As a vine cut down is fit for nothing but the fire; so it shall be with Jerusalem, for her sins.
As a vine cut downe is profitable to no vse, but to burne: 6. so the Iewes (and other people) separated from the Church, are to be burned in the fire.
1And the word of the Lord came to me, saying:E IL Signore parlommi, dicendo:AND the word of our Lord was made to me, saying:Et factus est sermo Domini ad me, dicens: 2Son of man, what shall be made of the wood of the vine, out of all the trees of the woods that are among the trees of the forests?Figliuolo dell'uomo, che si farà egli del tralcio della vite a preferenza di tutti gli altri legnami delle boscaglie, se ella è come le piante della selva?Sonne of man, what shal be made of the wood of the vine of al the trees of the woods, that are among the trees of the forests?Fili hominis, quid fiet de ligno vitis, / ex omnibus lignis nemorum / quæ sunt inter ligna silvarum ? 3Shall wood be taken of it, to do any work, or shall a pin be made of it for any vessel to hang thereon?Si prenderà egli un pezzo di essa per farne qualche lavoro; ovver se ne formerà egli un cavicchio per attaccarvi qualche arnese?Shal there be taken wood of it, that a worke may be made, or shal a pinne be made therof, that anie vessel may hang theron?numquid tolletur de ea lignum ut fiat opus, / aut fabricabitur de ea paxillus / ut dependeat in eo quodcumque vas ? 4Behold it is cast into the fire for fuel: the fire hath consumed both ends thereof, and the midst thereof is reduced to ashes: shall it be useful for any work?Ecco, che si mette a nudrir il fuoco l'una parte, e l'altra parte di lui la ha consunta il fuoco, e il di mezzo è ridotto in cenere: sarà egli buono a qualch'uopo?Behold it is geuen to the fire for food: the fire hath consumed both partes therof, and the middes therof is brought into ashes: why, shal it be profitable for a worke?Ecce igni datum est in escam: / utramque partem ejus consumpsit ignis, / et medietas ejus redacta est in favillam: / numquid utile erit ad opus ? 5Even when it was whole it was not fit for work: how much less, when the fire hath devoured and consumed it, shall any work be made of it?Anche quando era intiero non era buono a nulla: quanto più divorato, ed arso, ch'egli è dal fuoco, non potrà farsene cosa alcuna?Yea when it was whole, it was not fit for a worke: how much more when the fire hath deuoured, and burnt it, shal no worke be made therof?Etiam cum esset integrum, / non erat aptum ad opus: / quanto magis cum illud ignis devoraverit et combusserit, / nihil ex eo fiet operis ? 6Therefore thus saith the Lord God: As the vine tree among the trees of the forests which I have given to the fire to be consumed, so will I deliver up the inhabitants of Jerusalem.Per questo così dice il Signore Dio: Come il legno della vite fatto simile alle legna dei boschi, io lo do al fuoco, che lo divori, così farò degli abitanti di Gerusalemme.Therfore thus saith our Lord God: As the wood of the vine among the trees of the forests, which I haue geuen to the fire to be deuoured, so wil I deliuer the inhabitants of Ierusalem.Propterea hæc dicit Dominus Deus: / Quomodo lignum vitis inter ligna silvarum, / quod dedi igni ad devorandum, / sic tradam habitatores Jerusalem.
7And I will set my face against them: they shall go out from fire, and fire shall consume them: and you shall know that I am the Lord, when I shall have set my face against them.E volgerò contro di essi il mio sguardo: usciran dal fuoco, e un (altro) fuoco li consumerà, e conoscerete, ch'io son il Signore, quando volgerò contro di essi il mio sguardo,And I wil set my face against them: out of the fire shal they come forth, and fire shal consume them: & you shal know that I am the Lord, when I shal set my face against them,Et ponam faciem meam in eos: / de igne egredientur, / et ignis consumet eos: / et scietis quia ego Dominus, / cum posuero faciem meam in eos, 8And I shall have made their land a wilderness, and desolate, because they have been transgressors, saith the Lord God.E inabitabile, e desolata renderò la lor terra, perch'ei sono stati prevaricatori, dice il Signore Dio.and shal make their land not passable, and desolate, because they haue bene preuaricatours, sayth our Lord God.et dedero terram inviam et desolatam, / eo quod prævaricatores extiterint, / dicit Dominus Deus.
15:1
Year of the World 3411.
15:2
Pliny
The wild vine (Sanctius) grows very large, and the wood is durable, so that statues, pillars, and ladders were formed of it. (Pliny, [Natural History?] 14:1.)
Calmet
Strabo (ii., and xi.) mentions the trunk of a vine which two men could hardly clasp, and the bunch of grapes was two cubits high. But the prophet speaks of the small branches, which are fit only for the fire. (Calmet)
Worthington
God's Church is often compared to a vine on account of its fruit, and the branches separated form her resemble the useless cuttings. (St. Augustine, tr. lxxxi. in John) (Worthington)
Haydock
See Ward's Tree of Life, where this is set in a very striking light. In every age the Church makes fresh conquests, while heretics leave and persecute her. (Haydock)
15:3
Calmet
Thereon. Isaias 22:23. (Calmet)
Roger. ii
The Turkish lords have no furniture in their rooms, but hang their arms, saddles, etc., upon such pins, or on strings. (Roger. ii.)
15:4
Calmet
Ashes. It is not even solid enough for fuel. (Calmet)
Worthington
When a faggot is consumed in the middle, the ends are also put into the fire; so not one shall escape who dies out of the Church. (Worthington)
Haydock
The wicked Jews shall surely suffer, ver. 6. (Haydock)
15:7
Calmet
From fire. If they escape one misery they shall fall into another, as the event shewed. (Calmet)
Menochius
They shall be thrown back into the fire. (Menochius)
15:7
In burning a fagot the middes being first consumed (v. 4.) the rest of both endes are likewise put in the fire til al be consumed, so none that are out of the Church can escape the fire.
15:4
Aphrahat † AD 346 Aphrahat: Select Demonstrations 5.22
… and the mighty tower on which they relied was torn down. The winepress, the cleansing away of their offences, was overthrown. When the vine was without blemish, it did not prove of service. Now that the fire has devoured it and that it is laid waste, how shall it prove of service? The fire has devoured its two branches and its inward parts are wasted .
15:5
St Augustine of Hippo † AD 430 Lectures or Tractates on the Gospel According to St. John 81.3
… in fine, as the Lord likewise says of them in the prophet Ezekiel, when cut off, they are of no use for any purpose of the husbandman, and can be applied to no labor of the mechanic.
15:2
2. FROM ALL THE TREES OF THE FORESTS,—that is, before all wild and unfruitful trees. From is taken for before, as also in Psalm 138, 6. For this is in Hebrew מן min, as if to say: Why does the wood of the vine excel another tree, if it bears no fruit? namely, it does not excel at all, but is the most abject of all, and is good for nothing except to be burned. Thus Vatablus and Maldonatus. Note: God willed the Church and holy souls not to be an orchard or forest, but a vineyard; so that they bear not flowers, not leaves, not branches, but fruit. Secondly, our Prado says, the Church is not an apple tree, not a fig tree, but a vine, on account of its pleasantness and the excellence of its fruit. For wine is given to men in place of the wood of life, so that it may gladden the heart, refresh the spirit, stir the mind, and sustain life. And just as in the vine, that is, a vile and despised wood, there is within a most efficacious and excellent juice: so in the Church there is the grace of Christ, which through vile and poor apostles has intoxicated the whole world with its efficacy. Moreover, this wine produces virgins, namely the most pure and immortal: for a virgin ever flourishing is a symbol of immortality. Hence the vine is as it were a virgin; whence this is its riddle: I am unwilling to be joined to a bed, although it pleases me to be married. I am unwilling to have a husband in the chamber, through me my own offspring is born. I am unwilling to suffer tombs, I know myself to sink into the earth. Thirdly, no tree is more fruitful than the vine for its slenderness, says Pliny, book XIV, chapter iv. Again: "We find that the vine and the pomegranate have borne fruit from the stock, not from the palm or branches," says Pliny, book XVII, chapter xxv. This good and humble men do, who hide their fruits, that is, works of justice, so that virtue becomes safer and less subject to the snares of demons, who rush forth in a single column against displayed rewards: Live for yourself, and far flee great names. Live for yourself, and as much as you can a life of distinction: Cruel lightning from the lofty citadel comes, says Ovid, III Trist. elegy 4. Fourthly, the vine dies from cold, says Pliny, book XVII, chapter xxiv; likewise from nitre, alum, warm sea water, and bean pods: it is harmed by radish, laurel, cabbage and hazel. "The radish and laurel harm the vine," says Pliny, "by odor or mixture of juice. For it is understood to be olfactory, and to be touched by odor in a wonderful way: and therefore when it is near, it turns away and recedes, and flees the hostile taste. Hence Androcides took a remedy against drunkenness, prescribing that radish be eaten. It hates both cabbage and every vegetable; it hates also hazel: unless they be far absent, it is sad and sickly. Nitre indeed and alum, warm sea water, and bean pods or vetch, are the ultimate poisons." In like manner the Church and holy soul as it were dies from the cold of sloth, from nitre and alum of anger, from the warm sea water of bitterness: it is harmed by radish of bitterness, by laurel of ostentation, by vegetables of vanity, by hazel of emulation. It therefore flees these hostile juices and habits. Fifthly, this Jewish vineyard was cultivated by God and the Prophets, but it bore no fruit. Whence it was cut down and pruned, or uprooted, and is good for nothing except to be burned, whereas other cut wood is good for making spears, doors, boards, ships and houses. Thus therefore incorrigible Judea will be delivered to fire, other nations will be hewn by Christ and the Apostles, so that vessels may be made from them unto honor. Thus St. Jerome and Polychronius. To this Christ alluded, John 15, 5, saying: "I am the vine, you the branches: he that abideth in me, and I in him, the same beareth much fruit: for without me you can do nothing." Which St. Augustine explaining, tract. 81 in John: "The wood," he says, "of the vine is so much more contemptible if it does not remain in the vine, as it is more glorious if it remains." And proving this from this place of Ezekiel, he adds: "One of two things befits a branch, either the vine or fire. If it is not in the vine, it will be in the fire: so that it may not be in the fire, let it be in the vine. Thus in Rome we continually burn the vine branches in winter, and we do not often have bundles of other wood." The same St. Augustine in Sent. sent. 364: "Thus," he says, "are branches in the vine, so that they contribute nothing to the vine, but receive from it that they may live. For thus is the vine in the branches, so that it supplies vital nourishment to them, not takes from them: and through this both to have Christ remaining in themselves, and to remain in Christ, profits the disciples in both ways, not Christ. For when the branch is cut off, another may sprout from the living root: but he who is cut off cannot live without a root.
15:4
4. BOTH PARTS OF IT THE FIRE HAS CONSUMED. — In Hebrew, both extremities. For nothing of the vine branches remains in the fire: because when they burn most easily, the fire soon devours the whole. But from other wood cast into the fire, firebrands remain, from which a peg or something else can be made. Thus St. Jerome and the Chaldean, meaning: Half of this vine has been reduced to ashes, that is, half of the people of Judah was consumed by Nebuchadnezzar under Joakim and Joachin, the other part will soon be consumed under Zedekiah. Note: He calls fire the extreme and most severe destruction, which is inflicted either by the sword, or by famine, or by fire. See Can. xxvi. The Septuagint for שני schene, that is both, read with different points שנה schane, that is annual. Whence they translate: The annual pruning of it the fire has consumed, that is the branches which are yearly pruned from the vine, were sent into the fire. Thus in one year God pruned and cut back Judea through Pharaoh, in another year through Nebuchadnezzar under Joakim, in another under Joachin, etc.
15:5
5. WHEN THE FIRE SHALL HAVE DEVOURED IT, — namely when, as has preceded, the wood of the vine has been burned in part, what will become of the remaining scorched part? 6. I HAVE GIVEN (that is, I am accustomed to give) TO THE FIRE. 7. FROM THE FIRE SHALL GO FORTH, AND THE FIRE SHALL CONSUME THEM. — That is, if they escape from the fire, I will again cast them into the fire, so that they may be wholly burned: just as in the case of vine branches, those which remain, we again cast into the fire, meaning: These Jews will pass from one calamity to another, from famine to siege, from siege to death or captivity. Thus Theodoret. Otherwise Origen, meaning: The Jews will pass from the destruction by Nebuchadnezzar to the destruction by Vespasian. I WILL SET MY FACE AGAINST THEM, — I will harden my threatening countenance against them to punish them.
Machine translation from the Latin, not reviewed.
15:11
In Ezekiel it is said that impurity is contracted through idolatrous acts (Ezek. 20:7, 18, 30, 31; 22:3, 4; 23:7, 17) or in any case by straying from God (ibid. 15:11; 20:43). In Ps. 24:4 there is mention of purity of heart. …
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.