Exposition on the Prophet Habakkuk

into twelve parts, and they shall become twelve oaks, hearing and obeying God, who appears on earth, by whose aid the whole world shall be saved. And thus having finished his life, he was buried in his own land.

OF THE SAME THEOPHYLACT, ARCHBISHOP OF BULGARIA, EXPOSITION ON THE PROPHET HABAKKUK

ARGUMENT

^BThere are some who bear it painfully when they behold those who are subject to wickedness and who act unjustly passing their lives in happiness. And some indeed doubt whether God is moved by care for human affairs. Again, it is possible to find those who do indeed believe that there is providence, but who in the meantime nevertheless doubt whether God, the supreme creator of the universe, disposes all things and all matters according to reason. Therefore, assuming the person of the latter, the prophet Habakkuk hesitates indeed, desiring to learn, as if for the sake of understanding, the cause of why all things come to pass in this way. ^C He offers, therefore, the solution which the grace of the divine Spirit provided him. For, as some have supposed, the prophet himself did not suffer from this affect, nor did he grow faint, but he brings forth into the open what has been thought and said by others, and brings instruction concerning the matters that are questioned. The divine David also did this, being imbued with the Spirit of God; for he too assumes the person of one seething with indignation at the more flourishing fortunes of wicked men, while he says, "But as for me, my feet were almost shaken; my steps had well-nigh slipped; for I was jealous at the lawless, seeing the peace of sinners." And having added many such things, he indicated the solution of the questions raised. For this, he says, is "labour in my sight, until I enter into the sanctuary of God, and understand their end." Having learned this from the grace of the Spirit, he added, "Nevertheless; because of the many..."

^A impostures of theirs, you have decreed evils for them," and what follows thereafter. Afterward, teaching us that we should by no means be meddlesome investigators of the divine dispensation, but rather that we should revere and follow it with a simple soul, he says: "I became as a beast before you, and I am always with you." For just as a beast, he says, follows its leader without anxiously inquiring whither it is walking, so too does it behoove me to follow your words; for by doing this, I shall always be with you. That he posed such questions not because he himself was doubting about Providence, but because he was introducing the reasonings of others, the opening of the psalm makes clear: "How good," he says, "is God to Israel, to those who are upright in heart!" And he who confesses that God is good must necessarily also acknowledge Him to be the giver of good things. We find such things also in other psalms and among other prophets. ^B To these the prophecy of the divine Habakkuk also appears similar. For he seems to be in perplexity, wondering for what reason the bold and arrogant prosper more than those who are more gentle, and why punishment does not follow hard upon the heels of those who commit lawlessness; so that, having expressed his perplexity and then having brought forth the solution, he might heal those who are sick with such thoughts and who murmur against Providence. Some, however, have understood these words of the prophet to be framed according to another method. For since the Israelites took it ill when the prophets foretold terrible things, as they were always hearing of afflictions and calamities impending over them from the prophets, the prophet shows them skillfully that they are worthy to suffer such things as the prophets predict, because they commit such and such sins. For this reason, he introduces himself as being indignant before God at such a flux of wickedness, and seeking vengeance, in order to show that their works are so evil—even if they themselves do not perceive it—that God is even blasphemed by them because He does not bring swift punishment upon them for these things. ^C Indeed, even after having been sufficiently indignant, he prophesies that the despisers of the word of God shall not escape divine justice. But in order to encourage these Israelites, he also foretells the destruction of the Babylonians and the freedom and return of the Israelites through Cyrus. And he obscurely indicates the universal redemption of human nature, which we have received through our Lord Jesus Christ, which this blessed prophet also celebrates at the end of the prophecy by composing an ode in which a *diapsalma* is also found, as we shall demonstrate, God willing, when we arrive at that place. ^D

CHAPTER ONE

and because of the transition from human to divine revelations. If, therefore, he does not speak as a man, but is moved by the Spirit to prophesy, it is quite evident that the prophet himself does not doubt concerning the providence of God, but wishes to heal those who do doubt, or to persuade the Israelites that they will justly endure what the holy prophets announce to them; since even he himself is distressed the more that God does not bring punishment upon them more quickly, even though they sin so greatly. ^A If, however, Habakkuk is interpreted as "father of arousal," who else could this be but the Prince of our life, the Firstborn from the dead, and the Firstfruits of those who have fallen asleep, and the Father of the age to come, who by his arousal and resurrection has received his inheritance and has divided the spoils? This one, according to his humanity, receiving from God his Father the glory and honor of the Holy Spirit, laments on behalf of human nature the injustice which it suffers, being tyrannized by demons. Observe also the term "the Prophet," that is, he who was announced by Moses, who said: "The Lord God will raise up a prophet for you; listen to him" — just as the Pharisees asked John: "Are you the prophet?" ^B Furthermore, whoever is not only roused himself from the fall of sin, but is also able to instruct others in such an arousal, does not see what he sees by human reasoning, but receives it from God, so that he can say with the divine Paul: "Not I, but the grace of God which is with me"; and again: "Through whom we have received both grace and the function of an apostolic office"; and: "Our sufficiency is from God."

VERS. 2. How long shall I cry out, and thou wilt not hear? The prophet assumes the person of one who is wronged and says: I have cried out to thee many times, begging that thou wouldst root out wickedness and crimes, and have not been heard. How long, therefore, wilt thou be long-suffering? This is said in order to show those Israelites who accuse God, that while punishment is always threatened against them, God is nevertheless patient and long-suffering—to the point ^C of moving the haters of evil, namely the pious, to indignation, because they take it ill that He does not bring about retribution and punishment more quickly.

VERS. 3. Why hast thou shown me labors and toils, to look upon calamity and impiety? Moved by the affection of compassion, and thus being fellow-sufferers, the saints mourn for both parties: both for those who are wronged, oppressed by injustice, and afflicted, and for those who do the wrong and lead others to calamity. And perhaps they are consumed with greater sorrow on account of the perpetrators of injustice, inasmuch as the harm pertains all the more to the soul, which is the most precious thing. He says, therefore: Why hast thou shown me the labors and toils of people suffering unjustly, in order that I might look upon their misery and the impiety of those acting ^D unjustly toward them? In what way did he say that God showed him these things? By having permitted them because of His long-suffering.

and not having cut them off, or as it were by prolonging his life so that he might behold such things. For the saints, being embittered in their souls, desire their departure, as did Jonah: "And now, take, I pray thee, my life from me" (Jonah IV, 3). One might say that this very injustice is weariness and pain for those who act unjustly, and impiety is misery for the impious; for nothing is more laborious than wickedness, nor weaker than impiety. ^B Observe, moreover, how he calls injustice "impiety," either shaming those who act unjustly and frightening them through the bitterness of the language, or perhaps the argument also contains a reasonable consideration. For if he who does not feed the least of the brethren does not feed God—"For in as much as ye did it not to one of these least, ye did it not to me" (Matt. XXV, 45)—it follows, not to say more, that he who treats a poor man unjustly does injustice to God; and injustice against God, I think, is impiety. Human nature, too, condemned after the transgression of the commandment to live in the sweat of the face and to bring forth children in sorrows, laments these things, seeking the deliverance which the Son of God was about to grant it. But even he who has received the grace to arouse sinners calls upon God not to show him any longer those occupied in the works of iniquity, and who in this very thing are intent upon being impious toward God. For such is he who has trampled underfoot the Son of God and has counted common the blood of the covenant, in which he was sanctified, and has insulted the Spirit of grace (Hebr. X, 29).

^C Judgement is set against me, and the judge accepts (53). The prophet indicates that he does not grieve over himself, but over the divine commandment that is despised, and over the brothers who are suffering unjustly (54). For, he says, while I am looking, the judge has taken bribes and has transgressed the law which says: "Thou shalt not respect persons in judgement, for the judgement is God's" (Deut. XVI, 19).

Therefore the law is dispersed, and judgement is not brought to an end, because the impious oppresses the righteous; for this reason the judgement will go forth perverted. Because, he says, the judges accept bribes, and because the unjust man is more powerful than he who possesses justice, the law is dispersed—that is, it is cast away, it is confounded, it does not keep its own nature, nor is the appropriate judgement applied to affairs. But often, even if the judge begins to make a righteous judgement, he does not carry it ^D through to the end, being led elsewhere by bribes. And he who perhaps even begins to judge justly for this very reason, that by frightening the powerful man as if he were going to condemn him, he might take greater bribes from him. Because of this, therefore, that the unjust man is powerful and has more than the just, the judgement goes forth crooked; him to

whom the judgement of those who crucified the Lord also belongs, having occurred contrary to Him. For indeed, that which was unjust in the very matter of His justice, was contrary to it. And the judge Pilate received the glory of men, which he loved more than the glory of God. For this reason the impious people oppressed the Just One, and the judgement went forth against Him twisted. For those whom they ought to have praised and extolled as their benefactor, they condemned to a shameful death. But the Lord also reproved the Jews in other ways, because they did not judge uprightly, when they blamed Him for having healed the paralytic on the Sabbath. For He said: "If a man receives circumcision on the Sabbath, why are you angry with me for having made a whole man whole on the Sabbath? Do not judge according to appearance." ^B A perverse judgement occurs even in the human tribunal, namely ones own, when our mind, having received as a bribe the passionate pleasure of the senses, gives to the sensible things the prevailing vote. Then even our enemy, who is truly impious as an apostate from God, oppresses the reason that holds justice within itself. But what is just is that the visible and sensible should be mastered by the invisible and intelligible; for things that are seen are temporal, but things that are not seen are eternal.

VERS. 5. "Look, you contemptuous ones, and consider, and marvel at wonders, and be annihilated." Having discoursed upon those who transgressed the Law in Jerusalem (for those who were in Samaria had already been led away captive and were dwelling in Babylon), and having set forth the words of the one who was angry, he puts forth a response as if received from God: thus applying a remedy to those murmuring against Divine Providence, as though it proceeded at a very slow pace. ^C Furthermore, he indicates to the Israelites that the evils which God will bring upon them, He will bring justly, as upon prevaricators and tempters of Himself; for they were sinning without trembling, not only not obeying the Law, but not even paying heed to the prophets who forewarned them quite frequently. He commands them to fix their eyes upon these things—that is, he bids them to turn their minds to what is being said, and to look into them, that is, to consider them with persistence and sobriety, and then to be stunned and to dread the threats. "For I am about to do certain wondrous things among you," He says. "For indeed the holy nation, my firstborn son, namely you, I am about to deliver to the enemies, so that you may suffer every terrible and harsh thing from them." But what does, "Be annihilated" mean? It is for, "Cover yourselves, hide yourselves, struck with fear and shame." Or, "Be annihilated," that you who are now evil may become good. For he who is evil in that respect is annihilated, that he may come to be good; ^D just as much as the outer man is decaying, so much is the inner man being renewed. And since everyone who scorns God does not see (for he would not have scorned One who is so good), for this reason...

regarding those thoughts ^A that are involved in sin, he urges them to see that God is the truly good, and to fix their gaze upon Him, and not to be deceived by the false beauty of visible things, nor to admire those worldly things which are not worthy of admiration, but rather those which are truly admirable, which are in the heavens. "And be obscured," he says, from the human soul, O scornful thoughts, so that those which submit to all things out of reverence might enter in ^B, fearing Him who is able to cast both body and soul into Gehenna, and for this reason turning aside from evil.

"For I am working a work in your days, which you will not believe, if someone tells you." Not long hence, he says, but in your days I shall hand you over, you lawless ones, to your enemies. This, then, is the work which I am performing. And I know indeed that, being scorners, you will not believe, even if someone tells you. For before the experience of events, you regard threats as nothing, as if they were false; nevertheless, as I do my own part as One who is good and just, I cannot bear to judge you on the basis of mere foreknowledge. But I even offer the predictions to those who are going to be unbelieving, and then, to those who do not accept the medicine, I bring the punishments. Perhaps the Only-Begotten might also be understood here, saying to the demons who have tyrannized over human nature and scorn God, that He is about ^C to perform a great work, to take flesh, then in their days, that is, in the time of their prosperity. For the Scripture knows how to call a time of prosperity a "day," as in: "I will not fear from the height of the day," and: "I have not desired the day of man." When, therefore, your wickedness shall prevail over the inhabited world, so that all are corrupted and become abominable, and there is not one righteous person left, not even one, then I shall take flesh and perform wonders—the other things, and those which were openly prophesied about me among you—casting you out from among men. See then these things, and be obscured, no longer priding yourselves on having power in the air, but slinking away under the earth.

"For behold," ^D I am raising up the Chaldeans, that bitter and swift nation, walking upon the breadths of the earth, to inherit dwellings not his own. Having said, "In your days," since this also has a breadth of meaning, he says: "Behold"—for I do not delay, but, "Behold, I am raising up," I, who am powerful in all things, I, who fear no one. The word is fearsome.

For who can endure one who is raised up by God? ^A And they are also acerbic by nature; this too adds to the intensity and exaggeration. Furthermore, the Chaldeans are swift, for they are horsemen, so as not to allow you even a little time to prepare your forces against them or to prepare for flight. Moreover, they are accustomed to wars and educated in them. For they "advance upon the breadths of the earth," that is, upon the whole earth, not the neighbor only; and this is the work they must carry out. For He did not say "they have advanced," but "they are advancing." And they do not merely plunder the lands of others and then return, so that you might have hopes of recovering your homeland; rather, their aim and intent is to occupy the lands by hereditary right and to inhabit settlements that were not previously their own. ^B Moreover, the Lord, becoming incarnate, raised up the Chaldeans—the Magi—who had previously been bitter and cruel, and swift to shed blood, and traveling a broad path as lovers of pleasure and gold, yet they came to Christ, that they might worship Him and inherit the dwellings in the heavens, which were not previously theirs. And indeed, the Lord, becoming incarnate, raised up the entire Gentile people, who are represented by the Chaldeans, to faith, having performed this great work. Admittedly, "great is the mystery of godliness, God was manifest in the flesh." Therefore, these men, who were bitter, as though having the venom of a serpent, on account of both impiety and other sins, became swift to repentance; and they advanced across the breadths of divine Scripture, ^C or the Church, not narrowing piety to one person, but widening it to three consubstantial Persons—that is, partakers of the same substance; and they understand the Scriptures not only according to the letter, but also according to the spirit, so as to describe them in a threefold manner according to the mandate of the proverb, so as to inherit both the law and the prophets, in which the grace of the Spirit was resting, which were not previously theirs—for they were given to the Jews alone. For "He declared," he says, "His statutes and His judgments to Israel; He has not dealt so with any nation, and as for His judgments, He has not made them known to them." In another sense, ^D a bitter and fierce nation is Satan himself, and the demons who are under him, whom God raises up through him—if anyone is, according to Paul, sinning—delivering them to these for the destruction of the flesh, that the spirit might be saved. Where these find a narrow way and a constricted gate, they neither travel there nor enter; but where they find a breadth of earthly mind, and of a lax and sprawling life, there they travel, and they occupy by inheritance the habitations and bodies of men, which, as creatures and works of God, were not their own.

^A "Terrible and conspicuous he is." Who is he? Perhaps altogether the king of the Chaldeans, Nebuchadnezzar, who both captured and burned Israel. This man was terrible in his deeds, but also conspicuous, that is to say, glorious and distinguished, able even by his mere fame to terrify all who heard of him.

"From himself his judgment proceeds." This means he does not follow laws in order to give judgment according to them—that this is to be accepted, and that to be rejected—but he judges according to what seems right to him; and whatever he might conceive, that is his law.

"And his lemma shall go forth from himself." Since it was the custom among the Chaldeans before wars to consult seers, ^B and to try by the magic arts to learn beforehand the outcome of the battle, he says that his lemma, that is to say, the prediction and divination concerning the war, will not come to him from foreign soothsayers summoned from afar, but from himself, that is, from the native and indigenous magi, who boast more than other nations of foretelling things to come. In this way, also, Balaam was summoned from Mesopotamia by Balak. Or, it may be understood in this way: by "judgment" he means the vengeance which God decreed against the Israelite people, and he says that his judgment—that is, ^C of the Israelite people—the punishment to which they were condemned for having provoked God to anger, and his lemma, that is, the sentence predicted against him, will go forth from himself, namely from the king of the Babylonians; that is, it will receive its end and be effectively consummated.

But even the people from the nations are afterwards terrible and conspicuous to the demons, as if signed with the light of the face of God, and having splendor from above through the grace of God that has shone upon all men. And having heard neither the law nor the prophets, they judged the good from within themselves, and ran to the faith. And the lemma by which they were captured by Christ and accepted into His Church was a matter of their own volition.

Moreover, Satan, having taken up ^D sinners for their chastisement, is terrible and hideous, and displays his own proper malice, thus abusing the divine handiwork, and through these things manifesting his ill-will toward the Creator. For this very reason, therefore, his condemnation also exists, and the man whom he takes up for chastisement will go forth from him—that is, he will no longer be subject to him: for he is chastised precisely so that he may turn away from his works and the spirit may be saved. Thus, the enemy of virtue becomes his own avenger.

"And their horses shall leap more than leopards, and they shall be swifter than the wolves of Arabia." When he had said that the nation of the Chaldeans is swift, he now teaches how they are swifter...

and that this is on account of the sharpness of their horses, which he also says leap more than leopards. Since, however, the leap of a leopard does not extend very far, he adds an alternative comparison, saying that the horses of the Babylonians are swifter than the wolves of Arabia; for Arab wolves are said to be most swift in seizing whatever is encountered, and when they are pursued, they are elusive, which is not the case with leopards. ^B And his horsemen shall spread out, and they shall rush from afar, and they shall fly as an eagle that is eager to eat. Through these words he shows both their strength and their speed, and that they will be brought down upon them from higher places. For just as the eagle is both strong and very swift among flying creatures, and especially when, being hungry, it yearns to eat and, swooping down from higher places, is irresistible, so too the horsemen of the Chaldeans are not only powerful and robust, but also swift on account of their horses, and eager to go forth and devour and consume cities, as they are swooping down from on high. "For I," he says, "will raise them up." Furthermore, the previously equestrian discipline and arrogant pride of the nations will leap forth from its error, and with its leap will overcome the princes of the Jews, who were called leopards and wolves of Arabia, as being bestial and bloodthirsty. Moreover, the horsemen of such a people are the apostles, who sat upon their irrational roaring and pride and ^C subjected it to themselves; they will run with great force and will rush from afar (for they departed from Israel to the nations), and they will fly like an eagle—that is, Christ, whose food is the salvation of men. But the horses of those who sin and are being disciplined—that is, the effeminate and insane reasonings—will leap forth from such passion, so that they might even surpass in the speed of their leap the spiritual leopards (the demons themselves) and no longer be reachable by them. And the riders of such horses, the mind and the reason, who have ascended the concupiscible part, will be removed far from their former passions; and, lightened by the wings of temperance and chastity and lifted up on high, they will fly even to the heavens where Christ is, so as to set their minds on things above and be with Him, and be eager to eat of the tree of life.

VERS. 9. Consummation will come to the impious, resisting with their faces in opposition. Such being the Chaldeans, ^D as the discourse has described them thus far, a consummation will come to the impious in Jerusalem who have resisted God and face Him with impudent opposition: either because the Chaldeans will consume with the sword those who will resist them in front by warring against them—for those coming forward and deserting, and who voluntarily submit to servitude under them, they will allow to live, a fact which we also learn from Jeremiah. Furthermore, a consummation and an end also came upon the Jews, who were impious against the only-begotten Son of God and resisted Him, not indeed secretly, but openly and plainly with great boldness of speech and liberty, so as even to say:

"Take, take, crucify him." But God also spares those who sin and transgress day by day for a time, insofar as they commit their vices and shameful acts more moderately; but when they have broken through this constraint and have rushed into such wickedness that they act impiously with boldness, then at last God brings an end to them and destroys them.

"And he shall gather captivity as the sand." ^B Since the Israelites, having abandoned God and His help, trusted in their own multitude—he says—that even if you are numerous, so as to be compared to the sand, the Babylonian king shall make you captives. But also the people from the nations, having been perfected in Christ, and having become teachers of one another, will lead many captive into the obedience of Christ.

VERS. 10. "And he shall scoff at the kings, and tyrants shall be his mockery, and he shall scoff at every fortress, and he shall heap up a mound, and shall take it." Because the Israelites trusted in their own kings, and also ran to those in neighboring regions, whether they were kings, that is, those ruling according to law, or tyrants, ruling lawlessly and violently, and trusted in their power and alliance, and not in that of God; he says that Nebuchadnezzar will easily overcome these kings, and he will consider it a pleasure to lead away Jeconiah in chains, and to blind Zedekiah, and he was also heavily laid upon Egypt. And even if the cities were fortified and the strongholds impregnable, he will take these as well, as if playing rather than acting in earnest. For he will only heap up a mound, so as to raise it against the wall, which does not even require martial men, but only baggage-carriers and those accustomed to serving for wages. Thus indeed the Babylonian took Tyre. ^C These things are also understood concerning the devil, who took the Israelites, being as sand, and belonging to the salt sea of this life, as loving the glory of men more than the glory of God, as captives, and he mocked the chief priests and the rest of their rulers, who, by being compared to kings because they allegedly held authorized rule, were tyrants in their ways, and he mocked their fortresses, having persuaded them to understand the Scriptures incorrectly. For the knowledge of the Scriptures is a fortress to them; but they took away the key of knowledge, and neither did they enter, nor did they allow those who wished to enter to do so. And he took these fortresses by heaping up a mound, the lowly and earthly and downward-lying interpretation, which has nothing sublime and heavenly; for they think of the enjoyment of earthly goods, and bodily punishments, and all such other things.

^A Kings also and tyrants are those who dominate the passions, because they rule and constrain nature. For since the kingdom of heaven is violent, and the violent take it by force, all who pursue virtue might be called kings and tyrants: kings, as those who reign here and are to reign there more perfectly when Christ, our life, is manifested; tyrants, as those who tyrannize and constrain nature. Therefore, when he who always makes war on those who do good manages to overcome one of such men, he takes pleasure in this and mocks him (for his foods are choice), and especially he casts such men into despair, like the wretched Judas; and he takes hold of every stronghold by throwing up a siege-mound. For by casting and raising up the earth of earthly concerns, and digging it out, he besieges the human mind and captures what is a stronghold built by God. ^B But kings are also tyrants, who have reigned over the passions by way of tyrannizing and constraining nature.

VERS. 11. *Then he shall change his spirit, and shall pass through, and shall be appeased.* When, he says, the Babylonian shall have displayed all these things, and shall seem to have conquered all, then God shall change the spirit, that is, the passionate wrath which He had against the ungodly, and he shall pass through, that is, he shall be removed far from those who are being punished, no longer standing by them and observing their deeds and demanding penalty, and He shall be propitious to them. He said this, however, not because God is fickle and easily changed, but because after the appropriate penalty has been exacted, and the suitable and sufficient remedies have been applied to the sick, He thereafter ceases from medical discipline. ^C Furthermore, when God sees those from Israel captured by the devil, He will not reject His people whom He foreknew; but He will be appeased toward the Jews who repent and are baptized in the name of the Lord Jesus; and you will learn these things especially from the Acts. For you will see the three thousand and the five thousand and the many myriads whom James shows to Paul. And this happens at every time. And let no one who is held by the devil lose heart. For when one has been brought to the end of malice, then He shall change the spirit, the evil that is in him, into good, and he shall pass through to the saving way, which leads away from vice to virtue, and from earth to heaven, and he shall be reconciled to God through repentance for the things that have gone before. ^D For God is not implacable, but is merciful, and shall be propitious to sins, and shall not destroy.

[alt-version omitted]

^A *This is the strength of my God.* The prophet, having marveled at the goodness of God, cries out: That such strength of thine should so chastise, and again so pity, and convert punishment into oil, 82 belongs to no one else, save to thee, my God. For thou art he who killeth and makest alive. [1 Reg. II, 6] You may also say these things according to the counsel of election, marveling how he again received those whom he had rejected 83; and because of those who turn back from extreme wickedness, when you see them running up to the peak of virtue; for human strength cannot do such things, but these are truly the works of divine power and grace, laying hold of human resolve. For when you speak, it shall say: Behold, I am here; and when you are not silent, and, Open thy mouth, and I will fill it. [Psal. LXXXI, 11] Do you open first, then I shall fill.

^B *Art thou not from the beginning, O Lord my God, my Holy One? And let us not die.* For even if we have transgressed, yet from above and from the beginning, thou wast the Lord of our fathers, the Holy God, who acceptest nothing unclean, and because of this thou didst also reject us as unclean. Since, therefore, we have thee as our ancient Master, let us not die, that is, let us not be utterly destroyed, 85 nor shall we undergo total ruin. See, too, how he reminds God of the kinship of old, which Paul also states concerning the Israelites, that they are *enemies on account of the Gospel, but beloved on account of the fathers*. [Rom. XI, 28] These things could also be transferred to the Word and God existing in the beginning, who became my Holy One, that is, he offered himself as a sanctification and oblation for my sake, delivering his body to death, just as he also said: *And for their sake I sanctify myself*. [Joan. XVII, 19] Therefore, we also died the death which is in Adam; for he alone died for all, that he might deliver us from death. Furthermore, he who has fallen from virtue, and then returns to it, shall say: Art thou not from the beginning my Lord? Therefore, having run back to the ancient master, my Holy One, having fled from the unclean tyrant, I shall not die as one in despair.

^C *O Lord, thou hast ordained him for judgment.* Which "him"? Either the Babylonian, so that he might judge and chastise Israel, or the people in Jerusalem, whom thou hast appointed for condemnation. But thou hast also ordained the Lord Jesus for judgment, as he himself says: *For judgment I am come into this world, that they who see not may see, and they who see may become blind.* [Joan. IX, 39] And God has ordained man to distinguish the good from the evil, and not to eat of the mixed and prohibited ^D tree, which is vol-

- uptas, ^A beautiful indeed and good in appearance, but in reality existing as evil.

*And He fashioned me to reprove the instruction.* The ^B aforementioned punishment, he says, He decreed against Israel; but me, the prophet, He fashioned, that is, He set and separated to reprove, that is, to show this instruction which had been decreed against them. And the Lord Jesus could also say that the Father fashioned me in the womb of the Virgin, to reprove the Law, and to demonstrate that it is imperfect. For this reason He also said: *It was said to the ancients, Thou shalt not commit adultery. But I say to you: Everyone who looks at a woman to desire her*, and what follows. For the Law was an institution which God used, and a discipline delivered to the imperfect, to whom the habit in it was still imperfect. Hence also the Lord said: *Moses, he says, on account of the hardness of your hearts, wrote the law concerning divorce.* He reproves the Law, therefore, just as the sun, appearing, reproves a lamp. For that which has been glorified has not been glorified, he says, because of the surpassing glory. And the great Peter also, concerning the prophetic word, says: *To whom you do well to attend, as to a lamp shining in a dark place, until the day dawns and the Morning Star rises in your hearts.* Furthermore, the Scribes and Pharisees were the ^C instruction of the people, whom, in reproving, He said: *Woe to you, Scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites, because you do this and that.*

*Ver. 12. Thy eye is pure, so as not to see evil, and you will not be able to look upon toils. Why do you look upon those who act contemptuously?* In those things about which he doubted above, their resolution is now also given. But now, indeed, he is in doubt on account of the Chaldeans. Nor does this happen as if the prophet himself were in need of a solution (for how, since he was fashioned to reprove and teach others?), but because he perceives that a question will arise among many regarding these things, he therefore brings them forward. For they are perplexed as to the reason why God handed over the Israelites, who act less impiously, to the Chaldeans, who are much more wicked: for the sake of this matter, his soul hangs in doubt, and he says to God: *I know, he says, that thy eye is pure, so as not to wish to look upon wicked works, nor to be able to inspect the toils which the wicked and evil and those doing evil inflict upon the more innocent and weaker ones.* Why, then, do you look upon the contemptuous, ^D that is, the arrogant and the despisers of your laws, the Chaldeans? Why do you look upon them with a milder and more gentle affection? Why do you allow them to pass their days in joy?

*You will be silent meanwhile, while the impious devours the just.* The impious Babylonian devours, he says, the just Israelite, and you in the meantime are silent. Why does this happen? He calls the Israelite just in respect to the Babylonian, as if he were to say, the more just. For the Israelites indeed sinned,

^A but, he says, in comparison to the Chaldeans, they are just.

*Verse 14. And you will make men as the fishes of the sea, and as the reptiles which have no leader.* By this long-suffering, he says, and by the fact that the most wicked are not punished by you, but rather the less evil are handed over into their punishment, you make mortals in no way differ from fish, which have neither laws nor judges, but are set out as food for the stronger by the weaker; and you even liken them to reptiles—that is, to the poisonous kinds of serpents—which, because of the bitterness of their nature, have no leaders, as if they were devoid of any mixture or society, and raging with mutual hatred against one another. For animals placed under a leader are more tame, demonstrating a nature that is loving towards their habitat and gregarious, and by this, judging their character. Furthermore, the demons, mentioned earlier, were also called contemptuous, to whom God, remaining silent during the times before the dispensation of the Gospel, allowed men to live entirely like fish, being most irrational and completely voiceless; for there was in them neither the word of piety, nor a voice of glorification to God; but they were rather mutual man-slayers, and keeping alive in the salty sea of life. And their way of life was so bitter that it could be said: *The poison of asps is under their lips, and their spirit is according to the likeness of the serpent.* ^C *Verse 15. He has drawn up a conclusion with a hook, and dragged it in a cast-net, and gathered it in his drag-nets.* Having said that the ungodly devours the righteous, and that men will be as the fishes of the sea, he now shows regarding whom he says these things, and that it is regarding the Babylonian. For he, he says, has such power that he draws up and pulls out entire nations (for this is what "conclusion" signifies) as if with a hook by his own strength, and draws it—that is, the conclusion itself—in a cast-net, by cruel stratagems (for the Hebrew custom uses masculine [terms] for feminine ones), and has gathered it in the drag-nets, by his military forces. And the devil also hunted the whole man, and drew him with the hook of disobedience and the bait of taste, proposing the equality of God; and he gathered him, and made him most intimate to himself in the drag-nets of manifold and varied pleasures. Thus also today he acts: first he hunts the mind, tearing it away from the Lord, to whom it was glued, with the hook of pleasurable desire. Then he draws it into the net of consent, holding it on both sides, both by thinking and desiring evil, and then by assenting and confederating.

^A Afterward he gathers it and, as it were, embraces it within the meshes of his works. For from the time he once persuades a man to perform evil, thenceforth he makes it his own, persuading him to abuse his own desires and pushing him toward despair, as if he had already been rejected by God.

Therefore, his heart shall be glad and shall rejoice. ^B And the heart of the Babylonian, he says, will luxuriate in the wholesale destruction of the nations, and he will consider their ruin to be joy and delight. And the heart of the devil likewise rejoices in the destruction of men, as one who has gathered many companions for his own fall from God.

Ver. 16. For this reason he will sacrifice to his net, and burn incense to his dragnet, because by them he has made his portion fat, and his food choice. For he made great and (95) gold-rich kingdoms subject to himself. Daniel also displays this arrogance of his to us, saying: Who set up a golden image and commanded all his subjects—princes and those under authority, nobles and all of inferior rank—to worship it and offer it divine honor. And the divine prophet Isaiah says concerning him: You said, “I will ascend above the clouds, I will set my throne above the stars, I will take the inhabited world as a nest, and as abandoned eggs I will take them.” Then he brings forward also the punishment which he will suffer: They shall spread rottenness beneath you, and thy covering, the worm.

But the devil does not owe as much gratitude to the hook—by which I mean the thought that casts in pleasure by way of bait—as he does to the net, that is, consent, and to the dragnet, that is, ^C action. So, in the case of the dragnet, he speaks of burning incense, as being something more subtle than the more subtle; but in the case of the net, he speaks of sacrificing. For the working of evil is more corporeal, and likewise the sacrifice. Since this terrible and wily fisherman of this salt sea catches many of the saints and elect of God in his net, it is rightly said: “His food is choice”; for he is especially eager to hunt these. Thus, the Lord chose Judas, but he, having made him his own through the net of avarice which gathers much together, set him as his food. For just as the salvation of men is food for God, so for him is their destruction. But he also treats the Israelites, being a portion ^D of God (for the people of the Lord, Jacob, is the portion of His inheritance, Israel), as being the Babylonian’s; for he says that he will accomplish these things by his own power and not by divine permission; and he will offer thanks to his own strength, and will command those subject to him to offer the honors due to God to his own power, which has brought him a fat portion, not choice foods.

For clearly he made it his own food. Just as the salvation produced by God is food for men, so too are the feasts of Satan the destruction of men. Nay, he even subjugated the Israelites, who were God’s portion (for the Lord’s portion is his people Jacob, the measuring line of his inheritance, Israel), and thus were a chosen portion; he changed them into God-killers and murderers of God.

^B VERSE 17. *Therefore he will cast his net, and will not spare to kill the nations continually.* Since he had said a little before that he gathers splendid and luxurious portions and choice dishes, and that he experiences successful outcomes for his own enterprises with no one opposing his will, he now adds that he will also invade the nations, and that nothing will stop him from using his own power as if it were a net. Just as the devil did not spare all nations from killing them through sin, once he recognized that sin was the sting of death for both souls and bodies.

CHAPTER II

VERSE 1. *I will stand upon my watch, and I will ascend upon a rock, and I will contemplate to see what he will speak in me, and what I shall answer to my reproof.* It is the custom among the saints of God, if they desire to learn anything from God, to guard their own heart with all keeping against worldly anxieties, to be intent only upon God, and to ascend, as it were, upon a rock — that is, upon the height of their own mind, away from earthly things. For God seeks high hearts, just as David says: "The mighty ones of God ^C of the earth have been greatly exalted"; and again, "The young of the vulture fly on high." Therefore the prophet Habakkuk, having been perplexed by the aforementioned things, as if speaking from the person of those inquiring about such matters, and being about to bring forth the solution to them, says that he will bring it forth not from human reasoning, but as if from God.

Therefore he also says: "I will stand upon my station"—that is, upon the watch of prophecy and spiritual contemplation—guarding my intellect void of worldly anxieties and undefiled, and I will stand upon a firm and unshaken rock, the high return toward God, upon which God also set Moses. For just as those who are about to keep watch climb up to some high place and thus look out, in the same way, he says, I too will look out to see what God will speak in me regarding ^D those matters for which I was perplexed about the Babylonians, and why they do not pay the penalty for their evils, so that I may be able to know what to answer to those who wish to question me about such matters, and to learn concerning the divine dispensations. For he called the questioning a "reproof."

Observe, moreover, how he did not say, "What he will speak outside of me," but "What he will speak in me," in order to show that God did not speak to him from without, nor to any other prophet either, but from within, touching the intellect itself. Thus it is said that God speaks in the prophets. For human speech [index: entries preserved]

^A first clambers around the ears from the outside, then advances to the mind; but the divine speech comes into being within and touches the ears of the mind. By the rock, you should understand faith itself. For he who trusts that God does nothing in all His works without a cause, he alone stands unshaken, not thrown into confusion by the irregularity of happenings.

Vers. 2. *And the Lord answered me, and said: Write the vision, and clearly, upon a boxwood tablet, that he who reads it may pursue it. For the vision is for a time, and it shall reach an end, and not be in vain.* The Lord commands the prophet to write the vision, that is, the revelation which He revealed to him concerning things about which he was in doubt. What this revelation is, he will say after advancing a little way. For the time being, he orders him to commit this vision to writing, and not obscurely according to the prophetic and clearly shadowed ^B manner, but clearly, so that it may be evident. He orders him not to write it on paper, but in a *buxum*, that is, in a tablet made of boxwood, so that the writing might be the more permanent; so that not only those who are living today might read it, but also he who reads it hereafter might pursue it—that is, might inquire into the end of the revelation and when these things will be fulfilled. For this vision is not being fulfilled now, but requires time. And do not be offended by it if you do not see it happening now. For it will certainly proceed to an end, and it will not be in vain. For since God is the one who revealed it, who is Truth itself and is full, how could it be false and void?

Vers. 3. *If it should delay, wait for it; for he that is coming will come, and will not delay.* This is the revelation which God revealed mystically to the prophet; for this reason, He did not even indicate by name who this is whom one ought to wait for, even if he should delay ^C and be slow. Someone might say, therefore, that these things pertain to God. For since Habakkuk was complaining that God did not immediately bring down punishments after sins, nor inflict swift retribution upon the Babylonians, He now adds the resolution of his doubt, saying that God, whom he had accused of being slow, will indeed certainly come, but in His own time. Therefore, if he draws out the time, and seems slower than is proper, bear it, and wait. It is the opinion of some that he says these things concerning Cyrus, who was to come against Babylon. For he will come, and will strip Babylon by his strength, and will avenge and liberate those who suffered injustice, yet not now. But as to how, having said, *If it should delay*, he immediately added, *He will not delay*: he refers the phrase *If it should delay* to pusillanimity, but *He will not delay* to patience. As if to say: ^D If because of your pusillanimity it seems to you that he is slower, wait, and patience will persuade you not to consider that he has delayed. For in truth, just as by pusillanimity, [index: entries preserved] even bearable things seem unbearable, so too are the...

^A It seems to produce that which is swift, as slow; conversely, magnanimity makes things that are difficult, bearable, and those that are slow, swift.

*If he shrink, my soul hath no pleasure in him. But my just one shall live by faith.* He said above: "Write the vision, that he who reads it may run," that is, may seek what that vision implies, as one hoping that these things will be fulfilled. Now, therefore, he says that "if he shrink"—that is, if that reader hesitates and doubts—"he is not pleasing to me, nor does my soul delight nor rest in him." Just as God is said to sleep and to wake, and to have hands and feet in a human manner, so also does he with "my soul." For the soul of the Word of God, who came down to earth for our sake ^B and became man, surely does not take pleasure in the person who is faithless and shrinks from calling him Son of God and true God; but he who confesses him without shrinking and without hesitation, having become just by faith, shall have life—that is, the life to come, or that very righteousness. For out of the works of the law, no flesh is justified. For the law, when transgressed, produces wrath and killed those who transgressed; but faith, by grace undoing sins, justifies. For this reason it is also said, as some copies have: "But my just one"—that is, he who has become just through my grace.

Every soul that is strong and smooth—that is, meek, having nothing harsh or desperate, receiving within itself the prophetic revelations regarding Christ, and guarding them uneraseably, both those concerning his former ^C coming and his second—is a boxwood, or a tablet of box. Therefore, when it sees righteousness languishing and injustice strong and robust, it does not fret, but awaits the time—that is, the seasonable time of the exact judgment and of the recompense for what each has lived—and being just, it does not depart from justice, but passes through the present life by faith in the things to come, remaining immutable, and living in Christ, it is exhilarated by the hopes of God's just judgment. Such was he who said: "I have seen the impious one highly exalted and lifted up, and I passed by, and lo, he was not." For in the present life, perhaps he runs well even to the end. And yet, even this ^D he does not concede, for he says: "Evil—"

-^A-doing and wicked men shall suddenly wither away like grass." Moreover, in the age to come, he shall surely pay the fitting penalty; and there shall be no one to cut them off from Him who truly is: for according to Paul, "We are in God." Thus also in another place He speaks regarding God: "Who calls those things which be not as though they were," that is, those who are outside of Him, and therefore not existing, He makes them to be within Himself ^B, and for that reason they also exist.

Verse 5. Proud is the man, and a scorner, who shall accomplish nothing.

"Who opened wide his soul like hell, and he is as death, which cannot be filled; and will gather unto himself all nations, and will receive unto himself all peoples." That which the prophet said above, that he has drawn "consummation" with a hook, and that he will not spare to kill nations completely, God now seals, ^D bringing to a higher and more extreme level the wickedness both of the physical Babylonian and of the intelligible one. For the prophet likened the manner of his power to a seine, a net, and a hook; but God says that he is never sated, in a manner similar to hell receiving souls and not being filled, and to death receiving bodies and not being satisfied, and subjecting all mankind to itself, and not curbing its own craving. Properly, however, that one who is swollen with pride and a scorner is the father of pride, who, even if he killed human nature through the sin committed in Adam, and spread wide, or broadly opened, his soul, advancing not only against sinners but also against the just and even infants—for "death reigned over those who had not sinned" after the likeness of the transgression in Adam—yet he shall not prevail. For Christ, having appeared sinless for our sake, dissolved the...

^A sin that was poured into us through Adam. Therefore, both having died unjustly and having been raised from the dead—inasmuch as it was not possible for the Prince of Life to be held by death—he also raised us up and made us to sit in the heavenly places. And he [the devil] indeed, through idol worship and other wicked works, subjected all to himself; but Christ cleansed us from dead works, that we might serve the living and true God.

VERS. 6. *Nonne hi omnes de ipso similitudinem sument, et propositionem quam ei denarrent?* The prudent, he says, shall bring forth a likeness, that is to say, an ode or song, and a riddle—meaning a popular discourse that is in everyone’s mouth—so that, instead of any other story, they might speak words about him. Or, by saying "parable," it signifies that whenever people are about to mention any unfortunate person, they will take this as a likeness, saying: "Such a one met with misfortune, just as the Babylonian did."

And they shall say: *Woe to him that multiplieth for himself that which is not his (how long?), and that ladeth heavily his yoke.* These things, he says, they shall sing, lamenting the Babylonian: "Woe to him who lays hands on things that do not belong to him, and who makes his yoke, that is, the burden of his rule, heavier for his subjects by imposing heavy tributes and taxes." But in the midst he cried out: "How long?"—demonstrating his insatiable and greedy desire, which knows no end, but which nevertheless will not exist for long, but will cease very soon. He made his yoke heavy and burdensome, in that he prepared for himself a heavier punishment from God, inasmuch as he always persevered in malice. And the devil also gathers to himself that which is not his; for he takes those who were God’s, and who differ from him in nothing—being created in His image—and makes them his own subjects; yet these were taken away from him by the power of the Gospel of Christ. Whence he also prepares a heavier yoke of punishment for himself, because he did not cease from malice even at the advent of Christ, though he had been stripped of the most vital parts of his power. ^{B C}

VERS. 7. *Quoniam repente exsurgent mordentes ipsum, et expergiscentur insidiatores tui, erisque in direptionem ipsis.* He said above, "How long?" as if vexed and moved, meaning: "How long will you do these things?" Then, as if someone were asking, "How do you understand this?" he says: "Because he will, even against his will, desist from injury and injustice." For they shall rise up suddenly and unexpectedly from sleep, those who bite him as with teeth by the assaults of war, and

consume his military forces—I mean the Persians, Medes, and Elamites under Cyrus. And as if waking up from drunkenness and stupor, having taken up a sober and free mind, they will no longer endure your great oppressiveness, but will plot against you in every way and plunder your kingdom. The apostles and martyrs have also risen up against Satan; those who taught and confessed Christ with their mouth, ^A bit his body, that is, those who think his own thoughts. For just as believers are the body of Christ, so unbelievers are the body of the devil. And those who were previously idolaters will become his plotters, destroying his works. For they have awakened and seen the wood—I say, the wood and the other material—for what it truly was, which, as if intoxicated, they had previously worshipped. And for anyone who turns away from sin, he rises; for one who is lying down cannot turn; and in confessing, he bites the devil with the mouth with which he confesses. And having awakened from the stupor in which he was held by pleasure, he now lies in wait through fasting, through the mortification of the body lying on the ground, and through prayer, and he plunders him, and leads others to salvation both by word and by the example ^B which he exhibits in himself.

VERS. 8. "Because you have plundered many nations, all the remaining peoples shall plunder you, for the blood of men, and for the impiety of the land and of the city, and of all those who dwell in it." You have plundered many, he says, but you shall be destroyed by the few, those who were left outside your tyranny, whom you did not even expect to rise up against you. Thus the blow is inflicted on you by God, so that those who were despised by you shall surpass you, as if God were completely strengthening them and giving them might. You will suffer these things because of the slaughter of men, and because of the impieties which you committed, making every land and every city desolate of its inhabitants. By Cyrus, therefore, the Babylonian suffered these things, that is, his dominion; and ^C by the saints, Satan, who, having plundered men through seductive pleasure, was in turn plundered by them also through Christ, who had entered into his house—that is, the world, in which he had power—and plundered his vessels, which he used for all his own efficacy and operation. He was plundered also through the apostles, who, being of the remnant of the elect of the Israelites, liberated all who were under the power of Satan.

VERS. 9. "Woe to him who greedily possesses evil gains for his house, that he may set his nest on high, that he may be gathered from the hand of evil." He is indignant at the Babylonian as at a covetous man. You could say, however, that he also laments him; for he is truly wretched, and worthy of mourning, who desires more. Therefore, he too was greedily seeking evil gains for his house: or rather, he was ^D greedy with a bad greed.

^A That is, on account of his rule and kingdom, so as to make this lofty and powerful, in order that it might suffer no evil; or he would make the royal house brilliant and plated with gold, and build it high, securing it on every side, so that it might be unassailable. He says "nest" by a metaphor taken from birds, which build their own nests high, so that their fledglings may not be easily captured by those wishing to plot against them. It also signifies the lightness of his mind and his pride. There is also a good greed, when someone wishes to have more in virtue, and when, having given a few things here, he is eager to receive more there.

^B Vers. 10. *You have devised shame for your house.* The height, he says, which you obtained from greed for your house, and for your kingdom, will result in greater shame for you; for by as much as you are more brilliant, by so much the greater is the shame of falling from such and so great a brilliance. These things are said also to all greedy persons. And let them hear these things, and let them be profited. But it is said also concerning the apostate who is greedy for God, and who seized the human nature unto himself; who indeed set his house and nest—that is, sin—on high; for he rests in it. And he is said to have a nest like a bird, on account of his rule and power which he has in the air, ^C and because he breathes ostentation and high-minded things. Yet he has devised and acquired shame for such a house of his. For when he brought sin to its peak, and persuaded it to reach the head of wickedness, having driven other men toward every kind of sin, and the Israelites to fill up the measure of their fathers, and to kill God, then he was put to shame and covered over with confusion.

*You have brought an end to many peoples, and your soul has sinned.* That is, You have finished them off, you have destroyed them with utter destruction (which he said above: *He drew out an end on a hook*), and you did not cease from sinning, but your soul sinned even more, advancing toward greater greeds for having more. Or, after finishing off many peoples, you fell ill with pride, so that you were even rabid against God Himself, which is truly the sin of the soul. ^D Moreover, false teachers also practice a bad greed, tearing the disciples away from sound doctrine after themselves, so that they may make their own houses—and not those of God (which they call Churches)—higher and more glorious, through speaking swelling words; yet they are devising shame for them, while the Church, which is in truth the house of God, shows itself stronger, when such men also finish off many peoples, rendering them subject to the anathema of the Church, which is the end and goal of every heretic, I mean, separation from God.

^A Ver. 11. *For a stone shall cry out from the wall, and the beetle from the wood shall speak these things.* It is the custom of Scripture to attribute voices even to inanimate, senseless, and irrational things; not as though they were able to utter words, but as though they were crying out through the very things themselves. Thus, for instance, Isaiah says: *Be ashamed, O Sidon, said the sea* (Isa. xxiii, 4); and, *The heavens declare the glory of God* (Ps. xviii, 1). And what is more pertinent to the present passage, the Lord said to the Jews when the children were praising Him: *Amen I say to you, if these shall hold their peace, the stones will cry out.* He says, then, to the Babylonian, that not only those who are partakers of speech, but even inanimate stones and irrational creatures, such as beetles, will cry out against your madness and insanity. And how so, we shall explain. Nebuchadnezzar was laying waste, tearing down, and burning the houses and cities of Judea. Necessarily, therefore, the stones were falling, as well as the wood, and the small beetles (for they are called by that name, whether they are wood-worms or wood-borers, from which the age of both houses and cities was evinced). Such things, then, having been undermined and burned, the prophet says will cry out against his cruelty. It should be noted ^B that for "beetle," Symmachus put "framework of wood." Perhaps, therefore, the ancients called the interlocking of beams that support the roofs "beetles," because they bore the roof placed upon them. Furthermore, every stone removed from the Jewish Temple will cry out the power of God. And he who has hitherto been wallowing in the dung of sin, when he apprehends the wood of the cross, shall cry out: *But God forbid that I should glory, save in the cross of my Lord Jesus Christ, by whom the world is crucified to me, and I to the world* (Gal. vi, 14); and that: *For although Christ was crucified through weakness, yet he liveth by the power of God* (II Cor. xiii, 4).

Ver. 12, 13. *Woe to him that buildeth a city with blood, and prepareth a city by injustice. Are not these things from the Lord Almighty?* Truly worthy of wailing and lamentation is he who expands his own kingdom through unjust slaughters and murders, such as he who was the Babylonian, building the city of Babylon out of blood and wars, or making any city subject to himself, rendering and preparing it to be higher and wealthier—thinking that he would make it steady, unshaken, and exposed to no disturbances, and thus invincible—through the gathering of unjust wealth and power. Yet these things are not from the Lord. ^C That is to say, the Lord did not command these things, nor did He give them the force of law, nor are they pleasing to Him. Satan built a city in blood when he established the commonwealth of idolatrous sacrifices; and he prepared a city in injustice when he persuaded men to conduct their lives in avarice and circumvention, and—to put it simply—to live in pleasure and luxury, which is an injustice, in that the better part within us is wronged by the worse.

^A And many people failed in the fire, and many nations lost heart. He shows how the Babylonian built in blood and injustices. For he says: "You have burned many peoples," by having set fire to their cities and lands, and "you have made many nations lose heart," that is, to despair in troubles, and to cast away their strength. Many nations failed in the fire with which they used to burn and offer as whole burnt offerings their sacrifices to idols. But they also fail in the fire of wrath, held fast by the most terrible Babylonian.

^B "For the earth shall be filled with the knowledge of the Lord, as much water covering the seas." Some of the copies have, "It was filled," and you will understand this as being for, "It shall be filled." Since he said, "Woe," above, he now brings in the cause, and says that, "For this reason, I said, 'Woe,' because the power of God shall be made known through you. And all the earth shall know the Lord, as one who judges justly." And just as much water covering the seas—that is, overflowing and bubbling over—flows into every place, so the knowledge of the Lord shall be great, and shall be poured out upon all. Thus also David says: "The Lord is known ^C making judgments; in the works of his own hands the sinner was ensnared." For when the sinner is caught in those very things in which he does evil, then the Lord, making judgments, becomes known to all. He also foretells the knowledge of God that was to come upon all the earth through Christ, just as the Lord himself said to the Father: "I have manifested your name to men." For formerly it was known only to the Hebrews, and not even to them as Father of the Son or as the one who produces the Spirit, but simply as God and Maker of all; but through Christ it was known to all men, to the very ends of the earth, and in perfect glory, as the Principle of the Son ^D and Spirit. The seas of the nations, therefore, which were bitter because of unbelief, the potable water of the knowledge of God flooded and covered, so that they were transformed into it. And the Lord himself is called a river of peace and a torrent, as in: "Behold, I incline toward them like a river of peace, and like a torrent flooding the glory of the nations."

[alt-version omitted]

^A VERS. 15, 16. Woe to him who gives his neighbor a muddy draught, and makes him drunk, that he might look upon their caverns. Drink of the fullness of ignominy instead of glory. Again, he reproaches the Babylonian, saying: "Because," he says, "you caused your neighbors—that is, all men fashioned from the same clay, or even those of your own race and kin—to drink of punishments and penalties, giving them like a muddy draught—the reversal of a spring, that is, one that has been stirred up—and you made them drunk with torments, so that they might show you their caverns, that is, their hidden places, in which they kept their treasures buried, that you might gaze upon them; for this reason, you too drink that draught of ignominy to the full. For you will not be disgraced lightly, but excessively; and the reason is that you are about to slip from great glory into ignominy." There is also a Hebrew tradition that Nebuchadnezzar, taking captive the leaders of the nations into his own palace, and having prepared and mixed a drink there, made them drunk and compelled them to dance. And as they moved and from time to time fell, and—as is likely—the hidden parts of the body were exposed, Nebuchadnezzar took wonderful delight and pleasure from this and would burst into laughter. The prophet called these secrets of the body "caverns." Other interpreters have rendered "nudity" instead of "caverns," so that it reads: "That he might look upon their nudity." ^B Furthermore, the devil, regarding men who are his neighbors—insofar as they also possess a rational nature—has served them a muddy reversal, confusing their mind, and overturning and stirring up the knowledge of the good and honest which God has implanted in their nature, and making them drunk with pleasures, so that their hearts, having become caverns of this robber, might have him as their overseer and watcher, gazing and keeping watch lest any good thought or reasoning enter. But since the water of the knowledge of God—Christ, the torrent of delights—has overflowed the earth, this robber has been abundantly repaid with ignominies and has been thoroughly disgraced; for he has fallen from all his power. No longer is there idolatry anywhere, no longer are the passions deified, as he says also in Isaiah: "The Lord will send against your honor, ignominy." Heresiarchs also serve those who approach them and are their disciples a muddy reversal, overturning the sound meaning of the Scriptures, so that they might gaze upon their "caverns," that is, their synagogues or conventicles. ^C And their hearts, too, might be called caverns, not receiving the light of the knowledge of the Gospel of Christ, who is the Sun of Justice; but rather they are full of reptiles and wild beasts—that is, wicked and poisonous thoughts. "And you, heart, tremble and be shaken." He says this to the heart of the Babylonian, that many were shaken by you before. Now, therefore, you who have never hoped— »

^A that you might be shaken and fall from prosperity, but rather that you were established forever [f. στήσεσθαι], and for this reason became hardened, be shaken—that is, understand that your prosperity has fallen away from you. And having received a sense of the things that have happened to you, from that position of arrogance, be shaken and tremble, experiencing a certain trembling and taking up sorrow and a beginning of repentance. That many who are in ease think they will never be shaken, David testifies, saying: "As for me, I said in my ease, I shall never be moved." He did not realize that it was you who strengthened my beauty and splendor and made them stable for a time. Not because I was worthy, but because you willed it. For, he says, "O Lord, by your will you gave strength to my beauty." But "you turned your face away, and I became troubled." He urges the Babylonian, then, to experience this trouble. And blessed is he who, while being scourged by God, is troubled and shaken from wickedness, and does not say, "I am a brave man." ^B "He has turned upon you the cup of the Lord’s right hand." For this reason, he says, I urge you to be shaken and tremulous, because the just punishment of God has come upon you. For he calls this the cup of the divine right hand; and often elsewhere punishment is called a cup. And he who has drunk and become intoxicated is shaken. And what is, "He has turned"? He has circled you, so that you cannot escape it. Or, because just as in a banquet the cup goes around the guests in a circle, so also the punishment from God first went around other kingdoms, having punished them through you and having made them drunk with calamities; and passing around in a circle, it has now reached you; so you must drink this. For the right hand of the Lord offers this to you, and it is impossible to escape. For who shall turn back His uplifted hand? ^C"And dishonor has been gathered to your glory." Just as when you were prosperous, glory gathered to you from everywhere—from wealth, and from courage and wisdom, and from a multitude of subjects and such things—so now dishonor will be gathered to you: from cowardice, from lack of wisdom, from having no subject, and simply from all such things. For he who is glorious, from the very things from which he is glorified, from those he is dishonored, having fallen from them. Since, however, the Lord spent three days in the heart of the earth sojourning among the dead, he says to this very heart: "Tremble and be shaken"; perhaps because of the earthquake that happened when he expired, when also the tombs were opened, or perhaps also because all ^D the rule of Hades was shaken.

and its bronze gates were broken; for He came to preach deliverance to the captives. He adds, therefore, "The cup of death hath encircled thee," which the right hand of the Lord, that is, Christ Jesus, drank. Wherefore those whom, while your strength was intact, you devoured, you have vomited forth again; and you have become inglorious, through the glory of Christ, by which He preserved and kept human nature. For the last enemy is destroyed, the glory of evil and the boasting of malice, according to that saying: "Why do you boast in malice?" When, however, one feels disgust at malice and gathers himself together, then he considers his former glory to be ignominy.

VERS. 17. "For the impiety of Lebanon shall cover thee." Mount Lebanon, in Phoenicia, was wooded and fragrant, abounding in precious trees. Scripture therefore likens the city of Jerusalem to this mountain, as being greatest and exalted, and filled with the many perfumes of holy men, just as David says: "The cedars of Lebanon which Thou hast planted; there the sparrows will nest." For every one of the saints is like the cedar, in that he is raised on high, and receives those who wish to be instructed by him, and becomes a shelter for them. Because, therefore, the Babylonian burned Jerusalem together with the divine temple, the impiety, he says, which was committed in Lebanon—that is, in Jerusalem—shall cover thee.

^B "And the calamity of beasts shall frighten thee." He calls the forces and armies of Cyrus "beasts," as they behaved in a brutal manner and raged like beasts. Therefore the affliction and calamity which Cyrus will bring upon you will cast fear into you; that is, it will make you humble, fearful, and lacking in courage. In reality, there was also much impiety in Lebanon of old, because of the idolatry there; for those possessed by demons would climb to the higher ridges of the mountains, so as to be more easily with the demons there, on account of which the devil was covered, having been consigned to the abyss, and the beasts and venomous things under him, that is, the evil spirits, were afflicted and scourged, namely, by the name of Christ.

"Because of the blood of men, and the impiety of the earth and the city, and all those dwelling in it." Again, he sets before our eyes the justice of the retribution, and that he does not suffer these things without reason or unjustly, but because of the blood and the impieties which he committed, stripping every land and city of its inhabitants. And these things also apply to the killers of the Lord ^C and of the holy men, who were subjected to ignominy, and drank the cup of the wrath of God, and were brought to misery by beasts—namely, the Roman military forces—because of the blood of the prophets, and of the Lord, and of His disciples. For these impious ones also entered into Lebanon—the fragrant Church, which is both the land of God and His city.

^A "What does a graven image profit, that they have graven it? They fashioned it a molten image, a false phantasy, because the one who fashioned it trusts in his own fashioning, to make dumb idols." The Babylonians, when Cyrus campaigned against them, turned to idols and sorceries. Therefore, the prophet mocks their folly, for though they had burned the temple of the true God, they trusted in idols—idols that could not rescue them from their enemies. As for those idols that were crafted from metallic material, some were graven, others were fashioned or beaten; yet all were molten, even if the graven ones had a certain distinctiveness. For the former were entirely solid and dense, having no hollow parts within; but the fashioned ones were joined together and filled inside with foreign material, such as pitch, or wax, or clay. And there were also stone statues and wooden statues, both graven and joined together. There are even some that the hands of painters embellished with colors. Having then mentioned graven and fashioned things more specifically, he then introduced a more general expression: "to make dumb idols." For by the word "to make," he included all things constructed in any way and from any sort of material. Perhaps "fashioned" and "fashioning" signify this as well, just as when we say, "God made the earth," and again, "His hands fashioned the dry land." The sense is such: "The one who fashions trusts in his fashioning, and for this reason they make idols, hoping that the more they make, the greater benefit they will obtain." By saying "phantasy," he added "false," because there is also a true phantasy; that is, when one reflects upon things that appeared to him, such as they were when they appeared. Or else, Scripture knows "phantasy" to mean splendor. Since, therefore, many splendors exist—inasmuch as they are of things that are such—and since the splendor of idols is unsubstantial, belonging to things that do not exist, for this reason he called it a "false phantasy."

"Woe to him who says to the wood, 'Awake, arise,' and to the stone, 'Be exalted,' and it is a phantasy." He mourns for those who, in the midst of surrounding calamities, do not turn to the One who can save, but run to wooden and stone idols, begging them—as if they were sleeping—to be awakened and exalted against their enemies, demonstrating their own high and invincible power. Observe, furthermore, how he did not say "a wooden idol" or "a stone [idol]," but "wood" or "stone," for greater insult. ^C For even if it bears the form of a man, he says, it still remains wood and stone; and the form which it carries about is entirely a false phantasy, just as he said before; for there was no need to repeat himself. "And this is a plating of gold or silver." This passage seems difficult to understand. For having spoken of stone and wood, he added, "And this is a plating of gold or silver."

^A Does this mean then that the wood and the stone are a plating of gold and silver? By no means; but understand it in this way: some things are of wood and stone; this, however, is a plating—that is to say, others are a plating of gold or silver. "And there is no spirit in it." That is to say, no spirit is in it, neither natural, nor sensory, nor rational.

"But the Lord is in his holy temple; let all the earth fear before him." ^B The idols, he says, are dumb and weak, and able to help no one; but the Lord has the heaven itself as a kind of temple, and he dwells within it, as the Holy of Holies. He also dwells in the temple of the city of Jerusalem, which he who places his hope in his idols burned, for which transgression he will pay the penalty. But if he dwells in the heavens, let all the earth fear his face—that is, his oversight and examination of our works; and let no one be a despiser, nor act arrogantly, fixing his eyes on what happened to the Babylonian. The temple of the Lord is also the body which he fitted for himself from the holy Virgin, which even now remains a temple. Let all, therefore, who breathe earthly things fear from before his face, I mean of his second coming, when he will come to examine our works more terribly, not to set them right.

CHAPTER III

"LORD, I have heard thy speech, and was afraid: I considered thy works, and was amazed." ^C Having shaped and fashioned the character of his discourse into question and answer, the admirable prophet, having sought why God does not punish those who despise him, and having learned that this will not be forever, nor is it to be always deferred, but rather that the Jews were to be chastised through the Babylonians, and the Babylonians through the Persians, he turns his discourse to praise, at the same time praying, celebrating, and admiring the justice of God and his ineffable dispensations. In the guise of a prayer and supplication, he also predicts the future. He says, therefore: Having heard what thou didst say concerning ^D those in Jerusalem who were transgressing, that they would be delivered to the Babylonian tyrant, and concerning that very impious one himself, that he would be delivered to the Persians, I was terrified that thou dost deliver those who sin to utter destruction. None of the things that come to pass by thee, O Lord, happens without reason. I am amazed considering the justice of thy judgment. These things can also be interpreted concerning the mystery of Christ. For since he has made mention of the abolition of the Babylonians, which Cyrus accomplished when he liberated the Israelites, he henceforth recurs to the more general and more mystical liberation, which our Lord Jesus Christ wrought for us, delivering us from the power of Satan. Then the prophet speaks to the Father: I have heard, Father, my Lord, of thee revealing

^A the incarnation of Thy only-begotten Son, and I was terrified at how the earth could contain that which is nowhere contained. And having considered more minutely and accurately Thy works, which Thou art about to perform—forming a body for Him from the Virgin by the Holy Spirit, and the signs and other such things that He Himself will perform in Thy name—I was astonished.

But one might also say to the Son: "I have heard the report concerning Thee." For he said above, "I will hear what the Spirit will speak within me." And I understood the works through which Thou wilt work out salvation for human nature, including other things, and the cross, and the death, and the resurrection, and the ascension. And I was astonished at how opposites will come together: a body with the bodiless, death with life, the resurrection with death; how a body can be in the heavens. For these things are truly full of wonder.

^B Verse 2: "In the midst of two [lives] Thou shalt be known." There are two lives, the present and the future, in the midst of which the righteous Judge appears: punishing or glorifying some even here; and storing up for others the uncontainable punishments or rests of the life to come. But some have understood not "lives," but "living creatures" (anima) to be spoken of here, namely the Cherubim of glory which overshadowed the mercy seat, one on the right and one on the left; from the midst of whom a divine voice going forth disclosed to the high priest the will of God when he entered into the holy of holies.

Since, therefore, the Lord Jesus also, having put on flesh, has become our mercy seat, as the Apostle testifies, inasmuch as He laid down His soul for us and reconciled us to God the Father; while He remains God nonetheless, ^C accompanied by the Cherubim, he says: "Thou shalt be known, O Master, as Thou wilt truly be our mercy seat. For the legal mercy seat standing in the midst of the two Cherubim was a prefiguration of Thee." Others have understood the two living creatures to be the Babylonians and the Jews, in the midst of whom He was known to perform justice. We also know of other interpretations, from which we shall refrain for the sake of brevity.

"As the years draw near, Thou shalt be known; as the time is present, Thou shalt be shown forth." And Thou shalt be shown forth to all, that Thou art righteous and true. But He also says concerning our Lord Jesus Christ, "The years of the end draw near, and the time predetermined for Thy incarnation is present." This was when wickedness had reached its peak, and nothing undared remained for the devil, but all had sinned and fallen short of the glory of God, and there was not one righteous, not even one. Then Thou shalt be known and shown forth, ^D who art now proclaimed in shadows and types.

^A *“When my soul is troubled in wrath, Thou shalt remember mercy.”* Putting on the person of human nature, the prophet says: When the soul of man is troubled because of your wrath, being chastised by Thee, then Thou rememberest mercy again; just as Thou didst have mercy again on the Israelites who had been delivered to the Babylonians. But human nature also suffered trouble, when God was angry at it because of disobedience, and it became mortal, as David also says: *“When Thou turnest away Thy face, they shall be troubled, and they shall return into their dust.”* But Thou didst again have mercy upon it, and didst show it incorruptible and immortal in Thee, as the same one says again: *“Thou shalt send forth Thy Spirit, and they shall be created, and Thou shalt renew the face of the earth.”*

^B *“God shall come from Theman, and the Holy One from a shady and rugged mountain.”* Some have interpreted Theman as the South, others as the Southwest. The prophet foretells that Christ will come in Bethlehem, which is situated toward the southern and western region for the inhabitants of Jerusalem. He calls Jerusalem herself a “shady mountain”; rugged, as flourishing with all kinds of divine gifts and virtues of the saints resting and breathing in her; and shady, because like a cloud, the divine grace makes a shadow over her and in her, surrounding her with shadow, and as it were dwelling in the protection of heaven. Moreover, the Theotokos is also a rugged mountain, in that no iron—that is, a thought having filthy poison—has ascended upon her, nor has any human hand or operation cut her virginity; and she is a shady mountain because the Holy Spirit descended upon her and the power of the Most High overshadowed her. ^C *Diapsalma.* Diapsalma is a word which the Greek translators have rendered for the Hebrew term Sela. It signifies (as it pleases more expert Hebrews) a certain special observation of the thing which is said there by the prophetic Spirit. As if to say: The thing is not trivial, therefore store it up in your deepest senses. And because this is a prophecy about the incarnation of the Son of God, Sela—in Greek, *diapsalma*—is beautifully added.

*“His virtue covered the heavens, and the earth is full of His praise.”* Even if the Only-begotten Son of God became man, and by this seems less and inferior to the angels, yet His virtue, that is, His glory and majesty, is above the heavens—that is, above the angels who are in the heavens. For to which of these did He say, *“Thou art my Son, sit at my right hand,”* or that He is more radiant than the heavenly light itself? Moreover, the whole earth recognized Him as Lord and Master more abundantly when He was incarnate, ^D and extols Him with proclamations as the Only-begotten and of the same essence as the Father. Then, when He ascended above the clouds with His flesh, He covered

^A the heavens, and the earth recognized Him as God even more from that time.

*And His brightness shall be as the light.* The brightness, he says, which Christ will demonstrate to us, introducing both knowledge of God and a life pleasing to God, will be as light, that is to say, not dim nor weak, like the Mosaic light (for that had a shadow), but pure and unmixed light; wherefore the prophet also said: *Be enlightened, Jerusalem, for your light is come*; and: *The people who sat in darkness have seen a great light.* But the brightness of His flesh will also be like the light of His divinity on Mount Tabor. For in the flesh, the divinity shone forth.

^B *Horns in His hands, and He placed the strong love of His power.* Not only, he says, by using the light of doctrine did He demonstrate the truth both in life and in dogmas, but He also exhibited very many powers by working miracles. The horn is universally called power in many places, since horns are weapons for the animals that possess them. Finally, He even died for us, which is the sign of His greatest power, because through death He abolished death; and He did both of these things, revealing His strong and great love toward us. *For greater love than this no one has, than that he lay down his life for his friends.* But since horns are also taken ^C to refer to a king, as in the passage: *He shall exalt the horn of His Christ*; and to arrogance, as in the passage: *Do not lift up your horn on high*, some say the prophet means that the kingdoms of the demons, and pride, are in His hands, that is, under His power; just as in that place "hands" is taken for power, where Scripture says: *In Thy hands are my lots*, for that which is, "in Thy power." Now since He overthrew and subjugated these demons already then, when He was saying: *Now is the judgment of the world, now the prince of this world will be cast out*, by laying down His life for us, He showed the strong love toward us. And this love was not of weakness, but of power. For He did not suffer as one weak, ^D but voluntarily; He who, even when being crucified, showed His own power, darkening the sun, shaking the earth, and opening tombs.

*Before His face shall go the Word.* He will not be without witness, he says, but has the prophetic word as a sure witness; for before His incarnate dispensation, the prophetic word preached Him. But so also did the word of John, saying: *He who is stronger than I comes after me.* But also, as soon as He was born, the Magi came, and a great rumor about Him arose; and after this His fame went out into all Syria. But also among

and there is nothing without speech and the Word of God. But since the face of the Lord is also called ^A His terrible presence, as in the passage: *The face of the Lord is against them that do evil* (Ps. XXXIII, 17), you will understand and consider that He testifies to us beforehand and points out what is to be done first, and then comes to each person, repaying according to their labor. For,*if I had not come and spoken unto them, they would not have had sin* (John XV, 22), says He.

*And He shall go forth to instruction by the feet of His Word.* After having sent forth the word for the education and instruction of men, He Himself finally came, by the feet of prophetic discourse. Or, as I said, He testifies, and then instructs us who did not listen. Some have read it thus: *Their feet shall go forth into the fields*, writing "fields" (*pedia*) with an epsilon and an iota, and understanding that all things are traversable to the incarnate God, just as level and horse-trodden fields are, and that nothing is impossible for Him. But those who are humble in heart could also be understood as fields, who, receiving the seed from heaven, bring forth fruit a hundredfold, sixtyfold, and thirtyfold, of whom David also says: *Thy fields shall be filled with fatness, and the valleys shall abound with corn* (Ps. LXIV, 14). Then, showing that He is speaking of rational fields and valleys, He says: *They shall cry aloud; for they shall sing praise.*

^B Ver. 6. *He stood, and the earth was shaken; He looked, and nations melted; the everlasting mountains were broken in pieces, He saw His everlasting goings instead of labors.* He demonstrates the power of God, and that it is unendurable. For at the same time that He stood, the earth was shaken; and as He looked, whole nations melted like wax; and the mountains were broken by the force and power of Him; and the everlasting mountains, that is, those renowned from of old for their height and magnitude—and His goings and the ways which from eternity He makes, moving whenever He will against His enemies—those who saw them, did not see them as endurable, but as painful; such were they in their fearsomeness. You shall understand also that He stood on the Cross, and the earth was shaken ^C indeed, but the mountains, that is, the rocks, were broken in pieces. The nations of demons melted away, and the hills that were susceptible to idolatry were destroyed. But these goings of His, and movements and operations which He predestined before the ages, those who crucified Him saw as produced on account of the labors which He sustained on the Cross. For He labored truly and was weary for our sake while nailed to the Cross, and He grew weak for our transgressions. But also the earth—that is, the nature of men inhabiting the earth—stood in the same place and was shaken. Shaken by the magnitude of the passions at first, it stood so as henceforth not to be shaken. It was moved, as if translated from the state of corruption, and the opposing forces, ^D hard and proud, were broken; and the hills were melted, the...

^A dignities of the first princes and Scribes and Pharisees, celebrated from of old; who regarded the journeys of the Lord, which He made in Judea, as eternal and perpetual—that is, to be remembered until the consummation of the age—or the commandments which He gave, as eternal and indissoluble (for journeys are commandments, according to the saying: "I have run the way of Thy commandments"), as toil—that is, they deemed them burdensome, although He says: "Take My yoke upon you; for My yoke is easy, and My burden is light"; and, "Come, and I will refresh you who are weary and burdened" with the minutiae of the Law, the yoke of which even their fathers were not able to bear.

Vers. 7. The tents of the Ethiopians shall be terrified, and the tents of the land of Madian. After the saving passions, the tents of the intellectual Ethiopians—who have a darkened disposition, I mean the souls of men, in which they were dwelling—were terrified and submitted to the word of the Gospel; and the tents of the land of Madian, that is, the hard-working and pleasure-loving dispositions. For Israel went astray after the Madianite women, when Phinees stood and made atonement, and the slaughter ceased. Moreover, "Madianite" is interpreted as "condemned." And he rightly said "tents and curtains," for both the souls of men were temporary habitations for demons, and the activities of pleasure are easily dissolved and transitory, like tents. Furthermore, the apostles truly saw Ethiopia, and visited the Madianite land, announcing the divine word.

Vers. 8, 9. Wilt Thou be angry against the rivers? or was Thy wrath against the rivers, or Thy impulse against the sea? Because Thou wilt ride upon Thy horses, and Thy riding is salvation; stretching Thou shalt stretch Thy bow against the sceptres. Since he said above that, standing on ^C the cross, He smites the mountains and melts the nations, he now says: That it is not as one angry with men, O Lord, that Thou doest these things, nor as one bringing total destruction upon them (for he called the congregations of men and the various nations "rivers and seas"), but rather as He Who provides for common salvation, that Thou didst accept these passions. Therefore, as though mounted upon certain horses, the apostles, Thou shalt ride through the whole earth, not that Thou mightest punish, but that Thou mightest save; for Thou didst not come to judge the world, but that the world might be saved through Thee. But to those who have believed, Thy riding shall be for salvation; but stretching forth Thy bow, Thou shalt pierce ^D the tribes of Israel that did not believe. For these he called "sceptres." But that the horses bearing Christ are the apostles

^A it becomes clear from what Paul himself heard from God, saying: "Because he is a chosen vessel unto me, to bear my name before the Gentiles and kings and the children of Israel." But that which follows, "Thou shalt surely bend Thy bow," is similar to those things which David has: "Bend and prosper," and "Thy arrows are sharpened in the heart of the king's enemies."

Some have understood "Wilt Thou be angry with the rivers?" in this way: The goal, he says, is for the prophet to show that the things occurring in the New Testament are much more divine and magnificent than those which were done in the Old. Therefore he also says: That as in the Old Testament ^B Thou didst turn rivers into blood, or dried up the seas, so that Thou mightest deliver Thy people from sensible enemies, so Thou wilt not act now; but Thou shalt mount upon the horses, which are the apostles, that Thou mayest destroy and shatter the sceptres of the demons.

"The earth shall be cloven with rivers." Just as gardeners divide rivers into trenches and ditches and channels, planning the irrigation of the earth, so Thou, O Lord, he says, shalt prepare the earth for the reception of the intellectual rivers who are the apostles, so that what is said comes to pass: "The earth shall be cloven because of the rivers." ^C There are those who, according to the text, have taken the "earth of the rivers" to mean Mesopotamia itself, being the land between the two great rivers, the Euphrates and the Tigris. Mystically, it is sin itself, which is the medium between a wet and loose life. Mesopotamia, therefore, shall be cloven, that is, cast down, and it shall fall, being like a wall of the power of the Babylonians. Sin also shall be cloven and cut apart by the sword which the Lord came to cast upon the earth. The "earth of the rivers" is also Jerusalem, as it contained many saints at that time, whom He named rivers. For as the Lord, being the true light, made the apostles the light of the world by participation, ^D so also the saints are and are called rivers. Therefore he says that the earth which formerly held rivers irrigating it, now shall be cloven as the thirsty earth, inasmuch as it did not receive the prophetic word, nor believe in Christ. "For if ye believed Moses," He says, "ye would have believed me."

VERS. 10. "The peoples shall see Thee, and shall be in travail." This has a double meaning. For either you will take it that the peoples who have believed ^A shall see Thy light, and shall be in pain as in birth, that is, they shall have a longing and vehement desire to see Thy kingdom, and they shall be in labor with Thy fear, that they might bring forth the spirit of salvation; or, that the faithless peoples shall behold the glory of Thy preaching, and shall be consumed with sorrow and labor because of envy, such as were those who said: "Behold, the world goeth after him."

^A *Spargens aquas itineris.* Waters of the journey are the graces of the spiritual and evangelical word. For the water of the journey towards us is the Spirit of the Only-begotten, which He gave to those who believe in Him. Since, therefore, the modes of spiritual teaching are diverse, the one water becomes many, and is scattered and divided to each according to his capacity, for we learn that there is a division of gifts, but the same Spirit. Moreover, the Lord, journeying into villages and cities, scattered the water of teaching to those to whom He said: *If any man thirst, let him come unto me, and drink.* (John VII, 37). Many possess the waters of the word, but they are not of the journey, but are stagnant, exhaling the foul odor of envy. For these retain the good within themselves, not diffusing it to others; they are like the one who hid the talent. But he who possesses the good and pours it out for others, he possesses the waters of the journey, and is like the one who places his talent with the money-changers, and makes his master wealthier.

^B *Abyssus dedit vocem suam, in altitudine apparitionis suæ.* He persevered in the metaphor he had adopted, and preserved the sequence of thoughts. For, having called the holy apostles rivers, he names the nations the sea, as they are held captive by the bitterness of impiety. Just as, therefore, when rivers rush into the sea, a great sound and clamor is produced, as the waves of the sea resist and hold back their incursion, so too, as the divine apostles went about among the nations, carrying the saving proclamation of the Gospel of Christ, disturbances were stirred up against them, and seditions by the infidels themselves, who contradicted them and attempted to extinguish this proclamation: just as the silversmith Demetrius did at Ephesus, and others in Corinth, and the Jews in Jerusalem, when they even delivered Paul to the Romans. ^C Accordingly, the abyss of the turbulence of the nations gave the altitude of its appearance and the lifting up of its waves. Some, by "abyss," have understood the multitude of those who have believed, consisting of the aforementioned rivers and waters. This abyss, therefore, and the height of its appearance—that is, those among it who are lofty, and who possess an appearance of wealth, glory, and authority—gave their voice, confessing the Lord Jesus Christ with their mouth.

^D *Elevatus est sol, et luna stetit in ordine suo ad lumen.* The Sun of righteousness was lifted up on the cross, and night came to pass, in which the moon possesses the order to shine. Or, it signifies that when the Lord was crucified, the Church from the nations shone forth, and stood in her order for light; that is, she became full-orbed, preserving the order of her own cycle. For both the centurion, being a Gentile, confessed the crucified One to be the Son of God, and those who were with him. And the Lord...

^A himself said: “When I be lifted up, I will draw all men unto myself.” But if the Gospel is the sun, and its rays have been spread out, then the moon—that is, the Law—has also taken its place in the light. For then the Law appeared spiritual, when the Spirit interpreted it. Thus Hagar and Sarah appeared, being allegorized; thus the saying, “You shall not muzzle the ox that treats the corn,” was shown to have been ordained regarding the teachers; thus circumcision of the heart was demonstrated, and not of a bodily member. The Law held this order even before, but it was hidden, as if a shadow were around it. But when the Light of the world came, then it too took its place in its own order.

^B “Your arrows shall go forth to the brightness of the flashing of your armor.”

He calls the holy apostles arrows,

Ver. 12. In indignation you shall diminish the earth, and in wrath you shall break the nations.

Ver. 13. You went forth for the salvation of your people, to save your anointed ones.

^A the oil of exultation, that is, the Holy Spirit. Or he brings forward the cause of why earthly wisdom is diminished. For this reason, he says, you will diminish the earth, because for this cause you went forth, that you might save. Otherwise it could not have been saved, unless earthly practices were diminished.

You cast death upon the heads of the wicked. Those who believed, he says, and became anointed and partakers, you saved; but upon the heads of the wicked Jews, that is, the rulers and the eminent, you cast death, destroying them through the Romans.

You aroused bonds even to the neck, unto the end. That is, you bound them with the chains of their own sins, not just partially constricted, but as it were through the whole body, and even up to the neck. For their sins, having been aroused against them, when God so willed, bound them, so that He might subject them to the Romans, in order that their haughty neck might be humbled and brought to an end. For this is what “unto the end” signifies. There are also bonds of love, which the Lord, casting upon those who believe, submits their neck to His own yoke. Christ also aroused other bonds against Judas, which he placing around his own neck, found an end through strangulation. ^B

VERS. 14. Diapsalma. You cut off in defection the heads of the mighty; they shall be shaken in it. They shall open their bridles, as a beggar eating secretly. Stupor, he says, and defection do the mighty of Israel suffer, having departed from right judgment, and having raged and acted madly against you. For this reason, therefore, you cut them off from your own possession, even though formerly they were your portion. Or, because you scattered one here and another there. This is what David also says: “Distribute them in their life.” And deservedly were their heads, which are capable of understanding, cut off from the society which they had with the Word, because they did not think according to the Word, but rather rose up against the Word. Or, because you having performed signs, they shall be astonished, and shall suffer a shaking being disturbed, and shall be divided, some indeed saying that “He deceives the crowd”; others, however, that “Never did a man speak as this man speaks.” Secretly, however, the heads, the rulers themselves, shall murmur against you, opening their lips and teeth, which are the bridles of the mouth, just as a beggar not daring to receive food openly, but with a closed mouth grinds it within. ^C For they were afraid of the crowd, which was well-disposed to Jesus on account of the miracles. And the apostles, too, who previously did not dare to speak, but were shut up in an upper room, and were secretly eating the salvation of those who believed in them, just as horses having opened the bridles of the mouth, that is ^D

^A casting away human fears, they would preach with boldness. Perhaps the prophet also says to God, that having been in a certain ecstasy and an angry disposition, O Lord, you cut them off. For in truth, if God chastises, yet we ourselves chastise ourselves; and he who said, "God did not make death," bears witness to this, and again another says, "God tests no one; but each one is tested by his own desire."

^B Verse 15. *And you drove your horses into the sea, troubling many waters.* Again, the discourse keeps its proper form in the μεταφορά (metaphor). For having remembered the bridles, he now calls the apostles horses, whom the Lord drove into the sea of this life—the nations, being waters on account of their fluid and dissolute life—troubling them while teaching them that there shall be a judgment, and a rendering of repayment for deeds in the present life. In this way, Paul also troubled the Athenians, when he said: *God, having overlooked the times of ignorance, now commands all men to change their mind for the better and repent; because he has appointed a day on which he is about to judge the inhabited world.* The apostles also troubled them in another way, inasmuch as the races were set against one another because of the word, which the Lord also said: *I did not come to bring peace, but a sword.* But "many waters" are the nations, in respect to Israel, which has the likeness of one nation. In the beginning, indeed, the Lord said: *Do not go into the way of the nations.* But when he was lifted up on the cross and rose again, he said: *Teach all nations.*

^C Verse 16. *I watched, and my heart was terrified at the voice of the prayer of my lips. And trembling came into my bones, and my habit was troubled beneath me. I shall rest in the day of my tribulation, till I go up to the people of my sojourning.* The prophets call "custody" the watch and attention of the mind which they perform, whenever the Spirit sounds within them the knowledge of things to come, just as he himself also said above: *I will stand upon my watch.* He says, therefore, that because I guarded my mind from earthly cares, fixing my mind on you, you revealed to me what those of Israel who did not believe shall suffer, and on account of this my heart has fallen; for as one feeling sympathy, I am grieved for those of the same race and my brothers. Or, because I guarded what you revealed to me while I was praying—that is, I considered it and kept it with myself, which ^D I also spoke of afterward while praying—and for this reason my heart was terrified, and trembling seized my bones, and from beneath and from the depths, my whole habit and constitution of my soul was troubled. Then, straightway, being filled with the Spirit, he says that I shall not see these things which are to happen to the Israelites.

^A For when the day of imminent calamity shall stand over me, which is to me a day of tribulation, I shall find rest, that is to say, I shall complete my life (for death is a rest for man), and I shall ascend to the city above, where there is the people of the saints, considering this life here to be a pilgrimage—which I myself also consider to be such. Thus David also says: "I am a sojourner and a pilgrim, just as all my fathers," [7 Psal. XXXVIII, 3.] allusively pointing out the patriarchs, and the saints who followed them. But some of the copies have: "To the temple of my pilgrimage." And you will understand that I shall ascend to the heavenly temple from this pilgrimage of mine, and longing for the dissolution from the mortal body, he says: "I shall find rest." For since he had foreknown what was to happen to his race and people, he was troubled, he says: "Then I shall find rest from the tribulation, if I should be dissolved from this pilgrimage of mine." So let this happen. ^B

Vers. 17. *For the fig-tree shall not bear fruit, and there shall be no produce in the vines: the olive shall deny its work, and the fields shall not produce food.* He sets forth the cause of the tribulation, on account of which he was also troubled, and says: "I am sorrowful for this reason, that the fig-tree shall no longer bear fruit," meaning Jerusalem. For indeed, when Christ had come to it, He found no fruit in it, except leaves only, that is to say, the external demonstration and hypocrisy of piety; just as He said again in the parables: "A man had a fig-tree," [88 Luc. XIII, 6, 7.] which he wished to cut down because of its barrenness. But the husbandman begged a little time for it, that it might either bear fruit or be rooted out. *But neither shall the vineyard bear fruit.* The vineyard is the people, as also Isaiah says: [89 Isa. V, 7.] "For the vineyard of the Lord of Hosts is the house of Israel, and the man of Judah, a new-planted, beloved plant." He names the Pharisees and Sadducees the olive, who, being pretentious in the name of justice, were actually devoid of its fruits ^C (56). That the olive is taken as an image of the righteous, David also testifies, saying: "I am like a fruit-bearing olive." [90 Psal. LI, 10.] And the whole Synagogue is an olive, as Jeremiah says: "The Lord called thy name a fair, shady olive." [91 Jerem. XI, 16.] This one, therefore, betrayed its own work; for, being schooled toward Christ through both the Law and the prophets, they did not accept Him. For this reason, also, its branches were broken off ^D and they were grafted in—the Gentiles who belonged to the wild olive tree (58). *Moreover, the fields shall not produce food*, meaning the humbler members of the people, to whom it is said: "Break up for yourselves new ground, and do not sow upon thorns." These, therefore, have become so blasted by the wind, not having

produced divine fruit, so that they cannot even prepare what is sufficient for food.

^A "The sheep have failed from lack of food." The simpler and less astute, or those free from vices, more virtuous and worthy of being shepherded by those who are more understanding, have failed because they do not have food. For there was no one to set food before them, just as the prophet said: "I will send a famine upon the land, not a famine of bread, nor a thirst for water, but a famine of hearing the word of the Lord."

"And there will be no oxen at the mangers." The oxen are the teachers of the law, the Levites, the priests, and the chief priests. For the Apostle also applied to teachers the saying, "You shall not muzzle an ox when it is treading out the grain." For they disdained to uncover the food of knowledge, which was covered by the wrappings of ambiguous scripture, and to set it before others so that it might become clear and easily understood. Indeed, they themselves received from the people their offerings—I mean the first fruits and the tithes—and what was brought from the sacrifices to the altars, as if to mangers. Therefore, there will be neither mangers and altars, nor such oxen. But since some copies have written here, "From their healing," you will understand that their healing was Christ; but since they did not accept Him, it happened to them through Christ that they failed. For He Himself handed them over to total destruction. Some, however, have understood that since the prophet mentioned the dissolution, ^B he proceeds to speak hereafter of the condition of the state there, in that the state there has nothing of the things here, as it is a place where there is no need for the things we lack here, nor for corruptible fruit, nor for living creatures.

Verse 18. I, however, will exult in the Lord, I will rejoice in God my Saviour.

I have been saddened, he says, for my kinsmen according to the flesh, who are about to be tried by such and so many evils. Yet, considering the glory of God, which is to be made manifest to all men, I rejoice and exult—that is, I leap for joy. For to exult is the same as to leap—that is, to dance—which is a certain intensity of joy. ^C Understand, moreover, that this prayer proceeds as if from the person of those who have been justified by faith. For it says nothing else but this: that while some from Israel, awaiting justification by works, were thus rejected, I, however, a Gentile, saved not by works of righteousness that I have done, but according to His mercy and through His grace, will exult in Him. This is similar to what is said by the Apostle: "That the Gentiles found righteousness by faith. But Israel, pursuing the law of righteousness, did not attain to it, because it was not of faith, but as it were by the works of the law." And again: "The Gentiles glorified God for His mercy." ^D

^A *Lord my God, my strength.* Human nature is weak, he says, but the Lord and my God, having united it to Himself, will make it powerful. Thus also Paul says, "I can do all things in Christ who strengtheneth me"; and David, "For Thou art the glory of their strength." *And He will dispose my feet unto the end.* That is, He will set my feet in safety, so that I may stand solid in the faith, able to tread upon serpents and scorpions. For others have interpreted "the end" as "safety." And he seems to say this as if of a runner. "I run a course," he says; God, therefore, will dispose my feet to complete the course, so that I may say with Paul, "I have finished my course." Many run, but in a disorderly way; such are those who compete in the stadium as athletes, yet not lawfully. God, therefore, places our feet if we do not run past His laws, nor teach anything beyond the Scriptures, nor even pursue virtue apart from His commandments—as do those who abhor marriage and God's good creatures.

^B *He leadeth me onto the high places,* to move me in His song. He makes me, he says, above the earth, and teaches me to think of high things, so that I may vanquish the enemies as though from a higher vantage point. For if I stand below and am attached to the earth, how shall I overcome the spiritual forces of wickedness in the heavenly places? Having conquered, then I shall be worthy to sing to Him. For praise is not seemly in the mouth of a sinner. Therefore, he who has conquered principalities and powers, he also sings to God a more spiritual and purer song, without the sounding of an instrument, conversing with God by mind alone, and speaking mouth to mouth. And if indeed this happens in this life, those who have been deemed worthy of this know how it happens; in the life to come, however, it will certainly be so, when there will no longer be flesh and carnal things, when God will be all in all.

^C Thus also Moses, when the Egyptians were drowned, he himself sang with the men, but Mary beat the timbrel. For the hymns of those who are not altogether strong are still more carnal, and they are in need of a kindred instrument. Or does he not mean this—that after the victory I shall compose a song, but rather: "In this very act of singing, and glorifying Him, and calling upon His name, I shall attain victory"? *For in the name of the Lord our God, he says, we shall be magnified*; just as the apostles, doing miracles in the name of the Lord, were magnified by the people and conquered their enemies.

^D It should be noted, however, that some, understanding this prayer of Habakkuk historically, have asserted that the prophet spoke these things regarding the return from Babylon; and we will not dispute with them, since we shall bring forward Paul saying to them,

as a type, but were written for us. For if the shadow-drawing did not proceed, the image would not be brought to perfection. Nevertheless, many of the things said in the prayer are incompatible with those that happened historically. But as regards these things, let whosoever wishes judge as he pleases; yet this is manifest to all, that the Spirit of God, who spoke the Scriptures, desires to benefit all through all things, both through those things spoken historically and through those understood spiritually. For our matters are not at all like those of the Greeks, ^B so that the allegory might hold majesty and splendor, while the literal text itself, and that which is said by the words, might lack gravity, dignity, and splendor, being instead full of deformity. For here, too, the written word is holy and beneficial to souls, to those who listen rightly. In whose number may God grant that we also be, through the Holy Spirit, who both spoke the things that are manifest and reveals the hidden things of the mind, and sanctifies through both; to whom be glory forever and ever. Amen.

Habakkuk the prophet was from the field of ^C Bezzochar, of the tribe of Simeon. And he saw before the captivity regarding the conquest of Jerusalem, and he mourned greatly, as well for the city as for its people. And when Nebuchadnezzar came to Jerusalem, he fled to Ostracina, and was a sojourner in the land of Israel. But when the Chaldeans, leaving Jerusalem, returned to their own country with spoils and captives, and the remnants of the city of Jerusalem went down into Egypt, he, having returned to his country, served the reapers of his own little field, for he had sown barley. But as soon as he had prepared the food, he prophesied to his own, saying: "I myself am departing to a far country, ^D and I shall return quickly; but if I should delay longer, set before our reapers what they are to eat." And having been suddenly transported to Babylon, he presented the meal to Daniel, who was in the den with the lions. Then, having gone out, he stood by the reapers while they were now dining, and he did not communicate to anyone even the slightest bit of what had happened. Furthermore, Habakkuk announced that in a few days the people would return from Babylon to Jerusalem. He also presented a portent to those inhabiting Judea, that they would see a great light shining brightly in the temple, and thus they would contemplate the glory of God. He also foretold concerning the destruction of the temple, that its devastation would come from a western people against Jerusalem: "Then," he said, "the curtain of the Debir will be rent into two parts." And the capitals of the two columns will be removed, and no one will know where they shall be. These things will be carried off into the desert by an angel, where in the beginning the tabernacle of testimony was pitched, and at the end the Lord will be known.

will be removed from the center. And no one shall know where they are or whither they have arrived; but they shall be carried off into the desert by angels, where the tabernacle of martyrdom had recently been constructed. And in them, at the consummation, the Lord shall be known, because they will enlighten those persecuted by the serpent, as from the beginning. And the Lord shall save them from the shadow of death, and they shall be in the holy tabernacle. This prophet prophesied not a few things concerning the coming of the Lord, and two years before the people returned from Babylon, death overtook the prophet, and he was buried with great honors in his own field.

BY THE SAME THEOPHYLACT, ARCHBISHOP OF BULGARIA, EXPOSITION ON THE PROPHET JONAH.

ARGUMENT

^A After God, the author of all things, had created all men, He exercised an equal care for all, even though He appeared to have a greater providence for the Israelites; but this He did for the common benefit of mortals. For, while caring for Israel as was fitting, He did not demonstrate what was to be done by discussing it with just anyone, nor by conversing with whosoever; but by choosing the most excellent man from among all—at one time the great Moses, now Joshua son of Nun, at another time Samuel, and at another season Elijah—and through each of these, either by ordaining the law, or by demonstrating wonders, or by offering exhortations, He prepared the way toward salvation. Thus, by separating the Israelite people ^B from other nations through diligent care, and through frequent manifestations, and through ineffable exhibitions of miracles, He indicated even to the rest of the nations the path to the knowledge of God. For this we were taught through the divine Osee. For "a spectator," he says, "is Ephraim with the prophet of God." For, as if setting up a mark and a prophet, He proposed this people for the benefit and salvation of the other nations. Thus also was Egypt taught, through these, the ineffable power of God, and