Jerusalem is invited to rejoice and behold the return of her children out of their captivity.
A consola•orie prophecie to Ierusalem, that her children shal be reduced with ioy from captiuitie.
1Put off, O Jerusalem, the garment of thy mourning, and affliction: and put on the beauty, and honour of that everlasting glory which thou hast from God.Spogliati Gerusalemme della veste di duolo, che conveniva alla tua afflizione, e vestiti dello splendore, e della magnificenza di quella, che da Dio ti vien gloria sempiterna.PVT of Ierusalem the robe of mourning, and of thy vexation: and put on the beautie, and honor of that euerlasting glorie, which thou hast of God.Exue te, Jerusalem, stola luctus et vexationis tuæ, / et indue te decore, et honore ejus, / quæ a Deo tibi est, sempiternæ gloriæ. 2God will clothe thee with the double garment of justice, and will set a crown on thy head of everlasting honour.Il Signore ti ammanterà della diploide di giustizia, e ti porrà sul capo la mitra d'eterno onore:God wil cloath thee with the dublet of iustice, and wil put vpon thy head the mitre of euerlasting honour.Circumdabit te Deus diploide justitiæ, / et imponet mitram capiti honoris æterni. 3For God will shew his brightness in thee, to every one under heaven.Imperocché in te Dio farà conoscere la magnificenza sua a tutti gli uomini, che son sotto del cielo;For God wil show his brightnes in thee, which is vnder the heauen.Deus enim ostendet splendorem suum in te, / omni qui sub cælo est. 4For thy name shall be named to thee by God for ever: the peace of justice, and honour of piety.Imperocché il tuo nome, quello che: ti sarà imposto da Dio per sempre egli è: La pace della giustizia, e la, gloria della pietà.For thy name shal be named of God to thee for euer: The peace of iustice, and honor of pietie.Nominabitur enim tibi nomen tuum a Deo in sempiternum: / pax justitiæ, et honor pietatis. 5Arise, O Jerusalem, and stand on high: and look about towards the east, and behold thy children gathered together from the rising to the setting sun, by the word of the Holy One rejoicing in the remembrance of God.Sorgi Gerusalemme, e sta stà alto, e gira gli occhi all'Oriente, e mira raunati i tuoi figli dall'oriente fino all'occidente in virtù della parola del Santo, lieti della memoria del loro Dio;Arise Ierusalem, and stand on high: and looke about toward the East, and see thy children gathered together from the rysing of the sunne to the going downe, in the word of the holie reioycing at the memorie of God.Exsurge, Jerusalem, et sta in excelso: / et circumspice ad orientem, / et vide collectos filios tuos ab oriente sole usque ad occidentem, / in verbo Sancti, / gaudentes Dei memoria. 6For they went out from thee on foot, led by the enemies: but the Lord will bring them to thee exalted with honour as children of the kingdom.Imperocché si partiron da te menati a piedi da' nemici: ma ricondurralli il Signore a te portati onorevolmente come figliuoli del regno.For they went out from thee on foote led by the enimies: but our Lord wil bring them to the exalted into honour as children of the kingdom.Exierunt enim abs te pedibus ducti ab inimicis: / adducet autem illos Dominus ad te portatos in honore / sicut filios regni:
7For God hath appointed to bring down every high mountain, and the everlasting rocks, and to fill up the valleys to make them even with the ground: that Israel may walk diligently to the honour of God.Conciossiaché il Signore ha stabilito di abbassar tutti gli alti monti, e le rupi eterne, e di colmare le valli, ed agguagliarle alla terra, affinchè Israele cammini franco per onore di Dio.For God hath apoynted to humble euerie high mountaine, and euerlasting rockes, and to fil vp valleis to be equal with the earth: that Israel may walke diligently to the honour of God.constituit enim Deus / humiliare omnem montem excelsum et rupes perennes, / et convalles replere in æqualitatem terræ, / ut ambulet Israël diligenter in honorem Dei. 8Moreover the woods, and every sweetsmelling tree have overshadowed Israel by the commandment of God.E le selve, e tutte le piante di grato odore per comando di Dio faranno ombra a Israele;And the woods also, and euerie tree of sweetnes haue ouershadowed Israel by the commandment of God.Obumbraverunt autem et silvæ, / et omne lignum suavitatis Israël / ex mandato Dei. 9For God will bring Israel with joy in the light of his majesty, with mercy, and justice, that cometh from him.Imperocché Iddio guiderà Israele collo splendore di sua maestà, mediante la misericordia, e la giustizia, che è da lui.For God wil bring Israel with ioyfulnes in the light of his maiestie, with mercie, and iustice, which is of him.Adducet enim Deus Israël cum jucunditate in lumine majestatis suæ, / cum misericordia et justitia quæ est ex ipso.
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Calmet
Garment. Hebrew, "cloak," (Sanctius) such as were worn by people under no disgrace, Baruch 4:20. Thamar had one very costly, 2 Kings 13:18. (Calmet)
Worthington
Justice, or mercy. God is bound to fulfill his gracious promises. (Worthington)
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His. Greek, "thy." Christ, the sun of justice, would effect this, Isaias 60:1.
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Arise. Baruch 4:36., and Isaias 52:2.
God. They remember his law with pleasure.
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Ovid
Diligently, without stumbling under the pillar of God's protection, Isaias 40:3. (Calmet) Ad vos qua veniet, tumidi subsidite montes Et faciles curvis vallibus este viae. (Ovid, Am. 2:16.)
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Mercie is here called iustice in respect of Gods promise, for although •• promise vvas of his only mercie, yet the performance procedeth also from his iustice.
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St Ambrose of Milan † AD 397 Concerning Repentance 1.9
… “Put off, O Jerusalem, the garment of thy mourning and affliction. and clothe thyself in beauty, the glory which God hath given thee for ever.”
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St Jerome † AD 420 The Letters of St. Jerome 77.4
… Else would I say of it that it is “a sacrifice…well pleasing to God,” I would cite the words of the psalmist: “the sacrifices of God are a broken spirit,” and those of Ezekiel “I prefer the repentance of a sinner rather than his death,” and those of Baruch, “Arise, arise, O Jerusalem,”
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God shall compass thee about with the robe of justice. — Thus it should be read with the Roman texts, not, thou being compassed about with the robe of justice by God, as many other codices have it in various places. By the robe of justice is understood the priestly and pontifical tunic, by the mitre of honour the cidaris, on which was written the holiness of Jehovah. Hence it is called the robe of justice, because it was an index of divine holiness which the priest ought to imitate, as if to say: God will restore to thee, O Jerusalem, the priestly vestments, and the priesthood and pontificate itself, and consequently will restore the temple, and his worship and religion therein; thus Theodoret. Secondly, more simply and aptly according to Castro and Maldonatus: The robe, they say, is a long tunic for women, for he speaks of Jerusalem as of a woman: it is called a robe, that is, double, because it was lined and supported with skin and cloth. It is called of justice, that is, just, because God justly and faithfully, as he had promised, compensated her disgrace with glory, her sadness with gladness, her captivity with freedom. And shall set on thy head the mitre of eternal honour, — that is, an honourable and glorious mitre, which may show Jerusalem to be affected with eternal glory, and to be adorned again with priesthood and kingdom: for on this account priests wore crowns and mitres on their head, as is evident, Ezech. XVI, 12. But more simply you should understand the mitre here as well as the robe, not as priestly, but as a woman's ornament, as if to say: Just as a queen is adorned with her mitre and robe, so Jerusalem shall again be clothed and adorned with her glory and beauty and honour. For there is here a continuous metaphor or allegory in the prosopopoeia of Jerusalem, of which he speaks as of a queen restored to her kingdom, to whom all her ornament both sacred and profane, both priesthood and kingdom, is restored, and in this way this sense embraces and includes the former. That this is so is evident from a similar passage, Ezech. XVI, 2, 10, 11, 12, 13 compared with verses 18 and 19. The mitre therefore is a woman's ornament for the head: Servius calls it a calantica. 3. For God will shew, — that is, God will make thee most renowned and most illustrious throughout the whole world: this is what the same Isaiah says to Jerusalem, but restored through Christ, that is to the Christian Church, cap. LX, 2: "The Lord shall arise upon thee, and his glory shall be seen upon thee. And the Gentiles shall walk in thy light, and kings in the brightness of thy rising." 4. Thy name shall be called (this is a Hebraism לקרא לך vaiicra lach, that is, a name shall be imposed upon thee by God, namely, The peace of justice, and the honour of piety. — Now to be called or named is put for to be, as if to say: O Jerusalem! thou shalt be a city in which peace born of justice shall abound, and honour or glory proceeding from piety; so that thou mayest be called with merit, first, "The peace of justice," that is, abounding in peace, that is in prosperity and abundance of things, which shall come to thee from justice, by which God shall justly overthrow thy oppressors and tyrants the Chaldeans, and shall free thee from them: likewise from the justice which thou shalt practise, and by which thou shalt govern thy citizens; secondly, thou shalt be and shalt be called "honour," that is glory, "of piety," so that all nations may perpetually celebrate thy piety, that is thy worship and religion. These things and the following apply in part to the Jewish Jerusalem returning from Babylon under Ezra; but fully they apply to the same Christian Jerusalem, that is to the Church which began in Jerusalem, and was freed from the captivity of sin and the devil through Christ. Thus Theodoret, Hugo and Lyran. 5. In the word of the Holy One rejoicing at the remembrance of God. — That is to say: See thy sons returning from Babylon according to the word, that is according to the promise and ordinance of God, rejoicing and exulting from the memory of God their liberator, and from the recollection of divine beneficence which shall bestow upon them this liberation. He speaks of a future good as though he beholds it present, and points it out to others with his finger, after the prophetic manner. Note: God alone is the true and full joy of the heart. The reason is, because God alone fills the heart of man and angel; He alone satisfies all its capacity, all its desires. The Psalmist, having experienced this, sang, Psalm LXXII, 25: "For what have I in heaven? and besides thee what do I desire upon earth? Thou art the God of my heart, and the God that is my portion for ever." Again from this he signifies himself to be suffused with joy, Psalm LXXVI, 4: "I remembered God, and was delighted;" and Psalm CXLIV, 7: "They shall speak of the memory of the abundance of thy sweetness; and shall rejoice in thy justice." Wherefore deservedly St. Augustine in the Soliloquies, chapter XVIII: "Just as," he says, "there is no hour or moment in all my life in which I do not use thy benefit; so there should be no moment in which I do not have thee before my eyes in my memory, and do not love thee with all my strength;" and Nazianzen, Oration On the Care of the Poor: "One ought not to breathe so often," he says, "as to remember God. For God continually and constantly does us good, preserving us in being and ministering necessities;" and St. Ephrem, Sermon Exhortatory On the Second Coming of the Lord: "Always," he says, "remember God, and thy mind shall become heaven;" St. Ignatius to Heron: "Remember," he says, "God, and thou shalt not sin;" St. Jerome, Book VII on Ezekiel, chapter XXII: "Memory," he says, "of God excludes all wickedness," and consequently all sadness: for this arises from sin and remorse of the sinning concupiscence: for a secure mind is like a continual feast. St. Dorotheos relates that he gave this precept to his disciple Dositheos, to be written in letters of gold: "Let God never depart from thy heart; always think God present to thee, and that thou standest before him." Dositheos did this exactly, so that not even in sickness, even the gravest and final, did he abandon the thought of God: and from this, from being a noble and dissolute soldier, he became holy and perfect, and after death was seen among the blessed anchorites already reigning with Christ. Finally, Jeremiah, Lamentations III, 20: "I will be mindful, remembering," he says, "and my soul shall pine away within me." See the things said there. 6. Carried in honor as the sons of the kingdom, — honorably brought back, and conveyed on horses and chariots as the sons of kings: for Cyrus gave to those returning gold, silver, horses, camels, Book I Esdras II, 66. Moreover Darius "the king sent with them a thousand horsemen, until they should conduct them to Jerusalem with peace, and with musicians and with tympans and with pipes; and all the brethren were playing," as it is said, III Esdras V, 2. See Josephus, Antiquities XI, V. Thus Theodoret. If such was the joy of those returning from Babylon, how much greater is the joy of those returning from the captivity of sin and the devil, through Christ to the liberty of grace and glory! Thus Theodoret, Hugh and Lyran. He commands Jerusalem to put on the garment of gladness, on account of the joyful return of her sons from Babylon, God going before, and all things attending them on the way. Thus Theodoret and Hugh.
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Allegorically this is more truly in the salvation, liberation and glory obtained through Christ. Thus Lyran and Hugh.
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1. Put off, O Jerusalem, the garment of thy mourning, and of thy affliction: and put on the beauty and honor of that eternal glory which is from God. 2. God shall clothe thee with the double garment of justice, and shall set on thy head the crown of eternal honor. 3. For God will show his brightness in thee to every one that is under heaven. 4. For thy name shall be called by God for ever: The peace of justice, and the honor of piety. 5. Arise, Jerusalem, and stand on high: and look about towards the east, and see thy children gathered from the rising of the sun to the going down thereof, rejoicing in the word of the Holy One at the remembrance of God. 6. For they went out from thee on foot led by enemies: but the Lord shall bring them to thee exalted in honor as the sons of a kingdom. 7. For God hath determined to make level every high mountain, and the everlasting rocks, and to fill up the valleys to make even the ground; that Israel may walk safely in the honor of God. 8. Moreover the woods and every sweet-smelling tree shall overshadow Israel by the command of God. 9. For God shall lead Israel with joy in the light of his majesty, with mercy and justice that cometh from him. 1. Put on beauty, — embrace with exultation the beauty and glory with which God shall cover thee and as it were clothe thee, when he shall gloriously bring thee back from Babylon to Judea.
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Morally, St. Augustine in Sentent. num. 9: "One seeking God, he says, seeks joy. Thus let him seek in such a way that he rejoices not in himself, but in the Lord. For in approaching God, ignorance is illuminated, and weakness is strengthened, being given to him both understanding by which he may see, and charity by which he may burn." Note that Scripture by putting on or clothing signifies two things: first, an abundance of a thing, so that that thing appears to embrace and cover a man all around like a garment, as I said in St. Paul, Can. XXVIII; second, a close conjunction of a thing, so that a garment is closely joined to the body and binds it. Isaiah equally desires this beauty and glory for Jerusalem, cap. LII, 1 and cap. LXI, 3. God shall clothe thee with a double robe of justice. — Thus it should be read with the Romans, not "clothed with a double robe of justice by God," as many other codices have it. By the double robe of justice he understands the priestly and pontifical tunic, by the mitre of honor the diadem, on which was written the holiness of Jehovah. Hence it is called a double robe of justice, because it was an index of divine holiness which the priest ought to imitate, as if to say: God shall restore to thee, O Jerusalem, the priestly vestments, and the priesthood and pontificate itself, and consequently shall restore the temple, and His worship and religion in it; thus Theodoret. Second, more simply and aptly by Castro and Maldonatus: A double robe, they say, is a long tunic of a woman, for he speaks of Jerusalem as of a woman: it is called a double robe, that is, double, because it was lined and supported with skin and cloth. It is called of justice, that is, just, because God justly and faithfully, as He had promised, compensated her disgrace with glory, her sadness with cheerfulness, her captivity with freedom.
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And He shall place upon thy head a mitre of eternal honor, — that is, an honorable and glorious mitre, which may show that Jerusalem is affected with eternal glory, and is again adorned with priesthood and kingdom: for this reason priests wore crowns and mitres on their head, as is evident, Ezech. xvi, 12. But more simply understand the mitre here equally as the double robe, not priestly, but womanly, as if to say: Just as a queen is adorned with her mitre and double robe, so Jerusalem shall again be clothed and adorned with her glory and beauty and honor. For there is here a continuous metaphor or allegory in the prosopopoeia of Jerusalem, of which he speaks as of a queen restored to a kingdom, to whom all her ornaments both sacred and profane, both priesthood and kingdom, are restored, and in this way this sense embraces and includes the former. That this is so is evident from a similar passage, Ezech. xvi, 2, 10, 11, 12, 13 compared with verses 18 and 19. A mitre therefore is an ornament of a woman's head: Servius calls it a calantica. 3. For God shall show, — that is, God shall make thee most renowned and most illustrious throughout the whole world: this is what Isaiah says to the same Jerusalem, but restored through Christ, that is to the Christian Church, cap. LX, 2: "The Lord shall rise upon thee, and His glory shall be seen upon thee. And the Gentiles shall walk in thy light, and kings in the brightness of thy rising."
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4. It shall be called (is a Hebraism לך לקרא לך vaicra lach, that is, a name shall be imposed upon thee by God, namely, Peace of justice, and honor of piety. — Now to be called or named is put for to be, as if to say: O Jerusalem! thou shalt be a city in which peace born of justice shall abound, and honor or glory proceeding from piety; so that thou mayest be called with merit, first, "Peace of justice," that is, abounding in peace, that is in prosperity and abundance of things, which shall come to thee from justice, by which God shall justly overthrow thy oppressors and tyrants the Chaldeans, and shall free thee from them: likewise from the justice which thou shalt cultivate, and by which thou shalt govern thy citizens; second, thou shalt be and shalt be called "honor," that is glory, "of piety," so that all nations may perpetually celebrate thy piety, that is thy worship and religion. These things and the following apply in part to the Jewish Jerusalem returning from Babylon under Ezra; but fully they apply to the same Christian Jerusalem, that is to the Church which began in Jerusalem, and was freed from the captivity of sin and the devil through Christ. Thus Theodoret, Hugo and Lyra. 5. Rejoicing in the word of the holy memory of God. — As if to say: See thy sons returning from Babylon according to the word, that is according to the promise and ordinance of God, rejoicing and exulting from the memory of their God their liberator, and from the recollection of divine beneficence which shall bestow upon them this liberation. He speaks of a future good as if he beheld it present, and points it out to others with his finger, after the manner of prophecy. Note: God alone is the true and full joy of the heart. The reason is, because God alone fills the heart of man and angel; He alone satisfies all its capacity, all its desires. The Psalmist, having experienced this, sang, Psalm. LXXII, 25: "For what have I in heaven? and besides thee what do I desire upon earth? Thou art the God of my heart, and the God that is my portion for ever." He again from this point signifies himself suffused with joy, Psalm. LXXVI, 4: "I remembered God, and was delighted;" and Psalm. CXLIV, 7: "They shall utter the memory of the abundance of thy sweetness; and shall rejoice in thy justice."
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Wherefore with good reason St. Augustine in the Soliloquies, chapter xviii: "Just as," he says, "there is no hour or moment in all my life in which I do not use thy benefit; so there ought to be no moment in which I do not have thee before my eyes in my memory, and do not love thee with all my strength;" and Nazianzenus, in the Oration On Care for the Poor: "One ought not to breathe so often," he says, "as to remember God. For God continually and constantly does us good, preserving us in being and ministering what is necessary;" and St. Ephrem, in the Paraenetic Sermon On the Second Coming of the Lord: "Always," he says, "remember God, and thy mind shall become heaven;" St. Ignatius to Heron: "Remember," he says, "God, and thou shalt not sin;" St. Jerome, book VII on Ezekiel, chapter xxii: "The memory," he says, "of God excludes all wickedness," and consequently all sadness: for this arises from sin and remorse of sinful concupiscence: for a secure mind is like a continual feast. St. Dorotheos relates that he gave this precept to his disciple Dositheos, to be written in letters of gold: "Never let God depart from thy heart; always think God present to thee, and that thou standest before him." Dositheos did this exactly, so much so that not even in sickness, even the gravest and final, did he abandon the thought of God: whence from a noble and dissolute soldier, he became holy and perfect, and after death was seen among the blessed anchorites already reigning with Christ. Finally, Jeremiah, Lamentations III, 20: "Remembering," he says, "I will remember, and my soul shall pine away within me." See the things said there. 6. Carried in honor as the sons of the kingdom,—honorably brought back, conveyed on horses and in chariots as the sons of kings: for Cyrus gave to those returning gold, silver, horses, camels, in the first book of Ezra II, 66. Indeed Darius also "the king sent with them a thousand horsemen, until they should conduct them to Jerusalem with peace, and with musicians and with timbrels and with pipes; and all the brethren were playing," as it is said, III Ezra v, 2. See Josephus, XI Antiquities, chapter iv. Thus Theodoret. If such was the joy of those returning from Babylon, how great shall be the joy of those returning both from Judaism and paganism to the Church, and of those returning from this exile with angels as guides to heaven? For the other interpreters understand this passage of these; for these are the sons of the heavenly kingdom. These therefore he chiefly regards here, but in such a way that he also touches upon and as it were grazes the former at the same time, because they were a type and forerunners of these, and of their own time, in passing. Of these in a similar manner the Psalmist speaks, Psalm cxxv, 6: "Going they went and wept, etc.: but coming they shall come with exultation." See Isaiah, chapter LXVI, 20, and chapter XLIX, 22. 7. For the Lord hath appointed to humble every mountain.—It is an allegory signifying only that God shall soften and remove all the harshness of life for those returning from Babylon, says Theodoret, and shall restrain and check enemies either openly in the mountains, or secretly in the hiding places of the valleys lying in wait for the Jews, so that they cannot harm them; for we do not read that God properly flattened mountains for them and filled valleys. Allegorically God humbles mountains, that is all pride: and raises valleys, that is pusillanimity, and removes and smooths all impediments and inequality of spiritual life, so that true Israel, that is the faithful people, may walk straight in the ways and laws of God, according to the prophecy of St. John the Baptist, Luke III, 5. Anagogically this is most true in the heavenly journey, which God makes most easy for the just. That Israel may walk diligently (swiftly and expeditiously, in Greek ἀσφαλῶς, that is safely, securely) in honor of God,—that is in the glory of God, so that from this their glorious return the glory and honor of God the leader may be celebrated by all. Thus the Psalmist says, Psalm CXIII, 1: "In the going out of Israel from Egypt, etc., Judea was made his sanctification, Israel his power," that is, from the liberation of Judea and Israel from Egypt the holiness and power of God the liberator appeared and shone forth to all. 8. They were overshadowed,—that is they shall be overshadowed; for he speaks prophetically. The interpreter reads in the Greek ἐσκίασαν; and rightly. The Complutensian edition reads ἐσκίρτησαν, that is they exulted, so as to allude to that, Psalm CXIII, 4: "The mountains exulted as rams." Forests, — that is to say, Just as God of old protected the people departing in the wilderness from the heat of the sun by a column of cloud spread out over the camp: so shall He now do for the same people returning from Babylon, namely that forests and trees breathing the sweetest fragrance shall provide their shade by God's command. It was easy for divine Providence to accomplish this: for it could so arrange the journey, the time and other things through secondary causes, that the journey would be most pleasant for the Hebrews, as it is in May among us. Add that, allegorically and hyperbolically, these things signify only that the return was most joyful, as to those returning most joyfully forests, meadows and all things through which they pass appear pleasant, and seem to smile upon them. With a similar personification the Psalmist speaks, Psalm xcv: "Let the heavens be glad, and let the earth rejoice: let the sea be moved, and the fulness thereof: the fields shall be joyful, and all things that are in them. Then shall all the trees of the woods rejoice," namely when the Jews returning from Babylon shall rebuild the temple; and Isaiah, cap. XLIV, 23: "Sing, O ye mountains, a hymn of praise, O ye hills, and all the trees thereof." Virgil uses a similar device, eclog. 3: The very mountains cast their voices of joy to the stars, The unshorn hills; now the very rocks sing songs, The very shrubs sound God, God, that Menalcas. Theodoretus, however, understands forests figuratively as the nations lying between Babylon and Judaea, which as forests bore no fruit of piety to God: these, with all obedience, honorably escorted Israel returning at the command of Cyrus and Darius. Allegorically these things, like the preceding ones, are more truly fulfilled in the Church under Christ, where all things serve the just, and make the way to God sweet, especially for those going from earth to heaven. Every tree of sweetness, — combias, that is, sweet-smelling. 9. In the light of His majesty, — that is to say, Just as God led the Hebrews through the wilderness in a pillar of fire by night, so shall He lead them back from Babylon as a stable light of the sun, and presenting it to them more pleasantly than usual, and refreshing and gladdening them with His light, that is, His presence: for just as the preceding verse alluded to the pillar of cloud, so here he alludes to the pillar of fire, which illuminated the Hebrew camp by night in the wilderness. He calls this light "the light of God's majesty," that is, a light august and magnificent, worthy of God, and produced by God through a special and extraordinary providence, to display His magnificence and glory to the Hebrews and other nations. With a similar scheme and personification, concerning the Jews freed from the destruction of Haman through Esther, cap. viii, vers. 16, it is said: "And to the Jews a new light seemed to rise." Thus Horace describes the joy of the Romans from Caesar's arrival in this way: Wherever your countenance Has shone upon the people, the day goes more pleasantly, And the suns shine more brightly. With mercy (by which He freed the Hebrews from the hard prison), and justice — by which He punished the Babylonian tyrants and other enemies of the Jews, say Theodoretus and Hugh; secondly, "with justice," that is, justly, namely faithfully executing what He had promised. Which is from Him, — of which He Himself is the author, not we, nor our merits; thus Vatablus. Secondly, Maldonatus: "which is from Him," that is, he says, which corresponds to His promises freely made. Note: In this chapter God promises to the Jews returning from Babylon eight felicities, namely, first, vers. 1 and vers. 2, a double portion of joy equally with justice, and a mitre of eternal honor; second, vers. 3, the greatest splendor; third, vers. 4, a new name, namely "peace of justice and honor of piety;"; fourth, vers. 5, that gathered from east to west in troops they shall return together, rejoicing in the word of the Holy One; fifth, vers. 6, that they shall have gone out on foot, but shall return splendidly carried in horses and chariots, as sons of a kingdom; sixth, vers. 7, that God shall level for them mountains, rough places and depths, so that they may pass by an even and easy way; seventh, vers. 8, that forests shall give them shade, fragrant trees shall breathe sweet fragrance upon them; eighth, vers. 9, that He shall present to them the sun shining more pleasantly and brightly as a torch. It is easy to apply these things mystically to the holy soul tending toward heaven, as still a pilgrim in the body and in the Church militant, which is departing from the body. For in heaven, says St. Augustine in Psalm. XLIX: "All things are supreme, true, holy, eternal," and to those things the same says, Psalm. LXXXVI and LXXXIX: "The King Himself descended, and became for us a way in pilgrimage, so that walking in Him we may neither err, nor fail, nor fall into robbers or snares, but may arrive at that city walking. Therefore in Christ and still pilgrims, and sighing with desire for the ineffable rest which dwells in that city, may the enemy not turn us away from the way." First therefore in heaven we shall enjoy joy and eternal honor: "What tongue," says St. Augustine in Psalm CXVIII, "or what understanding suffices to speak or comprehend how great are the joys of that heavenly city? to be present with the choirs of angels, to stand with the most blessed spirits assisting at the glory of the Creator, to behold the face of God present, to see the uncircumscribed light, to be affected by no fear of death, to rejoice in the gift of perpetual incorruption?" Hence in Apocalypse xxi, 4, it is said: "God shall wipe away all tears from their eyes: and death shall be no more, nor mourning, nor crying, nor sorrow shall be anymore, for the former things are passed away;" and in Isaiah xxxv, 10: "Everlasting joy shall be upon their heads: they shall obtain joy and gladness." Again St. Augustine, in his oration Against Pagans, Jews and Arians, cap. xxi, comparing this life with the future: "Here," he says, "is falsehood, there truth; here disturbance, there secure possession; here the worst bitterness, there eternal love; here dangerous exaltation, there is secure exultation; here one fears lest he who was a friend suddenly become an enemy; there he who is always remains a friend, because no enemy is admitted there; here whatever good there is is feared lest it perish; there whatever you have received from Him who made it is preserved, so that you do not pass away, and what you have received you do not lose; here death, there life; here all things which God created, there God will be all in all; there we shall see what the eye has not seen, there we shall hear what the ear here has not heard, there we shall understand what the human heart here cannot comprehend, seeing and knowing we shall exult with unspeakable joy." Second, the saints shall shine and "shall shine as the sun in the kingdom of their Father;" and, as Daniel says in cap. XII: "They that are learned shall shine as the brightness of the firmament; and they that instruct many to justice, as stars for all eternity." And, as the Apostle says, I Cor. xv, 41: "One is the glory of the sun, another the glory of the moon, and another the glory of the stars. For star differeth from star in glory: so also is the resurrection of the dead. It is sown in dishonor, it shall rise in glory," etc.
Machine translation from the Latin, not reviewed.
5:4
… Since peace is the fruit of righteousness (Is. 33:17; Bar. 5:4), the "peacemaker," who is the truly just man, opposes injustice (Prov. 14:10 LXX). …
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.