A lamentation for Israel: an exhortation to return to God.
Notwithstanding great miseries threatned against the tenne tribes: 4. yet if they wil repent they shal escape: 7. otherwise they shal fal into captiuitie: 14. and therfore they are admonished to returne to God: 16. but being obstinate, 21. no sacrifice can appeaze Gods wrath.
1Hear ye this word, which I take up concerning you for a lamentation. The house of Israel is fallen, and it shall rise no more.Ascoltate queste parole, colle quali io tesso lugubre cantico sopra di voi: La casa d'Israele è caduta, e non tornerà a risorgere.HEARE ye this word, that I lift vpon you a lamentation. The house of Israel is fallen, and it shal not adde to rise againe.Audite verbum istud, / quod ego levo super vos planctum: / domus Israël cecidit, / et non adjiciet ut resurgat. 2The virgin of Israel is cast down upon her land, there is none to raise her up.La vergine d'Israele è gettata per terra, e non havvi chi la rialzi.The virgine of Israel is cast forth vpon her land, there is none to rayse her vp.Virgo Israël projecta est in terram suam, / non est qui suscitet eam. 3For thus saith the Lord God: The city, out of which came forth a thousand, there shall be left in it a hundred: and out of which there came a hundred, there shall be left in it ten, in the house of Israel.Imperocché così dice il Signore Dio: La città, che dava mille uomini, rimarrà con cento, e quella, che ne dava cento, resterà con dieci nella famiglia d'Israele.Because thus sayth our Lord God: The citie, out of which came forth a thousand, there shal be left in it an hundred: and out of which there came an hundred, there shal be left in it tenne, in the house of Israel.Quia hæc dicit Dominus Deus: / Urbs de qua egrediebantur mille, / relinquentur in ea centum; / et de qua egrediebantur centum, / relinquentur in ea decem in domo Israël. 4For thus saith the Lord to the house of Israel: Seek ye me, and you shall live.Ma il Signore dice alla casa d'Israele; Cercatemi, e viverete:Because thus sayth our Lord to the house of Israel: Seeke ye me, and you shal liue.Quia hæc dicit Dominus domui Israël: / Quærite me, et vivetis. 5But seek not Bethel, and go not into Galgal, neither shall you pass over to Bersabee: for Galgal shall go into captivity, and Bethel shall be unprofitable.E non cercate di Bethel, e non andate a Galgal, e non passate a Bersabea; perocché Galgala anderà in ischiavitù, e Bethel sarà casa vuota.And seeke not Bethel, and into Galgal enter not, and into Bersabee you shal not passe: because Galgal shal be led captiue, and Bethel shal be vnprofitable.Et nolite quærere Bethel, / et in Galgalam nolite intrare, / et in Bersabee non transibitis, / quia Galgala captiva ducetur, / et Bethel erit inutilis. 6Seek ye the Lord, and live: lest the house of Joseph be burnt with fire, and it shall devour, and there shall be none to quench Bethel.Cercate il Signore, e viverete: affinchè per disgrazia non arda come fuoco la casa di Giuseppe, e non divori Bethel, senza che siavi chi lo estingua.Seke ye our Lord: and liue: lest perhaps the house of Ioseph be burnt as fyre, and it shal deuoure, and there shal be none to quench Bethel.Quærite Dominum, et vivite / (ne forte comburatur ut ignis domus Joseph, et devorabit, / et non erit qui extinguat Bethel:
7You that turn judgment into wormwood, and forsake justice in the land,O voi, che convertite il giudizio in amarezza, e lasciate la giustizia per terra,You that turne iudgement into wormewod, and leaue of iustice in the land.qui convertitis in absinthium judicium, / et justitiam in terra relinquitis): 8Seek him that maketh Arcturus, and Orion, and that turneth darkness into morning, and that changeth day into night: that calleth the waters of the sea, and poureth them out upon the face of the earth: The Lord is his name.Cercate lui, che creò Arturo, ed Orione, che cangia le tenebre in mattino, e muta il giorno in notte, che chiama le acque del mare, e le versa sopra la terra: il suo nome egli è, il Signore:Him that maketh Arcturus, and Orion, and that turneth darknes into morning, and that changeth day into night: that calleth the waters of the sea, and powreth them out vpon the face of the earth: The Lord is his name.facientem Arcturum et Orionem, / et convertentem in mane tenebras, / et diem in noctem mutantem; / qui vocat aquas maris, / et effundit eas super faciem terræ; / Dominus nomen est ejus: 9He that with a smile bringeth destruction upon the strong, and waste upon the mighty.Il quale scherzando manda per terra i robusti, e fa, che siano saccheggiati i potenti.He that seeketh destruction vpon the strong, and bringeth depopulation vpon the mightie.qui subridet vastitatem super robustum, / et depopulationem super potentem affert. 10They have hated him that rebuketh in the gate: and have abhorred him that speaketh perfectly.Hanno odiato chi alla porta li correggeva, ed hanno preso in avversione chi parlava con rettitudine.They haue hated him that rebuketh in the gate: and him that speaketh perfectly they haue abhorred.Odio habuerunt corripientem in porta, / et loquentem perfecte abominati sunt. 11Therefore because you robbed the poor, and took the choice prey from him: you shall build houses with square stone, and shall not dwell in them: you shall plant most delightful vineyards, and shall not drink the wine of them.Per questa, siccome voi spogliavate il povero, e gli toglievate il meglio, voi edificherete delle case di pietra quadrata, ma non le abiterete: e pianterete vigne deliziosissime, ma non ne berete il vino:Therfore because you spoiled the poore, and tooke the chosen praye from him: you shal build houses with square stone, and shal not dwel in them: you shal plant most amiable vineyards, and shal not drinke the wine of them.Idcirco, pro eo quod diripiebatis pauperem, / et prædam electam tollebatis ab eo, / domos quadro lapide ædificabitis, / et non habitabitis in eis; / vineas plantabis amantissimas, / et non bibetis vinum earum.
12Because I know your manifold crimes, and your grievous sins: enemies of the just, taking bribes, and oppressing the poor in the gate.Perocché sono note a me le molte vostre scelleraggini, e i forti peccati vostri, o nemici della giustizia, amanti dei doni, oppressori dei poveri alle porte:Because I haue knowen manie your wickednesses, and your strong sinnes: enemies of the iust, taking bribe, and oppressing the poore in the gate.Quia cognovi multa scelera vestra, / et fortia peccata vestra: / hostes justi, accipientes munus, / et pauperes deprimentes in porta. 13Therefore the prudent shall keep silence at that time, for it is an evil time.Per questo il prudente in tempo tale si tacerà, perché è tempo cattivo.Therfore shal the wise at that time hold his peace, because it is an euil time.Ideo prudens in tempore illo tacebit, / quia tempus malum est. 14Seek ye good, and not evil, that you may live: and the Lord the God of hosts will be with you, as you have said.Cercate il bene, e non il male, affine di aver vita, e il Signore Dio degli eserciti sarà con voi, come avete detto.Seeke ye good, and not euil, that you may liue: and our Lord the God of hosts wil be with you, as you haue sayd.Quærite bonum, et non malum, ut vivatis; / et erit Dominus Deus exercituum vobiscum, sicut dixistis. 15Hate evil, and love good, and establish judgment in the gate: it may be the Lord the God of hosts may have mercy on the remnant of Joseph.Odiate il male, e amate il bene, e rimettete in piedi la giustizia alla porta, e il Signore Dio degli eserciti avrà forse misericordia delle reliquie di Giuseppe.Hate ye euil, and loue good, and establish iudgement in the gate: if perhaps our Lord the God of hosts may haue mercie on the remnant of Ioseph.Odite malum et diligite bonum, / et constituite in porta judicium: / si forte misereatur Dominus Deus exercituum reliquiis Joseph. 16Therefore thus saith the Lord the God of hosts the sovereign Lord: In every street there shall be wailing: and in all places that are without, they shall say: Alas, alas! and they shall call the husbandman to mourning, and such as are skilful in lamentation to lament.Per questo così dice il Signore Dio degli eserciti, il Dominatore: In tutte le piazze saran lamenti, e in tutti i luoghi di fuori dirassi: Guai, guai, e s'inviteranno al pianto gli agricoltori, e al duolo tutti quelli, che sanno far duolo.Therfore thus sayth our Lord the God of hosts the Dominatour, in al streates lamentation and in al places that are without, shal be sayd wo wo: and they shal cal the husbandman to mourning, and to lamentation them that know to lament.Propterea hæc dicit Dominus Deus exercituum, dominator: / In omnibus plateis planctus; / et in cunctis quæ foris sunt, dicetur: Væ, væ ! / et vocabunt agricolam ad luctum, / et ad planctum eos qui sciunt plangere.
17And in all vineyards there shall be wailing: because I will pass through in the midst of thee, saith the Lord.E in tutte le vigne saranno lamenti, perchè io passero per mezzo a voi, dice il Signore.And in al vineyardes there shal be lamentation: because I wil passe through in the middes of thee, sayth our Lord.Et in omnibus vineis erit planctus, / quia pertransibo in medio tui, / dicit Dominus. 18Woe to them that desire the day of the Lord: to what end is it for you? the day of the Lord is darkness, and not light.Guai a quelli, che desiderano il dì del Signore. Perchè lo bramate voi? Quel giorno saran tenebre, e non luce.Wo vnto them that desyre the day of our Lord: to what purpose the same vnto you? This day of our Lord, darkenes, and not light.Væ desiderantibus diem Domini ! / ad quid eam vobis ? / Dies Domini ista, tenebræ, et non lux. 19As if a man should flee from the face of a lion, and a bear should meet him: or enter into the house, and lean with his hand upon the wall, and a serpent should bite him.Come un uomo, che fugge la vista del lione, e s'imbatte in un orso, od entrando in sua casa, e appoggiandosi colla mano alla parete vien morso da un serpente.As if a man should flee from the face of a lion, & a beare should mete him: & enter into the house, & leane with his hand vpon the wal, and a serpent should bite him.Quomodo si fugiat vir a facie leonis, / et occurrat ei ursus; / et ingrediatur domum, et innitatur manu sua super parietem, / et mordeat eum coluber. 20Shall not the day of the Lord be darkness, and not light: and obscurity, and no brightness in it?Non sarà egli giorno di tenebre, e non di luce il dì del Signore, e mera caligine senza splendore?Why, is not the day of our Lord darkenes, and not light: and mist, and no shining therein?Numquid non tenebræ dies Domini, et non lux; / et caligo, et non splendor in ea ? 21I hate, and have rejected your festivities: and I will not receive the odour of your assemblies.Io odio, e rigetto le vostre solennità, e non gradirò gli odori delle vostre adunanze.I haue hated, and haue reiected your festiuities: and I wil not take the odour of your assemblies.Odi, et projeci festivitates vestras, / et non capiam odorem cœtuum vestrorum. 22And if you offer me holocausts, and your gifts, I will not receive them: neither will I regard the vows of your fat beasts.Che se mi offerite gli olocausti, e i doni vostri, io non gli accetterò, e non volgerò gli occhi alle grasse ostie offerte per voto da voi.And if you shal offer vnto me holocausts, and your gifts, I wil not receiue them: and the vowes of your far thinges I wil not respect.Quod si obtuleritis mihi holocautomata, et munera vestra, / non suscipiam; / et vota pinguium vestrorum non respiciam.
23Take away from me the tumult of thy songs: and I will not hear the canticles of thy harp.Lungi da me lo sconcerto de' vostri carmi, io non ascolterò le canzoni cantate da te sulla lira.Take away from me the tumult of thy songes: and the canticles of thy harpe I wil not heare.Aufer a me tumultum carminum tuorum; / et cantica lyræ tuæ non audiam. 24But judgment shall be revealed as water, and justice as a mighty torrent.Ma la vendetta verrà fuori come acqua, e la giustizia come impetuoso torrente.And iudgement shal be reueled as water, and iustice, as a mightie torrent.Et revelabitur quasi aqua judicium, / et justitia quasi torrens fortis. 25Did you offer victims and sacrifices to me in the desert for forty years, O house of Israel?Mi offeriste voi forse per quarant'anni ostie, e sagrifizj nel deserto, o casa d'Israele?Why, did you offer hostes and sacrifice to me in the desert fourtie yeares, ô house of Israel?Numquid hostias et sacrificium obtulistis mihi / in deserto quadraginta annis, domus Israël ? 26E voi portavate il tabernacolo del vostro Moloch, e le figure de' vostri idoli, e la stella del vostro Dio, cose fatte da voi.And you caried a tabernacle for your Moloch, and the image of your idols, the starre of your God, which you made to your selues.et portastis tabernaculum Moloch vestro, / et imaginem idolorum vestrorum, sidus dei vestri, / quæ fecistis vobis. 27And I will cause you to go into captivity beyond Damascus, saith the Lord, the God of hosts is his name.Or io vi farò passare di là da Damasco, Dice il Signore; il suo nome egli è, Dio degli eserciti.And I wil make you remoue beyond Damascus, saith our Lord, the God of hostes is his name.Et migrare vos faciam trans Damascum, dicit Dominus: / Deus exercituum nomen ejus.
5:1
Lamentation. Such canticles were usual, Isaias xiv.
Worthington
When the people fear no evil, God laments for them. (Worthington)
5:3
Haydock
City, before (Calmet) or after the captivity. It required a long time to fill the cities as they had been. (Haydock)
Calmet
When the Assyrians invaded the country, it was greatly reduced. (Calmet)
5:5
Calmet
They had all been honoured by the patriarchs. Bersabee had belonged to Juda under Achab, 3 Kings 19:3. But it was originally in the tribe of Simeon, and Jeroboam II recovered all that had been lost, 4 Kings 14:25. (Calmet)
Unprofitable. Hebrew leaven, "for vanity," (Haydock) Bethaven.
5:6
Joseph. His two grandchildren gave name to the principal tribes of the kingdom.
Calmet
Bethel. Septuagint, "Israel," which seems preferable. (Calmet)
Yet Bethel may stand, as it denotes the apostate Israelites.
5:7
Haydock
You. Septuagint, "the Lord, [God] who does judgment on high, and has placed justice on the earth; (8) who maketh and transformeth all things, and turneth," etc. (Haydock)
Calmet
Hebrew agrees with the Vulgate. (Calmet)
5:8
Challoner
Arcturus and Orion. Arcturus is a bright star in the north, Orion a beautiful constellation in the south. (Challoner)
Haydock
We have examined the meaning of cima and cesil, Job 9:9., and 38:31. St. Jerome's master asserts that the latter means "efflugence." Cima is rendered the Pleiades by Aquila and Theodotion; "the seven stars," by Protestants. (Haydock)
St. Jerome
When such allusions to the heathen mythology occur, they give no sanction to it, but serve to explain what is meant. (St. Jerome)
Morning, affording comfort, Amos 4:13.
St. Jerome
Earth, by floods (Calmet) or rain. (St. Jerome)
5:9
Challoner
With a smile. That is, with all ease, and without making any effort. (Challoner)
St. Jerome
Aquila has "grinning," to shew displeasure. (St. Jerome)
Hebrew, "he strengthens the oppressor against the strong," so that those whom he pleases to chastise cannot escape.
5:10
They, the wicked, could not endure Amos, (chap. 7:12.) nor those who rebuked them.
5:12
Grievous. Hebrew also, "numerous."
5:13
Time. It is to no purpose speaking to the deaf, (Ecclesiasticus 32:9.) or throwing pearls before swine, Matthew 7:6. Amos was silent for a while, till God opened his mouth again, Amos 3:8., and 7:12.
5:14
Calmet
Said. Probably Amaias took occasion, from the flourishing state of the kingdom, to assert that the Lord approved of their conduct. (Calmet)
5:15
Worthington
May be. God will not be wanting on his side. But this implies that man may find a difficulty in seeking good, and neglect to do it, though he may if he please, with God's assistance. (Worthington)
Calmet
Remnant. Posterity. (Calmet)
5:16
Lament. Such hired mourners often seemed more grieved than those who were really affected. (Horace, art.) All were invited to join in the common sorrow, Jeremias 9:17., and 48:31.
5:18
Calmet
The day. Some imprudently laughed at the prophets, Isaias 5:19., and Jeremias 17:15. Others wished for the coming of the Lord, not reflecting that he would punish their guilt. (Calmet)
St. Jerome
Thus many, through impatience, desire to die. We must rather repent, and leave our lives at God's disposal. (St. Jerome)
5:19
Calmet
Serpent. All his attempts would thus proved abortive. The Israelites were not ruined by Phul, or by Theglathphalassar. But the serpent, (Haydock) Salmanasar, came and took them in their own houses, 4 Kings 17:7. (Calmet)
5:21
Festivities. Some were still observed, Amos 4:4.
5:22
Vows. Hebrew, "peace-offerings of your meries;" a sort of oxen, 2 Kings 6:13., and 3 Kings 1:9. Septuagint, "the salvation of your appearance," or what you offer for your welfare.
5:23
5:24
Calmet
Mighty. Hebrew, "Ethan." Let your virtue appear, or the greatest miseries will shortly overwhelm you. (Calmet)
5:25
Challoner
Did you offer, etc. Except the sacrifices that were offered at the first, in the dedication of the tabernacle, the Israelites offered no sacrifices in the desert. (Challoner)
Worthington
They ceased after the beginning of the second year. (St. Augustine, q. 47 in Exodus, Leviticus vii., etc.) (Worthington)
Haydock
God did not require sacrifices when the people came out of Egypt, Jeremias 7:22., and Deuteronomy 12:8. They were not performed so regularly in the desert, (Calmet) and the people still bore a secret affection for idols, (ver. 26.) which rendered all their victims useless. (Haydock)
5:26
Challoner
A tabernacle, etc. All this alludes to the idolatry which they committed, when they were drawn away by the daughters of Moab to the worship of their gods, Numbers xxv. (Challoner)
Calmet
They imitated the superstitions of Egypt, and bore the image of Osiris, adorned with a star and crescent, on a sort of base, under a canopy. Hebrew, "You carried the tents of your king and the base of your statues, the star of your gods, which you have made for yourselves." Septuagint by changing (Calmet) ciun into Rephan, or raiphan, (Haydock) have caused great confusion among commentators. If any change were requisite, (Calmet) cima (Haydock) would be preferable, ver. 8., and Job 9:9. Yet the Hebrew seems to be correct, and chiun denotes a pedestal rather than an idol. Some read Kevan, the Saturn of the Arabs, etc., and think that Rephan has been mistaken for it. The only difficulty is the authority of St. Stephen, who follows the Septuagint, Acts 7:43. Yet he probably spoke in Syriac, and might pronounce Chevan; though St. Luke might adopt the Septuagint in a matter of so little consequence. (Calmet, Diss.)
Haydock
This decision may not probably give satisfaction to those who reflect that both these authors were under the immediate influence of the Holy Ghost, and that if an error had crept into the copy of the Septuagint, he would have corrected it. Truth is always of sufficient consequence. See Kennicott, Diss. 2:p. 344. (Haydock)
Parkhurst
Chiun and Rephan are "expressive of the same" god or idol, representing the machine of the heavens. The people of Peru worshipped Choun. (Parkhurst, p. 137.)
Grotius
Remvan may be Remmon, (4 Kings 5:18.) or Saturn. (Grotius)
5:27
Calmet
Damascus, or Babylon, (Acts vii.) into Mesopotamia, etc. The sense is the same. (Calmet)
St. Jerome
When the apostles quote passages, "they do not consider the words but the sense." (St. Jerome)
Haydock
One Greek copy, however, has Damascus in the Acts. (Haydock)
5:5
5:8
Arcturus and Orion.... Arcturus is a bright star in the north: Orion a beautiful constellation in the south.
5:9
With a smile.... That is, with all ease, and without making any effort.
5:25
Did you offer, etc.... Except the sacrifices that were offered at the first, in the dedication of the tabernacle, the Israelites offered no sacrifices in the desert.
5:26.But you carried a tabernacle for your Moloch, and the image of your idols, the star of your god, which you made to yourselves.
5:1
VVhen the people neither fele nor feare euil, God forseing their calamities, lamenteth the same in their behalf, therby admonishing them to know their ovvne danger, and by repentance to preuent it.
5:11
Concordance Soph. 1.
5:15
Concordance Rom. 12. Psal. 96.
If men seeke good & not euil God vvil assist them, as in the former verie, and in innumerable holie scriptures: but it is here sayd: perhaps God vvil haue mercie by reason of the difficultie of mans part who conuerteth not alvvayes perfectly, as he hath freevvil to do by Gods grace assisting. him.
5:18
Concordance Isa. 13. Iere. 30. Ioel. 1. Soph. 1.
5:21
Concordance Isa. 1. Ier. 6. Mat. 2.
5:25
In the first yeare of the 40 and beginning of the second they offered sacrifices to God. Leuit. 8. & 9. Num. 7. But not aftervvardes. S. Aug. q. 47. in Exod.
Concordance Act. 7. Psal. •4.
5:1
Aphrahat † AD 346 Aphrahat: Select Demonstrations 21.6
… And with regard to Babylon Jeremiah said:— Babylon shall fall, and shall not rise . And lo! unto this day does it continue in desolation, and will do so for ever. And also about Jerusalem he said:— The virgin of Israel shall fall, and shall not rise again. She is forsaken upon the ground and there is none to raise her up .
5:2
St Jerome † AD 420 The Letters of St. Jerome 22.5
… See to it that God say not some day of you: “The virgin of Israel is fallen and there is none to raise her up.”
5:4
St Augustine of Hippo † AD 430 The Confessions 10.20
29. How, then, do I seek Thee, O Lord? For when I seek Thee, my God, I seek a happy life. I will seek Thee, that my soul may live.
5:6
St Cyprian of Carthage † AD 258 An Address to Demetrianus 23
… but know that this is the judgment of God’s anger, that He who is not acknowledged on account of His benefits may at least be acknowledged through His judgments. Seek the Lord even late; for long ago, God, forewarning by His prophet, exhorts and says, “Seek ye the Lord, and your soul shall live.”
5:8
St Gregory of Nazianzus † AD 389 Select Orations of Saint Gregory Nazianzen 7.24
… O Lord and Maker of all things, and specially of this our frame! O God and Father and Pilot of men who are Thine! O Lord of life and death! O Judge and Benefactor of our souls! O Maker and Transformer in due time of all things
St Gregory of Nazianzus † AD 389 Select Orations of Saint Gregory Nazianzen 42.5
5. But since God, Who maketh poor and maketh rich, Who killeth and maketh alive; Who maketh and transformeth all things; Who turneth night into day,
St Gregory of Nyssa † AD 395 Answer to Eunomius' Second Book 1
… And if any one say that the names given to the stars by God are different ones, unknown to human language, he wanders far away from the truth. For if there were other names of stars, Holy Scripture would not have made mention of those which are in common use among the Greeks, Esaias saying
St John Chrysostom † AD 407 The Homilies on the Statues to the People of Antioch 11.1
1. When I think of the past tempest, and of the present calm, I cease not saying, “Blessed be God, who maketh all things, and changeth them; who hath brought light out of darkness; who leadeth to the gates of hell, and bringeth back; who chastiseth, but killeth not.”
St John Chrysostom † AD 407 The Homilies of St. John Chrysostom on Paul's Epistle to the Romans 29
… For I would not have you go the whole way through Phœnicia, and Syria, and the Cilicians, and Cappadocians, but reckon up also the parts behind,
St John Chrysostom † AD 407 Homilies on 1 Timothy 15
… Earthy it is, but if we please, it may be heavenly. See how highly God has honored us, in committing to us so excellent a frame. I made heaven and earth, He says, and to you I give the power of creation. Make your earth heaven. For it is in thy power. “I am He that maketh and transformeth all things” (
Theodoret of Cyrus † AD 458 Dialogues. The “Eranistes” or “Polymorphus” of the Blessed Theodoretus, Bishop of Cyrus 1
Orth. —The creature is transformed by the Creator as He will, for it is mutable and obeys the nod of Him that fashioned it. But His nature is immutable and invariable, wherefore of the creature the prophet saith “He that maketh and transformeth all things.”
5:10
Origen † AD 254 Origen's Commentary on Matthew 12.13
… and, generally, in all things whatsoever of a praiseworthy character with which we are occupied, in these we are at some gate of the daughter of Zion, declaring at each gate some praise of God. But we must make inquiry whether in one of the Twelve it is said, “They hated him that reproveth in the gates, and they loathed the holy word.”
St Gregory of Nazianzus † AD 389 Select Orations of Saint Gregory Nazianzen 2.20
… O what madness, if there be no term more fitting for this state of mind! Those whom we ought to love as our benefactors we keep off, as if they were our enemies, hating those who reprove in the gates, and abhorring the righteous word;
St Gregory of Nazianzus † AD 389 Select Orations of Saint Gregory Nazianzen 16.18
… Another has turned aside the way of the meek, and turned aside the just among the unjust; another has hated him that reproveth in the gates, and abhorred him that speaketh uprightly;
5:11
St Hippolytus † AD 235 A discourse by the most blessed Hippolytus, bishop and martyr, on the end of the world, and on Antichrist, and on the second coming of our lord Jesus Christ 5
… ye have planted pleasant vineyards, but ye shall not drink wine of them. For I know your manifold transgressions, in trampling justice beneath your foot, and taking a bribe, and turning aside the poor in the gate from their right. Therefore the prudent shall keep silence in that time, for it is an evil time.”
5:13
St Basil the Great † AD 379 De Spiritu Sancto 30
… I am moreover restrained by the Prophet’s saying, “Therefore the prudent shall keep silence in that time, for it is an evil time,”
5:18
St Justin Martyr † AD 165 Dialogue with Trypho 22
… Wherefore now they shall be captives, among the first of the nobles who are carried away; and the house of evil-doers shall be removed, and the neighing of horses shall be taken away from Ephraim.’
St Basil the Great † AD 379 The Hexæmeron 2.8
… It follows that we are hereby shown not so much limits, ends and succession of ages, as distinctions between various states and modes of action. “The day of the Lord,” Scripture says, “is great and very terrible,” and elsewhere “Woe unto you that desire the day of the Lord: to what end is it for you? The day of the Lord is darkness and not light.”
St John Chrysostom † AD 407 The Homilies of St. John Chrysostom 11
… For it is no longer “a flying sickle,” nor “the taking down of a hedge,” nor “the treading under foot of the vineyard;” but an axe exceeding sharp, and what is worse, it is even at the doors. For inasmuch as they continually disbelieved the prophets, and used to say, “Where is the day of the Lord:”
St John Chrysostom † AD 407 Homilies on First Thessalonians 9
… —which the Prophets also said, “Woe unto them that say, Let him make speed, let God hasten his work, that we may see it: and let the counsel of the Holy One of Israel come, that we may know it!” ( Isa. v. 19 .); and again “Woe unto them that desire the day of the Lord.” (
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St Jerome † AD 420 The Letters of St. Jerome 118.2
… You have been like a shipwrecked man, who has no sooner reached the shore than he falls into the hands of brigands, or in the eloquent language of the prophet like one “who did flee from a lion, and a bear met him; or went into the house, and leaned his hand on the wall, and a serpent bit him.”
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Tertullian † AD 220 The Five Books Against Marcion 5.4
… your fasting, and feasts, and ceremonies my soul hateth;” also by Amos, “I hate, I despise your feast-days, and I will not smell in your solemn assemblies;”
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St John Chrysostom † AD 407 The Homilies of St. John Chrysostom on the Epistle to the Hebrews 11
… ( Mic. vi. 8 .) “Burnt-offerings and sacrifices for sin Thou hast had no pleasure in: then I said, Lo I come to do Thy will, O God!” ( Ps. xl. 6, 7 ), and again, “To what purpose do ye bring the incense from Sheba?” ( Jer. vi. 20 .) “Take thou away from Me the noise of thy songs, for I will not hear the melody of thy viols.” (
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St Irenaeus of Lyons † AD 202 Against Heresies 4.15
… for we do not know what has happened to [this] Moses, who led us from the land of Egypt. And they made a calf in those days, and offered sacrifices to the idol, and were rejoicing in the works of their own hands. But God turned, and gave them up to worship the hosts of heaven; as it is written in the book of the prophets:
St John Chrysostom † AD 407 A Commentary on the Acts of the Apostles 17
… 40, 43 .) The expression, “gave them up,” means, He suffered. “Our fathers had the tabernacle of witness in the wilderness, as he had appointed, speaking unto Moses, that he should make it according to the fashion he had seen.” ( v. 44 .) Even when there was a Tabernacle, yet there were no sacrifices. “Did ye offer unto Me slain beasts and sacrifices?” (
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Aristides † fl. AD 125 The Apology of Aristides the Philosopher. Translated from the Syriac 1
IX. Let us proceed further to their account of their gods that we may carefully demonstrate all that is said above. First of all, the Greeks bring forward as a god Kronos, that is to say Chiun
St Gregory of Nazianzus † AD 389 Select Orations of Saint Gregory Nazianzen 40
… If I yet pleased men I should not be the servant of Christ, says the Apostle; and if I yet worshipped a creature, or were baptized into a creature, I should not be made divine, nor have changed my first birth. What shall I say to those who worship Astarte or Chemosh, the abomination of the Sidonians, or the likeness of a star,
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with. That is, a man having complicated feet, wearing a long garment, and that a golden one, sustaining a sphere on his head, by which the form of the world, its immobile constitution, its roundness, and the variety of the stars are signified, and all these things are ruled by God and sustained by Him, and are able to lead the minds of men to the knowledge of God. For God is known from winds, clouds, mountains and other created things, as it were the lion from the claw, as it were Apelles from the line, as it were the choirmaster from the voice, as it were the poet from the song. Whence St. Augustine, epistle 28, teaches that this world is God's song and canticle. "If a man," he says, "who is a master of song knows what pauses and what voices he should assign to each part, so that what is sung may run and pass most beautifully with succeeding and departing sounds: how much more does God, in the spaces of times in these natures being born and dying, which pertain as it were to syllables and words to the parts of this age, in this canticle as it were of falling things, permit to pass either more briefly or more lengthily than the foreseen and predetermined modulation demands?" Moreover, St. Dionysius, Celestial Hierarchy, chapter xv, teaches that God is designated through wind, on account of the natural power of moving and animating, and the swift and insuperable departure, and the unknown and invisible hiding places of noble principles and ends. In like manner, Eusebius, in the place cited, teaches that the Egyptians, in order to signify God's providence, painted the sun surrounded with rays in a ship, which was carried along the adverse river by oars and sails driven forward, and was borne along by a crocodile placing itself beneath. For thus God as it were a helmsman rules this ship of the world, and tames and rules all things in it, both animate and inanimate, however wild, dreadful and vast. Again God, the prince of times, is as the sun, which, as Lucan says in book XII: "Divides the times of the age, Changes night into day, and with powerful rays Forbids the stars to go, and stays their wandering courses." Finally, St. Paulinus, on the Nativity of St. Felix, 9: "God is the maker of all nature and art, in every work the Fount and the end, making good things, and preserving what has been made." Eusebius adds another hieroglyphic of God. ram." And chapter xliii, 15: "The treasures have been opened, and the clouds have flown forth as birds." And chapter i, 6, concerning Simeon the high priest it is said: "As the morning star in the midst of a cloud." WALKING UPON THE HIGH PLACES OF THE EARTH,—namely upon the highest mountains, and rocks and cliffs inaccessible and impassable to men, that is to say, God pervades and transcends all earthly things, however lofty and inaccessible, by His majesty, and contains and governs them by His providence, so that He is able to stir up winds and whirlwinds, pour forth clouds upon His proud and impious enemies, transfer mountains, and cast them down into valleys, that is to say, God is He who produces, tempers, and rules mountains, winds, lightnings, thunders, and all sublunary things, equally as the celestial ones. Whence all creatures are the armies of God, which obey Him at His nod, and are always ready at His service, so that at His nod they may be borne forth, and may invade and strike down His enemies and the impious. Thus St. Jerome, Albert, Clarius and others. Hear St. Jerome: "Prepare yourself," he says, "to meet your God, so that you may receive the Lord coming to you with all eagerness. This is He who confirms the thunder, or confirms the mountains: at whose voice the hinges of the heavens and the foundations of the earth are shaken. This is He who creates the spirit." Wherefore Timaeus the Pythagorean calls God "the exemplary world." For as the world by its compass encompasses and binds all things, so also does God. For He Himself is the greatest and most universal nature, present everywhere, seeing and hearing all things, containing all things, yet contained by the bounds of none. He Himself is the uncreated world of wisdom, holiness, intelligence, life, reasons, forms, the cause, fountain, creator and ruler of all others. Wherefore the Egyptians, says Eusebius, in book III of the Preparation for the Gospel, chapter 117, paint God, whom they themselves call Eneph, in human form, of blue color, holding a zone and a scepter, and bearing a feather on his head, and moreover producing an egg from his mouth. For the shell of the egg exhibits the image of the heavens encompassing all things: the yolk, fire: the spirits which are in the egg, air: the white, water: and the more concrete parts are the symbol of the earth. He predicts and laments the extreme and eternal desolation of Samaria, to be instigated by God the terrible, who makes Arcturus and Orion, and smiles upon desolation over the strong, on account of his crimes, especially on account of the plundering and oppression of the poor. Then, verse 14, he exhorts her to penance. For, verse 21, he asserts that he does not care for her sacrifices and external ceremonies, but rather abhors them.
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1. Hear this word which I lift up over you in lamentation: The house of Israel has fallen, and shall not be added to, that it may rise again. 2. The virgin of Israel is cast down upon her land, there is none to raise her up. 3. For thus saith the Lord God: The city from which there went out a thousand, shall have a hundred left: and that from which there went out a hundred, shall have ten left in the house of Israel. 4. For thus saith the Lord to the house of Israel: Seek me, and you shall live. 5. And seek not Bethel, and go not into Galgal, and pass not into Bersabee: for Galgal shall be carried away captive, and Bethel shall be unprofitable. 6. Seek the Lord, and live: lest perhaps the house of Joseph be kindled as a fire, and it shall devour, and there shall be none to quench it in Bethel. 7. You that turn judgment into wormwood, and leave justice in the earth. 8. He that maketh Arcturus and Orion, and that turneth darkness into morning, and that changeth day into night: that calleth the waters of the sea, and poureth them out upon the face of the earth: the Lord is his name. 9. He that with a smile bringeth destruction upon the strong, and bringeth desolation upon the mighty. 10. They have hated him that rebuketh in the gate, and they have abhorred him that speaketh perfectly. 11. Therefore because you have trodden upon the poor, and taken from him heaps of wheat: you shall build houses with square stone, and shall not dwell in them: you shall plant most delightful vineyards, and shall not drink the wine of them. 12. For I know your manifold transgressions, and your mighty sins: you that afflict the just, and take bribes, and turn aside the poor in the gate. 13. Therefore the prudent shall keep silence at that time, for it is a time of evil. 14. Seek good, and not evil, that you may live: and the Lord God of hosts shall be with you, as you have said. 15. Hate evil, and love good, and establish judgment in the gate: it may be the Lord God of hosts may have mercy on the remnant of Joseph. 16. Therefore thus saith the Lord God of hosts the ruler: In all streets lamentation; and in all that are without it shall be said: Alas, alas! and they shall call the husbandman to mourning, and to lamentation such as know how to mourn. 17. And in all vineyards shall be lamentation: for I will pass through the midst of thee, saith the Lord. 18. Woe to them that desire the day of the Lord! to what end is it for you? the day of the Lord is darkness, and not light. 19. As if a man should flee from the face of a lion, and a bear should meet him: and should go into the house, and lean his hand upon the wall, and a serpent should bite him. 20. Shall not the day of the Lord be darkness, and not light: and obscurity, and not brightness in it? 21. I hate and have rejected your festivals: and I will not receive the odour of your assemblies. 22. And if you offer me holocausts, and your gifts I will not receive: neither will I regard the vows of your fat beasts. 23. Take away from me the tumult of thy songs: and I will not hear the canticles of thy harp. 24. And judgment shall be revealed as water, and justice as a mighty torrent. 25. Did you offer victims and sacrifice to me in the desert forty years, O house of Israel? 26. And you carried the tabernacle of Moloch your god, and the image of your idols, the star of your god, which you made to yourselves. 27. And I will cause you to go into captivity beyond Damascus, saith the Lord, whose name is the God of hosts. 1. HEAR THIS WORD WHICH I LIFT UP OVER YOU (The Chaldean and Septuagint: I take against you) IN LAMENTATION. — It is an apposition, as if to say: Hear the word, that is, the lamentation and lament, or mournful song which I compose and bewail concerning the impending destruction of you, O citizens of Samaria. Whence the Zurich Bible clearly translates: Hear this word, O house of Israel, which I take up concerning you, namely a mournful song; others: Hear the word which I lift up over you in lamentation and lament. The prophet therefore, foreseeing the calamity of his people, pitying and groaning, utters this mournful song, by which he publicly deplores the wretched fate of Samaria now at hand. A similar song and lamentation concerning Tyre, its king and destroyed citizens, Ezekiel sings in chapter xxvii, 2, and concerning Egypt and the overthrown Pharaoh, chapter xxxii, 2, and concerning Babylon and Baltassar laid waste by Cyrus, Isaiah in chapter xiv, 4, and concerning the destruction of Jerusalem, Jeremiah in the Lamentations. Moreover, this mournful song, and as it were the epitaph of Samaria, is that which the Prophet immediately adds, saying: "The house of Israel has fallen," etc. THE HOUSE OF ISRAEL HAS FALLEN. — Thus also the Septuagint, St. Jerome in his Commentary, Remigius, Lyra and others. For although the Hebrew בית beth, that is house, is masculine; נפלה naphela, that is has fallen, is feminine, nevertheless there is agreement in the matter and sense: for by beth, that is the house of Israel, he understands עדה eda, that is the synagogue and congregation of the people, which is of the feminine gender, and rightly agrees with the feminine naphela, that is has fallen. For he compares here the house, that is the people of Israel, to a woman, namely an afflicted and prostrate virgin; therefore not without reason do the Masoretes and the Chaldean Paraphrase, dividing it differently, namely placing a pause after 'house of Israel,' read thus: Hear this word which I lift up over you, a lamentation for the house of Israel: It has fallen, and shall not be able to rise again, the virgin Israel. But however you divide and read it, the sense comes to the same thing. HAS FALLEN, — that is shall fall prostrate in its own land by the Assyrians, Samaria, and its kingdom, so that it shall never rise again and flourish. For the ten tribes, of which this kingdom consisted, were carried away into Assyria, and never returned from there. 2. VIRGIN ISRAEL. — The Hebrews are accustomed to call cities and kingdoms virgins, on account of their beauty, wealth and glory. Hence Jerusalem is called "the virgin daughter of Sion," and concerning Babylon Isaiah says in chapter xlvii, 1: "Come down, sit in the dust, O virgin daughter of Babylon." Thus Egypt is called a "virgin" and a "daughter," Jeremiah chapter xlvi, 11. Virgin therefore Israel is Samaria, and its kingdom, which was beautiful and rich, when deflowered and laid waste by the Assyrians, was like a royal virgin once adorned, now despoiled, violated, prostrate and trampled. Secondly, it is called a "virgin," because untouched by the yoke of the enemy: for Samaria had never before been subdued by the Assyrians or other nations; but its kingdom and commonwealth flourished like a virgin, free and unviolated. Thus Rufinus, Clarius and Arias.
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St. Jerome and Theodoret add that Samaria was once a virgin, that is pure in the worship of God, when in its fathers it worshipped the true God. But this must be understood of the ancient fathers, who preceded the schism by which the kingdom of Israel was divided and set up. For with the schism, and thus with the kingdom of Israel, began its impiety and idolatry of the golden calves, which Jeroboam, the first king of Israel, set up. CAST DOWN INTO HER OWN LAND. — In Hebrew nittesça, which the Zurich Bible translates: She is afflicted in her own land; Vatablus: She shall be abandoned in her own land; Pagninus and others properly: She is cast down in her own land, that is to say, The virgin Israel has fallen, and is so mightily struck down by the Assyrians, not in any manner whatsoever, but even to the ground, so that she lies on the earth with her whole body prone, utterly afflicted, cast down as if in despair, abandoned by all, left without any help and hope of rising: because neither she herself, being shattered and broken, can raise herself up; nor the king of Egypt, as Theodoret says, or anyone else: so great is her calamity, so worn down, her limbs dislocated and broken, that no one can restore her to herself; just as an earthen vessel dashed against a rock breaks and shatters, so that no potter can repair it. Whence it follows: THERE IS NONE TO RAISE HER UP. — He alludes to physicians, who, seeing one fallen from a tower and with all his limbs broken, so that he cannot be healed and restored to himself, leave him and abandon him as one without hope, lying on the ground. Physically he alludes to a virgin, who if she has fallen and lost her virginity through lust, cannot be raised up, so as to recover the honor of virginity. Whence St. Jerome to Eustochium, On the Keeping of Virginity: "Beware, I beseech you, lest God say of you: The virgin Israel has fallen, and there is none to raise her up. I shall speak boldly. Although God can do all things, He cannot raise up a virgin after her fall: He is able indeed to free from punishment, but He is unwilling to crown the corrupted." Again the Septuagint, increasing her calamity and moving to compassion, that is to say, She is cast down and afflicted in the land, not
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foreign and hostile, which is less wonderful and pitiable; but in her own, which she loved uniquely, and by which in turn, as by a mother and nurse, she was loved and nourished: just as it is a pitiable thing if a daughter is slain in the bosom of her mother.
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3. A CITY FROM WHICH A THOUSAND SHALL GO OUT, THERE SHALL BE LEFT A HUNDRED, — that is to say, The Israelites shall be afflicted with such great calamities by the Assyrians, both in the three-year siege of Samaria, IV Kings, chapter xviii, 10; and before and after it, so that by sword, famine and plague nearly all shall be consumed, so that a thousand shall be reduced to a hundred, and a hundred to ten, and thus from so great a number of Israelites scarcely one in ten shall survive such slaughter. Thus Remigius, Hugo, Arias and others. Isaiah threatens the same to the Jews, chapter vi, 11: "And I said: How long, O Lord? And He said: Until the cities be desolate without inhabitant, and houses without man, etc. And yet in it shall be a tenth part, and it shall be converted," that is, it shall again be in desolation and ruin, as St. Jerome explains in that same place. Tropologically, from Origen, homily 8 on Joshua, Ribera: The city, he says, is the soul of each one, which is built by the Lord from living stones, that is, from various virtues, from which each saint, by fighting, casts out sinners, that is, wicked thoughts and desires: and against these he sanctifies war, that is, having mortified these with holy hatred, he makes himself holy in body and spirit so that he may merit to come into the sight of the living God, and for the palm of victory of virtue to be crowned by Christ. There went out formerly from this soul, fervent and adhering to God, a thousand, that is, works of all virtues, as it were brave soldiers about to fight with the devil and vices: but afterwards, when captured by desire for earthly things, it relaxes this fervor, and brings forth a hundred, a number ten times smaller; and if previously it brought forth a hundred, ten are left in it: because this remission and decline of the soul diminishes not one virtue alone, but the works of all virtues, and makes them in every way more imperfect, and this gradually more and more, so that finally it ceases from them altogether, and the whole soul is oppressed and possessed by the demon and vices, and thus goes into extreme ruin and destruction. IN THE HOUSE OF ISRAEL, — He calls house the family, that is, the commonwealth and Synagogue of Israel, in which there were many cities, towns and villages. 4. BECAUSE THUS SAITH THE LORD, etc.: SEEK ME, AND YOU SHALL LIVE. — Because is put for therefore, that is to say, What has just been said shall happen to the house of Israel on account of idolatry: therefore repent, abandon idols, and seek the Lord. For the Hebrew כי ki, that is, because, is put for therefore, wherefore, or indeed: for ki to the Hebrews is often merely the beginning and opening of a sentence. For after threats God here invites Israel to repentance, so that terrified by threats it may come to its senses. Vatablus explains it somewhat differently; for in place of because, he translates, thus said the Lord (seek me), wishing namely to recall them from idolatry, on account of which many evils were about to befall them, unless they came to their senses and sought the Lord. 5. SEEK NOT BETHEL, — so that you may worship the golden calves, which Jeroboam set up in Bethel. AND YOU SHALL NOT PASS INTO BERSABEE. — "Bersabee" was the last city of the Holy Land, and its boundary to the south, just as Dan was its boundary to the north (whence of the whole Holy Land it is said: "From Dan to Bersabee"); thus called from the oath and covenant which Abraham made there near the well with Abimelech, giving him seven lambs: for שבע beer in Hebrew is well; שבע saba with sin means oath, with scin means seven. "Bersabee" therefore is the same as the well of the oath, or the well of seven, namely of lambs. See what is said in Genesis xxi, 31. This city belonged to the tribe of Simeon, but because the lot of Simeon was small, and it was contained within the lot of the tribe of Judah, hence Jesus, chapter xv, 28, places Bersabee among the cities of Judah. For a long time Abraham, Isaac and Jacob dwelt here: whence it is also called the town of Isaac. In the time of St. Jerome it was a large village, and in it there was a Roman garrison, and it was called the healthful village: now it is called Gibellina. Thus Adrichomius in his Description of the Holy Land. Moreover, in Bersabee were placed idols, just as in Bethel and Gilgal, as appears in IV Kings chapter xxiii, 8. Whence the Prophet here commands that they not pass through it, namely to worship idols. For because Abraham had set up an oratory to God in Bersabee, in which he had invoked Him, Genesis chapter xxi, 33, his descendants set up an altar there, but not to God, but to their idols. Thus St. Jerome, Theodoret, Remigius, Hugo, Lyran and others. Arias alone explains it differently, that is to say, Do not worship idols in Bethel and Gilgal: thus it will come about that you are not led into captivity, nor pass through Bersabee into Assyria. But thus he would rather have said: And you shall not pass through Dan. For through Dan, as being northern, one went into Assyria; through Bersabee, however, as being southern, one went into Egypt. BECAUSE GALGALA SHALL BE LED CAPTIVE. — "Galgala" was a city of two tribes, namely the lot of Judah; but neighboring the ten tribes, and destroyed with them. In Hebrew there is an elegant paronomasia: Galgul galo iigale, that is, rolling shall be rolled, or wheel by rolling shall be rolled, or migration by migrating shall migrate; for Galgal is said from גלל galal, that is, he rolls, he unrolls, he migrated. Whence the Zurich Bible translates: Galgal migrating shall migrate; Pagninus: Gilgal by migrating shall migrate. AND BETHEL SHALL BE UNPROFITABLE. — The Septuagint and the Syriac: Bethel shall be as if it were not; the Hebrew: Bethel shall be in Aven, that is to say, Bethel shall become Bethaven, that is, the house of strength shall become the house of vanity, emptiness (empty and void, as the Arabic translates it) and nothingness, or the house of God shall become the house of iniquity, and of sorrow and mourning. Tropologically, through sin the soul which was Bethel, that is, the house and temple of God, becomes Bethaven, that is, the house of crimes and the devil. Again the house of heaven becomes the house of hell, so that in it there may burn in
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the pleasure of sin eternal gall and most bitter sorrows for the sinner. Hence Moses says in Deuteronomy, chapter xxxii, 32: "Their grape is the grape of gall, and their clusters most bitter. The gall of dragons is their wine, and the venom of asps which cannot be healed." And St. Peter to Simon Magus, Acts, chapter viii, 23: "I see that thou art in the gall of bitterness and in the bond of iniquity."
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To this pertains the exposition of Amos, who received the law of God through judgment. For this is called judgment in Psalm 118 and elsewhere often, because according to it one must judge what is good, what is evil, as if to say: You the law of God, which is sweeter than honey and the honeycomb, Psalm 18:11, on account of your wicked desires and habits, you abominate; because you esteem it bitter as wormwood, and you depict and traduce it as such before others, and thus you lead them away from it to your crimes. Thirdly, the Septuagint refers these things to God; for thus they translate: Seek the Lord, and live, etc., who makes judgment in the highest, and has placed justice upon the earth, as if to say: Seek God, fearing his just and equally rigorous judgment, as the most severe avenger. And the Arabic: The Lord making judgments in the highest, and he is the one who founded justice upon the earth, and works all things, and prepares it. AND YOU LEAVE JUSTICE UPON THE EARTH. — Justice is the same as judgment, of which I have already spoken: for the Hebrews in the latter verse explain the former. Otherwise St. Jerome, Lyra and Ribera. For these understand by justice God, who is essential and uncreated justice, as if to say: You worship unjust and filthy idols; you leave, or rather on the earth as if lying you despise and trample upon justice itself, that is God most just and almighty, as one "making Arcturus and Orion," etc.; whence also the Chaldean translates: They ceased to fear before the face of the Lord, who makes Arcturus, etc. But the former sense, as simpler and more common, is thus more genuine. 6. SEEK THE LORD, AND LIVE, — that is, and you shall live, or that you may live. Thus Vatable and Pagninus. LEST PERHAPS IT BURN (that is, blaze and be consumed) AS FIRE THE HOUSE OF JOSEPH, AND IT SHALL DEVOUR (the neighboring), AND THERE SHALL BE NONE TO EXTINGUISH BETHEL, — that is, the fire sent by God upon Bethel, as is evident from the Hebrew and Greek. Pagninus and Vatable translate: Lest perhaps it break through as fire the house of Joseph: break through, says Vatable, that is, burst through and scatter. For fire breaks through and consumes the strongest things. By Joseph is understood Ephraim, who was the son of Joseph; but by Ephraim is understood the ten tribes: because Jeroboam, their first king and founder of the kingdom, was from the tribe of Ephraim. Thus St. Jerome, Remigius, Albert, Hugh and Vatable. Israel therefore is now called Ephraim, now Joseph, now Jacob, now Samaria. 7. YOU WHO TURN JUDGMENT INTO WORMWOOD. — These cohere with the beginning of the preceding verse, as if to say: Seek the Lord you, O Israelites, who turned away from him turn judgment, and its sweetness and pleasantness into the bitterness of wormwood. Thus Rupert. Otherwise Vatable; for he connects these with the verb shall devour, as if to say: This fire shall devour you who turn judgment into wormwood. Now "judgment:" first, take it properly so called. For often the Prophets blame Israel, because it perverted judgment by adjudging the cause to the guilty, as if to friends, or the rich and those giving gifts; and condemning the innocent, because they were poor or enemies, to whom therefore equity and consolation, which they sought from judgment, was turned into the bitterness of injustice and condemnation, which was bitter and harsh to them like wormwood. Thus Rupert, Hugh and Lyra. Whence explaining it Amos adds: "And you leave justice upon the earth;" Zurich: You afflict justice upon the earth; Vatable: You allow it to lie upon the earth. Secondly, St. Jerome takes "judgment" generally for justice and holiness, namely for the debt and duty of virtue, which each one ought to render to God and neighbor. Thus often the Psalmist, Psalm 118, says he did judgment, that is what is equitable, owed and pleasing to God, as if to say: You who turn virtue into vice, just and holy life into the bitterness of sin, and drink it as if with wormwood to God. Hence sins in Scripture are called bitternesses, because they embitter, exacerbate, offend and stir God to wrath. Thus Hosea says in chapter 12:14: "Ephraim has provoked me to wrath in his bitternesses." Again sin by catachresis is called gall, poison, wormwood: first, because it tears, harms, kills the soul; secondly, because he who sins offers God as if gall; thirdly, because a little honey and eternal. This the sinful soul sees and feels in the hour of death, when riches, honors and delights, by which enticed it offended God, shall be turned for it into nausea, reproach, misery, and eternal torment. and by the enemy of Assyria you shall be cut off: for God will send fire into the house of Joseph, as I said in verse 6; for he himself makes Arcturus, Orion, heaven and earth, and all things that are in them and come to be. ARCTURUS. — Thus the Hebrew כימר kima the Septuagint, Job cap. ix, 9, Pagninus, Vatablus, Arias translate here as Arcturus. Secondly, Symmachus and Theodotion translate it as the Pleiades, or Vergiliae, which are seven stars in the tail of Aries, or rather in Taurus; and thus our translator rendered it, Job cap. xxxviii, 31. Thirdly, the Zurich Bible translates it as Cynosura, that is the lesser bear. Fourthly, the Arabic and others translate it as the Hyades, which are in the head of Taurus, and are called by the Greeks Hyades from ὑειν, that is to rain, because they bring on rains. Others translate it differently: for Hebrew names of trees, animals, and stars signify several of their natures and kinds. Furthermore Arcturus is the lesser bear, namely seven stars which are situated near the Arctic pole, and therefore around them the axis of heaven revolves, and they always appear to us and never set, as Albert says. More truly Arcturus is a huge star in the constellation of Boötes, or the ploughman, after the tail of the greater bear, and from this it is called Arcturus, as if to say the tail of the bear: for ἄρκτος is bear, οὐρά tail. Arcturus rises on the 5th of September, as Columella says lib. II, cap. iv, and by its rising, as well as by its setting, it brings on great hail and storms, as Pliny says, lib. II, cap. xxxix. Whence Virgil, I Aeneid: Whence rain, and fires, Arcturus and the rainy Hyades and the twin Bears. And Horace, lib. III Carm.: The star gleaming with rays Arcturus of clear name. And Cicero, lib. II On the Nature of the Gods, says it is situated beneath the breast of Boötes, who is also called Arctophylax, that is guardian of the bear, because he follows it as a guardian. Whence Cicero ibid.: Arctophylax, who is commonly said to be Boötes, Who as if yoked shakes the Bear before him. And Ovid, III Fasti: Whether he is Arctophylax, or that sluggish Boötes. The position of all these is clearly evident to one examining an astronomical globe: on it Arcturus is painted as a bright star between the thighs of Boötes, or Arctophylax, who follows the greater bear, or the plough, as the common people call it, because its seven stars exhibit the form of a plough or chariot. Moreover Arcturus is keen and vehement in stirring up storms. Whence Plautus in the Rope: I am Arcturus, the sign of all the most keen: I am vehement in rising, more vehement in setting. Wherefore Pliny recognizes a greater ordinary force and as it were divine in stirring up tempests in Arcturus, lib. XVIII, cap. xxviii. And the Prophet hints at this here saying: God is "he who makes Arcturus," that is, who imparts to it such power of hurling clouds, hail, lightning, as we see and experience daily. For God made, that is created, Arcturus long ago, namely from the beginning of the world: wherefore when the Prophet says here, "making Arcturus," in the present tense, he does not seem to speak of its past creation. AND ORION. — Thus also the Syriac and others commonly. The Arabic however translates it as the Twins. Orion is a southern constellation before Taurus consisting of 28 stars, and is painted on the astronomical globe as it were a man standing on foot on a hare, between the Hyades and Sirius, or the greater dog. It was called in Greek Orion, ἀπὸ τοῦ ὀρίνειν that is to disturb, because at its rising winter arises at the same time, and because by rising it disturbs the air with clouds and storms the earth. Hence in Hebrew it is called כסל kesil, that is inconstant, because it is inconstant in shining, and brings on inconstancy of the breeze, namely of fair weather and storm: it is born in the ninth month, namely November, which is hence called in Hebrew hasleu. For in November there is great inconstancy and disorder of the sky, which kesil, that is Orion, signifies and brings on. Whence Virgil, I Aeneid: When suddenly rising from the wave stormy Orion. Hence the Poets have fabled that Orion or Urion is the son of Neptune, and thus called from the urine of Jupiter. Plautus calls it the Throat, because it is as it were the sword of armed men, terrible by the brightness of stars (whence our translator, Isaiah cap. xiii, 10, translates the Hebrew kesil as splendor). For this reason by Ovid, lib. IV Fasti, Orion is called sword-bearing. If this shines, it denotes fair weather; if it is darkened, it denotes storm. Wherefore Horace, lib. I Carm.: The South wind, he says, swiftly brought down as companion of Orion. He calls it brought down, because it is positioned in the downward part of the sky, that is in the setting: but he makes the South wind its companion, because Orion brings storm and winds with it. Under Arcturus and Orion, by synecdoche, understand the remaining stars and all the heavenly bodies. Whence Symmachus translated Orion as stars; Theodotion as evening, which carries away all the stars with it, so that the same thing is said here as in Psalm 146, 4: "Who numbereth the multitude of the stars, and calleth them all by their names." For which reason the Septuagint here translates: Making and fashioning all things. You will ask why the Prophet mentions these two stars before the others? St. Jerome answers first, because these two are more celebrated and better known to us; secondly, because hail, storms, etc., proceed from horrible stars, such as Arcturus, Orion and the Hyades, as Pliny says in book XVIII, chapter 28. These stars therefore, knowing the seasons, are symbols of the wrath of God: and God threatens wrath and vengeance to the Israelites here: thus Ribera and Pineda in Job, chapter 9, 9: which reasoning indeed is very fitting to this place; thirdly, because Orion is the principal southern star, Arcturus the principal northern star: under these two therefore all things, namely both southern and northern, are comprehended. Some add that these two help to produce flowers and spring fruits. Whence Job 38, 31, for what we read: Canst thou bind the shining stars Pleiades (Hebrew kima) or canst thou loose the bands of Orion (Hebrew kesil)? Thus Pagninus translates: Canst thou bind with thy hands the delicate fruits of the Pleiades, or canst thou open the late fruits of Orion? And the Zurich Bible: Canst thou restrain the delights of the Pleiades, or canst thou open the contractions of Orion? Fourthly, Christopher a Castro: It seems, he says, that by these two principal stars of summer and winter the four seasons of the year can be signified: for spring is joined to summer, autumn to winter, as if to say, Who maketh the four seasons of the year; as he immediately adds: "Who maketh night and winter." For he who so easily changes the seasons from the rising of the stars, will equally easily snatch them from dangers, and change hostile fortunes into happy and prosperous ones, and avert the impending captivity. Tropologically St. Gregory, book IX of the Morals, chapter 6: "Arcturus," he says, "always turns, and never sets; so also the Church tolerates the persecutions of the wicked without ceasing, but nevertheless endures without failing until the end of the world. Arcturus while it turns is raised up: because then the holy Church is more powerfully refreshed in truth, when it is more ardently wearied for the truth. What after Arcturus by Orions, except martyrs are designated? From Orions therefore winter grew harsh, because, with the constancy of the saints shining forth, the cold mind of the unfaithful stirred itself to the storm of persecution. Orions therefore produced heaven, when the holy Church sent forth martyrs. Who, while they dared to speak rightly to the rude, bore all the weight from the adversity of cold." He then adds: After Orions will follow the Hyades, that is, doctors, who after the martyrs watered the Church with the rain of their doctrine: for after three centuries of martyrs, under Constantine the fourth century of doctors began. CONVERTING DARKNESS INTO MORNING,—that is, Who converteth the darkness of night into morning and the light of dawn, by which he converteth night into day, and conversely changeth day into night. Whence Pagninus translates: He who converteth into morning the shadow of death, and maketh the day grow dark into night; the Zurich Bible: Who converteth the shadows of death, that is, deadly ones, into the light of morning, and darkeneth the day with night. Note: The darkness of night in Hebrew is called צלמות tsalmavet, that is, shadow of death, that is, the greatest and densest, as horrible as is the shadow of death, in sepulchres and in hell. The Syriac: Converteth into morning the shadows of death, that is, the saddest shadows, and the densest darkness. Furthermore these shadows and darkness symbolically denote great dangers, says Theodoret, disasters and afflictions, as if to say, God changeth consolation into desolation, laughter into mourning, prosperity into adversity, security into fears, applause into lamentation, and, conversely, desolation into consolation, tion, etc., as it pleased Him, and as men deserved or did not deserve. Thus Chaeremon the abbot, in Cassian, Collation XII, chapter xii, explains this passage of Amos concerning the wonderful change of hearts which the mighty and equally merciful God works by His grace: "Who, he says, would not truly marvel at the works of God, and proclaim with his whole affection: Because I have known that the Lord is great; when he has perceived someone, or another person, changed from most rapacious to generous, from prodigal to continent, from proud to humble, from delicate and tender to squalid and rough, and willingly enduring poverty and the straits of present things? These are the prodigies which God has placed upon the earth, which the Prophet, considering, calls all peoples to admiration of them, saying: Come and see the works of God, which He hath placed prodigies upon the earth, taking away wars even to the ends of the earth: He shall break the bow, and break the weapons, and shall burn the shields with fire. For what greater prodigy can there be than that in the briefest moment the most rapacious publicans become apostles, the fierce persecutors become most patient preachers of the Gospel, so that they propagate the faith which they were persecuting, even by the shedding of their own blood? These are the works of God which the Son testifies He works daily together with the Father, saying: My Father worketh until now, and I work, John v. Concerning these works blessed David, singing in spirit, says: Blessed be the Lord God of Israel, who alone doth great wonders, Psalm lxxi. Concerning these also the prophet Amos: Who maketh, he says, all things, and converteth them, and changeth the shadow of death into the morning. This indeed is the change of the right hand of the Most High."
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Again Cassian, Collation XV, chapter xviii, prefers these changes of minds to miracles, saying: "And truly it is a greater miracle to eradicate from one's own flesh the tinder of lust than to cast out unclean spirits from the bodies of others. And it is a more magnificent sign to restrain by the virtue of patience the fierce movements of anger than to command the powers of the air: and it is more to have excluded the most voracious diseases of sadness from one's own heart than to have driven out the infirmities of another and bodily fevers. Finally in many ways the virtue is more illustrious and the progress more sublime to cure the languors of one's own soul than of another's body." He gives the reason: "For inasmuch as this is more sublime than flesh, so much more excellent is its health; and inasmuch as it is of a more precious and more excellent substance, so much more grave and more pernicious is its ruin and fall?" Let those who labor in converting souls note this: let them know that they perform as many miracles as they convert souls, nay, as many vices as they eradicate; and these not corporeal and transitory, but spiritual and remaining for all ages in heaven as an eternal trophy. WHO CALLS THE WATERS OF THE SEA (that is, who by the heat of the sun evokes and lifts into the air vapors from the waters of the sea and resolves them into rain; and thus) POURS THEM OUT (the waters) UPON THE FACE OF THE EARTH: THE LORD IS HIS NAME HIS. — For Lord in Hebrew is Jehovah, that is, He who is, or יש is, who is being itself, both its formal and causal principle of all things, namely who is the fullness, the totality and the complex of being, essence and existence; who is the Ocean of being, and the immense sea of existence. Sanchez suspects that Amos, being a rustic, alludes to the opinion of rustics, though false, which holds that the Rainbow drinks and draws waters from the sea, concerning which Rhodiginus, book XXII, chapter xxix. Tropologically: "St. Paul, says St. Jerome, like a violent whirlwind, and a fierce tempest, and the surge of a swelling sea, was persecuting and striving to oppress the Church of God. Who, called by the Lord, was poured out upon the face of the whole earth, that he might preach the Gospel from Jerusalem even unto Illyricum, etc., that he might extend even to Spain, and from the Red Sea, nay from Ocean unto Ocean might run, imitating his Lord, and the sun, of which we read: His going out is from the highest heaven, And his circuit even to the highest heaven; so that the earth would fail before him, rather than his zeal for preaching." 9. WHO SMILES AT DEVASTATION UPON THE STRONG. — In Hebrew it is מבליג mablig, which first the Septuagint translates: Who divides contention upon strength, that is, who hurls various contentions as it were divided and dissected upon the strong and powerful, that he may lay them low; and who, as Theodoret explains, easily strengthens the weak, and weakens and crushes the strong; second, the Chaldean, Vatablus and Arias: Who strengthens the weak, and makes them prevail over the strong and powerful; third, Lyran: Who despises the devastation made by the strong, and the depopulation, that is, the slaughter of the people, and the abduction from a mighty kingdom; fourth, Pagninus: Who strengthens the devastator over a mighty people; fifth, the Zurich: Who twists the devastator upon the strong; sixth, the Arabic: Exalting the humble over the strong, and the weak over him who magnifies himself; and the Syriac: Who sets the vile (abject) before the strong, and raises the humble over the exalted (elevated). All these interpretations tend to the same point, namely they signify that God is He who gives strength and victory to whom He will, and often strengthens the weak, that they may prevail over the strong.
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Thus tropologically St. Jerome says: "The strength of the body is the weakness of the soul; conversely, the strength of the soul is the weakness of the body." Our author in much the same sense, but more forcefully and more properly, when Aquila translates: "He who smiles," that is, by smiling threatens and sends desolation. For the magnitude of wrath is sometimes shown by smiling, or rather is dissimulated by heroes through laughter, as is evident from that passage of Virgil, Aeneid X: To whom smiling Mezentius with mingled wrath: Now die. Thus God smiles at all human power opposed to him, that is, by smiling despises, mocks and overthrows it. By laughter therefore he shows it to be less than his wrath, and unworthy that he should be angry and wrathful toward it: just as a lion does not deign to be angry at dogs, wolves, bears; but if they resist him, as if playing and laughing he tears them apart. Thus God playing in the orb of the earth, mocks the pride of little men, and smiling slays the impious, when through weak and infirm men and vile things he crushes them, as he crushed Pharaoh through frogs, locusts, gnats and flies. This is the play, this is the laughter of almighty God. Hence Castro thus explains: "He who smiles," etc., that is, he who is accustomed as it were through laughter to stir up some weak one into a most robust one, so that he may devastate him. And Mariana: God, he says, "smiles," that is, seems to play in our misfortunes. And Emmanuel: "Smiles," that is, by laughing, or mocking easily sends "desolation." Thus concerning the ostrich Job says, cap. xxxix, 18: "He mocketh the horse and his rider." And concerning Leviathan, cap. xli, 20: "He shall esteem the hammer as straw, and he laugheth to scorn the vibrating spear." And the Psalmist concerning God says, Psalm ii, 4: "He that dwelleth in heaven shall laugh at them." And Psalm xxxvi, 13: "But the Lord shall laugh at him." And Prov. cap. i, 26: "I also will laugh at your destruction." Indeed beautifully the Wise One, cap. xii, 25, when he had said that the impious Canaanites lived impiously and foolishly like senseless infants, adds: "For this reason as to senseless children thou hast given judgment into mockery," that is to say, as if with childish and ridiculous punishments (namely through wasps and hornets) thou didst punish them as children, yet gravely and sharply: where in the Greek there is a beautiful paronomasia between μαίζω and ἐμπαίζω, that is to say, Thou didst ridicule the ridiculous; thou didst play with and chastise the children in a childish manner. This is what Claudius says in Eutropius: "The cruel father smiled." Thus a cat
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Moreover that the Hebrew מבליג mablig signifies he who smiles is evident from Aquila, who translates μειδιῶν, that is, smiling; and from St. Jerome, when he says: "Properly pudizua is said, which we can call a smiling, when someone is angry and with lips opened slightly smiles, so as to show the magnitude of his wrath." The same in the chapter of Jeremiah viii, 18; he says the Hebrew מבליגיתי mabligiti is a passive form, which we can interpret as a gaping of the mouth contracted by pain, and having the likeness of laughter, such as is canine and sardonic laughter. Now who does not see that more credence should be given to Aquila and St. Jerome than to modern unlearned and unfaithful Rabbis? smiles at the mouse which it has caught, that is, smiling devours it: for before it devours it, with it as if laughing it gestures and plays. Thus there is sardonic laughter, equine laughter, canine laughter: for horses and dogs when they snarl and prepare to bite, bare their teeth as if laughing. Thus Jupiter, says Hesiod, angry at Prometheus because he had stolen fire from heaven and brought it to earth, laughed a somewhat bitter laugh. Dioscorides, lib. VI, among poisons produced an herb, which in Latin is called ranunculus, in Greek βατράχιον, and from the region in which it grows more abundantly, Sardoa, or Sardonia is named, if drunk or eaten, it takes away the mind and presents to the lips a contracted appearance of laughter. And hence the proverb concerning sardonic laughter. Strabo, lib. XI of Geography, writes that in Cambysene, which borders on the river Alazonius, a certain kind of spider is born, which causes others to die by laughing, others by weeping, from longing for their own. Indeed even Aristotle, lib. III On the Parts of Animals, says that even when the heart is pierced by a blow in battles, laughter has sometimes resulted, and this happens from the heat which the wound stirs up. Now indeed: "To laugh at an enemy is the sweetest laughter," says Sophocles in the tragedy entitled: Ajax the Standard-bearer. Thus not only God rejoices, but also the just man when he sees the vengeance of sinners.
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10. THEY HATED HIM THAT REPROVED (the Prophet) IN THE GATE. — For the Prophets preached in public streets, and especially in the gates, both on account of the concourse of people, and because in the gates sat judges, magistrates and wicked advocates, perverting judgments and the causes of the poor, whom Amos and other Prophets reproved. For the Jews exercised their tribunals and judgments in the gates, because foreigners and natives alike, both sojourners and citizens, could come to them freely and easily. Thus Moses ordained in Deuteronomy, chapter xxi, 19: "They shall bring, he says, the accused to the elders of the city and to the gate of judgment." Thus Jeremiah prophesied and preached in the gates, chapter xvii, 17, and Ezra, book II, chapter viii, 2. Thus St. Jerome, Theodoret, Lyra, Vatablus and others everywhere. In the gates therefore was as it were a forum, both civil for merchandise, and judicial for forensic causes. Whence the Zurich version translates it, in the forum. Hear St. Gregory, XXI Moral. xv: "It was the custom among the ancients that the elders should sit at the gate, who by judicial examination would discern the quarrels of those contending; so that the city in which it is necessary to live in concord should not be entered by the discordant. Whence also through the Prophet it is said: Establish judgment in the gate." Wherefore he adds that the gate is sometimes taken for the judgment which was exercised in the gate, as when Job says: "When I saw myself superior in the gate:" in the gate, that is in judgment.
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SPEAKING PERFECTLY THEY ABHORRED. — "Perfectly," that is a perfect and holy utterance, as the Septuagint and Symmachus translate it, and immaculate, as Theodotion translated it; the Zurich Bible, speaking with integrity. It is a periphrasis of the Prophet. 11. YOU DESPOILED THE POOR. — Septuagint: You struck the poor with your fist; others, you despised, confounded and put to shame; Pagninus, you burdened the poor; properly the Zurich Bible, you trampled the weak, so that you might despoil and plunder. For the Hebrew בושס boses can be derived from the root בוש bos, that is to confound, to put to shame; and from the root בוס bos through samech, that is to despise, to tread, to trample, to pollute, to defile, to despoil. Moreover bos is near and alludes to בז baz, that is to despoil, to plunder, to rob. AND CHOICE SPOIL — Septuagint, choice gifts, as if to say judges and other powerful men extorted from the poor gifts, not common ones, but select and precious. More clearly, Pagninus, Vatablus, Arias and R. David translate: And a burden of grain you received from him, namely you extorted by force or deceit; understand burden as of a horse, or of a man, namely as much as a horse or a man as a porter could carry. For the Hebrew בר bar signifies both choice and grain. Hence he subjoins a just and fitting punishment for them, saying: YOU SHALL BUILD HOUSES WITH SQUARE STONE, AND SHALL NOT DWELL IN THEM: YOU SHALL PLANT MOST LOVELY VINEYARDS, AND SHALL NOT DRINK THE WINE THEREOF. — For just indeed is the vengeance, that he who has robbed others should lose his own. It is fitting that he who from rapine acquires or obtains houses and vineyards should not possess them, should not rejoice in them, should not enjoy their use and taste, as we often see happen to robbers and unjust men by the just judgment of God. 12. FOR I KNOW YOUR MANIFOLD CRIMES, AND YOUR MIGHTY SINS. — "Mighty," that is grave, great, cruel, so much so that they overcome my clemency, bind it and as it were overwhelm it, and extort from my hand just vengeance and the scourge. OPPRESSING THE JUST (that is the just, supply you are: Zurich Bible, constraining; Vatablus, afflicting the just) TAKING GIFTS (so that you might absolve the guilty on account of gifts, and condemn the innocent and powerless to give them. For gift, the Septuagint, Symmachus and Theodotion translate ἀλλάγματα, that is exchanges. Moreover ἄλλαγμα according to the idiom of Scripture is called price, says St. Jerome.) AND DEPRESSING THE POOR (Septuagint, turning aside; Symmachus, oppressing) IN THE GATE, — that is in the judgment which took place in the gates. 13. THEREFORE THE PRUDENT SHALL BE SILENT AT THAT TIME, BECAUSE IT IS AN EVIL TIME. — Zurich Bible: Therefore the prudent is forced to be silent at this time; since it is dangerous, as if to say on account of the injustice of judges and the imprudence of men of this time who hate the truth, both the oppressed themselves are silent and bear their injuries and robberies in silence; lest if they cry out or complain, they be afflicted more grievously, says Arias; then the Prophets: for their threats and admonitions are mocked, nor would that admonition lead to amendment, but to an increase of robberies and sins. Thus Remigius, Albertus, Lyranus and Vatablus. Thus the Venerable Bede, book III of the History of the English, chapter xix, relates that St. Fursey was caught up to the tribunal of Christ, accused by demons, saying among other things: "It is written: Unless thou declare to the wicked man his wickedness, I will require his blood at thy hand. He did not declare penance worthily to sinners;" but a holy angel answered for him: "Concerning this time it is written: The prudent shall be silent at that time, because it is a very evil time; for when hearers despise the word, the tongue of the teacher also is hindered, when he sees that the preaching heard is despised." Bede adds: "In all the contradiction of demons the struggle proved exceedingly powerful, until, with the Lord as judge, his angels triumphing, the adversaries broken and overcome, the holy man was surrounded with immense brightness, with choirs of holy angels singing together: No labor ought to seem hard, no time long, by which the glory of eternity is acquired."
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Secondly, and more aptly St. Jerome and Theodoret, as if to say therefore, namely on account of so many robberies and crimes which I have already recounted, the prudent at that time of the Assyrian captivity, seeing the Israelites so horribly punished by God, shall not complain, because it is an evil time, in which namely God has decreed to punish and destroy the impious; but shall be silent, approving and praising the just judgment of God, and the punishment of the impious; for this is what is being discussed, as is evident from what precedes. For otherwise Amos and the other Prophets did not remain silent, but sharply reproved the wicked, and threatened them with dire things; even though the wicked despised and mocked these things.
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Thirdly, John of Alba explains it thus in the Electorum, cap. xxiii: In that time the prudent shall be silent, that is to say, the wise men and princes of the people shall be reduced to silence and shall be struck dumb, and on account of the weight of evils shall observe profound silence. Thus it is said in I Kings cap. ii, 9: "The wicked shall be silent in darkness," that is, shall be struck dumb on account of evils. And concerning Tyre to be overthrown, Ezekiel says in cap. xxvii, 32: "What is like Tyre, which hath been silent?" that is, shall be silent. And Wisdom cap. x, 21: "Wisdom opened the mouth of the dumb." He calls the afflicted Hebrews dumb, and those struck silent on account of Egyptian servitude: for indeed vehement pain takes away speech. God opened the mouths of these, when He took away their pain: and He made them joyful by freeing them from Egypt; for then they burst forth into hymns and praises of God, and sang: "Let us sing to the Lord; for He is gloriously magnified: the horse and the rider He hath thrown into the sea," Exod. cap. xv.
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Vers. 14. AS YOU HAVE SAID, — namely among yourselves, that is, as you have desired. For they desired nothing else than that God should remain with them in the land which He had given them: for with Him remaining, they themselves would also remain: with Him departing, they themselves also would depart into captivity. Thus Lyra and Clarius. Secondly, that is to say, Perform what you have promised, namely that you would seek good, not evil, so that the Lord may be with you: do what you have said, and let deeds be consistent with words, so that you may convert evil customs into good ones, by which you may reconcile God to yourselves. Thus Theodoret. The former sense is simpler, the latter is fuller.
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Vers. 15. ESTABLISH JUDGMENT IN THE GATE, — namely just judgment, that is just judges, who do not accept bribes, but protect the poor and innocent. IF PERHAPS THE LORD WILL HAVE MERCY ON THE REMNANT OF JOSEPH, — that is on the kingdom of Israel, whose founder was Jeroboam, sprung from Ephraim the son of Joseph. 16. IN ALL THE STREETS THERE SHALL BE LAMENTATION, AND IN ALL THAT ARE WITHOUT (namely in all the villages, as Vatablus and Arias translate it, in hamlets and towns) IT SHALL BE SAID: WOE, WOE! — In Hebrew הו־הו ho ho, that is alas, alas! which is the voice of one mourning and lamenting the destruction of Samaria. Thus St. Jerome. THEY SHALL CALL THE HUSBANDMAN TO MOURNING AND TO LAMENTATION THOSE WHO KNOW HOW TO LAMENT, — namely male and female mourners, or professional mourners, who were called to the funeral of the dead, so that they might lament him with voice, and gesture, and the sound of the pipe, concerning whom I have spoken at Jerem. cap. ix, 11, as if to say: So great shall be the calamity that all shall mourn, both townspeople and country folk: the latter naturally after the manner of the countryside, the former from art and civic custom. 17. BECAUSE I WILL PASS THROUGH THE MIDST OF THEE, — as a lightning bolt in a moment pervading, striking down and laying waste all things. Whence Aquila translated it ἀνώϊστον, as if a swift and incurable calamity, says St. Jerome. 18. WOE TO THEM THAT DESIRE THE DAY OF THE LORD! — St. Jerome, Rupertus and Hugo understand these things of the Jews equally as of the Israelites: Arias of the Jews alone. For in the following chapter 1, he names Sion, which was the city and fortress of the Jews, and here, vers. 22, he treats of victims offered to the true God: but these were offered in Judea, not in Israel. The sense therefore is, says St. Jerome, as if to say: The shameless Jews and Samaritans say: Let the day predicted by the Prophets come, let the threatened captivity come, provided that what is promised through the Prophets, namely the time of restoration, also follows. For there is not so much evil in the injury of captivity as there is good in those things which the Lord promises after the captivity. To whom the Prophet responds that they are deceived and awaiting false things; for after 70 years of captivity graver calamities shall befall them. For when you shall have escaped the yoke of the Chaldeans, he says, you shall fall upon a bear, that is Cyrus and Darius, from whom rescued you shall meet a serpent, that is Alexander the Great and Antiochus Epiphanes. But the discourse has been to the Israelites alone up to this point, and these are called, vers. 15, the remnant of Joseph: these also had their altars dedicated to the true God, which Achab and Jezabel destroyed, as Elias laments III Reg. cap. xix, 10. He speaks therefore to the Israelites, who mocked the threats of captivity and destruction, which the Prophets were threatening to them, saying: "Command, command again; wait, wait again," Isaiæ cap. xxviii, 10. The sense therefore is, as if to say: You, O Israelites, mock our oracles, and mockingly say: Where is the day of the Lord? where is the day of vengeance and destruction, which the Prophets cry out and threaten to us so vehemently? let it come, let it come. For our ears have long since grown callous to this day and voice: for that day is always set before us, and never comes. Wherefore we despise these threats as empty; we do not believe that day shall come, nor do we fear it. And if it come, it shall not be so horrible, and it shall pass away as it came; nor shall God abandon his people, but shortly after shall restore and rebuild them, as you, O Prophets, promise. To whom the Prophet responds that the day of the Lord shall be terrible, and shall be a day of cloud, darkness and shadows, that is full of miseries, sadness and troubles, and shall bring all things inauspicious and bitter. Thus Theodoretus, Lyranus and Vatablus. 19. AS IF A MAN SHOULD FLEE FROM THE FACE OF A LION. — The sense is: That day shall bring danger from danger, calamity from calamity, just as if one fleeing from a lion should fall upon a bear, and fleeing from the bear should enter a house, where he is bitten by a serpent, as if to say: On that day all things everywhere shall be full of dangers and slaughters: neither without nor within shall anyone be safe: for without lions and bears range about, within in the walls and holes serpents lie hidden. Again, to a lesser danger and evil shall succeed a greater, just as the bear is more savage than the lion: for the lion spares suppliants and the dead, the bear spares none, and even invades and tears apart corpses.
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Castro adds that by the lion is understood Tiglath-pileser, whom succeeded a more savage bear, namely Shalmaneser, rushing forth and laying waste the fields of Samaria: the bear was followed by a more harmful serpent, that is the same Shalmaneser overthrowing Samaria and destroying the kingdom of Israel.
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Allegorically, Rupertus refers these things to the twofold advent of Christ: The Lion, he says, is Christ rising as a lion from the tribe of Judah, from whose face the Jews fled: but they shall fall upon the same as upon a bear, when he shall come a second time as judge of the world, when the Jews shall endeavor to protect themselves and hide in the wall and ruins, that is in the law of Moses already long since fallen and abolished: but there the serpent shall seize them, that is Antichrist the most savage of all tyrants, of whom Jacob said Genesis cap. xlix, 17: "Let Dan be a serpent in the way, a cerastes in the path." For thus concerning God Jeremiah says Thren. cap. iii, 10: "A bear lying in wait has become to me a lion: in secret places."
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Tropologically St. Jerome says: The devil, he says, is a lion, a bear, a serpent: namely a lion in this life, a bear in death, a serpent in hell: for there indeed he bites and torments the damned like an asp. Again Clarius: Woe, he says, to those who desire the day of the Lord, that is the day of death, to escape the evils of the present life! for they will fall upon a bear, that is upon the terrible judgment of Christ, and upon a serpent, that is upon hell where from one demon and torturer they fall upon another and another continually.
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Finally these things are rightly adapted to Epicureans, politicians and atheists, who here indulge in pleasure, gratify the belly and lust, and therefore strive to persuade themselves that the human soul is mortal, and will perish with the body in death. For these do not fear death, but sated and filled with it they desire it, that they may rest in it. But in death they fall upon a bear and a serpent, that is upon demons, who will show them that the soul is immortal, while they seize it for eternal torments. There they will recognize their foolishness, when demons will cast in their teeth the testimony of the soul itself, and will say: If you were unwilling to believe Holy Scripture, the Church, the consensus of the Holy Fathers and the wise, who all with one voice believe and teach that the soul is immortal, you ought at least to have believed your own soul, which testifies that it is free, rational, created in the image of God, and that God will be its judge and avenger, especially for those who have spent this whole life in pleasures and crimes. Where? unless in another life, and that eternal. Your conscience cried this out, it continually cried this out to you. You wished to bury its cry in your deafness, and you could not extinguish it: always a scruple stuck with you, always doubt, always fear. What if the soul is immortal? what will happen to me after this life? what punishments for crimes will I give? Foolishly, in such doubt, from which you knew your eternity depended, and it would be either most blessed or most miserable, why did you not choose the safer, why not the more secure part? If you doubt whether a road is beset by robbers, you take another, though longer and more difficult. Why did you not do the same in this blind crossroads of the soul? This dilemma (by which recently a certain politician dying was convicted and converted) ought to have taught you wisdom and prudence: Either there is a divine being and avenger God after this life, or there is not. If there is not, yet if I believe it, it will not harm me, indeed it will profit me: for it will lead me to an honest life and one worthy of man; if there is, and I do not believe it, indeed deny it, what angers of his, what torments from him on account of this perfidy and blasphemy ought I to expect? Rather therefore let me believe and confess it, since believing it cannot harm; not believing it however can bring me the gravest torments. Again, either there are rewards of the good and punishments of the wicked, as reason itself dictates, after this life, or there are not. If there are not, yet to believe, hope and fear these things will not be burdensome, indeed it will profit toward all virtue: if there are, and I not believing have lived shamefully and wickedly, surely I shall be enslaved to these eternal punishments; far therefore it is better and more prudent to believe them than not to believe. See Tertullian, book On the Testimony of the Soul. 20. ARE NOT THE DAYS OF THE LORD DARKNESS, AND NOT LIGHT? — Darkness is a symbol of adversity, calamity and sorrow: but light of prosperity, happiness and joy, as if to say: Why do you despise, indeed by mocking provoke and desire the day of the Lord's vengeance? Do you not know that day will be dark to you, that is most grievous and mournful, in which you will be stripped of goods, liberty and life? In which the sun of this light will set for you, and all consolation and good, and one perpetual night will be yours to sleep in, in which there will be no splendor, but shadow of death and eternal darkness, sorrow and desolation.
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21. I HATE, AND I HAVE CAST AWAY YOUR FESTIVITIES. — It is a prolepsis. For he meets a tacit objection, as if to say: You, trusting in the temple and its sacrifices, say and repeat: The temple of the Lord, the temple of the Lord is with us. God will not allow his temple to be overthrown by enemies, nor his people, worshipping him with so many victims, to be captured and slaughtered by them. To which God answers: In vain do you boast these things, in vain do you trust in these. For I hate your sacrifices and feasts; by their odor and smell, while they are burned, as much as by your incense and your perfume, I am not pleased, indeed I am offended: because they are offered to me by my enemies, the impious and wicked, according to that of Isaiah, chapter 1, 13: "Incense is an abomination to me; your new moons and your solemnities my soul hates: you have become burdensome to me, I have labored bearing with you." For those sacrifices availed and pleased God only from the work of the worker, not from the work worked, as the sacrifice of the new law pleases. See what is said there. 22. AND VOWS. — The Septuagint translates, and greetings, namely victims, namely peace offerings, which were offered for the peace and welfare of a house or people, either willingly or from a vow; whence Our translator renders: "The vows of your fat ones." This signifies the Hebrew meriechem: but the Septuagint reading with other points marechem, translate appearances, that is of your presence, as if to say: The victims which you present yourselves to God in the temple to offer I will not regard.
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23. TAKE AWAY FROM ME THE TUMULT (Septuagint, sound; St. Justin Against Trypho, multitude) OF YOUR SONGS. — The Jews sang the psalms of David and canticles in the temple in praise of God; but God here despises them, and calls them a tumult of songs: first, because they sang the same things to idols; second, because they did not proceed from internal devotion, but from custom and vanity; third, because they were the songs of impious men: thus St. Jerome; fourth, because they sang with confused and disordered voices tumultuously, or howled. Whence the Syriac version translates: Take away from me the voice of your jubilation. I WILL NOT HEAR THE CANTICLES OF YOUR HARP. — Septuagint: I will not hear the psalm of your instruments. For they sang psalms and canticles partly with the voice, partly with musical instruments, namely the harp, the psaltery, the organ, etc. The gross Jews thought they could hide their delusions by playing the lyre, and soothe the ears of an angry God with sweet harmony and as it were enchant him, just as deer and serpents are enchanted. Hence the Egyptians signified a man deceived by flattery by a deer with a piper, says Horus in Hieroglyphics lxxxvii. For by this harmony a deer is captured, and easily falls into the hands of hunters. In a similar way Circe the voluptuous enchanted the companions of Ulysses, and converted them into swine and beasts, as the poets fable: but Ulysses closed his ears to them, and thus could not be enchanted. But they erred: for God is captured by the canticles of the heart, not of the mouth. Let the choir singers and Christian cantors take heed here lest in psalmody they precipitate verses from haste, bite them off, mix and confound them with the other choir, lest they be heard by God: "Take away from me the tumult of thy songs." Let them likewise take heed lest they place the whole devotion of singing in a sonorous voice, in the subtlety of modulation, in the agility of diminishing tones, etc., while like little birds they chirp, so as to tickle the ears of the curious, to draw them to themselves and to call them away from prayer; lest they be heard by God: "I will not hear the melody of thy songs." For which the Arabic version renders: Make not distinction (variety, flexions and turns) for me in the voices of your praises. Wherefore let them learn that saying of the Apostle: "I will sing with the spirit, I will sing with the mind also." And that of St. Augustine and St. Athanasius, whom St. Augustine cites in book X of the Confessions, chapter xxxii: "It seems safer to me," he says, "what I often remember being told concerning Athanasius, Bishop of Alexandria, who made the reader of the psalm sound with so slight a flexion of voice that he was nearer to one pronouncing than to one singing." And soon after: "I am moved not by the song, but by the things which are sung, when they are sung with a clear voice and most fitting modulation, I acknowledge the great utility of this practice, so that through the delights of the ears, the weaker mind may rise up to the affection of piety. Yet when it happens to me that the song moves me more than the things which are sung, I confess that I sin in a penal manner, and then I would prefer not to hear the singer." The same in Psalm xlii, at the beginning: "His (Christ's) voice in all psalms, either singing, or groaning, or rejoicing in hope, or sighing in reality, we ought to have most well-known and most familiar, as our own." The same in Psalm cxix: "How many," he says, "sound with voice, and are mute in heart! and how many are silent with lips, and cry out with affection! because God's ears are to the heart of man as the ears of the body are to the mouth of man, so is the heart of man to the ears of God. Many with closed mouth are heard, and many in great clamors are not heard. We ought to pray with affections and say: My soul hath been a sojourner a long time; I was peaceable with them that hated peace." This is what the Psalmist says, Psalm xlvi, 2 and 7: "Rejoice," he says, "in God with the voice of exultation. Sing to our God, sing; sing to our king, sing. For God is the king of all the earth: sing ye wisely;" St. Augustine reads: "Sing ye understandingly." Which St. Bernard explaining, sermon 7 in the Canticles: "Attend," he says, "your princes (angels) when you stand to pray or sing, and stand with reverence and discipline; and glory in this, that your angels daily see the face of the Father. Let us usurp the office of those whose fellowship we share. Let us say to them: Sing to our God, sing, and let us hear them in turn responding: Sing to our king, sing. Let us therefore say praise together with the singers of heaven, as being citizens of the saints and of the household of God, sing ye wisely. Food in the mouth, a psalm in the heart tastes well, etc. Honey in wax, devotion in the letter is; otherwise the letter kills, if thou swallowest it without the seasoning of the spirit. But if with the Apostle thou singest with the spirit, thou singest with the mind also, thou too shalt know the truth of that saying which Jesus spoke: The words that I have spoken to you are spirit and life." The same, On the Manner of Living Well, to his sister, chapter lii: "This," he says, "consider in mind, which thou singest with voice. Let thy mind accord with thy voice, think not one thing, sing another." And soon after: "The chanting of psalms signifies perpetual praise of God in eternal joys, as it is written: Blessed are they that dwell in thy house, O Lord, they shall praise thee for ever and ever. Whosoever faithfully and with intent mind chants the psalms, is in a certain way joined with the angels of God. How? Because man praises him according to his measure on earth, whom the angels without ceasing adore and glorify in heaven." And below: "The sacrifice of praise shall glorify me," he says, "and there is the way by which I will show him the salvation of God. As if he said more openly: In psalms is the way of praise, by which thou canst arrive at eternal praise."
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The same in Psalm xlii, at the beginning: "His (Christ's) voice in all the psalms, either singing, or groaning, or rejoicing in hope, or sighing in reality, we ought to have most well-known and most familiar, as our own." The same in Psalm cxix: "How many, he says, sound with voice, and are mute in heart! and how many are silent with lips, and cry out with affection! because God's ears are to the heart of man: as bodily ears are to the mouth of man, so is the heart of man to God's ears. Many are heard with closed mouth, and many are not heard in great clamors. We ought to pray with affections. 24. AND JUDGMENT SHALL BE REVEALED AS WATER. — And, that is therefore, namely on account of your crimes already recounted, and your impious sacrifices and songs, judgment shall be revealed and shall flow forth from God, that is punishment, which He Himself shall send upon you suddenly, as water is revealed and flows forth from a spring closed and stopped up, if it be opened, and much more from a torrent in a valley constrained by embankments, if it increases and overflows in them: then indeed it buries and covers over the meadows and fields. For revelabitur in Hebrew is יגל iigal: which if it be derived from the root גלה gala, so that it be a future niphal by apocope, iigal for יגלה iigale, then it signifies shall be revealed: but if you derive it from the root גלל galal, and by crasis גל gal, then it signifies shall roll, shall convolve, shall bury. Whence the Septuagint translates: Judgment shall be rolled as water, and justice as an impassable torrent; Pagninus: Judgment shall roll itself as water, etc.; R. David: The judgment of my vengeance like a mass of inundating waters shall flow and be rolled back upon you, that is to say, My wrath and vengeance like a furious torrent overflowing shall wrap you up, bury and carry you away. Secondly, the Zurich, Arias and Vatablus versions translate by the optative, and take the voice and captive adversatively for but. Whence thus they translate: But let judgment flow, or roll itself, like water, and justice like a vehement torrent, that is to say, Correct your unjust judgments and oppressions of the poor, which I reproved a little before, verse 7, and indulge in them no longer: but on the contrary cultivate judgment and justice by protecting the poor and innocent: which if you do, you will reconcile yourselves to me, and will escape the threats leveled at you by me. But the former sense is required by our Version, the Septuagint and the Chaldeans: 25. DID YOU OFFER VICTIMS AND SACRIFICE TO ME IN THE DESERT FOR FORTY YEARS? — During which you wandered in the desert, that is to say, No. You will ask, how is this true? St. Jerome, Albert, Rupert, Hugh here, and St. Chrysostom and Bede in Acts vii answer that the Jews in the first year in which they departed from Egypt at Passover, namely in March, adored the golden calf in the fourth month, namely on the 24th day of June: and from that time they did not sacrifice to the true God of their own will, but forced by God and Moses. But it is objected that they soon repented of the adoration of the calf, and were reconciled to God; whence God made a covenant with them, and commanded the tabernacle to be dedicated to Him in the second year from the departure from Egypt, in the first month, in which dedication the Hebrews offered many victims willingly to God, as is evident from Exodus chapter xl, Leviticus chapters ix and x, Numbers chapter vii. Secondly therefore others answer better that the Hebrews after this dedication of the tabernacle, and the consecration of Aaron and his sons as priests, never or rarely offered solemn sacrifice to God in the desert, just as in the same they were not circumcised, as is evident from Joshua chapter v, 7: because they were engaged in continual wandering, and were not certain of a station for one day; because as soon as the pillar of cloud resting upon the tabernacle moved, they had to move their camps and depart: whence afterwards from chapter x of Leviticus, throughout the rest of Leviticus, Numbers and Deuteronomy we nowhere read that they sacrificed. Thus Lyra, Vatablus, Arias and others. Add that the Hebrews in the desert were inclined to murmuring, and frequently rebelled against God and Moses, and returned to the idols which they had recently worshipped in Egypt. Note: Forty years are called here, when they were only 38 and some months. For in the second year from the departure from Egypt the tabernacle was erected, and in it they offered victims; afterwards however none, or rare ones: these two years therefore are to be subtracted from the forty. For Scripture is accustomed to set down whole numbers, even if something is lacking or exceeding in them. Thus seventy disciples of Christ are called, when they were 72. Thus in Judges chapter ix, 5, it is said that Abimelech killed seventy brothers, sons of Gideon, when they were only sixty-nine; for one, namely Jotham, escaped by flight. 26. AND YOU CARRIED THE TABERNACLE OF MOLOCH (to a god, as some codices read) YOUR OWN. — The Hebrew נשאתם nesatem, that is, you lifted up, you erected, you carried upon your shoulders. St. Stephen in Acts vii reads, you received. For tabernacle in Hebrew it is מוי succot, which the Chaldean and Vatablus believe to be the name of an idol; whence they translate: You carried Succot your king; but Arias from R. Jonah: You carried, or you endured the hearing of your king. Theodotion translated it, vision. But succot is an unknown name, and is not found elsewhere. For succot therefore with another pointing it should be read סכות succot, that is, tabernacles: Thus the Septuagint, Symmachus, Our version, the Zurich Bible and Aquila, because he translated σκηνάς, that is, shelters. Indeed St. Stephen in Acts vii, 43, reads tabernacle. Finally for Moloch in Hebrew it is מלככם malkekem, that is, of your king, or to your king, as Symmachus, Theodotion and the Zurich Bible translate, namely Moloch. For Moloch was the same as Melchom, as Aquila translated here, and Melech, that is, the supreme king of men and gods, namely Jupiter, or the god of the Ammonites. Who Moloch was, I have said in Leviticus xviii, 21. You will ask, when did the Israelites carry the tabernacle of Moloch, and worship it? Lyra, Vatablus, Arias and a Castro take these things prophetically as if future: You carried, they say, that is, you will carry, as if to say, I will transfer you beyond Damascus into Assyria, and there the Assyrians will compel you captives to carry Moloch upon your shoulders, and your other idols for mockery, because those are vain gods, which could not protect you from the destruction of the Assyrians. Or you carried, that is, you will carry and you will pay the penalty of destruction and captivity, on account of the tabernacle and idol of Moloch which you erected. But this sense is harsh: for both the Hebrew and the Septuagint, the Chaldean and all others translate, you carried in the past; for that you carried pertains to the forty years in the desert, which preceded, as if to say, For forty years in the desert you sacrificed, not to me, but to Moloch and to idols. Thus St. Stephen explains it in Acts vii, 41: "And they made a calf in those days, and offered sacrifice to the idol, etc. But God turned away, and delivered them up to serve the host of heaven (the stars), as it is written in the book of the Prophets (in Amos in this place): Did you offer victims and sacrifices to me in the desert for forty years, O house of Israel? And you received the tabernacle of Moloch." Where the particle and is adversative, and is taken for but, as if to say, Not mine, but the tabernacle and worship of Moloch you received. Others, as Lyra, believe that the Hebrews worshipped Moloch, not in the desert, but in the holy land, as Solomon did in III Kings xi, 5. But that this does not suit this place is evident from the same reasons already brought forward. Wherefore others generally, as St. Jerome, Theodoret, Remigius, Rupert and others believe that the Hebrews worshipped Moloch in the desert; Oecumenius, in Acts vii, thinks that they worshipped Moloch then, when Moses was dealing with God on Mount Sinai: for then they cast the golden calf, Exodus xxxii. But because that happened shortly after the departure from Egypt, when they had not yet reached the borders of the Ammonites, whose god and idol was Moloch; hence it seems more true what Ribera says, that they did this in Numbers xxv, 1, while fornicating with the daughters of Moab they worshipped Beelphegor. For Josephus, in book IV of the Antiquities vi, says that they then worshipped not one, but many gods: and the Ammonites were neighbors and kinsmen of the Moabites: wherefore these received from them the idol and worship of Moloch. Nor could Moses prevent this, just as he could not prevent the worship of Beelphegor in the raging people, and with the princes of the people consenting, indeed leading in the crime, as is found in Numbers xxv, 4. Although therefore Moses did not write this in the Pentateuch, yet that it truly happened is evident from Amos and from Stephen, who received it either by the tradition of their ancestors, or by revelation of God. The meaning therefore is, as if to say: From the very beginning of the synagogue, you, O Israelites, worshipped idols in the desert, and from that time you have never completely withdrawn from their worship. Therefore I, God, detest your sacrifices, even those offered to me: because you place me on the same level with Moloch and idols and worship them. Wherefore I will cut you off, as I threatened in verse 1, and will lead you through Damascus into Assyria. Note the word portastis (you carried); for the Jews, after the manner of the gentiles, carried Moloch their god in solemn procession in the tabernacle with them, for the sake of religion and protection, as it were a companion and guide of their way; just as through the desert they carried the ark and the mercy seat, in which God sat as if upon a throne. Thus the gentiles carried with them their tutelary gods on the way, as Servius teaches in that passage of the Aeneid VI: "Wandering gods and shaken deities of Troy." Thus Rachel, having stolen her father's idols, carried them with her into Chanaan, Genesis xxxi, 34. But Jacob says of God: "He was the companion of my journey," Genesis cap. xxxv, 3. AND THE IMAGE OF YOUR IDOLS. — For image, in Hebrew it is כיון kiun, which Aquila, Symmachus and the Chaldean retained in their version. Indeed the Syriac also: "You carried," it says, "the tabernacle of Malchum, and Keuon the likeness (image, simulacrum, idol) of you, the star which you made yourselves a god;" R. David, Pagninus and Vatablus translate it as a cake, which they offered to their idols; Theodotion translates it as σκιασμόν, that is, obscurity; Our translator rightly renders it as image, or a statue skillfully prepared, fashioned and erected for worship. For the root כון kon means to prepare, fashion, make firm, erect; the Septuagint translates it: The star of your god Rempham, or rather, as the Roman codices read, Rephan. The Septuagint is followed by St. Stephen, Acts vii. You will ask, whence did the Septuagint obtain the name Repham, which is not in the Hebrew, nor in any interpreter? Theodoret, Ribera and a Castro think that they added the name Rephan of their own accord, in order to express the name of the idol. But I say that the Septuagint translated the Hebrew Kiun as Rephan. For St. Jerome expressly asserts this. "For that which," he says, "is read in the Septuagint as Ῥαιφάν, Aquila and Symmachus, transferring the Hebrew itself, put Kiun." And it is clear; for in Hebrew Kiun, in the Septuagint there is no other word which corresponds, except Rephan. Here note that the Septuagint and from them St. Stephen read the Hebrew words in inverted order, and transposed some of them. For thus they read: Cocab elohechem Kiun tsalmechem ascer ascitim, that is, the star of your god Kiun (for which they themselves translate Rephan) the figures of them which you made. Now in the Hebrew it is read: Kiun tsalmechem cocab elohechem ascer ascitim, that is, Kiun (which Our translator renders as image) of the figures, or idols of yours, the star of the gods of yours, which, or whom you made. But for what reason did the Septuagint translate Kiun as Rephan? Christophorus a Castro responds first, that they did this because the idol and star which in Hebrew was called Kiun, in Greek was called ῥαφανά ῥαφαίν, that is, I live purely and chastely, because it shone purely; or from ῥαφή, that is, a seam, because this star was placed in the calvaria of the idol, in that part where it itself has a seam and joint: or to be called ῥαφαν from ῥάμφος, that is, a beak or mouth, because this star was placed in the mouth of the idol. But it is an obstacle that Repha, or Rempham does not appear to be a Greek word, but Hebrew, or Arabic, or Persian. For St. Stephen, speaking to the Hebrews in Hebrew, not in Greek, Acts vii, calls it Rephan, or rather indicates that they themselves call and invoke it Rephan. For he says: "The star of your god Rephan," as if to say: You call your god Rephan. But they spoke in Hebrew, not in Greek, nor had they yet had any communication with the Greeks. Secondly, therefore, some more learned in Hebrew respond more plausibly that Kiun is the same as Rephan: for the Septuagint, for כיון Kiun, with different vowel points read כון Keuan: and then by the change of one letter similar to similar, namely כ to ר, for Keuan, read Rephan: or certainly this was done by the error of scribes and copyists, so that for k they wrote r. Thus the author of the Treasury of Hebrew, Drusius and Forster in the Lexicon; and some similar ones, though heterodox in faith. This conjecture is favored by the fact that in a similar manner, in Nahum i, 6, for the same letter כ the Septuagint read ר, namely for כאש kaes, that is like fire, with another vowel point they read ros, that is head, prince; whence they translate ἡγεῖσθαι, that is principality. Thus for Achan they read Achar, for Abimelech, Achimelech, for Casdin Chaldæi, where they change the letter s to t, just as the Latins do, when for Ὀδυσσεύς they translate and say Ulysses. Thus elsewhere similar transpositions of letters are frequent. Thus in this place for Rephan, the Arabic Alexandrian version translates Buchan, an idol which you made for yourselves. But this opinion is opposed by the fact that all Hebrew manuscripts have Kiun, not Rephan; on the other hand all Greek and Latin manuscripts of Acts vii consistently have Rephan, not Keuan or Kiun. It is not therefore likely that the Septuagint alone read Rephan for Keuan in one Hebrew manuscript; or that copyists wrote Rephan in the Septuagint for Keuan, especially since the whole Church in the Vulgate edition of Acts vii consistently reads Rephan, as if this were the true and genuine reading. It is added that in the Hebrew at Amos in this place there is not Keuan, but Kiun, as St. Jerome, Aquila, Symmachus and others read throughout; but Kiun is far removed from Rephan. I say therefore with Leo Castrio, Apology, book VI, that Kiun and Keuan are the same as Rephan, because this idol, originally named and worshipped by the Ishmaelites and Persians (as the Interpreters everywhere confess, and the Rabbis hand down), was called in their language Kiuan, or Keuan, which word, as barbarous, when the Hebrews did not understand it, by the light change of one letter, called it in their language Rephan, that is giant: just as the Syrians call God the giant of the ages, because He, like a giant, encompasses and embraces all things of the world, equally as the spans of time, by His immensity and eternity: or certainly Rephan, that is healer, as if to say, This is He who heals and saves us. Whence from the same Hebrew root the angel Raphael is called, as if to say, Medicine or healing of God. Some manuscripts read Rompha for Rephan, which in Hebrew is said רומף rumpe, and is the same as loftiness of the mouth. Perhaps this idol had a large and high mouth, as do most ancient idols which gave oracles. For I have seen such things in the Vatican, and such is the famous one which near the Church of St. Mary in the Greek school, or in the Cosmedin, in Rome is visited, and is commonly called Bocca della verità, that is, mouth, or oracle of truth. Furthermore, although the common people of the Hebrews translated the barbarous name Keuan and called it in Hebrew Rephan, Rempham and Rompha, yet the more learned Hebrews retained the original name as to the letters, and by a light change of vowel points, called it in Hebrew Kiun: thus indeed it is here in Amos, Aquila and Symmachus. For Kiun is derived from the root כון kun, which signifies prepared, fitted, was upright, directed, verified, certified, confirmed, perfected, decreed. Whence Kiun is the same as prepared, fitted, upright, perfect, giving true, certain and firm oracles and decrees. You will ask secondly, who was this Rephan? Giraldus in the Syntagm., book On Hercules, thinks Rephan signifies giant, from the Hebrew Rapha, who was the father of giants. Whence in Hebrew giants were called Raphaim: Rephan therefore is the name of Hercules; who was also called by the Gentiles in the Hebrew word Kon or Konen, that is, stator, or upright, lofty, so that Hercules was called Kon, or Kiun, and Rapha, just as Jupiter was called stator. Secondly, later Hebrews think it is Saturn: because he is called by the Arabs and Persians Kiuan, which seems to be the same as Keuan and Rephan. Thirdly, Ribera thinks it was Jupiter, who had a star on his head. Fourthly, others wish it to have been Mars. Fifthly, more plausibly St. Jerome, Remigius, Albert, Bede, Lyran and others think it is the star of Venus, which going before the sun in the morning is called Lucifer, following the sun in the evening is called Hesperus. This is proved from the fact that the Syrians once worshipped this star as if the queen of heaven, as St. Jerome testifies in the Life of St. Hilary, and the Saracens still worship it; indeed Giraldus, Syntagm. book XIII, teaches from Ælian and others that Venus Urania, that is heavenly, which does not seem to be other than Lucifer, was worshipped by the Egyptians, Phoenicians and Assyrians. them the splendor and brightness of Lucifer seduced, whom Ovid thus depicts: Behold the watchful dawn opened from the shining east Purple doors, and courts full of roses, The stars flee, whose ranks Lucifer drives together, and from the heaven's station he departs last. Furthermore, Lucifer seems to be called Kiun, or Keuan from the root כוה hollow, that is to burn, to scorch, because it has the appearance of fire. Whence the Poet: Hesperus, who shine in the sky a more pleasant fire. Whence for Keuan the Arabian translates, Bacham, which is the name of a tree with reddish bark, such as the wood commonly called Brazil wood, as if they had fashioned an idol from it. For the reddish color is burning and fiery, and therefore reflects the ardor of the star of Venus. Or it is called Kiun, from the root כון, that is to direct, to prepare, which following the sun in the evening, preceding it in the morning, directs it as it were, and prepares the way for it. The Hebrews therefore seem to have worshipped Lucifer while wandering in the desert, as a guide of the journey, in the manner of a pillar of fire and cloud: because Lucifer is the guide of the dawn, sun and day: for he brings the sun. Theodotion, and from him Oecumenius, in Acts vii, translates Keuan or Rephan as darkness, as if to say: You, O Hebrews, seek light from this star Lucifer, as from a god and idol of yours, which is not light, but dark and nocturnal, and darkness itself; and therefore by its light it cannot go before you on the way, but darkens and blinds you, and leads you into pathless and impassable places. Moreover, it is probable that these idolaters fashioned Lucifer as it were a lofty and shining man, and affixed to his forehead or crown the star of Lucifer; just as the Romans painted a star on the crown of statues of Julius Caesar, as Suetonius testifies in his Life, cap. lxxxviii, and Pliny, lib. II, cap. xxv. Whence Horace, lib. I, ode xii: The star of Julius shines among all, as the Moon among lesser fires. And Virgil, eclog. IX: Behold the star of Dionaean Caesar has come forth, A star by which the crops rejoiced in fruits.
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Hence it is clear that Rephan or Remphan was different from Moloch: for Lucifer, or the star of Venus, was different from Moloch: each therefore was a god of the Gentiles and of the Hebrews, as is said here. Wherefore some judge less correctly, as Bede, Lyra and the Gloss, that Remphan was a star, and the star which was affixed to the forehead or crown of Moloch. Not improbably, however, Sanchez here and in Acts vii, judges Moloch to be the Sun, Remphan to be Lucifer. Hence, he says, the star of Lucifer was placed on the forehead of Moloch; because Lucifer precedes the rising sun; for the sun is Moloch, that is the king of the stars. Hence also the Jews, when they consecrated their sons to Moloch, led them through fire, because they thought the sun to have a fiery nature. Wherefore the kings of the Persians, thinking the sun to be God, assumed the sun's name or image for themselves, as if they were certain earthly gods. Thus Sapor, as Marcellinus relates in lib. VII, wrote to the Emperor Constantius: "King of kings Sapor, sharer of the stars and brother of the Sun and Moon, to his brother Constantius greetings." For this reason also they caused fire to be borne before them, which has the appearance of the star Lucifer. Thus Q. Curtius, lib. III, and Rhodiginus, lib. VIII, cap. ii, relate that in the camps of the kings of the Persians, above the king's tent there stood out conspicuously to all the image of the sun enclosed in a crystalline globe, and fire shone before it: because indeed the Persians and Chaldeans worshipped the sun, hence they also worshipped fire as God, as being a living image of the sun. Thus Sanchez. Tropologically, Rephan, that is Lucifer, is worshipped by the proud, who strive to excel, and to display their own light, that is their doctrine and wisdom; who covet honors and prelacies soon to perish. For these Luciferians from Lucifer will become Hesperus, from the east they will go to the west, from the highest to the lowest, from light to darkness, as does the star which is called Lucifer; and from heaven to hell, as happened to Lucifer the proud angel. Hence Lucifer is a symbol of various fortune and lot, and of inconstancy, as much as of calamity, as I said on Isaiah xiv, 12, to those words: "How art thou fallen from heaven, O Lucifer, who didst rise in the morning?" All therefore the honor and glory of the world is a falling star; for it shines for a little while like Lucifer, but soon sets like Hesperus, and that with an eternal setting, and enduring for all ages. Truly St. Augustine on that Psalm lxxxix: "Our days shall be considered as a spider's web: The spider, he says, weaves all day, and the labor is great, but the effect is nothing; so also the life of men: we seek possessions, we desire riches, we beget sons, we are raised to kingdoms, and we do all things; and we do not understand that we have woven a spider's web," and meanwhile we forget the eternal happiness, to which we were created and called. Thus Heliogabalus the emperor, as Lampridius says in his Life, ordered to be brought to him a thousand pounds of spiders, with a reward proposed, and is said to have collected ten thousand pounds, saying, and from this it should be inferred, how great Rome was. How many today are Heliogabali, how many are spider-hunters, who seek nothing but wealth and honors, that is the webs of spiders!
Machine translation from the Latin, not reviewed.
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v. 4 « Audite verbum istud quod ego levo super vos, planctum : domus Israel cecidit et non adiiciet, ut resurgat;
Quo maiore pondere et certitudine minas insinuet propheta et ut animum manifestet de sui populi ruina dolentem, «lamentari se velle dicit et carmen pangere funestum ac lugubre, quale in amicorum funere cantari solet, quasi domui Israel patrio more honores exhibeat. parentales » (Sanct.) ; unde
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v. 9 virgo Israel proiecta est in. terram suam, non est qui suscitet eam » ; —id quod supra quasi per aposiopesin minatus erat quapropter haec faciam tibi (4, 19), nunc conceptis verbis in carmine lugubri enuntiat (cf. Ps. Ruf.) ; verbum scil. quod de iis dicere debet, iam totum resolvitur in planctum, est lamentatio, quare actum esse ac conclamatum de regno Israel patet. In textu hebr. syr. chald. et apud Ps. Ruf. Rup. Alb. Sanct. Rib. melius ita iungitur: levo super vos planctum, domus Israel : cecidit... appellatio domus Israel superioribus in vocativi casu adnectitur ; carmen vero lugubre optime incipit a voce gravissima cecidit i.e. ruinam experta est insanabilem et non adiiciet, ut resurgat virgo Israel ; regnum Israel semel prostratum et deiectum iam non secundo exsurget : ad quod adnotat TAeod.: «hoc felici nuntio libertatis non est contrarium ; significat enim fore ut non amplius per suos regantur, neque proprium regem habeant» et Ps. Ruf. parumper alio modo apparentem illam cum laetis promissis contradictionem solvit: « quod autem dicit ita in terram suam cecidisse Israclem, ut penitus non resurgat, cum et praecedentes et sequentes sententiae solvendarum quandoque miseriarum solatia repromittant et in ipsius animadversionis tempore imminutionem magis populi quam internecionem minentur, ita debemus accipere, quod vel lugentis affectu cumulatius aestimavit illata discrimina, sicque funditus appellasse deletos, quos ex maiore videret parte contritos, vel certe in eorum personis, quos captivitas absumebat, ire pessum, neque a quopiam gentem Israelis suscitari posse signaverit ». Dicitur autem Israel virgo, sicuti generatim usu Scripturae provinciae et civitates nomine mulierum signari solent (cf. Rib.), speciatim vero appellatio virginis statum proponit ornatum, splendidum, lautum (Sanct.), regnum speciosum et opimum, quod defloratum ab Assyriis et vastatum simile fuit virgini regiae olim ornatae, nunc spoliatae, violatae, conculcatae (Lap.). Haec autem proiecta est i. e. cecidit casu violento, non fortuito, verum vi maxima illata ; in terram suam additur, « ut magis amplificet ruinam ; non prosternetur in terra aliena, ubi minus haberet virium et inimici essent potentiores, sed cum adhuc erit in terra sua » (füib.) ; ipsa terra ei tamquam hereditas concessa testis erit et quasi receptaculum ruinae eius, quae tamquam virgo ex Dei consilio debuit manere inviolata, a nullo hoste subacta, uni Domino desponsata foedere sempiterno. Quare ipsa virginis compellatio habet triste quid ac lamentabile in carmine hoc funebri; neque erit abs re, illud proiecta est de virginis corruptione ac violatione intelligere (cf. Cyr. Theod. Alb.). Quomodo vero Israel ad conditionem illam vilem ct abiectam perventurus sit, breviter declaratur
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v. 3 « quia haec dicit Dominus Deus: urbs de qua egrediebantur mille, relinquentur in. ea centum, et de qua egrediebantur centum, relinquentur in ea decemtn domo Israel » ; — i. e. in urbe, quae mille milites ad pugnam subeundam mittere poterat, centum homines relinquentur ; tanta igitur erit populi strages, ut in tali urbe centum omnino homines,viri, sencs, mulieres, pueri relinquantur (cf. Schegg). Sunt, qui eam stragem praeviam intelligant regni destructioni, quae igitur stante adhuc metropoli inferatur et bellis illis civilibus sub Zacharia, Menahem, Phaceia, Phacee, Osee sit effecta (cf.Ps. Ruf. Calm., quam sententiam etiam Sanct. affert); at stragis amplitudo et paucae reliquiae ipsius regniexcidium populique abductionem designare videntur; et ita v. 3 revera casum et protectionem in v. 2 declarat et quasi oculis Subiicit.
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v. 4 « Quia haec dicit Dominus domui Israel : quaerite me et vivetis » ; — i. e. hanc tamquam vitae prosperitatisque normam iis praefixerat, ut Deum quaererent i. e. sedulo colerent, eius voluntatem toto mentis affectu amplecterentur ; apposite circumloquitur S. Cyr. : « si magnifacitis vivere, et res vobis amplectenda videtur, desinite seduci et a tam longa perplexitate absistentes, exquirite me, h. e. mihi servite, qui sum natura Deus, vivificus, salvare potis, et cultores meos ab omni malo tutos praestans » (sim. Rup.). Quam normam quia neglexerunt, mirum minime est, quod sint interitui proximi. Neque enim Deum eo quo voluit modo quaesierunt. Frustra eos Deus a malis viis retrahere conabatur v. B « et nolite quaerere Bethel et in. Galgalam nolite intrare et in Bersabee non transibitis, quia Galgala captiva ducetur et Bethel erit inutilis » ; — de Bethel et Galgala vide Os. 4, 15. Bersabee, urbs in tribu Simeon, in parte meridionali Palaestinae, nota et sacra ex historia Abraham (Gen. 24, 33 ; 26, 24 ; 46, 1) et patriarcharum. Quae dignitas antiqua id apud populum superstitiosum effecit, ut cultu superstitioso ornaretur. Plane enim e re advertit Calm. : « si quid curae adhibueris, statim intelliges, loca omnia, quae religiosis itineribus et cultu ab Israelitis frequentabantur, ea fuisse, quae patriarcharum mora vel dedicatis Domino ab illorum pietate monumentis consecrata fuerant » (sim. de Bersabee censent Theod. Alb. Sanct. Lap. Trochon). Sedulitatem male feriatam depingit propheta eo, quod ultra regni fines non contenti suis cultus locis ad aliena quoque peregrinarentur (cf. Hier.) ; quare ait transire, ultra fines in alienam ditionem migrare. Fulcit adhortationem eo quod ostendit illa loca cum cultu suo esse excidio devota ; id efficaci verborum lusu proponit : Gilgal galoh igleh — ac silatine diceres : Capua capietur, vel Cremona cremabitur — et Bethel domus Dei erit in nihilum, Bethel erit Bethaven (cf. Os. 4,45) ; pro Deo nihilum, perniciem, interitum sibi comparabunt, Bethel proinde fore domwm nanitatis, quia pro Deo inane et nihilum, mendacium et vanitatem sibi elegerunt (cf. Rib. Sanct. Lap. Calm.). Repetitis vicibus minisque propositis Deus illis verae felicitatis vitaeque normam exhibuerat ;
Cur tali interitui futuri sint obnoxii, ex eo declaratur, quia a Deo vivifico desciverunt ; unde
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v. 6 « quaerite Dominum et vivite, ne forte comburatur ut ignis domus loseph, et devorabit et non erit qui exstinguat Bethel » ; — veram felicemque veitam nexu individuo cum Dei cultu esse coniunctam, iterum iterumque inculcatur ; vivite « in dicendi modo epitasis .est : sumitur enim saepe imperativus pro futuro; sed id habet praecipuum, quod rem significat certam et quasi iam paratam et praesentem » (Sanct. sim. Rib.) ; « sin autem non quaesierint eum, statim succendetur ut ignis domus Ioseph, quam propter Ieroboam, qui de tribu Ephraim et de domo loseph fuit, decem tribus sentire debemus, quae appellabantur Israel et ex maiore populi parte nomen pristinum possidebant » (Hier.). Ignis ! metaphora vastationem quam maxime funditus omnia evertentem ct devorantem designat, et in hoc incendio non erit pro Bethel qui illud avertat, imminuat. In hac comminatione Bersabee omittitur, quia Amos ad regnum Israel sermonem convertit et quia « victis decem tribubus urbs ea illo tempore neque capta neque destructa est » (Rup.). In quantum vero illas Dei admonitiones neglexerint et a vera vita deflexerint, declaratur v. "1 « qui. convertitis in absinthium iudicium et tustitiam in terra relinquitis » , — hebr. et iustitiam in terram deiüciunt ; ius ita pervertunt, ut demum amara iniustitia et radix mali venenosa exoriatur. Aliqui id speciatim de iudicibus explicant : « iudicium magistratuum, quod oppressis unicum est asylum et solatium, convertitis ipsis in absinthium, causam innocentibus abiudicantes » (Tir.) ; « converterunt dulcedinem iudicii in absinthii amaritudinem, quod genus est herbae amarissimae » (Hier.) ; at melius erit, iudicium sensu generaliori de officio, de norma recti intelligere ; « quare sensus erit : pro sanctitate quam integram servare debuistis, pleni estis peccatis quae et vobis instar erunt absinthii et me in caput vestrum durum esse facient et amarum » (Sanrt.). Tales igitur contemptores Dei se exhibent : quam vero res sit indigna et propter vindicis Deci potentiam stulta, declaratur egregia maiestatis divinae adumbratione
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v. 8 « facientem Arcturum et Orionem et convertentem in mane tenebras et diem $n noctem mutantem, qui vocat aquas maris et effundit eas super faciem terrae — Dominus nomen est eius ;
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v. 9 qui subridet vastitatem super robustum et depopulationem super potentem affert » ; -— textus latinus facillime ex v. "1 pendere dicitur : qui iustitiam relinquitis etiam scil. relinquitis et abiicitis Deum, qui fecit Arcturum... (ita quoque Syrus, Ephr. Alb. Rib. Iloubig.) ; de stellis h. l. nominatis ? vide Iob 9, 9; 38, 31; apte commemorantur, quia sunt cclc- 1. LXX vertunt ózo; uà ivaldgdym d xp 6 oixoc "Ioc??, quam textus hebr. acceptionem briores ac notiores et cum Orion sit praecipuum sidus meridionale, Arcturus praecipuum septemtrionale, sub his duobus omnia comprehenduntur (cf. Lap.) ; in fulgentibus astris maiestas Dei optime resplendet. Dein vicissitudo diei et noctis ex plurimorum sententia (cf. Hier. Ps. Ruf. Cyr. Rup. Alb. Sanct. Mar. Lap.) designatur ; verum hebr. nY25Y umbra mortis alias tencbras indicare videtur : « ipse potest mortalia pericula in splendidum iucundumque gaudium convertere et eos qui in splendore versari videntur, aerumnarum tenebris facile obruere » (Theod. M. sim. Ephr. Theod.) et certe ad verborum sententiarumque gravitatem optime convenit, ut Deus rerum humanarum supremus moderator describatur, qui e summis periculis et mortis faucibus eripit, ad lucem et prosperitatem evehit pro sua benigna potentia, aliorum autem fortunas calamitatum procellis caligine obvolvit. Quod sequitur qui vocat... plerique de pluviae origine explicant : « qui calore solis evocat et attollit in aera vapores ex aquis maris, quos condensatos resolvit in pluvias et effundit super faciem terrae » Tir. ; cf. Ilier. Cyr. Theod. Rup. Alb. Rib. Sanct. Sa, Men. Trochon, verum aptius verba vocandi, effundendi de Dei imperio dicuntur, quo magnis in inundationibus aquarum gurgites suae vindictae et iustitiae administros adhibet, uti v. g. in diluvio (cf. Schegg, Keil), quae explanatio arctissime cum antecedente nectitur Deumque ostendit, qui in repentina fortunarum subversione rebus creatis earumque viribus tamquam ministris utatur et armis, cuius igitur potentia modo ad commovendum apto delineatur. Ea porro effertur : lahve nomen eius i. e. « qui est. ipsum esse, tum suum formale, tum causale rerum omnium, qui est plenitudo, universitas et complexus entis, essentiae et exsistentiae » (Lap.), qui qua talis est immutabilis, cuius igitur minae timendae sunt. Has porro delineat : qui subridet i. e. minatur cum irrisione quadam, facile, quasi cum risu vastitatem et ruinam infert potentissimo cuique. Quam audax et periculosum erit, talem Deum spernere, lacessere, ad vindictam provocare ! 8i Oyoc xplua xal Guxatosívnv &ic vv Eünxs xotv xàvta xai pstacxtodQ(ov. Ád versionem qui subridet notat S. Hier. : « Aquila interpretatus est à ustótóv, proprie autem pstóíaga dicitur, quod nos subrisionem possumus appellare, quando quis irascitur et apertis paululum labiis subridere se simulat, ut irae ostendat magnitudinem ». Hebr. 15a, quod solum in Aiphil occurrit, micare facere interpretantur ; vide Iob 9, 27 ; 10, 20. Verbum in arabico dicitur de primis ascendentis aurorae orientisque solis radiis ; Ps. 38, 14 refrigerari vertitur. Hoc loco verte: qui fulminat vastationem i. e. subito eam infert (cf. Schegg) et in al'ero membro : et vastatio venit super arcem (hebr.). Qualem quaerere Deum negligerent, exposuit propheta ; cf. v. 6; iam v. " accuratius declarat et exemplis illustrat
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v. 10 « odio habuerunt corripientem in porta et loquentem perfecte abominati sunt » ; — hebr. odio habent in porta corripientem, uti S. Hier. in suo commentario legit i. e. cum iudicia instituunt, eum odio habent, qui contra iniustitias invehitur, et eum abominantur qui innocentes defendit, vera et iusta loquitur. « In porta iuxta veterem iudaici morem populi fuisse iudicia et saepe legimus et crebro interpretati sumus » (IHier.). Alii autem de conventibus publicis vel generatim de vita publica interpretantur, vel quod palam et libere omnes emendatores, prophetas scil. qui publice praedicabant et in scelera invehebantur, abominabantur ac repudiabant (cf. Cyr. Rib. Lap. Sa, Men. Tir. Schegg): « mos priscus fuit gravissimae cuiusque rei consultationes a civibus in portis urbis fieri et hostium etiam de re aliqua legationibus iisdem in locis respondere ; immo etiam maiora iudicia ibidem exercebant (cf. Ps. 126, 5; 68, 13) ... arguentes in portis dicit, quasi ibi curarent prophetae voluntates Dei praedicare, ubi cunctis quae dicebantur manifesta fiebant » (Theod. M. Theod.) ; et prophetas revera in porta admonitores constitisse, elucet ex Ier. 17, 19 « haec dicit Dominus ad me: vade et sta in porta filiorum populi » cf. Ps. 79, 28. Prov. 1, 21. — Prophetam vero hoc loco crimina contra iustitiam in iudiciis commissa praecipue ob oculos habere, subsequenti reprehensione ostendit
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v. 11 « idcirco pro eo quod diripiebatis pauperem et praedam electam tollebatis ab eo, domos quadro lapide aedificabitis et non habitabitis in eis, vineas plantabitis amantissimas et non bibetis vinum earum » ; — rapina et avaritia peccarunt ; male parta dilabentur neque iis frui licebit ; praedam electam i. e. quae pretiosissima quisque habebat, vel quae saltem maximi aestimabat ; « intelligendum ergo, quia vel appellaverit pauperes quos illi rapinis suis ex locupletibus inopes réddidissent, vel certe ad affectum magis possidentium quam ad damnorum momenta respiciens, etsi parvas res tamen pauperibus ipsa exiguitate pretiosas, atroci dixerit cupiditate sublatas » (Ps. Ruf.). — na? recentiores parva inflexione dialectica explicant verbum positum pro Dp3a & p*3 conculcare (cf. Fürst C. Schegg, Keil). Pro praeda electa recentiores vertunt : . tollitis munus frumenti ab eo : verum veteres versiones non ?3 frumentum h. ]. ex. primunt, sed *3 electum, selectum, &opa bosxiXx LXX ; S. Hier. : « quidquid pretio* sum videbatis et pulchrum usui vestro ». In hebr. legitur: domos quadro aedificastis et non habitabitis in. eis, vineas plantastis. . . Ita S. Hier. quoque in commentario scribit : « ex prelio eorum quae rapiebatis . . . domos quadro lapide aedificastis, quas quia aedificastis de rapinis . . . non habitabitis in eis » etc. Merito poenam iri inflictum confirmatur
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v. 42 «quia cognovi multa scelera vestra et fortia peccata vestra, hostes iusti, acciptentes munus et pauperes deprimentes 1n poría » ; — i. e. osores iusti, qui iustum virum opprimunt ac persequuntur (cf. Ps. Ruf. Alb. Sanct.), qui muneribus ' corrupti ius pauperum inflectunt ac pervertunt in judiciis et coram tribunalibus. In tali rerum iniquitate res eo devenit, ut desperata morum populi emendatione vir prudentissimus quisque tacite se recipiat lucemque publicam fugiat
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v. 13 « ideo prudens in. tempore illo tacebit, quia tempus malum est » ; — i.e. «eo perversitatis et improbitatis tandem descenderunt, ut et ipsis sapientibus et intelligentia valentibus consultius videretur, neque reprehendere posthac, neque corrigere impietatem sectari volentes » ( Cyr.) ; tacent probi, scelerum scil. enormitate attoniti et stupefacti ( Theod. M.), « cum gemitu et dolore (conticescunt), considerantes nimirum, nihil loci salutari superesse doctrinae » (Ps. Ruf. J5 vel £t à0vy/ag loqui iam non valentes ( Theod.), ne obstinatam eorum malitiam ad maiora scelera adhortationibus et reprehensionibus provocent ( cf. Alb.). — Unde sacer vates hoc versu populi iniquitatem ad summum quoddam fastigium pervenisse demonstrat, et ipsum prudentis silentium maxima est scelerum accusatio. Cum prudens taceat propter temporis iniquitatem (v. 13), num propheta quoque vocem cohibebit ? Minime ; nam in alta specula positus debet populo annuntiare scelera et hoste adventante tuba canere (cf. Ez. 33, 3 et seq.). Unde iterato, sicut v. 4 admonet
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v. 14 « Quaerite bonum et non malum, ut vivalis ; et erit Dominus Deus exercituum vobiscum sicut dixistis » ; — i. e. una vitae verae et felicis salutisque conditio est, ut malo abiecto bonum assidua cura amplectantur, ut scil. veram vitam ex vero Dei cultu et coniunctione hauriant (cf. v. 4) ; vivere significat id quod in hominis vita vel in populi vita sociali praeclarum est àc optabile, unde prospere agere, florere opibus, frui securitate et pace (cf. Sanct.). Si bonum quaerunt, tunc iuremerito gloriari poterunt et experientur, quod Dominus suo auxilio potenti illis praesto sit; sin minus, frustra sibi blandientur, quod sint populus Dei, filii Abraham (cf. Hier. ), quibuscum Dominus protector sit ; « nihil erat in ore filiorum Israel frequentius quam sit Dominus nobiscum, hoc in sacrificiis et in omni sermone precabantur » (Rib.). Monet igitur vates, ne falso sibi securitatem ! promittant (cf. ler. 7, 4 - 12); iam enim eo spiritu cernuntur imbuti, quo tempore Christi superbe respondebatur: mos filii Abraham sumus. Quare propheta iterato repetit v. 4$ «odite malum et diligite bonum et constituite 1n porta iudicium ; si forte misereatur Dominus Deus exercituum reliquiis Ioseph » ; — urget id quod in omni vita sociali primum est fundamentum et quod summa etiam facilitate et claritate ab homine cognoscitur : ius atque iustitiam servari debere ; unde monet, ut in tribunalibus et in iure dicendo ius ac iustitiam restituant, erigant (cf. v. 1.11. 12) ; neque audet propheta promittere conditione impleta poenam iri aversum, sed illam imminutum iri sperat ; unde satis indicat, ad talem gradum perversitatem esse progressam, ut reipublicae ruina iam non possit averti ; si forte « quia Deus forte misericordia libcrante non miserebitur, quamvis certum sit, quod semper misereatur misericordia relazante » ( Alb. ), ita scil. ut in ipsa ruina « delendis saltem reliquiis attritae gentis abstineat » (Ps. Ruf. sim. Schegg). | «Sed quia praedictas monitiones non attendistis, lamentationum et planctuum plena erit urbs et regio » (Theod. M. et sim. S. Hier.) ; unde
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v. 16 « propterea haec dicit Dominus Deus exercituum. dominator : in omnibus plateis planctus et in. cunctis quae, foris sunt dicetur : vac, vae! et vocabunt agricolam ad. luctum et ad. planctum eos qui sciunt plangere » ; — sane optime cum S. Hier. et Theod. M. sententia haec propterea arcte ad antecedentia adnectitur ; alii, ad v. 13 regrediendum esse censent v. 14. 15 quasi parenthesi includentes (Ps. Ruf. Sanct. S^hegg). Dei potentia sollemnioribus titulis adumbratur, quo maius minis pondus accedat ; planctum et vae omnem urbem et regionem omnesque ordines pervadere , non sine elegantia ipsa singularum rerum enumeratione et vocis planctus repetitione vates delineat : in plateis scil. ürbis et in viis publicis planctus et vae resonat, idem planctus subito in agris quoque et campis auditur et omnibus luctus et planctus instrumentis et artibus adhibitis quasi in immensum crescere cernitur. Illud vocabunt agricolam ita explica, ut ipsi agricolae suis in agris et campis exorta subito calamitate lamentationibus occupentur (cf. Ps. Ruf. Theod. M.), non quasi agricolae ad urbem vocarentur, ut ibi communem luctum augeant (Hier. Cyr.) ; qui sciunt plangere ex more ii dicuntur, qui consuetudine apud Israelitas recepta variis luctus ac lamentationum generibus exhibitis funus prosequi solebant, ad quem planctum non tantum praeficas et lamentatrices fuisse invitatas, verum etiam viros esse adscitos, colligi posse monet Sanct. ex 2 Par. 385, 25 — ceterum cf. Ier. 9, 16. Planctum universalem vineae quoque, alias exsultantium atque iubilantium regio laetissima, resonabunt, ut « ubi quondam fuit materia laetitiae, sit origo lacrimarum » (Hier.)
5:17
v. 11 « et in omnibus vineis erit planctus, quia pertransibo in medio tui, dicit Dominus » ; — « pertransire se vero dicit, ut illius memoriam temporis introducat, quo vel Aegyptum vel Sodomam legitur interemisse, aegyptia primogenita vel sodomitica tecta consumens ; in hunc ergo modum pertransibo, ut edam quam merita exigunt ultionem » (Ps. Ruf. sim. Cyr.) ; verba deprompta sunt ex Ex. 12, 12; « ut olim in Aegypto, sic etiam tunc in regno Israel pertransibo quasi fulgur, omnia momento pervadens, percellens et sternens » (Tir. sim. Rib.). Stragem proinde maximam luctu et clamoribus plenam minatur ipsa illa cum Aegypto comparatione Deumque ut. potentissimum ultorem exhibet, qui per angelum vastatorem uno quasi ictu totum populum prosternit. Ita planctum universalem et omnia pervadentem sublimi imagine et recordatione ex rebus olim pro populo gestis in eiusdem populi terrorem atque minas absolvit.
5:18
v. 18 « Vae desiderantibus diem Domini ! ad quid eam vobis? dies Domini ista tenebrae et non luz » ! — « quid nisi audaciam illorum percutit, qui in se confidunt tamquam iusti » (Rup. sim. Aib.)? Annuutiaverat loel ! iudicium Dei in gentes exercendum, quae populum Dei afflixerunt (3, 2 seq.) et diem vaticinatus erat plenum benedictionis pro Israel, plenum vindictae pro aliis (3, 18) ; unde facile pro hominum indole fieri potuit, ut Israelitae, qui Dominum esse cum ipsis semper in ore ferebant (cf. v. 14), laeta illa ac prospera solum intuiti iudicium illud atque ilum diem avide expeterent et promissiones datas nimium differri conquererentur ; quibus propheta omni deceptione sublata ingeminat vae ! falluntur scil., impietates suas multiplices obliviscuntur ; has enim Dei visitatio primum punire et auferre debet, u$ laeta promissa succedant. Quare improbis in memoriam revocat : ad quid iste dies vobis erit? summam calamitatem afferet, erit scil. caligo, non lux felicitatis ac laetitiae | — Multi quidem interpretes in desiderantibus diem cerni volunt irrisores prophetae ac contemptores, qui minas propheticas despicientes illas vel in longum differri et nunquam evenire dictitarent vel omnino inania esse terriculamenta iactarent quae se experiri velle clamitarent ac riderent (cf. Cyr. Ps. Ruf. Theod. M. Sanct. Mar. Tir.) ; at modus, quo respondet propheta, ei sententiae non favet, licet eiusmodi hominum genus exstitisse ex Is. 5, 19 ; 28, 10 aliisque pateat; nam Ámos responsione sua non inculcat, talem diem Domini esse futurum, verum eum fore non lucem, uti ipsi sibi promittant, sed tenebras, caliginem. Et qualis calamitatis mortisque caligo futurus sit ille dies, per modum proverbialem explicat
Cum tale iudicium instet, maximae est audaciae ac praesumptionis diem Domini desiderare, quasi nulla inter eos exsistente improbitate Dominus visitatione sua non posset non afferre bona ;
5:19
v. 19 « quomodo si fugiat vir a facie leonis et occurrat ei ursus, et ingrediatur domum et innitatur manu sua, super parietem et mordeat eum coluber » ; — i. e. undecumque imminet periculum ; unum si evaseris, alterum incurres neque effugere poteris interitum ; si publica vitaveris, domestica strage occultisque insidiis occumbes; immo ubi maxime securum te esse speraveris, ibi certior imminet pernicies (cf. Sanct. Rib.). Id quod de singulis generatim est dictum, alii non ineleganter ad totius populi regnique sortem applicant : « fugientibus vobis a facie Nabuchodonosor leonis occurrent Medi, Persae, demum Antiochus Epiphanes, qui moretur in templo et vos instar colubri mordeat, nequaquam foris in Babylone, sed intra terminos terrae sanctae » (Hier.) ; alia vide apud Rup. Calm. Quo magis inculcet, stulte ab impiis desiderari diem visitationis Domini (cf. 3, 44. 15), iterato effert
5:20
v. 20 « numquid non tenebrae dies Domini et non lux ? et caligo et non splendor in ea » ? — post explicationem v. 19 datam, qualis futurus sit dies Domini, prorsus oratorie et cum epitasi interrogatio haec redit planeque est apta, qua eorum praesumptio ac securitas deiiciatur. Quam aegre improbi quoque ex populo electo sibi persuaserint, se propter scelera esse puniendos, lege apud Ier. "1. 28. Quod si vero qualemcumque cultus externi speciem atque observantiam sibi vel laudi verti debere vel subsidio et munimento contra pericula Deique iram fore confidant, audiant quae Dei nomine propheta contra caerimonias externo tantum habitu peractas pronuntiat
5:21
v. 21 « odi et proieci festivitates vestras et non capiam odorem coetuum vestrorum ;
5:22
v. 99 quod si obtuleritis mihi holocautomata et munera vestra, non suscipiam el vota pinguium vestrorum non respiciam » ; — omnia cultus externi et publici genera, uti apud illos fiunt, graviter reprobat : od?, abominor ; scil. dies lege per annum festivos atque sollemnes, in quibus praeter plura sacrificia coetus sacri erant celebrandi (cf. Lev. 23, 36. Num. 29, 35. Is. 4, 13) ; odorari (hebr.), olfacere, delectari cf. Lev. 96, 34 recipere odorem suavissimum. Sacrificia recensentur cruenta et incruenta, quibus pacifica vel sacrificia laudis adduntur. tur:
5:23
v. 98 «aufer a me tumultum carminum tuorum et cantica lyrae tuae non audiam » , — contemptim sírepitum vocat cantica illa, quibus cultum divinum exornabant (cf. 4 Par. 16, 41. 42 ; 93, 5.95, 1) ; « pulchre cantica levitarum quibus laudabant Deum, tumultum vocat sonitumque confusum ; quia non est pulchra laudatio in ore peccatoris et haec eadem idolis offerre quoque consueverant » (Hier.). Reprobato igitur externo cultu et fiducia quam in illo collocant subversa minas repetit, ut iterata asseveratione elucescat, punitionem iam nullo modo posse averti
5:24
v. 94 «et revelabitur quasi aqua iudicium, et iustitia. quasi torrens fortis » ; — LXX xai xvAwfsezat et volvatur ! (hebr.) ; calamitas uti vehemens quaedam inundatio terram operiet et vastabit cf. Is. 10, 22; revelabitur ita explicat S. Hier. : « sicut aqua si labatur in pronum, quod prius texerat, nudat et patere facit omnium oculis, sic iudicium Dei atque iustitia, quae de suo quondam populo iudicavit, patebit omnibus et feretur instar torrentis fortissimi ; quidquid arripueri, secum trahit et sibi obsistere non patitur » ; Dei iudicium contra vos erit « tamquam torrens secum abstrahens quae inciderint et par- 1. D3* scil. a 553; S. Hier. legit b3* a 53. Versum sensu bono de salute messiauica, cens nemini » (Cyr. sim. Theod. Theod. M. Ps. Ruf. Alb. Rib. Sa, Lap. Mar. Tir.). Talisigitur erit dies Domini. Neque mirum videbitur, Deum ita animadversurum in populum, qui inveterata impietate et. idololatria ieam Dei iam ab initio provocaverit et antiquam iniquitatem sedulo servaverit. Ita facile adnectitur (cf. Theod. Rib. Lap. Gord.)
5:25
v. 95 « numquid hostias et sacrificium obtulistis mihi in. deserto quadraginta annis, domus Israel ?
5:26
v. 26 et portastis tabernaculum Moloch vestro et imaginem idolorum vestrorum, sidus dei vestri, quae fecistis vobis »! — augetur enim accusatio ex eo, quod populus longa iam generationum serie iniquitati dicitur implicari et in ipsis exordiis simul cum idololatria crevisse cernitur. In variis illis per desertum migrationibus, uti circumcisio non observabatur, ita Dei cultum esse neglectum a generatione ea, quae exclusa a terra promissa cadavera sua deserto debebat condere, nemo mirabitur; magis utique mirum est, eos idola secum portasse eaque coluisse. At id quoque haud obscure a Moyse reprehenditur (cf. Lev. 47, "I. Deut. 32, 17), neque abest ab ea re aliorum prophetarum accusatio ; cf. Ez. 20, 8. 13. Tabernaculum certe dicit aediculas illas, vel arcarum genus, vel naviculas, in quibus idola Aegyptiorum circumferri solebant, uti v. g. picturae in «libro mortuorum » apud Aegyptios rem exhibent ; sidus indicat cultum illum ad « militiam coe- Sensum negativum i. e. non mihi obtulistis, etiam aliae versiones exprimunt ; ita certe LXX yu; ita Syrus x51 (numquid, ecquid, an forte? cf. Bernstein, Lex. syr. ad Chrestom. Kirsch.), Chald. n cf. Levy, Chald. Woerterb. I p. 190. At recentiores aliqui vertunt sensu affirmativo : nonne obtulistis mihi? i. e. certe et mihi sacrificastis et nihilominus etiam idolis (cf. Loch, Trochon). Wa offendiculum illud vitatur, quod aliqui in eo cernunt, quod contra leges latas sacrificia nulla sint oblata. Immo non defuerunt, qui ex hoc loco invictum erui posse contenderent argumentum legislatibnem leviticam in deserto non esse datam. Hisce quidem ea versione locus eripitur ; neque ea versio ab usu particulae n in hebr. abhorret ; cf. 1 Sam. 2, 97, ubi S. Hier. vertit: « numquid non aperte revelatus sum »? et 4 Reg. 21, 19. At nostro in loco cum versionibus melius ex contextu sensus retinetur negativus ; sed qui, uti fit in. reprehensionibus, non sine quadam exaggeratione effertur. Quare minime sequitur legislationem in deserto factam a propheta nostro negari ; potius ea supponitur, quia sic demum vera consistit reprehensio, si agitur de cultu praescripto et promulgato, qui lege non obstante fuerit neglectus. Versus hic tamen alio quoque nomine est satis difficilis. Verba quod spectat, variam veterum translationem commemorat S. lier. : « in hebraico scriptum est melchechem (D2259) ; Aquila et LXX verterunt MoXgog, Symmachus et Theodouo regis vestri. Pro eo quoque quod in LXX legitur Rephan Aquila et Symmachus ipsum hebraicum transferentes posuerunt chion (Yi), Theodotio ápaiposty i. e. obscuritatem. Rursum pro sochoth (mX20) Aquila evex:wxsuoo; i. e. fabernacula (umbracula ?),. Theodotio transtulit visionem ». Probabilissima textus hebr. interpretatio est haec : portastis arcam regis vestri et Kaivan, idola vestra, stellam deorum vestrorum'scil. pro [ahve rege alium regem sibi elegerunt, cuius arcam diligenter secum portarunt; nisi malueris mutato textu hebr. * cum veteribus legere Moloch, ut nomen dei ; quae mutatio simplicitate sua se commendat et concinnitate, quia ea facta, uti in altero membro nomen proprium Kaivan, ita in hoc Moloch apparet ; insuper ambiguum illud et obscurum regis vestri — quis enim est rex ille ? — tollitur. Contra punctationem masor. certe est Kaivan legendum. Nomen enim est, uti ex inscriptionibus assyriacis viri docti eruerunt *, Kaivanu, quod inter alia stella veri et recti, cuius capul erecium sif vocatur. Eo quod, apud Babylonios et Assyrios — textus enim assyriaci transsumpti sunt ex antiquissimis babylonicis — nomen Kaivan invenitur, illa quae de Kevan apud Arabes, Syros, Persas viri docti collegerunt (cf. Movers, Phoenizier I, 289 ; Ges. Thes. p. 669) egregie confirmantur et quae Keil obiicit, nomen non esse nisi iunioris originis, ex illis textibus assyriacis falsitatis arguitur. Iam Kaivan esse Saturnus perhibetur. Lectionem Kaivan ipsum illud nomen quod LXX praebent Pateáv commendat, cum facile literae K et P inter se potuerint commutari, vel si malueris in textu hebr. falso legerint * pro 2, id quod alicubi accidisse notum est (cf. Calm. dissertatio de idololatria Israelitarum in deserto —). Schrader etiam in nomine TW20 nomen idoli Sak-kut * deprehendere vult, id quod sit idem atque Adar (Adrammelech, Moloch-Adar) — cf. Studien u. Krit. 1. c., Keilinschriften u. A. T. p. 443— verum lecuo illa Sakkut-Adar, quam Schrader profert ex II. Rawl. 57, &0, valde incerta, immo falsa est, uti P. Strassmaier interrogantem me edocuit. | Potest quaeri, quomodo Israelitae ex Aegypto venientes idola assyriaca in deserto coluerint ? Difficultatem removet Schrader eo, quod iam v. 26 tempore futuro vertendum esse dicit sicut v. 27 sine ulla dubitatione verti debet : portabitis... i. e. abducemini in captivitatem et eo portabitis idola, quorum cultui nunc dediti estis. Sed veteres omnes versiones v. 26 de tempore praeterito intellexerunt ; et sane in altera acceptione quid sibi velit v. 25 difficile perspicitur. Accedit, quod vix ipsi captivi deos suos secum asportabunt ; victores potius simulacra subiectorum populorum in triumpho auferre sacri.auctores produnt (cf. Is. 46, 1). Aegyptios sidera coluisse nemo negat ; quare cultum certe inde mutuari poterant. Utrum praeter rem idem nomen exstiterit apud Aegyptios, neque asseri neque negari potest ; id certum est, inter antiquos Babylonios et Aegyptios magnum quoddam intercessisse commercium. Demum, quid dies Domini iis allaturus sit, vaticinio clare docet v. 2'l « et migrare vos faciam trans Damascum, dicit Dominus ; Deus exercituum nomen eius » ; — sensum refert S. Stephanus Act. '1, 43 et transferam vos trans. Babylonem ; migratione et translatione regni excidium atque interitus designatur. Deus exercituum copias hostium 1. Teste de Rossi unus codex hebr. revera praebet n255, quod cum LXX, Syr. consentit. tamquam suae vindictae administras mittet (cf. Is. 13, 3) ; eo nomine Dei quasi sigillo vaticinium obsignatur et confirmatur ; experientur scil. Deum non frustra tali nomine vocari. Erant principes sceleribus suis auctores et fautores ruinae populi ; id quod optime delineat Ezechiel : « vae pastoribus Israel, qui pascebant semetipsos, lac comedebatis et lanis operiebamini et quod crassum erat occidebatis, gregem autem meum non pascebatis ; quod infirmum fuit non consolidastis... et dispersae sunt oves meae » (34, 1 - 5). Unde etiam Amos mentione facta captivitatis (5, 2) alterum vae principibus ingeminat 6, 4 « Vae qui opulenti estis in Sion et confiditis in monte Samariae, optimates, capita populorum, ingredientes pompatice domum Israel » ; — simul cum Israel regnum Iuda perstringit, innuens eadem indole principes quoque Iuda agi et eadem mente sibi demum similem sortem esse paraturos. Certe non sine dolore integrum populum Dei cernit vates ex ducum luxuria et impietate infectum ; mentionem fecerat commorationis in deserto (5 25), quare facile explicatur, cur ad totum populum oculos convertat; insuper vide 2, 4. Reprehendit fiduciam quam in opibus rebusque prosperis collocant ; res quidem sub Ieroboam Il feliciter gestae novusque regni splendor eam fiduciam vanamque securitatem quantopere fovere debuerint, in aperto est. At prophetae muneris simul erat, morbidam illam morum conditionem, quae sub prospera specie externa latebat, minime dissimulare, verum ad quem exitum demum res perventurae sint, clare praedicere. Principes ac duces populi in textu lat. primo a superbia et fastu carpuntur; pompatice i. e. superbo ingressu, regio quodam fastu, splendido comitatu ingrediuntur coetum Israel. et maiorem sermonis unitatem quippe qui ad solos Israelitas dirigatur, servat ; quare aliqui eam praeferunt (cf. Trochon). Houbig. emendat (cum Syro) Q"2NU — pro qua forma vide Ez. 16, 57 — at S. Hier. Aq. Theod. Chald. tuentur textum hebr. (cf. cod. syr. hexapl. p. 187), neque cum alias quoque Amos regnum Iuda respiciat (cf. 2, &£; 6,5; 8, 14; 9, 11) et modo de Bersabee mentionem fecerit urbe in regno Iuda sita (3, 5), improbabilis est sensus textus hebr. qui insuper ex proximo etiam contextu facile fluere videtur (vide ad v. 1). Si vero Amos separationem a. regno [uda et odium quod habent in Sion reprobare voluit, mirum forte potest videri, hoc fieri uno tantum vocabulo et solummodo adeo obiter hoc loco, ut vix percipiatur, cum tamen crimen illud capitale fuerit multorumque malorum ferax (cf. ad Os. 1, 11). Accedit, quod v. 2 num meliores sunt quam haec regna (hebr.) duo regna Iuda et Israel exigi videantur, de quibus igitur v. 1 mentio adesse debet ; nisi de plurali intensilatis mentionem ingerere malueris. Secundum explicationen valde communem v. 2 sic adiungitur, ut ostensis urbibus gentilium opulentis ac florentibus propheta Israelitas commonefaciat, ipsos maiora illis ac meliora beneficia etiam temporalia a benigno numine accepisse :
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Simeon (Heb. Šim'ôn; Gr. Symzōn)
… Some will also have emigrated to the northern tribes, with which S. would seem to have had particular relations, to judge from the identity of the calf cult at Beersheba and in the northern centers of Bethel, Gilgal and Dan (Amos 4:4; 5:5; etc.). …
5:8
… In the minor prophets, even in the most ancient (Am. 2:4; 4:13; 5:8 ff.; 9:2, 5 ff.; Hos. 4:12; 9:10; 13:4), the same faith is found.
5:14
… God made use of the prophets to recall them to interiority (Am. 4, 11-22; 5, 14-15; Mich. 6, 8; Is. 66, 2; Jer. 4, 3-4 and 14, 7). They inculcated the relationship between the soul and God not only with the ancient concept of filial adoption, but also with …
5:18
Am. 5, 18: "Seek him who created Arcturus and Orion." The Hebrew text has: the Pleiades instead of Arcturus.
5:21
… It is essentially expressed in the Decalogue: monotheism and moral precepts (Hos. 4:1 ff. 12-19; 6:6 ff., etc.; cf. Am. 3:1 ff.; 5:21-26; 8:2; Mic. 6:6 ff.; Isa. 1; 5:1-7; Jer. 7; 11, etc.). …
… And if in the struggle against erroneous ideologies they sometimes expressed themselves with vehemence (cf. Am. 5:21-25; Hos. 6:6; Is. 1:11-14; Mic. 6:6-8; Jer. 6:20; 7:21 ff.; Ps. 49:7-15), they did not thereby intend to condemn sacrifices as such, willed and ordained by God himself, but to bring external …
5:25
… sources of information, must perhaps be understood as a vast movement of rebellion against Moses, a breaking up of unity into many autonomous groups that went off and dispersed, and together an effective abandonment of religious commitments (Josh. 5:4-7; Amos 5:25-26; Acts 7:42-43; Talmud Yerushalmi, Ta'anith 3, 4), an apostasy.
… But it is very difficult to deduce from this the extent of the custom, and only with many hypotheses is it possible to affirm, on the basis of Am. 5:25, that the Hebrews took the custom of the sabbath from the Babylonians. …
Douay-Rheims (Challoner) · Vulgata Clementina · original Douay-Rheims (Douay 1609-10), transcription by EEBO-TCP (CC0) · La Sacra Bibbia, tradotta dalla Volgata da Antonio Martini (1769-1781) (LaParola (laparola.net), Martini OSIS text, Public domain (LaParola's electronic edition marks it 'Dominio pubblico')). Public domain.