It is better to have none than many wicked children. Of the justice and mercy of God. His ways are unsearchable.
A few good children, yea none at al, are better then manie wicked. 9. Gods wrath falleth vpon the euil, and his mercie on the good. 14. workes of mercie merite great reward. 15. Nothing is hid from God, 20. but manie thinges from men.
1Rejoice not in ungodly children, if they be multiplied: neither be delighted in them, if the fear of God be not with them.Non ti rallegrare di aver molti figliuoli, se ei sono cattivi, e non compiacertene, se in essi non è il timor di Dio.REIOICE not in impious children, if they be multiplied: neither be delighted vpon them, if the feare of God be not in them.Ne jucunderis in filiis impiis, si multiplicentur: / nec oblecteris super ipsos, si non est timor Dei in illis. 2Trust not to their life, and respect not their labours.Non tener per sicuro, ch'ei vivano, e non fare assegnamento sulle loro fatiche;Credite not their life, and respect not their labours.Non credas vitæ illorum, / et ne respexeris in labores eorum. 3For better is one that feareth God, than a thousand ungodly children.Perocché è meglio avere un solo figliuolo timorato di Dio, che mille cattivi.For better is one fearing God, then a thousand impious children. And it is more profitableMelior est enim unus timens Deum, / quam mille filii impii: 4And it is better to die without children, than to leave ungodly children.E mette più conto il morire senza figliuoli, che lasciarne dei cattivi.to die without children, rather then to leaue impious children.et utile est mori sine filiis, / quam relinquere filios impios. 5By one that is wise a country shall be inhabited, the tribe of the ungodly shall become desolate.Un sol uomo sensato farà, che sia popolata la patria: la nazione degli empj sarà sterminata.By one wise a countrie shal be inhabited, and the tribe of the impious shal be made desolate.Ab uno sensato inhabitabitur patria: / tribus impiorum deseretur. 6Many such things hath my eyes seen, and greater things than these my ear hath heard.Molte di tali cose hanno vedute gli occhi miei, e maggiori di queste ne hanno udite le mie orecchie.Manie such thinges hath mine eie sene, and myne eare hath heard thinges of more force then these.Multa talia vidit oculis meus, / et fortiora horum audivit auris mea. 7In the congregation of sinners a fire shall be kindled, and in an unbelieving nation wrath shall flame out.Divamperà la fiamma in mezzo alle adunanze de' peccatori, e scoppierà l'ira sopra la nazion degli increduli.In the synagogue of sinners a fire shal flame, and in an incredulous nation wrath shal waxe hotte.In synagoga peccantium exardebit ignis, / et in gente incredibili exardescet ira. 8The ancient giants did not obtain pardon for their sins, who were destroyed trusting to their own strength:Implacabile fu Iddio ai peccati degli antichi giganti, i quali per la presunzione delle loro forze furono annientati.The old giantes did not obteine for their sinnes, who were destroied trusting to their owne strength:Non exoraverunt pro peccatis suis antiqui gigantes, / qui destructi sunt confidentes suæ virtuti.
9And he spared not the place where Lot sojourned, but abhorred them for the pride of their word.Ed egli non la perdonò all'ospizio di Lot, ed ebbe in esecrazione coloro a motivo delle superbe loro parole.and he spared not the peregrination of Lot, and he detested them for the pride of their word.Et non pepercit peregrinationi Lot, / et execratus est eos præ superbia verbi illorum. 10He had not pity on them, destroying the whole nation that extolled themselves in their sins.Non ebbe compassione di loro, e distrasse tutta quella nazione superba del suo mal fare.He had not pitie on them, destroying the whole nation, and extolling themselues in their sinnes.Non misertus est illis, gentem totam perdens, / et extollentem se in peccatis suis. 11So did he with the six hundred thousand footmen, who were gathered together in the hardness of their heart: and if one had been stiffnecked, it is a wonder if he had escaped unpunished:E lo stesso fu di secento mila uomini uniti nell'ostinazione del cuore. Onde se un solo fosse contumace sarebbe cosa mirabile, s'ei restasse impunito.And as the six hundred thousand foote men, which were gathered together in the hardnes of their hart: and if one had bene stiffe necked, it is meruel if he had bene vnpunished.Et sicut sexcenta millia peditum, / qui congregati sunt in duritia cordis sui: / et si unus fuisset cervicatus, / mirum si fuisset immunis. 12For mercy and wrath are with him. He is mighty to forgive, and to pour out indignation:Perocché la misericordia, e l'ira stanno con lui, e può placarsi, e può versare il suo sdegno:For there is mercie and wrath with him. Mightie exoration, & powring out wrath:Misericordia enim et ira est cum illo: / potens exoratio, et effundens iram. 13According as his mercy is, so his correction judgeth a man according to his works.Come egli e misericordioso, così ancora punisce: egli giudica l'uomo secondo le opere sue.according to his mercie, so his chastisement iudgeth a man according to his workes.Secundum misericordiam suam, / sic correptio illius homines secundum opera sua judicat. 14The sinner shall not escape in his rapines, and the patience of him that sheweth mercy shall not be put off.Non fuggirà il peccatore col suo ladroneccio, e non sarà ritardata all'uom misericordioso la sua espettazione.The sinner shal not escape in robberie, and the sufferance of him that doth mercie shal not slacke.Non effugiet in rapina peccator, / et non retardabit sufferentia misericordiam facientis. 15All mercy shall make a place for every man according to the merit of his works, and according to the wisdom of his sojournment.La piena misericordia preparerà il luogo a ciascheduno secondo il merito delle opere sue, e secondo la saggezza praticata nel suo pellegrinaggio.Al mercie shal make a place to euerie man according to the merite of his workes, & according to the vnderstanding of his peregrination.Omnis misericordia faciet locum unicuique, / secundum meritum operum suorum, / et secundum intellectum peregrinationis ipsius.
16Say not: I shall be hidden from God, and who shall remember me from on high?Non dire: Io mi celerò a Dio, e chi di colassù si metterà in pensiero di me?Say not; I shal be hid from God, and from on high who shal remember me?Non dicas: A Deo abscondar: / et ex summo, quis mei memorabitur ? 17In such a multitude I shall not be known: for what is my soul in such an immense creation?Nissun mi riconoscerà in sì gran turba: imperocché, che è ella l'anima mia in tale immensità di creature?In a great people I shal not be knowen: for what is my soule among so innumerable creatures?in populo magno non agnoscar: / quæ est enim anima mea in tam immensa creatura ? 18Behold the heaven, and the heavens of heavens, the deep, and all the earth, and the things that are in them, shall be moved in his sight,Ecco, che il cielo, e gli altissimi fieli, e il mar profondo, e la terra tutta, e quanto in essi condensi, a un'occhiata di lui tremeranno.Behold heauen, and the heauens of heauens, the depth, and al the earth, & the thinges that are in them, in his sight shal be moued,Ecce cælum et cæli cælorum, / abyssus, et universa terra, et quæ in eis sunt, / in conspectu illius commovebuntur. 19The mountains also, and the hills, and the foundations of the earth: when God shall look upon them, they shall be shaken with trembling.I monti insieme, ed i colli, e i fondamenti della terra, allorché Iddio li rimira, pel terrore si scuotono.the mountaines together, and the litle hilles, & the fundations of the earth:& when God shal behold them, they shal be shaken with trembling.Montes simul, et colles, et fundamenta terræ, / cum conspexerit illa Deus, tremore concutientur. 20And in all these things the heart is senseless: and every heart is understood by him.E tutte queste cose non v'ha cuor, che le penetri; ma tutti i cuori son veduti da lui:And in al these thinges the hart is senseles: and euerie hart is vnderstood of him:Et in omnibus his insensatum est cor, / et omne cor intelligitur ab illo. 21And his ways who shall understand, and the storm, which no eye of man shall see?E le vie di lui, e la procella, che non sarà stata da umano occhio veduta, chi è, che l'intenda?and his wayes who doth vnderstand, and the storme, which neither the eie of man shal see?Et vias illius quis intelligit, / et procellam quam nec oculus videbit hominis ? 22For many of his works are hidden, but the works of his justice who shall declare? or who shall endure? for the testament is far from some, and the examination of all is in the end.Perocché moltissime opere di lui sono occulte: ma le opere di sua giustizia chi può spiegarle? ovver chi potrà sostenerle? perocché i decreti (di Dio) son molto rimoti dall'idee di certuni; ma tutto sarà disaminato nel fine.For manie of his workes are in secretes: but the workes of his iustice who shal declare? or who shal susteine? For the testament is far from some, and the examination of al is in consummation. He that is lesse of hart,Nam plurima illius opera sunt in absconsis: / sed opera justitiæ ejus quis enuntiabit, aut quis sustinebit ? / longe enim est testamentum a quibusdam, / et interrogatio omnium in consummatione est.
23He that wanteth understanding thinketh vain things, and the foolish, and erring man, thinketh foolish things.L'uomo privo di cuore pensa alle inutilità, e l'imprudente, che è fuori di strada, pensa a cose da stolto.thinketh vaine thinges: and the vnwise, and erring man, thinketh folish thinges.Qui minoratur corde cogitat inania, / et vir imprudens et errans cogitat stulta. 24Hearken to me, my son, and learn the discipline of understanding, and attend to my words in thy heart.Figliuol mio ascoltami, e appara gli insegnamenti della prudenza, e fa attenzione in cuor tuo a' detti miei,Heare me my sonne, and lerne the discipline of vnderstanding, and attend to my wordes in thy hart,Audi me, fili, et disce disciplinam sensus, / et in verbis meis attende in corde tuo: 25And I will shew forth good doctrine in equity, and will seek to declare wisdom: and attend to my words in thy heart, whilst with equity of spirit I tell thee the virtues that God hath put upon his works from the beginning, and I shew forth in truth his knowledge.Ed io ti esporrò documenti ben ponderati, e ti svelerò l'astrusa saggezza: e fa attenzione in cuor tuo a' detti miei, ed io con retto spirito ti dirò le meraviglie, che Dio sparse nelle opere sue da principio, e la scienza di lui li annunzio secondo la verità.and I wil speake discipline in equitie, and wil search to declare wisedom, and to my wordes attend in thy hart, and I speake in equitie of spirit the vertues, that God hath put vpon his workes from the beginning, and in truth I shew forth his knowlege.et dicam in æquitate disciplinam, / et scrutabor enarrare sapientiam: / et in verbis meis attende in corde tuo, / et dico in æquitate spiritus virtutes / quas posuit Deus in opera sua ab initio, / et in veritate enuntio scientiam ejus. 26The works of God are done in judgment from the beginning, and from the making of them he distinguished their parts, and their beginnings in their generations.Con saggezza formò Dio da principio le opere sue, e fin dalla lor creazione distinse le loro parti, e le principali di esse secondo le specie loro.In the iudgement of God are his workes from the beginning, and from the institution of them he distinguished their partes, and their beginninges in their nations.In judicio Dei opera ejus ab initio, / et ab institutione ipsorum distinxit partes illorum, / et initia eorum in gentibus suis. 27He beautified their works for ever, they have neither hungered, nor laboured, and they have not ceased from their works.Diede alle operazioni loro virtù eterna: non hanno avuto bisogno di ristoro, e non si sono stancate, e non hanno cessato di agire giammai.He adorned their workes for euer, neither haue they hungred, nor laboured, and they haue not ceased from their workes.Ornavit in æternum opera illorum: / nec esurierunt, nec laboraverunt, / et non destiterunt ab operibus suis.
28Nor shall any of them straiten his neighbour at any time.L'una non darà impaccio all'altra giammai.Euerie one shal not vexe his neighbour for euer.Unusquisque proximum sibi non angustiabit in æternum: 29Be not thou incredulous to his word.Non esser tu disubbidiente alle parola di lui.Be not incredulous to his word.non sis incredibilis verbo illius. 30After this God looked upon the earth, and filled it with his goods.Dopo di questo Iddio mirò la terra, e di beni la ricolmò.After this God looked vpon the earth, & filled it with his good thinges.Post hæc Deus in terram respexit, / et implevit illam bonis suis: 31The soul of every living thing hath shewn forth before the face thereof, and into it they return again.Ciò dimostrano tutti gli animali viventi, che sono sulla superficie di essa, e nella terra stessa ritornano.And the soule of euerie liuing thing shal shew before the face thereof, and into it againe is their returne.anima omnis vitalis denuntiavit ante faciem ipsius, / et in ipsam iterum reversio illorum.
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Rejoice. Greek, "desire not an useless multitude of children," etc.
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Haydock
Labours. All will end in ruin which springs from corruption. (Haydock)
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Haydock
Out. They shall perish by civil and foreign wars, (Calmet) and by God's indignation, Deuteronomy 32:23. (Haydock)
Worthington
They who yield to the fire of concupiscence, will feel God's wrath for ever. (Worthington)
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Calmet
Of their word, is not in Greek, but may imply the effrontery of the Sodomites, who were not ashamed of openly professing their brutality, Ezechiel 16:49. (Calmet)
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Calmet
And, etc., is not in Greek, the different editions of which vary. (Calmet)
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Calmet
High. God would not be God if he were indifferent about virtue. None of his creatures can be beneath his notice. All the world is but like a drop of water to him, Isaias xl 15, 22. He cannot be distracted. (Calmet)
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Haydock
And. Greek, "his ways," ver. 21. (Haydock)
God's threats and promises touch not the sinner.
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Calmet
Testament. The law, or the judgment, which God shall pronounce. (Calmet)
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Haydock
Be. Greek, "they shall not disobey his order for ever." (Haydock)
Calmet
After the sun, etc., had been regulated on the fourth day, God set in order sublunary things, ver. 30. (Calmet)
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Challoner
Forth, the glory and power of God upon the earth. (Challoner)
Haydock
Before. Greek, "hath covered its (the earth's) face, and into it," etc. (Haydock)
Calmet
All living creatures shall return to dust, Psalm 103:29. (Calmet)
Worthington
Rational and brute creatures praise God by answering the ends designed by him. (Worthington)
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Shewn forth.... Viz., the glory and power of God upon the earth.
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Fire of concupiscence, if it be not ouercome in this life, wil procure the fire of Gods wrath, which shal neuer be extinguished.
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Concordance Gen. 6.
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Concordance Num. 26.
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Concordance Rom. 2. v. 6.
Euen a dish of colde water geuen in almes shal be rewarded. Mat. 10.
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Reasonable soules (if they folow reason) and al sensible soules doe (in their maner) praise the prouidence of God, in vsing al creatures to that end for which they were treated.
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St Cyprian of Carthage † AD 258 The Epistles of Cyprian 54.15
… (Do not pay attention to their number. For one who fears God is better than a thousand impious sons, as the Lord spoke by the prophet, saying, “O son, do not delight in ungodly sons, though they multiply to thee, except the fear of the Lord be with them.”
St John Chrysostom † AD 407 A Commentary on the Acts of the Apostles 24
… yet the whole world was not worth so much as he. And yet the world consists of myriads: but they are no myriads, when they do not even come up to that one. “Better is one that doeth the will of God, than ten thousand who are transgressors:” for the ten thousands have not yet reached to the one. “Desire not a multitude of unprofitable children.” (
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St John Chrysostom † AD 407 Three Homilies Concerning the Power of Demons 2.1
… What then shall we say to this? That first of all they who overcame are more valuable far than they who are defeated, even if the latter be more, and the former less. “For better is one,” saith he “that doeth the will of God than ten thousand transgressors.”
St John Chrysostom † AD 407 A Commentary on the Acts of the Apostles 24
… For say, what profit is it, that there should be hay in plenty, when there might be precious stones? The amount consists not in the sum of numbers, but in the proved worth. Elias was one: yet the whole world was not worth so much as he. And yet the world consists of myriads: but they are no myriads, when they do not even come up to that one. “Better
St John Chrysostom † AD 407 A Commentary on the Acts of the Apostles 26
… 20 .) Where Christ is in the midst, there is a great multitude. Where Christ is, there needs must Angels be, needs must Archangels also and the other Powers be there. Then ye are not alone, seeing ye have Him Who is Lord of all. Hear again the prophet also saying, “Better is one that doeth the will of the Lord, than ten thousand transgressors.” (comp.
St John Chrysostom † AD 407 Homilies on Colossians 7
… 67 .) For if we go on for ever flattering you, when shall we reclaim you? when shall we do you service? “But,” saith one, “there are other sects, and people go over.” This is a cold argument, “Better is one that doeth the will of the Lord, than ten thousand transgressors.” (
St John Chrysostom † AD 407 The Homilies of St. John Chrysostom on the Epistle to the Hebrews 24
… consider the greatness if He were called the God of one [person]! He who is called the God of the whole world is “not ashamed to be called” the God of three men: and with good reason: for the saints would turn the scale, I do not say against the world but against ten thousand such. “For one man who doeth the will of the Lord,
St John Chrysostom † AD 407 The Homilies of St. John Chrysostom on the Epistle to the Hebrews 27
… and with reason. For as ten thousand measures of chaff and hay would not be of equal value to ten pearls, so neither they; for “better is one that doeth the will of the Lord, than ten thousand transgressors” (
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St John Chrysostom † AD 407 The Homilies of St. John Chrysostom on the Gospel of St. John 28
… for mercy and wrath come from Him, and His indignation resteth upon sinners” ( Ecclus. v. 6 ): and again, “As His mercy is great, so is His correction also.” (
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Origen † AD 254 Origen De Principiis iv.section24
… whatever it be that these “virtues” have learned through revelation from the Son of God and from the Holy Spirit—and they will certainly be able to learn very much, and those of higher rank much more than those of a lower—nevertheless it is impossible for them to comprehend all things, according to the statement, “The most part of the works of God are hid.”
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Early Popes (Pseudo-Isidorian Decretals) The Epistles of Pope Fabian 2.2
… and all who arm themselves against fathers are rendered infamous. “Sand, and salt, and a mass of iron, is easier to bear than a man without understanding, and foolish and impious.” “He that wanteth understanding thinks upon vain things; and a foolish and erring man imagineth follies.”
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St Dionysius of Alexandria † AD 265 Containing Various Sections of the Works 2.3
… Nevertheless these atoms exercise no rule. For how could these, that are themselves nothing, do that? But listen to the divine oracles: “The works of the Lord are in judgment; from the beginning, and from His making of them, He disposed the parts thereof. He garnished His works for ever, and their principles unto their generations.”
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St Dionysius of Alexandria † AD 265 Containing Various Sections of the Works 2.5
… for then would he have learned that “the earth is full of the goodness of the Lord” and that “the earth is the Lord’s, and the fulness thereof;” and that, as we also read, “After this the Lord looked upon the earth, and filled it with His blessings. With all manner of living things hath He covered the face thereof.”
St Augustine of Hippo † AD 430 Expositions on the Book of Psalms 144.5
5. “Man is made like unto vanity: his days pass away like a shadow” ( ver. 4 ). What vanity? Time, which passeth on, and floweth by. For this “vanity” is said in comparison of the Truth, which ever abideth, and never faileth: for it too is a work of His Hand, in its degree. “For,” as it is written, “God filled the earth with His good things.”
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1. DO NOT REJOICE IN THE CHILDREN OF THE WICKED, IF THEY BE MULTIPLIED: NOR BE DELIGHTED IN THEM, IF THE FEAR OF GOD BE NOT IN THEM. — Worldly parents are accustomed to rejoice and glory in the beauty, strength, talent, dexterity, and multitude of their children, caring little whether they be good or bad; indeed, they even glory in the wicked, on account of their boldness and cunning or spirited deeds, though impious or obscene. The Wise Man here rebukes such persons, and teaches that concerning such children one ought rather to grieve and blush; both because a wicked son is not the honor but the shame of his parents; and because wicked children await confusion and eternal hell. Therefore one ought to rejoice only in the pious; but they are pious if the fear of God be in them. Whence the Zurich version translates: do not wish for an abundance of useless children, or, do not rejoice in wicked children; do not delight in their abundance, if there be no religion of God in them; the Syriac: do not desire a multitude of sinning children, and do not rejoice in all children of falsehood; even if they be multiplied, do not rejoice in them, because they are not in the fear of God. For whoever begets or nourishes such children begets or nourishes them not for God, but for the devil; not for virtue, but for crime; not for heaven, but for hell: for he makes them bellows and fuel of hell. Say the same concerning a multitude of wicked citizens in a city, subjects in a commonwealth, associates in a congregation, monastery, or other assembly. Whence Rabanus: "This sentence," he says, "avails against those who delight in a multitude of servants and in crowds of disciples, nor care whether they conduct themselves according to the fear of God, or are entangled in various crimes." A natural example is found in the eagle, concerning which Aristotle writes thus in book VI of the History of Animals, chapter vi: "Eagles lay three eggs, but hatch two chicks, as is evident from the verse which they attribute to Musaeus as author: It hatches two, lays three, rears one; but although this happens for the most part, yet three chicks have sometimes been seen." The same author, in book IX, chapter xxxiv: "The sea eagle," he says, "has the clearest sight of eyes, and compels its unfledged chicks to look directly at the sun, strikes the one who refuses, and turns it toward the sun; then whichever chick's eyes first shed tears, it kills, and rears the other." Thus a parent should esteem greatly the child who with undiverted eyes of mind beholds the Sun of Justice, that is, Christ, and serves and obeys Him in all things; but should make little account of the other wicked ones, neglecting God and hateful to God, as those from whom he can expect nothing but tedium, disgust and reproach. For which reason Menander in Epictetus: "Either," he says, "one must live alone and unmarried, or if children are already born, the parent must die, so bitter is all subsequent life." Whence St. Ambrose, book I of the Duties, chapter XVII: "It is," he says, "the mark of good young men to have the fear of God, and to show honor to their parents, etc. Isaac was one who feared God, being the offspring of Abraham, showing honor to his father to such a degree that he would not refuse even death against his father's will. Joseph also, when he had dreamed that the sun and moon and stars adored him, nevertheless showed diligent obedience to his father."
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2. BELIEVE NOT IN THEIR LIFE, AND RESPECT NOT THEIR LABORS. — For labors the Complutensian and Zurich versions read πλῆθος, that is, multitude; whence they translate, do not trust in their life, nor lean upon (or esteem greatly) their multitude. Others read τόπον, that is, place, dignity; thus the Roman version, as if to say, Do not respect (in Greek μὴ ἔπεχε, that is, do not insist, do not dwell upon) the rank of their dignity, that is, do not think great weight is in it, do not esteem it greatly. St. Augustine in the Mirror and Our author read πόνον, that is, labor. The sense therefore is, as if to say, Do not trust that they, though vigorous and strong, will live long and happily, so as to propagate and illusten your name and family, even if you behold their labors and works to be great. For God will make all these things vain and empty, will resolve them into smoke, and will cause them to come to nothing. Whence the Syriac: do not trust in their life, nor believe that a good end awaits them. Otherwise Lyra, as if to say, Do not trust in the labors of your children, as though they themselves would sustain you in old age by them, so that on this account you dare not or omit to correct them when sinning: for this hope and trust of yours is vain, because wicked children, because they have neglected to have their parents chastise them, are accustomed to despise and neglect their parents. Otherwise also Hugh, as if to say, Do not believe in their life, trusting that in old age they will change their wicked life into a good one; for, as Solomon says in Proverbs XXII, verse 6: "A young man according to his way, even when he is old, will not depart from it."
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3 and 4. FOR ONE THAT FEARETH GOD (The Complutensian edition reads δίκαιος, that is, just, and thus St. Chrysostom reads it, homily 24 and 39 in Genesis) IS BETTER THAN A THOUSAND WICKED CHILDREN; AND IT IS PROFITABLE (more profitable, better) TO DIE WITHOUT CHILDREN, THAN TO LEAVE WICKED CHILDREN. — For these are a reproach to their parents, and an abomination to God, whom therefore God will destroy and cut off together with their family. Better, that is, more useful to parents, to family and to the commonwealth: otherwise the comparison would not be apt; for since the wicked are not good, hence they cannot rightly be compared with one who fears God as with a better. The Interpreter reads χρείσσων, with ω, that is, better. Thus also the Syriac: better is one who does the will (obedient) than a thousand. Now they read χρεῖσσον with o, that is, better, more profitable, rather. Whence the Zurich version translates, for one just man is worth more than a thousand such; others, it is better to have one than a thousand; St. Chrysostom, homily 39 in Genesis, reads: "One who does the will of the Lord is better than ten thousand sinners." The same, homily 40 to the People, gives the example of Elias: "Elias, he says, was one, but the whole world was not worthy to be recompensed to him; and the world indeed consists of innumerable thousands, but they are not thousands, since they do not even reach the measure of one." And further: "Do you not see that it is better to have one precious stone than a thousand obols?" Now the just man is a precious stone, the wicked are an obol. And Philo, in the book On the Decalogue, asserts that "each one, while he obeys God and the laws, is equal to a very frequent people, or rather to all nations, indeed to the whole world." Such was Abraham, that is, father on high, or father of a great multitude, to whom therefore God says in Genesis XVII, 3: "And I will make thee increase exceedingly, and I will make thee into nations, and kings shall come out of thee." On the contrary: "The multitude of the wicked shall be of no use, and spurious shoots (adulterous plantings and propagations) shall not give deep roots," Wisdom IV, verse 3. Thus the wicked Cham was punished in his infamous son Chanaan, and his descendants the Chanaanites. Genesis IX, 18. See Ambrose, book On Noe, chapter XXVIII. Ben-Sira agrees with Sirach in the Alphabet, letter Beth: "A son, not a son, he says, allow to row or swim on the surface of the water." Which Uziel, the son of Ben-Sira, in the Scholia thus expounds: "At all times chastise and beat your son. But if you see that you profit nothing by beatings, leave him. If he persecutes you, bring him out so that he may be stoned. But if you cannot obtain that he be punished as a contumacious one by law, then cast him into the river, and feed the fish." But because this seems harsh and inhuman, hence Joseph, the son of Uziel, thus softens it: "Can it be, he says, that a man would kill his son? What then will he do? He will leave him, indeed in such a way that if he falls into a pit, he will not draw him out from it." Better, others say, that is, A son, not a son, that is, a lost and ruined son, who cannot be recalled to fruitfulness, banish to the oars, or to naval labor gangs, so that by rowing he may learn wisdom: for the oar corrects many whom paternal chastisement could not; which counsel many follow today, and not without fruit. Morally, learn here how great is the dignity and weight of virtue and holiness before God; for it makes one holy man equivalent to, indeed worth more than a thousand, indeed more than all the wicked. Hence Paul in Hebrews chapter XI, verse 37, concerning Elias and the holy Prophets: "They wandered about, he says, in sheepskins, in goatskins, needy, distressed, afflicted, of whom the world was not worthy;" and so those by whose merits and prayers the world stood, according to that word of Eliseus to Elias, when he was taken up into heaven: "My father, the chariot of Israel and the driver thereof," that is, You, Elias, are the chariot that bears and sustains Israel, and as it were the driver who rules and governs it, IV Kings, chapter II, 12. "Who would doubt that the world stands by the prayers of the Saints?" says Rufinus in the Preface to the Lives of the Fathers. For this reason God properly calls himself the God of the Saints, although he is the God of all: "I, he says, am the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob," Exodus III. Indeed, he even makes a covenant with them as with most intimate friends. Whence he says to Abraham in Genesis chapter XVII, verse 2: "I will make my covenant between me and thee, and I will multiply thee exceedingly;" on which passage see St. Chrysostom, homily 39 in Genesis. Therefore the city may rightly say to Joshua what the people said to David: "Thou shalt not go out, because thou art counted as one for ten thousand," II Kings cap. XVIII, vers. 3. Indeed, St. Chrysostom, homil. 27 in Epistol. ad Hebr., prefers one Joshua to the whole world. For consider that Joshua stood still the sun, Joshua, cap. X, 13; "Let, he says, the whole world come; or rather two, or three, or four, or twenty-eight worlds, let them say and do this, but they will not be able." And St. Gregory Nazianzen, orat. 32: "Will you, he says, prefer all the Canaanites to one Abraham? the Sodomites to one Lot? the Midianites to Moses? those three hundred men who lapped water with Gideon, will you contend that they are inferior to so many thousands of men?" Again St. Chrysostom, homil. 8 in Acta: "Bring forth, he says, into battle a hundred myriads, and one saint; we know that he will accomplish more. Jesus Nave went forth into battle, and alone accomplished all things strenuously; and thus others profit nothing. A multitude, when it does not do the will of the Lord, differs nothing from those who are not."
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5. BY ONE SENSIBLE MAN THE COUNTRY SHALL BE INHABITED (it shall come to pass that it is inhabited and frequented; for thus the Hebrew passives in the Hophal conjugation are to be expounded), BY THREE WICKED MEN IT SHALL BE DESERTED. — Thus the Roman, Greek and Syriac versions. Therefore many codices read wrongly: And by three wicked men it shall be deserted, which Lyran, Rabanus, Dionysius and others expound variously; but according to the letter thus, as if to say, On account of the wickedness of three it shall be deserted. Thus Palacius, who again suspects that it should be read, by three wicked men it shall be deserted. Thus one Joseph, he says, saved the nation of the Jews; two, namely Hemor and Sichem, were the cause of the ruin of their country, Gen. XXXIV. One Samuel restored the country which two, Ophni and Phinees, had destroyed by their iniquity, I Reg. cap. II, and cap. VIII. Wherefore God, to preserve a country, is content with one pious man, but to destroy it requires at least three; whom the Teutons of old called Vandregiesilos, as if to say, Dan die dry ghefellen, that is, one of those three companions. Therefore perhaps if Lot had not been a sojourner, but a native and citizen of Sodom, Sodom would still stand. Thus Palacius. But it should be read with the Romans and Greeks: "The tribe of the wicked shall be deserted;" just as the tribe of Benjamin was almost entirely cut off on account of the outrage committed against the wife of the Levite, Judg. XX, verse 46. Some codices add: And one just man for the whole world. He proves what he said: "One man fearing God is better than a thousand wicked," from the fact that one sensible man, that is prudent, fearing God, by his prudence and virtue draws peoples to himself, and thus fills a city and country with inhabitants; but "three" (that is a large and abundant family such as the twelve tribes of Israel had) "of the wicked shall be deserted," that is desolated, both on account of their imprudence and wickedness, and on account of God's vengeance avenging their impiety. Whence the Greeks have it, by one understanding man the city is frequented (made frequent, filled with inhabitants), but the tribe of the wicked shall be desolated; in Greek ἐρημωθήσεται, that is, shall be turned into a wilderness and desert, as happened to Sodom and the Pentapolis, whose example he subjoins in verse 9. The Zurich Bible, by one prudent man the city shall be inhabited frequently, but the nation of the wicked shall soon be desolated. Thus also the Complutensian editors add ἐν τάχει, that is, soon, quickly, which is lacking in many; the Syriac, by one indeed who fears the Lord, the whole city shall be filled, and by a multitude of wicked men it shall be desolated; just as the whole earth was desolated and overwhelmed by the waters of the flood on account of the crimes of the giants, of which he will speak in verse 8. This is what the Psalmist sings in Psalm CVI, 33: "He turned rivers into a wilderness, and the water-springs into dry ground. A fruitful land into barrenness, for the wickedness of them that dwell in it." On the other hand, on account of the pious: "He turned the wilderness into pools of water, and the dry land into water-springs. And he made the hungry to dwell there, and they built themselves a city of habitation," inhabited, frequented, populous. For the building of cities is God's invention; the gift of their preservation and multiplication is His, which He Himself grants to His faithful ones who fear Him. Whence the Psalmist subjoins verse 38: "And he blessed them (the children of Israel), and they were multiplied exceedingly, and their cattle he diminished not." Thus from one Abraham, Isaac and Jacob were born the twelve tribes of Israel, which made a copious commonwealth and kingdom in a short time, and that in vain did the Egyptians strive against it and sought to destroy their offspring. See the sayings of Exodus, cap. 1. See also Thomas Bozius, On the Signs of the Church, vol. II, lib. XX, sign 88, and lib. XXII, sign 93, cap. IV, num. 44, and cap. VI. Where among other things he teaches that holy and religious men, such as St. Gall, St. Boniface, St. Columban, and the like, by building monasteries, gave occasion for the building of cities, and therefore the most magnificent cities of Germany and the Northern regions were built near monasteries. It is memorable what we read in the Life of St. James, Bishop of Nisibis, namely that Nisibis was impregnable so long as the bones of St. James remained buried in it; but when Julian the Apostate ordered them to be removed, the city was immediately seized by the Persians. See Baronius in the Deeds of Julian. Excellently Philo, in the book On the Sacrifice of Abel and Cain: "Indeed," he says, "whenever I see some good man dwelling in some house or city, I pronounce that house and city blessed; thinking both that present happiness will remain to him perpetually, and that absent happiness is to be expected more abundantly, God being accustomed to pour out His riches beyond measure and proportion, for the sake of the worthy, even upon the unworthy." Thus the salvation and support of Israel was Moses, Joshua, David, Josiah, Isaiah, Judas Maccabaeus, nay even Judith, Esther, etc.
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6. MANY SUCH THINGS (some read wrongly, other things; for in Greek it is τοιαῦτα, that is, such things) MY EYE HAS SEEN, AND STRONGER THINGS THAN THESE MY EAR HAS HEARD, — as if to say: I have seen with my own eyes many cities deserted on account of impiety, others cultivated and inhabited on account of piety, and stronger things, that is, more powerful, greater things; the Syriac version says, more serious examples of the same matter, which formerly happened, I have heard from the fathers with my own ears. The Zurich Bible: my eye has seen many such things, and my ear has heard things more vehement than these. He sets forth some examples from these, namely the flood inflicted on the giants, the fire sent from heaven upon Sodom, the entire Hebrew army destroyed in the desert on account of murmuring.
SECOND PART OF THE CHAPTER. CONCERNING GOD'S VENGEANCE UPON THE IMPIOUS GIANTS, SODOMITES AND JEWS.
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7. IN THE SYNAGOGUE OF SINNERS FIRE SHALL BURN, AND IN AN UNBELIEVING NATION (incredulous, disobedient, rebellious) WRATH SHALL BURN, — as if to say: This is what I assert and predict, namely that God brings it about that in a synagogue, that is, an assembly, however great and numerous, of sinners, God's vengeance burns like fire, and consumes it, and in an unbelieving and rebellious nation God's wrath and vengeance, which consumes and destroys it: for God's wrath, raging without ceasing, does not fear or shrink from the multitude of the impious; just as one wolf does not fear thousands of sheep, but one alone scatters and destroys them all. For judges and princes often, on account of the multitude and nobility of the guilty and their accomplices, do not dare to proceed in the investigation and punishment of crime, for example, witchcraft, because one magician, or one witch, accuses the leading men of the city, and many of them, of the same crime. But God is not struck or moved by any nobility or multitude; but he punishes and destroys all the guilty, even if they are innumerable and most noble, and indeed sometimes the innocent along with the guilty. For unbelieving, in Greek it is ἀπειθεῖ, which can be translated first, incredulous; second, distrustful; third, disobedient; fourth, rebellious; the Zurich Bible, contumacious; the Syriac version, in the people who provokes (provokes God's wrath), God's wrath and vengeance rule. He alludes to Korah, Dathan and Abiram, and their followers, two hundred and fifty men, which is called the congregation of Abiram; for in this synagogue, on account of those three leaders rebelling against Moses, fire burned, according to that passage in Psalm CV: "Fire burned in their synagogue, a flame consumed the sinners." Read the history in Numbers XVI. And: "Straw gathered together in the synagogue of sinners, and their consumption in the flame of fire," Ecclesiasticus XXI, 10.
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8. THEY DID NOT ENTREAT FOR THEIR SINS THE ANCIENT GIANTS, WHO WERE DESTROYED TRUSTING IN THEIR OWN STRENGTH. — This is the first example of the desolation of the commonwealth on account of the impiety of its inhabitants, namely that the whole earth on account of the tyranny, violence, lust, slaughter, rapine and impiety of the giants was overwhelmed by the flood, so that all men, animals, beasts, trees, herbs and plants were submerged and destroyed. See what is said in Genesis VI. Note: "They did not entreat," that is, they did not appease God. It is a catachresis; for God is appeased by prayer, as if to say: The giants, although numerous and robust, nevertheless by their number and strength could not bend, appease and render God propitious to them, so that He would be pleased with them and would not punish their sins with a universal cataclysm of the world; because not fearing God, nor worshipping Him, they trusted in their own strength and robustness, as if no one, not even God Himself, could subdue and subjugate them. Whence in Greek it is: God was not propitious to the ancient giants, who rebelled in their strength. The Complutensian editors add: in the strength of their folly or madness; clearly and forcefully the Zurich edition: God was implacable to the ancient giants, who on account of their power departed from Him in foolishness; the Syriac: He did not spare the ancient kings, who filled the world with their strength, or with their gianthood, that is, with the enormity both of their bodies, of their weapons, of their wars, and of their robberies and other crimes, as if to say: The giants trusted in their gigantic powers; but God, far the greater giant, killed these little giants like fleas, and overwhelmed them with waters, just as a larger fish devours a smaller one, and a whale swallows great ones of any kind, as if they were little fishes. This is what the Wise Man says in chapter XIV, 26: "From the beginning when the ancient giants perished;" and Job in chapter XXVI, 8: "Behold, the giants groan under the waters," as interpreters commonly explain it, although our Pineda understands by giants whales and sea-monsters, which, while giving birth, groan under the waters. Secondly, the word "they did not entreat" can be taken properly, because although the giants, puffed up and trusting in their own strength, did not fear God, nor pray in life, nevertheless they seem to have prayed in death. For when they saw the waters of the flood swelling, and themselves gradually sinking into them, and there being no human hope of escape, distrusting their own strength they fled to God, and entreated Him, but they did not entreat successfully, because they were submerged in the waters. Thus proud and unbridled men, who neither fear God nor men, in shipwreck when they see themselves being swallowed by the waves, forced by necessity invoke God. Whence it is commonly said: "He who does not know how to pray, let him go to sea;" for the tempest and dangers of the sea teach, nay, compel, the proud and untamed to pray. Siracides says all these things in order to refute the foolish sense of the common people, which, while sinning, excuses and defends itself by the multitude and power of those committing the same sin; but it is ignorant that these can protect no one from the wrath of God and from hell. On which account hear a memorable example. Radbod, king of Frisia, invited to baptism by St. Wulfran the Bishop, who promised him the kingdom of heaven, and, if he were not baptized, threatened him with hell, asked him where the greater number of kings and princes, or nobles of the Frisian people, was, in heaven or in hell? St. Wulfran answering: Your predecessors, the princes, who departed without baptism, descended into hell; Radbod drew back his foot from the baptismal font, saying he preferred to be with so many of his predecessor princes than to dwell with a small number in heaven. Wherefore, dying without baptism in the year of the Lord 719, he descended to his own in the depths, where St. Willebrord saw him bound with a chain of fire: thus Jonas in the Life of St. Wulfran, Sigebert, Massaeus, Nauclerus and others, and from these Baronius, in the year of Christ 719. Mystically Rabanus: "The giants," he says, "are those who, ensnared by earthly desires and weighed down by the burden of sins, bear an untamable heart, nor do they consent to bend it to repentance; therefore unworthy of the mercy of God, suffering the loss of their salvation, they fall into eternal destruction." And he adds that such are especially heretics, who all, like giants, are fierce and puffed up; against such indeed God rages cruelly, but justly, and against them indignantly hurls all His arrows and thunderbolts from heaven. Hence giants are called as if γηγενεῖς, born in the earth, children of the earth, mass of the earth, burdens and weights of the earth. In Hebrew they are called nephilim, that is, the falling ones, or those who prostrate; and raphaim, that is, those who dissolve, because they would strike down and destroy others by their height, atrocity, strength, cruelty, as I have said more fully in Genesis VI; Wisdom XIV, 6.
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9. AND HE SPARED NOT THE SOJOURNING OF LOT (many Latin codices wrongly read "of them" instead of "Lot"; the Complutensian edition adds "and he smote them"; but the Roman edition deletes this). He calls the sojourning a place of sojourning, namely Sodom and the Pentapolis, in which Lot sojourned and dwelt as a stranger, as if to say: God spared not Sodom and the Pentapolis, the men and riches luxuriating therein, but burned and destroyed all with heavenly fire. For from the vengeance of God which He exercised publicly upon the impious giants through the flood, by submerging the whole world, he passes to the public vengeance upon the impious Pentapolis, whereby God struck down all the Sodomites and Pentapolitans with heavenly fire. Whence, explaining this, he adds: AND HE CURSED THEM FOR THE PRIDE OF THEIR WORD. — namely, because they uttered proud words against God and Lot, blaspheming God and despising His divinity, providence and vengeance. That not only abominable lust was the cause of the destruction of Sodom, but also pride, Ezekiel teaches in chapter XVI, verse 49: "Behold," says he, "this was the iniquity of Sodom, pride, fulness of bread, and abundance, and idleness of her, and of her daughters." For it was a proud word by which, when Lot wished to protect his guests from the foul injury and violence of the Sodomites, they insulted him, saying: "We will afflict thee more than them," Gen. XIX, 9. That proud word moved God to their destruction, says Palacius. Note: For "sojourning" the Greek has, περὶ τῆς παροικίας Λώτ; which some translate first as, those who were from the dwelling of Lot, as if to say: He spared not the Sodomites who dwelt in Sodom, which Lot likewise dwelt in as a stranger; for thus the Greeks take τὸ περί. Thus Paul calls those who are of the circumcision, the circumcised, namely the Jews, as I said in Rom. II, 7. Therefore thus they translate: he spared not those among whom Lot dwelt, whom he abhorred because of their pride. Whence also the Syriac: he spared not, it says, the inhabitants of the city of Lot, who acted wickedly because of their pride. Secondly, it can be translated, the dwelling, or the hospitality and place which Lot inhabited; whence the Zurich edition translates, he spared not even the hospitality of Lot, or those (Sodomites) whom he abhorred because of their pride. Thirdly, the Roman edition translates properly and forcefully, he spared not for the dwelling of Lot those whom he cursed for their pride, as if to say: God spared not the Sodomites, not even for the merits of the holy Lot, who dwelt with them, because he alone was just in Sodom. Whence he could not restrain the hand and wrath of God, lest He punish from heaven such enormous crimes of all the Sodomites, but he obtained that he himself with his own should escape only. For Abraham also, praying for them, obtained from God that, if ten just men should be found among them, He would spare them, Gen. XVIII, 32. But because these were not found among them, hence the wrath decreed by God raged upon them. In a similar manner God says of the impious Jerusalem, already destined by Him for destruction by the Chaldeans: "And if these three men, Noe, Daniel and Job, shall be in the midst of it, they shall deliver their own souls by their justice, etc. As I live, saith the Lord God, that neither sons nor daughters shall be delivered; but they themselves alone shall be delivered, and the land shall be desolate," Ezech. XIV. See what I said concerning the burning of Sodom in Gen. XIX, and II Peter II, 6, and Wisdom X, 6. Although this can rightly be referred to Sodom, yet you would more rightly refer it to Jericho: for God condemned and devoted Jericho with its inhabitants to anathema, that is, to utter and complete destruction, because of impiety, Joshua cap. VI. Jericho therefore was properly a city of perdition and anathema, because it was anathematized by God and devoted to burning; so that this is the third example of God's vengeance, destroying impious cities and nations. Whence Joshua, cap. VI, 17, from the mouth of God commands his men concerning Jericho: "And let this city be anathema, and all things that are in it to the Lord," so that the whole may be burned to God and to divine justice, and as it were offered as a holocaust. This is supported by the fact that he immediately adds the example of the Hebrews in the time of Moses, who were destroyed by God in the desert because of their murmurings: but their sons at the same time, under the leadership of Joshua, overthrew Jericho. Whence the Syriac adds, at that time sixty thousand foot soldiers were gathered together. But in the time of Moses and the Hebrews the destruction of Sodom did not occur, as it had been completed already five hundred years before, but that of Jericho. Therefore the Syriac understood this passage concerning Jericho. Finally Palacius takes these things concerning the Egyptians; for the Greek has thus: he had no mercy on the nation of perdition, who went forth in their sins, as if to say: God spared not the Egyptians, whose whole nation went forth to pursue the Hebrews departing, exalting itself in strength, horsemen, chariots and gods, but God drowned and suffocated all in the Red Sea.
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10. HE HAD NO MERCY ON THEM, DESTROYING THE WHOLE NATION, AND EXALTING ITSELF IN ITS SINS. — Thus the Roman and Complutensian editions read the "and": for it has force, and signifies the cause of destruction (for thus the Hebrews take their copulative "and", that is, and, for because, for, namely), as if to say: Therefore God destroyed the whole nation of Sodom, because it exalted itself in its sins, boasting that it did not fear God the avenger, and His vengeance. In Greek: He had no mercy on the nation of destruction (that is, the destroyed, and therefore devoted to its own destruction and ruin by God) exalting themselves in their sins; Zurich: He had no mercy on the destroyed nation, as being exalted in the sins which it committed; Complutensian: He had no mercy on the destroyed nation, who went forth in their sins: for they read τοὺς ἐξερχουμένους, that is, who went forth. Others throughout with Ours read ἐπαιρομένους, that is, exalting themselves in sins. Syriac: He had no mercy upon the accursed people, and pronounced sentence against them, to destroy them on account of their sins.
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11. AND AS SIX HUNDRED THOUSAND FOOTMEN, WHO WERE GATHERED TOGETHER IN THE HARDNESS OF THEIR HEART. — Repeat from the preceding verse destroyed: for that lies hidden in "destroying", as if to say: And as God destroyed six hundred thousand Hebrews in the wilderness in hardness, that is, on account of the hardness, stubbornness and rebellion of theirs. Whence the Syriac renders it, on account of their murmuring: thus likewise He destroyed Sodom, as I said in the preceding verse. For the present verse depends on that. Whence some read it thus: For in Greek it is not ὡς, that is, as, but οὕτως, that is, thus, as if to say: As He destroyed the Sodomites, thus likewise He destroyed the Hebrews. For out of six hundred thousand of them who went forth from Egypt, only two, namely Joshua and Caleb, entered into the promised land, all the others on account of the murmuring of the spies were punished by God with death, and in fact died in the wilderness, according to the sentence of God pronounced against them in Numbers XIV, 29. Furthermore the Roman and Greek render it, and thus to six hundred thousand footmen (repeat, He had no mercy, although in Greek they are accusatives, six hundred thousand, which the Latin Vulgate interpreter imitated; yet these accusatives are to be rendered in Latin by the dative: for the Greek ἐλέω is constructed with the accusative, while the Latin misereor is constructed with the dative), who gathered together rose up in the hardness of their heart. The Complutensian and some others from the Greek "six hundred thousand", adding many words, fill it out in this way, and thus six hundred thousand footmen, which were gathered together in the stubbornness of their heart, scourging, pitying, striking, healing, the Lord with mercy and chastisement preserved; which Vatablus explains, preserved, namely not themselves, but their children, as if to say: The Lord in preserving His people used partly wrath, partly mercy. But truly these words: "Scourging, pitying, striking, healing," etc., are lacking in the Latin, Syriac, Greek, Roman, and other corrected texts. Finally, "gathered together" thus expound, as if to say: They were gathered together both for murmuring and guilt, so also for scourging and punishment: they were gathered together for rebellion, thus also for death and the grave. For to gather, or to be collected, or to be added to the fathers, or to enter the way of all flesh, among the Hebrews signifies to die: for the dead are collected in the earth from which they came forth, and in the limbo of the fathers all the just were once gathered. Concerning which matter I have said more in Hosea IV, 3. This therefore is the third, or, according to the Syriac, the fourth public example of God's vengeance upon the impious. AND IF THERE HAD BEEN ONE STIFF-NECKED, IT WOULD BE A WONDER IF HE HAD BEEN EXEMPT. — Hence it is clear that the Interpreter of Ecclesiasticus was less skilled in Latin, and perhaps was a Greek man, as I said above. For stiff-necked renders less correctly in Latin, for stiff-necked, that is, hard of neck, one who bends and bows his neck with difficulty, stubborn, disobedient, rebellious: for this is what the Greek σκληροτράχηλος signifies, such as Job describes in chapter XLI, 15, saying: "His heart shall be as hard as a stone, and as firm as a smith's anvil;" or, as the Septuagint, "and it stood as an immovable anvil." And Isaiah in chapter XLVIII, 4: "For I knew that thou art stubborn, and thy neck is an iron sinew, and thy forehead brass." And Ezekiel, chapter II, verse 4, and chapter III, verse 7. The sense is first, as if to say: If those six hundred thousand had been one man obstinate and stiff-necked, it would be a wonder if he had escaped the divine wrath. For as God is infinite in mercy, so also is He in wrath, as the damned experience by their own evil in hell: thus Palacius, as if to say: It is the same to God, and equally easy, to punish six hundred thousand as one alone: wherefore when He punished six hundred thousand with death, it was to Him the same as if they all had one neck— Secondly and truly, as if to say: If God did not spare six hundred thousand murmurers, it would be a wonder if He had spared even one stiff-necked and murmuring man: for the whole people is of more account than one from the people; wherefore if He did not spare the whole people, but killed all to a man, surely neither would He have spared one alone. Our author aptly referred this to the preceding verse and to the times of Moses; whence he translated, it would have been: already the Greek texts will refer it to the present time. For thus they have it, that if one shall be stiff-necked, it is a marvel if he shall be innocent, that is, unpunished and free from penalty. The Zurich Bible clearly, why if one contumacious in the people shall have been, it is a marvel if he go unpunished; the Syriac, also if one shall have hardened his neck, it is a marvel if he shall be justified. Another codex has, it is a marvel if he overcome the wrath and vengeance of God. From the vengeance of six hundred thousand he gathers the vengeance of any stiff-necked one; wherefore the initial conjunction and in the Hebrew manner is illative, signifying, whence, therefore, why, as the Zurich Bible translated it, as if to say, If God did not permit unpunished the Hebrews in so great a number, namely six hundred thousand, how much less will he permit unpunished one, who dares to raise his neck against God? He says this against certain presumptuous ones, who think thus: Let the whole multitude be punished, yet I, since I am alone, shall be able to escape or get away, as in battle where many are slain, each one hopes to escape. Whence announcing this in verse 16, he says: "Say not: I shall be hid from God, and from on high who shall remember me? In a great people I shall not be known: for what is my soul in the immensity of so vast a creature?" Again in strife or quarrel, the stiff-necked and headstrong think by their importunity and obstinacy they will overcome all and everything, because no one wishes to have dealings with the headstrong. The same stiff-necked ones persuade themselves it will be thus with God. But they err: for God, as he tames and crushes any headstrong ones: as his lightning breaks all hard things that resist, passes by soft things. This is what Sirach says: If God crushed and killed six hundred thousand obstinate Hebrews, with what face will one stiff-necked persuade himself that he will escape unpunished the hand of God the avenger? For, as Rabanus says: "The censure of divine judgment preserves equity in all things, and therefore will spare neither one nor many, if they do not turn from their sins: for no sin is left unpunished, because either man himself exacts the penalty of sin in himself, or he will be punished by the examination of the strict judge." To this genuine sense our Latin version can be adapted, if you take τὸ fuisset as received from the Interpreter placed less latinly for esset. For thus even now the English, Irish and other peoples mix and exchange these very past and present times by enallage and use one for another. Indeed even in Latin you would speak correctly thus: If in this age one had been stiff-necked, it is a marvel if he had been unpunished; wishing to signify: If in this age one were stiff-necked, it is a marvel if he were unpunished. For from the past tense which is joined to the present age or time, the present is correctly gathered, namely from fuisset is gathered esset. For if in this age no one stiff-necked was unpunished, why should another in the present be unpunished?
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12. FOR MERCY AND WRATH (Syriac, fury) IS WITH HIM. — He proves that God passes over no stiff-necked one unpunished, from the fact that in God there is equally wrath by which he is angry at the impious and punishes them, and mercy by which he has compassion on the pious and obedient: wrath therefore, that is, the justice and vengeance of God, equals mercy, and is as great as mercy is; wherefore as his mercy extends to all and each of the pious, and passes over none, not even the least: so likewise his vengeance exerts itself upon all and each of the impious, and does not allow anyone to go unpunished. See what is said, cap. II, verse 23. He explains the same thing in other words, adding: MIGHTY IN PLACATION, AND POURING OUT WRATH, — repeat with him, with God it is: that is, placation is mighty with God, but so that he likewise pours out wrath upon the guilty, as if to say, God allows himself to be easily entreated and appeased by the penitent and supplicant; but he is angry at the impenitent and stiff-necked, according to Psalm CXXX, 7: "With the Lord there is mercy: and with him plentiful redemption." Would that all might imitate this placability of God! In Greek it is more forceful, δυνάστης ἐξιλασμοῦ, that is, mighty, or dynast and prince, as the Roman versions translate it, of placations, because namely God is a sea and ocean of placation and clemency. Thus to entreat for to appease by catachresis he took in verse 8, saying: "The ancient giants did not entreat for their sins." Whence the Syriac, he is great in sparing, and also in avenging sins; the Zurich Bible connects this verse and the following thus and sets it forth clearly, for since mercy and wrath together and diligently proceed from him, and he is mighty to give pardon and pour out wrath, as his mercy is great, so also his chastisement is great. According to his works he judges each one. Jansenius and Palacius add, that God himself can be called "mighty in placation, and" at the same time "pouring out wrath," because he himself is copious in placation or appeasement, just as he is called mercy, as, "My God my mercy," Psalm LVIII, 18. Thus Christ is called our propitiation and redemption, I Cor. I, 30.
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13. ACCORDING TO HIS MERCY, SO HIS CORRECTION JUDGES THAT MAN ACCORDING TO HIS WORKS. — In other words he inculcates what he said, that is to say: Just as God's mercy is great, by which he has pity on the pious and the penitent, and does good to them, so also his correction and chastisement is great: because he judges and punishes each impious person according to his works and deserts. For correction the Greek is ἔλεγχος, that is reproof, correction, rebuke; the Syriac, as his mercies are many, so also he avenges sins, and judges each one according to his works. Note: God takes the cause of showing mercy from himself: for he has mercy, not because we deserve it, but because his goodness, love and piety persuade it; and this Sirach signifies, saying simply: "According to his mercy," because namely he himself, or with him, is powerful to entreat: for he regards it; but he takes the cause of correcting and pouring out wrath, not from himself, but from us, and therefore he says: "His correction judges that man according to his works," that is to say: It is proper to God to have mercy and to spare, but it is foreign to him to avenge and to punish, as Isaiah says cap. XXVIII, vers. 21, because he does this only when compelled by sins. Hence God gave these names of mercy to himself in Exodus XXXIV, 6, and wished and wishes them to be invoked by Moses and by us: "Lord God, merciful and clement, and patient, and of great mercy;"; Hebr. rab chesed, which can be translated, prince of mercy and piety. Hence he is called by Paul: "Father of mercies, and God of all consolation," II Corinthians I, 3. Otherwise τὸ according to is explained by Hugo, Lyra and Palacius, that is to say: According to the prescription of mercy, God's correction judges and chastises the wicked works of men. For God tempers his wrath and scourges with mercy, and so according to the prescription and dictate of mercy he circumscribes and limits his scourges, so that in justice and vengeance mercy presides as it were, and it itself as it were presiding and arbiter defines the measure of punishing: therefore the measure of mercy is the measure of vengeance. Whence St. Anselm in the Proslogion addressing God: "Your mercy, he says, is born of your justice, because it is just for you to be so good: but truly considering justice, as it distributes rewards and punishments according to merits, mercy is prior. For God is moved from himself, and through a prior act of will, to showing mercy." This is a pious exposition, but the former is more genuine. For Scripture is accustomed to commend the justice and mercy of God, and to compare and equate them with each other, as it were two bases and columns of his providence. Whence the Psalmist: "I will sing mercy and judgment to you, O Lord," Psalm C, vers. 1. And St. Basil in Psalm XXXII: "These, he says, are joined together within themselves, mercy and judgment, so that neither mercy alone may bring security, nor judgment alone may work despair."
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14. THE SINNER SHALL NOT ESCAPE IN RAPINE, AND PATIENCE SHALL NOT DELAY THE MERCY OF HIM WHO DOTH MERCY. — The Complutensians read ἀσεβοῦς, that is, of the impious; but the others read εὐσεβοῦς, that is, of the pious, merciful, as if to say: Just as the sinner (for example, a robber in robbery) shall not escape the swift correction of his rapacity and the vengeance of God: so likewise "patience shall not delay," that is, the reward of patience, that is, of the expectation and hope of him who doth mercy, as if to say: Soon shall he receive the reward of his mercy, which he hopes for and expects. For patience the Greek is ὑπομονή, which signifies first, the tolerance of labors and sorrows; secondly, the long-suffering expectation of the merits of good works, for which he knows he shall receive ample riches and crowns in heaven. The Greek texts, as is their custom, are concise and contain only this: prepare a place for all almsgiving (some, for ποίησον, that is, make, prepare, read ποιήσει, that is, shall make, shall prepare, a place, namely God): each one according to his works shall find, so that he may receive a reward according to the merit of his works. The Zurich version: prepare a place for all beneficence: for each one shall obtain the fruit according to the measure of his works and the understanding of his pilgrimage; the Syriac: whosoever worketh justice hath a reward, and each one findeth his works before him. Most excellently St. Gregory, book IV of the Morals, chapter XLII: "Because," he says, "in this life there is a distinction of works for us, there will be in that future life without doubt a distinction of dignities, so that by how much one here surpasseth another by merit, by so much one there shall surpass another in retribution." And St. Cyprian, treatise On Works and Almsgiving: "A glorious and divine thing, dearest brethren," he says, "is the work of salvation, a great consolation of believers, a wholesome protection of our security, a fortification of hope, a safeguard of faith." See the remarkable apologue by which Barlaam teaches Josaphat that good works are to be sent ahead, so that after death we may live perpetually in heaven from them, in Damascene in the History, chapter XIV. But properly concerning almsgiving St. Chrysostom, homily 9 On Penance: "Almsgiving," he says, "that queen of virtues, bringeth men most swiftly into the very citadels of the heavens, serving in the place of the best advocate. Almsgiving is a great thing, it precedeth the air, it passeth the moon, it exceedeth the rays of the sun, it cometh to the very summit of the heavens, passing through the heavens themselves and running down through the peoples of angels, the choirs of Archangels, and all the superior powers, it standeth beside the royal throne."
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15. EVERY MERCY SHALL MAKE ROOM FOR EACH ONE ACCORDING TO THE MERIT OF HIS WORKS (room, namely before God in heaven and in His heavenly reward, according to that saying of Paul: "He that soweth sparingly, shall also reap sparingly: and he that soweth in blessings, shall also reap blessings," II Cor. IX. See Matt. XXV, verse 35, where Christ adjudges the elect to heaven on account of mercy alone. Hence it is clear against heretics, the name and truth of the merit of good works. Calvin and Kemnitius respond, that merit is not in the Greek, and therefore was wrongly added by the Vulgate Interpreter. But they err: for in Greek it is κατά ἔργα, which signifies according to the merits of works, as all those skilled in Greek know. Whence the Syriac translator renders it, reward. Our author adds): AND ACCORDING TO THE UNDERSTANDING OF HIS PILGRIMAGE, — that is to say, According to the prudence and wisdom of him, by which in this life, as it were in a pilgrimage, he wisely sends his goods ahead through mercy into heaven, as it were into his homeland, so that he may live happily there in eternity, that is to say, Each one shall receive a reward in heaven, according to the life wisely accomplished in this pilgrimage. For in Hebrew שכל sachal, that is to understand, signifies to act intelligently, to conduct oneself prudently, to work wisely; whence שכל sechel, that is understanding, is called prudence itself, as in Psalm LXXVII, 72: "And in the understanding of his hands (that is, as St. Jerome, Aquila and the Chaldaean render it, in the prudence of his actions) he led them." Similar passages are Proverbs I, 4, Psalm XV, 17, Ecclesiasticus I, 4, and elsewhere. One codex reads merit instead of understanding, and Jansenius thinks it should be read thus: which reading would certainly be more apt and clear, if more codices supported it. Rabanus seems to support it when he says: "But in that he says, Mercy shall make room for each one according to the understanding of his pilgrimage, he shows that whoever strives with good works to keep the commandments of God in the time of this pilgrimage, and labors with tears and groaning to cleanse his sins, shall deserve to be consoled with eternal rest." But from the words of Rabanus it is clear that he read understanding, but explains understanding by merit, which is certainly true. For he is understanding and wise in this life, who strives to— rum, as of reward. Here rather it is taken in the second way, whence the Zurich Bible renders it, the irreligious shall not escape with plunder, nor shall the hope of the pious be frustrated: for this is what the Greek καθυστερήσει signifies; others, the expectation of the pious shall not be in vain; the Syriac, shall not deliver those working falsehood, and defrauding, and the hope of the just shall not be frustrated in eternity. This is what the Apostle says in Rom. II, 6: "He will render to every man according to his works: to them indeed, who according to patience in good work, seek glory and honor and incorruption, life everlasting; but to them that are contentious, etc., wrath and indignation." Where for patience the same Greek name is used as here, namely ὑπομονή. Otherwise Hugo, that is to say, "The sinner shall not escape with plunder," that is, the sinner shall not snatch himself from the hands of God, so as to escape His vengeance.
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16 and 17. Say not: I shall be hidden from God, and from on high who shall remember me? In a great people I shall not be known (Greek and Roman, I shall not be in memory; others, there shall be no memory of me): for what is my soul in so immense a creature? — Zurich, or Vatablus, say not: I shall hide myself from the Lord, and who from on high shall care for me? Among the abundance of people there shall be no memory of me: for how small is my soul in so immense a nature of things? others, for what is my soul in the immensity of created things? Syriac, say not: Before the Lord I shall be hidden, and in the height of the heavens who shall remember me? And in a great people I shall not be known, or what (or which) is my soul among the spirits of all men? It is an anticipation. He said that God punished whole nations, such as the Sodomites, the Hebrews, indeed the whole world by the flood: now lest anyone should except himself and say that God indeed cares for great nations, but not individual men, and thus someone impious could escape the knowledge of God, and by that reasoning evade His vengeance; he anticipates and excludes this very thing, saying: "Say not: I shall be hidden from God." Here note that three reasons are introduced here, by which the impious foolishly persuade themselves that they can escape the eyes and hands of God; all of which he here refutes. The first is, that God is God, that is, the highest and most exalted majesty. by which it seems unworthy that He should attend to and care for individual men, who before Him are as locusts and fleas. Therefore God cares for great things such as the heavens and heavenly things, despises small and vile things. Whence the impious say in Job, cap. XXII, 14: "Clouds are His covert, neither doth He consider our things, and He walketh round about the poles of heaven." For thus a king neglects to attend to and watch over individual subjects of his kingdom, indeed he cannot, and "the praetor cares not for the smallest things," as is commonly said. But to this it is answered, that God is God, that is, a divinity, which regards, rules, cares for, avenges, and rewards each one equally as all. For the Providence of God, since it is most exact and most perfect, extends itself to all and to each, even the most minute things. For He has an immense eye, by which He sees all and each most easily and most distinctly, and can see infinitely more and greater things. Whence St. Benedict, elevated in rapture to this eye of God, saw under it the whole world, as if a small globe compressed and gathered together under the rays of the sun, as St. Gregory relates, lib. II Dialog. cap. XXXV. Therefore just as the sun illuminates all things, so much more does God. Whence Hesiod says that God is the sun which sees all things and hears all things: ἠέλιος, he says, ὃς πάντ' ἐφορᾷ καὶ πάντ' ἐπακούει. And the Wise Man, cap. I, 10: "The ear of jealousy," he says, "heareth all things." And he gives the reason, vers. 7: "For the spirit of the Lord hath filled the whole world, and this (πνεῦμα, that is, this spirit), which containeth all things, hath knowledge of the voice. For this reason he that speaketh unjust things cannot be hidden, nor shall the correcting judgment pass by him." The second reason why the impious think they can be hidden from God is, that they are very far distant from God: for God is in the highest heavens, they are in the lowest earth. Whence they say in Ezech. IX: "The Lord hath forsaken the earth, and the Lord seeth not." But Sirach equally turns this back upon them: for God from on high sees from very far away, because He has the most acute and immense sight. Just as one who from a mountain looks out, if he has keen and strong eyes, sees men coming from afar. Again, the earth in respect to heaven, and much more to God, is like a point: therefore God sees all and each acutely and distinctly, but as small as a point. Just as therefore one in a small chamber sees all things that are in it and are done in it: so God sees most clearly all things that are and are done on earth and in the whole world: for this in respect to God is like a chamber. This is what Isaiah says, cap. XL, 22: "He that sitteth upon the globe of the earth, and the inhabitants thereof are as locusts: He that stretcheth out the heavens as nothing, and spreadeth them out as a tent to dwell in. He that giveth searchers of secrets as if they were not, and the judges of the earth as if they were void." Finally, God is so in heaven, that He is equally on earth, and in all places and corners of the earth: for He Himself fills heaven and earth with His essence, presence and power. Wherefore whatever things are done in any place, are done before Him present and beholding. The third cause is, because they say: "In a great people I shall not be known: for what is my soul in so immense a creature?" as if to say, There are almost infinite millions of men; among so many, I alone shall be able to hide. Thus indeed disciples in a great and crowded school, while they chatter and engage in mischief, hide themselves in the crowd of their fellows, and are not seen by the teacher. Thus thieves in a gathering, when they have cut purses, insert themselves into the throng of men, and there hide themselves, nor can they be recognized. Thus many wicked men hide themselves in great cities, provinces and kingdoms, because one praetor, prince and king in so great a number of subjects cannot look upon individuals, and cannot observe the conduct and deeds of each one. But they are mistaken: because all men and creatures, since they are of finite number, before the infinite eye of God are as it were one atom, which He illuminates from every side, beholds and perceives. This is what Isaiah says in chapter XL, 15: "Behold the nations as a drop of a bucket, and as the smallest grain of a balance are they counted: behold the islands as a very small dust, etc. All nations are as nothing, so are they before him, and are counted to him as nothing and void." Trembling at these immense and most clear eyes of God, equally just and most powerful avenger, King David says in Psalm CXXXVIII, 8: "Whither, he says, shall I go from thy spirit? and whither shall I flee from thy face? If I ascend into heaven, thou art there: if I descend into hell, thou art present." And soon after: "For darkness shall not be dark to thee, and night shall be light as day." Wherefore that the impious on the day of judgment shall hide themselves in caves, and shall say "to the mountains and rocks: Fall upon us, and hide us from the face of him that sitteth upon the throne, and from the wrath of the Lamb," Apocalypse VI, verse 16; they shall say this, not because they wish to be hidden, that they may not be seen by God and Christ (for they know this to be impossible), but that they may not be forced to behold his angry countenance: for he shall be so horrible and fearful to them, that they would rather hide themselves in hell than behold him. Note: Sirach repeatedly rubs in and inculcates the memory of the presence of God, beholding all and each, judging, rewarding and avenging, because there is no more efficacious stimulus for restraining men from all evil, and inciting them to all good. Whence in the following chapter, verse 16: "All their works, he says, are as the sun in the sight of God: and his eyes are without ceasing looking upon the ways of them." And chapter XXIII, 28: "The eyes of the Lord are much brighter than the sun, looking round about all the ways of men, and the deep abyss, and the hearts of men, beholding in hidden places." This is what Boethius thunders forth: "A great necessity of acting well is incumbent upon us, because in the sight of the Judge who sees all things we do all things." And piously St. Augustine in Meditations, chapter X: "Thus certainly, he says, it seems to me when I attend to his mercies toward me, that, if it be permitted to say so, God does nothing else than to provide for my salvation; and thus I see the whole occupied in my keeping, as if he were forgetful of all, and God exhibits himself to me, always ready to offer himself: whithersoever I turn, he does not abandon me: wheresoever I shall be, he does not depart: whatever I shall do, he likewise assists, and finally to all my actions a perpetual inspector, and as far as his goodness pertains, as it were an inseparable cooperator assists, he himself patiently shows the effect of his work. From which it is established, that although his face cannot yet be seen by us, nevertheless his presence can never be avoided." And Tertullian, in the book On Penance, chapter VI: "Nothing, he says, is hidden that shall not be revealed: however great darkness thou shalt have spread over thy deeds, God is light; and his eyes are much brighter than the sun, looking round about all the ways of men, and the deep abyss, and the hearts of men beholding in hidden places." The Complutensian and certain other Greek codices append to this verse, or to verse 16, these two verses which are lacking in the Latin: "The Lord hardened Pharaoh, so that he would not know him; that his mighty and efficacious operations might be known (for this is what the Greek ἐνεργήματα signifies) in those things which are under heaven. His mercy is manifest to all creation; and he divided his light and darkness, or divided them with adamant," as if to say: God divided light from darkness completely and perpetually, just as if he had separated and divided them with a wall of adamant, and he did this both in the first creation and disposition of things, which persists continually, Genesis I; and mystically he does so in good and evil angels, as well as in all things, for example in Pharaoh and Moses; for the good are light, the evil are darkness. Wherefore just as in the good he showed mercy through grace and glory, so in the evil he showed judgment and vengeance through abandonment and hell, and that perpetually, as if he had separated them with a wall of adamant: for such a wall is between heaven and hell. Whence Abraham to the rich man condemned in hell: "Between us and you, he says, a great chaos is fixed: so that they who would pass from hence to you, cannot, nor can they pass from thence hither," Luke XVI, 26. The Syriac also reads these verses, but places them before verse 16. Thus it has: "The Lord hardened the heart of Pharaoh, that he might not know him, that his works might appear under heaven. His mercies might appear to all his creatures, and he divided his light and his darkness to the sons of men," as if to say: I have set before you God's vengeance upon the wicked, mercy upon the pious. Do you wish examples? Take Pharaoh as an example of vengeance, who on account of his hardness was drowned in the Red Sea as to body, and as to soul in the fire of hell: but the examples of mercy are suggested by all creatures, inasmuch as they are preserved, nourished, quickened by it, and enriched with all its blessings.
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18 and 19. Behold heaven, and the heaven of heavens, the abyss, and all the earth, and the things that are in them, shall be moved in his sight. The mountains together, and the hills, and the foundations of the earth: when God shall see them, they shall be shaken with trembling. — The Zurich version: behold heaven, and the heaven of heavens, the deep sea of God, together with the earth, and all things comprehended in these, when he says in them, are moved, the whole created world, and that which is created (can be created; or is created, that is, is preserved; for God's preservation is as it were a continuous creation) according to his will, and the mountains together and the foundations of the earth, when the Lord looks upon them, are shaken with trembling; the Syriac: behold the heavens of heavens, and the abyss, and the earth in the manifestation of him who stands over them, the roots of the mountains and the foundations of the world, when he is manifested over them, are moved. He refutes what he said from the mouth of the impious: "I shall be hidden from God," etc., from the fact that God beholds and sees all parts of the world, and moves them by his sight, and shakes them with trembling; from this therefore he leaves it to be gathered that God likewise sees all the deeds of individuals, so that he may judge them, and therefore all and each ought to tremble with fear and reverence of this divine sight, and be shaken with horror. For by heaven he means the air, by the heaven of heavens the starry heavens and the others together with the empyrean, by the abyss the sea; to which join the earth with its inhabitants, you will have all the elements of the world, and the heavens, which compose and join together the whole world; by the foundations of the earth he means the lowest parts of the earth, and its center, by which as by foundations the earth appears to rest. Moreover God moves these by his sight, in Greek ἐπισκοπῇ, that is, by inspection and visitation, because when God wishes to visit them, and to show in them his presence and power, to the terror of men, he moves them from their place, shakes and concusses them, as he shook the whole earth in the passion of Christ, and Mount Sinai when he gave the law to Moses in it, Psalm 67:9, and otherwise frequently moved and shattered provinces and islands with earthquakes from their place: but he will do this especially at the end of the world on the day of judgment, as is evident from Apocalypse 6:14. This is what the Psalmist says, Psalm 104:32: "Who looketh on the earth, and maketh it tremble: who toucheth the mountains, and they smoke." And Job chapter 9:5: "Who removeth the mountains, and they know it not, whom he overthroweth in his wrath." See Psalm 17:8 and following. For prodigious, horrible and divine, indeed his own works, by which he shows his dominion and magnificence over the world, are thunders, lightnings and earthquakes: for these are portents and omens both of divine power and of indignation and vengeance, so that we may fear and revere his Godhead as terrible and most holy. Hence that passage in Job chapter 37:4: "After him a sound shall roar, he shall thunder with the voice of his greatness; and men shall not find his way, when his voice shall be heard." And chapter 38:35: "Wilt thou send lightnings, and shall they go, and shall they return and say to thee: Here we are?" And chapter 9:6: "Who shaketh the earth out of her place, and the pillars thereof tremble." Wherefore Philastrius, in his book On Heresies, calls heretics and vain philosophers those who ascribe earthquakes to the nature of things and elements, not to God's peculiar command and indignation, by which he admonishes sinners to be converted. Hence among the Gentiles it was always prodigious to antiquity, and indeed divine: "If it thundered, if it lightened, if the earth moved." See Gellius book 2, chapter 28, and Seneca, books 2 and 6 of Natural Questions. Wherefore also in earthquakes they consulted the Sibylline books, as Livy testifies in book 34. "When Jupiter thunders and lightens, it is unlawful to hold the assemblies of the people," says Cicero, book 2 of On Divination. Hence also the books of lightning, or augural books, which treated of auguries taken from lightnings, which Cicero mentions in book 1 of On Divination. The reason is, because God holds the whole world in his fist, whence he can easily shake it, according to that passage in Isaiah 40:12: "Who hath measured the waters in the hollow of his hand, and weighed the heavens with his palm? Who hath poised with three fingers the bulk of the earth, and weighed the mountains in scales, and the hills in a balance?" that is, Who, except God alone? The poets sang the same thing, Virgil in the 4th Aeneid: Ruler, who with thy godhead shakest heaven and earth. Seneca in the Agamemnon: Father and ruler mighty with the thunderbolt, At whose nod together The utmost poles trembled. The same in Hercules Furious: O great ruler of Olympus, and arbiter of the world, As the highest power of the gods, as ruler and father of the heavenly ones, at whose missiles hurled the things of earth tremble. God says of God, that "by a nod he shakes Olympus." Otherwise Palacius: The heavens, he says, earth, sea and all things which are in them, are moved before God, that is, they make no motion unless it is immediately seen by God, as if to say, They cannot move even the least bit without all of it being immediately perceived by God. But hear his wonderful explanation concerning the foundations: In the midst of the earth, he says, there is a most vast chasm where hell is: and that cavity is arched, constructed with a stone arch. That stone arch is the foundation of the earth: for just as bones are the foundations of animals, so stone veins beginning from that arch are the bones of the earth, and therefore are its foundations. For which reason the Author most deservedly adds that when God regards these foundations, a tremor shakes the earth, because when the bones of an animal are shaken, the body of the animal is also shaken. Thus Palacius. Finally, when thunders resound with horrible crash and lightnings are hurled, the heaven, mountains, hills and the whole world appear to be shaken and struck with fear, so much so that hinds, which give birth with the greatest difficulty, when it thunders, with fear loosening their sinews, give birth and cast forth their young, according to that of Psalm XXVIII, 9: "The voice of the Lord (thundering) preparing the hinds;" St. Jerome, assisting hinds in childbirth; others, causing hinds to tremble or to give birth. Why then not sinners? Morally, learn here how powerful and efficacious is God's regard, so that it shakes the whole world, and if he wills, tears it from its center, and therefore how much we ought to respect and revere him. The first reason is, because God's regard is indivisibly joined to God's will: but God's will is not as the will of man or angel, which wills only and does not do what it wills; but in willing it immediately does what it efficaciously wills. For he said: "Let there be light," and immediately light was made. He said: "Let there be a firmament," heavens, sun, moon, stars, elements, men, birds, fishes, animals; and immediately they were made, Genesis I. For "all things whatsoever the Lord willed, he made in heaven and on earth," Psalm CXXXIV, verse 6, because God's will is at the same time power, indeed omnipotence of God, and his act and execution. The second reason is, because this regard of God is like the sun, which by diffusing the rays of its light illuminates all things, vivifies them, makes them fruitful; some it burns, some it melts, some it hardens. The deity communicated these rays to the humanity of Christ. Whence Christ, regarding Peter fallen, Matthew and Zacchaeus the publicans, and other sinners, immediately converted them to himself, and to penance and holiness. For if the basilisk kills by its eyes those whom it beholds; if the lynx bird, which is called vertilla and torquilla from the turning of the neck, according to Aristotle lib. II of Animals cap. XII, is said by its aspect to snatch men into love of itself; if a magnet placed opposite iron draws it to itself: what wonder if the eyes of Christ, in which shone the splendor of divinity, by their aspect snatched the Apostles and others to themselves? Third, because this regard of God is practical: for his inspection is visitation and judgment: and God's judgment is efficacious, because by it he punishes the guilty, rewards the innocent. Mystically Rabanus: The heavens, he says, are the Angels, who dwell in heaven; the abyss are demons, who dwell in the abyss of hell: all these tremble before God, according to that of the Apostle, Philippians II: "In the name of Jesus every knee shall bow, of those in heaven, on earth and under the earth." For by mountains and hills, the person of the powerful is shown; and by the foundations of the earth, the counsels of human minds: these therefore tremble at the sight of God, because they are wholly subject to his dominion. In sacred Scripture also, the loftiness of preachers is often signified by the name of mountains. Concerning which it is said through the Psalmist: Let the mountains receive peace for thy people. For the elect preachers of the eternal homeland are not undeservedly called mountains, because by the loftiness of their life they abandon the lowest parts of the earth, and become near to heaven. Therefore, to the elect of God subject to divine will, the mind of the proud alone resists; but striving to oppose him, it breaks itself by the very sword of contradiction: it struggles against the internal order, but conquered by its own efforts is bound. Whence in Job it is thus written: Who hath resisted him, and had peace? because the perverse mind, whence it raises itself against its author, thence confuses itself in itself. Therefore the one resisting cannot have peace, because while confusion follows pride, what is foolishly done through fault is wonderfully ordered in the punishment of the agent." Thus from St. Gregory through Rabanus. Again, by the foundations of the earth, the Gloss understands deep counsels; Hugo, the cardinals: for by these as by hinges and foundations the Church appears to rest. These also shall be shaken with fear, when the Lord shall come to judge; for to whom more is given, more shall be required of him. in the punishment of the agent is wonderfully ordered." These things from St. Gregory, Rabanus. Again, by the foundations of the earth, the Gloss understands deep counsels; Hugo, the cardinals: for by these as by hinges and foundations the Church appears to be supported. These also shall be shaken with fear, when the Lord shall come to judge; for to whom more has been given, more shall be required of him.
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20. AND IN ALL THESE HIS HEART IS SENSELESS: AND EVERY HEART IS UNDERSTOOD BY HIM, — that is to say, The heart of man does not penetrate, nor does it estimate and weigh as it ought those things which I have said concerning God's efficacious inspection of all things, His judgment and vengeance. Whence it does not fear these things, as is fitting, nor does it abhor His offense and sin, just as if it were senseless: yet that very heart is fully understood and penetrated by God, who beholds and perceives all its recesses, intentions, and cunning down to the depths, and therefore He is and is called καρδιογνώστης, that is, the searcher and knower of hearts: whence, exaggerating this very thing, he adds:
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21. AND WHO SHALL UNDERSTAND HIS WAYS, AND THE TEMPEST, WHICH NO EYE OF MAN SHALL SEE? — Tempest properly is a more violent gust of wind, rather on the sea than on land: so called from the fact that it tosses all things, that is, moves and strikes them, according to that passage of Virgil, book I of the Aeneid: Both Eurus and Notus rush forth, and Africus frequent in tempests. The Greek texts concisely have thus: which all the heart will not duly consider, and who shall consider his ways? for the tempest is one which no man perceives; the Zurich version: and yet no heart sufficiently understands these things, since all things are understood by Him; for who can comprehend in his mind His institutions and the unseen force (or whirlwind) to man? The Syriac, drawing all these things down to verse 25 at its pleasure and explaining them paraphrastically, thus compresses them in few words: and I also will not set in my heart. Who shall understand in my ways? if I shall sin, the eye shall not see me; and if I shall have lied in every hidden place, who shall know? The senseless shall say these things, and a wicked man shall thus meditate. The sense therefore of Sirach is, that is to say, Who moreover of the most acute men or even of the Angels shall fully know the ways, that is, the modes and reasons which God follows in acting and operating; especially moreover the tempest, that is, that tempestuous vengeance which He shall thunder and hurl upon the impious on that great day of judgment, which shall be so great that before it no eye of man shall see anything like it. For then, as the Wise Man says in chapter V, verse 18: "He shall take His zeal for complete armour, etc.; and He will sharpen His stern wrath into a spear, and the whole world shall fight with Him against the senseless. The lightnings shall go forth directly, etc., the water of the sea shall rage against them, and the rivers shall run together fiercely. Against them the spirit of power shall stand, and as a whirlwind shall divide them." Thus Rabanus: "The depth, he says, of divine counsel and the power of judgment, which is here designated by the name of tempest, no one will be able to penetrate." And Hugh: "Tempest, he says, is the distribution of divine judgment." Otherwise Palacius: Tempests, he says, that is, all the storms which occur on the sea and in desert places, God alone beholds; for very many neither see nor are able to see them, either because they are absent, or because they are engulfed and submerged in them. Thus also Dionysius: "Tempest, he says, is a sudden gust of wind, rain, hail, which, when it occurs in desert places, is hidden from us." Whence Job, chapter XXXVIII: "Who gave, he says, a course to the most violent rain, and a way to the sounding thunder?" so that it might rain upon the earth without man in the desert, where no mortal dwells. Morally the same: The earth, he says, trembles at the sight of God, the heart of man does not tremble at His sight. Anyone fears the sight of his neighbor, and therefore does not sin; we fear nothing at the sight of God, so as not to sin. If you cannot hide even a nod of the eye from the eyes of God, why do you dare to offend that majesty in His presence? Hear St. Augustine, book III On Genesis Literally, chapter X. "Air set in motion, he says, makes winds, and where more violently agitated, makes fires and thunders." And Pliny, book II, chapter XLVIII: "Wandering blasts, he says, and rushing like torrents of water, produce thunders and lightnings: but with greater weight and force brought to bear, if they have broken a dry cloud widely, they generate a tempest, which is called by the Greeks ἐκνεφίας," which also carries away ships and houses, and transfers them to another place. Hence metaphorically tempest is called sharp and savage vengeance, like a tempest leveling and laying waste all things. Whence Jeremiah, chapter XXIII, 19: "Behold a whirlwind, he says, of the indignation of the Lord shall go forth, and a storm bursting forth shall come upon the head of the impious." And Isaiah, chapter XXI, 1: "As whirlwinds, he says, come from Africa, from the desert it comes (the Septuagint: let a tempest pass through the desert), from a terrible land. A hard vision is announced to me." And chapter XXX, 33, speaking of Tophet and hell: "Its nourishment, he says, is fire and much wood: the blast of the Lord like a torrent of sulphur kindling it."
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22. FOR MANY OF HIS WORKS ARE IN SECRET: BUT THE WORKS OF HIS JUSTICE (just vengeance) WHO SHALL DECLARE, OR WHO SHALL BEAR? — "Shall bear," that is, shall await or shall bear, that is, shall be able to bear and endure. For both meanings are signified by the Greek ὑπομενεῖ, as if to say: He spoke of one work of God, namely the fiery tempest of His judgment; for many other works of God are hidden and concealed from us, but the works of His justice, especially the tempest of judgment already mentioned, He has revealed to men in some measure, so that they themselves, as concerning them, may fear, and by living holily may avoid and guard against them. Yet who shall declare these very things with due dignity? And who shall await them fearlessly in the future, or bear or endure them in the present? as if to say: No one. Whence the Zurich version: for the greatest part of His works is hidden: who shall narrate the examples of His justice, or bear them? If you wish to know what the works of God in secret are, namely the treasures of snow, rain, hail, dew, frost, ice, etc., read Job, chapter XXXVIII. FAR INDEED IS THE TESTAMENT FROM SOME, AND THE INQUIRY OF ALL IS IN THE CONSUMMATION. — He calls testament the judgment of God, by which He decrees to each according to his merits rewards or punishments present and eternal. It is called testament, because it is disposed and established by God, and is as it were His ultimate will and disposition, and therefore shall be most firm, and shall have its full effect, far more certainly than testaments drawn up by dying men. The sense therefore is, as if to say: Testament, that is, decree, the way and manner of God's judgments is removed from the thought and knowledge of men, because men do not think of them, do not weigh them according to the truth and gravity of the matter; but many live as if there were to be no judgment, as if there were no Divinity, and as if hell were an empty fable; and yet "in the consummation," and at the end of the world, most certainly there shall be "inquiry of all," in Greek ἐξέτασις, that is, examination and inquisition, and that exact, rigorous and severe, so that not even the smallest fault shall pass unjudged and unpunished. Moreover the Zurich version renders it: for long is fate, and the inquiry of all fails; which Vatable explains, as if to say, "Long is the series of fates, which before it is explored, the inquiry of all ceases." Otherwise also others, as if to say: Testament, that is, covenant made by men with God concerning the observance of His commandments, is far from their mind and work, because by many it is little thought of and observed. Thus Dionysius, Emmanuel Sa and Palacius, who explain it thus: Since the inquiry, inquisition and examination of all men are to be in their consummation, that is, in their death, how do men suffer themselves to be far from the law of their God? Thus in Scripture often testament is called a covenant made with God, and God's law itself, because law is the condition of the covenant; for by this condition God made a covenant with us concerning the giving of His inheritance and glory, if namely we observe His law. As: "They kept not the covenant of God;" which explaining, he adds: "And in His law they would not walk," Psalm LXXVII, 10. And elsewhere often. Whence is called the ark of the Testament, that is, of the covenant and law, because it contained the law, namely the tablets of the Decalogue given by God; for the law was the condition of the covenant made between the Hebrews and God. Anagogically, the testament of God and Christ is the decree by which He enrolled His elect as heirs in the kingdom of heaven: this is far removed from the wicked and reprobate, whom the devil enrolled as his citizens in hell: for many are called, but few are chosen; but the inquiry, discretion and separation of all these shall be at the end of the world, namely on the day of judgment. Thus Rabanus and Hugh: Testament, he says, that is, the promise of eternal life, is far removed from sinners.
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23. He who is diminished in heart (that is, foolish, senseless, mad, to whom wisdom, prudence, mind, judgment are lacking: for thus the Hebrews call him חסר לב chasar leb, that is, deficient in heart. This one therefore because he is empty in heart, hence) thinks (not true and solid things, which I have said, concerning God's judgment and vengeance, but) VAIN THINGS (concerning trifles and vanities of the world, namely concerning pursuing delights, riches, honors, fables, games, etc.; for such as a man is, such also does he think), AND AN IMPRUDENT AND ERRING MAN THINKS FOOLISH THINGS, — namely vanities and desires (as he presently explains them), which lead him from God and heaven to the demon and hell, and therefore are foolish, and, as it is in Greek, μῶρα, that is, fatuous, indeed insane and delirious, according to that Psalm XXXIX, 5: "Blessed is the man whose hope is in the name of the Lord, and who hath not had regard to vanities and false madnesses." And Psalm IV, 3: "O ye sons of men, how long will you be dull of heart? why do you love vanity, and seek after lying?" Those therefore who do not think about future happiness or unhappiness, about their eternity, these are small of heart, imprudent and erring, because they think only temporal things which are plainly vain and foolish. On the contrary the Zurich version translated it thus: He who is endowed, it says, with a humble spirit, considers these things; but an unwise and delirious man thinks foolish things, that is to say, The humble who humbly subject their mind to God's will, will understand these things, and therefore will be wise; but the proud, turning to their own foolish fumes of honors, will become foolish in them, according to that saying of Christ, Matthew cap. XI, 25: "I confess to thee, O Father, Lord of heaven and earth, because thou hast hid these things from the wise and prudent, and hast revealed them to little ones. Yea, Father, for so it hath pleased thee." Morally Hugo says: He who is diminished in heart, that is, in magnanimity of heart through pusillanimity, or in devotion of heart through lukewarmness, or in boldness of heart through timidity, or in tranquility of heart through avarice, or in purity of heart through lust; this one thinks vain things, that is, vain and false things, according to that Hosea VII, 11: "Ephraim is become like a dove that is deluded, not having a heart."
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24. Hear me, my son, and learn the discipline of understanding, and attend to my words in thy heart, 25. and I will declare to thee the discipline in equity, and I will search out to relate wisdom: and attend to my words in thy heart, and I say in equity of spirit the virtues which God hath placed in his works from the beginning, and in truth I utter the knowledge of him. 26. In the judgment of God his works from the beginning, and from the institution of them, he distinguished their parts, and their beginnings in their nations. 27. He adorned his works for ever, and they hungered not, nor labored, and they ceased not from their works. 28. No one shall straiten his neighbor unto eternity. 29. Be not incredulous to his word. 30. After these things God looked upon the earth, and filled it with his good things. 31. Every living soul declared before his face, and into it again is their return.
24 and 25. Hear me, my son, and learn the discipline of wisdom, and attend to my words in thy heart; and I will speak with equity the discipline, and will search out to declare wisdom: and attend to my words in thy heart, and I say (that is, I propose to say; or I say, that is, I shall say) with equity of spirit the virtues, which God HAS PLACED IN HIS WORKS FROM THE BEGINNING, AND IN TRUTH I DECLARE HIS KNOWLEDGE. — The Greek is here concise and bipartite as is its custom, whereas ours is tripartite. Whence Jansenius thinks the third member, or sentence, here as in other places of this book, to be sewn on from some other version. But that I may pass over other things said above, this cannot be said in this place. For the Septuagint of the third member: "And I say with equity of spirit the virtues, which God has placed in His works from the beginning," is found in no Greek text, and consequently there was no version from which it could be translated into our text. We must therefore say that our interpreter once had a fuller Greek exemplar, in which these things were contained. For equity the Greek is σταθμῷ, that is, weight, as if to say: I shall speak the discipline weighed out to the just weight of reason, and balanced and weighed with mature consideration; I shall speak nothing unless it has first been examined and weighed with just judicial examination and balance, so that I may set forth and pronounce nothing false, nothing imprudent, nothing vain and useless, nothing light and rash, but all things true, prudent, solid, useful, grave, mature. Whence he soon adds: "I say with equity of spirit," that is, with just and fair examination of mind, as if to say: I say that which I have first carefully weighed, balanced, considered, judged; I say, namely, "the virtues which God has placed in His works from the beginning," as if to say: I recount God's heroic virtues, gifts and attributes, namely wisdom, power, goodness, justice, etc., which God showed in the creation and ordering of the universe. Again, the virtues which He imparted and communicated to things themselves at the beginning of creation, for example to Angels and men the power of reasoning, to animals the power of sensing, to plants the power of growing, to fire the power of heating, to water the power of cooling and moistening, etc. Thus Hugo. The Greek texts have thus: Hear, my son, and learn knowledge, and attend to my words with thy heart. I set forth in weight the discipline, and in truth, or rather in exact diligence (for this is ἐν ἀκριβείᾳ) I announce knowledge; Zurich: Hear me, my son, and embrace knowledge, and turn thy mind to my sayings. I will explain weighed instruction, and will set forth exact knowledge; Syriac: Hear me, and receive my doctrine, and give your heart to all my words. I speak my words with weight (with a balance, with a scale), and with wisdom I make known my doctrine. Furthermore Sirach, in the manner of a rhetor, before his discourse wins the goodwill of his hearer, addressing him gently as son; and his attention, by saying he will speak grave things concerning God's virtues; and his docility, by saying he will speak nothing unless it has first been examined and arranged by long consideration. For, as Boethius says in De Discipl. scholar.: "The disciple ought to be docile, attentive, benevolent: docile in intellect, attentive in practice, benevolent in mind for hearing." Let teachers therefore imitate Sirach, as much as disciples: let those learn from him the manner of teaching, these of learning. Most excellently St. Gregory, homily 13 in the Gospel: "The words," he says, "of God which you perceive with the ear, retain with the mind: for the word of God is food of the mind, and just as accepted food in a weak stomach is rejected, when the word heard is not retained in the belly of memory; but whoever does not retain nourishment, his life is surely despaired of. Therefore fear the danger of eternal death, if you receive the food of holy exhortation, but do not retain in memory the words of life, that is, the nourishment of justice." For this reason he repeats and inculcates the attend in thy heart. For, as Seneca says in epistle 108: "Some come," he says, "to hear, not to learn: just as to the theatre for the sake of pleasure we are drawn to delight our ears by oration, or voice, or stories. You will see a great part of hearers for whom the school of philosophers is a lodging of leisure; they do not strive that some vices be put away from them, that they receive some law of life by which to regulate their morals; but that they may enjoy the pleasure of their ears. Some indeed come even with tablets, not to receive things, but words, which they learn as uselessly for another as they hear without profit for themselves." Such were the Jews, concerning whom the Lord says to Ezekiel cap. XXXIII, 32: "And thou art to them," He says, "as a musical song, which is sung with a sweet and pleasant sound: and they hear thy words, and do them not." David seeks to be taught by God with far different mind, saying: "Give me understanding, and I will search thy law, and will keep it with all my heart. Lead me into the path of thy commandments, because I have desired it. Incline my heart unto thy testimonies," etc. Psalm CXVIII, verses 34 and seq.
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26. IN THE JUDGMENT OF GOD HIS WORKS FROM THE BEGINNING (that is to say, God from the beginning of the world created and disposed His works with great judgment, in Greek κρίσει, that is wisdom, prudence, discretion, manner and order, according to that passage in Wisdom XI: "Thou hast ordered all things in measure, and number, and weight"), AND FROM THE INSTITUTION (in Greek ποιήσει, that is making, creation) OF THEM (the Complutensian edition reads of impious men; but the other Greek and Latin texts everywhere read of them) He distinguished THEIR PARTS, AND THEIR BEGINNINGS IN THEIR NATIONS. You may ask, what are these beginnings in nations? First, Jansenius from the Greek genuinely thus expounds it: Beginnings, in Greek ἀρχαί, that is principalities, are princes and the principal parts of the world, namely the sun, the stars, the heavens, which hold a certain principality over the lower world, namely over the earth and air; for concerning the earth he adds shortly after in verse 30: "After this God looked upon the earth." The sense therefore is, that is to say, God as soon as He created the works of the universe, immediately distinguished their parts, dividing waters from waters, elements from the heavens, sea from land, etc.; He also distinguished τὰς ἀρχάς, that is, those first parts of the world, by which the whole lower sphere is governed, in their nations, that is kinds, because He made it so that each star and heaven should have its own kind, nature, motion, property, assigning to them diverse offices, for example to the sun that it illuminate the day, to the moon that it illuminate the night, and by its course measure out and distinguish months and seasons. In this sense nations are called kinds by catachresis: for this is what the Greek γενεά signifies. And thus the Hebrews call the sun, stars, heavens, etc., nations, that is, soldiers of God, from which God is called God of Sabaoth, that is, God of armies. Whence in verse 28 he calls them neighbors among themselves. By a similar catachresis in Wisdom I, 14, it is said: "Thou hast made wholesome," that is, salutary and healthful, "the nations of the world:" nations, in Greek γενέσεις, that is generations, namely things begotten and created by God, that is to say, God made it so that things begotten and created by Him should be salutary, not lethal and death-dealing. Whence it follows: "And there is no poison of destruction in them," that is, as the Greek has it, a drug that destroys and kills; St. Jerome, there is no deadly poison in them. Thus likewise in the same work, chapter XIX, 10, he calls a nation of animals. Thus also Festus calls a good offspring of cattle a good nation. For nation alludes to the etymology of being born, just as γένεσις alludes to γένεσθαι. The sense already given is followed by the Syriac, when it translates, when God created His works from the beginning, with their creation He distributed their laws, and gave even to the end their operations, and their dominion over all generations of the age. It is therefore not strange, nor unusual, that nation should signify kind. Second, you may expound it more simply and plainly, that is to say, ἀρχάς, that is principalities, that is, the celestial bodies, which hold the first place in the world, God distinguished to their nations, that is, to the Angels, so that they themselves might govern, move, order the celestial spheres, and preside over them in all things. Thus Lyra. Or certainly he calls ἀρχάς angelic principalities, that is to say, God created and distinguished the parts of the world, and set over them Angels from the order of Principalities and Powers, which are ἀρχαί, that is, princes in their nations, that is, among the Angels and the lower angelic orders, namely among the Virtues, Archangels and Angels, who alone preside over individual provinces, cities and men. Whence Palacius thus explains it: God, he says, assigned to each heaven its beginning, that is, its prince and leader, whom Philosophers call moving intelligences, Theologians call virtues of the heavens. The same adds: Perhaps, he says, the nations of the heavens are the stars, which are called soldiers of the heavens, and the called ones say: "We are here," Baruch III, 34, that is to say, The stars have their beginnings, that is, their princes Angels assigned to them. Thus Moses (to whom Sirach alludes) Deuteronomy chapter XXXII, 28, according to the Septuagint says: "When the Most High divided the nations, etc., He set the bounds according to the number of the Angels of God," that is to say, From the beginning God appointed and set over each people and nation guardian angels, and as it were overseers. Thus Origen, homily 11 on Numbers, St. Cyprian, St. Chrysostom and others whom I cited on Deuteronomy chapter XXXII. The Greek favors this exposition, which immediately after ἀρχάς subjoin, they were not hungry, nor wearied, nor ceased from their work. Which applies more rightly to Angels than to the heavens. For to animate beings, such as Angels are, hunger is fitting, not to inanimate heavens, equally as weariness and cessation from the motion and rotation of the celestial spheres. Third, you should take beginnings properly. Whence some translate from the Greek, in his hand (for the Complutensian editors add this) their beginnings in all ages, that is to say, God from the beginning, just as he holds the parts, so also holds the beginnings of the world in his hand, established and confirmed them, so that they endure through all generations of ages: thus the beginning of day, of light, of the sun, of the heavens, the rising and setting of the stars from the beginning of the world he established, so that through his heat and influence they might continually preside over the generation of plants, fruits, crops, animals and men. Take away the sun and the stars, there will be no generation on earth. The Zurich version favors this, when the Lord worked with judgment from the beginning, and from the first creation of things he disposed their parts. He perfected his works perpetually, and their beginnings through their ages and generations (for γενεά means both age and generation and race); and the Complutensian editors, while they read, in his hand their dominion, εἰς γενεὰς γενεῶν, that is in ages of ages; others read, εἰς γενεὰς αὐτῶν, that is in generations, or their generations. Finally, the Latins derive the name gens from genus, with one letter removed: for gens is that which derives from one genus, as the Romans from Romulus, the Israelites from Israel, that is Jacob, the Canaanites from Canaan. Hence gens is said of the race and assembly of bees, as Columella in book IX, chapter IX: "By internal," he says, "war entire races (swarms of bees) are consumed." Thus also gens is said of fishes in Virgil, IV Georgics: When Proteus seeking his accustomed caves from the waves went: him around the vast wet race of the sea leaping, etc. Fourth, Rabanus takes races properly, equally as beginnings, that is to say, "From the time God disposed to spread abroad the offspring of man, he separated the origin of individual races through individual parts of the world, so that each race, denominated from the name of its parent, might possess its own seats in individual provinces. Mystically, however, divine Wisdom, instituting her Church, spread it through all parts of the world, and placed it in individual races. Whence it is that in the Apocalypse, chapters I, II and III, discourse of God was directed to the seven Churches which were in Asia." So also Hugh: Beginnings, he says, that is, their initial possessions, God distinguished in races, distributing three parts of the world to the three sons of Noah, namely so that Shem with his descendants might inhabit Asia, Ham Africa, Japheth Europe. The same mystically: God, he says, at the beginning of the Church distributed the provinces of the world to the Apostles, so that John might convert Asia, Thomas India, Matthew Ethiopia, etc. "Nor did they hunger," that is, the Apostles did not regard bodily hunger. "Nor did they labor," that is, they made nothing of bodily labor, indeed with joy they undertook labors, pains, insults and injuries for Christ, Acts V. "And they did not cease from their works," that is, from the preaching of the Gospel, Bearing the world in mind, and forming it from a like image, and commanding the perfect to complete perfect parts, etc. Siracides speaks of the heavens and stars as if of men and soldiers of God, through prosopopoeia. Whence he adds: NOR DID THEY HUNGER, NOR DID THEY LABOR, AND THEY DID NOT CEASE FROM THEIR WORKS. — The Syriac, from his strength; the Zurich, they did not hunger nor were they wearied in their works, nor did they cease from their duties, that is to say, the heavens, sun and stars, although as soldiers of God they are moved assiduously according to his prescription, and that most swiftly (so that the sun in any hour completes a million miles, and moreover 140 thousand of the same: which is the same as if it ran around the entire globe of the earth fifty times, as I showed in Genesis 1, 16), nevertheless they never hunger, nor are they wearied, so as to desist from their labor and the execution of God's command. Which signifies that they persist and proceed vigorously and continually, without defect, weariness and trouble, in performing the duties enjoined upon them by God, according to that Psalm CXVIII: "By thy ordinance the day continues, because all things serve thee;" Hebrew, all things are thy servants. He alludes to the opinions of the Platonists (whom Philo followed, and Origen in book VII of the Periarkhon, and concerning whom St. Augustine doubts in the Enchiridion, chapter XVIII), who thought the heavens to be animated, according to which it was wonderful that the heavens neither hunger nor grow weary. To these things the sun, moon and stars they judged to be fiery, which therefore must necessarily be nourished by vapors: for fire needs its own food, as Pliny records in book II, chapter VIII, Cicero in the second book On the Nature of the Gods, Lactantius in book II, chapter VI. Again, according to the true opinion, Angels, as intelligences, attend their celestial spheres, and as it were make one thing not composite, but aggregated from them. But to common men it seems wonderful that Angels in such great occupation and motion neither hunger nor grow weary. Truly Tertullian in the Apology, chapter XXII: "Every spirit, he says, has wings; that is, Angels and demons: therefore they are everywhere in a moment." And St. Gregory of Nazianzus, oration 34: "They traverse all places, he says, and are diligently present to all things, both on account of the readiness of their ministry, and on account of the lightness of their nature." Most certainly and most clearly the Psalmist, and from him the Apostle, Hebrews 1, 7: "Who maketh, he says, his angels spirits, and his ministers a flame of fire." See the things said there: therefore they neither hunger nor grow weary. He spoke of the perpetuity of celestial operations, he adds also concerning concord, saying:
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27. He adorned (some read less correctly ordained: for in Greek it is ἐκόσμησε, that is, he adorned) THEIR WORKS FOREVER. — In Greek αὐτοῦ, that is, his, as if to say God adorned his first works, namely the heavens with light, the sun, moon and such great variety of stars, as it were shining gems in the likeness of carbuncles, jaspers, emeralds, etc., according to that in Job XXVI, 13: "His spirit adorned the heavens." Our text reads αὐτῶν, that is, their, which Jansenius first explaining of the heavens: "God, he says, adorned the works," that is, the operations, motions and influences of the heavens and stars, because he made them both stable and unwearying, and in most beautiful order agreeing with one another. For, as Plato says in the Dialogue on Nature: "It was not fitting that he who is best should make anything except what is most beautiful." And Boethius in book III of the Consolation of Philosophy, meter 9: Thou leadest all things from the example on high, thyself most beautiful, making the beautiful it does not harm: thou lovest God, thou lovest brotherhood, thou lovest the Church of God: there will be eternal reward; thou labourest on earth, but thou shalt come to the promised fruit: who takes from thee what thou lovest? Thus Rabanus.
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28. Let no one oppress his neighbour (some read less correctly oppressed, although in Greek it is ἔθλιψε, that is, afflicted, wore down) EVEN UNTO ETERNITY. — That is to say: In such a multitude of heavens, stars and planets, even though they are moved by contrary and most swift motions, and are mutually contiguous and as it were continuous, yet the order of each is so great, the subordination and harmony of each with the others so perfect, that one does not press upon, confine, wear away or hinder another; but each proceeds in its own order unharmed, whole and steadfast, indeed runs, just as soldiers in a properly ordered battle line. Admiring this harmony of the heavens, Job exclaims, cap. XXXV, 10: "Where is God that made me, who hath given songs in the night?" For the moon and stars, proceeding and shining in order by night, sing nocturnal hymns to God, and furnish to men matter for divine praise. The same and far more do the Angels, says Olympiodorus there in the Catena. Whence the Chaldean renders it: before whose sight the exalted Angels order praise in the night. And more clearly cap. XXXVIII, 37: "Who shall describe the order of the heavens, and who shall make the harmony of heaven (Hebr. nabla) to sleep?" Whence Pythagoras taught that the heavens are composed by musical reason and produce harmony (see Censorinus On the Birthday, cap. XIII); but men have become deaf to this sound through habit, just as those who dwell by the cataracts of the Nile do not hear the roar of waters falling from on high, as Cicero says in the Dream of Scipio. Indeed St. Augustine also, epistle 28 to St. Jerome, properly admits in the heavens a harmony of sounds. So too Leo Castrius in Isaiah cap. XL, verse 26. And George of Venice in the Harmony. Reason also favours this, because sound is produced not only from the friction of air, but from every resisting body. Yet Aristotle and the Philosophers, lib. II On the Heavens, deny this harmony of the heavens. Wherefore Job by harmony understands the concordant and most orderly motions and courses of the heavens, and mystically St. Gregory: "The harmony," he says, "of the heavens is the concord of preachers and the consonant hymns of Angels." Whence Plato in the Timaeus asserts that eyes were given to us by nature chiefly for this reason, that beholding the most orderly circuits which are performed in heaven, we might apply them to the discipline of life, and compose the wandering and erratic motions of our mind to their order and stability. See St. Gregory Nazianzen, oration 26, where he teaches that order preserves the heavens, the elements and the whole universe, and consequently that hierarchical order preserves the Church. Whence among other things he says: "With order flourishing and ruling, this universe exists, and a certain and stable beauty (wherefore the world in Greek is called κόσμος, from ornament and beauty. But on the other hand, disturbance and confusion in the air produced thunder, on earth earthquakes, in the sea shipwrecks, in cities and houses wars and dissensions, in bodies diseases, in souls sins. For all these things are names not of peace, nor of order, but of confusion and disturbance." Finally Sirach adds:
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29. Be not incredulous to his word. — Jansenius connects this with the preceding, as if to say: "Each one did not straiten his neighbor;" but each one says to another: "Even unto eternity be not incredulous," that is, disobedient, "to the word of God." For the Greek texts have it thus: one did not afflict another, and unto eternity they will not refuse his command, or, they will not be disobedient to his word; the Zurich version, one thing was not troublesome to another, nor will they ever resist his dominion; the Syriac, one did not hate another, nor do they transgress his word forever. Secondly, Palacius, following Lyran in his exposition, which refers these things to the Angels: He had said, he remarks, that God established Angels, whose operation is to move the heavens: he now adds that God adorned these works of the Angels, namely with the light of day, the darkness of night, with the influx of virtue, which the higher things send down into the lower, with rains, hail, etc. Secondly, he says that those Angels neither in that perpetual motion sweat, hunger, or labor, nor have they ceased from their work for a moment. Truly an admirable thing! Thirdly, he says that among these Angels, or the Virtues of the heavens, there is the greatest harmony: so much so that never is one an impediment to another, nor does the superior press down the inferior, nor does the inferior rebel against the superior. Because indeed these things are admirable, the author adds: "Be not incredulous to his word," that is: The things I say to you are the words of God; beware lest you be incredulous to them. Again, as if to say: Imitate therefore the heavens, O man, so that, just as they obey God in all things, and do not depart from his ordinance even for a moment, so much the more do you yourself obey him, you who are endowed with sense and reason. Thirdly, Hugh refers these things to men and their first institution, as if to say: God created man, and adorned him with great gifts of nature and grace, and placed him in Paradise, and made it so that, remaining in the innocence in which he had created him, he would not hunger, would not thirst, would not be wearied, but would cultivate Paradise with pleasure, and there too no one would have straitened his neighbor, by inflicting injury upon him or taking away his goods, because in that state all things would have been common. But this is rather a mystical and symbolic exposition than a literal one. I have reviewed the tropology of the same and of Dionysius concerning the preaching of the Apostles in verse 26. To which add from Rabanus: "He adorned," he says, "their works forever, nor did they hunger, nor did they labor, and they did not cease from their works." For God prepared the works of his Church, and perpetually illuminated it with the splendor of charity; therefore they suffer no lack of virtues, nor do they fail from the weariness of sloth, but intent upon good works they always persist. "Each one did not straiten his neighbor to him" unto eternity, because charity seeks not the things that are its own, but the things of others. Whence the Apostle commanded, saying: "As to children I say: Be enlarged also you, and do not be unequally yoked with unbelievers." The breadth of the commandment is charity, because, where charity abides, there are no straits. In this breadth was the Apostle, when he said: "Our mouth is open to you, O Corinthians, our heart is enlarged, be not straitened in us." Therefore elsewhere it is read: "Thy commandment is exceeding broad." What is the broad commandment given? "A new commandment I give unto you, that you love one another." Charity therefore is not straitened. Do you wish not to be straitened on earth? Dwell in breadth; for whatever man shall do to you, does not straiten you, because you love that which even if scribes, pontiffs, philosophers, princes and kings resisted with all their might, whom this one thing governed: "We ought to obey God rather than men." "Each one did not straiten his neighbor to him," because neither did they afflict one another, nor anyone else, but rather helped all and comforted them. "After this God looked upon the earth, and filled it with good things," heaping upon the nations every grace and heavenly gift. Thus Hugh. So also Dionysius: God, he says, from the beginning "distinguished their parts," that is, gave to each one an apt and proper place, and divided them from one another. And thus he assigned water to fishes, air to birds, earth to men and beasts. "And their beginnings in their own nations," that is, he ordained the origins of men distinctly, according to the distinctions of nations, so that each nation in its own land might have its own generation, succession, process and end, as is read in Genesis IX where the earth is divided among the sons of Noah. Whence Paul says: "God made of one all mankind to dwell upon the whole face of the earth, determining appointed times and the limits of their habitation," Acts XVII. "Neither did they hunger, nor labour," because God provided abundantly to each one from food and the necessaries of life. "Each one shall not straiten his neighbour," because he bestowed upon them the widest space for dwelling in the earth, and commanded that they should converse with one another without violence in charity. "But the living soul announced before his face," that is, every rational soul living through grace confessed before God the truth of these things and his praise; "and their return again into it," that is, the reduction or natural conversion of creatures to their fountainhead principle from which they are preserved, and to which all things tend in their own way, according as an effect is converted to its cause. This, I say, reduction reveals and announces that God has providence over all things, and has ordained all things most wisely. Thus Dionysius.
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30. AFTER THESE THINGS GOD LOOKED UPON THE EARTH, AND FILLED IT WITH HIS GOOD THINGS. — Hence it is clear that the discourse up to this point has been concerning the heavens and heavenly things. For he recounts the order which God observed in the creation of the world, Genesis I, as if to say: God in the first two days of the world established, adorned and ordered the heavens; then on the third day he looked upon the earth, and clothed it with plants, herbs, trees, metals, and soon filled it with animals, birds and man. Whence the Syriac version: after these things he looked upon the earth, and blessed them (men and the inhabitants of the earth) in all its fruits, so that the earth is the mother of all good things.
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31. Every living soul (every living thing) DECLARED BEFORE HIS FACE, AND THEIR RETURN INTO IT AGAIN. — That is to say, Every living soul, that is, every animal, and every living thing, declared, that is, openly showed, and continually shows that which I said, namely that God has filled the earth with His goods: it shows, I say, before His face, namely not God's, as Rabanus wishes, but the earth's (for in Greek it is a feminine pronoun αὐτῆς), that is, in the sight of the earth, or on the surface of the earth: because namely every living thing lives and enjoys the goods of the earth, being born on its surface; and again, when it dies, it returns into the earth. Our version reads ἀποκάλυψε, that is revealed, declared, and, as some read, uncovered. Now they read contrarily ἐκάλυψε, that is covered, concealed. Thus indeed the Greek Complutensian edition has it, the soul of every animal concealed the face of it (of the earth, namely of the earth), and into it the return of them, that is to say, The earth covers, conceals and protects all animals, and they again return into the earth from which they were born, through death. The Roman edition, changing the case, exhibits nearly the same sense: The soul, they say, of every living thing covered its face, and into it the return of them, that is to say, Animals, while they live, cover the surface of the earth; and again when they die, they return into it. So also the Zurich edition, the life of all kinds of living things covered its surface, and into the same each one returns. So also the Syriac, the soul of all living things filled its face, and gathered into the midst of it all the works of them. It admonishes man of his origin and his end, and recalls to him that sentence of God against Adam: "In the sweat of thy face shalt thou eat bread, till thou return to the earth out of which thou wast taken; for dust thou art, and into dust thou shalt return," Genesis III, 19, so that it may stir him to humility as well as to the fear of God, and may admonish him to have care of his soul continually, which is to live either most happily in heaven, or most miserably in hell, since the body is soon to be returned to the earth. The earth is therefore as it were a storehouse and treasure, from which all animals are abundantly nourished and live: it is also a sepulchre, into which all finally return. And truly both are worthy of admiration, that, although there are very many and as it were infinite animals, each nevertheless finds sufficient and suitable nourishment for itself in the earth; and although there are so many and so great, all return into the earth, and yet the earth does not grow or swell, just as all rivers enter into the sea, and yet the sea does not overflow, Ecclesiastes 1, 7. Thus Palacius. Furthermore Rabanus, Dionysius and Lyra refer these things to God, that is to say, "Every living soul declares, that is, by the very fact shows that those goods were produced by God on account of it, because it used them. And its return again; for by the rational soul these things are brought back to God, praising Him for His goods, and by the sensitive soul in its own way, because it is matter of divine praise." But the Greek pronouns αὐτῆς and αὐτήν, since they are feminine, refer to and regard not God, but the earth, as I have said. Wisely and piously St. Augustine, on that passage of Psalm XXVI, 16: "I have gone round, and offered in His tabernacle a sacrifice of jubilation. Let thy mind, he says, go round through the whole creation, from every side the creature will cry out to thee: God made me. Whatever has delighted thee in art, commends the artificer, and especially if thou go round all things, consideration conceives the praise of the artificer. Dost thou see the heavens? they are great works of God. Dost thou see the earth? God made innumerable seeds, diversities of plants, a multitude of animals. I have gone round even from the heavens to the earth, leave nothing out; from every side all things resound to thee the Creator, and the very forms of creatures are certain voices of those praising the Creator."
Machine translation from the Latin, not reviewed.
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The Flood is recalled in the Old and New Testaments: Wis. 10, 4; 16, 6 ff.; Sir. 16, 7; 44, 17-19; Is. 54, 9; Mt. 24, 37-39; Lk. 17, 26 ff.; I Pt. 3, 20 ff.; II Pt. 2, 5; Heb. 11, 7. These passages affirm the historicity not only of the fact, but also of the circumstances …
… In Bar. 3:26-28; Sir. 16:7;
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.