the cares of this world, which the barren earth brought forth instead of good seed, of which it is said to the Hebrews: But that which bringeth forth thorns and briers, is reprobate, and very near unto a curse: whose end is to be burned. Of this fire the Lord also spoke in the Gospel: I am come to cast fire on the earth.

And above we read: Iniquity shall burn like fire, and shall be devoured as dry grass by the fire, and all the tares, which the enemy man sowed over while the master of the house slept. Of this it is also written in the Epistle of James: How great a matter a little fire kindleth! And in Proverbs: Fire flourishes with much wood. Although in that which is a Proverb, another meaning could be understood. I think this is the fire that sat upon the tongues of the Apostles and of all believers, when they spoke in various tongues, and it drove away all the darkness of error, and enlightened the hearts of those who received the word of the Lord. As for what follows: "Like a tempest are his chariots," or "his four-horse chariots," we shall explain by examples from the Psalms, in which it is written: God shall come manifestly, our God, and shall not keep silence. A fire shall burn before him: and a mighty tempest shall be round about him.

And elsewhere: The chariot of God is attended by ten thousand; thousands of them that rejoice. With these chariots and horses Elisha was surrounded, which his servant could not see. Whence he says: Lord, open the eyes of this young man that he may see. And, it says, his eyes being opened, he saw chariots, and four-horse chariots, and horses round about. By this fiery chariot Elijah too was caught up into heaven, when Elisha cried out: My father, my father, the chariot of Israel, and the driver thereof. All these things, however, are narrated, not because God has either chariots, or four-horse teams, or is carried by the swiftness of horses; of whom it is written elsewhere: Who walketh upon the wings of the winds; but just as he is said to sit upon a throne, when he assumes the guise of one judging, so, when he comes for vengeance, to overthrow his adversaries, he is shown in the guise of a victor and one triumphing.

Concerning the wrath of the Lord we have often said that it ought to be understood in the same way as his forgetfulness, and repentance, and sorrow, and the other affections, which do not suit the majesty of God. And so in this fire and wrath, in these chariots and in flame of fire, all flesh shall be judged, or the Lord himself together with his creatures, so that he may seem to pronounce sentence not by power but by the truth of judgment, according to what is said more fully in Micah, and more briefly in the fiftieth psalm: That thou mayest be justified in thy words: and mayest overcome when thou art judged. Now the sword by which all flesh is to be judged must be understood as that of which we have spoken before, and of which we shall now speak in part: Except ye be converted, he will brandish his sword.

This sword, the punisher of sinning flesh and of all vices, the Israelites complain was given into the hands of Pharaoh; and they say to Moses and Aaron: The Lord see and judge, because you have made our savour to be abhorred before Pharaoh: that a sword might be given into his hand, and he might kill us. Of this sword it is also written in Amos: All the sinners of my people shall die by the sword: although indeed there are also other kinds of punishments. Whatever, then, pierces, and strikes, and twists, and tortures is called a sword in the Holy Scriptures, by which sword those shall be wounded or slain who have not done the will of God; and, having cast aside the light of truth, have wrapped themselves in the darkness of error. Of these it is written in Jeremiah: If the Ethiopian can change his skin. And in Sophonias: And you Ethiopians shall be wounded, or slain, by my sword.

The whole tenor of this passage, in what sense it is to be taken, the Apostle explains more fully, writing to the Romans: But according to thy hardness and impenitent heart, thou treasurest up to thyself wrath, against the day of wrath, and revelation of the just judgment of God, who will render to every man according to his deeds: to them indeed, who according to patience in good work, seek glory, and honour, and incorruption, eternal life: but to them that are contentious, and who obey not the truth, but give credit to iniquity, wrath and indignation, tribulation and anguish upon every soul of man that worketh evil, of the Jew first and also of the Greek.

Verse 17. Those who sanctified themselves, and thought themselves clean, in the gardens behind one within: who ate swine's flesh, and abomination, and the mouse, shall be consumed together, saith the Lord. The Septuagint: Those who sanctify themselves and purify themselves in gardens and thresholds: eating swine's flesh, and abominations, and the mouse: they shall be consumed together, saith the Lord. Symmachus and Theodotion have interpreted this passage thus: You who sanctify yourselves and are lustrated in gardens, one after another, among those who eat swine's flesh, and abomination, and the mouse, shall perish together, saith the Lord—wishing to show that it was not they themselves who ate swine's flesh, and abomination, and the mouse, who sanctify themselves in the gardens one after another; but that those who are lustrated associate with those who eat what is forbidden.

Now the divine word rebukes the peoples of the Jews, or rather the Scribes and Pharisees, whom the Lord also rebuked, saying: You are they who justify yourselves before men: but God knows your hearts, for that which is exalted among men is abomination before God. Whence he reproached them and said: Woe to you, Scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites, who cleanse the outside of the cup and the dish, and within are full of uncleanness. And again: You who are whitened sepulchres: but within are full of dead men's bones, and of all filthiness: who blessed with their mouth, and cursed with their heart: who spoke peaceable things to the Lord, and made their words softer than oil, yet themselves were darts, of whom it was most rightly said: This people honors me with their lips: but their heart is far from me.

Now God had commanded through Moses that if anyone had fallen into sin beforehand, he should, being sprinkled with the ashes of a red heifer, and by other modes of expiation, through sacrifices and victims, return to the Temple; which they, neglecting, built in places of delight and pleasure, that is, in most pleasant gardens, either baptisteries, or pools for watering their little plots: thinking that they washed away adulteries and every foulness of lusts with mere water—to whom that saying will most fittingly apply: "And they cleanse the night with the river" (Horace). Nor let it seem incongruous to anyone if things done shamefully are more openly set forth, for the correction of those who do not blush to commit such things—which it is shameful even to speak of—while they cling to harlots after the manner of dogs; and males practice shamefulness upon males, receiving in themselves the due recompense of their error.

Those who do these deeds are, in will and in wickedness, with those who eat swine's flesh, and all things forbidden by the Law, and the mouse, which we call the dormouse, or, according to the provinces of the East, the μυωξός. And so those who eat these things, and these who practice every shamefulness, doing such things as perhaps even the heathen do not do, shall be consumed together. According to the tropological sense we may say: All lovers of pleasure rather than lovers of God are sanctified in gardens and on thresholds, because they are not able to enter into the mysteries of truth, and eat the foods of impiety, since they are not holy in body and spirit: nor do they eat the flesh of Jesus, nor drink his blood. Of which he himself speaks: He who eats my flesh, and drinks my blood, has eternal life. For indeed Christ our Passover is sacrificed. Which is eaten not outside, but within, in one house.

Verse 18. But I know their works and their thoughts: I come that I may gather them with all nations and tongues: and they shall come and see my glory. And I will set a sign among them, and I will send those of them that shall be saved to the nations, into the sea, into Africa, into Lydia, drawing the bow, into Italy and Greece, to the isles afar off: to them that have not heard of me, and have not seen my glory. The Septuagint: And I know their works and their thoughts, and I come to gather all nations and all tongues: and they shall come and see my glory, and I will set a sign upon them: and I will send forth those of them that shall be saved unto the nations, unto Tharsis and Phud, and Lud and Mosoch and Thobel, and unto Greece, and unto the isles afar off, who have not heard my name, nor seen my glory.

Before I expound what the enumeration of so many nations signifies, a few words must be said concerning the variety of interpretation. Tharsis in the Hebrew tongue is called the sea; and (as they say) also the region of India: although Josephus, the letter being changed, thinks it is called Tarsus instead of Tharsis, a city of Cilicia, to which Jonah, fleeing from Joppa, wished to go. Phud, or Phul, means the Libyans, and all Africa as far as the sea of Mauretania, in which there is today a river called Phud, and the whole region around it is called Phutensis. Lud they call the Lydians, whose colonists were the Etruscans, who are now called Tuscans, once most skilled in shooting arrows, and now are called "drawing the bow." For which in the Hebrew is read Mosche ceseth (משכי קשת), which, apart from the Septuagint, all have translated alike as "drawing the bow": but the Seventy have set down μοσὸχ, interpreting a noun for a verb.

If this be taken so, it signifies the Cappadocians: whose metropolis is Mazaca, which afterward received the name Caesarea from Caesar Augustus. Some, I know not with what intention, have also in Genesis interpreted as μοσὸχ the last son of Aram, that is, of the Syrians of Damascus, who is called Mes: for whom we more correctly render Moeonians. Thubal, or Thobel, is interpreted either as Italy, or as Iberia, that is, Spain, from the river Iberus, whence even today the region of Spain is called Celtiberia. Of whom Lucan beautifully says (Lucan, book 4):

The Celts of the Gauls, mingling their name with the Iberians:

whom we can call Gallo-Hispanics. The Greeks, however, who in the Hebrew tongue are called Javan, signify Doves: whence also the Greeks are called Iones, and the Ionian Sea. And this must be considered, that he set down chiefly the Eastern nations as from Japheth, one of the sons of Noah: although in Tarshish and Phud he recalled also Shem and Ham, that is, the names of India and Africa, so as to show the whole world. The Lord therefore comes, that He may gather together the works and thoughts of each. From which we learn that not only works but also thoughts are to be judged on the day of judgment. For whoever looks at a woman to desire her has already committed adultery with her in his heart.

Of these it is said: Now their thoughts have surrounded them: when the Lord shall judge the hidden things of men according to the Gospel of Jesus Christ; so that what the Apostle writes may be proved true by the truth of the judgment, their thoughts accusing or excusing one another, in the day in which God shall judge the hidden things of men: so that all our thoughts, gathered together at one time, may be tried by the just Judge, while either our conscience accuses us, or excuses us for our fault—whether sins or good works be more numerous, and whether old or new, and whether they have been blotted out by penitence, or renewed by new crimes—when the Lord says: I have given their ways upon their own heads, and I will render their thoughts unto them. Who has fashioned their hearts one by one, and understands all their works. Concerning these we read also in another place: Thou alone knowest the hearts of men (2 Chron. Vi, 30).

For no one knows the things that are in a man, except the spirit of the man which is in him. Whence also God speaks through Jeremiah: I am a God who draws near, and not from afar, says the Lord: Shall a man hide himself in hidden places, and I not know it? Finally it is said to the Scribes and Pharisees: You are they who justify yourselves before men: but God knows your hearts. In which it must be considered that He did not say "Father," according to the blasphemies of heretics, lest He seem to exclude the Son, but "God": which is common to the Father and the Son. For in the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God: this was in the beginning with God. Of whom the same John writes: But Jesus himself did not trust himself to them, because he knew all men, and did not need that anyone should give testimony to him about man: for he himself knew what was in man.

To whom also this applies: But Jesus, knowing their thoughts. And in another place: But Jesus, knowing their malice. And lest there be any doubt, with heretics making a slander concerning the Word of God, that He knows all things, in the Epistle which is written to the Hebrews it is said at greater length: For the word of God is living, and evident, and sharper than any two-edged sword, and piercing even to the division of soul and spirit, of the joints also and the marrow, and a discerner of the thoughts and intents of the heart. And there is no creature invisible in his sight. But all things are naked and open to his eyes, of whom is our discourse. But after all thoughts have been gathered into one, accusing us or defending us: then all nations and tongues, together with their thoughts, will alike be brought into the midst. Now according to the Apostle Paul we read of tongues not only of men, but also of angels.

From which it is given to understand that all creatures are to be judged by the Lord, not only upon the earth, but in the air and in the heavens, according to what He had said above: My sword has been made drunk in heaven, and shall descend upon the earth. And all shall come, that they may see the glory of God: and he will set among them a sign, which is shown at the beginning of Ezekiel under the interpretation of the Hebrew letter TAU. By which sign whoever shall have been marked shall escape the hand of the one striking. By this also the doorposts of the houses in Egypt were marked, when, Egypt perishing, Israel alone remained unharmed. Concerning this sign, which Ahaz king of Judah was unwilling to accept, the prophet Isaiah testifies: Therefore the Lord himself shall give you a sign: Behold a virgin shall conceive in the womb, and bear a son. Whence also the Prophet begs for what had been promised: Show me a sign for good.

And in another place: Thou hast given a sign to them that fear thee, that they might flee before the bow. This the Lord, ascending to the Father, left to us, or set upon our foreheads, so that we might freely say: The light of thy countenance, O Lord, is signed upon us. But what follows: And I will send of them that shall be saved to the nations—and he enumerates them one by one—seems contrary to our exposition. For if it is said of the day of judgment, how does it again run back to the first coming of the Savior, when the Apostles are sent to the nations, and hear from the Lord: Go, teach all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit? This is resolved thus: the day of judgment is preached, indeed threatened, so that through fear of the future punishment they may receive the coming of the Savior and the Gospel of the Apostles, who are to be sent beforehand.

He said beautifully: And I will send of them that shall be saved. For unless the Lord had left us a seed, we should have been as Sodom, and should have been made like Gomorrah. And the Apostle says: The remnant shall be saved. These are sent to the nations, to Tarshish, and Phud, and Lud, and Meshech, and Tubal, and Greece, and the many islands that are far off, and that have not heard the name of the Lord, nor seen his glory. Of these we have spoken above according to the historical sense (on chapter xii). Now the anagogical sense must be drawn together briefly. Tarshish is interpreted "exploration of joy": that we may consider not the things that are in the present, but those that are to come; and that we may deserve to hear: Because you have been faithful in a few things, enter into the joy of your Lord.

Of which also the Apostle Peter writes: Rejoice with joy unspeakable and glorious; that we may praise God, saying: Our mouth was filled with joy, and our tongue with exultation. And what follows, Phud is interpreted "closing of the mouth": that, excluding all blasphemy, we may speak the things that are good, and say: My mouth shall declare thy justice, O Lord: thy salvation all the day. And again: I have not hidden thy truth within my heart, and I have declared thy salvation. Lud also, in our tongue, is rendered "usefulness," and Meshech, "extension," and Tubal, or Thobel, "led to mourning," or "converted," or "the universe": all of which are fitting to the calling of the nations, that they may follow what is useful through the confession of their soul, and forgetting the past, may be extended toward the things to come. And let them mourn their ancient sins, and be drawn to grief and sadness, which leads to life. Blessed indeed are they that mourn, for they shall laugh.

And let all be converted to the Lord, that afterward they may pass over to grace, and know what was said by the Apostle: Glory, and honor, and peace to every man that works good, to the Jew first and to the Greek: since he is God not only of the Jews, but also of the Gentiles. Further, that which is said: And to the isles afar off, that have not heard my name, nor seen my glory, applies to those of whom we read above: They to whom it was not told of him shall see; and they that have not heard shall understand. And again: I have appeared to them that asked not for me: I was found by them that sought me not. I said: Behold I am here, to a nation that did not call upon my name.

That by "islands" are signified either the nations of the whole world, or the Churches scattered throughout the whole world, we have often said. (Verse 20.) And they shall declare my glory to the Gentiles, and shall bring all your brethren out of all nations for a gift to the Lord, on horses, and in chariots, and in litters, and on mules, and in carriages, to my holy mountain Jerusalem, says the Lord. The Septuagint: And they shall declare my glory among the nations: and they shall bring your brethren from all the nations, a gift to the Lord, with horses and chariots, on the litters of mules, with canopies, into the holy city Jerusalem, says the Lord.

Those who shall have been saved, and sent to various nations, and to those who had not first heard nor seen the glory of the Lord, shall announce it to all nations, and shall bring the brethren of the Jewish people, whose remnant has been saved, as an offering to the Lord out of all nations: either those who, having scorned the error of idolatry, have followed the knowledge of the true God, or those who from the whole world, from the people of Israel, have believed. To these the apostle Peter also writes. Now they shall bring them on horses, and in chariots, and in litters, and on mules, and in carriages.

For "carriages," which Symmachus alone interpreted, whom we have followed in this place, Aquila, the Septuagint and Theodotion translated "mules." And where the Septuagint placed "with canopies," which we can interpret as "sleeping-berths," or "litters (basternae)," others rendered with a consonant word λαμπήνη, which we interpret as "vehicles of various kinds": but where the Septuagint and Theodotion said "litters (lampenas)," for which Symmachus interpreted "litters," Aquila put σκεπαστά, which itself also signifies litters covered with hides. Let this be said concerning the variety of translations. Now horses, and chariots, and litters, and mules, and carriages, and vehicles of diverse kind, we can understand as angelic ministries, concerning whom elsewhere it is said to God: Thou didst mount upon thy horses; and thy riding was salvation. By these horses, chariots, and quadrigas Elijah was caught up to heaven, and Elisha showed to the unknowing servant that he was surrounded and protected.

And Zechariah saw in the night: Behold a man riding upon a red horse: and he stood among the myrtle trees, that were in the bottom: and behind him were red horses, speckled, and white; and I said, What are these, my lord? And the angel that talked with me said to me: I will show thee what these be. And the man that stood among the myrtle trees answered, and said: These are they whom the Lord hath sent to walk through the earth. John also in the Apocalypse testifies that he saw these things: I saw heaven opened, and behold a white horse: and he that sat upon him was called Faithful and True, and in righteousness he doth judge, and make war.

And his eyes were as a flame of fire, and on his head were many crowns; having a name written, that no man knew but he himself: and he was clothed with a vesture dipped in blood: and his name was called The Word of God: and the armies which were in heaven followed him upon white horses, clothed in fine linen, white and clean, and out of his mouth went a sharp sword, that with it he should smite the nations. Upon the red horse sat the Lord and Savior, assuming a human body, to whom it is said: Why are thy garments red? And: Who is this that cometh from Edom, his garments dyed of Bosra? And there followed him horses of various colors, either red in martyrdom, or speckled in flight, or dappled in virtues, or white in virginity. Now he sat upon a white horse, when after the resurrection he assumed an immortal and incorrupt body. And whoever followed him used white horses, that is, incorrupt and immortal bodies.

It would be long, should we wish, to explain both testimonies fully: I will say only this, that the various vehicles by which men are brought to the faith are angels, or holy men who from being men have advanced into angels. Now that each one of us has angels, many Scriptures teach, of which this is one: See that you despise not one of these little ones: for their angels do always behold the face of my Father who is in heaven. And when the maid Rhoda announced Peter the apostle, others believed it was his angel. But if this is said of the little ones, and of one man, how much more must it be understood of all the saints, and especially of the Apostles? Whose angels daily see the face of the Father, according to what is written: The angel of the Lord shall encamp round about them that fear him. And Jacob speaks of himself: The angel who delivered me. These are they who ascend and descend upon the Son of man.

Those who are swift in faith are carried by horses; those who are manifold in grace, by chariots; those who need consolation, by covered litters and canopies, that they may deserve to hear: By day the sun shall not burn thee, nor the moon by night. Now we take "mules" in the Scriptures in two ways: either in barrenness and continence, upon which David and Solomon sat, of whom the one is interpreted "strong of hand," the other "peaceable"; or in a bad sense, of whom it is said: Be ye not like the horse and the mule, which have no understanding; over whom Doeg was set. Now the "carriages," for which (as we said above) the Septuagint rendered "covered vehicles," the others simply "vehicles," are to be understood of those of whom the Apostle speaks: Bear ye one another's burdens. Further, by "litters (lampenae)" are to be understood the shining bodies of the saints, and souls illumined by the faith of the Lord, to whom it can be said: You are the light of the world.

But all this apparatus profits toward this, that we may enter the holy city of God, or the holy mountain of the Lord, Jerusalem: not that Jerusalem which kills the Prophets, and stones them that are sent to her; but the heavenly Jerusalem, of which we have often spoken: But Jerusalem which is above is free, which is our mother. And again: But ye are come unto mount Sion, and unto the city of the living God, the heavenly Jerusalem. Which we can understand either of the present Church, which has been gathered from the whole world through the Apostles, or of the future: so that there may be fulfilled what the Apostle prophesied by the Holy Spirit: We shall be caught up in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air, and so shall we ever be with the Lord.

But the Jews, and the heirs of the Jewish error, the Ebionites, who out of humility of sense took upon themselves the name of "poor," awaiting all the delights of the thousand years, understand horses and chariots, and carriages, and litters, or portable couches, and sleeping-berths, and mules and she-mules, and carriages, and vehicles of diverse kind, just as they are written. Namely, that at the consummation of the world, when Christ shall come to reign in Jerusalem, and the Temple shall have been restored, and Jewish victims immolated, the sons of Israel shall be brought back from the whole world, not indeed upon horses, but upon mules of Numidia.

But those who shall be of senatorial dignity, and shall have obtained the rank of princes, from the Britons, the Spaniards, and the Gauls, to the farthest of men, the Morini (Virgil in the eighth Aeneid so calls the Morini), and where the two-horned Rhine is divided, shall come in carriages, all the nations that have been prepared for their servitude running to meet them. (Verse 21.) As if the children of Israel should bring an offering in a clean vessel into the house of the Lord. And I will take of them for priests and Levites, says the Lord. The Septuagint: As if the children of Israel should offer their sacrifices to me with psalms in the house of the Lord: and of them I will take priests and Levites, says the Lord.

Those, he says, who shall have been sent to the nations, and shall have announced my glory to them, shall thus bring your brethren from all nations, a gift to the Lord, with horses, and chariots, and litters, and mules, and carriages, and various vehicles, into the holy mountain of Jerusalem, just as the children of Israel used to do, while their religion stood, and the ceremonies of the Temple were observed, offering sacrifices with psalms in the house of the Lord. Or, as it is in the Hebrew, and as all with one voice have translated, "in a clean vessel": which even to this day the children of Israel, who behold God with the mind, offer in the House of God, which is the Church—spiritual sacrifices with the fruits and virtues of their soul in clean vessels, that is, in holy bodies. Of these the Apostle writes: Know you not that you are the temple of God, and that the Spirit of God dwelleth in you?

And I will take, he says, of them priests and Levites, says the Lord: so that those who have been saved might preach to the nations. Of whom one spoke: Let a man so account of us, as of the ministers of Christ, and the dispensers of the mysteries of God. And Luke the evangelist says: As they delivered them unto us, who from the beginning were eyewitnesses and ministers of the word. Of whom we also read above: You shall be called the priests of the Lord. For just as he is a Jew in secret who is circumcised in spirit, of whom it is written: We are the circumcision, who serve God in the spirit, and offer spiritual sacrifices pleasing to God, and sing psalms with the spirit and with the understanding: so also priests and Levites are in secret, who follow not the order of lineage, but the order of faith.

Or certainly he does not speak of the Apostles and apostolic men, who were the leaders of the Church from the people of the Jews, but of the nations enumerated above, from the sea, from Africa, from Libya, from Cappadocia, from Italy, from Greece, from all the islands, whose inhabitants had not at first heard the Lord, nor seen his glory, and afterward shall be turned into priests, so that those who were the tail may be the head, and those who were the head may be turned into the tail.

Verse 22. For as the new heavens and the new earth, which I make to stand before me, saith the Lord: so shall your seed and your name stand. And there shall be month from month, and sabbath from sabbath: all flesh shall come, to worship before my face, saith the Lord. The Septuagint: For as the new heaven and the new earth, which I make to remain in my sight, saith the Lord: so shall your seed and your name stand. And there shall be month from month, and sabbath from sabbath: all flesh shall come to worship in my sight in Jerusalem the Lord. When he says: I will take from among them for priests and Levites, he shows that the old priesthood, which was owed to the tribe of Levi—where there is no choosing, but the order of nature, and a lineage of family descending through posterity—has been set aside.

For with the priesthood transferred, it is necessary that a transfer of the Law also take place, and that election pertain to those to whom the priesthood is conferred not at all according to blood, but according to merits and virtues, who will come from the islands of the nations, and will announce the glory of the Lord. And they shall be brought on horses, and in chariots, and in litters, and on mules, and in carriages. But how will there be a new heaven and a new earth, and a new Jerusalem, such that it will nowise be said: Heaven and earth shall pass away? And again: The heaven shall be rolled together as a book: and the earth shall be dissolved by corruption: thus, amid all things made new, the people of God too shall be made new, as Scripture says: The old things have passed away: behold, all things are made new. And in another place: If any man be in Christ, a new creature.

And there shall be a new people also; for Christ is the firstfruits, then they who are Christ's, at his coming: and a new heaven and earth, of which among the eight beatitudes it is said: Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven. Blessed are the meek, for they shall possess the earth. Since indeed every creature is now subject to vanity in hope, because of him who subjected it. But they shall be freed from the bondage of corruption into the glory of the sons of God, who shall become his sons out of men, and shall stand in his sight forever, and their name shall abide continually, so that no other nation shall succeed them, as happened among the Jews; but they shall remain forever. And there shall be, he says, month from month, and sabbath from sabbath: so that from the carnal sabbaths and months there may come to be delightful spiritual sabbaths, that sabbath-keeping which is reserved for the people of God.

And a spiritual month, when from point to point the moon is completed, and runs in its own order, so as to make up a month—that is, the kalends, which in Greek are called νεομηνίαι, that is, the beginning of a new month, among whom the beginning of the kalends begins and ends not according to the course of the sun and the varying lengths of the months, but according to the circuit of the moon. This is the moon of which, in praise of the true Solomon, it is said: And it shall endure with the sun, and before the moon, throughout all generations. Which in the Song of Songs is called the chosen one: Who is she that cometh forth as the morning, fair as the moon, chosen as the sun, terrible? The natural philosophers say, and those whose concern it is to discuss celestial matters, that the moon has no light of its own, but is illumined by the rays of the sun.

For that part of its orb is always full and shines, which is nearer to the sun, nor is it darkened by the earth's shadow: which the poet also demonstrated in one little verse (Virgil, Georg. I): Nor does the moon rise beholden to her brother's rays. If this is true, we too can say tropologically that the Church, which grows and diminishes through peace and persecutions, and, oppressed by the darkness of temptations, again takes up its former light, has its splendor from the sun of justice, and this is what is said: The moon shall shine as the sun; and that its righteous inhabitants shine as the sun in the kingdom of their Father. And through these months the seed of the Lord, which has been restored forever, comes to its solemnities, which the saint sounded forth in mystical utterance, saying: I have had in mind the eternal years, and have meditated. Concerning the sabbath, however, which signifies rest, we have treated in full discourse, in the prophecy concerning the foreign eunuchs.

And now it must be briefly said that those come at the new moons and at the sabbaths who, the six days in which the world was made having been passed over and gone by, hasten to the seventh day, that is, the sabbath, in which is the true rest. Concerning these solemnities the apostle Paul instructed believers, saying: For the law having a shadow of good things to come. And again: Let no man therefore judge you in meat, or in drink, or in respect of a festival day, or of the new moon, or of the sabbaths, which are a shadow of things to come. But if these things came before as a shadow of good things to come, and as an image, the whole Law is to be understood spiritually, concerning which the same Apostle said: We know that the law is spiritual, whose mysteries even David desired to know: Uncover my eyes, and I will consider the wondrous things of thy law.

For the things that are seen are temporal; but the things that are not seen are eternal. To run through all these matters in a swift discussion is not the business of this occasion. For if neither eye hath seen, nor ear heard, nor hath it entered into the heart of man, what things God hath prepared for them that love him, how do we attempt to show, in a brief tablet, as it were, a description of the whole Law, of the entire world? And as to what follows: All flesh shall come, to worship in my sight in Jerusalem, it must be known that in the Hebrew it is not written "Jerusalem," so that we may knock down the arrogance of the Jews; but only "in my sight," so that the word of the Lord may be fulfilled, who says in the Gospel: Amen, amen I say to you: that the hour cometh, when neither on this mountain, nor in Jerusalem, shall you worship the Father. And again: God is a spirit.

And they that adore him must adore him in spirit and in truth. And that saying of the Apostle: Lifting up holy hands in every place. And "all flesh" signifies not the people of the Jews, but the whole race of men, according to what was said above: All flesh shall see thy salvation. And in Joel: I will pour out of my spirit upon all flesh, and your sons and your daughters shall prophesy. And in Zachariah: Let all flesh fear before the face of the Lord. And in the Psalms: Unto thee all flesh shall come. Which is said in other words in another psalm: All the nations which thou hast made shall come, and shall adore in thy sight, and shall glorify thy name, O Lord.

Month from month, and sabbath from sabbath, in which all flesh shall come to worship God, are ridiculously interpreted by the Chiliasts, whom we may call Millenarians: as though those who are nearby should come every sabbath to Jerusalem; those farther off, by months, that is, with the cycle of the kalends completed; those very far off, every single year, that is, on the days of Passover or of Tabernacles, according to what is said in Zachariah: Going up from year to year, that they may worship the Lord the king of hosts, and celebrate the feast of Tabernacles.

And to provoke greater laughter among hearers, what is written in the last part of the same prophet's book: And there shall be no merchant any more in the house of the Lord of hosts in that day, they interpret in such a way that merchants shall cease to exist for a thousand years, because all things will be born everywhere, so that, namely, we shall have no need of amomum leaf and pepper, nor shall the Indians desire pennyroyal from us. Verse 24. And they shall go forth, and see the carcasses of the men that have transgressed against me. Their worm shall not die, and their fire shall not be quenched. And they shall be a satisfying sight unto all flesh. The Septuagint likewise. All flesh, which is to worship in the sight of the Lord, whether in the heavenly Jerusalem, or in every place where pure hands are lifted up, shall go forth to see the carcasses of dead men, who have transgressed against God.

This can be understood either of the Jews, of whom it was said: I have brought up children and exalted them, but they have despised me; or of all who, having knowledge of God in their hearts, turned aside into vanity, so as to worship the creature rather than the Creator. But they shall go forth not in place but in understanding. For the carcasses of the dead cannot be within, with the Lord. But if all flesh is to worship the Lord, and, on the contrary, the carcasses of the men who transgressed against the Lord shall be given over to eternal burnings, there will be a resurrection of true flesh for both parties. Now the worm that does not die, and the fire that is not quenched, are taken by most to be the conscience of sinners, which torments those placed in punishments—because by their own fault and sin they lacked the good of the elect, according to what is said: I was turned in my anguish, whilst the thorn is fastened in me.

And in Proverbs: A moth to the bones is an understanding heart. And again, under the obelus: As a moth to a garment, and a worm to wood; so sorrow tortures a man's heart. This only, that they may not deny the eternal punishments of transgressors and of those denying the Lord, as the Lord says in the Gospel: Go into everlasting fire, which was prepared for the devil and his angels. And in another place: Bind his hands and feet, and cast him into outer darkness: there shall be weeping and gnashing of teeth. If we hear of hands and feet, and outer darkness, which is the punishment of eyes that do not see the light of God; and weeping, which certainly also pertains to the eyes; and gnashing of teeth: I marvel that some introduce an airy body, to be gradually dissolved into thin air after the resurrection: because the Lord, by the power of his majesty, entered to the Apostles with the doors shut.

He who certainly even before the resurrection walked with unsteady step upon the sea; and granted this very thing to the apostle Peter: that he who was walking by faith should afterward be submerged by unbelief; to whom it was said: Why didst thou doubt, O thou of little faith? Fire also is to be understood according to the same principle as the worm, which burns only so long as it has matter on which the devouring flame may feed. If anyone, then, has in his conscience tares, which the enemy man sowed while the master of the household slept, the fire will burn these, the conflagration will devour these. And to the eyes of all the Saints their punishments shall be shown, of those who built upon the foundation of the Lord, instead of gold, and silver, and precious stone, hay, wood, stubble—fuel for everlasting fire.

Moreover, those who wish the punishments to be at some point ended, and, though after many ages, yet the torments to have a limit, use these testimonies: When the fullness of the Gentiles shall have come in, then all Israel shall be saved. And again: God hath concluded all under sin, that he may have mercy on all. And in another place the saint speaks: I will bear the wrath of the Lord, because I have sinned against him; until he judge my cause, and execute judgment for me, and bring me forth into the light. And again: I will bless thee, O Lord: for thou wast angry with me. Thou hast turned away thy face from me, and hast had mercy on me. The Lord also speaks to the sinner: When the wrath of my fury has passed, I will heal again. And this is what is said in another place: How great is the multitude of thy goodness, O Lord, which thou hast hidden for them that fear thee.

All these passages they repeat, wishing to assert that after torments and torture there shall be future refreshments, which now must be hidden from those for whom fear is useful: so that, while they dread the punishments, they may cease from sinning. This we ought to leave to the knowledge of God alone, whose not only mercy but also torments are weighed in measure; and he knows whom, how, or for how long he ought to judge. And let us say only what befits human frailty: O Lord, rebuke me not in thy fury, nor chastise me in thy wrath. And just as we believe eternal torments for the devil and all deniers and the impious, who said in their heart: There is no God: so for sinners and the impious who are nevertheless Christians, whose works are to be tried and purged by fire, we judge the sentence of the Judge to be moderate and mixed with clemency.