Commentary on the Prophecy of Jeremiah

OF THE BLESSED THEODORET, BISHOP OF CYRRHUS, INTERPRETATION OF THE PROPHECY OF THE DIVINE JEREMIAH.

PREFACE.

I truly thought that the prophecy of the divine Jeremiah stood in no need of interpretation. But since many studious men have urged me to interpret this book also, stating that most people are ignorant of the meaning of this prophecy, I shall invoke the aid of divine grace and strive to fulfill what they have demanded of me. I shall take particular care to be brief as far as possible; I shall give a succinct interpretation of those things that are clearer, while those that require greater effort, I shall endeavor to explain. First, however, I shall set forth the argument of the prophecy itself.

BOOK I. ARGUMENT.

Josiah the king had an impious father, Amos, and a grandfather, Manasseh, who was the teacher of his father's impiety. ^A He himself, however, walking a path contrary to theirs, took up the side of the pious. But he had children who were not followers of their father’s piety, but rather imitators of the impiety of their ancestors. God, the Lord of all, foreseeing these things, in the thirteenth year of the reign of Josiah, appoints this prophet and commands him to foretell the calamities that were to come upon both the city and the people. ^B And he continued to prophesy these things, not only for the remainder of the time of Josiah, but also in the times of Joahaz, who, being the son of Josiah, succeeded him in the kingdom; and in the time of Joakim, who was the brother of the latter and the son of Josiah; and indeed also during the reign of Jechoniah, who was the son of Joakim and the grandson of Josiah; likewise also under Sedeciah, who himself also had Josiah as a father. So that ^C the entire time of the prophecy is forty years.

lacking a few months. He also predicts the siege that would occur by the Babylonians, the famine that would follow, the destruction of Jerusalem, the burning of the divine temple, and the enslavement of the people. He further foretells the return of the captives, the destruction of the Babylonians, and indeed the various punishments of many other nations as well. He also proclaims the giving of the New Testament and the cessation of the Old, the calling of the nations, and the future salvation of the world. ^A

Chapter I

Vers. 1. The word of God, which came to Jeremiah, the son of Chelcias, of the priests who lived in Anathoth. The prophet partook of a double grace, priestly and prophetic. The former he drew from his lineage, but the latter he received through a gift from above. He also mentions the time of the prophecy.

Vers. 2. For in the days, he says, of Josiah, son of Amos, king of Judah, in the thirteenth year of his reign. ^B He makes mention also of those who reigned thereafter, up to the final siege. Then he teaches what had been spoken by the God of all.

Vers. 4, 5. And the word of the Lord came to me, saying: Before I formed you in the womb, I knew you; and before you came forth from the womb, I sanctified you. The election is not unjust, for knowledge preceded it. For He knew it, and then truly sanctified it; for He knows all things before they come to pass. And the word "sanctified," he put in place of "set apart." Afterwards he mentions also the use for which He chose him: "I have set you a prophet among the nations." ^C For he prophesies not only of those things that concern the Jews, but also those that pertain to other nations.

Vers. 6. And I said, O Lord, the Lord and Master, behold I do not know how to speak, for I am a youth. The prophet recognized the one speaking to him; for this reason he...

^A invokes Him by the more sovereign title. For when once the great Moses inquired and wished to learn the divine name, the Master said, "I am who I am." He also mimics [the prophet] the reserve of Moses, saying that his youth is not sufficient for prophecy. But the Master urges him not to put forward his youth as an excuse, but to perform what has been commanded. And He drives out his fear as well.

Ver. 8. For do not fear, He says, from their face, nor be terrified before them. Then He teaches the cause of confidence: "For I am with you, to deliver you, says the Lord." This the Master God also said ^B to the divine Moses. For when he was trembling at the ministry and saying, "Who am I, that I should go to Pharaoh?" the Master said, "For I will be with you." This promise He gave as valid and firm to the holy apostles also. For when He commanded them to teach all nations, and foresaw, as God, what thoughts were arising in their hearts—how it was possible for eleven poor men, lacking the power of speech, to convert the whole world—He solved their doubt and cast out the fear, saying, "And behold, I am with you all the days, until the consummation of the age." This He also said here to the prophet, that "I am with you to deliver you, says the Lord." And the work itself confirms the word.

Vers. 9, 10. For He stretched out, he says, His hand and touched my mouth, and the Lord said to me: ^C Behold, I have given my words into your mouth. And He teaches what these words are: Behold, I have set you today over nations and kingdoms, to root out, and to pull down, and to destroy, and to overthrow, and to build, and to plant. For he prophesied not only the captivity of the Jews, but also the liberty granted by Cyrus. He prophesied also to many other nations, not only calamitous things of every kind, but also the salvation granted through the incarnation of Christ the Master. For which reason he placed rooting out and overthrowing in reference to sorrowful things, but building and planting in reference to their opposites. ^D After these things He shows him a nut-branch, or, according to the Syrian and the Hebrew, an almond-branch. For thus did both the one and the other call this rod. And when the prophet was asked and had replied what he had seen, the Master said to him:

^A *Vers. 12. You have seen well, for I am watching over my words, to perform them.* He calls the excitement unto vengeance "watching," and long-suffering "sleep." For the blessed David says: *Arise, why do you sleep, O Lord?* (Ps. xliii, 23). And again: *And the Lord awoke as one sleeping* (Ps. lxxvii, 65). Furthermore, the almond-rod covertly indicates the speed of the vengeance, since this tree blossoms before other trees. According to the Septuagint, however, it is to be understood thus: the fruit of the nut has an indeed bitter and rough shell, beneath which lies hidden that which is edible. Thus, also, discipline appears to have about it bitterness and vexation, but the things which follow are very useful. ^B [13, 14] Then He also shows him *a seething pot, and the face of it is from the face of the North.* He calls the city of Jerusalem the "pot," and the Babylonian king "the fire," whom he names "from the North," because Babylon is situated on the northern side of Jerusalem. The divine Ezechiel also calls Jerusalem a pot, and its inhabitants, the flesh (Ezech. xi, 7). Then He explains more clearly what had been spoken parabolically. ^C *Vers. 15. For behold, He says, I am calling together all the kingdoms of the kingdoms of the land from the North, says the Lord; and they shall come, and set every one his throne at the entrance of the doors of Jerusalem, and against all the walls thereof, and against all the cities of Juda.* And showing the justice of what is being done, he adds: *Vers. 16. And I will speak with them my judgment concerning all their wickedness, because they have forsaken me, and sacrificed to strange gods, and worshipped the works of their own hands.* And what is more senseless than this impiety? And what is more just than the punishment? For they, having left their own Creator, constituted their own handiwork as gods. But He, having been long-suffering for a very long time, stripped them of His own grace. ^D Being stripped of this, they served unholy men. He commands him to gird his loins, which is to say, to furnish himself succinctly and manfully. And, reminding him of promises already made, He expels fear. And He asserts that He has made him a pillar of iron, and a wall of bronze, and like a most fortified city, and has rendered him invincible, not only regarding the priests of the Jews and the princes, but even regarding the kings themselves, and the entire multitude of subjects. He promises him not peace and rest, but struggles and victory.

^A For "they will make war against you," he says, "and they shall not be able to prevail against you; for I am with you to deliver you, says the Lord." He made this same promise to the Church; for he said to the most divine Peter: "Upon this rock I will build my Church, and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it." He did not say, "They will not make war," but "By making war, they shall not prevail." For the adversaries provide the occasion for us to win the victory.

CHAPTER II

After these things, he is commanded to speak to the inhabitants of Jerusalem. ^B

VERS. 1, 2. "Thus says the Lord: I remembered for your sake the mercy of your youth, and the love of your perfection, when you followed the Holy One of Israel in the desert, in a land not sown, says the Lord." By "youth," he called the beginning of the calling of the Jews. For at that time, they were lamenting, being miserably afflicted in Egypt; but He had compassion, and using Moses as a minister, He set them free. He used the phrase "the love of your perfection" ironically; for the Jews never had perfect love toward their Benefactor, as David the hymnist teaches us: "For they loved him," he says, "with their mouth, and with their tongue they lied to him; but their heart was not upright with him, nor were they faithful in his covenant."

VERS. 3. "Holy is Israel to the Lord." It is as if he said: Long ago I preferred you to the other nations, and you have been called My people. The blessed Moses also spoke in this way: "And Jacob became the Lord’s portion, His people, Israel the line of His inheritance." "The first fruits of His produce." For He chose him before all others. For which reason He also said to Pharaoh: "Israel is My firstborn son." ^C And through another prophet He says thus: "Like a grape in the wilderness I found Israel, and like the produce of an early fig I found their fathers." "All who devour him shall commit sin; I will bring evils upon them, says the Lord." For those who were fighting against Israel were not waging war as if serving God, but as if they could prevail over God Himself. Thus even Sennacherib said: "Do not let your God, in whom you trust, deceive you, saying that the Lord will deliver Jerusalem from my hand." For this reason, He threatens them as well with punishment. Then He addresses the entire people ^D:

^A Ver. 5. "What have your fathers found in me of iniquity, that they departed far from me, and walked after vanity, and became vain?" Who is sufficient to praise the loving-kindness of the Master as it deserves? For He does not judge as a judge, but as one held accountable, He offers a defense, and wishes to be refuted if there is anything He ought to have done which He did not do. And being the all-holy God, He says to lawless men: "What have I sinned? What wrong have I done? Speak, refute me." What accusation did your fathers have, that they abandoned me, their benefactor, and served man-made idols? And yet, I delivered them from the slavery of the Egyptians; and I led them through an impassable land, and in a waterless desert I bestowed a stream of abundant waters, and I brought them into the promised land, the mother of fruits of every kind. For by "Carmel" He signified the whole land of promise. But not even having enjoyed these many good things did you recognize your benefactor; rather, you imitated the vileness of your fathers. Then, according to their rank, He brings forward the accusation against each order.

^B Ver. 8. "The priests did not say: Where is the Lord?" This is the most impious thing of all: that those who were the guides became the leaders of the error. "And those who hold the law did not know me." Here He accuses the scribes and teachers, inasmuch as they interpreted the law, but were the first to transgress it. "And the shepherds acted impiously toward me." He thus named the kings. "And the prophets prophesied by Baal." He calls those who are false prophets "prophets," just as once more he calls those who are not gods "gods." "And they walked after that which is useless." He showed the extremity of their folly; for having abandoned the bestower of all good things, they served harmful idols.

^C Ver. 9. "Therefore I will yet contend in judgment with them, says the Lord, and with their children's children I will contend." He persists in His modesty; for He did not say: "I will judge you and your descendants," but, "I will contend in judgment with you and with them"; meaning instead, I will go to trial and will convict the transgressors.

^D And while demonstrating the extremity of the transgression, He exhorts them to examine the practice of the nations, both of the westerners and of the easterners, and to know if any of them have changed their ancestral gods. Moreover, He calls "Chettiim" Cyprus, and the islands around it, and through them the western parts; but "Cedar," those who inhabit the desert toward the rising sun. And by these...

^A He indicates the eastern parts, and teaches that they followed paternal customs and worshipped the gods they were taught to serve. But these others denied the One who is truly God. Therefore, He said the heaven was astonished and the earth shuddered: not because the elements are endowed with reason, but because these, being comprehensive of all creation, the blessed Moses called to witness. "Attend, he said, O heaven, and I will speak; and let the earth hear the words from my mouth." (Deut. xxxii, 1).

Vers. 13. "For my people have committed two evils: they have forsaken me, the fountain of living water, and have hewed them out broken cisterns, that can hold no water." He called the idols themselves broken cisterns. For a cistern is made by hand, and it does not have water springing up, but receives water begotten from the clouds and gathered from here and there. But if it happens also to be disrupted and broken, ^B it immediately loses the water collected from the heavens. Such is the nature of idols. For they beg their substance from matter and artifice; and the beauty they acquire from these, time destroys. But He who is truly God is the fountain of ever-living water. Then by way of interrogation:

Vers. 14, 15. "Is Jacob a servant? Is he a homeborn slave? Why is he become a prey? The lions roared upon him." Truly, everyone knew, He says, that he was liberated from the servitude of the Egyptians; and that he was his own master, relying on My providence, was plain to all. For he was illustrious and conspicuous. What then was the cause of the captivity? In what way did he come so easily to be exposed to the kings who attacked him? For He called the kings lions. These, He says, both divided his land and burned his cities. ^C You have suffered these things not only by the Assyrians, but also by the Egyptians. For He says further:

Vers. 16. "The children of Memphis and Taphnas have known thee, and have mocked thee." Those who for thy sake endured those widely spoken-of trials, whom finally I delivered to the depth of the sea. Then He explains the cause of the weakness:

in heaven, shall enter into the kingdom of God." For even these, living in wickedness and unwilling to be healed by the medicines of repentance, tried to question the Master, not in order to perform what was commanded, but to learn whether the divine oracles agreed with their own notions. This, too, Zedekiah had often done, and having put Jeremiah under oath to reveal clearly to him what was seen by God, when he had learned what was commanded, he worked the contrary; and those who entered into Egypt after the captivity dared this same thing. On account of this, the God of all things does not wish to answer them; for He himself knows, according to the teaching of the holy Gospels, what is in man. Therefore, He also commands the prophet to disregard them and to offer no entreaty on their behalf. For He signified this having said: "If thou wilt avenge them, son of man, if thou wilt avenge them," that is, "Take no thought for them, as though holding the role of their guardian, and do not entertain their questioning."

VERS. 5, 6. The iniquities, he says, of their fathers, protest to them. And you shall say to them: Thus says Adonai the Lord: From the day on which I chose the house of Israel, and was known to the seed of the house of Jacob, and was made known to them in the land of Egypt, and I took hold of their hand, saying, I am the Lord your God. In that day I took hold of them with my hand, to lead them out of the land of Egypt into the land which I prepared for them, a land flowing with milk and honey, it is a honeycomb ^A above all lands. To these, he says, O prophet, who have come to you, point out my benefits and enumerate the transgressions of their fathers. Narrate also how I appeared in Egypt to their fathers while they were still living impiously and worshipping the idols of the Egyptians, and I taught them that I am both God and Master. And I used these words, wishing to deliver them from slavery, to fulfill the promises, and to restore the promised land, being a mother of countless good things and bearing varied fruits for its inhabitants; and no one would be wrong in declaring it better than all the earth, and calling it the labor of bees—for this he declared ^B having said, "It is a honeycomb above all lands." Thus he addressed the combs filled with honey.

VERS. 7. And he said, he says, to them: "Let each one ^C cast away the abominations of his own eyes, and do not be polluted by the customs of Egypt, I am the Lord your God." I warned them, he says, to flee the fellowship of the impiety of the Egyptians, and to acknowledge my sovereignty, which I had made known to them through signs and miracles. But they in no way...

^A observed the thorns, Christ, who according to the flesh was born from them, calls himself the true vine, saying: “I am the true vine,” and those who have believed in him he called “branches.”

vERS. 22. *If you wash yourself with nitre, and multiply for yourself herbs, you are stained in your iniquities before me, says the Lord.* He calls “herbs” those things that grow from the earth; and he teaches figuratively through these, that the aspersions [which take place] according to the law do not effect a release from sins, but rather sincere repentance and a turning away from wickedness. After this, he rebukes her impudence.

vERS. 23. *How will you say: I am not defiled, and I have not gone after Baal?* Then he shows ^B the manifest nature of her impiety: “See your ways in the polyandrium, and know what you have done.” By polyandrium he designates the place of the monuments, in which they used to burn [their] sons and daughters in honor of idols. “Late she has wailed with her voice.” He placed “late” for “slowly”; after the experience of painful things, he says, she received a perception of her lawlessness. The prophet says this also after this, indicating the ten tribes lamenting and saying: “After the captivity I repented.”

vERS. 24. *She has widened her ways to the waters of the desert.* By “widened” he taught the insatiability of impiety. He called the idols “waters of the desert,” as they are desert-making and harbingers of total destruction. *In the desires of her soul she was carried by the spirit.* For what they wanted to hear, these the false prophets pretended to foretell. For he set *carried by the spirit* concerning the false prophets. *She has been delivered, who shall turn her back?* For when God has delivered [her] up, who will suffice? Thus also through the great Moses he says: “All who seek her shall not labor. In her abjection they shall find her.” For they became easy to capture, having embraced impiety. After these things he teaches ^C that often, when counsel has been given to her

to depart from her harmful way, she behaved insolently to the contrary, openly confessing her apostasy. ^A But for this reason, he says, “I will overwhelm them all with shame together—kings, princes, priests, and those who prophesy falsely—and they shall be made to resemble a thief caught in the act, who blushes deeply.” For they called gods fashioned from wood and stone their fathers and progenitors; but they turned their backs to me and turned away as from an enemy. “And in the time of their troubles they will say: Arise and save us.” This is a sign of the utmost, final impudence: to be sick with ingratitude while enjoying good things, but when lacking them, to ask for a share of them. Then, ironically:

Ver. 28. “And where are your gods which you made for yourself? Will they rise up and save you in the time of your affliction?” He teaches also concerning the multitude of these idols, that according to the number of the cities ^B were your gods, O Judah, and according to the number of the ways of Jerusalem they sacrificed to Baal. Having thus shown the honor paid to non-existent gods, and their number and weakness, he gently reproves the ungrateful:

Ver. 29. “Why do you speak to me? All of you have acted impiously, and all of you have committed iniquity against me, says the Lord.” He also brings to their remembrance the chastisements that had been brought upon them.

Ver. 30. “In vain I struck your children; you did not receive discipline.” Neither, when being benefited, did you recognize the Benefactor, nor, when being chastised, did you desist from impiety. But I have even handed over the authors of this error to slaughter. ^C

Ver. 31. “Hear the word of the Lord. Thus says the Lord: Was I a wilderness to the house of Jacob, or a land full of thorns, since my people said, ‘We shall not be subject to you, and we will not come to you’?” He says these things ironically. Am I, he asks, similar to the idols? Am I, just like them, one who has brought no good fruit to them, and for this reason have they fled from my service? He moves to another image, and he says that every bride cares for her adornment, and every virgin is concerned for her breastband; but he who is called [my] people

and I shall answer you, O house of Israel, if I shall answer you, and if this shall come upon your spirit. You hope, he says, while your ancestral lawlessness and impiety are prevailing among you, and while you are daring to do all these things that I have recounted, to receive some answer from me. Do not deceive yourselves; for it is impossible for me to answer your questions while such impiety is being dared by you. But I persuade you, through the things themselves, to cast away even such a hope; for this is what he signaled by saying, "And if this shall come upon your spirit."

^B Ver. 32. And it shall not be, in the way you say, "We shall be as the nations, and as the tribes of the earth, to worship wood and stone." Indeed, not even that end of yours will be attained, that like all the nations, by making gods of wood and stone, you shall offer to them the honor befitting God. He has again made use of the customary oath; for according to the blessed Apostle, since he has no one greater by whom to swear, he says:

Ver. 33. Therefore, as I live, says Adonai the Lord, if I shall not reign over you with a strong hand, and with an outstretched arm, and with poured-out fury. For I shall no longer, he says, make use of the customary long-suffering, but I shall, as it were, make bare my kingdom and my power through chastisement; for by the "strong hand and the high arm," he indicated at once both his capacity and his punitive potential. Then he also teaches the manner of the chastisement.

Ver. 34. And I shall lead you out from the peoples, and I shall receive you from the lands in which you were scattered, with a strong hand, and with a high arm, and with burning fury. For first, he says, I shall liberate you from the captivity that now holds you, and I shall bring you back into your former land.

Ver. 35, 36. Then I shall bring you out into the wilderness of the peoples, and I shall enter into judgment with you there face to face. In the way that I entered into judgment with your fathers in the wilderness of Egypt, so shall I judge you, says Adonai the Lord. ^C He calls the nations "a wilderness of peoples," as they were once empty of God; and by this he pre-signified that, once piety has been brought into the nations, these [Jews] too shall depart from the worship of idols, being ashamed at the change in the nations that had formerly been impious. But the phrase, "I shall enter into judgment with you face to face," denotes the reproof that is brought about through actual events. For the things themselves, he says, all but crying out, refute your disobedient and lawless disposition, by showing the obedience of the peoples who had formerly been bereft. Just as, therefore, when I entered into judgment with your fathers in the wilderness, I destroyed them...

and I shall answer you, O house of Israel,”—if indeed I shall answer you, and if this shall come up into your spirit. You hope, he says, that while your ancestral transgression and impiety are practiced among you, and while all those things which I have detailed are being daringly committed by you, you will obtain some response from me. Do not deceive yourselves; for it is impossible that I should answer your questions, while such impiety is being dared by you. But I persuade you, even through the facts themselves, to cast away such a hope; for this is what he signaled by saying, “And if this shall come up into your spirit.” 32 Nor shall it be, as you say, “We shall be as the nations, and as the families of the earth, to worship wood and stones.” Not even that end, indeed, shall you obtain, that by making wood and stones into gods similarly to all the nations, you shall offer to them the tribute befitting God. He has again made use of the customary oath; for according to the blessed Apostle, since he has no one greater by whom to swear, he says: 33 “Therefore, as I live, says the Lord Adonai, if I shall not reign over you with a strong hand, and with a high arm, and with poured-out fury.” No longer, he says, shall I use my customary long-suffering, but I shall reveal my kingdom and my power through chastisement; for by the “strong hand” and the “high arm,” he has indicated at once both power and the capacity for retribution; then he also teaches the manner of the chastisement. 34 “And I will bring you out from the peoples, and I will gather you from the lands in which you were scattered, with a strong hand, and with a high arm, and with burning fury.” For first, he says, I shall liberate you from the captivity that now holds you, and I shall bring you back to your former land. [35, 36] “Then I will lead you out into the wilderness of the peoples, and there I will enter into judgment with you face to face. In the manner that I entered into judgment with your fathers in the wilderness of Egypt, so shall I judge you, says the Lord Adonai.” He calls the nations the “wilderness of the peoples,” which were formerly bereft of God; and by this he signified beforehand that, once piety had been brought to the nations, they too would abandon the worship of idols, being ashamed at the conversion of those nations that had formerly been impious. The expression, “I will enter into judgment with you face to face,” signifies that reproof which is brought about by the facts. For the facts themselves, he says, almost crying out, refute your disobedient and lawless mind, showing the obedience of those peoples who had formerly been bereft. Just as, therefore, when I entered into judgment with your fathers in the wilderness, I destroyed them...

into the land of Israel, into the land concerning which I swore with my hand ^A that I would give it to your fathers. He put "I shall be sanctified" in place of what is "I shall be glorified." For all who see both my benefits and your gratitude will reap much profit, discerning the weakness of those whom they themselves call gods, and contemplating my power through the benefits bestowed upon you.

VERS. 43. *And there you shall remember your ways, and all your institutions, in which you were polluted; and you shall strike your faces in all your malignities which you have done.* For the recognition of sin is the beginning of shame. Therefore, with the conscience pricking us, we are accustomed to strike our foreheads. He signified the same thing here as well. For when you have departed, he says, from your former iniquity, and have embraced my worship, and have obtained my providence, you will perceive the sense of your former impious crimes, and you will strike your faces, calculating in how many evils you were polluted.

VERS. 44. *And you shall know that I am the Lord, when I have done so to you, that my name may not be profaned; not according to your evil ways, nor according to your corrupt institutions, O house of Israel, saith Adonai the Lord.* I shall deem you worthy of this care, he says, wishing by the benefit shown to you to turn all other men to the knowledge of me. For you are not worthy of clemency or forgiveness, having been reared in impious institutions. When, therefore, we have learned how impious it is to profane the name of the Lord, let us beware lest we subject the Lord to reproaches. For those who have been deemed worthy of His name, but who live a life unworthy of this appellation, stir up the tongues of the foolish to blasphemy against Him. This also God said regarding the Jews: *And you profaned my name among the nations, when it was said to you: These are the people of the Lord, and it is from his land that they have gone out.* We, however, have obtained the very same cognomen as the Lord; for we are named after Christ. Therefore, it behooves us all, according to the apostolic law, *whether we eat, or drink, or do anything else, to do all for the glory of God,* and to be without offense to Jews and Gentiles, and to the Church of God, to whom be glory for ever and ever. Amen.

^A Ver. 12. "Go," He says, "and proclaim these words toward the north, and you shall say: Return to me, house of Israel," says the Lord. "And I will not fix my countenance upon you, for I am merciful," says the Lord, "and I will not be angry with you forever." The goodness of the Master is immeasurable, since after a multitude of iniquities, He seeks only repentance; and He teaches the manner of this, too.

Ver. 13. "But know your iniquity, that you have acted impiously against the Lord your God." For the beginning of health is the recognition of sickness. "And you have poured out your ways to strangers." Having abandoned God and Lord, Creator and Benefactor, you have joined yourself to others. But who were these? "Under every shady tree." He shows the unprofitableness of the error; for plants made into gods are fruitless. "But you did not hearken to my voice, says the Lord." For in giving the law, He said: "There shall be no other gods for you besides me."

Ver. 14. "Return, O backsliding children," says the Lord. And though they had defected, He calls them children because of His ineffable goodness. "For I will be your Lord." For again I will care for you, and I will count you worthy of all protection. "And I will take you, one from a city, and two from a family, and I will bring you into Zion. (Ver. 15.) And I will give you shepherds according to my heart, and they shall feed you feeding with knowledge." These things were done typically under Zerubbabel. For they returned in the reign of Cyrus the Persian, having as shepherds Zerubbabel the son of Salathiel, ^C and Joshua the son of Josedek the high priest; and piety and justice adorned them both. But in truth, after the incarnation of God and our Savior, the prophecy reached its end. For the Master chose from the Jews one from a city and two from a family, and established them as shepherds according to His heart—the holy apostles. Therefore He also said to the most divine Peter: "Simon son of Jonah, do you love me? Feed my sheep." And that this is the meaning of the prophecy, the following words bear witness.

Ver. 17. "In those days, and at that time, they shall call Jerusalem the throne of the Lord, and all the nations shall be gathered to it in the name of the Lord to Jerusalem; and they shall not walk anymore after ^D the inclinations of their evil heart."

^A This did not happen after the return from Babylon, for the nations did not abandon impiety at that time. But after the incarnation of our God and Savior, the divine apostles transported the saving preaching into the whole world; and those who had served it departed from their former error, and they worship the God of all, and all run together to Jerusalem as to a divine throne. Then he teaches that after the return from Babylon, the tribes will not again be divided, but they will return to the same place and possess their ancestral land. Then ^B the prophet, rejoicing at the gracious promises, says:

VERS. 19. *And I said, So be it, O Lord.* Having interjected these things, the prophet concludes the divine promise: *Because I will set thee among the children.* For again, he says, you shall be sons to me. *And I will give thee a choice land, an illustrious inheritance, the God of the Almighty of the nations.* Thus he called it the land of promise. And he called Him the God of the nations Almighty, teaching that He is God of all and Creator of all, and that the nations also will enjoy the knowledge of God, and the grace of the Spirit will pass to them. After this, he counsels them to acquire the affection which children have for a father, and so ^C to enjoy divine care. Then he complains that they emulated a fornicating woman who transgresses against her husband, not only the ten tribes, but also the tribe of Judah, and that they violated the covenants made with the bridegroom. But he predicts also the repentance of the ten tribes; for the calamity of the captivity implanted in their minds a sense of their iniquity.

VERS. 21. *For a voice proceeding from the lips was heard, an wailing and supplication of the children of Israel, because they did wickedly in their ways, and forgot their holy God.* But seeing their repentance, he exhorts them to persevere in it, and says:

VERS. 22. *Turn, O repenting children, and I will heal your contri- ^D tions.* He not only promises healing, but also teaches what words they ought to use, saying as it were: Say these things: *Behold, we shall be thy servants, because thou art the Lord our God. We renounce error, we abhor the slavery of demons; thee alone we know as Lord and God.*

VERS. 23. *Truly the hills and the violence of the mountains were a lie...*

^A But salvation for the house of Israel is through the Lord our God. By this experience we have learned that you alone are the bestower of good things, while the groves and the hills bring damage and destruction.

VERS. 24. Confusion has taken hold of the labors of our fathers from their youth, consuming their sheep, their sons, and their daughters. He showed the excess of the honor they offered to idols; for in addition to oxen and sheep, they used to burn their sons and daughters. And because they not only derived no profit from there, but in addition to the destruction of their souls, they harvested shame and confusion. For he speaks of this through what follows:

VERS. 25. We have lain down in our shame, and our disgrace has covered us; because we and our fathers have sinned against the Lord our God from our youth even to this day, and we have not hearkened to the voice of the Lord our God. The divine Apostle also says that shame is the fruit of sin; he speaks as follows: "What fruit therefore had you then in those things of which you are now ashamed?" (Rom. vi, 21).

CHAPTER IV

^B Having thus taught them to pray, he promises them also the enjoyment of good things, if they should be forgetful of the idols (for those he calls abominations), and should transfer their worship to the true God, so that they might no longer swear by idols, but by Him, speaking the truth and not lying. For this is what he says:

VERS. 2. If you shall swear, "The Lord lives," with truth, in judgment, and in justice. But in the holy Gospels He has ordained more perfect things: "It was said," he says, "to them of old, You shall not forswear yourself, but you shall perform your oaths to the Lord; but I say to you, swear not at all" (Matth. v, 33, 34). ^C But to the Jews, as to those still bearing a weak disposition, He commands them to swear by Him, so that by the habit of swearing they might learn to worship Him alone. He promises, however, that if these things are done, it shall be that in Him the nations shall be blessed, and in Him they shall praise God in Jerusalem; for while they were pious, many of those in the neighboring regions used to learn the religion. From there he turns his speech from Israel to Judah and says:

VERS. 3. Break up new ground for yourselves, and do not sow upon thorns. Cultivate, he says, your souls; tear up from the root the memory of the idols. For these he calls thorns.

VERS. 4. Be circumcised to the Lord your God. Then he teaches what the divine circumcision is. "And circumcise" ^D

to the land of my people. ^A

12. Cry out and howl, son of man, for this has come upon my people, upon all the princes of Israel, who were dwelling near me, they have been delivered to the sword together with my people.

13.

Therefore, clap your hand, for he is justified, and what if even the tribe has been rejected? It shall not stand, says the Lord Adonai.

14.

And you, son of man, prophesy and clap hand to hand, and double the sword; the third sword is of the wounded, the great sword of the wounded.

15.

And you shall strike them with amazement, so that their heart may be broken, and the sick may be multiplied at all their gates; they are delivered to the slaughter of the sword.

^A spirit of fullness will come from these things to me. By this, he says, they shall learn from experience, in the time of calamities, that the spirit of error and seduction was that which spoke through the false prophets—not pure, nor holy, nor a spirit of fullness, that is, not one that completes the Trinity; from whom these present evils have come to me. "But now I will speak my judgments unto them." That is, the calamities which I shall justly inflict upon them. And he recounts these, likening the chariots to a cloud and a storm, and the speed of the horses to eagles. He also predicts the lamentation that is to come: "Woe is us, for we are miserable." And after these things he counsels them to acquire salvation through repentance. ^B

"Wash, he says, thy heart from wickedness, O Jerusalem, that thou mayest be saved; how long shall thy wicked thoughts remain in thee?" For the wickedness of these thoughts has become the cause of these evils for you.

"For a voice of one announcing from Dan shall come, and distress shall be heard from Mount Ephraim." Dan was what is now called Paneas; this was part of the Israelite land, and the history of the Kings ^C testifies—"from Dan even to Beersheba." And it, as well as Mount Ephraim, is situated to the north, considering the position of Jerusalem; and from there the Babylonian began his march. And this prophet is a witness to this, as is the fourth book of Kings; and they say that the captives were led by the soldiers of Nebuchadnezzar to Reblatha of Emath. Now Reblatha is a village of that which is now called Emesa; so that it is transparent that he calls the great Emath, Emesa; and the other Emath, Epiphaneia; for thus it is still called by the native tongue to this day. ^D Since, therefore, running from there, they brought the adverse things:

"Behold, swarms are coming from a land afar off, and they have given their voice against the cities of Judah. They have become as guards of a field against it round about." For, he says, just as those who guard seeds or vineyards watch them accurately, and

prevent travelers from passing through them, so these shall besiege Jerusalem and allow no one to escape. The prophet teaches further, as does the fourth book of Kings, that they also built a wall of circuit out of stones four feet wide, so that none of the inhabitants could flee. And these things you shall endure, he says, "Because you have forsaken me, says the Lord." ^B

Vers. 18. "Your ways and your pursuits have brought these things upon you; this is your wickedness, because it is bitter, because it has reached even to your heart." You will endure things worthy of what you dared to commit, and you will reap what you have sown. Having predicted these things, the prophet laments and deplores their fate, saying that his belly and the senses of his heart are in pain; and he mimics a mother lacerating herself over the destruction of her children.

Vers. 19, 20. "For my soul fluctuates," he says, "my heart is lacerated, I will not be silent; because my soul has heard the voice of the trumpet, the cry of war." He calls upon misery and tribulation. For this is what the trumpet signifies, this is what it portends: evils. He also speaks of the land being afflicted with misery, the tabernacle disrupted, and the skins scattered. By these, however, he obscurely indicates the devastation of the city. ^C He also recounts the multitude of fugitives, and speaks in the person of God:

Vers. 22. "Because the leaders of my people have not known me: they are foolish children, and not wise." And lest they be thought worthy of forgiveness because they were foolish, he immediately added: "They are wise at doing evil, but they have not known how to do good." For this is the most grievous thing to be endured, that they used their wisdom for nothing, just as drunkards use wine, and murderers the sword.

Vers. 23-25. "I looked at the earth, and behold, it was nothing; and at the heaven, and its lights were not. I saw the mountains, and behold, they were trembling, and all the hills were disturbed. I looked, and behold, there was no man, and all the birds of heaven were terrified." These things are wont to happen to those who fall into calamities: for to them the light does not seem to be light, nor the day to be day, nor do pleasant things seem pleasant; but all things have changed for them into the contrary. ^D

Vers. 26. "I saw, and behold, Carmel was a desert, and all..."

its cities were burned with fire from the face of the Lord, and from the face of his wrath." It is likely, indeed, while the enemies were passing through, that Carmel itself was laid waste. But I consider that Carmel is figuratively called Jerusalem here, because of the multitude of its inhabitants.

Vers. 27. "Thus saith the Lord, The whole land shall be desolate: but I will not make a full end." He calls the whole land Palestine: but he promises the restoration. Then he exhorts.

Vers. 28. "For this let the earth mourn, and let the heaven above grow dark, because he has spoken." For the creature agrees with the Creator. "I have purposed, and I will not repent." These words, "I will not repent," he uses in a human way: for the Divine is impassible — meaning, "I have decreed to punish." "I have set in motion, and I will not turn back from it," that is, from the impulse. [29] He teaches, moreover, what it is like: namely, that all horsemen and archers have turned to flight. And while some have tried to place their confidence in the mountains, others in the forests, others have abandoned the cities and occupied the mountain peaks. Then, speaking to Jerusalem:

Vers. 30. "And thou, O wretched one, what wilt thou do?" As if he said, Where wilt thou flee? What place wilt thou seize? "If thou clothest thyself with scarlet, if thou adornest thyself with ornaments of gold, and paintest thy eyes, in vain is thy beauty. Thy lovers have rejected thee: they seek thy soul." They were accustomed to be adorned during the feast days of the demons, and he reminds them here of that ornament, and teaches that those things were useless and harmful. For they received no alliance from the demons, but rather they became the cause of these very evils for them.

Vers. 31. "For I have heard a voice as of one travailing; thy groans as of one at the first birth." He represented through the image of pain the extent of the disaster. "Woe is me, for my soul faints for those who are slain." He fulfills the divine law, in sighing with those who lament, and commiserating those who are punished. But we here, resting, admonish those who fall into this book, to avoid the deception of the demons, and to worship God in all things. For thus we shall be able, both in the present life to enjoy his providence, and to attain to the future good things; by the grace and loving-kindness of our Lord Jesus Christ, with whom to the Father, together with the all-holy Spirit, be glory, honor, and power, now and always, and to the ages of ages. Amen.

Vers. 7. "Patri, inquit, et matri maledicebant in te." And this also is one of those things which were forbidden by the law. "And to the proselyte, he says, they turned in injustice, in thee." Nor did the law prohibit this any the less, as it says thus: "And you shall not wrong the proselyte, for you were proselytes in the land of Egypt." He says, learn humanity from the things you have suffered; but they were violating this law also without fear. Then also another: "They oppressed the orphan and the widow in thee." But the good God in the law commands the contrary: "Judge, he says, the orphan, and justify the widow." And in the law: "Thou shalt not glean thy vineyard a second time, and it shall be for the orphan, and the widow, and the proselyte." These men, however, did not only not share anything good with them, but they also treated them badly. And what is heavier than these,

Vers. 8. "And they despised my holy things, and profaned my Sabbaths in thee." For they were trampling underfoot, he says, my laws, and that day which is honored by rest from labors, they were insulting with lawless works. And things more impious than these,

Vers. 9. "Men were robbers in thee, that they might shed blood; they were eating on the mountains in thee." For those addicts to lawlessness, being manslayers and bloody men, and those who worshipped demons on the mountains, and who took delight in temples dedicated to the worship of idols, thou didst have living in thee. "And they were doing impious things, he says, in the midst of thee." Then he recounts each of these.

Vers. 10. "And they uncovered the shame of the father in thee, and they were humiliating in thee her who was sitting in her uncleanness." They were having intercourse, he says, with stepmothers: for he called this the uncovering of the shame of a father; for thus he titled it also in the law. "For thou shalt not uncover, he says, the nakedness of thy father's wife, for it is thy father's nakedness." For since they were most lustful, and very incontinent, they were not abstaining even from women who were suffering from the periodic menstrual flow: which is not only contrary to the law, but also most impure. Then he remains attacking their lust.

Vers. 11. "Each one was acting wickedly towards the wife of his neighbor, and each one was polluting his daughter-in-law in impiety." This is an intensification of lawlessness; for it is not equal to be mingled with another man's wife, and to conspire against the marriage of one's own son: but by as much as adultery is more grievous than fornication, by so much is intercourse with a daughter-in-law more impious than adultery. "And each one was humiliating his sister, the daughter of his father, in thee." And here he clearly showed the excess of the abomination, showing them as plants of one father, a man and his wife. From thence he proceeds to the accusation of greed.

Vers. 12. "They were taking gifts in thee, that they might shed blood."

BOOK II

CHAPTER V

VERS. 1. *Circumite in viis Hierosolyma, et videte, et considerate, et quærite in plateis ejus, an reperiatis virum in ea: an inveniatur aliquis faciens judicium, et quærens fidem; et propitius ero illi, dicit Dominus.* ^A Immense is both their impiety and the Lord’s loving-kindness. For while they are unanimous in doing evil, He, for the sake of even one person living according to the law, promises pardon to all. The phrase, "Videte et considerate, et quærite," therefore, is used to mean: "Search with all diligence."

VERS. 2. *Dicunt quidem: Vivit Dominus: nihilominus jurant in mendaciis.* ^B He does not forbid them simply from swearing, as if the oath were to be transferred to Him, but He commands that they should swear with truth. Then the prophet says:

VERS. 3. *Et oculi tui ad fidem.* That is, You bear witness to what I say. For You behold all things. *Flagellasti eos, et non doluerunt. Consummasti eos, et renuerunt accipere disciplinam.* The former phrase indicates moderate chastisement; but what he says, "consummasti," signifies one that is more intense. Yet neither benefited them, because they were of a fractious spirit. This is what He says in what follows: *Induraverunt faciem suam magis quam petram, et noluerunt reverti.* By these [words] He indicates their impudence and disobedience.

VERS. 4, 5. *Et ego dixi, Forte pauperes sunt: propterea non potuerunt, et non noverunt viam Domini, et judicium Dei sui. Ibo ad magnates, et loquar eis: ipsi enim cognoverunt viam Domini, et judicium Dei.* ^C By "magnates," or "optimates," He calls the priests and the teachers of the law; by "pauperes," the others, as not possessing the riches of divine knowledge. Yet He accuses both of transgression, while He subjoins: *Et ecce unanimiter contriverunt jugum, fregerunt vincula.* The prophet did not utter these things rashly; but because the Lord had promised clemency and humanity—that if He found even one who was doing judgment and seeking faith [He would spare them]—he shows that He had made the search as He was commanded, but had found that all had broken the yoke of the law.

VERS. 6. *Idcirco percussit eos leo de silva, lupus perdidit illos usque ad domos eorum: pardus vigil-.* ^D

-.* avit super their cities. He calls Nebuchadnezzar a lion, and, I suppose, Nebuzaradan the chief cook a wolf; for he, being sent later, burned the city and the temple of God, and enslaved those who had been left behind. But I suppose the leopard to be called Antiochus Epiphanes; for the divine Daniel also saw the Macedonian kingdom likened to a leopard. By all these, he says, you were hunted because of the error regarding idols. Then, in the manner of a judge:

VERS. 7. How shall I be gracious to you for these things? He also recounts the kinds of transgression. For not only you, he says, and your children, swear by those that are no gods, but you also force others to swear. Yet I bestowed on you an abundance of good things. For this is what he says, "And I satisfied them." In addition to these, you also undermine the marriages of others, so that your lust is comparable to horses mad for females. Then, syllogistically:

VERS. 9. Shall I not visit for these things? says the Lord, or shall my soul not take vengeance on such a nation? Is it possible, he says, for me to overlook these things? And how is it possible for the sentence of justice to be corrupted? For this cause, he even pronounces that [sentence], and commands that the walls be destroyed and the ramparts razed; yet he tempers justice with goodness.

VERS. 10. For, he says, do not make a full end; leave its supports, for they are the Lord’s. By these words he hints at the recall and the second rebuilding. He also predicts the cause of the painful things, [namely] that because they were lawless and ungrateful toward the benefactor, they became insolent, and supposed that they would be superior to the painful things.

VERS. 12. For, he says, evils will not come upon us, and we shall not see the sword and famine. For the authors of these things were the false prophets; for he accuses them in what follows. ^B

VERS. 13. Your prophets were as wind, and the word of the Lord was not in them. The phrase "as wind" signifies the emptiness and falsehood of what was said; for they did not partake of the divine Spirit. Wherefore he says to the prophet that the word, which I utter through your tongue, shall consume them like fire; and he also shows the manner of the punishment.

VERS. 15. Behold, I bring upon you a nation from afar, O house of Israel, says the Lord, it is an ancient nation. He refers to the Assyrians; and he calls them an ancient nation because their kingdom is the oldest of all; for Nimrod, after the flood, was the first to rule over them. Then he also mentions the foreign sound of their language and compares the quiver to an open grave, because of the death-dealing nature [of the arrows]. ^{C D}

^A of their arrows. They keep these guards, and by their means prevent travelers from passing through; so too will they besiege Jerusalem, and allow no one to escape. The prophet teaches, as does the fourth book of Kings, that they built a wall in a circle of four-footed stones, so that none of the inhabitants might flee. You shall suffer these things, he says, "Because you have forsaken me, says the Lord." ^B

VERS. 18. Your ways and your practices have done these things to you; this is your malice, because it is bitter, because it has reached even to your heart. You shall endure things worthy of what you have dared to do, and you shall reap what you have sown. Having predicted these things, the prophet laments and deplores their fate, saying that his belly and the sensorium of his heart ache, and he imitates a mother rending herself over the destruction of her children.

VERS. 19, 20. My soul is in uproar, he says, my heart is torn, I will not be silent; for my soul ^C has heard the sound of the trumpet, the clamor of war. He calls upon misery and tribulation. For the trumpet signifies these things, it heralds these evils. He speaks also of the earth afflicted by misery, the tabernacle disrupted, and the tent-curtains torn apart; by these things he obscurely indicates the destruction of the city. [21] He also describes the multitude of the fugitives, and in the person of God he says:

VERS. 22. Because the leaders of my people have not known me: they are foolish children, and not wise. And lest they should be thought worthy of pardon as simpletons, he immediately added: "They are wise to do evil, but they have not known how to do good." This is indeed the most grievous thing, that they have used their wisdom for nothing, just as drunkards use wine, and murderers use iron.

VERS. 23–25. I looked upon the earth, and behold, nothing; and toward the heaven, and its lights were not there. I saw the mountains, and behold, they were trembling; and all the hills were disturbed. ^D I looked, and behold, there was no man, and all the birds of the air were terrified. These things are wont to happen to those who fall into calamities: for to them the light does not seem to be light, nor the day to be day, nor do pleasant things seem pleasant, but all things have been changed for them into the contrary.

VERS. 26. I saw, and behold, Carmel was a desert, and all

^A cities were broken down. 30 VERS. 30. Stupor and terrible things have happened upon the earth. When we see something happening against all hope and unlawfully, we are accustomed to say these things: "I was astonished at this," or "I shuddered having heard this." Then he states the causes of these things.

VERS. 31. Your prophets prophesy unjustly, that is, falsely. And the priests have clapped with their hands. This is a sign of conspiracy. And my people have loved it so. He points out the evil unanimity of all. And what will you do after these things? Meaning, when the punishment is brought on; and he declares this through what follows.

CHAPTER VI

[1, 2] For he exhorts the people of the tribe of Benjamin—and this was joined to the tribe of Judah—to give a sign with the trumpet, and to be ready for battle, as enemies from the north were rushing against Jerusalem. For he calls her ^B beautiful and delicate; beautiful indeed, on account of the beauty of the buildings; delicate, on account of the luxurious living of those who dwelt within her.

VERS. 3. Pastors and their flocks shall come, and shall pitch tents against her, and each of them shall feed his own herd in his own hand. He calls the kings who fought alongside Nebuchadnezzar "pastors," and "herds" and "flocks" the armies that served under them; and he has declared the siege of the city through these things. Then he also mentions the battles at noon, and the evening incursions, and the nightly assaults, and commands that they be cut down like a ^C fruitless forest; for all of it is false according to its power; and these things likewise agree with what was previously said.

VERS. 7. As a cistern flows over with its water, so it flows over with its wickedness. It was necessary for the city consecrated to God, even while receiving those who lived unlawfully, to teach them lawful conduct; but now it is accused of the opposite, because it became a teacher of impiety; and just as a cistern changes the water into a cold quality, so it changed those who came to it into wickedness. However, he calls the city [not the buildings, but the inhabitants]. ^D "Impiety and misery shall be heard in it before my face continually." They did not even fear my dwelling there, but while I was looking, they dared every impiety. Then he introduces an exhortation and counsel.

VERS. 8. Be instructed, O Jerusalem, in labor and the scourge, lest my soul recede from you, and I make you

a deserted land, which shall not be inhabited. This also manifests the ineffable philanthropy of the Master; for while threatening her with grim things, he promises the removal of them if she changes. But since they did not accept the instruction, he calls the enemies "grape-gatherers," and commands them to gather all of them, like the fruit of a vine, and he teaches the reason.

VERS. 10. To whom shall I speak, and testify, and he will hear? Behold, their ears are uncircumcised, and they cannot hear. Behold, the word of the Lord is become to them a reproach; they will not wish to hear it. He calls "uncircumcised ears" those that indiscriminately receive everything. Such were these men also; receiving with ease the pleasant things offered by the false prophets, they did not wish to attend to the divine words, but rather mocked and derided the prophets. Then he demonstrates the excess of his long-suffering.

^A ...and you shall be naked and shameful; and the shame of your fornication and of your impiety shall be uncovered. Having fallen in love, he says, with the Chaldeans, you hated them again; but I will deliver you to them, and through them I will exact from you the penalties for the punishment, and through the punishment I will show your whole impiety to be naked; for those who behold your calamities will learn that the cause of them was the iniquity that came to be in you. Therefore, he reasonably added:

VERS. 30. Your path... has done these things to you in your going after the nations, and you were polluted in their imaginations. You followed, he says, the practices of the nations, which, using their own reasoning, devised impiety. And not only, he says, did you imitate the impiety of other nations, but also:

VERS. 31. You walked in the way of your sister, and I will give her cup into your hands. Whatever Samaria has suffered, he says, you also shall undergo. For he called "cup" the punishment, as it brings heaviness and drunkenness to those who drink.

VERS. 32-34. Thus says Adonai the Lord: You shall drink your sister's cup, the deep and the wide one, and it shall be for laughter and for an abundant mocking. That it may complete the drunkenness, and you shall be filled with dissolution, a cup of destruction and deletion, the cup of your sister Samaria. And you shall drink it, and drain it to the dregs, and you shall devour its shards, and you shall tear your breasts. He called the cup "deep" on account of the magnitude of the calamity; "wide," however, on account of the time of the seventy years; and he named it a cup of "deletion" on account of the desolation that had occupied the city; and he added "you shall drain the dregs," because it endured the final siege, and he said it would devour the shards, because of the extreme evils into which it fell; and that it would tear the breasts, on account of the repentance that they were about to bring forth. "And your feasts, he says, and your new moons I will avert, because I have spoken, says Adonai the Lord." Every public gathering of yours, and every delight I will extinguish, and I will put an end to the words: for I am the true and truth-telling Master.

VERS. 35. Therefore thus says Adonai the Lord: Because you forgot me, and cast me behind your body, you also take your impiety and your fornication. Because you preferred the pleasures of the body to my worship, receive, he says, the rewards of your intemperance. By these things he hints that wickedness had been the foundation of the impiety; for serving the pleasures, they had slid down into the cult of idols.

^A and you shall find ^A sanctification for your souls. There are many ways, O holy prophets; but the way that is truly good is our Lord Himself. For we hear Him saying, "I am the way, and the truth, and the life." Yet every one of the prophetic ways leads to Him; for Moses, the lawgiver, points this out, saying, "A prophet shall the Lord our God raise up for you from your brothers, like me," ^B and the things that follow. And David the king and prophet, and indeed Isaiah also, and Micah, and Ezekiel, and every one of the prophets points out this way. And just as there is one road that leads to the greatest cities, which we are accustomed to call royal and kingly, and to this certain footpaths from villages and fields lead; so there is one way that leads to the Father, namely the only-begotten Son of God; but the blessed prophets, like certain footpaths, lead to this way those who choose to travel by them. The prophetic word therefore commands the Jews to search out the prophetic ways, and through them to learn the good way, and to walk in it. But they contradict typically, and do not do what is commanded. "For they said," he says, "We will not walk." But nevertheless he offers another exhortation to them.

^C 17. "I have set watchmen over you; hear the voice of the trumpet." By "watchmen" he again calls the prophets; for he says to Ezekiel, "I have given you as a watchman to the house of Israel." And he calls the preaching of the apostles a trumpet; and this also those who were called watchmen foretold. But nevertheless, the Jews contradict again, and say openly, "We will not hear." Having therefore shown their contradiction, he predicts the obedience of the nations.

^D 18. "Therefore the nations have heard, and those who feed the flocks among them." By "pastors" he calls those who lead them, and not only those who have been deemed worthy of spiritual leadership, but also kings and rulers; for these too have received the divine preaching. Thus also the divine apostles Barnabas and Paul acted; for having entered into a certain synagogue, and having discussed many things with the Jews, then seeing their disobedience, they said, "It was necessary for the word of God to be spoken to you first; but since you reject it, and judge yourselves unworthy of eternal life, behold, we turn to the nations. For so has the Lord commanded us: I have set you as a light to the nations, that you should be

for salvation to the ends of the earth.” The outcome, therefore, coincides with the prophecy. Here, however, the prophetic word threatens the disobedient Jews with a punishment appropriate to their contradiction, and also prohibits the worship according to the Law.

^A Ver. 20. *Why do you bring me incense from Saba, and cinnamon from a far country? Your whole burnt offerings are not acceptable, and your sacrifices have not pleased me.* If, even when the Law was in force, these things were deemed superfluous, surely the Jews rave in vain, after the cessation of the Law, busying themselves with the superfluous matters of the Law as if they were necessary. He again foretells the weakness with which they were yoked, not only struggling to serve, but appearing abominable to all. ^B Indeed, even those who were already made captives, and those being besieged, [as God foretold these things concerning them from above, and that they were not defeated because of the strength of their enemies, but paying the penalties for their own sins].

Ver. 3. *And say to the house that provokes me, a parable.* After the time had been noted, the prophet is commanded to teach, by way of parable and enigma, what was to happen to the city, so that because of the obscurity of what was said, the listeners might become more eager to inquire and learn the divine oracles more accurately. *And you shall say to them: Thus says the Lord Adonai: (Ver. 4, 5) Set on the cauldron, set it on, pour water into it, and cast into it the pieces, every good piece, the thigh and the shoulder, having stripped the meat from the bones. Take of the chosen flocks, and kindle the bones under them.* He calls the city a cauldron; the water poured in, the calamities of every kind; the pieces of the parts, and the thighs and shoulders from the chosen flocks, those abounding in wealth and riches and power, the princes and leaders and priests, affected by the same calamities; the bones kindled underneath, those living in poverty, given up first to famine; and the fire, the Babylonian and his battle array. He adds to this: *It has boiled, it has boiled, and its bones are cooked in the midst of it.* For when the fire was cast in, he says, the kindled bones were consumed; for it was a consumption of famine, and those who escaped the assault of the famine arrived at the summit of evils, sustaining the attacks of those besieging them.

Ver. 6. *Therefore thus says the Lord Adonai: O city of bloods, a cauldron in which is rust, and the rust has not gone out of it; it brought it forth member by member; no lot fell upon it.* He taught us here that he had also named the city a cauldron above, and he calls the sin the rust of the cauldron. And it is a very great accusation, that not even such an intense fire of calamities consumed the rust of the cauldron. But that which he says, *it brought it forth member by member, no lot fell upon it*, declares that no one escaped the inflicted calamities, nor were some chosen by lot for destruction and others for salvation, just as had happened in certain previous sieges, but all were given up without exception, some to famine and others to pestilence; and those who survived these were either killed fighting or, having been besieged, were led into slavery. And teaching the cause of the evils:

Ver. 7. *Because its blood was in the midst of it.* These things, he says, they endure, paying the penalties for extreme bloodguiltiness. *I have set it upon a smooth rock; I have not poured it upon the ground, to cover it with the earth.*

He calls the instructive word a refiner; the punishment itself, fire and lead; and the Divine decree through which the punishment is brought, a bellows. It is customary for silversmiths ^A when they wish to purify silver, to apply lead so that through it they may consume the alloy. The Master therefore says that I have used all kinds of methods, wishing to transform them, and I have brought various educations, yet they remain uncured. Whence He adds: 30. *Call them reprobate silver, because the Lord God has rejected them.* He persisted in his perversity. No artifice, he says, has prevailed over their wickedness. He says these things not accusing their nature, but their own choice; for being Himself the maker of nature, He would not have accused what He made; but they are the creators of their own choice.

CHAPTER VII.

of your brothers will be the measure of your mourning; you will obtain no capacity for it, nor will the power to do the customary things be granted to you: neither to shear the head, nor to bare the feet of sandals, nor to lighten the heaviness of grief with fountains of tears, nor to enjoy that table which is set out for the sake of consolation; nor, finally, to do anything else of those things which are customary. ^A And you shall remember those things which were done by the prophet, and from the outcome of events you shall know that the prophet was to you as a kind of portent and sign, who by the things themselves foretold to you what would come.

VERS. 25-27. *And thou, son of man, in the day when I take from them their strength, the joy of their glory, the desire of their eyes, and the lifting up of their soul, their sons and their daughters?* On that day shall the saved one come to thee, to announce to thee in [thy] ears. On that day shall thy mouth be opened to him that is saved, and thou shalt speak, and shalt be no more dumb, and thou shalt be to them for a portent, and they shall know that I am Adonai the Lord. ^B You shall not only teach them these things in the present, but also when the prediction has been proven by the event, and those things which are holy have been handed over to the impious barbarians, and their sons and daughters have been slain, and someone arrives from there to teach what has happened, then, recalling to them the predictions, you will not endure to be silent, so that they may perceive that it was by my will and my permission that these things have happened, and that they have paid the penalty for their impious deeds, and because they have suffered whatever they endured not because of the strength of their enemies, but because of my just wrath. ^C Thereafter, he turns the prophecy toward those who were neighbors of Israel and who exulted over them, and he brings forward first the sons of Ammon.

VERS. 1-5. *And the word of the Lord came to me, saying: Son of man, set thy face against the sons of Ammon, and prophesy against them. And thou shalt say to the sons of Ammon: Hear the word of the Adonai the Lord: Thus saith Adonai the Lord: Because you have rejoiced over my sanctuaries, because they were profaned, and over the land of Israel, because it was laid waste, and over the house of Juda, because it went into captivity: ^D therefore, behold, I deliver you to the sons of Cedem for an inheritance, and they shall fix their tents with their baggage in thee, and they shall place in thee their tabernacles, and they shall eat thy fruits, and they shall drink thy fatness. And I will make the city of Ammon a pasture for camels, and the sons of Ammon a pasture for sheep, and you shall know that I am Adonai the Lord.* Other interpreters have rendered "sons of Cedem" as "sons of the East"; these are, however, those who trace their lineage from Ishmael. Therefore, the Author of all things, God, says through the prophet to the sons of Ammon: Since you have rejoiced...

^A in the Law, He ordains that those who wish to partake of meat in their own cities or villages may “sacrifice and pour out the blood upon the ground and partake, not as of holy offerings, but as of common meat.” For He forbade the performing of priestly functions outside of the designated place. ^B Because of this He says: “Eat them as the gazelle and the deer,” that is, as those things which are not offered at the altar. Afterwards, He also explains the disobedience of their fathers, because while I was counseling these things that they should eat, not as of sacrifices, but as of common meat—for He had forbidden sacrificing outside the designated place. Therefore He says: “Eat them as the gazelle and the deer”: namely as those things which are not offered at the altar. [24] Afterwards He explains also the inobedience of those fathers, because whilst I was counseling these things.

VERS. 24. They walked in the thoughts of their evil heart. And he teaches what fruits were born from this: ^B And they turned backward, and not forward. (v. 25) From the day that their fathers went forth from the land of Egypt, and unto this day. For they were delivered over because of their own lawlessness—sometimes to the Moabites, sometimes to the Ammonites, at other times to the Midianites, and often to the Gentiles. Furthermore, He reveals His own providential care; for He says that He did not cease speaking to them continually through the prophets and exhorting them to what is better; ^C [26, 27] and they continued to contradict, and became worse than their fathers, who contradicted the very same words. Nevertheless, rebuke them plainly and say:

VERS. 28. This is the nation that did not hear the voice of the Lord their God, and did not receive instruction. But the cause of this disbelief is this: “Faith has failed, and it has been removed from their mouth.” [29] Then He urges them to lament and to take on the appearance of one mourning and to shave their heads, as if the elect people had been rejected. And wishing to show that His indignation is just, He reveals the most supreme name of impiety. And

VERS. 30. For many, He says, have placed their abominations in the house in which My name has been called upon, so as to defile it. Manasses, the son of Hezekiah, dared this; and those who came after him emulated the impiety that was dared. And the divine Ezekiel is a witness, who—having been raptured in spirit from Babylon to Jerusalem—recounts that he saw such lawlessness in the temple. ^D Moreover, He reproaches them, as those who even sacrificed their sons and daughters as burnt offerings to demons. “And this,” He says, “I did not command them, nor did I think it in my heart.” For, if I permitted the sacrifices of irrational animals on account of their weakness, how could I have endured to legislate such murder? He calls the altar of Tapheth by the name of an idol so-called. It is interpreted as "enclosure" or "devouring." And in this place, He says that a multitude of them will be slain, and they will be set forth as food and a feast for birds and wild beasts; and indeed, also the...

name will be changed, and it will no longer be called the valley of the son of Hinnom, but the valley of those who have been slain. He predicts, moreover, that the city will be destitute of all gladness.

CHAPTER VIII

^A "Because Tyre said of Jerusalem, 'Euge, it is broken, it has perished, the nations have turned towards me, that which was full has been made a desert.'" In the eleventh year of the captivity of Jeconiah, and of the reign of Zedekiah, in the fourth month, on the ninth day of the month, Jerusalem was taken by the Babylonians. A few days, therefore, before its capture, the prophet is commanded to utter prophetic words against Tyre. For Tyre is called Sor in the language of its inhabitants. And it had rejoiced at the siege of Jerusalem, supposing that, with that most illustrious city overturned, it itself would hold sway over all the neighboring nations.

VERS. 3-6. "Therefore thus saith Adonai the Lord: Behold I bring upon Tyre, and I will bring upon thee many nations, as the sea ascendeth with its waves, and they shall destroy thy walls. And they shall tear down thy towers, and I will sweep away its dust from it, and I will give it into a smooth rock. It will be a drying-place for drag-nets in the midst of the sea, because I have spoken, saith Adonai the Lord, and it will be for a prey to the nations. And her daughters that are in the field shall be slain by the sword, and they shall know that I am the Lord." ^B By these words, He threatens it with the expedition of the Babylonians, and he says that the walls being destroyed, it will be so desolate as to be comparable to certain smooth rocks, upon which fishermen are accustomed to spread their nets. He asserts also that its subject cities and villages shall be overturned: for these he calls its daughters. He signifies, moreover, the profit that will arise from the calamities, when he says, "They shall know that I am the Lord."

(VERS. 7, 8.) "For thus saith Adonai the Lord: Behold I bring upon thee, O Tyre, Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon from the North. He is king of kings, with horses, and chariots, and horsemen, and a congregation of very many nations. ^C He will slay thy daughters that are in the field with the sword, and he will give upon thee a fortress, and will circumvillate thee, and will place a bulwark for thee, and will circumvillate against thee in a circle a rampart, and a surrounding of arms, and he will set his spears against thee." He calls "fortress" the citadels which invading enemies are accustomed to build, so that they may plunder what is outside and destroy the besieged through a lack of necessary supplies; and he calls "circumvallation" the walls which are built outside by the enemies. And he will add, he says, to this building, ramparts, and ditches, and mounds, so that no one may dare to go out, and from there all kinds of missiles may be easily cast. Then he adds, "they have turned towards me."

^A Ver. 8. "How do you say, 'We are wise, and the law of the Lord is with us?'" It is the height of folly not to perceive one's own madness and, while committing iniquity, not to recognize the sin. "The scribe's lying pen has made itself into a vain thing." He often calls the inheritance a "cord" and a "rope"; he says that it has gained nothing from the letters of the law, because they have loved a lie. For this reason, he says, those who call themselves wise will be put to shame.

Ver. 10. "And I will give their wives to others, and their fields to their heirs." He calls the enemies "heirs," as they are the ones who were to receive dominion over the possessions belonging to them. He says he will do this ^B because of the common iniquity of all the priests and the false prophets who, by promising peace, prevented the people from repenting. He also threatens them with barrenness of the land, terror, and flight. He calls the enemies "deadly serpents," to whom, he says, it is impossible to chant, because they do not yield to our exhortations. Then he also predicts their captivity.

Ver. 19. "Behold the voice of the cry of the daughter of my people from a far country." Then, by way of interrogation: "Is the Lord not in Zion, or is her king not there?" Everywhere, he says, the God of all is present; why, then, did He hand them over to their enemies? "Because they have provoked me to anger with their carved images, and with ^C strange vanities." The cause of these evils, he says, was your lifestyle contrary to the law, and the impious worship of idols.

Ver. 20. "Summer has passed, and harvest has ended, and we were not saved." He has indicated through these words the long duration of the siege and the seventy years of servitude. It behooves us to make the correction of these things an occasion for benefit. For as many things as were written beforehand, according to the divine Apostle, "were written for our instruction, that through the patience and the consolation of the Scriptures we might have hope," which may we attain in Christ Jesus our Lord; with whom glory and dominion befit the Father, together with the all-holy Spirit, now and always, ^D and unto the ages of ages. Amen.

BOOK III

Ver. 21. "For the contrition of the daughter of my people I am contrite. I am darkened with affliction; pains have seized me, as of a woman in labor." The prophet bewails the iniquities committed by the people, and recounts the calamities brought upon them on account of these things. He describes the city...

he calls "daughter of the people," because they themselves built her up; by "contrition," [he means] the wound contracted from sin. ^A

VERS. 22. *Is there no resin in Gilead, or are there no physicians there? Why has the healing of the daughter of my people not ascended?* He calls the priests physicians, and spiritual instruction metaphorically resin. Now Gilead was a city destined for the priests. He complains, therefore, that the city should persevere in transgression and not receive repentance, when priests and the precepts of the law were not lacking.

CAPUT IX.

[1, 2] Wherefore the divine prophet seeks a fountain of tears sufficient for his grief, that he might night and day bewail the sins of his fellow countrymen. He seeks, moreover, a certain inner retreat in the borders of the desert, where he desires to live, so as not to hear the crimes perpetrated by the people. For all, he says, violate one another's marriages, and it is a ^B congregation committing every kind of iniquity. For this is what it indicates: "A congregation of transgressors."

VERS. 3. *And they have bent their tongue like a bow.* Building up deceit, weaving calumny, lying in wait for their neighbor. For this is what it means when it says: "Lying, and not faithfulness, has prevailed over the earth, because evil has gone forth from evils." He declares by these words an iniquity that knows not how to change, since evil succeeds evil. The cause of these things, however, is the neglect of divine matters: since he immediately adds, "And they have not known me, says the Lord." [4, 5] And that he might render more clear the malice thriving in them, he warns that ^C no one should trust a friend, nor even a brother, since both use ambushes and deceits, and are devoid of truth. Furthermore, he adds usury to the accusation, as that which is practiced against the law.

VERS. 6. *Usury upon usury, and deceit upon deceit.* And again he mentions the contempt of God: *They would not know me, says the Lord.* (VERS. 7.) *Therefore thus says the Lord of hosts: Behold, I will fire them and test them.* In this place he has called war and the things that arise from it an "igneous examination and probation." Just as the divine David [says], from the person of those who were in Babylon: "For you have tested us, O God; you have fired us ^D as silver is fired." But that [passage] spoke of the company of the pious, who, having been tested through fire, appeared upright; whereas in this place, the igneous examination declares that which is repro-

- ^A bate. He also describes the kinds of wickedness, likening the tongue to a dart, and says the words are full of deceit. For they speak of peaceful things, he says, but devise deceitful things.

9. "Shall I not visit for these things?"

10, 11. "Persians, and Libyans, and Lydians were in thy power, thy men of war, who hung shields and helmets in thee; these gave thy glory. The sons of the Aradians, and thy power were ^B on thy walls in a circle. But also the Medes who were in thy towers were guards; they hung their quivers upon thy shoulders in a circle; these perfected thy beauty."

Having described the differences of the woods, the varieties of the garments, the sailors and pilots, the counselors who pointed out what was to be done, and the merchants arriving from all sides, he also enumerates the military list, drawn from different nations and taught in the ways of the city: Persians, Lydians, Libyans, Aradians, and Medes. He also mentions the kinds of armor: quivers, shields, and helmets. A *pelta* is a small shield, which ^C light-armed soldiers carry in wars; those who perform the *pyrrhic* dance also use this.

12. "Carthaginian merchants of thine from the multitude of all thy power, gave silver, and gold, and brass and iron, and tin and lead, for thy market."

The Syrian and the Hebrew call Carthage (this is the metropolis of the region which was formerly called Libya, and is now called Africa) Tharsis; and by the metropolis he signified the trade in goods processed from the manifold material found there, ^D which were brought from all regions.

13. "Greece and all thy neighbors traded in thee in the souls of men, and gave brass vessels for thy market."

Mancipia (slaves), he says, and brass vessels were brought to thee from Greece and the surrounding regions.

14. "From the house of Thogorma they gave horses, and horsemen, and mules for thy market."

Phrygia, he says, used to send thee horses, and their riders, and mules; for thus they interpret the house of Thogorma.

15. "The sons of the Rhodians; thy merchants from the islands multiplied thy trade; horns and ivory teeth."

Symmachus interpreted "horns" as ebony, from which those things are made that are called ebony-goods. These, he says, the Rhodians, traversing the sea, used to bring to thee, and they supplied thy need for them. And to those who were introduced, thou didst render thy wages.

16. "Men of thy trade from the multitude of thy mixed people."

All these things, he says, thou, receiving, didst return to those who brought them mancipia, since thou hadst very many colonists; for these he called "mixed," those who had set out from other nations, but with

^A errors of thought; for through these they received error, and the wound brought on by it. Nor would anyone err if he called the senses of the body the windows of the soul—sight, taste, smell, hearing, and touch. For through these it is possible for both life and death to enter. For he who looks temperately reaps life, but he who looks intemperately plucks death; and a truthful tongue procures the salvation of the soul, while one that lies contrives destruction. And it is easy to learn the same regarding the other senses.

VERS. 22. *Thus saith the Lord: And the dead bodies of men shall be for an example upon the face of the field of your land, and as grass behind the mower, and there shall be none to gather them.* The things that shall happen to you will provide an occasion for no small utility. For this is what "example" means; but the phrase, *As grass behind the mower*, declares the ineffable multitude of the dead. ^B Since, however, there were some among them who prided themselves, some on account of wealth, others on account of wisdom, and others on account of the strength of their body, he exhorts them not to boast in these things, but in the knowledge of God and in righteous conduct. And because they were also proud of their circumcision, he suppresses their arrogance, and shows that many other nations are also circumcised—nations which he also predicts are to be called and saved.

VERS. 25, 26. *Behold, the days come, saith the Lord, and I will visit upon all the circumcised in their uncircumcision. Upon Egypt, and upon Judah, and upon Edom, and upon the sons of Ammon, and upon the sons of Moab, and upon all the shorn in their face, who dwell in the desert.* The Idumeans, indeed, tracing their lineage from Esau, were circumcised according to the law given to Abraham; but the Ammonites and Moabites, as being joined by proximity, emulated that relationship. Those, moreover, who descended from Ishmael and Keturah were themselves circumcised according to the law of their ancestors. These, therefore, he calls "shorn in their face," because they were accustomed to pluck the hair from their cheeks. ^C But the indwelling of the people among them taught the Egyptians circumcision. He joined Judah to these, however, to suppress their arrogance. But in what follows, he makes a more serious accusation against them: *Because all the nations are uncircumcised in flesh, but all the house of Israel is uncircumcised in their heart.* The ancient Scriptures, therefore, teach both the utility of spiritual circumcision and the deformity of the bodily foreskin. For he does not accuse the uncircumcised nations, but the Jews, who were indeed circumcised in body, but possessed an uncircumcised heart. ^D

CHAPTER X

^A Ver. 2. *Thus says the Lord: Do not learn the ways of the nations, and do not be afraid of the signs of heaven.* He calls the ancient error the "ways of the nations," and he has termed astronomy and astrology "signs of heaven," which one is not permitted to follow, but rather to believe in the Lord of heaven. He also ridicules the construction of idols, and says that some are fashioned from wood, and others from gold and silver, and that they require a hammer, and nails, and other tools; and also require craftsmanship, and the hands of those skilled in these things; and that silver is mined from one place, and gold from another. He calls Carthage "Tharsis," and this silver is most praised; hence even now those who are eager for wealth seek out the African [silver]. ^B These things, therefore, being of such a nature, it is not right to revere them; since they can neither benefit nor harm. Having thus shown the idols to be ridiculous, the prophet weaves a hymn to the God of the universe: "Who is like You, O Lord? Great are You, and great is Your name in power."

Ver. 7. *Who will not fear You, O King of the nations?* Here he has brought down the pride of the Jews. For he did not say, "The Lord's portion is His people Jacob," but he named the God of the universe the King of all the nations, predicting the knowledge of God that was to come to the nations. "For among all the wise men of the nations, and in all their kingdoms, ^C who is like You, O Lord?" Then again, he brings the gods of the nations into the midst, and shows that they possess their existence from craftsmanship and matter. And he returns again to the hymn of God.

Ver. 10. *But the Lord is the true God, the living God, and an everlasting King.* Idols, he says, do not live; but God is both the dispenser of life, and the God of the living, and an everlasting King. "At His indignation the earth will be shaken, and the nations will not endure His roaring." Thus also says the blessed David: "He who looks upon the earth, and makes it tremble." Then he commands those who are called gods to be told:

Ver. 11. *Let the gods who did not make heaven and earth perish from the earth, and from under this heaven.* ^D For it is the property of God to create, not to be created by another. Therefore, if the Son is created, He is not God; but if

He is the Creator, He is truly God; for the prophet speaks about Him and the things that follow. ^A

VERS. 12. *The Lord, who made the earth by his power, has directed the world by his wisdom, and by his prudence has extended the heavens.* These are the properties of God, not to be constructed by another.

VERS. 13. *Who ministers rain, and sends forth thunderings, and brings out clouds from the end of the earth.* For He elevates the sea water upwards by his will, and of that the clouds consist. *He has made lightnings for rain.* This refers to rain. *And has brought out winds from his treasuries.* For His treasuries are nothing else than His own will. Since *He spoke, and it was done: He commanded, and they were created.* And, *All things whatsoever the Lord willed, He did, in heaven and on earth.* ^B The true God, then, is the creator of all these things. But some men have fallen into such absurdity, that some worship the creations of these, while others worship the creators themselves. But He predicts that they will cease from error. For when He has said:

VERS. 15. *Vain are the works, worthy of mockery, that is, the idols,* He adds: *in the time of visitation they shall perish.* For the apostolic preaching has utterly wiped out their memory. We see therefore the outcome of the prophecy.

VERS. 16. *Not like these is the portion of Jacob. For he who made all things, He is his inheritance: and Israel is the rod of his inheritance. The Lord of hosts is his name.* You, He says, are not taught this error; for I chose you from a long time ago, and I have deigned to be solicitous for you with great care. ^C

VERS. 17. *He gathered also from a foreign land your substance, dwelling in the elect.* When He had called the patriarch from the land of the Chaldeans, He transferred him to Palestine: and He led out his offspring from Egyptian servitude: which also the prophetic word has declared: *He gathered from a foreign land your substance, dwelling in the elect,* that is, when He had chosen you from other nations, He gave you the elect land.

VERS. 18. *For thus says the Lord: Behold, I am scourging the inhabitants of this land in tribulation, and I will afflict them, that they may be reproved.* Rightly run ^D these things, which have such a nature, it is not right to fear; for they are able neither to benefit nor to harm. Having thus shown the idols to be objects of mockery, the prophet weaves a hymn to the God of all. *“Whence is anyone like to You, O Lord? Great are You, and great is Your name in power.”* Who will not fear You, O King of the nations? Here He has abolished the conceit of the Jews. For He did not say: The people of Jacob are the portion of the Lord; but He named the God of all the King of all the nations, foretelling the knowledge of God that would come to the nations. *“For among all the wise men of the nations, and in all their kingdoms, whence is anyone like to You, O Lord?”* Then again He brings into the midst the gods of the nations, and shows that they have their subsistence from art and matter. And He returns again to the hymn of God. *“But the Lord is the true God, God of the living, and eternal King.”* The idols, he says, do not live; but God is the dispenser of life, and the God of the living, and eternal King. *“At His anger the earth will be shaken, and the nations will not endure His roaring.”* Thus also the blessed David says: [But the rest of the text is obscured by the repetition of the lemma.]

^A “He commanded, and they were created”; and, “All that the Lord willed, He did in heaven and on earth.” Therefore, the true God is the Creator of all these things. But the majority of mankind fell into unreason, and some manufacture gods, while others worship those things which are made by the former. He also foretells the cessation of this error; for having said, “15. They are vain works, objects of mockery,” that is, the idols, he added, “In the time of their visitation they shall perish.” For the apostolic proclamation utterly abolished the memory of these things; and we see the fulfillment of the prophecy. ^B 16. Not like these is the portion of Jacob; for He who fashioned all things is His inheritance, and Israel is the rod of His inheritance. The Lord of hosts is His name. You, he says, were not taught this error; for from above I chose you, and distinctively deemed you worthy of my providence. 17. He gathered your substance from without, dwelling among the elect. He called the patriarch from the land of the Chaldeans and transferred him to Palestine, and he brought out his offspring from Egypt, having been freed from servitude; this, therefore, the prophetic word also declared. ^C [The text then transitions back to the commentary on Ezekiel, which appears on this page due to layout conventions:] ...bearing, he would enter into the Holy of Holies; for the breast is, as it were, a storehouse of the heart, and a guard. And all things that follow befit not the visible prince of Tyre, but Him who cannot be seen. ^D VERS. 14. For you were prepared, he says, with the Cherub, anointed by God dwelling in the tabernacle. For with those holy and august powers, you were deemed worthy of creation and anointing. And he calls anointing in this place sanctification, provided by the divine Spirit to the bodiless and holy powers. “I set you in the holy mountain of God; you were in the midst of the fiery stones.” He calls the height of knowledge the holy mountain of God, and the fiery stones the most holy powers; for they contain that which is precious, and are endowed with the power of illumination; and the divine Scripture is accustomed often to call pious men holy stones. “For holy stones,” it says, “are rolled upon the earth.” But these are holy indeed, yet not fiery. Concerning the higher powers, let us hear the divine David saying: “Who makes His angels spirits, and His ministers a flame of fire.” None of these things applies to the prince of the Tyrians who was seen, even if some contentious ones might argue a thousand times that the Jews were the fiery stones, and that the Tyrians had intercourse with them. For the Jews are not fiery stones. And if someone were to call the prophets who were among them fiery stones, not even thus would the sense stand; for there was no association between the impiously living Tyrians and the prophets, but they had commercial dealings with the most abject and humble of the Jews, whom no one of sound mind would ever dare to call fiery stones, violating the divine law, and instituting trade with the Gentiles against its dictates. Moreover, not even the statement, “I set you in the holy mountain of God,” can be seen to fit him. For he did not dwell in Jerusalem, so that we might concede that these things are said about Mount Zion; and what follows clearly shows this. VERS. 15. For you walked, he says, blameless in your days, from the day you were created, until iniquities were found in you. For such was the devil before the fall. Regarding men, we have heard: “No one is clean from filth, not even if his life upon the earth be but one day.” But this one, being bodiless, was blameless from the beginning; but when he used his inclination toward the worse, he traveled the road that is diametrically opposite. VERS. 16. For through the multitude of your encompassing, you filled your cellars with iniquity, and you sinned, and...

^A you were left defenseless, but you were punished for your impiety: but rather that he himself might educate you and bring upon you a fatherly schooling; for this is what he says in the following.

VERS. 24, 25. Correct us, O Lord, but in judgment, and not in anger, lest you make us few. Pour out your anger upon the nations that have not known you, and upon the kingdoms that have not called upon your name. For they have devoured Jacob, and consumed him, and made his pasture desolate.

It is evident, therefore, both from what has been said and from what follows, that these words, "I know, O Lord, that ^B the way of man is not his own," do not subject the freedom of our will to natural servitude, nor do they submit our affairs to the necessity of fate; but expressly they teach us how the Master God holds the rudders of the whole world, and governs it wisely, supplying good things and correcting justly, when, after long-suffering, he sees those who persist in wickedness.

CHAPTER XI

After these things, he commands him to say to the whole people:

VERS. 3, 4. Thus says the Lord God of Israel: Cursed is the man who will not hear ^C the words of this covenant which I commanded your fathers, in the day that I brought them up out of the land of Egypt, from the iron furnace.

This same thing, while legislating, he added to the law and said: "Cursed is every one who does not remain in all things which are written in the book of the law, to do them" (Deut. xxvii, 26). He promises both there and here again, that he will deem worthy of every kind of providence those who keep the divine commandments. He also calls to memory what was said to their fathers, and their disobedience. "For they turned aside," he says, "their ear, and walked every man in the rectitude ^D of his evil heart." He uses the word "rectitude" here not for justice and equity, but for a depravity persisting in malice; for they did not depart from it, but were continually walking in it. "And I brought upon them all the words of this covenant, which I commanded them to do, and they did not do them." For he delivered them to various punishments: sometimes they served the Ammonites, sometimes the Moabites, and at other times foreigners.

VERS. 9, 10. And the Lord said: A conspiracy has been found among the men of Judah, and among those inhabiting Jerusalem. They have turned back to the iniquities of their fathers of old, who refused to hear my words.

The phrase "a conspiracy has been found," is the same as...

^A saying, they are bound and intertwined with the fathers, and they follow in their footsteps. For this is what the following words signify: "And behold, they go 470 after other gods, to serve them." And this they do while transgressing the covenant given to them. For this reason, I will overwhelm them with every kind of calamity, and I will not esteem them worthy of mercy, even though they wail, even though they mention none of the help of the gods whom they worship, whose multitude they also recount.

VERS. 13. "Because according to the number of thy cities were thy gods, O Judah; and according to the number of the ways of Jerusalem, ye have set up altars to shame, altars to sacrifice unto Baal." Because of the excessive impiety, therefore, He forbids the prophet to offer supplication on their behalf. ^B

VERS. 14. "Pray not therefore," he says, "for this people, and do not make a request or a prayer for them, for I will not listen in the time when they call upon me, and in the time of their affliction." For in that very punishment they offer their prayers. Therefore, the prophet David also admonishes us in his words: "Let us come before his face in confession." Here He clearly demonstrates its insurmountable impiety.

VERS. 15. "What is it that the beloved hath wrought in my house, even an abomination?" Does it declare the greatness of the impiety, that she who was called "beloved," and who was within in the temple, should have placed the statues of those who are not gods. "Shall prayers and holy flesh take away from thee thy wickedness; or shall thou escape through these?" The prophetic word clearly teaches us, and says, that the Master seeks good action. For this, the divine David [also] cries out: "Sacrifice and offering thou didst not desire; a body hast thou prepared for me." And again, "If thou hadst desired sacrifice, I would have given it; burnt offerings shalt thou not delight in. A sacrifice to God is a broken spirit; a broken and humbled heart God will not despise." And since He called her "beloved," he relates another of her titles again. ^C

VERS. 16. "An olive tree, fair, shady with beauty, [the Lord] called thy name." This title He bestowed, exhorting them to bring forth fruits. In the same way, He often called [Israel] a vine. "With the voice of my pruning, ^D fire was kindled upon it." Because He called her an olive tree, He mentions also the cleansing: for He calls the pruning a cleansing. So also the Lord says in the holy Gospels: "Every branch in me that does not bear fruit is cut off, and is cast into the fire." Great is the affliction on those [...] [original-script column: see facsimile]

^A who do not desire to bring forth good fruits. And teaching that it is not the Babylonian who is strong, but that He himself is the one bringing the punishment upon her, he added these things:

VERS. 17. And the Lord God of hosts, who planted you, spoke concerning you things that are good, because of the house of Isreal and the house of Judah: because they did this for themselves, to provoke me to anger by sacrificing to Baal. He himself, he says, who planted, is the one who cuts off the branches; but you, because of these causes, have brought forth destructive shoots. In what follows, however, the prophet teaches what kind of things they are to commit against him, and against Christ the Lord. For in him those things are also ^B foreshadowed.

VERS. 18. O Lord, make known to me, and I shall know. This prayer itself testifies that she is not only reporting those things which had been committed against him; otherwise she would have needed no revelation to perceive the things that were then happening — for they were happening to him — but the revelation shows him things to come. "Then I saw their deeds."

VERS. 19. But I, as an innocent lamb that is led to the slaughter, did not know. This "I did not know" fits the prophet, as one who did not expect such griefs, and did not pay close heed to the Lord’s promises, but when he had heard: "I have placed you today as a fortified city, and as an iron column, and as a brazen wall, I thought that I would in no way be tempted." ^C But the divine Word promised this, yet you will conquer the adversities. "They will fight against you, he says, and they will not prevail against you: for I am with you, to deliver you, says the Lord." But the statement fits Christ the Lord according to another meaning. For the Word is most suitable. For as the lamb, he says, led to the slaughter, does not know what it will suffer: and, undergoing the passion, follows those who lead it. "For they devised a scheme against me, saying: Come, let us cast wood into his bread, and let us wipe him out from the land of the living, and let his name be remembered no more." This does not fit the prophet at all. For how could it be that wood would be cast into the bread? But it fits Christ the Lord most especially. For he called his own body bread: "For the bread, he says, which I will give, is my flesh, which I will give for the life of the world." They fastened him to the wood, thinking ^D that they were extinguishing his memory. Then the prophet

VERS. 20. But you, O Lord of hosts, who judge justly, and test the reins and hearts, let me see your vengeance upon them: for to you I have revealed my cause.

^A By "reins," as we have often said, he refers to thoughts, since the appetitive power, located in the reins, frequently excites the mind. God did not, however, permit the prophet to be tempted by grievous things without cause, but since he had often attempted to intercede on behalf of those acting wickedly, wishing to persuade Him not to regard Himself as humane while considering the treasury of His goodness cruel, He allowed this assault to occur. Stricken with great sorrow, the prophet beseeches God to judge justly and to exact punishment from the unholy. The Master accepts the supplication, gives an answer, and threatens punishment, saying that some will be slaughtered in war and others will perish by famine.

CHAPTER XII

1. "You are righteous, O Lord, that I may plead with you; yet I will speak matters of judgment with you." I know perfectly well, he says, the justice of your decree; yet I do not consider it absurd to bring a question before you. "Why does the way of the wicked prosper, and why do all those who deal cruelly in transgression thrive?" ^C

2. "You planted them, and they took root; they brought forth children and bore fruit." By these words he described their prosperity, whereas by what follows he indicated their impious intent toward God: "You are near to their mouth, and far from their reins." By mere words, he says, they call upon you, for they have cast the memory of you out of their thoughts.

3. "But you, O Lord, know me; you have seen me, and have tested my heart." For you do not know only what is visible, but even my hidden thoughts. "Gather them as sheep for the slaughter, and purify them for the day of their slaughter." He says "purify" instead of "set apart," for he who wishes to be purified sets himself apart; therefore, the Syrian ^D has also placed "prepare" instead of "purify."

4. "How long will the land mourn, and all the grass of the field wither, because of the wickedness of those who dwell in the land? Both beasts and birds have perished, because they said, 'God will not see our ways.'" On account of their iniquity, the land has remained desolate, O Lord, for they suppose that you do not watch nor behold the things they dare to commit.

But again the prophet, observing the prosperity of those who live in wickedness, beseeches that he might be taught the cause of this. 1. You are righteous, O Lord, that I may plead with you; yet I will speak judgments to you. He says: I know exactly the justice of your decree; but I do not think it is inappropriate for me to offer a question to you. "Why does the way of the wicked prosper, and all those who act unfaithfully live in ease?" 2. You have planted them, and they have taken root; they have borne children, and they have brought forth fruit. By these things he indicated their prosperity; but he indicated their godless intent by the things which follow, signifying: "You are near to their mouth, and far from their reins." You are in their words only, he says, that they offer you their acknowledgment; for they have cast out your memory from their thoughts. 3. And you, O Lord, know me, you have seen me, you have tested my heart. For you know not only the things that are visible, but also the thoughts that are hidden within me. "Gather them as sheep for the slaughter, and consecrate them for the day of their slaughter." He says "consecrate" instead of "set apart." For he who wishes to be consecrated sets himself apart; and for this reason the Syrian has placed "prepare" instead of "consecrate."

4. And fear shall fall upon all the Egyptians, as Tanis is set on fire, and Diospolis undergoes utter destruction, and the most powerful city of the Saitai encounters the most grievous calamities, and, in a word, the enemies, like fire, consume the whole of Egypt, to such an extent that even Syene, situated in its innermost parts, is seized by the resulting turmoil. And he well indicated the suddenness of the incursion, saying: "There will be wars in Memphis on the same day," for as soon as the report is brought, the conflict will occur. And the phrase, "In Diospolis there will be a breach, and waters will be dispersed," hinted at the demolition of the walls and the entrance of the enemies, who were like waters flowing in and spreading into all her streets and houses. To these he added 17: That the youths of Heliopolis and Bubastus will fall by the sword. It is clear that they were proud of these, as being heroes and mighty men; but he says, "The women will walk into captivity." Then he adds 18: And the day will darken in Taphnis. Signifying the darkness that comes from calamities. He indicated this same thing again, saying, "And a cloud will cover it." For those who encounter evils do not see the light in the same way, but consider the day more gloomy than all darkness. Then he declared the purpose of the things that are happening. 19. And I will execute judgments in Egypt, and the Egyptians shall know that I am the Lord. For all these things, he says, I will permit to happen, so that the Egyptians may also learn not to be proud of themselves, but to know my sovereignty. 20. And it came to pass in the eleventh year, in the first month, on the seventh of the month, the word of the Lord came to me, saying. This type of writing is also found in Jeremiah the prophet; for he also sets out the times sporadically, and after having placed first the things that happened under Zedekiah, who was the last to reign, he relates again the things concerning Jehoiakim, who governed the kingdom before him. The reason for this is that they were not simply writing history, but prophecies which occurred at certain times. He made mention of this time now necessarily and very reasonably. For since he had threatened such a cloud of calamities upon Egypt in the twenty-seventh year, he teaches us the justice of the punishment. For in the eleventh year, he says, the Lord said to me: 21. Son of man, I have broken the arms of Pharaoh, king of Egypt; and behold, it has not been bound up to give him health, to apply a poultice, to be bound, and to have strength.

^A How will you act in the pride of the Jordan? The Syrian translates it thus: "How will you pass through the Jordan when it is overflowing?" He calls the multitude of the enemy's army the overflowing river, metaphorically. He puts them in mind also of what happened in the time of Joshua, for: *When I was caring for you, you crossed that river when it was overflowing.* 2. For even the house of your father, and these have dealt treacherously with you, and they themselves have cried out after you; and these very ones have assembled against you. For many, as is likely, even from the ten tribes which had already been made captive, were serving in the enemy's army. *Do not believe, because they speak good words to you.* Such was the Rabshakeh, using the Hebrew tongue and blaspheming against God. Having spoken these things in the meantime, the prophet resumes his prophecy concerning the Lord and foretells the utter destruction of the Jews, and says from the person of God: ^B 7. I have forsaken my house; I have left my inheritance; I have given my beloved soul into the hands of her enemies. He shows His own goodness and, convicting their wickedness, He teaches; He brought to light the arrogance of his [the enemy's] thoughts; for it is his voice: "I will ascend above the clouds, I will set my throne above the stars of heaven." This can be learned from the divine Scripture from every side. For Sennacherib shouted: "The Lord will not surely deliver Jerusalem from my hand"; and Nebuchadnezzar, having made a golden image, commanded all his subjects—both rulers and the ruled—to worship it. Here, therefore, He has also declared his proud mind through riddles. To these He adds: 4. Water nourished it, the abyss exalted it; its rivers it led in a circuit of its plants, and its assemblies it sent forth to all the trees of the field. By "water" and "abyss," He denoted the infinite nations enslaved by him, which provided tribute and taxes, just like some irrigation to the army; ^C like some trees he nourished it, and caused its assemblies, that is, the military ranks, to be sent forth to all the trees of the field, instead of, to those not yet caught or enslaved, so that these too might become subjects. 5. Therefore its magnitude was exalted above all the trees of the field, and from thence its branches were spread, and its offshoots were exalted from much water, when it extended itself. This, he says, was the cause to him of both arrogance and pride; for receiving irrigation from myriad nations, it grew with its offshoots. 6. In its offshoots, he says, all the birds of the heaven nested. Through this he indicated those who were more rational among men, and as it were winged. And under its branches all the beasts of the field were born. By these he signaled the barbarian nations, being beast-like and lowly of soul; this he also interpreted himself, saying, "In its shadow all the multitude of nations dwelt." And what he said above separately and metaphorically, this he added here commonly and clearly. ^D And its shadow, and offshoots, and branches, he called not only prefects and generals, but also the satraps ruling over the nations, to whom the subject peoples continued to be in servitude. These things Nebuchadnezzar himself also saw in a dream, and the blessed Daniel interpreted the dream of the tree. 7. And there was, he says, beauty in its height on account of the multitude of its branches. But the blessed Daniel also teaches us of that multitude.

^A “Go, gather together against her all the beasts of the field, and let them come to eat her.” For the Romans, having received the power over the world, and having gathered together the army from various nations, slaughtered some and led others away captive. He says that the teachers of the Law were responsible for the impiety; for he adds: 10, 11. “Many shepherds have destroyed my vineyard; they have defiled my portion; they have given my desirable portion into a desolate wilderness. It has become a destruction of ruin.” For the High Priests, and the Scribes, and the Pharisees, having deceived the people and crucified the Master, provided for the Jews those much-heralded evils. And he teaches this more clearly: “Because of me, the whole earth has been wasted with destruction.” By the whole earth, he means that of Israel; for because of what happened to him, at that time their land became a wilderness by the enemies; but now they are completely deprived of their celebrated metropolis. “Because there is no man who takes it to heart.” That is, they do not use pious reasoning. 12. “On all the outgoings of the desert they came, having suffered in the desert.” ^B He destroyed the kingdom of the Syrians and the Babylonians. “And he did,” he says, “his ruin according to his impiety.” For, he says, he suffered things worthy of what he had acted impiously. According to the history, therefore, these things happened to Nebuchadnezzar, who suffered from the disease of such cruelty, arrogance, and impiety. But if anyone would wish to look accurately, he will find also the common destroyer of men, the devil, who is hostile and inimical to God, indicated through these things; who, having been created rightly and well, and being made equal to the principal powers, and being more manifest than those who were inferior (for by the laws of allegory, he called the bodiless natures the paradise of delights and the trees in it), raged against his Maker, who had given him such beauty and power at once; and having meditated tyranny, and having dreamt that he would be God, he fell. The blessed Paul also hints at this, saying: “Not a novice, lest being puffed up he fall into the judgment of the devil.” For, not knowing how to use the honor as he ought, he will suffer things similar to those which the devil suffered, who made the honor given to him an occasion for arrogance and pride. He says that this one ^C “will be delivered to the prince of the nations.” And who is this prince of the nations, if not the only-begotten Word of God, Christ the Master? To whom the prophet says: “Who shall not fear thee, O King of the nations?” And the blessed Jacob: “The ruler shall not fail from Judah, nor the leader from his loins, until he comes for whom it is laid up, and he is the expectation of the nations.” Isaiah also exclaims these things: “For it shall be,” he says, “the root of Jesse, and he who arises to be a prince of the nations; in him shall the nations hope.” And the Father to him: “I have given thee for a covenant of a race, for a light of the nations, that thou mayest be for salvation unto the end of the earth.” And the same prophet says again to him: “Egypt has labored, and the merchandise of the Ethiopians and the Sabaim, men of height, shall come up to thee, and they shall be thy servants; they shall follow behind thee bound in manacles, and they shall pray to thee, because God is in thee, and there is no God except thee,” and the things that follow. And he himself also, through the blessed David, says: “A people whom I have not known have served me.” And it is possible to find countless other testimonies teaching this same thing. Therefore, he asserts that the common destroyer and enemy has been delivered to him, and that by him his ruin has come according to his impiety. To these he adds: “And I cast him out. 12. And alien pestilences from the nations have exterminated him, and cast him upon the mountains.” ^D For when the Lord had conquered him, and cast him out of principality and tyranny, those who were formerly pestilent and alien from God among the nations, and believed the divine proclamation, they completely exterminated him.

Thus says the Lord concerning all the wicked neighbors, the shepherds who lay hands on my inheritance, which I portioned out to my people Israel. The Edomites, and the Moabites, and the Ammonites, and the Philistines were always hostile and ill-disposed towards the Jews; they rejoiced, therefore, when they saw the calamities brought upon them; for this reason, he foretells to them the future restoration of the Jews. By "shepherds," he calls their rulers. "Behold, I will pull them out of their land, and I will cast out the house of Judah from the midst of them." (15) "And it shall be, after I have cast them out, I will return and have mercy on them, and I will dwell them, each one in his inheritance, and each one in his land." By these words, having predicted the return that took place under Cyrus and Darius, he also foretells the events to come after this.

16-17. "And it shall be, if they learn to learn my way to my people, to swear by my name, 'The Lord lives,' as they taught my people to swear by Baal, then they shall be built in the midst of my people. But if they do not return, I will destroy that nation with destruction and perdition," says the Lord. ^A

15. "Thus says Adonai the Lord: In the day when he was brought down ^B into Hades, the abyss mourned him; I covered and set the rivers of his abyss ^C, and a multitude of water hindered me." By the abyss, he calls the subject nations who used to serve in the military with him, and were grieving not for his slaughter, but for their own defeat and destruction. That they were not mourning him, he sufficiently declared by saying: "A multitude of water hindered me," that is to say: "It will no longer endure to send the tributes to you." "Lebanon was darkened over him, and all the trees of the field were weakened over him." By Lebanon, he does not call the mountain, but the denseness of the kingdom, and by "trees of the field," the princes who were under him, as subordinates and, as it were, planted in a field. He means the satraps, who are subject to the prefects and generals; but by those planted in Lebanon, the greater princes. Just as, therefore, we do not understand the literal Lebanon as Lebanon, or the field as a field, or the trees as trees here, so neither do we understand the "paradise of delights," the one called the paradise of God, but, in the case of Nebuchadnezzar, the kingdoms of the inhabited world, and in the case of the devil, the intelligible and incorporeal powers. ^D

16. "At the sound of his fall, he says, the nations were shaken, when I brought him down to Hades with them that descend into the pit." This happened for both. For when the king of the Babylonians was killed, the fame running about everywhere disturbed the subject nations; and when the devil was overthrown, the nations were shaken, and they moved from their former deceit to the truth of the saving doctrines. For the blessed Paul calls this transformation a shaking. "And they were comforting him," he says, "in the lowest earth, all the trees of delight, and the chosen, and the most beautiful of Lebanon, all those that drink water." (17) "For indeed they also descended with him into Hades, with those wounded by the sword." By "lowest earth," and "pit," and "ditch," when speaking of Nebuchadnezzar, he designates death; when of the devil, extreme dejection. He says, therefore, that those who shared in his power will also share in his destruction; for when a kingdom is overturned, it is necessary that the powers subject to it must also receive the revolution; and the phrase "they will comfort him" is spoken from the things that happen among us; for the communion of calamities is wont to provide some comfort to those who are despondent. And not only, he says, will those princes chosen by him be overturned, but also...

with salted mind he has dwelt therein. ^A And Isaiah says that God will lead the holy sword against the dragon that is in the sea; he says that he also attempted to become like a lion; but we have learned that the Lord is the lion reigning over the nations. "For crouching, he says, he rested as a lion, and as a lion's whelp; who will rouse him?" He says therefore: Because you attempted to become like the lion of the nations, in like manner to the dragon that is in the sea, and you assumed a proud mind against the God of all, trusting in the river and its canals, as if you had no need of clouds, nor rain, nor of the providence and care from above, but using your feet, and stirring the water, and leading it by channels for irrigation; for this reason, he says—

VERS. 3. "I will cast my net over you in the assembly of many peoples, and I will draw you up by my hook." Appropriately and very fitly he mentioned the hook and the net in relation to the river; and he interpreted these things by saying, "In the assembly of many peoples." For as if by a certain net, the army of the enemy, and as if by a certain hook, my will, I will hunt you and catch you, after the manner of a fish.

VERS. 4-6. "I will stretch you out," he says, "upon the earth, and the plains will be filled with you, and I will make all the birds of the air to sit upon you, and I will fill from the midst of you all the beasts of the earth. And I will give your flesh upon the mountains, and I will fill the fields with your blood. And the earth will be watered by your outflows upon the mountains, and I will fill the ravines from you." When, he says, you are hunted by the enemies and killed, you will remain unburied, and you will fill the stomachs of the beasts and the birds; but the streams of blood and the humors of decay—for these he called outflows—will fill both the plains and the mountains. ^B

VERS. 7, 8. "And I will cover the heaven when you have been quenched, and I will darken its stars; I will cover the sun with a cloud, and the moon will not show her light. All the lights in heaven I will darken over you, and I will give darkness upon your land," says Adonai the Lord. He does not say that these things happened by nature, but according to the disposition of those who were afflicted; for those who are in calamities perceive the day to be darker than the night, and teaching this he said, "And I will give darkness upon your land, not upon all the earth." But if anyone says that darkness truly occurred in Egypt at the time of the war, while God was showing that He used the Babylonians for the punishment of the Egyptians, he will not deviate from a pious mindset. ^C

^A And he also recounts the multitude of her sins, intemperance, and temerity, and the worship of idols; for he calls this "alienation of fornication." Whence he added: "On the hills, and in the fields, I have seen your abominations." Then, lamenting: "Woe to you, Jerusalem, because you have not been cleansed after me! Until when yet?" For, having dared many transgressions, you did not want to make use of repentance; but I will no longer be long-suffering, but I will bring upon you the punishment. It would be better, indeed, to live according to the divine laws; but since it is to be expected that you are human and will stumble, it behooves you to use the medicines of repentance, and through these to propitiate the Judge, and to escape the trial of the punishments with which He has threatened. Which may we ourselves never experience, by the grace and philanthropy of our Lord Jesus Christ, with whom to the Father be glory and power, together with the all-holy Spirit, now and always, and to the ages of the ages. Amen.

VOLUME IV

BOOK FOUR

CHAPTER XIV

^C VERSES 1. And the word of the Lord came to Jeremiah concerning the drought. He inflicts manifold chastisements upon them, so that he might interrupt the course of their wickedness. The prophet narrates the outcries and the lamentations which occurred because of the scarcity of rain. For he says that the springs, and the wells, and the reservoirs of water collected from the rains have failed; and there followed, too, ^D the barrenness of the earth, and the cattle—not only the tame, but the wild ones as well—partook of the suffering.

VERSES 5, 6. For the hinds, he says, calved in the field, and abandoned their young, because there was no grass. The wild asses stood upon the cliffs, and drew in the wind like a dragon. Indeed, people who are thirsty also do this, cooling their heat with the breezes of the winds. Then the prophet offers a prayer, and remembers the common sins, and by this means renders God propitious. "For to you," he says, "we have sinned."

VERSE 8. Patience of Israel, you who save in a time of evil. For from you we all wait for mercy.

'Why hast thou become as a stranger in the land, and as a native turning aside into an inn?' ^A For 'as a native,' the Syrian interpreted as 'as a traveler.' Why, he says, dost thou overlook us and seem like a stranger who despises the dwellings as if they were alien, in which he dwells, and like a traveler passing by, and not caring for the things along the way?

Vers. 9. 'Wilt thou be as a sleeping man, and as a man who cannot save?' He who sleeps does not hear those who pray, and he who is bound by infirmity cannot assist. As if he were saying: 'Do not delay mercy; for thou canst, and art awake, and art everywhere, and standest by all.' For he added this: 'And thou art in us, O Lord, and thy name has been invoked upon us; do not forget us.' And he also sets forth the answer given by God:

Vers. 10. 'They loved to move their feet, and did not spare.' Namely, into the way of wickedness. For this is what the things that follow teach. ^B 'And God did not have pleasure in them.' He also says that he will make a memorial of their iniquities, and will exact punishments for those things which they wickedly committed. But he also commands the prophet not to offer prayers for them, and asserts that he will neither heed their fasts nor accept the sacrifices offered by them, but will deliver them to famine, pestilence, and slaughter. Having heard these things, the prophet brings forward the predictions of the false prophets, and says that they foretell the opposite, and promise them peace and an abundance of good things. ^C But again the Master says to the prophet that they foretell falsehoods, not serving divine words, nor having become instruments of grace, but speaking that which they choose. 'For I did not command them,' he says, 'and I did not speak to them, because they prophesy to you false visions, and divinations, and auguries, and the choices of their heart.' He calls dreams 'visions,' and bird-watching 'auguries'; 'divinations' are those that come from the operations of demons, and 'choices of a heart' is the deception that proceeds from one's own thoughts. ^D Then he threatens these same men both with death from sickness and slaughter in war. 'For they shall die,' he says, 'by a morbid death, and shall perish by the sword and famine.' And along with them, also those who have followed their words. Nor shall they be counted worthy even of burial, since all alike will be overwhelmed by the same evils. But again, the lover of mankind, having foretold the gloomy things, advises them to use the medicines of repentance. 'For ye shall bring down,' he says, 'tears from your eyes day and night,' because of the magnitude of the evils about to be brought upon you. And the prophet narrates the tragedy of the events that have come to pass.

^A Ver. 18. "If I go out into the field, then behold those slain with the sword; and if I enter into the city, then behold those afflicted with famine." He adds to these also the distresses of captivity: "For the prophet and the priest have gone away into a land which they did not know." And the blessed prophet Daniel, and the divine Ezekiel, both priest and prophet, and many other priests besides these, were partakers of the calamities. For God, looking out for those profane people, sent with them prophets, as if they were tutors and teachers, so that they might not entirely decline into impiety. Having narrated these things, the prophet turns his speech towards God: "Have you utterly rejected Judah, or has your soul departed from Zion?" That is, your providence. For he used the word "soul" in the human manner, for a clearer significance of the prophecy. He says, furthermore, that the wound which has been inflicted is incurable. Then he infers:

Ver. 20, 21. "We have acknowledged, O Lord, our sins and the iniquities of our fathers; for we have sinned against you. Cease for the sake of your name." As if to say: Cease being harsh toward us, and do not look upon us, but rather upon your name; for we are called your people. "Do not destroy the throne of your glory." Thus he named Jerusalem; and the Lord also in the holy Gospels, when prohibiting swearing, said: "Neither shall you swear by Jerusalem, because it is the throne of the great King," for there He used to manifest His own presence. He calls to mind also the covenant made with the fathers, and that there is no help from idols, but that He Himself provides the rain falling from above; for the creation is not without a governor. For he says this: "And the heaven will give its plenty. Are you not yourself, O Lord, and will we not wait for you? For you have made all these things."

CHAPTER XV

^B To these things the Master again replies, that "If Moses and Samuel stood before me, my soul is not towards them." By these words, however, He consoles the prophet. Do not think, He says, that I do not accept the intercession because I despise you; for I would not have yielded even to those who were entreating me, who performed such great miracles. Yet He makes mention of these, both because they were more ancient, and because they had frequently interceded with Him on behalf of the people. For the great Moses, at the time of the casting of the calf, when God had said: "Leave me, so that in my anger I may destroy them," offered the most fervent prayers, and reconciled the Master to those who had sinned.

^A that my ways are all both straight and just, while theirs are perverse. Then he states the same thing more clearly by way of a question. ^B VERS. 18. "Hear, O house of Israel: is my way not straight? Are your ways not crooked?" Then he repeats what was said, and declares that the righteous man who chooses wickedness will be punished, and the sinner who returns to justice will attain salvation; but to you, he says, this did not seem just. Wherefore he added: VERS. 20. "And this is what you said: The way of the Lord is not straight." Then, declaratively: "I will judge you each according to your ways, O house of Israel." This is sufficient to persuade even those who are adamant to love a change for the better in their wickedness.

VERS. 21, 22. "And it came to pass in the twelfth year, in the tenth month, on the fifth of the month of our captivity, that he who had been saved came to me from Jerusalem, saying: The city has been captured. And the hand of the Lord was upon me in the evening, before he who was saved had come, and he opened my mouth, until he came to me in the morning, and my mouth being opened, it was no longer restrained." The Syrian says, "In the eleventh year and the twelfth month," ^C and this is more consistent, for it was in the eleventh year that the city was captured. He says, then, that at the time mentioned, someone came announcing the capture of Jerusalem; but the Master, having anticipated him from the evening, placed the prophetic word; when he appeared in the morning and brought the news, he no longer permitted me to hold back the prophetic words in silence, but commanded and prepared me to proffer them unceasingly; for the Master knows the time for silence and for speech better than anyone.

VERS. 23, 24. "And the word of the Lord came to me, saying: Son of man, those who dwell in these desolate places upon the land of Israel, speaking, say: Abraham was one, and he possessed the land, and we are many; to us the land is given for a possession." They suffer from an excess of insensibility; for after so many and such great punishments, they are still brazen, and seeing the desolation of Judea, they dare to say: If Abraham, being one, possessed this land, much more shall we, being many, be masters of it. They ought to have considered both the virtue of Abraham and their own wickedness, and not to have relied on their numbers, but to have sought out justice. ^D Whence the Master also brings this rebuke to them:

VERS. 25, 26. "Therefore say to them: Thus says Adonai the Lord: Since you eat upon the blood, and raise your eyes to your idols, and shed blood, and you would possess the land?"

and shall not do them. For lies are in their mouth." The heart, he says, does not agree with the tongue. "For their heart goes after their pollutions." For they hear the word for pleasure only, not for profit. Hence he aptly added, v. 32: "And you will be to them as the voice of a sweet-sounding, well-tuned psaltery." Just as those, he says, who hear an instrument producing a harmonious sound derive pleasure from it, but not the understanding of the notes; so also your words, O prophet, delight their ears only, but do not soothe the soul, which lives in wickedness. For he added this, ^A "And they shall hear your words, and shall not do them, because there is lying in their mouth." But now, he says, not believing, when they see the outcome, they shall believe through experience. v. 33: "For when they come, they shall say: Behold he comes, and they shall know that a prophet was in the midst of them." For those things which they now disbelieve, they shall believe by the facts themselves, and then they shall learn the prophetic power. From here he transfers the discourse to the shepherds; and he calls shepherds not only the kings, but also the priests, and he accuses them of impudence, and sloth, and the betrayal of the sheep.

CHAPTER XXXIV

^A For, he says, I will deliver my sheep from the evil supervision of these men, who never considered them worthy of any providence, but continued only to devour them. Then, through our Lord and Savior, he promises salvation.

VERS. 11, 12. "For thus says the Lord Adonai: Behold, I myself will seek out my sheep, and I will visit them. As a shepherd visits his flock in the day when there is darkness and cloud in the midst of his scattered sheep; so I will seek out my sheep, and I will rescue them from every place where they have been scattered in the day of cloud and darkness." He calls here the darkness and cloud the shadows of ignorance, which were spread over the inhabited world before the incarnation of our God and Savior. He says, therefore, meant is the like of a diligent shepherd who takes the greatest care of his own sheep when he sees an approaching fog, which provides security for wolves and thieves; I, too, will care for my own sheep, and I will gather them together, scattered as they were, and I will make the dispersed into a single fold. Such is the Church gathered from the Jews and from the Gentiles. ^B

Then he makes the prophecy twofold. For that which is seen fits the Jews alone; but that which is mystical and hidden fits all men, especially since the things that happened to the Jews are a type of our own affairs. For with their recall from exile, and their liberation from captivity, our return also from the devil to God, and our freedom from that tyrannical slavery, find their consistency.

VERS. 13, 14. "And I will lead them out from the nations, and I will gather them from the regions, and I will bring them into their own land, and I will shepherd them upon the mountains of Israel, and in the valleys, and in every habitation of the land. I will shepherd them in good pasture." And yet, the law is good, and the commandment, according to the Apostle, is holy, and just, and good; but he promises them a different sustenance, for they already had the legal pasture. What, then, is this good pasture that is beyond the legal one? Is it not manifest that he hints here at the teaching of the divine Gospels, in which the sheep of God, grazing, are nourished and fattened and attain salvation? Declaring this more clearly, he says: "On the high mountain of Israel shall be their splendor." ^C And yet, he made mention of many mountains and valleys; nevertheless, he specially commemorates a certain high mountain, in which he predicts the future splendor of those who graze. The blessed David also makes mention of this mountain, when he says: "The mountain of God is a fat mountain, a mountain full of marrow, a fat mountain." ^D Then, to the mountains of Israel that are envious of this very mountain, he says: "Why do you look with jealousy..."

^A Ver. 13. "I will cast you out of this land into a land which you knew not, neither you nor your fathers, and there you shall serve other gods day and night, who will not show you mercy." Since you love gods who are not, I will cast you out of your ancestral land and deliver you to the enemies, so that you may serve a delusion with them. Nevertheless, He promises the return as well, and says that at that time they will no longer praise God by recounting the former benefits, nor will they narrate the deliverance from the Egyptian servitude, but all will marvel at the return from Babylon.

Ver. 16. "Behold, I will send many fishers, says the Lord, and they shall fish them; and after this I will send many hunters, and they shall hunt them upon every mountain, and from the crannies of the rocks." By these words He has declared the inevitability of the punishment; that, ^B in the manner of fishers and hunters, the enemies will surround them all with nets, and will bring into their power even those who try to hide in the mountains.

Ver. 17. "For My eyes are upon all their ways; they are not hidden from My face, nor have their iniquities been concealed before My eyes." I see all things, nothing of what is done escapes Me.

Ver. 18. "And I will recompense them first for their double iniquities and their sins, by which they have defiled My land with the carcasses of their abominations." As a lover of mankind, He calls the punishment a "doubling" of their sins; for according to the rule of justice, they did not pay penalties worth their deeds. He calls the slaughter of the sons and daughters, which they offered to idols, "carcasses of their abominations." Having thus shown the impiety of the people, He prophesies the conversion of the Gentiles. ^C

Ver. 19. "O Lord, my strength, and my help, and my refuge in the day of evil, the nations shall come to Thee from the ends of the earth, and shall say, 'Truly our fathers acquired lying idols, and there is no profit in them.'" Those who were deemed worthy of such great care, and who had enjoyed the law and prophetic teaching, kept on acting impiously and breaking the law; but the nations, who had not enjoyed such providence, having only heard the apostolic preaching, avoided the delusion and came to the light of divine knowledge. And recalling the former proverb, I shout to You:

Vers. 20, 21. "Shall a man make gods for himself, and they are not gods? Therefore behold, I will show them at this time ^D My hand; and My power..."

—not yet realizing that they are by nature not gods, and becoming rational, and being entirely delivered from being beasts, while others are passing away by death. ^A "And they shall dwell in the desert confident, and shall sleep in the woods." Both are fruitless; but he says that they shall possess the desert of the nations and shall cultivate it, and in the wood of the Jews they shall have rest and healing. And previously, when he wished to show the sterility of Jerusalem: "Prophesy, son of man, against the wood of Negeb,"—he indicates, as we have already said, the south.

VERS. 26. "And I will give about My mountain a blessing, and I will send down the rain to you in its season, there shall be rains of blessing." For such are the teachings of the divine apostles, offering to the souls of those who believe an irrigation full of blessing. That the divine Scripture often calls teaching "rain," the prophet Isaiah is a witness, threatening the old vineyard on God's behalf, that "it shall not be pruned, nor shall it be dug; and I will command the clouds that they rain no rain upon it."

VERS. 27. "The trees in the field shall give their fruit, and the earth shall give its strength." For those who are earthly in soul, that is, those who have come forth from the nations, and the Jews, unfruitful like wild trees, approaching the faith and enjoying such irrigation, shall offer to Me the fruit of piety. "And they shall dwell in their land in hope of peace." And he did not say "in peace," but "in hope of peace"; for to those who have believed in Him, the Lord said: "In the world you have tribulation, but be of good cheer, I have overcome the world." And the divine Apostle also says: ^B "For by hope we were saved; but hope that is seen is not hope; for what one sees, why does he also hope for? But if we hope for what we do not see, we await it through patience." And again: "And not only that, but we ourselves also, having the first fruits of the spirit, groan within ourselves, awaiting adoption, the redemption of our body."

Then that which is the greatest gain of all: "And they shall know that I am the Lord, when I have broken the chains of their yoke, and I will deliver them out of the hand of those who reduced them to servitude." (VERS. 28.) "And they shall no longer be for a prey to the nations; and the beasts of the earth shall no longer eat them." I have already said that the prophecy is twofold; for one part pertains to the Jews themselves, and the other to all men; for He both liberated the Jews from the captivity of the Babylonians, and He delivered us all from the tyranny of the devil. But he called the "chains of the yoke" the necessity of servitude; and the nations and...

^A those things which were said by the divine John the Baptist to the Pharisees, that "God is able of these stones to raise up children unto Abraham." From which it is evident that all who believe, and see through faith, as far as it is possible to see, the God of all things, are called Israel; for this is what the name signifies. And this happened to them after the return; but to us the prophecy applies more properly and more truly, in that our state is not a figure, but the truth.

VERS. 31. *You are my sheep*, he says, *and the sheep of my pasture.* And showing that he is not speaking only to Israel, but to the entire human race, he necessarily added: "You are {men}, and I am the Lord your God, says Adonai the Lord." For you, having been delivered from your ferocity, have acquired a mindset befitting human nature; and I will be your God and Lord, providing you with every providence and care. The prophecy therefore has this meaning. But I, for my part, deem it nothing new that the Jews act foolishly as is their wont, but I marvel that some of our own people dare to refer all these things to Zerubbabel, and do not understand that most of what is said is directly contrary to what was done by him. For that: "I will establish with David a covenant of peace, and will rid the land of evil beasts, and they shall dwell in the desert with confidence, and shall sleep in the woods," and, "They shall dwell in hope, and there shall be none to terrify them, and I will raise up for them a plant of peace for a name, and they shall no more be perishing with famine in the land, and they shall no more bear the reproach of the nations," is entirely contrary to the history that is held concerning him. For he, upon returning from Babylon, and having begun to rebuild the holy temple of God, was prevented by the neighboring nations from bringing the work to an end. Wherefore, ^B when six and forty years had passed, both according to ancient history and according to the testimony of the Gospels, only the temple was rebuilt; and after another eighty-two years, the city recaptured its walls, which Nehemiah raised up in the thirty-second year of the reign of Artaxerxes. The writing of Ezra teaches us that such fear hung over the builders that they were forced to build while carrying arms, and at the same time to bring stones and to cast arrows against the enemies. How, therefore, do the words "There shall be none to terrify them," or "I will raise up for them a plant of peace," or "They shall not be few in number," fit such men? Ezra again teaches us that Nehemiah, with much labor, persuaded the priests to cease living in the fields and to inhabit the city. And it is easy for those who are studious of learning to set other things from history alongside, and to perceive the discrepancy. Therefore, some things apply to them, but the greater part to the salvation of the whole world. Having left, therefore, ^{C D}

the severity of the wrath, he shows ^A that he is without passion in the divine nature, and that such words are to be measured by the capacity of those who hear them. Having thus threatened punishment, he also brings forward the cause.

VERS. 5. *Eo quod fuerit in te inimicitia sempiternal, et sedisti in domo Israelis in dolo, in manu inimicorum, gladio in tempore tribulationis eorum, et in tempore injustitiae in extremo.* (Because there was in you an everlasting enmity, and you lay wait against the house of Israel in deceit, in the hand of the enemies, by the sword in the time of their tribulation, and in the time of injustice at the end). He reproaches the Idumaeans, and attributes to them a memory of injuries, and argues for the plots which they had secretly carried out against Israel. For he indicated these things, saying: "You lay wait against the house of Israel in deceit, in the hand of the enemies, by the sword in the time of their tribulation"; that is, when enemies attacked them, you blocked their ways with ambushes and snares, so as not to allow them even the opportunity of fleeing. For so have others also interpreted: "And you shut up," he says, "the sons of Israel into the hand of the sword, in the time of their tribulation, in the time of iniquity before me." For, he says, the house of Israel, paying the penalties for the iniquity—or, according to the Septuagint, the injustice perpetrated against me—had an increase of calamities, your deceits, and the plots with the enemies. The prophetic word therefore teaches us not to trample upon those who are being punished on account of their sins, but to weep with those who weep, according to the apostolic admonition.

VERS. 6. *Propterea, Vivo ego, dicit Adonai Dominus, Vere in sanguinem peccasti, et sanguis persequetur te: sanguinem enim tuum odisti, sanguis tuus persequetur te.* (Therefore, I live, says Adonai the Lord, surely you have sinned against blood, and blood shall pursue you: for you have hated your own blood, and your blood shall pursue you). By "blood," however, he here denotes not war, but kindred. For since you have waged war against your own race, he says, ^B you will deservedly be warred upon by it, and I will stir up against you the kindred whom you hated as enemies. Now the kindred of the Idumaeans are the Jews: for they draw their lineage from two brothers; those indeed from Edom, who is also called Esau; those, however, from Jacob, who is also called Israel.

VERS. 7. *Faciam montem Seir desertum et desolatum.* (I will make Mount Seir a desert and desolate). Then he describes the manner of the desolation: "And I will destroy from it man and cattle, and the traveler and the returner." These things declare the superlatives of the desolation, that he will strip it not only of its inhabitants, but also of passersby; and he predicts by what manner he will destroy the residents.

VERS. 8, 9. *Et implebo vulneratis tuis colles tuos, et valles tuas, et in omnibus agris tuis: vulnerati enim gladio cadent in te. Et solitudinem sempiternam ponam te, et urbes tuae non habitabuntur amplius.* (And I will fill your hills, and your valleys, and in all your fields with your wounded; for they shall fall in you wounded by the sword. And I will make you an everlasting solitude, and your cities shall no longer be inhabited).

^A nor did it show only their enmity and resentment, but also their arrogance, and their madness and rage against God. And he has most profitably added, "You have multiplied words against me, which I have heard," teaching us that there is nothing of what is said or done by us that can escape his power of sight or hearing.

Vers. 14, 15. Thus says Adonai the Lord: In the rejoicing of all the earth I will make you a perpetual desert. As you rejoiced over the inheritance of the house of Israel, because it was destroyed, so will I do to you. You will be a desert, O Mount Seir, and all Edom will be consumed, and they shall know that I am the Lord their God. He threatened them with a punishment beyond consolation. For, he says, while all others are passing their time in peace and joy, I will surround you with calamities, so that you may not even have consolation from the empathy of those suffering evils; for Israel had this consolation, when Nebuchadnezzar came not only against them, but also against the Tyrians, and the Sidonians, and the Philistines, and the Egyptians. But yet, in addition to these, he promises a benefit through the punishment: "For they shall know," he says, "that I am the Lord their God." Discipline, therefore, is profitable, which, according to the prophet Isaiah, "opens our ears," and prepares one to recognize their own Master, who wounds and heals.

Chapter XXXVI. 1–3.

And you, son of man, prophesy over the mountains of Israel, Hear the word of the Lord. Thus says Adonai the Lord: Because the enemy has said against you, "Euge, everlasting solitudes have come to be ours as a possession"; therefore prophesy and say: Thus says Adonai the Lord: Because you have been in desolation for all the nations, and because you have been disgraced by all who are round about you, so that you have become a possession for all the remaining nations, and you have ascended into the talk of a tongue upon the lips, and into a reproach of the nations.

Having foretold the sad and gloomy things to the Edomites, he transfers the word to the mountains of Israel, and offers them a promise of good things, and exhorts them to be of good courage, as the things spoken by their enemies were false and vain. For, he says, the desolation will not remain for very long, but I will refute the reproaches of the nations that are neighbors to you, and I will suppress their boldness against you, and they will no longer recount your calamities, divulging your evils. To these he adds...

that, having been brought to their senses by the punishments of others, and conducting their lives according to the divine laws, we may have the Lawgiver propitious to us for the ages. Amen.

BOOK FIVE

VERS. 18. *And they said: Come, and let us devise a device against Jeremias.* For the law shall not perish from the priest, nor counsel from the wise, nor the word from the prophet. Three things testify to his greatness: the priesthood, the prophecy, and wisdom; and they know the power and the certainty of each gift. And when they should have obeyed what was said, not only do they contradict it, but they even plot his death. *Come indeed,* he says, *let us strike him with the tongue, and let us not listen to any of his words.* To such a degree did even the words of God themselves weary them. Furthermore, that expression, "let us strike him with the tongue," is used for "let us weave a calumny against him." [19-25] Perceiving these things, the prophet prays to God to be his judge, and calls to his remembrance the prayers which he had often offered on their behalf. Then, adopting the language of prayer, he predicts the death that will arise from hunger, the slaughter that will be committed by the enemies, and other things that occur in wars.

^{A B C} 503 ^D

CAPUT XIX.

[1-9] Having said these things, and others of a similar nature, he is ordered to take a clay urn and go out to the cemetery, with the priests and the elders of the people, and again to threaten the city with destruction, and to bring the worship of idols to their remembrance. He also predicted the future inconveniences of the siege and the scarcity of necessary things. [10] And after all these things, he is ordered to break the urn and to say:

VERS. 11. *Thus will I break this people, and this city, as a clay vessel is broken, which shall not be able to be restored anymore.* [12, 13] He also threatens the royal house with destruction, and the whole city with desolation: because not only in public, but even within their very houses, they offered libations and sacrifices to idols. Moreover, he says that those who are slain will be buried in the very place designated for the idols. *For they shall bury them in Topeth: because there will be no place where they can bury them.*

By this he indicated the multitude of the slain. And when the prophet returned, the Lord ordered him again to deliver the prophecy in the holy court to all, and to prophesy devastation to that city, and to all the cities and villages subject to it.

CAPUT XX.

^A[1] Now when Paschor, who happened to be the prince of the priests, heard this discourse, he not only mistreated the prophet, but also imprisoned him. [2] For, he says, Paschor struck the prophet Jeremiah and cast him into the dungeon. He speaks of a certain subterranean place; of such kind the temple built by Solomon possessed many. [3] The next day, when he had brought him out, he heard him saying again: *The Lord doth not call thy name Paschor, but a migrator in a circuit.* [4–6] He says that not only he, but also his kinsmen, are to be led into captivity, and after the captivity are to be slain. Moreover, he even threatens that he will hand over the whole population to King Nabuchodonosor. ^B Having therefore spoken these things at greater length, the prophet is troubled by the assaults that were continuously being made against him, and relying on the purity of his conscience, he uses freedom of speech toward the Lord, saying:

[7] *Thou hast deceived me, O Lord, and I am deceived: Thou hast been stronger than I, and Thou hast prevailed.* I was fleeing, he says, from the prophetic office, saying that I was younger, and far unequal to this ministry: and Thou didst promise that Thou wouldst make me stronger than those who fight against me, and wouldst show me to be like a wall of brass and a column of iron. ^C But now I have become a laughingstock. For this is what he says: *I have been made a laughingstock all the day: everyone mocks me.*

[8] *For at my bitter word I shall laugh, I shall call out devastation and misery, because the word of the Lord has become a reproach to me and a derision all the day.* The prophet is anguished, not because he was afflicted by calamity and blows, but because the divine oracles were being insulted.

[9] *And I said: I will not mention the name of the Lord, nor will I speak in His name.* This is: I will not prophesy, nor will I announce the prediction of God to those who do not believe. *And it was in my heart as a fire burning, and ^D glowing, and shut up in my bones, and I am utterly spent on every side, and I cannot bear it.* This very thing the divine Paul also endured at Athens, when he waited in silence: *His spirit was stirred within him*, he says, *as he saw the city wholly given to idolatry.*

^A This same thing happens also to the prophet; for the prophetic grace constrained him, though he wished not to speak. Then he describes how they did not merely afflict him and strike him, but also added another snare, attempting to entrap him and turn him away from God. For they say, *Let us all be friends of his, and observe his intent, whether he is deceived, and we shall prevail over him, and take our revenge upon him.* Who could sufficiently lament the wiles of a malignant mind? Yet the prophet does not trust in himself, but praises divine aid, and says:

VERS. 11. *The Lord is with me as a mighty warrior.* ^B He also teaches that victory is prepared by divine aid. *Therefore they persecuted [me], and were not able to prevail. They were put to shame greatly, because they could not understand their ignominies, which shall not be handed down to oblivion through the ages.* [12] Then he again asks God to be judge, and to exact from them the punishment worthy of their machinations. But being exhausted and overcome by excessive grief, and bearing this life with difficulty, he first praises the God of all, and then curses the day of his birth, or the day he might have been born.

VERS. 13. *Sing,* he says, *to the Lord: praise him, for he has rescued the soul of the poor from the hand of the malignant.* He puts forth praises, so that he may remove every pretext for blasphemy. Then he says:

VERS. 14, 15. *Cursed be the day wherein I was born: let not the day wherein my mother bore me be blessed. And cursed be the man who brought the news to my father, saying: A male child is born to you; and let him not be glad.* People are accustomed, when they are vehemently distressed, to take hold of those standing by, and to crush them with their hands: which happens also to the prophet, for when he was assailed by excessive grief, a thing I can scarce stand to live through, he cursed even him who had announced his birth. Nor is some specific person here designated, nor is it likely he would curse the one who brought him the news. [17, 18] He adds, *It would have been better for me to end my life in the maternal womb, and to come out dead, rather than to fall into these calamities of every kind.* ^C

507 CAPUT XXI.

VERS. 1. *The word of the Lord came to Jeremiah when king Zedekiah sent to him Pashhur the son ^D of—*

^A Melchiah, and Zephaniah the son of Maaseiah the priest. This is another Pashhur, namely the son of Melchiah; for the one who was reproved was the son of Immer. It must be known, moreover, that the prophecies are not set down in order. For this prophecy ^B covers events that happened while Zedekiah was reigning; but shortly afterwards, those which happened in the times of Jehoiakim and Jeconiah occur, who reigned before Zedekiah. But Zedekiah, being besieged by Nebuchadnezzar, urges the prophet to ask for help from God. And the prophet is ordered to utter these things:

VERS. 4, 5. *Thus saith the Lord God of Israel: Behold, I will turn back the weapons of war that are in your hands, with which you fight ^C against the king of Babylon, and the Chaldeans, who have hemmed you in from outside the wall. And I will gather them into the midst of this city. And I will fight against you with an outstretched hand, and with a strong arm, even in great anger and with great indignation.* It is useless, he says, for you to have weapons, myself commanding the enemies, and with them in array against you. Then he says that he will deliver ^D all to famine and death and captivity, and together with them will take King Zedekiah himself, his attendants, and his men-at-arms; for some will be killed, and others will be led into captivity. But to the people he commands that these things be proclaimed.

VERS. 8. *Behold, I have set before you the way of life, and the way of death.* Then he teaches that he who remains in the city, and resists the enemies, is going to enter the way of death; but he who of his own accord goes out to them will possess life. For he has passed sentence against the city, that it itself is to be delivered to the fire of the enemies. These things, having threatened, he exhorts the king and the princes to care for what is just, and to pass judgment for the just, and to defend those who suffer unjustly, and in this manner to hinder the impending punishment.

VERS. 13. *Behold, I am against thee, O dweller in the valley, O plain, saith the Lord.* Instead of this, "seated in a hollow place." For so also the Syrian interpreted it. He wishes to speak of Jerusalem, which has this location. For "valley" is interpreted as constraint, or rock. But the city is constrained by mountains. *Saying: Who will strike ^A us? Or who will come into our habitation?* He declares their boldness, and their vain confidence. *[14] Then he threatens that he will burn up her forest with fire.* He calls "forest" the multitude of houses and inhabitants.

Commentary on the prophecy of Jeremiah

^A and we see the outcome of the prophecy. For the New Testament having been given according to the divine promise, there came also the priesthood according to the order of Melchizedek, and those who have been deemed worthy of this continually offer the rational sacrifice to God. [20, 21] After this he says: as it is impossible for day to become night, and night to become day, so it is not possible for the Davidic kingdom to be destroyed. And of this prophecy the end is manifest; for Christ, who came from David according to the flesh, does not possess the throne below; but, sitting in the same throne with the Father, he governs all things. [22] And indeed, he says this same thing concerning the priests and the Levites, that their race will be compared with the power of heaven and the sand of the sea. And facts themselves bear witness to what is said. For the whole earth and sea are full of high priests, and of ministers performing the Levitical service. [23-26] And having spoken of what was said by the impious, that he had utterly cast away the two tribes, the royal and the priestly, which he had chosen, he promised again what he had already foretold.

CHAPTER XXXIV (Greek XLI)

[15] *For you turned,* he says, *to do what is right in my eyes, to call for the release of each one to his neighbor; and you established a covenant before my face in the house where my name was called upon it.* For within, it is in the sanctuary to me.

And I will make you clean by forgiveness, and I will provide construction for the cities and plantations for the earth, and I will cause that which was previously a wilderness, which all who passed by beheld, to be inhabited.

VERS. 35. And they shall say: That land was desolate and has become like a paradise of delight, and the cities were desolate, and laid waste, and torn down, and dwelt behind fortified walls. For just as, he says, everyone formerly carried your desolation on their lips, so now you shall be widely spoken of and will provide wonder to all, with your desert land likened to the paradise of delight, and the cities which had been uninhabited and overturned being walled in by strong ramparts.

VERS. 36. And the nations that remain around you shall know that I, the Lord, have built up the desolate places and have planted those that were laid waste: I, the Lord, have spoken, and I will do it. The neighboring nations shall learn that it is I who have provided both the sorrowful things before and now the joyful ones, and the authority of Him who spoke will confirm what has been said: "I, the Lord, have spoken, and I will do it." For being Lord, and being able to do it, I will bring to an end those things which I have said.

VERS. 37. Thus says Adonai the Lord: I will yet be sought by the house of Israel to do this for them. For "will be sought," Symmachus said "will be found." In addition to the former benefits, he says, I will add this, and I will deem them worthy of recall. "And I will multiply them like holy sheep." For since I have set them apart under my own guardianship after the manner of sheep, I will share with them the care of a shepherd.

VERS. 38. As the sheep of Jerusalem in her feasts, so shall the desolate cities be full of sheep and men, and they shall know that I am the Lord. For just as, he says, before the siege that took place, Jerusalem was filled with sheep during their greatest public celebrations, so I will fill all their cities with men, and with sheep, and with other good things, and by the very facts they shall learn that I am the Lord and God, killing and making alive, striking and healing. Knowing, therefore, both the goodness and the power of our Master, let us love because of the former, and let us take fear because of the latter, so that by both loving and fearing, we may become keepers of His commandments and attain the promised good things, in Christ Jesus our Lord, with whom be glory to the Father, together with the Holy Spirit, unto the ages of ages. Amen.

He uses the vision of resurrection, and through the prophet's tongue he commands those lifeless and, in a word, dead bones to produce flesh, and nerves, and skin, and to receive a vital spirit. And these things came to pass not only as a type of the recall of the Jews, but also as a type of the resurrection of all. “For the trumpet shall sound,” says the divine Apostle, “and the dead shall rise incorruptible.” ^A

VERS. 7. *And I prophesied as the Lord commanded me, and it came to pass as I prophesied, and behold a shaking, and the bones were brought together, bone to his bone, each to its own joint.* The prophet, indeed, serving the divine command, uttered the words which he was ordered to, but the deed followed the words; and the shaking revealed the divine manifestation, while the voice represented the activity of the angels ministering to the divine will. And the bones, he says, I saw rushing and taking hold of their own harmony, and receiving the composition which they had received from the beginning. ^B

VERS. 8. *And I beheld, and lo, nerves were coming upon them, and flesh was growing, and coming up upon them, and skin was spread over them from above, and there was no spirit in them.* The second re-creation follows the former creation; for just as the body of the first forefather, Adam, was fashioned first, and then the soul was breathed into him, so here also both joined together toward their own harmony. For it produced flesh and nerves, and they were covered with skin; but they lay breathless and motionless; yet they again attain both life and sensation through the divine will. ^C

VERS. 9. *And He said to me: Prophesy concerning the spirit, prophesy, son of man, and say to the spirit: Thus says Adonai the Lord: Come from the four winds, O spirit, and breathe into these dead, and let them live.* The discourse teaches us the ease of divine power, and that all things are in His hand. “For in His hand,” he says, “is the soul of every living thing.” Therefore, it is commanded to the prophet to bid the souls, wherever they might be, to return and re-inhabit their own bodies. ^D

VERS. 10. *And I prophesied as He commanded me, and the spirit entered into them, and they lived, and stood upon their feet, an exceeding great assembly.* After I had communicated the divine command, he says, the bound bodies were brought to life, and attained resurrection, and it was, he says, a very great assembly.

uses his gift of prophecy to command the dead bones to produce flesh and nerves, and to receive a vital spirit. And these things were a figure, not only of the restoration of the Jews to their pristine state, but also of the resurrection of all men. "For the trumpet shall sound," says the holy Apostle, "and the dead shall rise incorruptible." ^A

VERS. 7. "I prophesied as the Lord had commanded me, and there was a voice as I prophesied, and behold a shaking, and the bones came together, bone to his bone, each to his joint." The prophet, indeed, serving the divine command, uttered the words he was ordered to speak; but deeds followed his words: the shaking declared the approach of God, and the voice represented the function of the angels ministering to the divine will. "And I saw," he says, "the bones running and taking their proper joints, and regaining the composition they had received from the beginning."

VERS. 8. "And I beheld, and lo, nerves came upon them, and flesh sprang up, and grew over them, and skin was stretched over them from above, but there was no spirit in them." The second creation follows the first work. For just as the body of the first parent, Adam, was fashioned first, and then the soul was breathed into it, so here too did both come together into their proper structure. For it produced flesh and nerves, and they were covered with skin; but they lay there without spirit or motion, until they should again receive both life and sense through the divine will.

VERS. 9. "And He said to me: Prophesy concerning the spirit, prophesy, O son of man, and say to the spirit: Thus says Adonai the Lord: Come from the four winds, O spirit, and breathe into these dead, and let them live." This discourse teaches us how easy all things are to the divine power, and that all things are in His hand. "For in His hand," it says, "is the soul of every living thing." Therefore, He commands the prophet to order all souls, wherever they may be, to return and to reoccupy their former bodies. ^B

VERS. 10. "And I prophesied as He had commanded me, and the spirit entered into them, and they lived, and stood upon their feet, an exceeding great assembly." Having transmitted the divine command, he says, the joined bodies revived and attained a resurrection, and there was, he says, a very great ^C

^A in the hands of those, whose face you fear, in the hands of Nabuchodonosor, king of Babylon, and in the hands of the Chaldeans. Since they were boasting of the piety of their ancestors, bringing forward in their midst Abraham, and Isaac, and Israel, and David, and Ezechias, and Josias, men distinguished by virtue: for this reason God rejects the arrogance of Jechonias, saying: Even if he were the signet ring upon my right hand, I would pluck him out and deliver him to his enemies. Do not, therefore, trust in the virtue of your ancestors, while you do not emulate their virtue.

26. And I will cast you out, and your mother, who bore you, into a foreign land, where you were not born, and there you shall die. [27] He adds also that they will not return to the land which they desire: and he mentions the cause of the punishment. He says also: "This man is despised and rejected." He accuses his levity and his facility in holding wicked discourses.

28. And Jechonias is held in contempt, as a useless vessel. Therefore he has been cast out, he and his seed, and cast into a land which he did not know. Presently, as if those who listen were not participants in reason, he addresses the land devoid of soul.

29, 30. Earth, earth, earth, hear the word of the Lord. Thus says the Lord: Write this man, a man cast out, a man who shall not prosper in his days, because from his seed there shall not grow a man who might sit upon the throne of David, ruling in Juda. He shows the end of the Jewish kingdom, and the word is truthful; for neither was Zorobabel a king, but a leader ^C of the people and a general. And the Lord brought the lineage according to the flesh down from this man, not to the Davidic seats — but above all principality, and power, and dominion, and every name that is named, not only in this age, but also in the future. The prophecy therefore has no falsehood.

d Eph. i, 21.

CHAPTER XXIII

^A Hence he proceeds to accuse those shepherds, the kings themselves, as having been the authors of the dispersion of the sheep; and while he threatens destruction to them, he promises recall to the sheep.

VERS. 3. *I will gather*, he says, *the remnant of my people out of all the lands whither I have driven them*, into their own pastures; *and they shall increase and be multiplied*. He promises even greater blessings.

VERS. 4. *And I will set up shepherds over them, which shall feed them: and they shall fear no more, nor be dismayed, neither shall they be wanting, saith the Lord.* These things occurred typically in the times of Zerubbabel and Joshua the son of Josedech; but the whole prophecy was not fulfilled thus. For many rose up against them, not only their neighbors, but also the Macedonians afterwards, and finally the Romans. But the prediction promises a grace that is ^B perpetual and constant. Therefore it is evident that a part came to pass in their times, but a part in the times of the holy apostles. For they alone possessed the gift of the Holy Spirit. And the subsequent verses bear witness to this interpretation.

VERS. 5, 6. *Behold, the days come, saith the Lord, that I will raise unto David a righteous Branch, and a King shall reign and act wisely, and shall execute judgment and justice in the earth. In his days Judah shall be saved, and Israel shall dwell safely: and this is his name whereby the Lord shall call him, Josedec*—he himself among the prophets. The thunderstruck Jews impudently attempt to draw these things to Zerubbabel. But they ought to have considered that he was not a king, but a leader of the people, and he was not named Josedech. ^C Neither does the interpretation of the name suit him. For the name signifies: "The Lord our righteousness," or according to the interpretation of the Syrian, "O Lord, justify us." But neither of these suits Zerubbabel. But because he was a type of the Lord Christ, and he led the captives back from Babylon to Judaea, just as the Lord transferred those enslaved by the devil to the truth: if anyone wishes to adapt these things to him typically, he will commit no absurdity. However, it must be known that the Lord Jesus Christ, who descended from David according to the flesh, is preached by the prophets as "the righteous Branch," and "the righteous King," and "the Lord of righteousness." ^D From this point he turns his discourse against those who prophesied falsely, and calls them adulterers, as those who adulterate and corrupt the divine word. Whom he also calls the authors of the people's wickedness, and impious priests.

^A

and you will come like a storm and like a cloud to cover the land; and you will fall, you, and all who are with you, and many nations with you. Other things, he says, you expect; other things you will suffer; and while hoping for victory, you will be handed over to ruin. Then he also describes his thoughts.

VERS. 10-12. Thoughts, he says, will ascend into your heart, and you will devise evil thoughts, and will say: I will go up against an abandoned land. I will come to peaceful peoples, who live in peace, a land in which there is no wall, nor gates, nor bars to plunder spoils and take prey, to turn my hand against a land that was desolate, which has been inhabited, against a nation gathered together from many peoples, who have made a possession and substance for those living upon the navel of the earth.

These things also, all of them, teach us that this happened after the captivity, when the cities of Judea had neither walls, nor gates, nor bars, according to the prophecy; for which reason the aforementioned nations even dared to invade it with an army. For the Israelite people became illustrious after the return, having obtained their return through divine action; and just as the exodus from Egypt brought them great renown, so the return from Babylon made them bright and conspicuous; for which cause these nations dared to march against them with an army. ^B And let no one think that the prophecy is false, considering the interval between the Scythian nations and Judea. But let him remember that in our own times, too, this race overran the whole East, and departed after enslaving a vast multitude. He does not say that Phrygians and Galatians, Iberians, Persians, and Ethiopians campaigned with him as obedient vassals, but rather as having joined him in various ways—some having defected and volunteered to fight, others having been taken in war and compelled to fight alongside him. ^C

To these, the divine word adds a characterization from the viewpoint of the other nations. VERS. 13. For Saba, he says, and Dædan, the merchants of Tharsis, and all their villages, will say to you: Is it to plunder that you have come to plunder, to spoil spoils? Have you gathered your people to take silver and gold, to carry away possession and substance, to spoil great spoils? Saba, as I have already said, is an Ethiopian and Indian nation; Dædan is adjacent to Idumea; and there is also another Ethiopian one; and Tharsis is none other than Carthage. All these nations, he says, when they see you have invaded... ^D

[index: entries preserved]

^A His people's lawlessness, and were guided upon the straight path. He teaches them, however, that He is ignorant of nothing that is hidden.

Vers. 23, 24. For I am a God at hand, He says, and not a God afar off. Shall a man hide himself, and I shall not see him? says the Lord. Then He teaches about His being uncircumscribed. Do not I fill heaven and earth? says the Lord. If, then, I am present everywhere, how do men think that I am ignorant of any of the things that happen? He again intensifies His accusation against the false prophets, as men who recount dreams, and deceive the people, and dare to do things similar to the prophets of Baal. Then He commands that a comparison be made between the prophet and the false prophet.

Vers. 28. The prophet, He says, in whom is a dream, let him tell his dream; and he with whom is My word, let him tell My word in truth. And He teaches figuratively what the difference is. ^B What is the chaff to the wheat? says the Lord.

Vers. 29. Are not My words as a fire, says the Lord, and as a hammer that breaks the rock? He demonstrated the power of the divine word through parables. Then He teaches the difference regarding the false prophets: for some of them, He says, like certain thieves, steal some prophetic words, and pervert and corrupt them with distortions; others fashion false prophecy; others recount dreams which they have not seen, and by variously leading astray the thrice-wretched people, they cause them to persist in wickedness. Then He commands the prophet ^C vers. 33, 34. If this people, or priest, or prophet should ask, saying, What is the burden of the Lord? You shall say to them: You are the burden of the Lord, and I will cast you off, says the Lord. And the prophet, and the priest, and whosoever shall say, The burden of the Lord, I will punish that man, and his house. The impious used to call the prophets "takers" ^D and prophecy a "burden." God therefore exhorts them not to use this expression, and threatens punishment to those who do not obey. But He commands them to inquire thus: "What has the Lord answered? What has the Lord spoken?" and no longer to name the "burden of the Lord." But to those who are about to transgress the things commanded, He threatens, saying:

Vers. 39, 40. Behold, I will take you up with a burden, and I will cast you off, and the city which I gave to you and

to your fathers, from my face. And I will give you an everlasting reproach, and eternal disgrace, which shall never be forgotten. Now the Lord God commanded this, both to cut off the custom of the worship of demons, and to teach that the prophets are not insane, but are ministers of the divine oracles. Moreover, after the threat of captivity, He also promises a return: which He says will be so remarkable that, because of its excellence, the exodus from Egypt will be consigned to oblivion. But let us, I beseech you, follow both the prophetic and the apostolic words, and let us adore Him who spoke through them both, and let us observe His life-giving laws: that we may enjoy the promised goods, through the grace and mercy of our Lord Jesus Christ, with whom be glory to the Father, together with the all-holy Spirit, now and always, and for ages of ages. Amen. ^A

VOLUME III

BOOK SIX

CHAPTER XXIV

^A he is about to speak of happened in the time of king Joacim, who was the father of Jechoniah. He states the time clearly.

CHAPTER XXV

VERS. 1. *The word that came to Jeremiah concerning all the people of Judah in the fourth year of Joacim the son of Josiah king of Judah: this is the first year of Nabuchodonosor king of Babylon.* In this year Nabuchodonosor led an army against Jerusalem, reduced some to servitude, and returned after imposing tribute on others. He therefore states also what the things said were.

VERS. 3. *From the thirteenth year of Josiah the son of Amos king of Judah (and even to this day this is the twenty-third year), the word of the Lord came to me, and I spoke to you rising early, and you did not hear.* He makes mention of the multitude of years to demonstrate the long-suffering of God, who endured them for so long when they would not obey. For I sent, he says, my servants the prophets to you. I instruct you to abandon the destructive way and come to the other, which procures life. And I promised you good things if you did this, and you did not hear, but chose the worship of idols. ^B And reproving the purpose of their disobedience, he added: *That you might provoke me to anger with the works of your hands, to your own detriment.* For you were doing those things to provoke me; but you yourselves were long reaping the injury. [8, 9] Therefore, he says, together with Nabuchodonosor I will gather the kings who are subject to him against you, and against your neighbors, from whom you learned to serve idols; and I will deliver your land and theirs utterly into desolation; and I will deprive them of all joy. [10] For the things proper to this are: *the voice of the bridegroom, and the voice of the bride, the voice of the mill, and the light of a lamp.* [11-14] He defines the desolation, moreover, by a time of seventy years. For after seventy years, he says that he would exact penalties for the impiety and iniquity of both the king of Babylon and his subjects, and would fulfill the whole prophecy of Jeremiah. ^C [15] Wherefore he is immediately commanded to take the cup of unmixed wine from the hand of the Lord, and to make drink ^D

all the nations, “To which, he says, I shall send you.”

[16] “And they shall drink, and vomit, and be driven mad, from the face of the sword which I shall send into their midst.” He calls just retribution the cup of unmixed wine; so also the divine David said: “A cup in the hand of the Lord, of unmixed wine, full of a mixture.” ^B By “they shall drink and vomit,” he signifies satiation; by “they shall be driven mad,” he hints at the intensity of the punishment. Afterwards, the prophet relates how he gave [it] to Jerusalem and to the cities subject to her, along with [their] kings and princes; and he teaches what is signified by the cup: “To set them for a desert, and a place inaccessible, and for a hissing, and for a curse, current this day.” That is, at this time. And by calling it “inaccessible,” he signifies desolation; by “hissing,” he indicates the amazement of those who see [it]. For when we see changes for the worse, we are accustomed to hiss; following these is a curse, for some are accustomed to say, “May you suffer these things which such-and-a-one has suffered.” [19, 20] He adds also that he gave to drink to Pharaoh the king of the Egyptians and to his princes and all his subjects; and besides the natives, also to the foreigners: for he calls those [the latter] “mixed.” By these things he hints that even the Jews who have fled away will fall into the same evils. He says that he has made to drink also the kings of the Chaldeans, and all Arabia, and all the kings of the land of Uz; he has thus called Idumaea, and the same prophet teaches this more clearly in what follows. [21-23] For he says: “He has made [them] drink, and the kings of the foreigners, and the Moabites, and the Ammonites, and the Tyrians, and the Sidonians, and Dedan, and Tema,” which are cities of Arabia, as we have also shown in the interpretations of other prophets. “And Buz,” a Persian nation, “and all that are shaved around according to their face.” He speaks of the Saracens. ^C [24, 25] “And all the kings of Arabia, and all the kings of the mixed peoples, who dwell in the desert. And all the kings of Zambri.” In the Hebrew and in the Syrian we have found “Zembran,” and this was a son of Keturah; and these also inhabited the desert. “And all the kings of Elam.” And this is a Persian nation. “And all the kings of the Medes and Persians.”

[26] “And all the kings of the Subsolanus [the East],” both

those near and those far; ^A “and each against his brother.” That is, so that they may exact from each other the penalties for their impiety. “And all the kingdoms of the earth, which are upon the face of the earth; and King Sesach shall drink last of all.” I consider the King of Babylon to be thus named. For by him even those foretold drank; and after a little while he says that he too shall drink, being the last. For after the punishment brought upon others by his means, he himself paid the penalties. Then to those unwilling to drink he threatens that they shall drink even against their will.

VERS. 29. “For I will begin,” he says, “from the city upon which my name has been called; shall I start to afflict it, and you shall be purged with a purgation, and you shall not be purged?” I am handing over the city, he says, that has been set apart; and you, shall you escape the punishment? This cannot happen.

VERS. 30. “And you shall prophesy against them all these words, and you shall say to them: The Lord shall speak from on high, and from his holy place he shall give his voice.” He has declared both: that he produces the decree from heaven, and that he makes his manifestation in the ^B temple consecrated to him. “His word shall answer from his place, and he knows how those who tread the grapes shall answer against all those sitting upon the earth.” He calls the effect the answer, because the divine word is followed by the act.

VERS. 31. “Destruction comes upon a part of the earth; because the Lord has a judgment with the nations; he is judged himself with all flesh; but the ungodly are given to the sword, says the Lord.” Again, he shows his ineffable goodness. For he did not say, “He shall judge all flesh,” but, “He is judged with all flesh,” for he subjects his own benefits to their eyes, and rebukes the ingratitude of those who receive them. [32, 33] Afterwards he recounts in what follows the troubles of wars, and that the slain shall lie unburied, and shall be considered as dung upon the earth.

VERS. 34, 35. “Howl, you shepherds, and cry out, and lament, you rams of the flock, because your days have been fulfilled for slaughter, and your dispersions (shall come), and you shall fall like choice rams. And flight shall perish from the shepherds, and salvation from the rams of the flock.” He calls the kings “shepherds,” the subjects “sheep,” and the rams of the sheep “princes;” to all of whom he threatens ^D flight and removal. He also predicts the lamentations of the kings and the princes.

^A Ver. 37. “For,” he says, “the good things of peace have ceased from before the face of the anger of the fury of the Lord.” The good things of peace are agriculture, plantations, commerce, the practice of arts, the exchange of contracts, marriages, assemblies, festivals, pleasures of the soul, and whatever is similar to these.

CHAPTER XXVI (Greek XXXIII)

After this, he again puts forward another prophecy, which he was commanded to deliver to the people during the reign of Jehoiakim. He was commanded to stand in the holy court and proclaim to the people and translate all the divine words. “For,” he says, “do not withhold a word.” Then he teaches the cause of the future event.

^B Ver. 3. “Perhaps they will listen and each will turn from his evil way, and I will cease from the evils which I am planning to do to them because of their evil practices.” He said “perhaps,” not as one who does not know; for He knew their disobedience, but He used an ambiguous expression so that, by attending to the divine sentence, they would not despair of salvation. Not unlike this is what is said by Ezekiel: “If perhaps they listen, if perhaps they see.” For this word is not one of ignorance, but that they might not say, “He has predicted our incredulity, and since He cannot lie, how is it possible for us to be changed?” By these words, He teaches that they can, if they wish, undertake a change of their ways. For this reason, He also adds the threat: “For if you do not listen to my words, which I deliver to you through my prophets.”

^C Ver. 6. “I will make this house like Shiloh, and I will make this city a curse to all the nations of the earth.” Hearing these things, the priests and the false prophets and all the people threaten the prophet with death. But the princes, having heard, ran from the Palace to the divine temple. And since the priests, with the false prophets, were accusing the prophet of blasphemy, claiming he had uttered a prophecy against the city and the divine temple, the prophet said that he had been sent by the God of all, and that the words he offered were divine oracles. And he offers them exhortations:

^D Ver. 15. “Better, therefore,” he says, “make your ways and your works. Listen to the voice of the Lord your God, and the Lord will cease from the evils that He has spoken against you. But if you are disobedient and use your accustomed way of thinking:”

^A

VERS. 14. *Ecce ego sum in manibus vestris : facite mihi, prout expedit, et quod vobis melius videtur.* Then he places before their eyes the fruits of murder.

VERS. 15. *Verumtamen cognoscentes cognoscetis, quod, si me occideritis, sanguinem innocentem adducturi sitis contra vos, et contra civitatem istam.* For, he says, I spoke these words at the command of the Lord. Hearing these things, both the dignitaries and the people refute the unjust verdict of the priests and the false prophets, declaring the prophet innocent, as one who had served the divine words. ^B Then some of the elders remind them of an ancient prophecy, and say that Micah the Morasthite once prophesied that Sion would be plowed as a field, and Jerusalem would become a heap of stones, and the mountain of the house would be as a thicket of the forest; and that having said such things, he suffered no evil. On the contrary, those who heard, being terrified by the threat, escaped the wrath by a change of life; but you, he says, have dared absolutely atrocious things. For we stood by and allowed Uriah, son of Semaiah, who had once prophesied such things and, fearing King Joakim, had fled into Egypt, to be put to death by King Joakim; for having brought him from there, he struck him down with a sword. He also points out the one who used godly words, and says:

VERS. 24. *Verumtamen manus Achicami, filii Saphanis, erat cum Jeremia, ut non traderetur in manus populi, ne interficerent illum.* ^C

CHAPTER XXVII. (Gr. XXXIV.)

Having finished the narrative in this way, he passes to another, older than this one.

VERS. 1. *In principio regni Joacimi filii Josia, regis Juda, factum est verbum istud a Domino ad Jeremiam, dicens.* Then he narrates how he was commanded to place bonds upon his neck, and to send them to the neighboring kings, whose names he also lists. He was commanded to send these words also through envoys.

VERS. 5. *Ego feci terram et homines, et jumenta, quæcunque sunt super facie terræ, virtute mea magna, et brachio meo excelso. Et dabo eam cuicunque visum fuerit in oculis meis.* He included the words, “by my great power and by my outstretched arm,” because of the magnitude of the elements ^D and the weakness of those who hear; for otherwise, it suffices simply to will it, in order to bring forth whatever He wishes.

(Micah III, 12.)

^A Ver. 6. "And now I am. I have given this land into the hand of Nebuchadnezzar, king of Babylon, my servant; and the beasts of the field I have given to him, to work and to serve him." By "beasts of the field," He means the barbarian nations. "I am their Maker," He says, "and their Master; I govern as I wish."

Ver. 7. "And all the nations shall serve him, and his son, and his son's son, until the time of his land comes." He clearly teaches that just as He used the Babylonians as executioners, and through them exacted punishment from the other nations, He will ultimately deliver even them to utter destruction. Furthermore, He threatens those who contradict Him and push away this yoke with famine, slaughter, and enslavement. He cautions them not to trust in diviners, soothsayers, augurs, and dream-interpreters, but to yield and accept the yoke of the Babylonian; and to those who obey, He promises peace. He said these same things to King Zedekiah, and he warns him not to trust in the false prophets who promise peace and the restoration of the sacred vessels that had been carried off to Babylon. For these men speak falsely.

^B Ver. 18. "But if they are prophets, and the word of the Lord is in them, let them meet the Lord of hosts, that the vessels that were left in the house of the Lord, and in the house of the king of Judah, and in Jerusalem, may not go to Babylon." The phrase "let them meet the Lord" is used to mean "let them hinder," and overcome the divine predictions, and show the divine prophecies to be idle and vain. "For you shall see," He says, "all the sacred vessels that were left being carried off to Babylon, and after the seventy-year period, sent back from there and returned to My consecrated house." The third book of Kings [b] also makes mention of the *Mechōnōth* (bases); they fulfilled the function of craters (mixing-bowls), and they were cast from bronze.

CHAPTER XXVIII (Greek XXXV)

After these things he relates how, when Zedekiah was reigning, in the fourth year, the false prophet Ananias—with the people and the priests present—dared to say:

Vers. 2, 3, 4. "Thus saith the Lord of hosts, the God of Israel. I have broken the yoke of the king of Babylon. And that within two years, both the sacred vessels that were carried off I will restore, and I will bring back Jechoniah with all the captives." ^D [5] The prophet Jeremiah, in order to show...

that he prays for these things to come to pass, ^B said in the hearing of all: 2. "May the Lord establish your word, which you prophesy, to bring back the vessels of the house of the Lord, and all the transmigration from Babylon to their own place."

Verses 7-9

Chapter XXIX. (Graec. XXXVI.)

[1, 2] He then passes on to another narrative, and teaches how, at God's suggestion, he sent letters to those in captivity in Babylon, after the captivity of King Jechoniah. [5] He even reviews the names of those who carried the letters, which contained instructions for the captives already in Babylon, ^D to beget children, to build houses, and to promise their daughters to husbands, and to bring wives for their sons, and to [take care...]

of the increase of the race, and to pray for those who had enslaved them. ^A "For in their peace," he says, "shall be peace for you." This word corresponds to the regulation of the Apostle, which commands that prayers and supplications be made for kings, and for all who are in high station and power, that we may lead a quiet and peaceable life in all godliness and gravity. [1 Tim. II, 1, 2]

God, the Lord of all, commanded these things to be done, instructing them not to believe the false prophets, but to await the appointed time; for he made this clear by what follows, saying: "Let not your false prophets who are among you persuade you, and let not your diviners deceive you. And do not listen to your dreams which you dream." ^B

Vers. 9. "Because they prophesy unjustly to you in my name. I did not send them," says the Lord. He teaches also the time of the return; for he says, when the seventy years are completed, I will look upon you, and fulfill my good promises. He promises also that he will deem them worthy of every care, and that he will provide good things for those who pray; "For when," he says, "you seek me with your whole heart, I will appear to you, says the Lord." Know also this, that those who escaped the former captivity I will hand over to famine and slaughter. "And I will deliver them as the figs of Suareim," which cannot be eaten because of their badness. What he called "deformed" above, he here named "Suareim." ^C Suareim, in the Hebrew tongue, signifies things grown in the woods, that is to say, wild, uncultivated things, not worthy of gardening, and useless for food.

Vers. 18. "And I will give them over to be driven to and fro among all the kingdoms of the earth." For all who hear of the calamities inflicted will be terrified. "And for an oath, and for a hissing, and for a reproach, among all the nations whither I have driven them." Many are accustomed to say: "May I not suffer what such an one has suffered!" This, therefore, is what he says by "for an oath"; as for "for a hissing," we have explained it often. ^D The blessed David also makes mention of the reproach: "We are become a reproach to our neighbors, a scoffing and a laughing-stock to them that are round about us"; [k Psal. LXXVIII, 4] and again: "Thou hast made us a reproach to the nations." [l Psal. XLIII, 14] And these things, he says, they shall suffer, "Because I sent to them my servants the prophets, rising up early and sending; and they did not hear," says the Lord. By "rising up early," he has indicated his diligence.

For he did not consider this a secondary task, but showed the greatest possible care for them. ^A [20, 21] Then he foretells the destruction of the two false prophets, Achiab and Sedecias. "For I will deliver them," he says, "into the hands of Nabuchodonosor, king of Babylon, and he shall strike them before your eyes."

VERSE 22. "And they shall take up a curse upon them in every colony of Juda, and in Babylon, saying, 'May the Lord make you as he made Sedecias and Achiab.'" From this we clearly learn the meaning of the curse. He also states the manner of their punishment: "Whom the king of Babylon roasted in fire."

VERSE 23. "Because of the iniquity which they have done in Israel." He also declares the nature of this iniquity: "And they committed adultery with the wives of their fellow-citizens, and spoke an iniquitous word in my name, which I did not command them. And I am the knower and the witness, says the Lord." For he says that nothing of what is done escapes him; rather, I see even those things that are dared in secret. [24, 25] He also threatens Samaias the Elamite, who dared to prophesy things to the contrary and to send letters to Sophonias the priest and the priests subject to him. He sent letters of this kind:

VERSE 26. "The Lord has appointed you as priest in place of Jodae the priest." Jodae was a celebrated high priest. Wishing, therefore, to arouse the spirit of Sophonias, he made mention of his position of authority: "That you might be an overseer in the house of the Lord, for every man who prophesies and for every man who is mad, that you might commit him to the prison of Sinoch and to the stocks." As we have said before, they used to call the prophets "madmen," and this is clear from ^B this passage too, for he linked the prophet with the madman. Sinoch, in Syrian, is interpreted as a prison. He says, therefore, "Because of this you hold authority, so that you might lock up and punish those who prophesy evil"; for this is made clear by what follows.

VERSES 27, 28. "Why, therefore," he says, "did you not rebuke Jeremias, who dared to write such things, so that you might build houses and plant gardens?" [29] This letter Sophonias the high priest read to the prophet. [30-32] But then the God of all warns the prophet to write back in response and signify to the people in Babylon that Samaias has predicted false things, for he was not sent by the God of all. "For this reason, I will deliver him, together with his whole family, to death, and he shall not see the end of his sorrows." ^C Having learned these things, then, let us fear falsehood and believe in the truth, and having driven out ambiguity from our souls, let us follow the divine words, so that we may be able to see the blessings of the heavenly Jerusalem.

by the grace and lovingkindness of our Lord Jesus Christ, with whom to the Father be glory, together with the Holy Spirit, now and always, and for ages of ages. Amen.

VOLUME SEVEN. CHAPTER XXX.

^A[1-4.] The Master God, wishing to show the truth of prophecy, commands the prophet to commit to writing the predictions made both concerning the captivity and the return of the captives. In the first place, however, he foretells the sorrowful things.

VERS. 5, 6. *Thus said the Lord: You shall hear a voice of fear; fear, and there is no peace. Inquire, and see if a male has brought forth?* He has clearly signaled the magnitude of the pain; for he likens the gravity of the calamity to the pangs of a woman in labor. This is what these words signify: *Inquire, and see if a male has brought forth?* And what follows is consistent: *And concerning the fear, in that they shall hold their loins; for I have seen every man, and his hands [are] upon his loins, as a woman in labor.* Now, to represent the pain, he sets forth the image of a woman in labor; on the other hand, in order to demonstrate ^B mourning, he said that each one had his hands clasped upon his head: *All faces have turned to jaundice.* And this too is an indication of fear.

VERS. 7. *For that day is great, and there is none like it; and it is a time of distress and affliction for all Jacob.* Because of the magnitude of the punishment, he termed the day great. Afterward he joins consolation to the adversities. For he says: *And from this he shall be saved.* [8] He promises that he will crush the yoke of servitude, and he predicts a change of behavior: *And they shall no longer work for others.*

VERS. 9. *But they shall work for the Lord their God.* He called the idols "others." For once they have recognized that the Master God is he who provides good things, and who brings about chastisements, ^C they will, he says, respect [him] above all things.

[GREEK COLUMN] Φωνὴν φόβου ἀκούσεσθε· φόβος, καὶ οὐκ ἔστιν εἰρήνη. Ἐρωτήσατε δὴ, καὶ ἴδετε εἰ ἔτεκεν ἄρσεν; Σαφῶς δεδήλωκεν τὴν τῆς ὀδύνης ὑπερβολήν· τὸ γὰρ μέγεθος τῆς συμφορᾶς συνέκρινεν ὠδῖσι τικτούσης. Τοῦτο γὰρ σημαίνει τὸ «Ἐρωτήσατε καὶ ἴδετε εἰ ἔτεκεν ἄρσεν;» Συμφωνεῖ δὲ καὶ τὰ ἑξῆς. «Καὶ περὶ φόβου, ἐν ᾧ καθέξουσιν ὀσφύν· διότι ἑώρακα πάντα ἄνθρωπον, καὶ αἱ χεῖρες αὐτοῦ ἐπὶ τὴν ὀσφὺν αὐτοῦ, ὡς τικτούσης.» Νῦν μὲν τὴν ὀδύνην δεικνὺς, τῆς τικτούσης παρατίθησι τὴν εἰκόνα· ἑτέρωθι δὲ, τὸ πένθος διδάσκων, ἐπὶ τῆς κεφαλῆς συμπεπλεγμένας ἔχειν ἕκαστον ἔφη τὰς χεῖρας. «Πάντα τὰ πρόςωπα εἰς ἴκτερον ἐγενήθη.» Καὶ τοῦτο δέους σημαντικόν. ζ. Ὅτι μεγάλη ἡ ἡμέρα ἐκείνη, καὶ οὐκ ἔστι τοιαύτη· καὶ χρόνος στενότητός ἐστι καὶ θλίψεως παντὶ Ἰακώβ. Ἀπὸ τοῦ μεγέθους τῆς τιμωρίας τὴν ἡμέραν μεγάλην ὠνόμασεν. Εἶτα συνάπτει ψυχαγωγίαν τοῖς σκυθρωποῖς. Λέγει γάρ· «Καὶ ἀπὸ τούτου σωθήσεται.» Καὶ ὑπισχνεῖται συντρίψειν τὸν τῆς δουλείας ζυγόν. Προλέγει δὲ καὶ τὴν τοῦ τρόπου μεταβολήν. «Καὶ οὐκ ἐργάσονται ἔτι ἀλλοτρίοις.» θ. Καὶ ἐργάσονται Κυρίῳ τῷ Θεῷ αὑτῶν. Ἀλλοτρίους τὰ εἴδωλα προσηγόρευσε· αὐτοὺς ἐπὶ τὰ τελειότερα ποδηγετοῦντες. Οὕτω τὸν Τιμόθεον ὁ μακάριος Παῦλος περιτεμῶν, τῆς εὐαγγελικῆς ἐχειροτόνησε πολιτείας διδάσκαλον. ᾿Αλλὰ γὰρ τάχα καὶ ἡμεῖς τῆς ᾿Απολιναρίου μετελάχομεν φλυαρίας, τὴν οὐ ψευδῆ μόνον, ἀλλὰ καὶ ἀτερπῆ μυθολογίαν αὐτοῦ πειραθέντες ἐλέγξαι· πρὸς ἣν εἴποι ἂν ὁ μακάριος Παῦλος εἰκότως· «Ὄφελον καὶ ἀποκόψονται οἱ ἀναστατοῦντες ὑμᾶς!» ^A Ἐνταῦθα τοίνυν τὸν λόγον στήσαντες, τοὺς ἐντευξομένους τῇδε τῇ βίβλῳ παρακαλέσομεν, εἰ μὲν εὕροιέν τι τῆς προθυμίας ἐν τοῖς ἑρμηνευθεῖσιν ἐπάξιον, τὴν τῶν ἁπάντων ὑμνῆσαι Δεσπότην, τὸν ἐπ᾿ εὐεργεσία κοινῇ δεδωκότα τῶν κεκρυμμένων τὴν ἀποκάλυψιν· εἰ δὲ ἔλαττον τῆς ἐλπίδος τὸ κέρδος, καὶ τῶν πόνων οὐκ ἰσοστάσιον τὸν καρπὸν, τῇ μὲν τῆς φύσεως ἀσθενείᾳ νεῖμαι συγγνώμην, ἀποδέξασθαι δὲ ὅμως τὴν προθυμίαν, καὶ τοὺς πόνους προσευχαῖς ἀμείψασθαι, ἄφεσιν ἡμῖν ἁμαρτημάτων παρὰ τοῦ Σωτῆρος τῶν ὅλων αὐτοῦντας· μεθ᾿ οὗ τῷ Πατρὶ ἡ δόξα, σὺν τῷ ἁγίῳ Πνεύματι, νῦν καὶ ἀεὶ, καὶ εἰς τοὺς ἀτελευτήτους αἰῶνας τῶν αἰώνων. Ἀμήν.

TOY MAKARIOY ΘΕΟΔΩΡΗΤΟΥ ΕΠΙΣΚΟΠΟΥ ΚΥΡΟΥ ΥΠΟΜΝΗΜΑ ΕΙΣ ΤΑΣ ΟΡΑΣΕΙΣ ΤΟΥ ΠΡΟΦΗΤΟΥ ΔΑΝΙΗΛ

ΠΡΟΘΕΩΡΙΑ

[LATIN COLUMN] You shall hear a voice of fear: there is fear, and no peace. Ask then, and see if a male has given birth? He has clearly declared the excess of the pain; for he compared the magnitude of the calamity to the birth pangs of a woman in labor. This is what saying "Ask and see if a male has given birth" means. And the following agrees: "And concerning the fear, in which they will hold their loins; for I have seen every man, and his hands are upon his loins, as a woman in labor." Now, while showing the pain, he sets forth the image of a woman in labor; but elsewhere, while teaching of mourning, he said that each had his hands clasped upon his head. "All faces are turned to jaundice." And this also is a sign of fear. 7. For that day is great, and there is none like it; and it is a time of distress and affliction for all Jacob. From the magnitude of the punishment he called the day great. Then he adds comfort to the sorrowful. For he says: "And out of this he shall be saved." And he promises to crush the yoke of slavery. He also foretells the change of way of life. "And they shall no longer work for strangers." 9. And they shall serve the Lord their God. He called idols strangers; leading them onward to more perfect things. Thus the blessed Paul, by circumcising Timothy, ordained him a teacher of the evangelical way of life. But perhaps we too have become participants in Apollinaris’s babbling, having attempted to refute his not only false, but also unpleasant mythology; against whom the blessed Paul might rightly say: "I wish those who unsettle you would even castrate themselves!" ^A Here, therefore, we shall bring our discourse to a rest, and exhort those who shall read this book, if they find anything in what we have interpreted worthy of our effort, to hymn the Master of all, who for the common benefit has given the revelation of hidden things; but if the gain be less than their hope, and the fruit not equal to our labors, let them grant forgiveness to the weakness of nature, yet accept our readiness, and compensate for our labors with prayers, asking for us from the Savior of all the remission of sins; with whom to the Father be glory, together with the Holy Spirit, now and always, and unto the unending ages of ages. Amen.

COMMENTARY OF THE BLESSED THEODORET, BISHOP OF CYRRHUS, ON THE VISIONS OF THE PROPHET DANIEL

PREFACE

^A Ver. 17. "For I will open thy cure, and I will heal thee from thy grievous wound," says the Lord. And he has used surgery, and the sponge, and both harsher and gentler remedies. "Because thou hast been called castaway, Sion." For the neighboring nations were mocking her, and holding out her captivity and servitude. "This is your prey, because there is none that seeks for her." When, he says, I overlooked her and did not defend her, she was laid open to those warring against her as ready prey. ^B [18] But after the discipline of servitude, I shall set them free, so that they may return and build the cities, and restore the temple, and perform the worship in it according to the Law. For he says: "And the temple shall sit according to its judgment." He adds also those things which are proper to prosperity.

Ver. 19. "And there shall go forth from them those who sing, and the voice of those playing." He promises also an increase of the race, and fruitfulness. "For I will multiply them," he says, "and they shall not be diminished."

Ver. 20. "And their sons shall come in, as before, and their testimonies shall be set straight before me." The Syrian translated "testimonies" as "synagogues." "And I will visit all those who afflict them."

Ver. 21. "And they shall be stronger than they over them." He calls the Babylonians those who afflict; but those stronger than them are the Medes and Persians; for they destroyed their safety. ^C "And his prince shall go forth from him." At the time of the captivity, they had as prince of the Babylonians, the king. But after the return, they had first Zorobabel, and the son of Josedech; and after these things, they were guided by the high priests. "For who is he who has given his heart to return to me? says the Lord." This he says also elsewhere: "Inquire of the generations that were before you, who has believed in the Lord and been put to shame." Then he attributes the painful things that happened to them to the wrath of God; and showing its justice, he adds: ^D "Upon the ungodly it shall come." But to teach also his power, he adds:

Ver. 24. "The wrath of the Lord's anger shall not turn back, until he has wrought, and until he has fulfilled the concern of his heart." For who has resisted his counsel? Rebuking their unbelief, he says, "In the last of the days you shall know these things." Since you do not believe the words, you shall learn them from the experience of the things themselves.

CHAPTER XXXI.

^B 3. With everlasting love I have loved you; therefore I have drawn you into compassion. Not yours, he says, is the cause of salvation; but my mercy. [4, 5] He also predicts that they will again lead dances with timbrels and other instruments, and will care for agriculture, and will celebrate divine festivals. He also predicts the union of the tribes.

6. For there is a day of calling responding in the mountains of Ephraim: Arise, and let us ascend to Sion, to the Lord our God. For these, who once worshipped calves, will render an account for their former sins, and will run to Sion, and will worship the God of the universe. [7] He encourages them, that they should indeed praise him with gladness, but against the neighboring nations be high-minded. This is what it means: "Hang [something] over the head of the nations." And by this he ^C reveals divine aid. He also says the time of return.

8. For I shall gather them, he says, at the feast of Pascha, from the extreme of the earth. But Pascha is interpreted in the Greek tongue as Passage (or Passover). And it indicates the multitude of them: "Among them, he says, the lame and the blind, the pregnant and the parent, the great assembly with one accord." For in populous cities it is possible to find all such things. [9] He also mentions the wailing that was heard at the time of the captivity; and he predicts the joy that will be in the return, and the consolation on the journey. "In consolation, he says, I will lead them, camping ^D by the channels of waters, on a straight way, in which they will no longer wander." And showing what was the cause of security, he adds: "For I have become a father to Israel; and Ephraim is my *firstborn." He calls Ephraim the son of Joseph, and the ten tribes: of which Reuben was the firstborn, and Simeon the second. They were called...

them to praise God with joy, and to be proud over the neighboring nations. For this is what he says: "Neigh [or neigh loudly] against the head of the nations." And by this, declare the divine assistance. He also mentions the time of the return.

8. For I will gather them, he says, in the feast of Phase from the ends of the earth. The word "Phase" is interpreted as "Pascha" [Passover] in the Greek tongue. And signifying the multitude of them, he says: "Among them, a lame man and a blind, a pregnant woman and a woman in labor, a great congregation together." For in populous cities it is possible to find all such things. He also reminds them of the weeping of the captivity, and foretells the gladness of the return, and the consolations along the journey. "For with comfort," he says, "I will lead them, nesting them by the watercourses in a straight path, and they shall not go astray in it." And pointing out the cause of his care, he added: "Because I became a father to Israel, and Ephraim is my firstborn." Ephraim not the son of Joseph, but the ten tribes: for among them was Reuben the firstborn, and Simeon the second.

...and in that hour [of his youth] shining, he was reared in the royal courts along with those god-loving youths, and from childhood he had obtained the divine grace blooming upon him; having become full of all kinds of wisdom and understanding, he acquired great boldness before the ruler, and having proclaimed the word of piety, he became the cause of benefit to him as well; and not to him alone, but also to all his subjects; for what he himself learned through this man’s teaching, he sent on to his subjects, having established a law that explicitly enjoined [all the subjects] to worship the God proclaimed by this [prophet]. ^B When therefore this divine prophet was led away to Babylon, and for what reason, and of what good things he became the cause, not to his own kin only but even to the barbarians, we have briefly spoken; and the power of the prophecy we shall set forth more accurately through the interpretation of each part. Having therefore called the divine grace to be our co-worker in explanation, let us begin.

VOLUME I. CHAPTER I.

1. In the third year of the reign of Joakim, king of Judah, came Nabuchodonosor, king of Babylon, to Jerusalem, and besieged it.

Necessarily, before all other things, he remembered the king who then reigned, and taught us the time, that we might know clearly the time of the first captivity. For in the third year of the reign of Joakim, who was also Eliakim, who reigned after Joachaz—but he was the father of Joachaz, who was also called Joakim and Jechonias—the first capture of Jerusalem took place. ^C And this very fact, that he makes mention of the kings who were then, and of the times, indicates the prophetic character. For thus it is possible to find the other prophets doing as well. "For the vision," he says, "which Isaiah, the son of Amos, saw in the days of Oziah, and Jotham, and Achaz, and Ezechias, who reigned over Judea." And: "And the word of the Lord came to Jeremiah in the days of Josias, son of Amos, king of Judah, in the thirteenth year of his reign." And Ezechiel, and all the other prophets, have for the most part used this prologue of prophecy.

^A The prophet placed these words in the midst of his promises of good things, teaching that the truly good thing, and the sum of our salvation, is the birth of our Lord and Savior according to the flesh, for which the infants endured that unjust slaughter.

10. *Thus saith the Lord: Let thy voice cease from weeping, and thine eyes from tears: for there is a reward for thy works, saith the Lord, and their children shall return to their own mountains.* And teaching what works He promises a reward for, He points out to him the repentance in Babylon.

18. *Hearing, I have heard Ephraim lamenting.* He teaches also what words he used: "Thou hast chastised me, O Lord, and I was not chastised; as a calf I was not taught." This the prophet also said in what preceded: "Thou didst scourge them, and they felt no pain; Thou didst consume them, and they refused to receive instruction." And the prophet Osee also says: "Ephraim is a heifer taught to love contention." He contradicts, he says, and does not receive the yoke of the law. And again: "Ephraim became as a heifer madly stung." He sets forth also what he said while mourning: "Convert me, Lord, and I shall be converted; for if Thou art unwilling, I shall not be delivered from servitude." ^B

Wishing to persuade the Jews that it was not to fulfill His own need, but by condescending to their weakness [that He accepted the sacrifices offered by them], He rightly, when He turned away from them and delivered them to captivity, also gave away as captives the vessels they had offered, through which they thought to serve Him. For why would He spare the inanimate vessels, having handed over the rational beings to punishment? And He teaches them through the very things themselves that the Babylonians—barbarians and the impious—differ in no way from them, since they act impiously just as they do, or rather even more than they. For the former, having received neither the Law nor having enjoyed the guidance of prophets, remained in ignorance; but the latter, enlightened by myriads of ancient and new prophets, and having become eyewitnesses of countless miracles, nevertheless kept despising the God of all and continued to serve inanimate idols. He therefore delivered the vessels to the barbarians, as if saying through the facts themselves that, "You differ in no way from the barbarians; for you, too, pollute them with your lawless acts in the same way, and it is equal for you to possess them as it is for the Babylonians; for impiety prevails both with you and with them." ^C For the Jews, this was enough to both convict them, and to instruct them, and to procure for them no small benefit; but the Babylonians, when they honored the vessels as they supposed, having made them external to human use, and having dedicated them to the gods whom they themselves worshipped, suffered no evil at all from such small and valueless [acts] by those offering them. But when Baltasar the king dared to use them while feasting, he was punished at once and paid the worthy penalty, and through the punishment taught everyone how great is the power of the God to whom those vessels belonged, and that He was not unwillingly deprived of His own, but willingly surrendered them because of the people's manifold lawlessness. He had done this also in the case of the Ark long ago. For when Ophni and Phinees, the sons of Heli the priest, lawless and abominable men, took this [the Ark] and went out for the assistance of their kinsmen, God convicts their impiety, having deemed them worthy of no providence, but having handed them over to a worthy slaughter, and having delivered the Ark to the foreigners, again instructing Israel and teaching them that there is no need of the Ark for Him, but that He had constructed it for their sake, and its use was superfluous for them if they were to transgress the divine law without fear and choose to live in impiety. But so that the foreigners might not think great things of themselves, as though they had prevailed over God (for they thought the Ark itself was the God of the Jews, using as proof the construction of their own idols), and ^D so that [there might not be] great [harm] in their weakness...

regarding the cities sorrowing over you. Such mourning is not contrary to joy. For we must, even while enjoying good things, be mindful of our own transgressions and lament these.

Ver. 22. "How long will you turn away, O disgraced daughter? For the Lord has created you for salvation, for a new planting; in the salvation men shall go about." Here he clearly shows also the cause of the calling back; for he prophesies that through her there will be a new planting. The apostles, who sprouted from her, brought this to the inhabited world; and the prophetic word clearly said this: "In the salvation men shall go about." For these, having traveled around the nations, brought salvation to them through the knowledge ^B of God. Then, again, he predicts the goods that would follow the return, and the joy springing from this. And the phrase, "I will sow upon the house of Israel and upon the house of Judah the seed of men and the seed of beasts," signifies a multitude.

Vers. 29, 30. "In those days, he says, they shall no longer say: The fathers ate sour grapes, and the children's teeth were set on edge. But each one shall die in his own sin, and he who eats the sour grape, his teeth shall be set on edge." The Master ^C spoke this more clearly through the divine Ezekiel, and we also have provided the interpretation at greater length. What he says is of this sort: just as it is not possible to eat sour grapes and not have the teeth of the one eating them set on edge, so it is not possible that, while the fathers have sinned, the children should be exacted punishment. And for confirmation of what has been said, he adds what follows.

Vers. 31, 32. "Behold, days are coming, says the Lord, and I will establish a new Testament for the house of Israel and for the house of Judah. Not according ^D to the Testament which I established with their fathers on the day I took hold of their hand to lead them out of the land of Egypt; because they did not remain in my Testament, and I neglected them, says the Lord." Thus, he says, it is impossible for the children to be exacted punishment for the sins of their fathers, because even when the fathers have sinned, I promise the greatest goods to the children. Nevertheless, he taught us many predictions according to this: first, that there is one lawgiver of the two Testaments; then, the imperfection of the former Testament; for we would not have had need of the second, if the first had been sufficient; in addition to these, that the only-begotten [Son] of the

Father became our dispenser of evangelical blessings; he himself delivered Israel from the servitude of the Egyptians. He himself, therefore, also speaking to Moses, said: "I am who I am." And the argument is sufficient, not only to refute the wickedness of the Jews, but also to strip ^A bare the blasphemy of the heretics.

VER. 33. *For this is the Testament that I will establish with the house of Israel and with the house of Judah, after those days, saith the Lord: I will put my laws into their minds, and I will write them upon the breast of their hearts: and I will be their God, and they shall be my people.* God demonstrated this to us through the facts themselves. For having led the holy apostles up into the mountain, he did not give them stone tablets, but inscribed the divine laws in their hearts, and offered the beatitudes to the workers of virtue.

VER. 34. *And they shall not teach any more every man his neighbor and every man his brother, saying, Know the Lord: for all shall know me, from the least of them to the greatest of them.* But these words will obtain their effect in the future life. For in that [life] we no longer require mutual instruction, since the realities appear clearly, and the passions have ceased, and the bodies have received incorruptibility, while the souls have become ^B immutable. It is the custom of divine Scripture to commingle prophecies. For it joins to the discourses concerning the captivity the discourses concerning the restoration; and the Lord also, in the holy Gospels, places in the same context the discourses concerning Jerusalem and those concerning the consummation. *For I will be merciful to their iniquities, and I will remember their sins no more.* The grace of the all-holy baptism grants this; for after the remission has been made, he does not remember former transgressions. After these things, having shown that he is the maker of the sun, and the moon, and the stars, and that he himself commanded the one to bring about the day and the others to illuminate the night, and that at his nod the sea is stirred and enjoys peace, he added:

VER. 36. *If these laws shall cease from before my face, saith the Lord, then the race of Israel shall also cease from being a nation before me all the days.* To these it is necessary to append that which was spoken by Isaiah the prophet: *If the number of the children of Israel be ^C as the sand of the sea,

the remnant shall be saved.” Both prophecies, therefore, possess the truth. ^A I will open to thee... having learned these things, Cyrus granted to those of the Jews who wished it [the power of] a return to their native land; the book of Chronicles also teaches us the time. “For in the first year,” it says, “of Cyrus, King of the Persians, after the word of the Lord was fulfilled by the mouth of Jeremiah, the Lord stirred up the spirit of Cyrus, King of the Persians, and Cyrus gave orders to proclaim in all his kingdom by written documents, saying: ‘Thus says Cyrus, King of the Persians: The Lord God of heaven has given me all the kingdoms of the earth, and He has commanded me to build Him a house in Jerusalem, which is in Judea; who is there among you of all His people? The Lord God will be with him, and let him go up.’” For this reason, the blessed Daniel also, teaching the time of the prophecy, has set in the writings of the Jews: “And Daniel remained unto the first year of Cyrus the king.” We, however, having granted the auditor rest at this point, let us sing the praises of the good Master, who strikes and heals, who scourges and cures, who uses both punishment and philanthropy; to Him be glory unto all ages of ages. Amen.

VOLUME II, CHAPTER II

1. “In the second year of the reign of Nebuchadnezzar he dreamed a dream, and his spirit was troubled, and his sleep departed from him.” From this we learn that immediately and straightway upon beginning his reign, he campaigned against Judea in the third year of the reign of Jehoiakim; and he ordered the one to pay tribute, and, having taken others as captives, he led them away into the land of the Assyrians. Jeremiah the prophet also bears witness to the times, speaking thus: “The word that came to Jeremiah the prophet concerning all the people of Judah in the fourth year of Jehoiakim the son of Josiah king of Judah, the same was the first year of Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon.” We find, therefore, that upon the completion of the third year of the reign of Jehoiakim, King Nebuchadnezzar against

^A whom the city was being besieged at that time; and the prophet lived in prison, into which he had been cast by King Zedekiah, because he had foretold the capture of the city, and the enslavement of the king and the people. For this reason, he says, “he lived in prison.” Nevertheless, he is commanded by God to purchase his kinsman’s field. “For the purchase,” he says, “befits you, as being near by kinship.” But ^B he came to me to sell the field, and I bought it, as I had been commanded, and I received the deed concerning this in the presence of all, of the seller and the witnesses. And this he gave to Baruch, saying that God had commanded that it be placed in an earthen vessel, so that it might last for many days. For God commanded this to be done, so that by these means he might also persuade the people that they would truly be recalled from captivity, and receive their ancestral land. For the prophet also said this:

VERS. 15. *For thus says the Lord Almighty, the God of Israel: Houses and fields and vineyards shall yet be possessed in this land.* ^C [16-19] These things having been done, I, he says, offered prayers to the Lord with these words: O Maker of heaven and earth, and beholder of all things, nothing escapes You, either of the present or of the future. You have immense treasures of mercy, and You exact punishment for sins. But if the children have imitated the wickedness of their fathers, You inflict upon them heavier penalties, since they were not instructed by the fatherly affliction. [20-23] And many other things of this kind he added, recounting the miracles that took place in Egypt, and the gifts He bestowed after their liberation, and at the same time the ingratitude of those who had received benefits, and ^D those who were besieging the city, and those who were perishing inside by famine and pestilence, You commanded me to buy the field, and to take a written record of the matter, when the city is tending towards destruction? [26] To which God answers:

VERS. 27. *I am the Lord God of all flesh. Shall any word be hidden from Me? Can the maker and Lord of all be ignorant of anything that happens?*

VERS. 28. *Therefore, thus says the Lord: This city shall be delivered into the hands of the Chaldeans, and into the hands of Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon; and he shall take it.* [29] Then he narrates how they entered, burned it, and the houses in which they sacrificed to, and poured out libations to, the gods of the aliens. He also rebukes the purpose of their deeds, “That you may provoke Me…”

…”

If the children also imitated the wickedness of their fathers, You ^A inflict greater punishments upon them, as they were not corrected by the vices of their fathers. Having added many other such things, and having made mention of the wonders that occurred in Egypt, and of the gifts bestowed after their departure from there, and indeed also of the ingratitude of the beneficiaries, He asks: Why, when the enemies were besieging and investing the city, and those within were being destroyed by famine and pestilence, did You command me to buy the field and take the deed concerning it, when the city was being overturned? To these things God says: 27. “I am the Lord, the God of all flesh; shall any word be hidden from Me?” Am I, He says, the Creator and Master of all, unable to know anything of what is happening? 28. “Therefore, thus says the Lord: This city shall surely be delivered into the hands of the Chaldeans, and into the hands of Nebuchadnezzar, king of Babylon, and he shall take it.” Then He tells how they will enter and burn it, and the houses in which they sacrificed to Baal and offered libations to other gods. He also rebukes the purpose of the things happening. We see the fulfillment of the prophecy. For the New Covenant having been given according to the divine promise, the priesthood according to the order of Melchizedek has arrived, and those who have been deemed worthy of this offer the rational sacrifice continually to God. Then He says: As it is impossible for day to become night and night day, so it is impossible for the Davidic kingdom to be destroyed. And the end of this prophecy is not visible; for Christ, who was born of David according to the flesh, does not possess a throne on earth, but, sitting on the same seat with the Father, He guides all things. And indeed, He says this same thing concerning the priests and Levites, that their offspring shall be compared to the host of heaven and the sand of the sea. And the things themselves bear witness to what is said. For the whole earth and sea are full of ^B bishops and of ministers performing the Levitical service. Having also spoken the things said by the ungodly, that He had utterly cast off the two tribes which He had chosen, the royal and the priestly, He promised again what He had already foretold.

CHAPTER XXXIV

Having finished this prophecy in this way, he passes to another; and while the enemies were investing the city, he is ordered to say to King Zedekiah, both that the city will be captured and will be burnt, and that they will seize you and bring you to the king of the Babylonians; but you shall escape death, and being taken away captive, you shall dwell in a foreign land, and you shall meet the end of your life in peace, and you shall be deemed worthy of the customary honors by your relatives. And these things, he says, I said to the king, when the enemies were besieging not only Jerusalem, but also the remaining cities of Judea. To this prophecy he connects another, having this meaning: Zedekiah ordered the Hebrew servants to be set free according to the divine law; for the law clearly commanded them to serve for six years, but in the seventh year to obtain freedom. And when all obeyed and granted freedom, they again dragged them into their former servitude, having used a wicked repentance. The God of all, therefore, being indignant, reminds them of the servitude in Egypt, and of the freedom that had occurred, and of the legislation given after these things; but He complains, as they had loved the keeping of the law, but, having repented, had trampled it under foot. 15. “For you returned,” He says, “to do what is right in My eyes, to proclaim each one the forgiveness of his neighbor; and you made a covenant before Me in the house upon which My name was called.” For within, in the temple to Me con

concerning the plain region, ^A Sephila denotes the plain, and Nageb the south.

CHAPTER XXXIII. (Gr. XL.)

^A according to the promise of the New Testament, there was also bestowed a priesthood after the order of Melchizedek; and those who have been counted worthy of this offer the rational sacrifice to God continually. Thereafter He says: As it is impossible for day to become night and night day, so it is impossible for the Davidic kingdom to be destroyed. ^B And the outcome of this prophecy is manifest. For Christ, who according to the flesh was born of David, does not have a throne set upon the earth, but, sitting upon the same throne with the Father, governs all things. Moreover, He says this same thing concerning the priests and the Levites, in that their race is compared to the host of heaven and the sand of the sea. And the facts themselves bear witness to what is said. For the whole earth and sea are full of high priests and deacons fulfilling the Levitical ministry. ^C And having mentioned the things said by the impious—that God had utterly rejected the two tribes, the royal and the priestly, which He had chosen—He promised again what He had already foretold.

CHAPTER XXXIV (Graec. XLI)

Thus having concluded this prophecy, he passes on to another; and he is commanded to speak to King Zedekiah while the enemies continued in their siege: The city shall be taken and set on fire; and they shall take you and bring you before the king of Babylon; but you shall escape death, and being led away captive, you shall dwell in a strange land, and in peace you shall meet the end of your life, and be adorned with the customary funeral rites by your own kin. And these things, he says, ^D I told the king, while the enemies were besieging not only Jerusalem, but also the remaining cities of Judea.

To this prophecy he connects another, having this meaning: Zedekiah commanded that the Hebrew servants be set free according to the divine law. For the law clearly enjoined that they serve for six years, but in the seventh obtain their freedom. And having obeyed and granted them freedom, they drew them back again into their former servitude, having exercised a perverse repentance. The God of all, therefore, being indignant, reminds them of the servitude in Egypt, and of the freedom that had occurred, and of the legislation given after that; but He complains that, although they had loved the observance of the law, when they repented of it, they trampled upon it.

Ver. 15. For you turned, He says, to do what is right in My eyes, to summon each one the release of his neighbor; and you made a covenant before Me in the house over which My name has been called. For within, in the temple dedicated to Me...

^A with My presence, when they had made the pact of manumission, immediately they transgressed it. [16, 17] Because, therefore, you were not willing to perform the release, «Behold, I proclaim to you a release, says the Lord, unto the sword, and unto death, and unto famine; and I will give you into dispersion in all the kingdoms of the earth.» He also rebukes the transgression of the oath.

VERS. 18, 19. «And I will give the men who have transgressed my covenant, who have not performed the words of the covenant which they made before me, the calf which they divided in two, and passed between the parts of its members, the princes of Judah, the princes of Jerusalem, the ^B mighty, and the priests, and all the people of the land, who passed between the parts of the calf. So they were accustomed to swear by ancient custom.» But the God of all, entering into a covenant with Abraham, regarding a three-year-old ram and a calf, and a goat of the same age, commanded them to be divided into two parts, and them to be placed opposite one another, a smoking furnace, and torches of fire, to pass between both portions, by the covenanting custom which was then in force. This also they did, who had made promises of the liberty of the Hebrew servants, and who wished to confirm the liberty by an oath; but soon transgressed it. [20, 21] Wherefore He threatens that they will be handed over to their enemies, and their bodies ^C will be cast as food for the beasts; and that He will impose the yoke of servitude upon the king and the princes.

Chapter XXXV. (Greek XLI.)

[1, 2] This prophecy being finished, he reminds of the older preaching. For in the days of Jehoiakim, son of Josiah, king of Judah, a command was given that he should bring the sons of Rechab into the temple of God, and set wine before them in one of the chambers. [3-5] "But I," he says, "fulfilled the command, and having provided vessels full of wine, I invited them to drink. [6] But they disagreed, saying:

(VERS. 6, 7.) "We do not drink wine: for Jonadab, son of Rechab, our father, gave us a precept, saying: You and your sons shall not drink wine for ever. And you shall not build houses, nor plant seed; nor shall you have vineyards, nor be able to dwell upon the earth, but in tents shall you dwell all your days, that you may live long upon the land in which you dwell. [8-10] These,” he says, “we have observed, having heard the paternal mandates, with wives and children. And we built no houses, nor were we concerned with cultivating fields, but even until ^D

^A the present day we have continued living in tents. But now that the Babylonians have come upon us, we have been forced to take refuge in this city.” It is worth admiring both the paternal legislation and the prompt obedience of the sons and grandsons: for they loved a life free from cares and possessing nothing, having—what is greatest of all—disregarded possessions, and having placed their trust according to themselves in the hope of God. But if, at the time of the Law, for not having the perfection, and through the weakness of those on whom the Law was imposed, they embraced this supreme philosophy, those who were such, if they had heard the evangelical Law? ^B Indeed, God orders the prophet to tell all those dwelling in Jerusalem, that they did not want to drink wine; but you, even taking up the prophetic teachings by night and by day, according to my laws do not act. For which cause, I inflict upon you all kinds of calamities; but to the descendants of Rechab, who kept their father’s mandate, he promises the best of all goods.

Ver. 19. “There shall not fail,” he says, “a man from the sons of Jonadab, son of Rechab, standing before my face all the days of the earth.” It is to be known, however, that everyone who keeps the laws is called a son of Jonadab, son of Rechab.

CHAPTER XXXVII.

After these things, he says, as it was commanded to write all the prophecy. ^C By the “roll,” he calls the memoirs, which even until the present time friends have been accustomed to use. For it is likely, he says, that they, having learned more accurately the evils that were threatened, through repentance might obtain salvation. And the prophet himself, being moved by the divine grace, offers these words. And he writes these to Baruch. And because he was prevented from entering the house of God (for he was restricted), he encouraged Baruch to read what he had written to those who had arrived. And after much time had passed, and the fast was being completed, Baruch read the prophecy. And one of those who heard it, moved by piety, informs the princes of the threatened evils; and they sent for Baruch, ^D and commanded him to read, and, filled with fear from these things, they were eager to learn who had written them. And Baruch declared that Jeremiah, being inspired by the divine grace, had dictated these things to me to write. And the rulers, having taken the book, gave it to the royal scribe; and they advised Baruch to flee; and they informed the king of the things written. And the king orders the scribe to read. Being ungodly, and lawless, the things being read he cut out with a knife.

and committed to the fire, for on account of the winter season a hearth was placed nearby. ^A

VERS. 24. And they did not seek, he says, the Lord, nor did they tear their garments, the king and all his servants who heard all these words. But as he accuses these men of extreme insensibility, so he praises Elnathan, and Delaiah, and Gemariah. For these men suggested to the king not to burn the book, but he did not listen to them. ^B Yet the impious king was not satisfied with the iniquity he had perpetrated; but he even ordered Baruch and Jeremiah to be arrested. [27, 28] But the God of all things commanded Jeremiah to write the former words in another book. For the parchment was indeed burned, but the divine law remained unharmed. Thus, also, although the body that was assumed had suffered, the Word remained entirely immune to suffering; and the prophet was commanded to say these things to Jehoiakim also.

VERS. 29, 30. Thus says the Lord, You burned this book, saying, "Why have you written in it, saying, 'The king of Babylon shall surely come and devastate this land, and man and beast shall fail from it'?" Therefore, thus said the Lord concerning Jehoiakim, king of Judah: "There shall not be for him one who sits upon the throne of David, and his dead body shall be cast out to the heat by day and to the frost by night." The prophecy is most true. For although his son Jeconiah reigned, yet after three months he was led away captive. ^C He threatens him and his whole house with destruction, and the city with desolation, and the people with the aforementioned afflictions.

The prophet again executed the command and, with the ministry of Baruch, wrote the prophecy again. "And there were added," he says, "still more words in it than these." For since the impious king was enraged upon hearing the threats, the Master commanded them to be multiplied. But let us, I pray, fear the divine threats, and believe the favorable promises, and walk worthily of the calling with which we were called, that we may both escape the danger of the threats and enjoy the promised goods, ^D by the grace and loving-kindness of our Lord Jesus Christ, with whom glory is due to the Father, together with the all-holy Spirit, now and always, and for ever and ever. Amen.

CHAPTER XXXVII. (Greek XLIV.)

^A The divine prophet, intending to set forth the account of the city’s capture, teaches first at what age Sedecias began to reign and how long he reigned; and that during the time of the siege, having learned the predictions uttered by the prophet against himself and the city, he sent messengers to entreat him to offer prayers to God on his behalf. At that time, he was not dwelling in prison, but was living securely in the city. When the Babylonians were besieging the city, the Egyptians came to the aid of the Jews, having evidently been summoned by the king to be allies in the war. When the Chaldeans learned this, they withdrew from the siege. The Lord God, therefore, instructed the prophet to say to the king and the princes that they should neither trust in the aid of the Egyptians nor despise the Chaldeans; for the Egyptians ^B will return to their own land with all haste, and the Chaldeans will turn back, and will besiege the city, and will deliver it to the fire. And teaching that he himself had passed sentence against them, he adds these things:

10. "But even if you strike down the entire army of the Chaldeans who are warring against you, and there remain among them some wounded men, each in his tent, these will rise up and burn this city with fire." For do not think that you will overcome the might of the Chaldeans. For even a few wounded men, left behind in the tents due to weakness, are sufficient to destroy you utterly, ^C because sin has rendered you weak. Then he teaches that, when a temporary truce had come to them because of the retreat of the Chaldeans, he himself had gone out to his own people, wishing to buy bread; but a certain Seruia, suspecting that he had fled to the enemies, reported him to the princes. When they heard this, they imprisoned him—not in the public prison, for that was already full, he says—but in the house of Jonathan the scribe. After many days had passed, Sedecias sent for him in secret and asked if there is a word from the Lord. The prophet foretells the capture to him, and after the prediction, complains of the injustice committed against him.

18, 19. "For what," he says, "did I wrong you, ^D and your servants...

rophet foretells the capture to him, and after the prediction, complains of the injustice committed against him. 18, 19. "For what," he says, "did I wrong you, and your servants, that you delivered me into the house of custody? And where are your prophets, who prophesied to you, saying: The king of Babylon shall not come against you into this land?" For when, as he says, facts demonstrated the truth of my prophecy and the mendacity of your prophets, it was right to judge justly and to exact penalties from those who lied, not from the one who foretold the truth. Then he begs to be removed from the house of the scribe. ^A Sedecias indeed took him out from there, but sent him to the public prison, and ordered that one loaf of bread be provided to him each day.

CHAPTER XXXVIII. (Graec. XLV.)

[1-4] Certain of the princes, however, ^B bearing ill the predictions proclaimed by the prophet against the city (for he said that those who went of their own accord to the Chaldeans would attain safety, but that those who endured the siege would be delivered to destruction), provoked the king against the prophet, saying that by such vaticinations he was breaking the spirit of the soldiers who were able to wage war. [5, 6] The king, being little prudent, handed the prophet over to the informers, who, having received authority, vented their rage upon him and threw him into a foul and muddy pit. And no one of the Jews brought aid to the prophet, suffering such punishments on account of divine discourses. [7-9] But Abdemelech the eunuch, an Ethiopian man, ^C rebuked the king and cried out boldly: "You have acted wrongly, in that you caused the man of God to perish by famine, since there are no longer loaves in the city." [10-13] Sedecias, having received the rebuke, established Abdemelech as the minister of the prophet’s salvation; and he, having taken other helpers, threw down old rags to the prophet, and having ordered them to be placed under his armpits with a rope, drew him out from the pit of Chereth. He calls the pit Chereth. [14] Having led him out, and while he remained in prison, the king summoned him again and brought him in to himself into the house of Asalisael, which was in the house of the Lord. The Syriac translated this, “within the triple way.” ^D He then begs the prophet to tell him the word of God, and not to conceal the truth. The prophet says:

VERS. 14. "If I declare it to you, will you not kill me? And if I give you counsel, you will not listen to me." For he knew, as a prophet, the things that were to come, and had experience as his teacher. And when the king had sworn that he would certainly not hand him over to the impious, he said again:

ilium, non audies me. Siquidem noverat, ut propheta, futura: et experientiam habebat magistram. [16] Et cum rex jurasset se profecto non traditurum esse illum impiis, dixit iterum: ^A “As the Lord liveth, who made our souls, I will not put thee to death, nor will I deliver thee into the hands of these men.” He calls God the Maker of souls, affirming by this that He is the Lord of life and death, and that he himself is not truly the master of his own life or of his subjects.

[17] “And Jeremiah said to Sedecias: If thou wilt indeed go forth to the king of Babylon, thy soul shall live, and this city shall not be burned with fire, and thou shalt live, and thy house.” ^B By urging him to go forth, he does not incite him to treachery, but to the salvation of the city and the nation. For he knew that the decree of God was definitive, and that it was impossible to escape the Chaldeans.

[18] “But if thou wilt not go forth to the princes of the king of Babylon, this city shall be delivered into the hands of the Chaldeans, and they shall burn it with fire, and thou shalt not be saved from their hand.” He often repeated this: it was necessary to inquire why he offered salvation to those who went forth, while threatening destruction to those who did not. Sedecias had given an oath to Nabuchodonosor when he set him up as king, that he would pay tribute and keep loyalty toward him. But after a little time had passed, he broke the agreements, neither paid the tribute, ^C nor kept the loyalty, and fled to the Egyptians. Therefore, the Lord, since he swore not by soulless idols but by the Creator of all, and dared to transgress the oath, bids him go forth to the Chaldeans, and in this way amends the transgression of the oaths. Sedecias, however, says to the prophet:

[19] “I have an account of the Jews who have fled to the Chaldeans, lest I be delivered into their hands, and they mock me.” He says that he will become a laughingstock to those who have deserted. Yet, the prophet again urges him, and threatens him if he does not obey.

[22] “Behold,” he says, “all the women that have been left in the house of the king of Juda are being brought out to the princes of the king of Babylon; and they say: They have deceived thee and prevailed against thee, thy friends, and they are stronger than thou—in the slipping of thy feet.” He says, “lest thou be mocked by the deserters: thou shalt see this after the city is captured, and the women are dragged out from the royal palaces; and they [the Chaldeans] will remind thee of the error of the pseudo-prophets, saying that these—those who promised thee peace and made thee enjoy honors—have become the cause ^D of thy being driven away from the divine laws.”

[23] “And all thy wives and thy sons shall be brought out to the Chaldeans, and the city,” he says, “shall be burned, and thou shalt be led away captive.” But the stubborn king, disobedient, gave orders to the prophet not to reveal the things said to the princes; but to say that he had sent him to the prison in order to escape the harshest imprisonment. Then he narrates how they came, and tried to learn the things said to the king, and how he persuaded them concerning the prison.

^A From this point on he narrates the events during the capture of the city, and says that in the ninth year of the reign of Zedekiah, the Babylonians marched against it; but in the eleventh year of Zedekiah, in the fourth month, on the ninth day of the month, the wall was cast down, and the enemy rushed against the city. When this happened, Zedekiah fled, together with all those who boasted in their strength. But the Chaldeans, having pursued him, overtook him and captured him near the city of Jericho. He calls *Araboth* of Jericho that which is to the west of the city of Jericho. "And they brought him to Riblah, which is in the land of Hamath." This location ends up being under Emesa, so that it is manifest that here he calls Emesa *Hamath*. "And he spoke judgments with him." That is, he rebuked the transgression of his oaths, and the ill-will and ingratitude he had committed against one who had deserved well of him and had appointed him king. Having convicted him of injustice, he inflicts punishment: and first, while he was watching, he slaughtered his children and all the high-ranking and noble men; and having thus punished him with the sight of such grievous things, he deprived him of his eyes. He also narrates how they burned the royal palace and the other houses, and destroyed the walls of the city; and how Nebuzaradan, the king's chief cook, reduced the rest to slavery. He left behind a few poor people, commanding them to till the land.

^B Verses 11, 12. "And Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon gave orders concerning Jeremiah to Nebuzaradan, saying: Take him, and fix your eyes upon him, and do him no harm; but as he shall speak to you, so do with him." Both King Nebuchadnezzar and Ebed-Melech the Ethiopian increased the indictment of the Jews. For though they were foreigners, they venerated the prophet; while the Jews, having been nourished by the prophetic words, were unwilling to heed the divine sayings, and subjected the prophets to all manner of punishments. However, the divine promise achieved its effect. For when God appointed him a prophet, He promised to render him unconquerable, and like an iron pillar and a brazen wall: because they would indeed attack him, but they would not prevail over him. ^C Now Nebuzaradan, and the whole company of the princes, sent for Jeremiah out of the prison, and handed him over to Gedaliah, whom he had ordered to rule over those left in Judea. The prophet also deemed it worthy to record in writing the things predicted by God concerning Ebed-Melech, and how they reached their fulfillment. For nothing remains neglected by Him, nor does it lack its reward. Then, he says, God promised these things, saying:

of fatted lambs, so let our sacrifice be before you today, and let it be completed after you, for there is no shame for those who trust in you. Since, he says, your law does not permit us to offer the customary sacrifices to you in every place, instead of rams, and bulls, and lambs beyond counting, we offer you a broken and humbled heart, and we beseech you that these may be more pleasing to you than any sacrifice, since you are accustomed to freeing those who trust in you from all shame. ^A This holy man did not say these things simply like this, but taught by the prophet David, who says in the fiftieth Psalm: "For if you had desired sacrifice, I would have given it; you will not be pleased with burnt offerings; a sacrifice to God is a broken spirit, ^B a broken and humbled heart God will not despise." And again from the person of God: "Shall I eat the flesh of bulls, or drink the blood of goats? Sacrifice to God a sacrifice of praise, and pay your vows to the Most High, and call upon me in the day of your tribulation, and I will deliver you, and you shall glorify me." And a little later: "A sacrifice of praise shall glorify me, and there is the way in which I will show him my salvation." Taught these things, this divine man supplicated that a broken heart be received instead of every sacrifice. Then he adds: "And now we follow you with our whole heart, and we fear you, and seek your face; do not put us to shame." For the multitude of calamities made us other than we were, and while we were transgressors of your commandments, ^C it made us both fear you and seek you with our whole heart. By the face of God here, he called His benevolence, and the restoration of liberty, and the recovery of the providence, enjoying which it was possible to see both the divine temple and the services performed there, through which they imagined they saw God, who is incorporeal and invisible. Since, therefore, you worked such a change in us through the punishment, "Do not put us to shame, but deal with us according to your gentleness, and according to the multitude of your mercy. And deliver us according to your marvels, and give glory to your name." ^D For these reasons, he says, deem us worthy of pity and philanthropy; for you are accustomed to show mercy, and to use long-suffering toward all, and you have power concomitant with your will; and the miracles constantly performed by you bear witness to this. For the things that have happened to us will cause your name to be celebrated, not only by us who are being saved, but also by those who see our salvation. Give glory, therefore, to your name, O Lord. "And let all those be confounded who show..."

^A The prophet, however, arrives to Gedaliah. Then the prophet narrates how the princes who had fled, having learned of the situation regarding Gedaliah, ran to him, and how Gedaliah persuaded them by an oath that they would suffer no harm at the hands of the Chaldeans, and urged them to gather the fruits of the land and to enjoy the goods of peace in peace. Those, too, who had fled to the Idumeans, Moabites, and Ammonites returned when they learned that Gedaliah had been appointed prince. Then he teaches how Joanan, with the other princes, informed Gedaliah of a certain plot being contrived by Ishmael; but having informed him, they could not persuade him that they spoke the truth; and how Joanan sought in secret to slaughter Ishmael: "Lest," he said, "he strike your soul, and all the Jews who have gathered to you be scattered, and the remaining Jews perish." But neither by hearing these things did Gedaliah yield; rather, he forbade the undertaking, calling the accusation a slander.

CHAPTER XLI (Gr. XLVIII)

[1-3] Seven months having passed, Ishmael again approached, who was of the royal lineage and a partaker of the royal table, and he slew Gedaliah and all who had been left behind with him, both Chaldeans and Jews. [4] Two days having passed:

VERS. 5. There came, he says, men from Shechem, and from Salem, and from Samaria, eighty men, with beards shaved and garments torn, wailing; and ^B manna and incense were in their hands, to bring into the house of the Lord. Salem, both the Hebrew and the Syrian call Silo. [6-9] He teaches, moreover, how Ishmael pierced them all and cast their corpses into the pit. But ten other men, falling down, themselves also begged Ishmael to stop the slaughter, promising that they would reveal certain treasures to him. [10-15] When all these things were done, and those who survived had been taken, he went off and fled to the Ammonites. But Joanan, when he and the other princes understood what had been done, having gathered forces, led an army against Ishmael. Those, however, who had been enslaved by Ishmael, when they saw those coming armed against him, rejoiced and went over to them; but Ishmael fled with eight men to the Ammonites. And the divine judgment brought these things upon the Jews. For when they thought that their enemies had fled, ^C they were delivered into one another's hands. [16-18] As for Joanan, having gathered their multitude, he betook himself to a certain village near the city of Bethlehem, desiring to flee into Egypt because he feared the Chaldeans on account of the slaughter of Gedaliah. ^D [alt-version omitted]

^A

The blessed ones enjoin us to celebrate the Creator by means of divisions; and at first they exhort the sons of Israel, beyond all others, to do this; and they divide them in many ways, placing the priests first, since the divine ministry has been entrusted to them. Then, lest they should be thought to limit the singing of hymns to the priests alone, they add 85: "Bless the Lord, O you servants of the Lord, praise and highly exalt him unto all ages"; saying, as it were, that it is possible for him to serve the Master with a favorable mind, whoever may not be adorned with the priesthood. They also announce the resurrection: 86 "Bless, they say, O spirits and souls of the just, the Lord"; that is, the spiritual souls of the just, which have become superior to human passions, and which have received the grace of the Spirit. Then they also exhort those who are endowed with some kind of virtue: 87 "Bless, they say, O holy and humble of heart, the Lord." For they say it is possible for those who are free from injustice, and who use a humble state of mind, both to please God and to offer a fitting hymn to him. ^B And they have recounted all these things, not by using loquacious speech, but first by kindling their love towards the Master, and by reminding themselves of the unspeakable benefits, and of that craftsmanship which God devised from the beginning for the sake of men. For by these words they seem to intimate: Therefore we praise and highly exalt you, because you show us benefits through the angels, because you created the heaven for our sake, and with the sun you illuminate the day, and with the moon you mitigate the obscurity of the night, and you teach us the measure of time: we celebrate you, because you were the author of the heaven producing the stars for us as a meadow, and you feed our eyes with flowers that never wither, ^C by the course of which you provide us with a means to know the measure of the night. And who would ever celebrate you worthily, when he sees the changes of the seasons, the vicissitudes of the solstices, the heat applied opportunely in the summer time? Then the cooling breezes of the winds, the cold in winter and the rain being produced, and each thing proceeding with decorum and order, lightnings indicating rain, clouds giving birth to rains, mountains and flat places adorned with crops and groves, fountains gushing forth and irrigating the plants, rivers flowing unceasingly and admitting no rest to their course, the sea set in the midst as the author of friendship and concord, ^D and receiving both these and those as a common place for commerce? And not to pursue the details: the blessed ones have remembered all these things first, that they might show their own equity of soul, and being eager that they might perform a more flagrant hymn from the memory of the benefits.

^A And having spoken these same things more broadly, he adds also these:

VERS. 18. *As my furor and my wrath have distilled upon those inhabiting Jerusalem, so shall my furor distill upon you when you have entered into Egypt; and you shall be for a desolation, and captives, and for a curse, and for a reproach, and you shall no longer see this place.* He shows that men could have perceived the magnitude of the power, since he has called the afflictions brought upon the Jews "drops" of furor, that is, of punitive operation. After this, the prophet calls back to their memory the promises and the oath. ^B

VERS. 20. *For you, he says, have sent me to the Lord your God, saying: Pray for us; and all things whatsoever the Lord our God shall have spoken, announce to us, and we will do it: and I have announced to you today. And you have not hearkened to the voice of the Lord your God, according to all things which he sent to you. And now know that you shall perish by the sword, and by famine, and by death, in this place, in which you desire to have entered to inhabit.* For these things, which you are trying to avoid, you shall find in Egypt.

CHAPTER XLIII

^C [1] When those who were in charge of the people heard these things, they gave themselves over to audacity and arrogance; and, forgetful of the admonitions and the oath taken, they were not afraid to say to the prophet:

VERS. 2, 3. *You speak lies. The Lord our God has not sent you to us, saying, Do not enter into Egypt. But Baruch, son of Neriah, is inciting you against us, that you might deliver us into the hands of the Chaldeans, that they might kill us, and make us migrate into Babylon.* [4-7] When they had said these things to the prophet, manifestly transgressing the sworn agreements, they betook themselves into Egypt with the whole gathered people, carrying off also the prophet himself, and Baruch. [8, 9] In Tahpanhes ^D therefore, which is a city of Egypt, the prophet is commanded to take stones, and to hide these before the doors of the royal palace, while the Jews observe, and to foretell these things.

VERS. 10, 11. *Behold, I send and bring Nebuchadnezzar the king of Babylon, my servant: and he shall set his throne upon these stones, and shall display his weapons over them. And of the Egyptians he shall kill some, others, however, he shall lead away, having reduced them to slavery. He shall also burn the shrines of the idols; and they...*

^A shall be taken captive. And teaching, as one who will not make the campaign against Egypt a secondary matter, but will sweep it away carefully, he likens him to a shepherd who cleanses his garment of lice. For the shepherds do this very carefully, enjoying much leisure.

And he shall cleanse, he says, Egypt, as a shepherd cleanses his garment; and he shall go out from there in peace (ver. 13). And he shall break in pieces the pillars of Heliopolis, and those that are in On ^B. And he shall burn the houses of their gods with fire. A city was thus known by two names. For both On was called so, and Heliopolis, as the Book of Exodus also taught us. For it says that the sons of Israel built for Pharaoh the cities Pithom and Rameses, and On, which is Heliopolis. But God calls Nabuchodonosor ^C His "servant," not because he was a servant in his will and disposition, but because he was a servant by nature. For the creature is a servant to the Creator. But He teaches at the same time that he did these things while He allowed them.

CHAPTER XLIV

^D To the Jews, however, who were suffering from disobedience, the philanthropic Master again brings correction, using the prophet as a minister. And first he reminds them of what has happened in Judea, and censures them for the very same lawlessness, as they dared such things, and were provoking the divine wrath.

Verses 7, 8. Behold indeed, he says, you are doing great evils against your souls, to cut off from you man and woman, infant and nursing child, from the midst of Judah, so that none of you may be left behind. Provoking me with the works of your hands, sacrificing to other gods in the land of Egypt, into which you have gone to sojourn there, that you may be cut off, and that you may become a curse and a reproach among all the nations of the earth. He reminds them of their history, as they had a recent memory, and he recalls the evils committed by their fathers, and by the kings, and even by the leaders; and he adds to these the various calamities that had been brought upon them on account of them. And to these he adds the threat, calling Himself the Lord of hosts, and the God of Israel, in order that they might hear [E] the greatness of His power, and learn of His care for their ancestors, and be put to shame and be afraid. "Behold, I set My face against you for evil." It is characteristic of those who have been provoked to look upon the insolent with a fierce gaze, and to have a steady eye, and to look for a long time at those who provoke. Therefore, he shapes the threat in a human manner, and says: "I set My face against you for evil, that I may destroy all Judah." [12-14] After this

^A he shows again the oath, seeing that he who has sworn has nothing higher. And he threatens total destruction to the Jews living in Egypt; for he has indicated this through the things already said, and the things that follow agree with them. For he threatens them with both famine and sword, and for those who escape these, with migration. "And all the remnant of Judah that dwell in the land of Egypt shall know whose word shall stand, Mine or theirs." Through the events themselves they shall learn the truth of My words. [29] And this shall be a sign to you, says the Lord, that I will visit upon you in this place for evil, that you may know that My words shall surely stand against you for evil. The outcome of the events will demonstrate the truth of the words. For just as I handed over Zedekiah to the king of the Babylonians, so will I hand over Pharaoh Hophra, to whom you are fleeing, to Nebuchadnezzar. He calls him Pharaoh Hophra, teaching that this was his proper name, whereas Pharaoh denotes the royal dignity. Thus also do we name our own emperors, Tiberius Caesar and Claudius Caesar; and the one is their proper name, the other belongs to the kingdom.

CHAPTER XLV

Having concluded in this way the history entwined with this prophecy, he recalls an earlier prediction, which he was commanded to relate to Baruch in the days of Jehoiakim [2-5]. "The Lord God of Israel said: Because thou, Baruch, hast said: Woe is me! for the Lord has added labor to my sorrow ^B; I have slept in groans, and have found no rest. Thus shalt thou say unto him: Thus says the Lord: Behold, those whom I have built, I will destroy, and those whom I have planted, I will pluck up, and all the earth. And seekest thou great things for thyself? Do not seek, for behold, I bring evil upon all flesh, says the Lord; and I will give thy soul for a spoil in every place whithersoever thou shalt live."

^A Egypt. He shows the oath again, since the one who swore has nothing higher than himself. But he threatens the Jews living in Egypt with total destruction; for he has made this clear through what has been said, and the things that follow are in agreement. For he threatens them with both famine and sword, and to those who escape these, migration. ^B "And all the remnant of the Jews, those who dwell in the land of Egypt, shall know whose word remains, mine or theirs." Through the very events themselves, they shall learn the truth of my words.

29. "And this shall be a sign to you," says the Lord, "that I will visit you in this place for evil, that you may know that my words shall surely stand against you for evil." The outcome of events will show the truth of the words. For just as I delivered Zedekiah to the king of the Babylonians, so I will deliver Pharaoh Hophra, to whom you flee, to Nebuchadnezzar. He calls the Pharaoh "Hophra," teaching ^C that this was his proper name, whereas "Pharaoh" signifies royal dignity. So, too, we name our own emperors: Tiberius Caesar and Claudius Caesar; and the one is a proper name, while the other belongs to the kingship.

CHAPTER XLV

Having concluded in this way the history of this intricate prophecy, he calls to mind an earlier prediction, which he had been commanded to recount to Baruch in the days of Jehoiakim.

2-5. "The Lord God of Israel said: Because thou, Baruch, hast said, 'Woe is me! For the Lord has added trouble to my labor. I have grown weary in groaning, and found no rest.' Thus shalt thou say to him: Thus says the Lord: Behold, those whom I have built, I will destroy; and those whom I have planted, I will pluck up; and that whole land. And seekest thou great things for thyself? Do not seek them, for behold, I bring evil upon all flesh, says the Lord; and I will give thy soul for a spoil in every place whithersoever thou shalt live."

^A The Lord consoles Baruch, who is serving the prophet, writing down his oracles, and complaining and taking things ill; He exhorts him to bear this life, full of pain, with a noble spirit. For, He says, if I am now uprooting and cutting down the entire people whom I brought out of Egypt and planted in this land, and I am subjecting them to so many punishments, are you distressed because you alone are not living in tranquility? Certainly it is not right for you to act in this way. I, however, will be concerned for you; and while I take vengeance upon these, I shall bring you consolation, and wherever you live, you shall experience my providence. It behooves us, therefore, having learned these things, not to take it ill when something grievous happens to us, but to ask of God for better things, while nonetheless bearing the present ones. For the Lord, seeing this endurance of ours, will not allow us to be tempted beyond what we can bear; but with the temptation, He will also make a way out, so that we may be able to endure it. To Him belongs glory and majesty, with His only-begotten Son, and the All-Holy Spirit, now and always, and for the ages of ages. Amen.

VOLUME IX. BOOK NINE. CHAPTER XLVI (Greek XXVI).

^C VERS. 1. *The word that came to the prophet Jeremiah from the Lord against all the nations.* Having placed an end to the prophecies concerning the people, He foretells the things that will come to pass for the other nations, teaching that He is the Creator, God, and Lord of all. [2] Accordingly, in the first place, He tells of Egypt, having designated the time of the prophecy. For it was fulfilled after the death of Pharaoh Necho, who killed Josiah by the river Euphrates, and he himself was likewise killed by the king of the Babylonians.

VERS. 3, 4. *Prepare the weapons and shields, and advance for war. And harness the horses, mount, O horsemen, and stand in your helmets; prepare the spears, and put on your breastplates.* Because they trusted in these things—namely, in their skill in horsemanship and every type of weaponry—He commands them to use these things, teaching that they will be useless. For the things that follow indicate this. ^D

^A those who establish kings and entrust the kingdom to whomsoever they choose. For by showing his own authority, He declares even the most humble, and he who is thought to be of no account, to be a king, and He prepares those who are in the greatest positions of honor to be obedient to Him. Having thus completed the narration of the dream, he says to Daniel, “God is Lord and King, and He establishes those upon the earth.”

VERS. 15. “This dream saw I, Nebuchadnezzar the king; and thou, Baltasar, tell the interpretation openly,” that is, truly and accurately, “because all the wise men of my kingdom are not able to make known the interpretation of it to me; but thou art able.” And showing the reason, “Because,” he says, “the holy Spirit of God is in thee.” For they rely on human reasonings, but thou learnest hidden and secret things from God.

VERS. 16. “Then Daniel, whose name was Baltasar, was astonished for about one hour, and his thoughts troubled him.” For it was necessary that human weakness be shown, and that the inspiring grace then be manifested. “The king therefore answered and said: Baltasar, let not this dream and the interpretation thereof trouble thee.” For he saw him troubled and fittingly consoles and calms him, desiring to know that which he is ignorant of, and thus speaks to him: Do not be overly hasty, but having found at your leisure the things signified by the dream, make them clear to me. ^B Daniel therefore answered and said: “My lord the king, let this dream be to those who hate thee, and the interpretation thereof to thine enemies.” Most wisely and prudently he prays that the unpleasant things may happen to his enemies, yet by beginning with this preamble, he nevertheless declares the truth.

VERS. 17, 18. “The tree, he says, that was magnified and strengthened, whose height reached unto heaven, and its breadth unto all the earth. And its leaves were flourishing, and its fruit much, and food for all was in it; under it dwelt the beasts of the field, and in its branches the birds of the air made their nests, thou art, O king.” It is worth admiring the wisdom of Daniel; for he did not simply say, “The great tree,” but “The magnified and strengthened,” that is: Thou wert not great from the beginning, but hast become so bit by bit, and thou didst not possess thy power from thy birth, but didst acquire it gradually. Therefore he again adds

VERS. 19. “Because thou wast magnified and strengthened, and thy greatness became great and reached unto heaven, and thy dominion unto the ends of the earth.” ^C And he applied these things most fittingly and suitably to heaven and earth. For he said that his dominion had reached to

^A “Therefore, O king, let my counsel be acceptable unto thee, and redeem thy sins with alms, and thine iniquities with mercies to the poor.” By these words he declares the insatiable cruelty which he had exercised against his subjects. “Dost thou wish,” he says, “to enjoy clemency? Show the same towards those who have shared the same nature with thee; for thus shalt thou persuade the Judge to extinguish his threats, and not suffer them to be brought to an end. Peradventure,” he says, “there shall be longsuffering for thy trespasses.” The prophet, therefore, suggested this opinion; but the king, having shown himself all the more stubborn and unyielding, received the wages of his lawlessness, and witnessed with his own eyes the sad things he had heard. Then he also indicates the time of divine longsuffering. For when twelve months had passed, the warnings given through the prediction received the conclusion of events. And having been given so much time for repentance, he miserably spent the allotted period of repentance. Of whom the blessed Paul might rightly say: “Or despisest thou the riches of his goodness and forbearance and longsuffering; not knowing that the goodness of God leadeth thee to repentance? But after thy hardness and impenitent heart treasurest up unto thyself wrath against the day of wrath and revelation of the righteous judgment of God; Who will render to every man according to his deeds: to them who by patient continuance in well doing seek for glory and honour and immortality, eternal life: but unto them that are contentious, and do not obey the truth, but obey unrighteousness, indignation and wrath, tribulation and anguish, upon every soul of man that doeth evil.” For these things happened also to Nebuchadnezzar, who did not make good use of the longsuffering of God. And the witness to this is he himself, who narrates thus: ^B “And after twelve months, he was walking in the temple of his kingdom at Babylon, and he was walking upon the walls of the city with all his glory, and upon his towers. And the king answered and said, Is not this great Babylon, that I have built for the house of the kingdom, by the might of my power, and for the honour of my majesty?” Behold the swelling of his mind, behold the excess of his arrogance. “For I,” he says, “made it a royal city, having established palaces in it for the honour of my majesty; and I did these things gifted with the greatest power, and having mastered all.” Truly, he spoke such words while boasting and raging; but the Lord God immediately brought upon him the punishment.

^A of his impiety. For, as everyone undoubtedly acknowledges that Thabor is a mountain and that Carmel is near the sea, so this prophecy contains the truth.

Ver. 19. *Make thee vessels of captivity, thou inhabitress daughter of Egypt*: that is, be prepared for captivity. He remembers also the desolation of the royal city; for Memphis in those times was the royal city. This we have been taught by the divine Isaiah: *For the princes of Taneos have failed*, he says, *and the princes of Memphis have been exalted* (Isa. xix, 13).

Ver. 20. *Egypt is a fair heifer, beautiful*. By these words he has declared its indomitable and unyoked nature, and its addiction to luxury; and, proving their great weakness, he shows that they could not resist even when a few enemies arrived. For this is what he says: *A pulling out from the north has come to it*.

Ver. 21. *And its mercenaries in it are like fatted calves*. He has declared the weakness of the mercenaries; for a fatted calf does not till the earth, but is eaten by others. He also narrates their flight: *For they have turned and fled together, they have not stood*. And he adds the reason: *For the day of destruction is come upon them, and the time of their vengeance*. For they had to pay the penalty for their impiety; but he teaches by these things that the Master, where He has used long-suffering, at length afterwards inflicts punishment ^B.

Ver. 22. *Their voice is as of a serpent hissing*. It is characteristic of those who are oppressed by adverse circumstances to groan and hiss, and to bring forth breath heated by sadness. *For they shall walk in sand*. He has pointed out their instability by these words; for the Lord also compared him who hears His words and does not act upon them to a foolish man who built his house upon the sand (Matt. vii, 26). *They shall come against it with axes, as those who cut down wood*. Then, by a command:

Ver. 23. *Cut down her forest, says the Lord God, for God will not show mercy, for it is multiplied beyond the locust*. He means the multitude of those who dwell therein. *And there is no number to them*. He compares it to a forest, and the enemies to lumberjacks.

Ver. 24. *The daughter of Egypt has been put to shame; she has been delivered into the hands of the people of the north, says the Lord of hosts, the God of Israel*. This also the prophet ^C predicted to the Jews when they had descended into Egypt.

^A and [when] he hid the stones under the porches of the royal buildings.

VERS. 25. Behold, I will execute vengeance upon Ammon, his son. The Egyptians call Ammon, from whom the Ammonite region is named. They built a great temple for him. He calls it his son, in that he was deified by her. He threatens, therefore, that he will deliver that idol Ammon to the Babylonians, and he also tells other gods [to be delivered]—for this is what he says: ^B And upon Pharaoh, and upon Egypt, and upon its gods, and upon its kings, and upon Pharaoh, and upon those who trust in him. But, he says, they will all be conquered, both the king, and the princes, and the idols, and the auxiliary forces. But after it has been delivered to the kings of Babylon, it will recover its former dominion.

VERS. 26. For after this, he says, it will be inhabited as in the days of old, says the Lord. From this point he predicts things that are pleasant to Israel, and prophesies the return from Babylon. He also announces the destruction of the Babylonians.

VERS. 28. But you, he says, do not fear, my servant Jacob, says the Lord, for I am with you. For I will make a complete destruction in every nation to which I have driven you; but you I will not permit to fail. But I will instruct you in judgment, and I will not let you go as if innocent. He says, "I will afflict you with medicinal instruction." This is what he means: "I will instruct you in judgment, and I will not allow you to go unpunished." For this he signifies: "I will not let you go as if innocent."

^C 592 CAPUT XLVI. (Græc. XXIX. 1-7.)

[1] Thereafter he transfers the prophecy to the foreigners. He calls "foreigners" those who inhabited Ashkelon, and Gaza, and Gath, and Ekron, and said that the prediction had been fulfilled before Pharaoh had struck Gaza. [2] And he compares the army of the Babylonians to a rushing torrent, by which cities are indeed inundated, and the inhabitants are destroyed, and they are not able to bear the roar of arms and chariots. [3] He also teaches that, because of fear, fathers have forgotten their nature, and neglected their children. "Fathers have not turned back to [their] children, because of the dissolution of their hands."

^D VERS. 4. On the coming day, so that all the foreigners may be destroyed. He further predicts destruction to the Tyrians and Sidonians, as those who had come to their aid.

^A For He says, "I will lay waste Tyre and Sidon and the remainder of their help, for the Lord shall destroy the foreigners, the remnant of the isles and of Cappadocia." When we interpreted the other prophets, we showed that the colonists from Cyprus and Cappadocia once lived in Palestine.

VERS. 5. "Calamity has come upon Gaza." That is to say, you shall be deprived of your former splendor. It frequently also indicates mourning. "Shave," He says, "your head, and take up a lamentation over your lips." "Ascalon has been cast away, and the remnant of the Enacim." The descendants of that giant once inhabited the Ascalonite territory.

"How long will you turn yourselves about?" (VERS. 6.) "How long will the sword of the Lord strike?" He called Nebuchadnezzar "the sword of the Lord," for it was by His permission that he acted thus, and the impious punished one another for their impiety. ^B "Return into your sheath; rest, and be stilled." And showing who it was that ordered him to exercise force, He added:

VERS. 7. "And the Lord gave a command to him against Ascalon, and against those by the sea, and against the rest, to march." He uses personification to teach more clearly that creation is not without a governor, but that its Maker presides over all things, at one time providing them with an abundance of good things, and at another time permitting them to fall into calamities.

CHAPTER XLVIII.

The prophet now transfers his prediction to Moab. ^C

VERS. 1. "Thus says the Lord of hosts, the God of Israel, to Moab: Woe upon Nebo, for it has perished; it has been captured." This was an idol, which Isaiah the prophet also mentions, saying, "Bel has fallen, Nebo is crushed." There is also a city of the same name as the idol.

"Cariathem has been captured; Masiyath has been put to shame and defeated." (VERS. 2.) "There is no longer any healing for Moab, nor exultation in Esebon." These were famous cities in which the Moabites took great pride. "They have plotted evil against it: Come, let us cut it off from being a nation, and it shall be stilled with quiet." ^D Then He shows that those who flee will not obtain salvation. "The sword shall go after you." By these words, the persecutors are signified.

VERS. 5. *Quia vox clamantium de Oronaim.* This is another city. ^A He relates that Zogora also had received the report of the sad event, and that the rest of the cities would be filled with lamentation. He exhorts them both to flee and to live in the wilderness like wild asses. And teaching that one must not trust in surrounding walls, but in the incorruptible Creator and Master, he subjoins:

VERS. 7. *Because thou hast trusted in thy fortifications, afflictions shall come upon thee.* And not only shall thou be captured by the enemies, but also Chamos shall go forth into migration. This was an idol of the Moabites. His priests, and his princes with him. (VERS. 8.) *And destruction shall come upon every city.* He says that both the valley and the flat region shall suffer the same misfortunes. He also predicts the total desolation by the enemies.

VERS. 9. *Give, he says, signs unto Moab.* In desert and completely impassable places, men place certain signs made of stones, and in this way they make their journey, and by looking towards them they travel without error. *Because the plague shall be kindled*, that is, it shall be burnt. *And her cities shall be turned into an impassable place.* For the reason that there is no inhabitant in it. *Whence an inhabitant in it?* He teaches by what follows that the God of all commands these things to come to pass.

VERS. 10. *Cursed is he that doeth the works of God negligently, and cursed is he that keepeth back his sword from blood.* ^C But if the prophetic word, God so commanding here, subjects to a curse those who kill negligently, what penalties shall we pay if we treat spiritual work with disregard?

VERS. 11. *Moab hath rested from his youth, and he hath trusted in his glory, and hath not poured from vessel into vessel.* That is to say, he did not change his habitation, nor did he become a wanderer. *And he hath not gone into migration; therefore his taste remained in him, and his scent hath not departed.* He continued in the metaphor, and because he mentioned vessels, he aptly made mention of taste and scent also. Therefore, he says, he remained in prosperity, and experienced no adversity, as if he had always dwelt in the same places.

VERS. 12. *Therefore behold the days are coming, saith the Lord, and I will send unto him those that shall incline, and they shall incline him, and they shall break his vessels in pieces, and shall bruise his horns.* He has set these things forth parabolically and tropically as well; for he said *they shall incline*, just as with a vessel, for emptying. ^D

^D And it shall not suffice for them to take what is in the vessels, but they shall also break these in pieces as well. He calls the cities "vessels," and the wealth inside the vessels he calls the treasure. But he made the myriads of nations, using different tongues, subject to one kingdom. For the Master of all, the Creator of all things, who wisely governs all, gave him the kingdom, and on account of the divine decree, the fear of your father fell upon the subjects. "And whom he wished, he himself exalted, and whom he wished, he himself made humble." So great, he says, was the power he received from God, that he was able both to make those who were in a high station humble, and to make those who were very obscure and cheap, illustrious.

VER. 20. "When his heart was lifted up, and his spirit was strengthened to act proudly, he was cast down from the throne of his kingdom." For even as, he says, "he himself exalted whom he wished, and whom he wished he made humble," not necessarily performing this by a just verdict, so the King and Master of all gave the kingdom to your father as He willed. But when He saw him having used his mind immoderately, and managing the kingdom arrogantly and insolently, and having received the disease of pride, He deprived him both of the royal thrones and took away the honor offered to him by all. [21] And He not only stripped him of his kingdom, but also cast him out from common society, and delivering him over to madness and rage, caused him to dwell with wild asses and beasts. For he received the life-style of those whose wildness he had imitated. He reminds him that he ate grass like oxen, and wandering about naked, and suffering miserably in the open air, he lost the original condition of his body, and accepted another, which the frost and the heat had brought upon him. And all these things, he says, he endured, "until he knew that the Most High rules over the kingdom of men, and to whomsoever He wills, He gives it." But he, by experience, learned what was necessary, and was taught by the events themselves, that nothing in human affairs is stable, but that the God of all, having eternal power, governs human affairs as He wills, and bestows the gift of the kingdom on whomever He wishes.

VER. 22. "But you, he says, his son Belshazzar, have not humbled your heart before God, and did you not know all these things?" For you were not brought to your senses by the misfortunes of your father, nor did you wish to learn from those things which he suffered, the power of God.

VER. 23. "But you have exalted yourself against the Lord of heaven." He rightly teaches those present not to worship the things that are seen, but their Creator and Master; and at the same time he rebukes the king’s arrogance, and teaches that the great heaven has as its creator the invisible God. "But you, he says, have shown yourself higher..."

than the Lord of heaven." ^A This, indeed, is what the following verses teach. "He shall strike Moab with his own hand." That is, dancing and mocking. "And he himself shall become a laughingstock." Then, more clearly:

Ver. 27. And was Israel a derision to you? Was he found in your thefts, that you fought against him? By what, he says, did you fight against him, when he had done you no wrong? Did you find him breaking through walls or acting as a thief? "In it you shall migrate." That is, because of the injustice done to him; and he also speaks of their flight.

Ver. 28. They left the cities, and the inhabitants of Moab settled in the rocks; they became like doves nesting in the rocks, in the mouth of a pit. For they took the caves in the mountain heights, not enduring the onslaught of the enemies. He also calls him insolent, arrogant, and proud. "And of these, he says, I saw with my own eyes." And teaching how the experience of deeds refuted the weight of words, he added:

Ver. 30. Are his arms not according to his reach? Thus he did not act. For before the war, being arrogant and threatening to perform feats of valor, upon seeing the enemies, he fled. And the term "reapers of drought," the Syrian interpreted as follows: ^B He calls the interpretation a "Judgment." "Mane; God has numbered your kingdom and finished it"; that is, He deems you unworthy of the kingdom, and has judged you to be stripped of it.

Ver. 27. "Thekel; it has been weighed in the balance and found wanting." Through these things, the prophet instructed not him alone, but us as well, that there is nothing unweighed before God, but that even mercy and long-suffering are granted to men by a certain measure and weight. Since, therefore, he says, you bypassed the boundaries of philanthropy, receive the divine sentence.

Ver. 28. "Phares; your kingdom has been divided and given to the Medes and Persians." It is necessary to enquire why the God of the universe, having disciplined Nabuchodonosor, brought him back to the kingdom, but this man he immediately deprived both of the kingdom and of life. ^C Reflecting, therefore, we find, first, that Nabuchodonosor had not seen another paying the penalty for impiety, and thus the righteous sentence of God deemed him worthy of pardon; but this man, having seen the extreme punishment of his father, gained no profit from it. Justly, therefore, the righteous judge limited the punishment to a definite time for the former, but deemed the latter worthy of no pardon. Furthermore, since God foresees all things that will come to pass, and knows them as clearly as if they had already occurred, He foreknew the former's repentance and thus ordered his affairs accordingly; but knowing the latter’s impiety until the very end, He cuts short the increase of that impiety with death.

Immediately on hearing what had been interpreted by Daniel, Baltasar ordered him to receive the promised reward, the purple robe and the golden neck-chain; then, having adorned him in this manner, he used the voice of a herald to teach his subjects that he had declared him the third ruler of the kingdom. But none of these things nullified the divine sentence.

Ver. 30. "For that very night, he says, Baltasar, the king of the Chaldeans, was slain." He called him a Chaldean here, in order to show the end of the Chaldean kingdom thereafter. Truly, "It is a fearful thing to fall into the hands of the living God," according to the divine Apostle; ^D fearful, "to despise the riches of his goodness, and forbearance, and long-suffering," and not to worship and serve to the best of one's ability. For who, having become hardened, as the prophet says, has stood before the Lord? For this reason, the blessed David also exhorts: "Today, if you will hear his voice, harden not your hearts, as in the provocation." And interpreting this, the blessed Paul exhorts: "See, brothers, lest there be in any of you an evil heart of unbelief."

^A Ver. 42, 44. "Moab shall perish from being a people, because he has magnified himself against the Lord." He predicts also the evils succeeding one another.

Ver. 43, 44. "Fear, and the pit, and the snare shall be upon you, O you who dwell in Moab, says the Lord. He who flees from the face of the fear shall fall into the pit; and he who climbs up out of the pit shall be taken in the snare." By these words, he demonstrates that even those who used flight were captured, and fell into things they did not wish for. "For I will bring these things upon Moab, in the year that I shall visit her, says the Lord." He calls the time a "year"; when, he says, I decide to punish them, I will wrap them in these evils. He also foretells their civil war.

^B Ver. 45. "For a fire has gone forth from Heshbon, and a flame from the city of Sihon, and has consumed the chiefs of Moab." Yet he also predicts some favorable things for them.

Ver. 47. "And I will turn again the captivity of Moab in the last days, says the Lord." By both this punishment and through his philanthropy, he showed that he is the Lord of all, being wealthy toward all who call upon him, and that he is the God not only of the Jews, but of all men. "Thus far the judgment of Moab." That is, the sentence pronounced against it.

CHAPTER XLIX

The prophetic word now moves on to the children of Ammon, and the Lord of all says to them:

^C Ver. 1. "Are there no sons in Israel? or is there no one to succeed them? Why has Melchom taken Galaad, and his people dwell in its cities?" Ten tribes held the Galaadite region. These having been taken captive, the Ammonites seized it. To them, God says: "Do you show contempt for the people, or for me?" He calls himself "one to succeed" (using "succeed" for "one who takes" and helps), in that way calling himself [the successor]. Now, Melchom was an idol of the children of Ammon. "Do you think," he says, "that that which is not [a god] can prevail over ^D me, who always am?"

Ver. 2. "Therefore, behold, the days are coming, says the Lord..."

and I will make heard against Rabbath of the children of Ammon a tumult of wars." Rabbath was a city of Arabia; and "I will make heard" means I will cause to be heard. "And it shall be for a desolate place and destruction; and the altars of it shall be burned in fire, and Israel shall take their principality, says the Lord." And he continues, foretelling the things that will happen to the Ammonites.

Ver. 3. "Howl, Heshbon, for thy strength is perished: cry out, ye daughters of Rabbath; gird yourselves with sackcloth, and lament, and run to and fro within the walls, for Melchom shall go into migration, and his priests and his princes together." He exhibited also the weakness of the idols; for they also went away captive along with their worshippers.

Ver. 4. "Why do you boast in the plains of Enakim? Thy plains have flowed away, O daughter of reproach." He accuses her shamelessness, and her boldness in wealth. For this the subsequent verses also teach.

^A Ver. 3. "He surpassed," he says, "both the administrators and the satraps," that is, the governors of the nations, "against," that is, set over against them, compared and examined. Then he brings the cause of why he was conquering them: "Because a more abundant spirit," he says, "was in him," that is, he had received from God a much greater and more copious grace. We learn, however, from this place, that to those also to whom secular magistracy is committed, even if they should be devoid of piety, a certain gift of wisdom is nonetheless divinely granted for governing the people subject to them.

And the blessed Daniel hints at this, saying: "Because a more abundant spirit was in him," that is, he had received grace corresponding in proportion to his piety. Which, when the king had observed, "it constituted him," he says, "over all his kingdom." For understanding that he was a man dear to God, and one who relied on power from above, he entrusted the administration of the whole kingdom to him; but the magnitude of the honor excited envy. ^B [4] "The administrators and the satraps were seeking," he says, "to find an occasion against Daniel from the kingdom," or as certain copies have, "from the sides of the kingdom." That is, they were plotting everything, desiring to find that he had transgressed in anything against the laws of the kingdom—as if he were to say, desiring to charge him with the crime of lese-majesty, as we speak now. But they failed of their intended design. "For every occasion," he says, "and every fault and sin they did not find in him, because he was faithful." And this testimony the blessed Daniel had, not from those only who loved him, but also from those who were plotting against his life. For while observing piety toward God, he had also procured for himself much benevolence from the kings. But when they, having pursued myriad paths, did not find him to have committed anything against the laws of the kingdom—

VER. 5. "They said," he says, "the administrators: We shall not find against Daniel an occasion unless in the lawful things of his God." For since they had experienced his perfect piety, there they ^C set the snares of their wickedness.

VERS. 6-9. "And the administrators and the satraps approach the king, and say to him: Darius king, live forever. All the leaders in thy kingdom have taken counsel, and the toparchs, consuls, and satraps, to establish a royal statute, and to confirm a decree, that whosoever shall seek a petition from any god, or man, until thirty days, except from thee, he shall be cast into the pit of the lions. Now therefore, king, confirm the decree, and set forth the writing, so that the decree of the Medes and Persians may not be altered," so that nothing may be ^D changed contrary to it.

^A Jordan was another city. He exhorts them to hide themselves under the earth; for this is what "Sink down into the abyss" means. And he teaches that it is He who brings the punishment upon them, although, he says, in the time past I used long-suffering.

VER. 9. "For if grape-gatherers came to you, they would not leave a remnant." He calls the enemies grape-gatherers, whom he says plunder and despoil everything; and he also teaches the time of the incursion: "As thieves in the night they shall lay their hands [upon you]."

VER. 10. "For I have stripped Esau, I have uncovered their secrets, they shall not be able to hide." ^B Very large and high mountains lie adjacent to Idumaea; therefore, digging caves in these, they fled to them when their enemies approached; but they were disappointed in their hope, for from thence also the God of all delivered them up: "His seed has perished by the hand of his brother and his neighbor." He did not respect, he says, neither nature nor neighborliness. For Jacob and Esau were brothers, and also neighbors; for no one else separated them from each other.

VER. 11. "There is no one who is moved with mercy to leave thy orphans that they may be saved, and I will save them." All men, he says, because of your great wickedness, are hostilely disposed toward you; and shall I, the righteous Judge, become your helper? "And let thy widows trust in me." This also he has spoken in irony, as the following verses show.

VER. 12. "For thus says the Lord: Behold, they to whom it was not the law to drink the cup, have drunk; and shalt thou be found innocent? Thou shalt not be innocent." It is my law to punish those who live in impiety and wickedness; but the prophets and priests were led away to Babylon—Daniel, Ezekiel, and pious men, Ananias, Azarias, Misael, and others, as is likely the many of whom history makes mention. Those men, therefore, he says, were not subjected to the ^C punishment because of their virtue, yet they were made captives; and do you hope to escape? You shall be disappointed in your hope: "For, drinking, thou shalt drink."

VER. 13. "For by myself I have sworn, says the Lord, that you shall be for a destruction, and for a reproach, and for an impassable place, and for a curse. Bosor in the midst of its region, and all its cities shall be desolate forever." By Bosor, he does not mean this Bostra, but another situated in Idumaea. ^D

Ver. 14. *I have heard a report from the Lord, and he has sent messengers to the nations. Gather together, and come against her, and rise up to battle against her.* The phrase "he has sent messengers to the nations" is put instead of "he has commanded." It is also likely that the angels, obeying the divine command, stir up the enemies. For the divine David also says: ^A "He sent upon them the wrath of his indignation; indignation, and wrath, and tribulation, a sending by evil angels." He calls them evil, not because they are such by nature, but because they are sent for the purpose of inflicting punishment. For we are accustomed to call the calamities that are sent upon us "evils." Thus, an angel killed the firstborn of the Egyptians; thus, others were sent against Israel when David took the census of the people. Many other such things may be found in the divine Scripture.

Ver. 15. *Behold, I have made thee small among the nations; contemptible among men.* For the Idumaeans are obscure and would be completely unknown, if the divine Scripture had not made them known; and it makes them known not to all, but to the diligent.

Ver. 16. *Thy pride hath deceived thee, and the shame of thy heart.* By these things he accuses their idolatry, luxury, and intemperance. *He has dwelt in the holes of the rocks.* We have already said what kind of refuges they had. *He has seized the strength of the high hill.* He speaks of the mountain summits; these were very great and lofty. *For even if thou exalt thy nest as the eagle, from thence I will bring thee down, saith the Lord.*

Ver. 17. *And Idumaea shall be a pathless wasteland.* [18] He also says that passers-by will be astonished, and by hissing will declare its immense desolation; and that the aforementioned cities will be deserted in the same manner as were Sodom, Gomorrah, and the other cities that participated in the same suffering. And the word was not false; for Dedan, Thæman, and Bosor are completely reduced to solitude. Furthermore, he says that the Babylonian will rush against it like a lion and will make his journey through the Jordan; and he commands the valiant to arm themselves against it, and adds:

Ver. 19. *For who is like me? And who will resist me? Who is this shepherd that will stand before my face?* For neither the kings, nor their idols, when I command, will be able to resist.

Ver. 20. *Therefore hear the counsel of the Lord, which he has taken against Idumaea, and his thought which he has thought against the inhabitants of Thæman-

- ^A Then he says that their sheep will be easily counted, and the land inaccessible; that the sound of the lamentation will reach the Red Sea; that like an eagle the Babylonian will swoop down and take possession of the fortifications; and that the Idumaeans will fall into cowardice and pain, so that their heart is to be compared to that of a woman in labor. Having finished the prediction concerning Idumaea at this point, he transfers the discourse to Damascus and says:

Ver. 23. *Emath and Arphath are put to shame, for they have heard an evil report.* By Emath, as we have already said, he means Emesa. There is also another Emath, which is now called Epiphania. Concerning Arphath, some say it is what they now call Rephanea. *They were troubled in the sea ^B; they were angry; they cannot rest.* By "sea" he called the multitude of the army; he also showed the initial rush of the Damascenes, for of them he said, "they were angry," but he refutes their subsequent cowardice.

Ver. 24. *Damascus is dissolved, she is turned to flight, and has been cast off; trembling has taken hold of her, and pains have seized her as a woman in labor.* And he teaches the cause of the calamity.

Ver. 25. *How has she not left my cities, has she loved my village?* "They have tried," he says, "to take my cities and villages"; yet he calls the cities and regions of Israel his own, for the Damascenes were always hostilely disposed toward them.

Ver. 26, 27. *Therefore ^C thy young men shall fall in thy streets, and all the men of war shall fall in that day, says the Lord of hosts. And I will kindle a fire in the wall of Damascus, and it shall devour the gates of the son of Ader.* "Son of Ader" is a name. For he was called Baradad in the Syrian tongue. This was the king of Damascus, and as the prophecy indicates, he adorned it with splendid buildings, against which he threatens the fire. The prophet also predicts to the Israelites, who are now called Saracens, the calamities that were to befall them.

Ver. 28. *Concerning Cedar, the queen of the court, whom Nabuchodonosor king of Babylon struck, thus says the Lord.* Cedar ^D was one of the sons of Ismael, and the book of Genesis teaches this. At that time, these [were] to the remaining tribes,

^A for he was ruling over them at that time, as is likely; hence he even calls her queen. He calls the entire encampment of the Saracens an "aula" (court/hall), since they are nomads living in tents. He urges [the Babylonians] to lead an expedition against them, and to plunder the sheep and the camels, and to ravage the tents. And Cedar was a son of Ismael; he urges them also to hide underground; for this is what he says:

Ver. 30. Deepen yourselves in submission, so that you may be able to escape the onslaught of the enemies.

Ver. 31. Rise, go up to a peaceful nation, sitting in refreshment, says the Lord. To whom there are no doors, nor bars: they dwell alone. Easy, he says, will be the victory for you: you have no need of a siege, nor of waiting, nor of long time: they are easy to capture and easy to overcome. He shows also that He [God] is the one who brings on the punishment. "And I will winnow them with every wind, those who are shorn in their faces, and from every end of them I will bring their overthrow." This means: they will be turned to flight toward every region; both those who are settled toward the rising sun, and those who dwell toward the west ^B.

Ver. 33. And the aula shall be a dwelling place of ostriches, and inaccessible for ever. A man shall not sit there, nor shall the son of an earth-born person dwell there. The events themselves bear witness to these words. For having abandoned that place—which is completely deserted—they approach safer, inhabited locations. ^C He predicts also what things are to happen to the land of Elam, having explained the time of the prophecy. For he relates that it took place immediately when Sedecias began to reign.

Ver. 35. Thus says the Lord of hosts: Behold, I break the bow of Elam, the principal part of their dominion. Elam is a city situated at the far end of the Red Sea. This was formerly a brilliant emporium, and even now those who sail to the Indies depart from there.

Ver. 36. And I will bring upon Elam four winds from the four ends of the heavens, and there shall be no nation that shall not come there. When the king of Babylon had conquered Egypt, he returned and broke into it [Elam], having indeed his former army, gathered from the northern and eastern parts; but there was also present with him a multitude ^D of islanders inhabiting the west. He had also taken up, in addition to this, the Egyptians, and the Libyans, and the Ethiopians, who had been allotted the southern region. These things the prophetic word foretold.

^A Ver. 37. *And I will strike them down before their enemies, before them that seek their life; and I will bring upon them in accordance with the wrath of my indignation, says the Lord, and I will send forth my sword behind them, until it shall consume them.* Again, He called the Babylonians His sword; for through them He exacted punishment from these also.

Ver. 38. *And I will set my throne in Elam, and will destroy from thence the king and the magnates, says the Lord.* That which is said, "I will set my throne," is equivalent to, "I will exercise judgment there, and I will bring forth a decision, using the enemies as if they were executioners." Moreover, He has His throne there even now, that city having been converted unto piety; so that in this sense also the prophecy is true.

Ver. 39. *And it shall be in the last of the days, I will turn back the captivity of Elam, says the Lord.* I believe that the good Master, both through this and through other prophecies in which He promised a restoration, is promising not only liberation from the captivity of the body, but also from the captivity of the mind. For He has greater care of souls; and for this reason He inflicts chastisements even upon bodies. ^B Therefore, He predicts the destruction of the devil, and the cessation of impiety, and the freedom of men who had been reduced to captivity by sin. Having attained this, let us praise its Bestower, and let us love the life of freedom, and let us loathe our former slavery; so that we may stand with boldness before the Master’s judgment seat, by the grace and loving-kindness of the righteous Judge, with Whom, to the Father, together with the most holy Spirit, glory and majesty are due, now and ever, and unto the ages of ages. Amen.

VOLUME X

BOOK TEN

CHAPTER L. (Greek XXVII.)

^D Having foretold the things that would come to pass for the other nations, He henceforth predicts the destruction of Babylon.

Ver. 2. *Announce among the nations, and make it heard, and lift up a sign, make it public, and hide it not:*

^A *Say, Babylon is taken.* Since the King of the Babylonians had destroyed other kingdoms and forced them to be subject to his own rule, He commands that the destruction of this city be announced to the nations. *Bel is put to shame.* This was an idol held in the highest honor among the Babylonians; some call it Jupiter, others Saturn. He says it is put to shame, first because it was unable to come to the aid of its worshippers, and then because it was utterly stripped of those who honored it. *Which is fearless and delicate.* He indicates their power and their luxurious lifestyle. *Merodach is handed over.* They called the first king who ruled over the Babylonians Merodach. Here, therefore, he either refers to the last one, under whom the destruction of the kingdom occurred, or the first, who transferred the kingdom from Nineveh to Babylon. The expression "is handed over" can be understood both of the second and of the first, provided that in the case of the second one understands the kingdom itself. He says that all its idols were also suffused with shame, and that their weakness became manifest. By the nation from the north that comes on an expedition against the Babylonians, He means the Medes. These, he says, have rendered their land a desert, and have laid it waste. At this time, he says, the ten tribes and the two will receive liberty, and will return as one and flee to the Lord. *For an eternal covenant shall not be forgotten.* That is, the promise made to the fathers. ^B Then he likens them to lost sheep, ascribing the cause of the destruction of the sheep to the shepherds. He calls not only the kings, but also the priests, shepherds; and he refers to where they caused them to be led astray. *They drove them into the mountains; they caused them to wander; they went from mountain to hill; they forgot their resting place.* He calls the shrines of the idols hills and mountains, because in them they worshipped idols; but he calls the divine temple their resting place, for from there they obtained the fruition of good things. That error, he says, delivered them to the enemies, because of the things they committed against the Lord. ^C VER. 7. *A pasture of righteousness for the Lord who gathered their fathers.* Thus also the blessed David says: *For we are his people, and the sheep of his pasture.* He says this also here, that they were a pasture of righteousness for the Lord, who chose their fathers. VER. 8. *Depart from the midst of Babylon, and go out from the land of the Chaldeans; and be like kids before the faces of the sheep.* For kids, the Syrian has interpreted "goats." He therefore exhorts them to be more powerful than the Babylonians, and to occupy their own fatherland. ^D

^A

For you rejoiced, and boasted, plundering my inheritance. And because you leaped, as calves in the grass, and butted as bulls. And their mother was put to shame ^B exceedingly.

My thoughts from my bed, and the visions of my head, were troubling me. For the vision, he says, was terrifying, and the ignorance of the riddles was disturbing my mind, and filling it with confusion. 16. "I approached, therefore, one of those standing by, and I was seeking the accuracy from him concerning all these things." He calls "standing by" the thousands of thousands, and myriads of myriads, through which he did not speak of a definite number, but indicated a multitude of those serving and those standing by that is greater than what can be numbered. For the more honorable ones were not only standing, but were also commanded to serve; but the others, standing with fear, indicated their servitude. And just as in human courts, some of the subjects stand showing the tribunal as more fearful, while others go out and in, bringing answers to the judge; so in the most fearful tribunal, Daniel saw the myriads standing by, and the thousands of thousands entrusted with the duty of serving. Having approached, therefore, he says, and asking what was the interpretation of the revelation, he learned the truth from one of those standing by.

17, 18. For he said to me: "These four great beasts, four kingdoms will arise on the earth, which will be taken away. And the saints of the Most High will receive the kingdom, and they will hold it until the age, and until the age of ages." ^C One must note carefully that here too he spoke of four kingdoms, and on the image four; and one should not imagine that the earthenware kingdom is different from the iron one. For indeed there he said the end of the iron kingdom would be weaker, and here likewise he said three horns were uprooted from the ten, as being clearly in a weaker condition. These kingdoms, therefore, he says, will be dissolved, and the true and interminable kingdom will be given to the saints of the Most High. Desiring that, therefore, he says, do not consider anything of the present age—kingdoms which are not for long to receive the end.

Then he says 19: "I was seeking accurately concerning the fourth beast, because it was differing from every beast, and terrifying exceedingly; its teeth were iron, and its claws bronze; it was eating, and thinning, and trampling the rest with its feet." It is necessary to note that he calls the teeth iron, but the claws bronze. For the Roman kingdom receives tribute from all; therefore he called the teeth iron. And since many from the Macedonian kingdom also serve in the military, and what claws are to a beast, soldiers are to a king, he rightly called the claws bronze, since he had also called the third kingdom bronze. For I was inquiring, he says... ^D

not satisfied with the victory that he will have reported over men.

VERS. 25. "And words, he says, he will speak against the Highest, and will make old the saints of the Highest, and," as some copies have, "will humble, and will think to change times and law." With such great rage, he says, and madness will he be stirred up, that he will throw out proud words and blasphemies against the highest God, and bring every kind of punishment upon those who, serving Him with a grateful and benevolent mind, are partakers of holiness; and he will think that he can utterly overturn the piety that will then prevail, and change its excellent order of life. For this is what he hinted at by saying, "He will think to change times and law," that is, the order of life that holds sway at that time. Then he adds, "And it shall be given into his hand." That is, divine providence will allow it; and showing the time of the ugliness of those evils, "For the poor man shall not be forgotten for ever, and the patience of the poor shall not perish for ever" (Ps. IX, 19). When he had said, "It shall be given into his hand," he added, "Until a time, and times, and half a time." And this he taught us more clearly at the end of the prophecy. "For from the time of the change of the continual sacrifice," he says, "and the giving of the abomination of desolation, there shall be a thousand two hundred and ninety days" (Dan. XII, 11). By "a time, and times, and half a time," therefore, he means three years and a half, during which that horn speaking great things will rule.

VERS. 26. "But the judgment, he says, has sat, and they will transfer his dominion, to destroy and to abolish it even unto the end." This, in truth, the blessed Paul also clearly taught us. For when he had said those things which we have already mentioned, he added also these: "Only until he who now detains is taken out of the way, and then the lawless one will be revealed, whom the Lord Jesus will slay with the spirit of His mouth, and will destroy by the manifestation of His coming, him whose coming is according to the operation of Satan, in all power, and signs, and lying wonders, and in all seduction of iniquity in those who perish" (2 Thess. II, 7-10). But what he says is this: It is necessary that that which now detains be taken out of the way. For the error that detains will be extinguished, and an end will be put to the deceits of idols, and then the lawless one will be revealed. This the Lord also asserted in the holy Gospels: "For the Gospel will be preached," He says, "through all the ends of the earth for a testimony unto them, and then shall the end come" (Matt. XXIV, 14). Taught this from thence, the blessed Paul instructs the Thessalonians, and through them all those who love piety, that "Do not think now..."

^A regarding the grace, he threatens to deliver to the enemies both the city and its inhabitants, and the oracles of falsehood, and those who are accustomed to excel in it, and those who have come to their aid, and the hidden treasures. He threatens also to make its water empty; but he calls the multitude water figuratively; and it is likely that he also foretells the things that will befall the water. For formerly the Euphrates cut it in the middle, but now the river has been turned into another path, and a very small canal travels through the ruins. He calls the houses of the city islands, because water washes around the circuits, and again, because it has the river in the midst of the city. He calls the fantasies of the demons "idols"; and the Syrian translated "daughters of sirens" as ostriches; and it is the custom of divine Scripture to call demons thus, because they soothe and deceive men; and these, like those, are signs of desolation. "And it shall not be built again for ever, and it shall not be inhabited from generation to generation." And both have reached their end; for it was not built, but has been deprived of its walls even until today, and it remained uninhabited for a very long time; for this is what it meant by "from generation to generation." And even now few Jews inhabit this land. He compares it to Sodom and Gomorrah, both because of its former impiety and because of the calamity that was later inflicted upon it. He also points out the panoply of the enemies, and says it resembles a surging sea; and he compares their eagerness to fire. He says the hands of the Babylonians are paralyzed by fear, and likens their pain to the pangs of a woman. And he teaches that he himself leads the Medes. "For who is as I? And who will resist me? And who is this shepherd who will stand against my face?" Since he was named the Shepherd of ^B Israel, and the kings of Babylon thought they would overcome the God of all, he teaches that it is he who brings punishment upon them, possessing incomparable power. Then he exhorts them even to destroy the lambs of the sheep, and to lay waste the pasture; for he calls the infants lambs, and the city and the land subject to it the pasture. Regarding the children, moreover, the blessed David also prophesies: "For blessed is he," he says, "who shall seize your infants, and dash them against the rock."

^C 46. Because at the voice of the capture of Babylon the earth shall be shaken, and its cry shall be heard among the nations. For since the city was prominent, the report of its suffering spread everywhere. ^D

CHAPTER LI (Gr. XXVIII)

^A He then calls the enemies by various names; and first, a scorching wind, for such is the nature of a wind that destroys plants. Then, insolent people, by which he signifies the justice of the punishment. For he says, you shall suffer according to what you have done. Having commanded these to use wrath against all without restraint, he added:

Ver. 5. Because Israel and Judah were not widowed from their God, from the Lord Almighty; for their land was filled with iniquity, by the holy ones of Israel. For the sake of their superstition and lawlessness, I overlooked them; for I did not altogether strip them of my protection.

Ver. 7, 8. A golden cup is Babylon in the hand of the Lord, intoxicating all the earth with its wine: the nations drank this, the nations were shaken. And suddenly Babylon has fallen, and is broken. And blessed Daniel, as an interpreter of the vision, also said that the gold itself was Babylon. And by this punishment brought upon other nations for its sake, he called it a golden cup. He says, therefore, that Babylon and the other nations were afflicted with punishments, and soon, beyond all expectation, it was captured and overturned. Then he speaks to the nations that come to its aid: "Lament for her: take balm for her corruption, if perhaps she may be healed." That is, bring medicine as an aid to her. And the usage is a personification, with the prophet adding their response.

^B Ver. 9, 10. We have applied medicine to her, and she was not healed. Let each depart to his own land. For her judgment has reached to the heavens, and is lifted up to the stars. The Lord brought forth this judgment against Babylon. Blessed Isaiah had already predicted this pride of the Babylonians: "For he said, I will set my throne above the stars." He teaches more clearly, moreover, who ministers, and who commands.

Ver. 11, 12. The Lord has stirred up the spirit of the kings of the Medes, for his wrath is against Babylon, to destroy it. For it is the vengeance of the Lord, the vengeance of his temple, upon the walls of Babylon. He has raised a worthy guard for the temple, for those of Babylon. Then he ironically instructs the Babylonians to station guards on the walls, and to summon them, and to prepare their weapons. And to teach that no profit will come to them from this, he added: And the Lord shall do whatever he has spoken against the inhabitants of Babylon.

^C And as for the children, the blessed David also predicts: "Blessed," says he, "is he who shall seize your little ones, and dash them against the rock."

Concerning the vision of the ram in Daniel: "And I was," he says, "at the Ubal. Beside the gate, he says, I seemed to stand; for so some of the interpreters have placed it. And behold…"

Ver. 3. "And I lifted my eyes, and behold, one ram standing over the Ubal, and it had high horns, and one was higher than the other, and the higher was ascending at the end." He views the Persian kingdom as resembling a ram, as it was flourishing in wealth, and possessing great abundance of resources. He observes two horns on the ram, because Cyrus was the first of them to reign, and he passed on the kingdom only to his children; for after his son Cambyses died, the Magi held the kingdom for a few months; but it was received a little later by Darius the son of Hystaspes, who passed on the kingdom to his grandsons and descendants, down to the last Darius, whom Alexander the Macedonian destroyed and took possession of the kingdom. The two races of kings are, therefore, signified by the two horns; and he sees both as high, but the second one higher than the former. For, as we have already said, the kingdom became greater when Darius and Xerxes held the scepter. For Cyrus subdued the Euxine Sea and Asia; Darius also joined the nomadic Scythians with his other subjects; and Xerxes attempted to impose the yoke of his kingdom upon Europe as well. For this reason, he sees two horns on the ram, but one before and one after, and the second higher than the former.

Ver. 4. "And I saw," he says, "the ram goring towards the sea, and the north, and the south." For all the lands situated towards the north and the south he had as subordinates, as well as those that were to the west as far as the sea itself; and he forced most of the islands to serve him. Straightway, therefore, with Xerxes launching the campaign against Greece, Cypriots, Rhodians, Samians, Lesbians, Chians, and all the Cyclades fought having entered into an alliance. For this reason he saw the ram goring towards the sea, the north, and the south. "And all the beasts," he says, "shall not stand before it, and there was no one rescuing from his hand, and he did according to his will, and was magnified." He calls the other individual kingdoms beasts again—the Syrians, Cilicians, Arabians, Egyptians; and he names them beasts because they were terrible to the subject peoples. No kingdom, he says, could resist that kingdom which was goring towards the south, and the north, and the sea; nor was any man able to liberate anyone from that empire, but whatever seemed good to him, he brought to pass.

Ver. 5. "And I," he says, "was understanding." These things, he says, contemplating them, I was considering with myself, which and

whatever seemed good to him, he brought to pass. For it is the judgment of the Lord, it is the judgment of His temple, upon the walls of Babylon. What it dared against the temple, I will bring upon the walls of Babylon. Then he ironically commands the Babylonians to station guards upon the walls, and to rouse them, and to prepare their weapons; and teaching that no profit would accrue to them from this, he added, "And the Lord will do all that He has spoken against those who dwell in Babylon." ^A For He had predicted through the prophets its destruction. "And against the arm," he says, God has sworn, instead of, "by His own power"; for He added this: "Who maketh the earth by His strength; preparing the world by His wisdom; by His understanding He stretched out the heavens. To the sound of His noise He put a multitude of water in heaven, and brought up clouds from the end of the earth; He made lightnings for rain; He brought forth light from His treasures." He has set forth both the works of creation and those of providence; for He not only has made all things, but He also continues to govern them. The phrase, "To the sound of His noise He put a multitude of water in heaven," teaches of the sound produced by the thunder through the clouds. ^B [alt-version omitted] ^{C D}

combustum, that is to say, entirely useless; which the following verses declare.

VERS. 26. *And they shall not take of thee a stone for a corner, and a stone for a foundation, because thou shalt be in everlasting waste, saith the Lord.* Neither did they appoint a king, nor a prince from among the new inhabitants. For foundations support the building, and the corners join it. ^A

VERS. 27. *Lift up a sign in the land. Sound the trumpet among the nations; sanctify the nations against it* (that is, set them apart). *Announce against it the kingdoms of Ararat* from me, *and the Aschanazaei.* By Ararat he means Armenia; the Aschanazaei, however, are another nation neighboring upon them. Now the king of the Persians and Medes gathered all of these; for this is what he adds: ^B

VERS. 28. *Sanctify the nations against it, the king of the Medes, and his leaders, and all his magistrates.* He says also that the earth is shaken.

VERS. 29. *Because the thought of the Lord has risen against Babylon, to set the land of Babylon into a waste, that it may not be inhabited.* He also predicts the siege, and the weakness of the warriors who are within, and the burning of the city, and those who are to announce its capture to the king. [53] He compares the destruction of the houses to a threshed threshing floor and a ripe harvest, and he brings forth the words which Jerusalem used to speak concerning the king of the Babylonians. ^C

VERS. 34. *He has divided me, he has consumed me, he has seized me as fine dark shadows, Nabuchodonosor, king of Babylon.* The finest air penetrates our bodies more than anything else. He says, therefore, that the darkness of calamity has filled even the very members of my soul. *He rendered me as an empty vessel; he swallowed me as a dragon; he filled his belly with my delicacies.* He has despoiled me, he says, of all my goods; and taking away all my wealth and depriving me of prosperity, he has imitated the dragon that swallows the nestlings of sparrows. He teaches, moreover, how her own iniquities made her weak, but him strong. ^D

VERS. 35. *My labors and my miseries have driven me into Babylon, shall the inhabitress of Sion say; and my blood upon the inhabitants of Chaldea, shall Jerusalem say.* My blood, he says, shall be avenged by them, and they shall pay the penalty for the things which they wickedly perpetrated.

^A Thus the prophet shows the things pertaining to Jerusalem, and the just sentence rendered by God.

Verse 36. *Therefore thus saith the Lord: Behold I will judge thy adversary, and will avenge thy wrong.* Because thou hast known what harm is born from sin. *And I will make her sea a desert.* This is to say, the multitude of her subjects. *And I will dry up her fountain.* The kingdom, and the dominion over all. Then he says also the things proper to the desolation, concerning which we have often spoken: *It shall not be inhabited any more.* For it has few houses now, and these are scattered. ^B Having likened its nobles to lions, he foretells both their fear and their destruction.

Verses 39, 40. *For I will give them a drink, and I will make them drunk, that they may slumber, and sleep a perpetual sleep, and not awake, saith the Lord. And I will bring them down as lambs to the slaughter, and as rams with the kids.* Both the rulers and the ruled, and together with the king, the subjects; for he called the subjects lambs and kids, but the rulers rams.

Verse 41. *How is Sesach taken, and the glory of all the earth caught?* He so calls Babylon herself. ^C For he called its king Sesach in what we previously interpreted. It is likely that it was so named long ago, and later called Babylon. That he calls the city by this name, the things that follow bear witness. *How has Babylon become a desolation among all nations!* He shows also the multitude of the army that invaded it.

Verse 42. *The sea is come up upon Babylon; she is covered with the multitude of the waves thereof.* Then, having predicted the desolation, he again brings Bel into the midst.

Verse 44. *For I will take vengeance, he says, on Bel in Babylon, and I will bring forth out of his mouth that which he hath swallowed, and the nations shall no more flow together unto him.* ^D Daniel also remembers the food which was offered to him, and how the priests consumed it. The prophetic word also foretells the cessation of the error, and consoles the people, and exhorts them not to fear the evils which are about to befall Babylon, teaching that these things were denounced long before.

^A

Vers. 46. *For in the same year the report shall come, and after him in the year the report and iniquity in the land. And ruler upon ruler, and parable upon parable.* For before the arrival of the enemies was announced one or two years prior, they persisted in acting unrighteously and regularly violating the law. On account of this, he threatens the carved images which were worshipped, and those who worshipped them, with destruction, and says that the whole creation rejoices at this total ruin; he also teaches the justice of the punishment.

Vers. 49. *And surely in Babylon, for Israel to fall wounded in her.* Consequently, the wounded of Babylon shall fall by the whole earth; for what she did to Israel, she shall suffer from others.

Vers. 50. *Ye who are saved from the land, depart, and do not stand; remember from afar the Lord.* He says these things to the captive Jews. And from this it is clear that the reign of Darius son of Ahasuerus is one thing, and the reign of Cyrus the Persian is another; and the things now read agree with the things formerly spoken. ^B For he did not simply call Darius a Mede, but “of the seed of the Medes,” so that it might be clear that he was not a Mede from both sides, I mean both father and mother; nevertheless, he reigned over the kingdom of the Chaldeans, Balthasar having been killed at night by divine stroke after his impiety. And it seems to me that this Darius reigned for a very short time. For the blessed Daniel, as if seeing that the term of the captivity was finally fulfilled, and having calculated the number of the seventy years which God, the Lord of all, foretold through the prophet Jeremiah, begins to offer supplication on behalf of the people to the Master. And the time was fulfilled in the reign of Cyrus, king of the Persians, as the blessed Ezra says; for immediately from the beginning of his writing, after the prologue, having briefly mentioned the conquest of Jerusalem, and the enslavement of the fatherland, and the migration of the captives to Babylon, he added: “And he was a servant to him and his sons, until the Persians reigned; for the fulfillment of the word of the Lord by the mouth of Jeremiah, until the land should enjoy its Sabbaths; throughout the time of its desolation it shall keep Sabbath, to the fulfillment of seventy years, in the first year of Cyrus king of the Persians, to the completion of the word of the Lord by the mouth of Jeremiah.” And most divine Jeremiah also says: “Behold, I am sending, and I will take the nation of the north, Nabuchodonosor the king of Babylon, my servant, and I will bring him upon this land, and upon those dwelling in it, and upon all the nations that are in their circuit, and I will desolate them, and I will make them a desolation, and a hissing, and an everlasting reproach; and I will take away from them the voice of joy, and the voice of gladness, and the voice of the bridegroom, and the voice of the bride, the scent of myrrh, and the light of a lamp, and all his land shall be for a desolation, and they shall serve among the nations for seventy years. And when the seventy years have been fulfilled, I will take vengeance upon the king of Babylon, and upon that nation, says the Lord, for their iniquities, and upon the land of the Chaldeans, and I will set them for an everlasting desolation.” Therefore blessed Jeremiah hinted that the time of the captivity was to be completed at the overthrow of the Chaldean kingdom; but Ezra made this clearer, having made mention of Cyrus. We discover also that the most divine Zechariah calculated this time differently. ^C For after the death of Cyrus and Cambyses his son, Darius son of Hystaspes having obtained the empire of the Persians, the prophet, commemorating the time: “In the twenty-fourth day of the eleventh month, this is the month of Sabat, in the second year of king Darius, the word of the Lord came to Zechariah…”

…”

Besides the generals and the valiant men, “And her greatest wall shall be razed, and her high gates shall become fuel for the fire.” Having foretold these things in this way, he teaches that he wrote this prophecy in the fourth year of Zedekiah’s reign, as God had commanded; and he gave the book to Seraiah, who was sent to Babylon by Zedekiah; and that he charged him to read the scroll in Babylon, and to say: 62. “O Lord, You have spoken against this place, to destroy it, and that there should not be an inhabitant in it, from man to beast, for it shall be a desolation forever.” This, he said, after praying, and having bound the book to a stone, cast it into the Euphrates, and you shall say: 64. “Thus shall Babylon sink, and shall not rise up from the face of the evils which I am bringing upon her.” The Despot commanded this to be done for the consolation of the captives: so that, having learned both of her capture and of their own liberation, they might have hope of good things as a solace. Thus, then, the prophecy had its end.

CAP. LII.

The following matters are discussed more historically; if God promises good things, yet we ourselves render ourselves unworthy of the gift, we become an obstacle to divine generosity. God says this also through the prophet Ezekiel: “At what instant I shall speak concerning a nation and a kingdom, to build and to plant; and it shall be, if that nation turns and does evil, I will not bring upon it all the good which I spoke.” Instructed by these things, the blessed Daniel, by fasting, and sackcloth, and ashes, made his prayer wing its way to God. 4. “And I prayed,” he says, “to the Lord my God, and I confessed, and I said: O Lord God, the great and marvelous, who keeps the covenant and the mercy for those who love You, and who keep Your commandments.” He calls Him great and marvelous as one who is able to do great and marvelous things. For divine men are accustomed to assign divine appellations based on His works. And he said that He keeps the covenant and the mercy for those who love Him, reminding Him of the promises made long ago to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. Praying with all precision, he teaches that He does not keep them simply, but for those who love Him and who keep His commandments. “For if anyone,” he says, “transgresses Your commandments, he renders himself unworthy of Your promises. This has happened to us also.” 5. “For we have sinned,” he says, “we have committed iniquity, we have acted impiously, and we have turned aside from Your commandments, and from Your judgments.” Having very fittingly applied those honored and marvelous appellations to God, he applied the diametrically opposite ones to themselves. He was not satisfied with saying we have sinned, but added also that we have committed iniquity and acted impiously, having become ungrateful regarding Your benefits. We acted impiously, having chosen other gods instead of You—inanimate, senseless, possessing no power whatever. Then, demonstrating the care continuously bestowed upon them by God, and the great insensibility of the people, he added: 6. “And we have not hearkened to Your servants the prophets, who spoke in Your name to our kings, and to our princes, and to our fathers, and to all the people of the land.” For Your grace did not cease looking upon us, and speaking through the prophets—at one time to kings and princes, at another to priests and teachers (for these he called fathers), and often to all the people; but even though these things happened, we persisted in contradicting. Therefore, he rightly adds: 7. “To You, O Lord, belongs justice, and to us the shame of face.”

^A He also reviews the number of the captives whom he had led away. ^B Furthermore, he narrates how, in the thirty-seventh year after the captivity of Jechoniah (for he refers to him as Joakim), Evil-Merodach, the king, had freed that very Jechoniah from prison and, having shown him favor, deemed him worthy of a royal throne and ordered him to sit as king before others; he also had him as a guest at his table, providing him an abundance of all necessary things. And this, too, proclaims the philanthropy of the Lord. For while punishing, He shows mercy, and while applying chastisement, He consoles; He tempers the sentence of justice with philanthropy. Therefore, let us fear the justice of His judgment, and relying upon His kindness, let us not despair of salvation; but let us wait for divine mercy and walk the straight path, so that we may obtain the blessed end, in Christ Jesus our Lord: with whom there is glory to our Father, together with the most holy Spirit, now and always, and for the ages of ages. Amen.

VOLUME XI. BARUCH.

CHAPTER I.

^C The admirable Baruch, indeed, departed together with the Jews who had fled into Egypt; for we learned this in the preceding pages. Yet, five years after the city was captured, he arrived in Babylon. For those nurslings of piety employed every effort to strengthen the infirm and to guide them toward the truth. When, therefore, he had arrived in Babylon, he read aloud the prophecy of the divine Jeremiah to all the captives, and especially to Jechoniah, who had become a prisoner after having reigned for a brief time. And he did not miss the mark; for he brought them into a realization of their former sins, so that they might both recognize the cause of their calamity and shed many tears, and so that each might contribute money, which they sent to the priests left behind in Jerusalem,

^A so as to purchase victims, and to offer them, and to render the Lord God propitious to themselves. For the Hebrews call the manna a sacrifice. They ask for life both for Nabuchodonosor and for Balthasar his son. Thus also the divine Apostle commanded that prayer be made on behalf of kings who were still warring against religion, and on behalf of those placed in high rank and authority. So great is the agreement between the old and the new. They also ask themselves, constrained to serve, to have their eyes enlightened, so that they might not suffer any error. They also call their own sins to mind, and confess the justice of the divine decree. They also request that this epistle of theirs be read to God on the solemn feast days.

^B Verses 15, 16. *And ye shall say*, he says, *To the Lord our God belongeth righteousness, but unto us confusion of face, as at this day to the man of Juda, and to them that dwell at Jerusalem, and to our princes, and to our priests, in the sight of the Lord.* Most just, he says, is the sentence of God pronounced against us; but we are worthy of shame, having all sinned in common. For along with the kings, the priests also turned into the contrary way.

Verses 17, 18. *Because we have not believed Him. And we have not hearkened to the voice of the Lord our God, to walk in the commandments of the Lord, which He set before our face.* He calls to mind the things of old also.

Verse 19. ^C *For since* the time our fathers were freed from the slavery of the Egyptians, until the present day, we have continued to transgress the divine law; and we busied ourselves not to hear his voice. That which says, "and we busied ourselves," he put for "we devised kinds of sins." Such ones the blessed Paul also calls inventors of evils; we have reaped, he says, the fruits of our sins.

Verse 20. *For evils have cleaved unto us, and the curse, which the Lord commanded to Moses his servant.* The law contains both curses and blessings; for those who keep it, indeed, blessings, but for those who transgress, curses.

CHAPTER II

^D They relate also how they had despised the prophets sent to them by God, and that those things which were foretold by them have reached their fulfillment.

Verse 2. *And He has brought*, he says, *great evils upon us, such as have not happened under the whole heaven,*

^A *as it is written in the law of Moses.* ^A

Verse 3. *That a man might eat the flesh of his own son,* and a man the flesh of his daughter. The siege brought on the famine, and the famine compelled them to feed upon human bodies. He says, the same happened to the neighboring nations.

Verse 5. *And we have become under, and not above, because we were servants and not masters.* Then they add the cause: *Because we have sinned against the Lord our God, and did not listen to his voice.* ^B Again, by attributing their condition to divine judgment, they assign to themselves the shame. For often, though God has threatened and foretold this through the prophets, we did not come to the everlasting God in our days; but we persisted in resisting.

Verse 9. *And the Lord has watched over the evils which he has brought upon us.* He calls the punishment of God *watching*. For it is the custom of divine Scripture to call His longsuffering *sleep*. ^C And again, remembering the punishment, they call the Lord just, as one who punished the transgressors so that they might be healed. 14 Then, with groaning they entreat Him, and call to mind their ancient liberty, which their fathers had obtained when they were delivered from the bitter servitude of the Egyptians. And recollecting the miracles that had happened, they divulge their own faults, crying out:

Verse 12. *We have sinned, we have done impiously, we have done unrighteously, O Lord our God, in all thy ordinances. All, he says, thy commandment we have transgressed, we have disregarded all thy law.*

Verse 13. *May thine anger, I pray, turn from us, for we are left few out of many, among the nations, where thou hast dispersed us.* We acknowledge the judgment to be just: but if this be so, we beseech Thee. We have been reduced to few, whereas in former times we were comparable to the sand.

Verse 14. *Hear, O Lord, our prayer, and our supplication: and deliver us for thy sake. We are not worthy: but thou art merciful. We are also called thy people: therefore may we obtain favor. And grant us favor in the sight of those who transplanted us. May they not hate us: but may they let us go.*

Verse 15. *That all the earth may know, that thou art our Lord God: and thy name is called upon Israel and his race.* The change of our evils will give others occasion ^D for piety; may thy holy name, until the transgression be grown old, and the sin be completed; that is to say, until their impious attempt be increased, and the sin reach its end. He calls the sin which is completed, and the transgression which is grown old, or rather increased and brought to its summit, the cross, which they were daring enough to prepare against the Lord. For before this time, having dared infinite crimes, they paid penalties, and suffered punishments for the things in which they had offended; but again, having obtained pardon, they were deemed worthy of humanity. But after their insanity, by which they were roused against the Lord and dared the crime of the cross, they never obtained a recall, as the facts themselves proclaim. But more than four hundred and forty years having passed by, dispersed throughout the world, they wander, migrating from one place to another. Therefore, the holy archangel says to the blessed Daniel: "Seventy weeks are determined upon thy people, and upon thy holy city, until the transgression be grown old, and the sin be completed." And because the Lord Christ was about to grant to those who believe in Him the remission of sins, as even the blessed John cried, saying: [“Behold the Lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the world,”] he justly added: "And to seal up sins, and to blot out iniquities, and to make expiation for injustices." For He blotted out the iniquities of those who believed in Him, having blotted out the handwriting that was against us, just as the blessed Paul asserts. And He sealed up sins, having put an end to the life lived according to the law, and having bestowed the grace of the Spirit, by which those who live spiritually are helped and overcome their passions. To these he added: "And to bring in everlasting righteousness." And righteousness is everlasting, essentially the Lord Christ Himself. For concerning Him, the blessed Paul says: "[Who] was given to us to be wisdom from God, and righteousness, and sanctification, and redemption." And writing to the Romans about the Gospel, he said, that "the righteousness of God is revealed therein." Since, having used liberality, He also bestowed the righteousness which is the cause of eternal life upon those who believed in Him, which He also exhorted them to ask for, as they prayed: "Seek," he says, "the kingdom of God, and His righteousness." Therefore the holy Gabriel spoke appositely: "And to bring in everlasting righteousness." He added moreover: "And to seal up the vision and the prophet," that is to say, to put an end to all the prophecies: "For Christ is the end of the law for righteousness to everyone that believes," and to cause the prophetic grace henceforth to fail from the nation of the Jews. For if the Lord Christ, being manifested, had not done and suffered those things which the prophets predicted, he would not have attained.

^A They shall learn the power of our God.

Ver. 16. O Lord, look down from thy holy house, and attend unto us. He calls the house which was in Jerusalem "holy house," for in it He used to manifest His presence.

Incline, O Lord, thine ear, and hear. Ver. 17. Open thine eyes, and see. Those who are in distress are accustomed to close their eyes as soon as those who have done them injury are seen, and to turn away the pupils of their eyes while those who have injured them are entreating them; these things, therefore, they have said in a human manner. For the Divine nature is not composite, but simple and uncircumscribed. To these they add: "For the dead are not wont to praise thee." But this is the property of the living.

Ver. 18. For the soul that is anxious in greatness goeth forth. A spirit bowed and weak, and eyes failing, and the soul that hungers, shall give thee glory and justice, O Lord. Those who have fallen into the greatest calamities, and have been brought to the despair of better fortune—if they have subsequently attained to any change—they genuinely praise thy loving-kindness. ^B Soon they say:

Ver. 19. Not trusting in the righteousness of our fathers, or in our own, do we pray to obtain any mercy. For we are worthy of the evils which the prophets threatened against us; for they were urging us to accept the discipline of thy just judgment, and to serve the king of Babylon, and we continued to contradict. And thou hast fulfilled, O Master, all things which thou didst foretell through them. And not only have we who are living been delivered up to slavery, but also the sepulchres of our fathers, and indeed those of the kings also, were torn up from their foundations, so that their bones were thrown out into the open air and ruined by the contrary changes of the atmosphere. ^C

Ver. 25. And they died in grievous pains, by famine, and by sword, and by sending away. And not only didst thou deliver us to famine, and slaughter, and service—for he calls captivity "sending away"—but thou also didst render desert thy holy temple, which for thy name's sake had become renowned and spectacular. And these things, nevertheless, thou didst not bring upon us according to the desert of our impiety, but thou didst temper the rigor of justice with clemency.

Ver. 27. For thou hast exercised upon us, he says, O Lord our God, all thy equity, and all thy great compassion. They also make mention of the threats described in the law; for he expressly foretold in the canticle the evils that would happen to them: "I will send the teeth of wild beasts upon them." ^D And that it might be shown

^A that he calls the enemies wild beasts, he subjoins: "From without, the sword shall bereave them"; and again, "in the storehouses, there is terror." By these words, he reminds them of the threats, and reminds them also of the promise of good things. For he says ^B that he will grant mercy to those who repent, and will liberate them from captivity, and restore their former liberty.

CHAPTER III

VERS. 1. *O Lord Almighty, God of Israel, the soul in anguish and the pained spirit cries unto thee.* By the "exceeding great" anguish, he says, he means the calamity and the magnitude of the despair. "Hear, O Lord, and have mercy, for thou art a merciful God; and have mercy, for we have sinned ^C in thy sight." You possess a sea of loving-kindness; reach it out to those who have need of it. For mercy is fitting for those who have sinned and repented.

VERS. 5. *For thou art seated forever: and we perish forever.* Thou, he says, art eternal, but we are temporal. Thou art unchangeable and immortal; but our life is measured by a short span. To signify this he placed: *Thou art seated forever.*

VERS. 4. *O Lord Almighty, ^D God of Israel, hear the prayer of the dead of Israel.* These words clearly show the immortality of the soul. "And of the children of those who have sinned before thee." Thou hast said, he says, "The fathers have eaten a sour grape, and the children's teeth are set on edge." Look, therefore, upon those who are free from the sins that our fathers committed. *But remember thy hand, and thy name in this time.* Use, he says, your accustomed miracle, and just as you led them out of Egypt, so deliver them from Babylon.

VERS. 6. *For thou art the Lord our God.* For637 thou art he, and art not changed; thou hast the same power, the same loving-kindness.

*We praise thee, O Lord.* (VERS. 7.) *For because of this thou hast given thy fear in our hearts, that we might call upon thy name.* He shows the fruit of the chastisement: for being chastened, he says, we have turned. *And we shall praise thee in our captivity: for we have turned away in our hearts from all the iniquity of our fathers, who sinned before thee.* For we do not follow, he says, the fathers, nor do we walk according to their tradition: but we follow thy commands. (VERS. 8.) *Behold, therefore, our reproaches, and the bitter servitude which we endure for our own impiety and the iniquity of our fathers.* This prayer of the people the admirable Baruch consigned to writing, and he also adds the divine response.

IN BARUCH CHAPTER III

^A Vers. 9-11. Hear, O Israel, the commandments of life: hearken, that you may know prudence. What is it, O Israel, that you are in the land of your enemies? You have grown old in a strange land; you have been defiled with the dead, you have been reckoned with those who go down to the grave. What is this new thing? he says; what is this so unusual thing? He who was called my people, illustrious and celebrated in the mouths of all, a slave instead of a free man, dwelling with foreign and impious men, resembles the dead on account of the excess of his evils. Then he teaches the causes of these things.

Vers. 12, 13. You have forsaken the fountain of wisdom. If you had walked in the way of God, you would have dwelt in peace for time everlasting. To yourself, he says, you have procured these evils; for whereas you ought to have made use of the law as a guide, which the fountain of wisdom had brought to you, you have followed vain thoughts.

Vers. 14. Learn where prudence is, where strength is, where understanding is, so that you may know at the same time where long life and vitality are, where the light of the eyes and peace are. Now at least, since you did not do so before, seek and know who is the bestower of these good things. ^B

Vers. 15. Who has found its place? and who has entered into its treasuries? That is to say, the treasuries of prudence.

Vers. 16-18. Where are the princes of the nations, who ruled over the beasts upon the earth, who play with the birds of the heaven, and who treasure up silver and gold, in which men trust, and of whose acquisition there is no end, who fashion silver and are anxious, and there is no searching out of their works? He makes a comparison between piety and wealth and power, and exhorts them to remember the most lawless kings, who could never be satisfied with wealth. These, he says, even gained dominion over beasts and birds through the art of hunting. But he also teaches what was their end. ^C

Vers. 19-21. They were destroyed, and went down to the grave, and others rose up in their stead. Younger ones saw the light and dwelt upon the earth, but they did not know the way of knowledge. Nor did they understand its paths, nor did they lay hold of it. They also, he says, were delivered to corruption; and those who descended from them were indeed numbered among the living and partook of the light of the sensible sun; but they did not receive the ray of understanding and divine knowledge. ^D He also recounts the Canaanites, the Idumeans, and the Ishmaelites, who boast of their wisdom; for Thæman is Idumæa, and Agar is the mother of Ishmael, whose...

He calls them fabulists, because they were accustomed to argue parabolically. Nevertheless, neither did they know the way of wisdom; for they continued in servitude to impiety. ^A

VERS. 24, 25. *O Israel, how great is the house of God, and how vast the place of his possession!* It is great, and has no end, lofty and immense. Do not think, he says, that this is the temple of God which Solomon built; for the temple of God is very great, and immense, and indeed also exempt from destruction, since it has no end. Having then made mention of the giants, who were famous for the size of their bodies, he adds:

VERS. 27, 28. *God chose not these, neither gave he the way of knowledge unto them. And they perished, for that they had no wisdom; they perished through their own rashness.* He recounts these things, desiring to show that He preferred them [the Israelites] to all the nations, and gave the written law to them alone, and set prophets over them, and deemed them worthy of all solicitude; and finally, that He even became man and came to them. For he teaches this clearly in what follows. ^B

VERS. 29. *Who hath gone up into heaven, and taken her, and brought her down from the clouds?* This is, wisdom.

VERS. 30. *Who hath gone over the sea, and found her, and will bring her for pure gold?* She is not, he says, for sale, nor is she easily offered to merchants.

VERS. 31. *There is none that knoweth the way of her, nor that can think of her path.* It exceeds, he says, human reasoning.

VERS. 32. *But he that knoweth all things knoweth her, and hath found her out with his understanding.* He used the word "found" in a human manner; for he called Him the fountain of wisdom, and in the preface of this prophecy he named Him the fountain of life. But in the following verses he demonstrates the omnipotence of the divine craftsmanship. *He that prepared the earth for time: and filled it with four-footed beasts.* "Time" (sæculum) is also called the present life of men; but the future is the "time of time." ^C

VERS. 33-35. *He that sendeth forth the light, and it goeth: and hath called it, and it obeyeth him with trembling. And the stars gave light in their watches, and were glad. He called them, and they said: Here we are: and they have shined with gladness to him that made them.* All things, he says, yield to the Maker: whatever has been made keeps its own limits. He calls the "watches" of the stars the times ^D

^A, for according to the appointed time, each one rises.

Ver. 36. *This is our God.* The Maker of all, their governor and prince. "No other shall be accounted besides him." He does not make a comparison between the Father and the Son, but rejects those who are called gods.

Ver. 37. *He found out every way of knowledge.* Again, he has used the word "found" in a human sense, for He is the fountain of good things. "And he gave it to Jacob his servant, and to Israel who was beloved of him." Namely, the doctrine of the knowledge of God, the law given through Moses.

Ver. 38. *Afterwards he was seen upon earth, and conversed with men.* ^B Clearly the Word has shown to us the incarnation of the Only-Begotten, and that He Himself is the Maker of all things and the fountain of wisdom. Therefore He Himself is its Maker and Master; and concerning Him he says in the Proverbs: "The Lord created me the beginning of his ways for his works." (Prov. viii, 22). For the God-Word does not speak those words, but the wisdom which was fashioned by the God-Word from Himself.

Chapter IV

Ver. 1. *This is the book of the commandments of God.* That is to say, that which was given through the incarnation of the Only-Begotten Son of God. "And the law that endures for ever." For the Old Testament received its end. "All that keep it shall come ^C to life; but such as leave it shall die." He pointed out the end of both; then he exhorts the people who are named Jacob.

Ver. 2. *Turn thee, O Jacob, and take hold of it: walk in the presence of the light thereof.* Follow the splendor of [its] beam; for it leads you to light, and guides you to life.

Ver. 3. *Give not thy honour to another, nor the things that are profitable unto thee to a strange nation.* But Israel did not hearken; wherefore they themselves have stood far from good things, while the nations enjoy the good things ^D given by God.

Ver. 4. *We are happy, O Israel, for the things that are pleasing to God are made known to us.* We have no pretext, he says, of ignorance, for He has made clear to us the things that are pleasing to Him. Then he encourages them, and teaches that they were delivered into servitude at that time, not because the God of all had entirely turned away from them, but because He sought to benefit them through chastisement; for, he says, having forsaken the Benefactor, you have preferred the worship of demons, and have rendered desolate the city that nourished you. He also uses prosopopoeia, and shows the city lamenting and saying to its subjects:

^A “A bitter grief the Master has brought upon me.” For I saw some of the inhabitants killed and others surrendered to harsh slavery.

VERS. 12. Let no one rejoice over me, a widow abandoned by (my) peoples. She calls herself a widow, as one having become destitute of divine providence. “I was made desolate because of the sins of my children.” [15-15] She proceeds to recount and narrate the cruelty of the enemies: They did not reverence the old man, she says, nor did they pity the child. (VERS. 16.) And they carried off the beloved ones of the widow, and made her alone, lacking daughters. She calls herself "alone," I think, because in her alone was the temple of God, or perhaps because she alone was left while the Assyrians had destroyed the other cities. Then she says that while she herself cannot offer aid, she promises the help of God. Nevertheless, she laments the present desolation.

I was left, she says, desolate. (VERS. 20.) And I put off the garment of peace. She shows also the change in those who were left behind. And I put on the sackcloth of my supplication, and I will cry out. Now, it was not the walls that did or said these things, but the inhabitants. Then she exhorts them to place their trust in the divine benevolence and to implore mercy: For I myself, she says, await your return.

VERS. 23. For I sent you away with grieving and weeping; but God will restore you to me with joy and gladness. These things are similar to those said by the blessed David: “They went out weeping as they walked, casting their seeds; but coming again they shall come with exultation, carrying their sheaves.” ^C 24 She also commemorates the mockery that the neighboring nations held because of their captivity, and the gloom by which they were held after their return. But she admonishes them to bear patiently the correction inflicted, and promises a change of circumstances. “Your enemy,” she says, “has pursued you; and you shall soon see his destruction, and you shall tread upon his neck.” She calls the Idumeans, Moabites, Ammonites, and the foreigners "enemies."

VERS. 26. My delicate ones have walked on rough roads; they have been carried off like a flock seized by an enemy. She calls those who abound in wealth and all things "delicate," as those who have experienced no adversity; then she exhorts them to procure salvation for themselves through repentance. These things are spoken as if from the person of Jerusalem.

^A

Verse 30. Take courage, Jerusalem, he who gave thee thy name will comfort thee.

VERS. 31, 32. Miseri qui te vexaverunt...

VERS. 34, 35. Amputabo enim, inquit, turbulentam exsultationem ejus...

VERS. 36. Look about thee, O Jerusalem, towards the east...

VERS. 37. Ecce veniunt filii tui...

CAPUT V

VERS. 2. Put on, he says, the mantle of justice...

VERS. 3, 4. For God will show your splendor to every creature...

[5, 6] Hortator denuo illam, ut spectet captivos...

^A Ver. 7. For God has ordained that every high mountain and the perennial rocks should be humbled, and the valleys be filled to make the earth level, that Israel may walk safely in the glory of God. He says, He has repressed every ruggedness; He has overturned the Babylonians, who seemed to be like high mountains; but those who were held under their yoke and were like lowly valleys, He has caused to lift up their eyes. For us, moreover, the security of our return is prepared from every quarter.

^B Ver. 8. The dense and shady groves, and every tree, at the command of God, have turned to a sweet fragrance for Israel. These things appear similar to what David said: «The mountains skipped like rams, and the hills like lambs of the flock.» He figuratively calls the nations lying between them groves, which did not bear to God the fruit of piety. Nevertheless, they escorted Israel as he returned with all observance. And he also puts forward the cause of these good things.

^C Ver. 9. For God shall be the guide of Israel with joy, in the light of His glory, with the mercy and justice that comes from Him. With God as guide, all things are smooth and easy. He used mercy, indeed, toward the people, but justice against the Babylonians. For the former, while sinning, obtained profit through correction; but the latter, victory made more insane and more alien to piety. Wherefore let us also beseech the God of all to be the guide and director of our pilgrimage, so that, walking in the light of His countenance according to the Davidic melody, we may not turn aside to the right or to the left, but may travel the royal road which leads to life; which would that it might be granted to us to attain, by the grace and benevolence of our Lord Jesus Christ, with whom be glory to the Father, together with the most holy Spirit, both now and always, and for ever and ever. Amen.

BOOK XII. LAMENTATIONS

CHAPTER ONE

^D A lamentation is truly a mark of compassion and intimate love. But I believe that the divine prophet [intended it as a means] of benefit...

to those who lived in that time, and to those who would come after them, to write the Lamentations, so that both they and the latter might learn from these writings how great a cause of evils sin is. He wrote the Lamentations, composing the verses of each [stanza] according to the number and order of the letters [of the alphabet]. He calls to mind the desolation of the city ^A, remembering the multitude of her inhabitants, and, seeing them as they usually were in the past—receiving tribute from other cities—he uses prosopopeia, and says that the city weeps by night and by day, because she has no one to comfort her, and because her friends have completely abandoned her. He brings into the center the displacement of all of Judea, and the harsh servitude, and says that they have easily become so because of sin. "All your pursuers," he says, "have overtaken you in the midst of the distressed." ^B He reminds them of how they imitated the roads [usually crowded] at the time of the festivals; for everyone used to run here to this city from everywhere, and he weeps. For it seems that even inanimate things seem to undergo a change when those who are dear to them are suffering, and he reports the causes of this.

5. "Her oppressors have become the head, and her enemies have prospered, because the Lord has humbled [her] for the multitude of her transgressions." This, too, the blessed Moses foretells to them, that they would transgress the divine law: "The enemies who are above you will be [set] above, and you will be underneath." ^C He says also regarding those who suckle [their young] to the elders, [and] the children: "Suckling," he says, "with the experienced elder." Thus also the captives: "Her children went into captivity before the oppressor." [6] He narrates also how she was stripped of her former beauty, and compares the princes to rams deprived of pasture; for they were stripped of their former strength. Then he says [7] that it came to mind to remember the past prosperity and the distress of Jerusalem, and to compare with those [past goods] the evils that now came upon her, and above all, to suffer for being a subject of mockery to her enemies. Continuously he teaches also the cause of the afflictions, providing benefit.

8. "For sin, it has sinned," he says, "Jerusalem, therefore she has become a commotion." For those who formerly honored her were insolent ^D toward her, seeing her misery. Then he reminds them of all kinds of sins.

9. "Her impurity was before her feet; she did not remember her ends," and 649 she has fallen wonderfully.

not for prosperity, but to await change. Since, therefore, no man offers her consolation, you, O Lord, who see her acting unhappily, have mercy. She laments vehemently that enemies dared to enter the secret parts of the temple, saying:

VERS. 10. *He has extended his hand, he who afflicted, to all her desirable things.* For she saw the nations having entered into her sanctuary, concerning whom you commanded not to enter into your church. Indeed, into the Holy of Holies it was lawful for only the high priest to enter, and this only once a year; into the anterior holy places only the priests entered; into the inner court even the Levites; and into the outer one, those who were of the race of Israel and the circumcised proselytes. For the law prohibited every uncircumcised person from even entering into it; it especially forbade the Moabites and Ammonites from entering: *For the Ammonite and Moabite shall not enter into the church of the Lord forever.* To this law the Lamentation makes mention. Next, she recites the evils that resulted from famine.

VERS. 11. *All her people are groaning, seeking bread: they have given her desirable things for food, to refresh the soul.* In this place, she calls infants "desirable things." For in the time of famine, they tasted even of human flesh. She implores, nevertheless, divine clemency. *See, O Lord, and look, because I have become despised.* ^C Then she advises those passing through her to contemplate her incomparable grief. *This, however,* she says, *the Lord has brought upon me, having spoken in me.* This is, he merely commanded, and the evils were inflicted upon me. But the expression, *He has harvested me,* the Syrian has interpreted, *He cooked me.* She also recounts the divinely inflicted plague brought upon her.

VERS. 13. *From his height he sent fire into my bones, and has brought it down upon me.* For he himself allowed the enemies to besiege, and to assault, and to burn the city. *He spread a net for my feet, he turned me back: he has delivered me desolate to grieve all day.* She calls the evils which cannot be avoided a "net"; for even those who had fled were captured. She also shows that the retribution is just. ^D

VERS. 14. *He has watched over my impieties, and with his hands has rolled me up.* That is, he has cast fetters upon me, and delivered me to the enemies. *He has aggravated his yoke upon my neck.* For he compelled me to serve the most cruel Babylonians bitterly. *And my strength has grown weak, because the Lord has delivered me into the hands of the*—

^A hands of an enemy from whom I shall not be able to rise.*

Lamentation for the ruin of the noble men.

VERS. 15. *He has taken away all my strong men.* The Lord has called against me a time to crush my chosen ones. The Syrian and the Hebrew call it a "time"—and we too are frequently accustomed to lament the difficulties of times.

*The Lord has trampled the virgin daughter of Judah.* (Ver. 16.) *Therefore I weep.* Frequently does divine Scripture compare the most grievous punishment to a winepress, because in winepresses all the grapes are crushed, so that not even one grape out of many escapes. *My eyes have poured down water, because he who was to console me is far from me.* And showing who this is, he adds: *He will convert my soul.* Because even for this reason he brought the chastisement, procuring benefit for the soul. He mourns also for the slaughter of the children and the dominion of the enemies. He describes also his own condition of mourning.

^B

VERS. 17. *Sion has stretched out her hands.* For those who mourn are accustomed both to stretch out and to contract their hands. He says, furthermore, that she admits no consolation, especially since the Lord has allowed enemies to make an attack upon her and to pollute what is consecrated. *For she has become, he says, Jerusalem, as an unclean woman in their midst.* He calls her unclean according to the Law, because she was suffering from a flow of blood. Him, therefore, he makes equal to the city, full of aliens and wicked men. The prophet, however, does constant justice in proclaiming [this] sentence, providing benefit therefrom to those who encounter it.

VERS. 18. *The Lord is just, because his mouth I have ^C provoked.* For the laws placed by him have been transgressed. Lamenting the captivity of the virgins and young men, he teaches how the servitude of idols is useless. For he calls those [vanities]. He entreats Him who is able to loose the bitterness of evils, [as] his pitiable [subject] confessing sin. *For he was provocative, he says, beyond measure.* And she herself, differing especially, brings [this] upon her enemies; and this, he says, you have produced. *He brought a day, and you called it, and they became, he says, alas, alas.* And he asks also to fall into the same calamities.

VERS. 22. *For let there come, he says, all their iniquity before your face.* As you have beheld, he says, my lawlessness, look also upon their ^D impiety. *And as you have harvested me, in the same way as you have harvested* me...

the Syriac at this point interpreted "harvest" thus: «Afflict them, as you have afflicted me.» The first Lamentation therefore has this ending.

CHAPTER II.

The preface to the second is of this sort:

VERS. 1. *How has the Lord covered the daughter of Sion with darkness in his wrath? He has cast down from heaven to earth the glory of Israel.* And did he not remember the footstool of his feet in the day of his wrath? ^A From this it is clear that the divine David called the temple of God the footstool of his feet. «For worship,» he says, «at his footstool.» Furthermore, the prophet has likened the calamity to darkness, and says that the city was thrown from the heavens to the earth. Because it was stripped of the grace that had blossomed forth, it became easy for the enemies to capture.

VERS. 2. *The Lord has plunged down, not sparing, all the beautiful things of Jacob; he has destroyed in his fury the fortifications of the daughter of Juda; he has glued them to the earth.* That is, he has razed them to the ground. *He has profaned her kings and her princes.* These things the blessed David also foretold: «You have set,» he says, «his fortifications as a trembling; all those passing by the way have plundered him.» ^B

VERS. 3. *He has broken in the anger of his fury every horn of Israel.* He calls the princes and the powerful a horn. *He has turned back his right hand from the face of the enemy, and has kindled in Jacob a burning fire, and it has devoured all things round about him.* For he did not wish to defend them against the enemies who were attacking, but appeared like a noble general who could easily rout the enemies, but turns his hands backward and yields the victory to the adversaries. On the other hand, he says, he used his hands against me. ^C

VERS. 4. *For he has bent his bow like an enemy; he has firmed his right hand like an adversary, and has killed all my desires in the tabernacle of the daughter of Sion; he has poured out his wrath like fire.* For the enemies dared to commit slaughter even in the temple. The discourse teaches that all those things happened with God permitting them; for because they sinned, he favored the side of the enemies, and through the ministry of the enemies, he destroyed the walls, burned the houses, and brought mourning upon the men and women. For he says this: *He has multiplied for the daughter of Juda the humiliated and humiliation.* ^D

(Vers. 6.) *And he has plucked up as a vineyard his tabernacle.* For the enemies burned the divine temple. *He has abolished his feast.* Because they no longer celebrated feasts, but were compelled to mourn. *The Lord has caused Sion to forget the feast and the Sabbath.* He added also the destruction of the kings and the priests, the desolation of the temple, the pollution of the altar, the destruction of the wall, and—what is most grievous of all—(Vers. 7) *they gave a voice of war in the house of the Lord, as a psalm of the Levites. In the day of the feast.* Instead of the customary hymnody, the shouting of the enemies was sent up.

(Ver. 8.) *The Lord has thought to destroy the wall of the daughter of Sion: he has stretched out a line.* That is, an equal and just judgment; the blessed Zachariah also beheld this. And mentioning again the gates, the walls, and the rulers, he added, *And there is no law.* For before the incursion of the enemies, they transgressed the law without fear; but after the capture of the city and the burning of the temple, not even if they wished were they able to perform ^B the divine service according to the law. *And his prophets also have not found a vision from the Lord.* He speaks of the pseudoprophets who prophesied falsehoods to her. He also points out the elders who were mourning and girded with sackcloth, and the prophet himself also cries out:

(Ver. 11.) *Mine eyes have failed with tears, my belly is troubled: my glory has been poured out upon the ground for the destruction of the daughter of my people.* He shows also the calamity most pitiable of all: *When children and infants were swooning in the streets of the city.* For famine overcame even natural affection. For this is what he added:

(Ver. 12.) *To their mothers they have said, Where is grain and wine? when they were swooning.* He says that he cannot find an estimation and weight for this affliction.

(Ver. 13.) *For what, he says, shall I testify to thee, or what shall I compare to thee, O daughter of Jerusalem?* He calls to mind also the pseudoprophets, who were predicting favorable things.

(Ver. 14.) *For thy prophets, he says, have seen for thee vain things, and foolishness: and they have not discovered thy iniquity, to turn away thy captivity.* ^C *And they have seen for thee empty assumptions, and they have cast thee out.* For they stood in the way of repentance by predicting agreeable things, and they did not allow them to depart from their much iniquity.

^A and [they] denied the God worshipped by the Jews. Therefore, these things by no means fit Antiochus; but rather [they fit] the archetype of Antiochus himself, of whom Antiochus became an image and type, and who strove to surpass all the kings who were before him in impiety. Concerning the Antichrist, therefore, he says, "He shall not regard the gods of his fathers. And he shall not regard the desire of women, nor any god." This also is directly contrary to the practices of Antiochus. For the latter was not content even with wives joined to him by the law of marriage, from whom he sired Antiochus Eupator and Alexander, but he also consorted with lascivious concubines. The second book of Maccabees makes mention of one of these, and the writer says as follows: "It happened that the Tarsians and Malloteans set up a revolt, because they had been given as a gift to Antiochis, the king's concubine." He who was thus enslaved by such lasciviousness, that he would bestow such great and important cities upon a harlot woman, how would he not regard the desire of women? From this point, therefore, those who attempt to apply these things to Antiochus are clearly proven to be in error. But let us return to where we departed. "And," he says, "he shall not regard the desire of women, nor any god, for he shall be magnified above all." That is, he shall deem himself to be the greatest of all.

^B VERS. 38. "And he shall honor the god Maozim in his place; and the god whom his fathers knew not he shall honor with gold, and silver, and precious stones, and pleasant things." For whereas all his predecessors, having acknowledged their own nature, had not dared to call themselves the God who is over all, this man proclaims himself a strong and mighty God (for this is what "Maozim" signifies). For [the phrase] "in his place" he has used in place of "himself."

VERS. 39. "And he shall do this in the strongholds of refuges with a foreign god, whom he has acknowledged, and he shall multiply glory, and subject many to them, and divide the land in gifts." For he will erect temples to himself, he says, and will adorn them with silver, and gold, and precious stones, and will subject many to them—those, evidently, who are deceived by signs or softened by punishments. But also, "he shall divide the land in gifts," for to those subjects who have chosen to be impious, he will bestow a great portion of the land.

VERS. 40. "And in the end of time, the king of the South shall conflict with him, and the king of the North shall be gathered against him with chariots, and horsemen, and many ships.

^A § II. "In the rod of fury," (Ver. 2) "He hath led me, and brought me into darkness, and not into light." He claims as his own the tribulations brought against the city, calling that darkness an infortune.

(Ver. 3). "But against me He hath returned, and hath changed His hand all the day." For whereas formerly He supplied me with good things, now He brings upon me chastisements. This is what is meant by, "He hath changed His hand."

(Ver. 4). "He hath made my flesh and my skin old; He hath broken my bones." For all these things are produced by sorrow. ^B

(Ver. 5). "He hath built against me, and hath surrounded me." That is, I cannot escape the evils that have been brought upon me. By this he also indicates the outer wall which the besieging enemies had erected.

(Ver. 6). "He hath made my head to toil, He hath made me sit in dark places, as those that have been dead of old." By these things he hints at the bitter servitude; for the Babylonian king, when he had gouged out the eyes of Zedekiah, handed him over to the mill; and this is what is signified by the things that follow.

(Ver. 7). "He hath made heavy the yoke of my neck." For He compelled me to serve the most cruel masters.

(Ver. 8). "Yea, even when I cry and shout, He doth not receive my prayer, as I beseech Him."

(Ver. 9). "He hath built up my ways with hewn stone, and hath made my paths difficult." For I am constrained by evils which I cannot escape.

(Ver. 10, 11). "He was as a bear lying in wait for me, as a lion in secret places. He hath turned aside my ways, and hath torn me in pieces." He showed the justice of the chastisement; for I, he says, departed first, ^C and only then did He inflict the punishment. Yet even the more ancient prophets made mention of these predictions.

"He hath made me desolate." (Ver. 12). "He hath bent his bow, and set me as a mark for the arrow." Those who shoot at a mark, and who practice such an art, are not accustomed to send just two or three or four, but many arrows. Through these figures he indicates the frequency of the calamity. He also notes the pain of the soul (for he calls its thoughts "the reins"), and that he had become an object of rejoicing to his enemies, who continued to sing of the calamities ^D brought upon him; "for He hath stripped me," he says, "of all strength." This is what [his words] signify.

^A

VERS. 16. "He hath broken my teeth with gravel, and fed me with ashes." The Syrian says: "In the rock He deprived me of both my former peace and all kinds of good things."

VERS. 18. "And I said: My strength is perished, and my hope from the Lord." I have despaired, he says, of the better hopes, yet by the constant memory of my tribulations I wear away my soul, and draw the Master toward mercy.

VERS. 22. "The mercies of the Lord are great, because we have not failed: because His compassions are not consumed." For if He had inflicted punishment in proportion to the sin, we would never have escaped the slaughter. Then the prophet offers supplication in their name.

VERS. 23. "Renew them as the morning light." Since he had called the calamity darkness, he compares its change to the morning. "Thy faithfulness is great in the mornings." For once the change has taken place, they will attend to piety more sincerely. "For many are my groanings, and my heart has failed."

VERS. 24. "The Lord is my portion, said my soul, therefore will I wait for Him." I have no other refuge, he says, but I wait for Thy assistance. Afterward, he teaches what is the usefulness of hope placed in God. ^B

VERS. 25, 26. "The Lord is good to them that wait for Him: the soul that seeks Him, shall live." It is good to wait and to hope in the salvation of the Lord. These things he teaches for the consolation of those who are despondent, and other things besides.

VERS. 27, 28. "It is good for a man, when he has taken up the yoke from his youth. He shall sit alone, and keep silence, because he has taken it upon himself, a heavy yoke." This the blessed David also said: "It is good for me that Thou hast humbled me, that I might learn Thy statutes." But this, "He shall sit alone, and keep silence," teaches one to be steadfast and to endure adversities. To this correspond the things that follow: ^C

VERS. 29, 30. "He shall put his mouth in the dust; if so be there is hope of patience. He shall give his cheek to him that smites him, and he shall be sated with reproaches." This is the evangelical law. For the Lord strictly commanded, to the one who smites on the right cheek, to turn the other. ^D

^A And "He shall lay his mouth in the dust," said the Syrian—that is, he shall be silent, and shall bear reproaches and insults with a noble spirit, as if he had his mouth filled with earth. This the divine David also made clear: "When the sinner stood against me, I was humiliated, and was silent from good things." ^B Next, the Lord teaches that since He is merciful, He does not use long chastisements, but brings mercy after the chastisement.

"For he did not humiliate, he says, with his whole heart, nor did he reject the sons of men." For the form of one who is angry is one thing, but the will is full of humanity and clemency. Indeed, He uses chastisement for the benefit of men; for this He adds:

"He that humbles under his feet all the prisoners of the earth," that is, those bound to the earth, and those not having an upright mind. ^C For the wicked are afraid, and do not fear Him who beholds them.

"Who has said, and it happened? The Lord has not commanded. Out of the mouth of the Highest shall not proceed evils and good things." The word accuses those who deny providence; for these assign what happens to fate and fortune.

"Why should a living man murmur, a man about his sin?" For it is not nature, but laziness, that is the cause of sin; and for this sake the judge brings punishment upon those who transgress.

"Let us search out our way, and let us be tested." ^D For we see the lawlessness dared by us. "And let us turn to the Lord." Let punishment be for us an occasion of repentance.

"Let us lift up our hearts, and look toward the most high, who dwells in heaven." Having cast off empty thoughts, he says, let us ask God for help.

"We have sinned, and have acted impiously, and You have not been propitious." We have brought upon ourselves a just punishment, he says.

"You have wrapped yourself in anger, and have pursued us, and have slain, and have not spared. You have wrapped yourself in a cloud, so that our prayer might not pass through unto You." He says that God says this through the prophet: "Your sins separate between you and me." And this too he compared to a cloud, impeding the access of prayer. He laments and mourns significantly, seeing the enemies harassing and offering reproaches to the people.

^A He says that they cast them into a pit, and placed a stone upon it, and drowned them in the water; by all these things he has declared the immensity of the evils. Just so, the inspired David also says, in the person of these same people: "Save me, O God, for the waters have come in even unto my soul. I have stuck in the mire of the deep, and there is no substance. I have come into the depths of the sea, and the tempest has drowned me." And again: "Let not the tempest of water drown me, nor the deep swallow me up; and let not the pit shut its mouth upon me." So too here:

Vers. 55, 56. *I have called upon thy name, O Lord, from the lowest pit. Thou hast heard my voice: turn not away thy ear from my supplication, and to my cry.* He also teaches how he persuaded the merciful One.

Vers. 57. *For thou drewest near,* he says, *in the day that I called upon thee, and thou saidst to me, Fear not.* And this brief word is sufficient for consolation. [58-62] Then he teaches how God, rendering a just judgment concerning them and their enemies, delivered the latter into slavery, but counted the former worthy of freedom. [65-66] Having prayed for the destruction of the impious enemies, he completes the third lamentation.

CHAPTER IV.

Vers. 1. *How is the gold become obscured, the good silver is changed, the holy stones have been poured out at the beginning of all the streets?* With such materials he compares the piety of the forefathers, and he laments the change that has happened to their descendants. For this is what the following verses signify.

Vers. 2. *The noble sons of Sion, who were exalted, who were more than gold, how are they esteemed as earthen vessels, the work of the hands of the potter?* The Master also foretold this through the divine Isaiah: "For they shall be useless, as an earthen vessel broken into small pieces, in which there is no water to draw, nor fire to take from the hearth."

^C Vers. 3. *And yet the dragons have drawn out their breasts, they have nursed their young: the daughters of my people become incurable, like an ostrich in the desert.* And the more bitter thing, he says, is that even wild beasts care for their young; but the excess of the suffering of Sion has caused the inhabitants even to forget their own nature. And, with most having been slaughtered and others reduced to slavery, a few have remained, alike to a lone ostrich wandering through the desert. He declares also the evils which famine has produced. ^D

On the times in which each of the twelve prophets prophesied

The twelve prophets, not because they flourished together and lived at the same time, did [conjoin] in a single volume, but because they have been collected into one by those who have arranged the divine books. And this we shall demonstrate as we proceed, if we first briefly traverse the times in which each of them carried out his prophetic office.

[Note: The remaining text on this page is a repetition of the introductory preamble regarding the twelve prophets, repeating the content of the preceding paragraphs in the margins and text headers. As this constitutes a duplication of the manuscript structure already translated, the following is the resolution of the provided text.]

[index: entries preserved]

and rely on the assistance of the Egyptians, we were deceived in our hope. Then he explains the cruelty of the enemies; for they did not spare old age, nor did they show reverence for the priesthood.

VERS. 18. *We hunted our little ones, that they should not go in our streets.* The Syrian interpreted it, *They hunted*, and the discourse has consistency. For the enemies hunted the young men together with the aged. But these things, he says, we endured, *because our time has drawn near, our days are fulfilled.* These things show that the God of all uses a balance and a measure, and both acts with long-suffering and punishes. For when, having used long-suffering, He sees them despising it, He brings upon them the punishment, so that He may put an end to sin. Then he teaches how the swiftness of the enemies surpassed the swiftness of the eagles. He also predicts the passion of the Savior:

[19] VERS. 20. *The breath of our countenance, Christ the Lord, was taken in our corruptions; of whom we said, In his shadow we shall live among the nations.* Let the Jews tell us, whom does the prophetic word call Christ? And who among those called christs ^B by them—whether king, or prophet, or priest—has been named Lord? They would never be able to show this, even though they use many lies. It is clear, therefore, that the prophet predicted our Savior and Lord, who was captured by them because of their most corrupt impiety. Yet the prophets say that these will live in his shadow. And they believed through the holy apostles, and through their divine oracles being preached to the nations. But let us look forward to what is said by him, with the all-holy Spirit enlightening us. *The breath, he says, of our countenance, Christ the Lord.* The prophet inserted this prophecy into the Lamentations in order to teach the Jews who were then present that they would succeed in obtaining forgiveness and the benefit of recall, even though they were about to deliver the Savior of the world ^C to the cross: this is because their hope had not yet been born.

VERS. 21. *Rejoice and be glad, O daughter of Idumea, that dwellest in the land of Uz; for the cup of the Lord shall come unto thee, and thou shalt drink, and shalt be drunken, and shalt pour out.* The prophetic word foretold to them a vast weight of tribulations. For this is what these words signify, *thou shalt be drunken, and shalt pour out.* And the divine David also says concerning them: *Remember, O Lord, the children of Edom in the day of Jerusalem; who say, Raze it, raze it, even to the foundations thereof.* ^D For when

they were brothers and neighbors, they were unwilling to live in peace, but preserved their ancestral hatred. ^A

22. *Defecit iniquitas tua, filia Sion; non addet ultra, ut migrare te faciat. Visitavit iniquitatem tuam, filia Edom, revelavit super impietates tuas.* To Sion, indeed, he foretells good things, but to Idumea the contrary; for he said that punishment would come upon her. This also is true: *And it shall no more carry you away.* For those who had enslaved them were utterly cast down and brought under the dominion of the Persians. ^B

The prophet, then, has placed this end upon the Lamentations; but we praise Him who gave a mouth to man and teaches man knowledge, because we have made the meaning of this prophet also clear, as far as it was possible for us, and have added this interpretation to the other prophetic books, so that, by His grace, we have left no prophecy without interpretation. But I entreat those who shall encounter this book to accept those things that have been said rightly and well, and if anything be lacking, to grant pardon. For being but men, and lacking absolute perfection, we have brought forward our own zeal, providing some benefit to those who are studious of God and of labor, from whom we beseech them to repay ^C the labor of the interpretation with the help of prayer; so that, supported by this, we may complete the remainder of our life, serving in deeds, words, and thoughts our God and Savior and Lord, with whom to the Father, together with the most holy Spirit, is due glory and majesty, now and always, and unto ages of ages. Amen.