not, however, as if he himself were doubting A, but because he is outlining the thoughts of men, as the very introduction of the Psalm makes clear: "For how good," he says, "is God to Israel, to those who are upright in heart!" And he who has confessed that God is good, clearly also confesses him to be the dispenser of good things. We find many such things in other Psalms and in the other prophets. The prophecy of divine Habakkuk is also similar to these. For he seems to doubt why the wicked fare better than the just, and why punishment does not immediately follow the transgressors. That he has not set forth his own thoughts to us, but is preparing a remedy for those who suffer from this ailment, forming his prophecy into a question and its solution—the very title itself testifies to this.
CHAPTER ONE
.VERS. 1. For when he had said: "The burden which Habakkuk the prophet saw," he immediately added:
VERS. 2, 3. "How long, O Lord, shall I cry, and thou wilt not hear? I shall cry out to thee having suffered violence, and thou wilt not save? Why hast thou shown me troubles and sorrows; to look upon misery and impiety?" He calls the "burden" the reception of the mind, and the transition from human affairs to divine revelation. If, therefore, he spoke the aforementioned things by the inspiration of the Spirit, it is evident that he did not suffer from this ailment himself, but uncovers the wound of those who were thus affected, and applies a remedy. Wherefore, he adds to what has been said, and says: "Against me judgment has been made, and the judge receives." For by money, he says, the judges sell justice, and they have no care for the keeping of the laws. For he explained this by what he added:
VERS. 4. "Therefore the law is broken, and judgment is not brought to an end: because the wicked prevails against the just, therefore judgment shall go forth perverted." He explained these things regarding those who were living incorrectly in Jerusalem: for Israel, having already been taken captive by the Assyrians, was dwelling in a foreign land. Having, therefore, set forth the words of one who is indignant in this manner, he provides healing through the divine response.
VERS. 5. "Behold, O you despisers, and look, and wonder, and see wonders, and perish; for I work a work in your days, which you will not believe, if any one tells it." He calls those who are audacious in sinning D and who suffer from a lack of feeling, despisers. These he commands to attend to the prophecy...
to be struck with fear, and [to fear] the threat. A Yet he knows well, as one who clearly understands all things before they come to pass, that they will not believe what is told, and before experiencing the reality of events, they will think the words spoken about them are false. But since he is good and just, he does not wish to judge based solely on foreknowledge; rather, he offers the prophecies even to those who do not believe, and brings punishment upon those who do not accept the remedy.
6. "Therefore, behold, I am raising up the Chaldeans, that bitter and hasty nation, which marches upon the breadths of the earth, to possess tabernacles not its own." For you who live in injustice and transgression, because of whom those who ignore the laws of Providence are vexed, I shall bring upon you the most ferocious and swift Chaldeans, who, coveting the possessions of others, make war against all nations.
7. B "It is fearful and illustrious; its judgment shall come from itself, and its decree shall proceed from itself." It is distinguished and capable of causing terror by its reputation alone. It judges not by following foreign laws, but makes its own will its law. Symmachus has put this more clearly: "It shall judge for itself, and its own decree shall proceed forth."
8. "And its horses shall leap more than leopards, and [they shall be] sharper than the wolves of Arabia; and its horsemen shall scatter, and they shall rush from afar, and they shall fly like an eagle eager to eat." By all these things he indicates their strength, courage, and speed. C For such as the eagle is among winged creatures, to which he likened the horsemen; and such as the leopards are among beasts, and the wolves of Arabia, to which he compared the speed of the horses.
9. "Completion shall come upon the ungodly, [who are] set in opposition, facing them." These shall bring complete destruction upon the impious, even to those who attempt to war against them and to draw up in battle array. Symmachus has also set this forth more clearly: "Everything shall come to greed, the sight of their face is a scorching wind." Just as he showed the speed of the horses and horsemen allegorically, so too he likened the ferocity of their countenances to a scorching wind. D For just as that [wind] burns bare bodies, so the sight of the Chaldeans is sufficient to wither the bloom of those who look upon them.
"And he shall gather captivity like sand. (v. 10) And he himself shall revel in kings, and princes shall be his playthings; and he shall mock at every stronghold, and he shall cast up a mound, and shall take it." For, playing rather than exerting himself, he shall dissolve both lawful kingdoms and lawless tyrannies, and, using mounds and siege engines, he shall [overturn] everything...
A demolish even that which is fortified from its very foundations. But the good Lord, seeing this madness of his, will have mercy on those who have fallen into these calamities.
Vers. 11. "For then, he says, he shall change his spirit, and he shall pass over, and be appeased." For having turned his anger into mercy, he will be gracious and dispel the sorrows. Wherefore the prophet, being utterly amazed at the divine philanthropy, cried out: "This is strength to my God." For to you alone, O Lord, belongs the power both to punish as you will and to change vengeance into mercy.
Vers. 12. "Are you not from the beginning, O Lord, my God, my Holy One, and we shall not die?" For having known you from above as Lord and God, and as superior to all things that exist, we obtain salvation from you. "O Lord, you have set him for judgment, and you formed me to demonstrate his discipline." To this end, he says, you created me from of old, that I might reprove those who sin and foretell the approaching chastisements.
Vers. 13, 14. "Your eye is pure, not to see evils, and you cannot look upon hardships; why do you look upon the despisers and keep silent when the impious man swallows up the one who is more righteous than him? And will you make men as the fishes of the sea, and as reptiles having no leader?" B In the beginning, he set forth the question at hand because of those living lawlessly in the city of Jerusalem, having foretold the punishment to be brought upon them by the Chaldeans; and knowing that this would raise a question for many—why he handed over to the most wicked those who had sinned more severely—he added what has just been said. He does this not as one who is himself curiously inquiring into divine providence—for how could he, who said he was fashioned for the reproof of others, do so?—but as one who is outlining the thoughts of those who seek such things. And he says: "I know that you abhor all wickedness, for you are the fountain of justice; but I desire to learn why you permit the arrogant and those sick with stupidity to prosper, and why you disregard those who are not like them, but are being wronged by the impious." In this place, he has not called "the righteous" the one who is righteous in all respects, but, by comparison, the one who is more righteous than the one committing the wrong. C For thus also Aquila, and Symmachus, and Theodotion have interpreted: "You keep silent when the impious man swallows up one more righteous than himself." And if these things happen in this way, the nature of men will differ in no way from the irrational creatures that live in the waters, which have neither lawgivers nor judges, but in which the weaker are held out as prey to the more powerful. For this man also, in a similar way, is using his power wickedly. And he designates the Babylonian.
Vers. 15, 16. "He has lifted him up with a hook in his snare, and he has dragged him in his D net, and he has…
he has gathered him in his sweep-nets. Therefore he will rejoice and be glad in his heart. Therefore he will sacrifice to his net, and will burn incense to his drag-net, because in them he has made his portion full, and his food choice." For he is surrounded by such power that he hunts whole nations as if with a net and a hook, and revels in his prey. Falling from thence into the passion of arrogance, he thinks his own power to be the sole cause of the things that happen, and for this reason he urges that divine honors be offered to it. The divine Daniel taught us this more clearly, saying that he made a golden image of himself, and forced the multitude of his subjects, both those ruled over and the rulers, to worship it. And the divine Isaiah, also, wailing over his arrogance and his honor as if at the same time, and making his thoughts manifest, says: "I will ascend above the clouds; I will place my throne above the stars of heaven; I will capture the inhabited world like a nest, and I will take it up like eggs that have been left." To which he immediately adds: "Beneath you they will strew decay, and your covering will be a worm." B And the blessed prophet Habacuc says:
"He will sacrifice to his net, and will burn incense to his drag-net, because in them he has made his portion full and his food choice." (Vers. 17.) For this reason he will cast his drag-net, and he will continually kill nations, and will not spare. For being carried along by pride, and easily netting whom he wishes, and having as yet received no experience of any evil, he will also attempt it against other nations, and will not cease, having used his power as if it were a net.
CHAPTER II.
1. "I will stand upon my watch, and will ascend upon the rock, and will keep watch to see what he will say in me, and what I shall answer concerning my reproof." This is similar to the things said by the blessed David: "This is labor before me, until I enter into the sanctuary of God, and understand their last ends." And here, too, the prophet says: I will remain in the order in which I was stationed; I will not abandon my steadfastness; but standing upon such a rock, upon which God also stood the great Moses, I will behold with prophetic eyes the solution of the things sought. And from this we have clearly learned that such propositions are not of the divine prophet, but of others. For he said: "I will keep watch to see what the Lord will say in me, and what I shall answer concerning my reproof." C For it is fitting for me to learn what kind of answer I ought to offer to those who wish to learn such things from me.
2, 3. "And the Lord answered me, and said: Write the vision clearly upon a tablet, so that he who reads it may run."
For the vision is yet for a long time, and it shall reach an end, and not in vain." He says: do not address your words only to those who now doubt these things, but transmit the memory of these matters in writing also to those who shall be hereafter; for what is to be spoken is more appropriate for them than for these men, as the prophecy will reach its end after a long time. Then he exhorts one to await the end, and not to call the matter into doubt on account of the time that has elapsed in the interval. "If it should delay, wait for it, because coming it will come, and will not tarry." A The word of the prediction, he says, is true; do not therefore doubt, even if, much time having passed, you do not see the end; for it will certainly be brought to pass, and will not remain unfulfilled.
VERS. 4. "If he should draw back, my soul has no pleasure in him; but my just man shall live by faith." For he who uses an uncertain mind regarding the predictions made by me is unworthy of my care; but he who trusts in the things said by me, and leads a life consistent with that faith, shall reap the fruit of life. Knowing these things, therefore, faithfully accept what is foretold to you concerning the Babylonian. Afterward, he describes his pride and his insatiable greed.
VERS. 5. "But the arrogant one and the scorner, a proud man, shall bring nothing to an end." B Know, therefore, that he who swells with pride and is of haughty spirit, and who scorns my patience, shall not use this power over others for a very long time. "Who has widened his soul like hell, and he is like death, and is not satisfied; and he shall gather unto him all nations, and shall receive unto himself all the peoples." For, similar to hell and death, he does not wish to take his fill, and though he subjects all mortals under his yoke, he does not sate his desire for power.
VERS. 6. "Shall not all these take up a parable against him, and a riddle for a narrative of him? And they shall say: Woe to him who multiplies to himself what is not his! How long also does he weigh down his own yoke heavily?" For every man of right understanding will compare his insatiable greed C to hell and death, and will lament him who increases his wealth at the expense of others' misfortunes, and who, unable to be sated, burdens those under his rule with tolls and taxes; and he shall say, "Until when do you not sate your insatiable desire?" Yet, though unwilling, he shall make an end of his injustice.
VERS. 7, 8. "Because suddenly there shall arise those who bite him, and your insidiators shall awaken, and you shall be for a plunder to them. Because you have plundered many nations, D
all the remainder of the peoples shall plunder you." For having conquered the many, you shall be destroyed by a few, and as if awakened from slumber, those who have long endured your tyranny shall devise your ruin; and you shall pay the penalty for the myriads of slaughters, and for the great impiety, and for the lawless acts against cities which you have made void of inhabitants.
Verse 9. "O you who heap up evil covetousness for your house, to set your nest on high, that you may be delivered from the hand of evils." Infinitely wretched and thrice-unhappy is he who, desiring more, seeks to increase his domestic estate from such revenues, and struggles to become superior to all men; for such a man shall undergo a heavier fall, inasmuch as he is being borne from a greater height into the depths. B
Verse 10. "You have devised confusion for your house, you have consumed many peoples, and your soul has sinned." For when you have vexed many nations with countless evils, you have indeed pierced your own soul with sins, but you have overwhelmed your whole house with confusion.
Verse 11. "Therefore the stone shall cry out from the wall, and the beetle shall speak of these things from the wood." For not only those who have part in reason, but perhaps even these inanimate and irrational things shall cry out concerning your folly and madness. It is clear, however, that the reference to the stone and the beetle is made hyperbolically. For the Lord also said to the Jews concerning the children: "Amen I say to you, if these should keep silence, the stones will cry out." C But instead of "beetle," Symmachus has put "wooden joint."
Verses 12-14. "Woe to him who builds a city in blood, and prepares a city in iniquities! Are not these things from the Lord Almighty? And many peoples have failed in the fire, and many nations have fainted. Because the earth shall be filled with the knowledge of the glory of the Lord, as much water to cover the seas." You are truly worthy of laments and wailings, having increased your own kingdom from unjust slaughters, and not understanding that the God of the universe exacts payment from those who transgress; for if you had received this knowledge, you would not have used power like a certain fire against many nations, bringing upon them incurable punishments. D And do not think that the acquisition of divine knowledge is among the difficult things; for know well that every race of men shall receive this ray as quickly as possible, and shall be illuminated by the splendor of the knowledge of God, so that the bitter sea of infidelity shall be covered by the sweet waters of knowledge.
Verses 15, 16. "Woe to him who gives his neighbor drink to his ruin..."
and makes him drunk, that he may look on their A caves. And fullness of dishonor instead of glory." Drink thou also, and be troubled, and shaken. For since thou didst bring to others a kind of murky drink of punishment, seeking out buried treasures, receive thou also the drink which thou didst mix; and having drunk, put away thy former glory, and, covered with dishonor, bewail the sudden change. "The cup of the Lord’s right hand has gone around to thee, and dishonor has been gathered over thy glory." Just punishment from God has overtaken thee. For He calls punishment a cup and wine, as we have often said.
Vers. 17. "Because the impiety of Libanus shall cover thee, and the misery of the beasts shall terrify thee, because of the blood of men, and the impieties of the land, and of the city, and of all them that dwell in it." For those things, he says, which thou hast dared to perpetrate against Jerusalem, thou shalt pay the penalty—for he called this Libanus—and thou shalt B be delivered to the enemies as to certain wild beasts, making satisfaction for all thy multifarious wickednesses.
Vers. 18. "What does the graven image profit, that they have graven it? They have fashioned it a molten image, a false imagination, because the maker trusts in his own creation, to make dumb idols." What can be more senseless than those who worship man-made idols? Who, though they see the material and the workmanship with their eyes, yet stupidly offer divine worship to them as if they were gods.
Vers. 19. "Woe to him that says to the wood: Awake, and arise; and to the stone: Be thou exalted. And it itself is an image, and it is a production of gold and silver, and there is no spirit at all in them." Who would not justly lament those who do not hesitate to offer prayers C to gods made of gold and silver? For they are not even ashamed to rouse them as if they were asleep, although they are not ignorant that they are utterly inanimate, and unable to act through the senses with which they appear to be commonly endowed.
Vers. 20. "But the Lord is in His holy temple; let all the earth revere before His face." For while the idols are indeed dumb and deaf and destitute of all power, our Master has heaven as a kind of temple, and He has also on earth the place consecrated to Him in Jerusalem; and for all reasons it is equal and just that He should be religiously observed by all creatures. And it is clear that these things were said to the Babylonian, D who had despised the true God, and had delivered His divine temple to the fire, and had bestowed all worship upon idols made by human hands. Having in this manner fashioned the character of the discourse, and having shaped it into interrogation and answer, into the proposal of doubts and the solution of the matters sought, and having shown the justice of God, and how He [punishes] the Jews through the Babylonians,
and the Babylonians through others, he turns the discourse into a canticle and prayer, again under the guise of prayer prophesying things to come.
CHAPTER III
A Ver. 2. "O Lord, I have heard Thy hearing, and I was afraid: O Lord, I have considered Thy works, and was astonished." I was filled with fear, O Master, when I heard Thy words; but when I considered the equity of Thy judgment, and that each of the things that come to pass is administered in justice, I continue to be filled with great and lasting admiration. "In the midst of two animals Thou shalt be known." This has been understood in various ways by some. Some have understood by "two animals" angels and men; others, those of the incorporeal powers that approach the divine glory, the Cherubim and Seraphim; others, the Jews and the Babylonians. But it appears to me that the prophet did not say "animals" (ζῶα), but "lives" (ζωὰς), the present and the future, in the midst of which the just Judge appears. "When the years approach, Thou shalt be known; when the time is present, Thou shalt be displayed." For as time progresses, and events become manifest, the truth of Thy predictions is shown. "When my soul was troubled, in wrath Thou shalt remember mercy." And as Thou perturbest the souls of men with corrections, again using mercy, Thou changest their calamitous state.
B Ver. 3. "God shall come from Thæman, and the Holy One from the overshadowed mountain." Some have interpreted Thæman as Africus, others as the South. The prophet foretells and predicts the incarnation of our God and Savior, which took place in Bethlehem, which is situated to the South and Africus of Jerusalem. By the "overshadowed mountain," he calls Jerusalem itself, which formerly flourished with every kind of grace, was overshadowed by the cloud, and dwelt under the protection of the God of heaven. "His virtue covered the heavens, and the earth is full of His praise." This is also what the blessed David said: "O Lord, our Lord, how wonderful is Thy name in all the earth! For Thy magnificence is exalted above the heavens." C For the only-begotten Word of God, having taken on human flesh, dispelled the darkness of ignorance, and illuminated men with the rays of the knowledge of God, and taught everyone that He is the Maker of heaven and earth and of all things.
Ver. 4. "And His splendor shall be as light." For He sent forth a most clear ray, by which He illuminated the inhabited world. "Horns are in His hands, and He placed the strong love of His power." And not only by the light of teaching did He make the truth of His divinity manifest, but also by the power of miracles [He brought every tongue to the knowledge of God].
And He did both, because He loved human nature exceedingly; which the Lord Himself declared in the holy Gospels: "I am the good shepherd; the good shepherd layeth down his life for the sheep." And: "Greater love than this no man can show, than that one should lay down his life for his friends." B He called power "horns," since these are the weapons of the animals that possess them. Of this kind is what the blessed David said: "With thee we shall push down our enemies with a horn."
VERS. 5. "Before his face shall go the word, and it shall go forth into instruction after his feet." For the word anticipates the works, and by foretelling things to come, it thus brings about events that are very much in harmony with [His] words. But as for the phrase "into instruction," some copies have it with the *nu*, and it signifies that the God of the universe uses both words and works for the instruction and teaching of men. B Others have it without the *nu*, and it signifies that with great ease, as on a level plain fit for inciting horses, events run alongside the prophecies.
VERS. 6. "He stood, and the earth was shaken; he looked, and the nations wasted away: the mountains were crushed by force, the everlasting hills melted at his everlasting ways." By all these things He has taught us of the inexplicable power of God. For the work follows immediately upon His will, and if He only wills (for this is what it means to say: "He stood and looked"), He shakes the earth, C dissolves the nature of men, breaks the mountains, and melts the hills like wax. For these and such like things He ceased not to do for the benefit of men. For He calls "works" [His] "ways." By the things spoken, He signifies the cross, salutary to all men, upon which Christ the Lord stood, and shook the earth, and by shaking the mountains, He rent them; and He struck terror into the race of demons, and destroyed the temples situated on mountains and hills. He who had decreed these things from the beginning, and before the foundation of the world, fulfilled them at the end of the days.
VERS. 7. "But for the labors which I saw, the tabernacles of the Ethiopians shall be afraid, and the tabernacles of the land of Midian." D For indeed, after the salutary passion, I saw the race of demons prostrate, who, by reflecting the natural color of the Ethiopians in their own will, deceive the souls of men. But if anyone wishes to understand these things as pertaining to men as well, he will not deviate from the purpose of divine Scripture; for after the salutary cross, and the passion, and the resurrection of the Lord, filled with spiritual grace, the divine apo-
apostles spread abroad the waters of his divine teaching unto all nations. B "The abyss gave its voice; the height of its imagination was lifted up. (11) The sun and the moon stood in its order." It remained in its turn, and kept the sequence of its concepts. For having called the holy apostles rivers, he names the nations the sea, held fast by the bitterness of impiety. But just as when rivers pour into the deep a great sound and noise is made, because the waves of the sea resist and hold back the incursion; so too, when the divine apostles went around to the nations and carried across the saving proclamation, tumults were stirred up against them, and factions of the unbelievers opposing them and attempting to quench the flame of the teaching. And the history of the Acts clearly teaches us this. For in Ephesus, Demetrius the silversmith stirred up the disturbance against the apostles; and in Corinth others shouted:
"in horsemen, and in many ships, and it shall enter into the land in the floods, and shall crush." We have often said that the ten horns of the fourth beast which appeared in his time designate ten kings who would reign at the same time at the end of the Roman empire. From these, therefore, the king of the South will again war against this one, who is called the king of the North. "For from the north," he says, "evils will be kindled upon all who inhabit the earth." And Antiochus also, who was a type of him, was named king of the North. When, therefore, the king of the South has clashed with him, with a multitude and with fortifications, both earthly and maritime, he will also wage war against him, and will achieve the victory. And the Lord predicted these enemies also in the holy Gospels: "For nation shall rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom, and there shall be famines, and pestilences, and earthquakes in different places; but these things are all the beginning of sorrows." Having, therefore, the Lord’s prediction in agreement with this prophecy, we shall understand what is set before us. "And he shall pass through," he says. (Verse 41) "And he shall enter into the land of Sabir." Again, through Sabir he has indicated Jerusalem. "And many shall be infirm." C Clearly those who are deceived, or softened by the magnitude of the punishments. "And these shall be saved from his hand, Edom, and Moab, and the beginning of the children of Ammon." Neither do these things suit Antiochus; for when he had subdued them, he set leaders over them, one of whom was Timothy, the leader of the Ammanites. Under this impious leader it is likely that these have escaped, inasmuch as they were not even earnestly religious; for the impious person surely wars against the earnest. But if indeed these names must be understood figuratively, Edom is interpreted as "the red one"; for this reason Esau also was called Edom, as one who had desired the red lentil stew, and blood also has a red appearance. Those, therefore, who are deemed worthy of the Lord’s blood, and who live lives worthy of this gift, have the grace of the Lord’s blood flourishing upon them; and Moab is also addressed as "born of a father." For thus the elder daughter of Lot, having conceived from her father, then bringing forth, named the one born. Those, therefore, who are called sons of God, "who were born, not of bloods, nor of the will of the flesh, nor of the will of man, but of God," are deservedly named Moab. And Ammon also signifies "son of the race"; for the divine Scripture teaches this. For the blessed Paul says, preaching among the Athenians: "Being therefore the race of God, we ought not to think, that [the Godhead] is like to gold, or silver, or stone, of the art of sculpture, and the thought..."
A ...of marine waves obstructing and preventing the influx: so when the apostles traversed the nations and carried forth the saving proclamation, tumults were stirred up against them, and seditions of contradicting infidels, attempting to extinguish the flame of doctrine. This, the history of the Acts openly teaches us. For at Ephesus, Demetrius the silversmith stirred up mobs against the apostles. In Corinth, others exclaimed, "These who have turned the world upside down are come hither also." In Jerusalem, too, the Jews, having stirred up the whole city against the divine Paul, at the last delivered him to the Romans: and it is possible to find infinite examples of this kind.
"Into light your arrows shall go, into the splendor of the coruscation of your armor." (Ver. 12) "In threats you shall trample the earth, and in fury strike the nations." And while these things are happening to the heralds sent by you to the nations, you endure them with patience, he says, though you are possessed of inexplicable power, and abound in armor of all kinds for punishment, and could destroy the whole earth together with its inhabitants by the mere expression of threats. Yet you have made use of this divine patience, since...
Ver. 13. "You have gone forth for the salvation of your people, to save your anointed." These things also are similar to those which are said by our Savior in the holy Gospels: "The Son of man came into the world, not to judge the world, but that the world through him might be saved." But he calls "anointed" those who have been deemed worthy of the calling, and have faithfully received the proclamation, and have enjoyed the grace of the divine Spirit. "You have sent death into the heads of the wicked, you have raised the bonds even to the neck, to the end." To those, therefore, who have believed, you have brought salvation: but those who remained wholly incredulous, you have delivered to death, and bound them in the chains thereof.
Ver. 14. "You have divided in astonishment the heads of the mighty, they shall be shaken in it: they shall open their bridles, as a poor man eating in secret." Now your power having become manifest to all men, even those who were endowed with great powers will be in such fear, so as not to speak their opposing words with boldness, but in secret and hiddenly; whom one may fitly compare to a certain beggar who does not dare to take food openly, but with his mouth closed, consumes it within.
Ver. 15. "And you have caused your horses to ascend into the sea, troubling many waters." Above, indeed, he said that the conflict of the rivers flowing into the sea was about to happen: but in this place, those which he called rivers, he again denominates horses; and as the nations were perishing by these, the billows were forming, and a deep calm followed them. B This the Lord also said in the holy Gospels: there is a great noise and din made in the sea, the sea-waves hindering and obstructing the influx; so [it was] with the nations when the divine apostles were traversing them, and ferrying across the salutary proclamation; commotions were stirred up against them, and factions of the unbelievers contradicting, and attempting to extinguish the flame of the teaching. And this the history of the Acts clearly teaches us. For in Ephesus, Demetrius the silversmith stirred up the disturbance against the apostles; and in Corinth others were shouting, "Those who have turned the world upside down, these also are present here." And in Jerusalem, the Jews, having stirred up the whole city against the inspired Paul, at the end delivered him to the Romans. And it is possible to find ten thousand other such things. C
"Into light your arrows shall go, into the splendor of the coruscation of your armor. (Ver. 12) In threatening you shall trample the earth, and in fury strike the nations." And while these things are happening to those heralds sent by you to the nations, you are long-suffering, he says, possessing power that is ineffable, and having at your disposal all kinds of punitive weapons, and being able by a mere threat to destroy the whole earth with its inhabitants. You have used this long-suffering, since...
"You have gone forth for the salvation of your people, to save your anointed." And these things are like those said by our Savior in the holy Gospels: "The Son of man came into the world, not that he should judge the world, but that the world might be saved through him." But he calls "anointed" those who have been deemed worthy of the calling, and have faithfully received the proclamation, and have enjoyed the grace of the divine Spirit. "You have cast death into the heads of the lawless, you have raised the bonds even to the neck, to the end." To those therefore who have believed you have offered salvation; but those who have been disbelieving to the end you have delivered to death, having bound them with its chains.
Ver. 14. "You have divided in astonishment the heads of the mighty, they shall be shaken in it; they shall open their bridles, as a poor man eating in secret." For your power having become manifest to all men, even those who are clothed with great powers will be in such fear, as not to utter their opposing words with boldness, but in secret D and stealthily, whom one might fittingly compare to a beggar who does not dare to take food openly, but with his mouth closed, grinds it up within.
Ver. 15. "And you have caused your horses to ascend into the sea, troubling many waters." Above, indeed, he said that there would be a turbulence of the rivers flowing into the sea; but here, those whom he had called rivers, he has again named horses, by which the nations...
A having gone round—a turbulence was formed, but a deep calm followed these. This also the Lord said in the holy Gospels: "I did not come to bring peace upon the world, but a sword, to divide a man from his neighbor, a son from his father, a daughter from her mother, and a daughter-in-law from her mother-in-law." For because they had concordantly embraced impiety, with a good division He dissolves the evil agreement, and after a praiseworthy disagreement, creates a concord of piety.
Ver. 16. "I kept watch, and my belly was terrified at the voice of the prayer of my lips; and trembling entered into my bones, and my constitution was shaken beneath me." The Prophet, considering from the things spoken what evils would befall the Jews who were disbelieving, while the nations believed, and using sympathy for his kinsmen, said that he shuddered and feared on account of the predictions made through the prayer. But nevertheless, he says, I have this consolation, that I will not be a spectator of their calamity. "For I shall rest B in the day of my tribulation, that I may ascend to the people of my pilgrimage." For before the outcome of the predictions, I shall receive the end of life, and I shall be delivered from the pilgrimage of the present life.
Ver. 17. "Because the fig tree shall not bear fruit, and there shall be no produce in the vines; the work of the olive shall be false, and the fields shall not provide food; the sheep have failed from the food, and there shall be no oxen at the mangers." I shall not see, he says, either the unfruitfulness of the fig tree, or the barrenness of the olive, or the vine deprived of its clusters, nor fields bare of ears of corn, nor cattle perishing by famine. And each of these is spoken figuratively. For C he called Jerusalem a fig tree; for thus the Lord taught us to understand through the parable, pointing out a barren fig tree which the planter wished to cut down because of its barrenness; but the gardener begged that a little time be given, so that, being deemed worthy of care, it might either yield fruit or be rooted up. And the Holy Scripture has often named the people a vine; and that I may omit other testimonies, through Isaiah God says: "For the vineyard of the Lord of hosts is the house of Israel, and the house of Judah is a favorite new-planting. I waited for it to produce judgment, but it produced iniquity, and not justice, but a cry." One would not err in calling the Pharisees and Sadducees a barren olive tree, who, vaunting themselves D on the name of justice, were bereft of its fruits. That this is taken as an image of the righteous, the great David is witness, crying out: "But I am like a fruitful olive tree in the house of God; I have hoped in the mercy of God forever." He calls the unfruitful the fields subject to their dominion...
to whom Jeremiah also cries out: "Break up new ground for yourselves, and do not sow among thorns." And he calls the subjects sheep, A to whom he threatens famine: "For behold, he says, I will send a famine upon the earth, not a famine of bread, nor a thirst for water, but a famine of hearing the word of the Lord." He calls the priests oxen not present at the mangers, whose altars, once most celebrated, have remained deserted. For just as oxen plow the earth, so the priests cultivated the souls of the people, receiving from Him a kind of pasture—that is, the things offered to the divine altars as if to mangers. Concerning these, the blessed Paul also said: "You shall not muzzle an ox that is treading out the grain." And again: "Those who serve at the altar share in the altar." But these, indeed, will fall into such calamities.
Verses 18, 19. "But I will rejoice in the Lord; I will exult in God my Savior. The Lord God is my strength, and he will place my feet like a deer's; B he will set me upon high places, that I may be victorious in his song." For although I was filled with sadness and fear on account of those others, yet because of the glory of my God, which will become manifest to all men, I exult and rejoice. For he will strengthen the weakness of my nature and, like a deer, he will prepare me to tread upon serpents and scorpions and to suppress the wickedness in spiritual things, until, arriving at the summit of virtue, I shall sing the hymn of victory to the Savior and Creator. C I know, certainly, that some, having understood the whole prayer of Habakkuk historically, have said that the prophet predicted these things concerning the return from Babylon. But I, if anyone should wish to say that these things were predicted of them also typically, will not disagree: for that understanding also accords with the things interpreted by us, since the old things are a manifest type of the new. But I have thought it absurd, where the truth prevails and the shadow is eclipsed by the body, to refer the prophecy to other things that have nothing at all in common with them. D If anyone wishes to learn accurately, let him search the prophecy, and he will see most of it in no way corresponding to those types. But about these things, let each judge as he wishes. I, however, advise the readers to derive benefit from the interpretations and, relying on the help of divine power, to finish the course and yearn for the victorious crowns, of which the Lord Jesus Christ is the granter, to whom belongs all glory forever and ever. Amen.
THE BLESSED THEODORET, BISHOP OF CYRRHUS, INTERPRETATION OF THE PROPHET SOPHONIAS
A ARGUMENT After the pious and God-loving King Hezekiah, his son Manasseh, having obtained the kingdom, fell into extreme impiety, and drove the people into the violation of the law and the worship of idols. His son Amon, indeed, reigning for a short time, followed the impiety of his father, but did not emulate his repentance; rather, he, too, trained the people in every kind of wickedness. From him was born the most blessed Josiah, who entered upon a path diametrically opposed to these men, and spent his life in all piety and virtue toward God, preferring the worship and observance of God above all things. It was under him that the divine Sophonias delivered this prophecy. Moreover, the most divine Jeremiah began to prophesy in the thirteenth year of his reign. B This admirable prophet predicts what things were to befall the city of Jerusalem and the tribe of Judah; he also foretells fatal things for the neighboring Philistines, and predicts utter destruction for the Assyrians. Then he announces the recall of the people, and signifies beforehand the salvation that would come to all nations after the incarnation of the Lord. This, in summary, is the argument of the prophecy. He begins his prediction thus:
CHAPTER I
VERS. 1-3. "The word of the Lord which came to Sophonias, the son of Chusi, the son of Godolias, the son of Amarias, the son of Ezechias, in the days of Josiah, son of Amon, king of Judah. By a failure let all things fail from the C face of the earth, saith the Lord. Let man fail and cattle: per-