One man shall not bear the sins of another, but every one his own; if a wicked man truly repent, he shall be saved; and if a just man leave his justice, he shall perish.
One shal not beare the sinnes of an other, but euerie one their owne: 21. If the wieked truly repent, he shal be saued: and if the iust leaue his iustice, he shal be damned.
1And the word of the Lord came to me, saying: What is the meaning?Il Signore parlommi, dicendo:AND the word of our Lord was made to me, saying:Et factus est sermo Domini ad me, dicens: 2That you use among you this parable as a proverb in the land of Israel, saying: The fathers have eaten sour grapes, and the teeth of the children are set on edge.Per qual motivo tra voi nella terra d'Israele avete convertito in proverbio questa similitudine: I padri (voi dite) mangiarono uva acerba, e si sono allegati i denti ai figliuoli?What is that among you, you turne a parable into this prouer be in the land of Israel, saying: The fathers did eate a sowre grape, and the teeth of the children are set on edge?Quid est quod inter vos parabolam vertitis in proverbium istud in terra Israël, dicentes: Patres comederunt uvam acerbam, et dentes filiorum obstupescunt ? 3As I live, saith the Lord God, this parable shall be no more to you a proverb in Israel.Io giuro, dice il Signore Dio, che questa parabola non sarà più per voi un proverbio in Israele;Liue I, saith our Lord God, if this parable shal be vnto you any more for a prouerbe in Israel,Vivo ego, dicit Dominus Deus, si erit ultra vobis parabola hæc in proverbium in Israël. 4Behold all souls are mine: as the soul of the father, so also the soul of the son is mine: the soul that sinneth, the same shall die.Imperocché tutte le anime sono mie, come l'anima del padre, così anche l'anima del figliuolo e mia: l'anima, che avrà peccato, ella perirà.Behold al soules are mine: as the soule of the father, so also the soule of the sonne is mine: the soule that shal sinne, the same shal dye.Ecce omnes animæ meæ sunt: ut anima patris, ita et anima filii mea est: anima quæ peccaverit, ipsa morietur. 5And if a man be just, and do judgment and justice,E se un uomo sarà giusto, e viverà secondo il diritto, e il giusto,And a man if he shal be iust, and hath done iudgement and iustice,Et vir si fuerit justus, et fecerit judicium et justitiam, 6And hath not eaten upon the mountains, nor lifted up his eyes to the idols of the house of Israel: and hath not defiled his neighbour’s wife, nor come near to a menstruous woman:Non farà banchetto sui monti, e non alzerà i suoi occhi agl'idoli della casa d'Israele, e non violerà la moglie del suo prossimo, e non si appresserà alla propria moglie in tempo di sua incomodità:hath not eaten on the mountaynes, and not lifted vp his eyes to the idols of the house of Israel: and hath not violated his neighbours wife, and approched not to a menstruous woman:in montibus non comederit, et oculos suos non levaverit ad idola domus Israël: et uxorem proximi sui non violaverit, et ad mulierem menstruatam non accesserit:
7And hath not wronged any man: but hath restored the pledge to the debtor, hath taken nothing away by violence: hath given his bread to the hungry, and hath covered the naked with a garment:E non offenderà alcun uomo; renderà il pegno al debitore; non rapirà per forza l'altrui; farà parte del proprio pane all'affamato, e rivestirà l'ignudo:and made no man sorowful: hath restored the pledge to the debter, taken nothing away by violence: hath geuen his bread to the hungrie, and coueted the naked with a garment:et hominem non contristaverit, pignus debitori reddiderit, per vim nihil rapuerit: panem suum esurienti dederit, et nudum operuerit vestimento: 8Hath not lent upon usury, nor taken any increase: hath withdrawn his hand from iniquity, and hath executed true judgment between man and man:Non presterà ad usura, e non riceverà più del dato; ritrarrà la sua mano dall'iniquità, e retto giudizio pronunzierà tra uomo, ed uomo:hath not lent to vsurie, and not taken more: hath turned away his hand from iniquitie, and done true iudgement betwen man and man:ad usuram non commodaverit, et amplius non acceperit: ab iniquitate averterit manum suam, et judicium verum fecerit inter virum et virum: 9Hath walked in my commandments, and kept my judgments, to do truth: he is just, he shall surely live, saith the Lord God.Camminerà ne' miei precetti, ed osserverà le mie leggi per operare secondo la verità: questi è giusto, avrà vita, dice il Signore Dio.hath walked in my precepts, and kept my iudgements, to doe truth: this man is iust, liuing he shal liue, saith our Lord God.in præceptis meis ambulaverit, et judicia mea custodierit, ut faciat veritatem: hic justus est; vita vivet, ait Dominus Deus. 10And if he beget a son that is a robber, a shedder of blood, and that hath done some one of these things:Che se egli avrà generato un figliuolo ladrone, omicida, e che abbia fatta una di queste cose;And if he hath begotten a sonne that is a robber shedding bloud, & he doe one of these thinges:Quod si genuerit filium latronem, effundentem sanguinem, et fecerit unum de istis: 11Though he doth not all these things, but that eateth upon the mountains, and that defileth his neighbour’s wife:E non tutte le abbia fatte, ma banchetti sui monti, e violi la moglie del suo prossimo,and that doth not in dede al these thinges, but eateth on the mountaynes, and defileth his neighbours wife:et hæc quidem omnia non facientem, sed in montibus comedentem, et uxorem proximi sui polluentem:
12That grieveth the needy and the poor, that taketh away by violence, that restoreth not the pledge, and that lifteth up his eyes to idols, that committeth abomination:Offenda il piccolo, e il povero, faccia rapine, non renda il pegno, alzi gli occhi suoi ai simulacri, commetta abbominazioni,that maketh the needie and poore sorowful, violently committeth robberies, restoreth not the pledge, & lifteth his eyes to idols, doth abomination:egenum et pauperem contristantem, rapientem rapinas, pignus non reddentem, et ad idola levantem oculos suos, abominationem facientem: 13That giveth upon usury, and that taketh an increase: shall such a one live? he shall not live. Seeing he hath done all these detestable things, he shall surely die, his blood shall be upon him.Dia ad usura, e riceva più del dato, avrà egli vita? Non avrà vita. Avendo fatto tutte queste detestabili cose, egli certamente morrà, il suo sangue sarà sopra di lui.that geueth to vsurie, and taketh more: what, shal he liue? he shal not liue. Wheras he hath done al these detestable thinges, dying he shal dye, his bloud shal be vpon him.ad usuram dantem, et amplius accipientem: numquid vivet ? Non vivet: cum universa hæc detestanda fecerit, morte morietur; sanguis ejus in ipso erit. 14But if he beget a son, who, seeing all his father’s sins, which he hath done, is afraid, and shall not do the like to them:Che se questi avrà un figliuolo, il quale veggendo tutti i peccati commessi al padre suo, avrà timore, e non lo imiterà in questi,But and if he hath begotten a sonne, that seing al his fathers sinnes, which he hath done, is afrayd, and shal not doe the like to them:Quod si genuerit filium, qui videns omnia peccata patris sui quæ fecit, timuerit, et non fecerit simile eis: 15That hath not eaten upon the mountains, nor lifted up his eyes to the idols of the house of Israel, and hath not defiled his neighbour’s wife:Non banchetterà sui monti, e non alzerà gli occhi ai simulacri della casa d'Israele, e non violerà la moglie del suo prossimo,hath not eaten vpon the mountaines, and not lifted vp his eyes to the idols of the house of Israel, and hath not violated his neighbours wife:super montes non comederit, et oculos suos non levaverit ad idola domus Israël, et uxorem proximi sui non violaverit: 16And hath not grieved any man, nor withholden the pledge, nor taken away with violence, but hath given his bread to the hungry, and covered the naked with a garment:E non offenderà alcun uomo, non riterrà il pegno, non farà rapine, darà del suo pane all'affamato, e rivestirà l'ignudo;and hath made no man sorowful, hath not withheld the pledge, and hath not violently committed robberie, hath geuen his bread to the hungrie, and couered the naked with clothing:et virum non contristaverit, pignus non retinuerit, et rapinam non rapuerit: panem suum esurienti dederit, et nudum operuerit vestimento:
17That hath turned away his hand from injuring the poor, hath not taken usury and increase, but hath executed my judgments, and hath walked in my commandments: this man shall not die for the iniquity of his father, but living he shall live.Conterrà la sua mano dal fare al povero ingiuria, non prenderà usura, né il soprappiù, osserverà le mie leggi, e camminerà ne' miei precetti, questi non morrà pell'iniquità del padre suo, ma avrà vita.hath turned away his hand from iniurie of the poore, hath not taken vsurie and ouerplus, hath done my iudgements, hath walked in my preceptes: this man shal not dye in the iniquitie of his father, but liuing he shal liue.a pauperis injuria averterit manum suam, usuram et superabundantiam non acceperit, judicia mea fecerit, in præceptis meis ambulaverit: hic non morietur in iniquitate patris sui, sed vita vivet. 18As for his father, because he oppressed and offered violence to his brother, and wrought evil in the midst of his people, behold he is dead in his own iniquity.Il padre di lui, perchè fu calunniatore, e fece violenza al fratello; e peccò in mezzo al suo popolo, egli è morto per la sua iniquità.His father because he did calumniate, and did violence to his brother, and wrought euil in the middes of his people, behold he is dead in his owne iniquitie.Pater ejus, quia calumniatus est, et vim fecit fratri, et malum operatus est in medio populi sui, ecce mortuus est in iniquitate sua. 19And you say: Why hath not the son borne the iniquity of his father? Verily, because the son hath wrought judgment and justice, hath kept all my commandments, and done them, living, he shall live.E voi dite: Per qual motivo non ha portato il figliuolo l'iniquità di suo padre? Certamente perchè il figliuolo ha operato secondo la legge, e secondo la giustizia, ha osservati tutti i miei precetti, e gli ha adempiuti, avrà vita.And you say: Why hath not the sonne borne the iniquitie of his father? Verely because the sonne hath wrought iudgement and iustice, he hath kept al my precepts, and done them, liuing he shal liue.Et dicitis: Quare non portavit filius iniquitatem patris ? Videlicet quia filius judicium et justitiam operatus est, omnia præcepta mea custodivit, et fecit illa, vivet vita. 20The soul that sinneth, the same shall die: the son shall not bear the iniquity of the father, and the father shall not bear the iniquity of the son: the justice of the just shall be upon him, and the wickedness of the wicked shall be upon him.L'anima, che avrà peccato, ella perirà: il figliuolo non porterà l'iniquità del padre, e il padre non porterà l'iniquità del figliuolo. La giustizia del giusto sarà sul capo di lui; e sul capo dell'empio sarà l'empietà di lui.The soule that shal sinne, the same shal dye: the sonne shal not beare the iniquitie of the father, and the father shal not beare the iniquitie of the sonne: the iustice of the iust shal be vpon him, and the impietie of he impious shal be vpon him.Anima quæ peccaverit, ipsa morietur: filius non portabit iniquitatem patris, et pater non portabit iniquitatem filii: justitia justi super eum erit, et impietas impii erit super eum.
21But if the wicked do penance for all his sins which he hath committed, and keep all my commandments, and do judgment, and justice, living he shall live, and shall not die.Ma se l'empio farà penitenza di tutti i peccati, che ha fatti, osserverà tutti i miei precetti, e opererà secondo l'equità, e secondo la giustizia, avrà vita, e non morrà.But if the impious shal doe penance from al his sinnes, which he hath wrought, and shal keepe al my precepts, and doe iudgement, and iustice: liuing he shal liue, and shal not dye.Si autem impius egerit pœnitentiam ab omnibus peccatis suis quæ operatus est, et custodierit omnia præcepta mea, et fecerit judicium et justitiam, vita viet, et non morietur. 22I will not remember all his iniquities that he hath done: in his justice which he hath wrought, he shall live.Di tutte le iniquità, che egli ha commesse, non avrò più memoria: nella giustizia, ch'egli ha esercitata, avrà vita.Al his iniquities, which he hath wrought, I wil not remember them: in his iustice which he hath wrought, he shal liue.Omnium iniquitatum ejus quas operatus est, non recordabor: in justitia sua quam operatus est, vivet. 23Is it my will that a sinner should die, saith the Lord God, and not that he should be converted from his ways, and live?Voglio io forse la morte dell'empio, dice il Signore Dio, e non anzi ch'ei si converta dal suo mal fare, e viva?Why, is the death of a sinner my wil, saith our Lord God, and not that he conuert from his wayes, and liue?Numquid voluntatis meæ est mors impii, dicit Dominus Deus, et non ut convertatur a viis suis, et vivat ? 24But if the just man turn himself away from his justice, and do iniquity according to all the abominations which the wicked man useth to work, shall he live? all his justices which he hath done, shall not be remembered: in the prevarication, by which he hath prevaricated, and in his sin, which he hath committed, in them he shall die.Ma se il giusto si ritirerà dalla sua giustizia, e peccherà secondo le abbominazioni, che suol commettere l'empio, avrà egli la vita? Tutte le opere giuste, che egli aveva fatte, saranno dimenticate; nella prevaricazione, in cui è caduto, e nel suo peccato, che ha fatto, egli perirà.But if the iust man shal turne away himselfe from his iustice, and doe iniquitie according to al the abominations, which the impious vseth to worke, shal he liue? al his iustices, which he had done, shal not be remembred: in the preuarication, which he hath preuaricated, and in his sinne, which he hath sinned, in them he shal dye.Si autem averterit se justus a justitia sua, et fecerit iniquitatem secundum omnes abominationes quas operari solet impius, numquid vivet ? Omnes justitiæ ejus quas fecerat, non recordabuntur: in prævaricatione qua prævaricatus est, et in peccato suo quod peccavit, in ipsis morietur.
25And you have said: The way of the Lord is not right. Hear ye, therefore, O house of Israel: Is it my way that is not right, and are not rather your ways perverse?E voi avete detto: La via del Signore non è retta. Udite adunque, o casa di Israele: È ella forse la mia via, che non è giusta, e non piuttosto le vostre vie sono storte?And you haue said: The way of our Lord is not right. Heare ye therfore ô house of Israel: What, is not my way right, and are not rather your wayes peruerse?Et dixistis: Non est æqua via Domini ! Audite ergo, domus Israël: numquid via mea non est æqua, et non magis viæ vestræ pravæ sunt ? 26For when the just turneth himself away from his justice, and committeth iniquity, he shall die therein: in the injustice that he hath wrought he shall die.Imperocché quando il giusto si ritirerà dalla sua giustizia, e peccherà, morrà nel peccato: nell'ingiustizia, che ha commessa, egli morrà.For when the iust shal turne away himselfe from his iustice, & doth iniquitie, he shal dye in them: in the iniustice, that he hath wrought he shal dye.Cum enim averterit se justus a justitia sua, et fecerit iniquitatem, morietur in eis: in injustitia quam operatus est morietur. 27And when the wicked turneth himself away from his wickedness, which he hath wrought, and doeth judgment, and justice: he shall save his soul alive.E quando l'empio si ritirerà dall'empietà, e dal peccato, che ha fatto, e praticherà l'equità, e la giustizia, ei renderà vita all'anima sua;And when the impious shal turne away himselfe from his impietie, which he hath wrought, & shal doe iudgement, and iustice: he shal vi••si•ate his soule.Et cum averterit se impius ab impietate sua quam operatus est, et fecerit judicium et justitiam, ipse animam suam vivificabit: 28Because he considereth and turneth away himself from all his iniquities which he hath wrought, he shall surely live, and not die.Imperocché se egli torna in se stesso, e si ritira da tutte le iniquità, che ha fatte, avrà vita, e non morrà.For considering, & turning away himself from al his iniquities, which he hath wrought, liuing he shal liue, and not dye.considerans enim, et avertens se ab omnibus iniquitatibus suis quas operatus est, vita vivet, et non morietur. 29And the children of Israel say: The way of the Lord is not right. Are not my ways right, O house of Israel, and are not rather your ways perverse?E i figliuoli di Israele dicono: Non è retta la via del Signore. Non son forse rette le mie vie, o casa d'Israele, o piuttosto non sono storte le vie vostre:And the children of Israel say: The way of our Lord is not right. What, are not my wayes right, ô house of Israel, and not rather your wayes peruerse?Et dicunt filii Israël: Non est æqua via Domini ! Numquid viæ meæ non sunt æquæ, domus Israël, et non magis viæ vestræ pravæ ?
30Therefore will I judge every man according to his ways, O house of Israel, saith the Lord God. Be converted, and do penance for all your iniquities: and iniquity shall not be your ruin.Per questo, o casa d'Israele, io giudicherò ciascheduno secondo le sue vie, dice il Signore Dio. Convertitevi, e fate penitenza di tutte le vostre iniquità, e l'iniquità non sarà vostra rovina.Therfore wil I iudge euerie mā according to his wayes ô house of Israel, saith our Lord God. Conuert, and doe penance from al your iniquities: and iniquitie shal not be a ruine to you.Idcirco unumquemque juxta vias suas judicabo, domus Israël, ait Dominus Deus. Convertimini, et agite pœnitentiam ab omnibus iniquitatibus vestris, et non erit vobis in ruinam iniquitas. 31Cast away from you all your transgressions, by which you have transgressed, and make to yourselves a new heart, and a new spirit: and why will you die, O house of Israel?Gettate lungi da voi tutte le prevaricazioni, che avete commesse, e fatevi un cuor nuovo, e uno spirito nuovo: e perchè morrete voi, o casa d'Israele?Cast away from you al your preuarications, wherin you haue preuaricated, and make to yourselues a new hart, and a new spirit: and why wil you dye ô house of Israel?Projicite a vobis omnes prævaricationes vestras in quibus prævaricati estis, et facite vobis cor novum, et spiritum novum: et quare moriemini, domus Israël ? 32For I desire not the death of him that dieth, saith the Lord God, return ye and live.Imperocché io non voglio la morte di colui, che si muore; dice il Signore Dio: convertitevi, e vivete.Because I wil not the death of him that dieth, saith our Lord God, returne ye, and liue.Quia nolo mortem morientis, dicit Dominus Deus: revertimini, et vivite.
18:1
Year of the World 3411.
18:2
Worthington
Edge. Those in captivity would not allow that they were punished for their own sins: God convinces them of the contrary. (Worthington)
Calmet
They knew that he often visited the sins of the fathers upon the children, (Exodus 20:5., and 24:5.; Calmet) when they also hated him, (Haydock) and that many had suffered for their parents' faults, like those of Saul, David, etc. (Calmet)
Haydock
But these were all guilty of original sin at least, and death is not always a real misfortune. (Haydock)
Calmet
God seems to allow that the complaints had hitherto had some grounds, (Jeremias xxxi.) but that they should be removed after the captivity, and still more effectually by the death of Christ, who came to redeem sinners, and rejected none. By baptism he cancels original sin, the sour grape, and those who cannot receive it are not innocent. (Calmet)
Haydock
God chastises the body, but not the soul of children, for their parents' faults: (Menochius) and this conduct is a trial for them, which may increase their glory. (Haydock)
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Calmet
Mine. He insinuates the vocation of the Gentiles and the general redemption. All will be treated according to their works. (Calmet)
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Haydock
Mountains: of the sacrifices there offered to idols; (Challoner) or partaken in their usual feasts. Some irregularly worshipped God in these high places, under many pious kings; and were tolerated, (Calmet) though condemned for so doing. (Haydock)
Calmet
Woman. The pagans abstained by the light of reason. (Calmet)
Calmet
The contrary practice, "it is said," would give rise to lepers or monsters, (St. Jerome) as experience evinces. (Calmet)
Calmet
It was forbidden in the Christian Church. (St. Augustine, q. 64. in Leviticus 20:18.; St. Gregory, resp. 10. ad Aug.) (Calmet)
But no such questions are now asked. The prophet insists on this no more, ver. 11, 15.
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Haydock
Wronged. Literally, "contristated." (Haydock)
Hebrew, "oppressed," maliciously.
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Calmet
Increase more than what he lent, on any pretext. (St. Jerome) (Calmet)
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Robber. Hebrew, "breaker;" rude and lawless. Septuagint, "pestilent."
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Abomination. This refers to the woman, (ver. 6.) or to idolatry.
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Him. He alone is answerable, and shall suffer.
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Sinneth. God never acted otherwise, though the Jews seem to have thought so. Temporal afflictions are the source of merit, and generally fall to the share of the saints, particularly under the new law.
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Worthington
Penance. The end determines all. If a person be then found just or unjust at his departure, he will be treated accordingly. (Worthington)
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St. Augustine
Will. God sincerely wishes that the sinner should be converted. If he refuse grace, it is only in punishment of former transgressions. (St. Augustine, ep. 217.)
Calmet
He wills antecedently their salvation, (1 Timothy 2:4.) though he has a consequent will to punish them, as they speak in the schools, because they themselves will not be saved. (Sanctius) (Calmet)
God's absolute will is always fulfilled, not that which is conditional. (St. John Damascene, Fide 2:29.; St. Thomas Aquinas, Summa Theologiae p. 1. q. 19. a. 6.)
Worthington
He does enough by offering his graces and the death of Christ, to shew that his will is sincere; though by a consequent will his justice punishes the impenitent. Thus a virtuous judge would have all to observe the laws and live: but finding some transgress, so as to become pernicious, he punishes them with death. (Worthington)
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Calmet
Remembered, to procure him pardon; yet he will suffer less than if he had never done any good. (Calmet)
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Not right, in thus punishing or rewarding for the last act; (Theodoret) or rather, God shews that those who complain are guilty.
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Calmet
Alive. Mortal sin destroys that life of grace. (Calmet)
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Worthington
Do penance. This is requisite, as well as a change of conduct. (Worthington)
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Calmet
New. We can do no good of ourselves: but we are admonished of our free-will, that we may do what we can, and ask for grace. (Council of Trent, Session 6:5, 11.) (James 1:5., and 2 Corinthians 3:5.) (St. Augustine, etc.) (Calmet)
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Not eaten upon the mountains.... That is, of the sacrifices there offered to idols.
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To do truth.... That is, to act according to truth; for the Hebrews called everything that was just, truth.
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The people suffering affliction vvould not confesse it to be for their owne sinnes, but cast the fault vpon their fathers: vvhich error is here conuinced, God declaring by his prophet that not only the fathers but also the children had finned, & vvere therfore iustly pu•nished, euerie one is for his owne sinnes.
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An other general rule is here geuen that as men alter their maners from euil to good or frō good to euil, so they shal be iudged & finally revvarded or punished, according to the state wherin they end this life.
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••. Is the death of a sinner my vvil?] In manie places of holie Scripture it is Psal. 11•. Though God conditionally vvould haue •• men to be s•u•d: yet manie are iustly damned. cl•••, that Gods vvil is most assuredly fulfilled in al thinges, vvhatsoeuer he v. 11. vvould: and none can resist his vvil. &c. Neuertheles here, and in other places Rom. 9. it is also expresly affirmed, that God would haue al sinners to repent, and none v. 19. to dye in their sinnes; vvhich semeth to repugne vvith the former doctrin. For Ezech. 33. solution of vvhich difficultie. S. Damascen, li. 2. c. 29 de Orthodoxa side. and other v. 11. Doctors distinguish Gods vvil, vvhich is either called Antecedent, and conditional; 1. Tim. 2. and so God vvould haue al men to be saued, as appeareth by creating v, 4. al to that end, by his frequen: admonitions, preceptes, threates, temporal punishments, 2. Pet. 3. v. 9. and revvardes; and especially by our Sauiours death, and redemption •. Th•. p. •. q 19. a. 6. of al mankind, vvherby he merited most sufficient meanes, and offereth his A •ust Iudge vvould condemne no ma• yet condemneth murderers, •hee••• &c. sufficient grace to euerie one, that they may be saued if they vvil. Othervvise Gods wil is called Consequent and absolute; and so for iustice sake his diuine vvil is, that impenitent sinners shal be damned, and eternally punished for their sinnes. As a iust Iudge condionally, and antecedently vvould haue al men to obserue good lavves, and to liue so long as they can by nature, but absolutely & consequently finding some to be murderers, or othervvise pernicicious to the commonvvelth, he panisheth them with death.
v. •.
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As a soule in mortal sinne is spiritually dead: so truly repenting it return••• to spiritual life. • Not only repentance, which is auersion from sinne, and conuersion to God, but also 〈…〉 that is, satisfaction for sinnes past is necessarie to saluation.
ma•• his soule to liue.
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Origen † AD 254 Origen Against Celsus 8.40
… for he reproves those who say, “Our fathers have eaten sour grapes, and the children’s teeth are set on edge,”
St Augustine of Hippo † AD 430 The Enchiridion 46
… And it was this new covenant that was prophesied of, when it was said by Ezekiel, that the sons should not bear the iniquity of the fathers, and that it should no longer be a proverb in Israel, “The fathers have eaten sour grapes, and the children’s teeth are set on edge.”
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Origen † AD 254 Origen De Principiis 2.5.2
… Now, such are their opinions, because they know not how to understand anything beyond the letter; otherwise they would show how it is literal justice for sins to be visited upon the heads of children to the third and fourth generation, and on children’s children after them. By us, however, such things are not understood literally; but, as Ezekiel taught
Aphrahat † AD 346 Aphrahat: Select Demonstrations 5.7
… And if thou dost glory in thy wisdom, thou dost not in it excel the Prince of Tyre, whom Ezekiel reproached, saying unto him:— Art thou wiser than Daniel, or hast thou seen by thy wisdom the things that are hid ?
St John Chrysostom † AD 407 The Homilies of St. John Chrysostom on the Gospel of St. John 56
… so when He said, “nor his parents,” He said not that one may be punished for his parents’ sake. This supposition He re moveth by the mouth of Ezekiel; “As I live saith the Lord, this proverb shall not be, that is used, The fathers have eaten sour grapes, and the children’s teeth are set on edge.” (
18:4
Origen † AD 254 Origen De Principiis 2.8.3
… Finally, see if you can easily find a place in holy Scripture where the soul is properly mentioned in terms of praise: it frequently occurs, on the contrary, accompanied with expressions of censure, as in the passage, “An evil soul ruins him who possesses it;” and, “The soul which sinneth, it shall die.”
Origen † AD 254 Origen's Commentary on Matthew 13.9
… think that the devil has the power of death,—not of that which is common and indifferent, in accordance with which those who are compacted of soul and body die, when their soul is separated from the body,—but of that death which is contrary to and the enemy of Him who said, “I am the Life,” in accordance with which “the soul that sinneth, it shall die.”
St Ambrose of Milan † AD 397 On the Decease of His Brother Satyrus 2.36
… when the soul is set free from the bonds of the body. The third death is that of which it is said: “Leave the dead to bury their own dead.” In that death not only the flesh but also the soul dies, for “the soul that sinneth, it shall die.”
St John Chrysostom † AD 407 Homilies on Ephesians 18
… Then I will show thee no longer the bodies of men, but the souls of men slaughtered in the other world. Yes, for it is possible for a soul to be slain with the slaughter peculiar to the soul; for as there is a death of the body, so is there also of the soul. “The soul that sinneth,” saith the Prophet, “it shall die.” (
St John Chrysostom † AD 407 Homilies on First Thessalonians 10
… Has a want of possessions overtaken thee? But these also are things to be acquired, and again to be lost, and that abide here. But is it plots and false accusations of enemies? But it is not we that are injured by these, but they who are the authors of them. “For the soul,” he says, “that sinneth, itself shall also die.” (
St Jerome † AD 420 The Letters of St. Jerome 39.2
… Are we not told that the unrighteousness of the father does not fall upon the son, and that “the soul that sinneth it shall die?”
St Jerome † AD 420 The Letters of St. Jerome 60.8
… Nor will I boast of his family, that is of the good points belonging not to him but to others; for even those holy men Abraham and Isaac had for sons the sinners Ishmael and Esau. And on the other hand Jephthah who is reckoned by the apostle in the roll of the righteous is the son of a harlot. It is said “the soul that sinneth, it shall die.”
St Jerome † AD 420 The Letters of St. Jerome 147.10
10. But possibly you flatter yourself that since the bishop who has made you a deacon is a holy man, his merits will atone for your transgressions. I have already told you that the father is not punished for the son nor the son for the father. “The soul that sinneth it shall die.”
St Jerome † AD 420 Against Jovinianus 1.25
… Noah and Job were not in existence at that time: we know that they lived many ages before. And the meaning is this: if there were such and such men in a sinful land, they shall not be able to save their own sons and daughters: because the righteousness of the father shall not save the son, nor shall the sin of one be imputed to another.
St Jerome † AD 420 Against the Pelagians 3.6
… and agitations, even though it escape shipwreck, does not sail without danger, and remembering its weakness, is always anxious about death, according as it is written, “What man is he that shall live and not see death?”—death, which threatens all mortal men, not through the decay of nature, but through the death of sin, according to the prophet’s words,
St Augustine of Hippo † AD 430 Letters of St. Augustin 44.12
… when also I had quoted the words of Ezekiel—“As the soul of the father, so also the soul of the son is mine: the soul that sinneth it shall die”
St Augustine of Hippo † AD 430 Letters of St. Augustin 98.1
… “Both the soul of the father is mine,” saith the Lord, “and the soul of the son is mine: the soul that sinneth, it shall die;”
St Augustine of Hippo † AD 430 Against Lying 20
… To be wise in this sort, what is it but to lose one’s wits, or rather, to be downright mad? Mine own iniquity, not another’s, whether perpetrated upon me or upon others, is that from which I must beware of damnation. For “the soul that sinneth, it shall die.”
St Augustine of Hippo † AD 430 Expositions on the Book of Psalms 109.14
… 13 ). Is it to be understood, that even the sins of his fathers shall be visited upon him? For upon him they are not visited, who hath been changed in Christ, and hath ceased to be the child of the wicked, by not having imitated their conduct.
Theodoret of Cyrus † AD 458 Dialogues. The “Eranistes” or “Polymorphus” of the Blessed Theodoretus, Bishop of Cyrus 2
Orth. —Hear the Lord God speaking through the prophet Ezekiel “The soul that sinneth it shall die.”
Anonymous A Treatise Against the Heretic Novatian by an Anonymous Bishop 16
… “Thou shalt not accept,” says He, “the person, neither shalt thou judge according to the least nor according to the greatest.” Like words to these He also said by Ezekiel: “All souls,” said He, “are mine; as the soul of the father, so is the soul of the son: the soul that hath sinned, it shall die.”
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St Augustine of Hippo † AD 430 A Treatise on the Merits and Forgiveness of Sins, and on the Baptism of Infants 3.21
… or wife was sanctified by the believing partner, and by which the children of the believing parents were sanctified,—whether it was that the husband or the wife, during the woman’s menstruation, abstained from cohabiting, having learned that duty in the law (for Ezekiel classes this amongst the precepts which were not to be taken in a metaphorical sense
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Tertullian † AD 220 The Five Books Against Marcion 4.16
… thus by Isaiah He says: “Deal thy bread to the hungry, and them that are houseless bring into thine house; when thou seest the naked, cover him.” By Ezekiel also He thus describes the just man: “His bread will he give to the hungry, and the naked will he cover with a garment.”
St Cyprian of Carthage † AD 258 Three Books of Testimonies Against the Jews 3.49
… He who doeth these things shall not be moved for ever.” Also in Ezekiel: “But the man who will be righteous, shall not oppress a man, and shall return the pledge of the debtor, and shall not commit rapine, and shall give his bread to the hungry, and shall cover the naked, and shall not give his money for usury.”
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Tertullian † AD 220 The Five Books Against Marcion 4.17
And now, on the subject of a loan, when He asks, “And if ye lend to them of whom ye hope to receive, what thank have ye?” compare with this the following words of Ezekiel, in which He says of the before-mentioned just man, “He hath not given his money upon usury, nor will he take any increase”
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St Augustine of Hippo † AD 430 Letters of St. Augustin 250.1
… but a spiritual judgment, founded on what is written, “That which ye shall bind on earth shall be bound in heaven,” —is binding on souls , concerning which it is said, “As the soul of the father is mine, so also the soul of the son is mine: the soul that sinneth it shall die.”
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Tertullian † AD 220 The Five Books Against Marcion 4.17
… It was engaged in forming the faith of such as would learn, by gradual stages, for the perfect light of the Christian discipline, through the best precepts of which it was capable, inculcating a benevolence which as yet expressed itself but falteringly. For in the passage of Ezekiel quoted above He says, “And thou shalt restore the pledge of the loan”
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Origen † AD 254 Origen's Commentary on Matthew 10.13
… similitude before us are cast into “the furnace of fire,” that what is said in Ezekiel about the furnace of fire may also overtake them—“And the Word of the Lord came unto me saying, Son of man behold the house of Israel is become to me all mixed with brass and iron,” etc., down to the words, “And ye shall know that I the Lord have poured My fury upon you.”
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St Justin Martyr † AD 165 Dialogue with Trypho 140
… ‘Even if Noah, and Jacob, and Daniel were to pray for sons or daughters, their request should not be granted.’ ‘But neither shall the father perish for the son, nor the son for the father; but every one for his own sin, and each shall be saved for his own righteousness.’
Origen † AD 254 Origen Against Celsus 8.40
… Every man shall be put to death for his own sin.” And again, “Every man that eateth the sour grape, his teeth shall be set on edge.” And, “The son shall not bear the iniquity of the father, neither shall the father bear the iniquity of the son: the righteousness of the righteous shall be upon him, and the wickedness of the wicked shall be upon him.”
Origen † AD 254 Origen's Commentary on Matthew 10.11
… Wherefore also in Ezekiel, concerning the man who turns away from unrighteousness to the keeping of the divine commandments, it is thus written: “But if the wicked man turn away from all his wickednesses which he hath done,” etc., down to the words, “that he turn from his wicked way and live;”
St Cyprian of Carthage † AD 258 The Epistles of Cyprian 51.27
… But with us, according to our faith and the given rule of divine preaching, agrees the principle of truth, that every one is himself held fast in his own sin; nor can one become guilty for another, since the Lord forewarns us, saying, “The righteousness of the righteous shall be upon him, and the wickedness of the wicked shall be upon him.”
St Basil the Great † AD 379 The Letters 223.5
… How can you fail to bear in mind that the father shall not bear the iniquity of the son, nor the son bear the iniquity of the father, but each shall die in his own sin?
St Gregory of Nyssa † AD 395 Against Eunomius 2.13
… For the death of the body consists in the extinction of the means of sensible perception, and in the dissolution of the body into its kindred elements: but “the soul that sinneth,” he saith, “it shall die
St Ambrose of Milan † AD 397 Exposition of the Christian Faith 3.3
… Things perishable are not to be compared to things divine. The Godhead is the one only Substance that death cannot touch, and therefore it is that the Apostle, though knowing both the [human] soul and angels to be immortal, declared that God only had immortality. In truth, even the soul may die: “The soul that sinneth, it shall die,”
St Jerome † AD 420 The Letters of St. Jerome 39.2
… Why is it that children three years old or two, and even unweaned infants, are possessed with devils, covered with leprosy, and eaten up with jaundice, while godless men and profane, adulterers and murderers, have health and strength to blaspheme God? Are we not told that the unrighteousness of the father does not fall upon the son,
St Jerome † AD 420 The Letters of St. Jerome 54.8
… But a widow “that liveth in pleasure”—the words are not mine but those of the apostle—“is dead while she liveth.” What does that mean—“is dead while she liveth”? To those who know no better she seems to be alive and not, as she is, dead in sin; yes, and in another sense dead to Christ, from whom no secrets are hid. “The soul that sinneth it shall die.”
St Jerome † AD 420 The Letters of St. Jerome 107.6
… No one administers drugs till he has rubbed the rim of the cup with honey; so, the better to deceive us, vice puts on the mien and the semblance of virtue. Why then, you will say, do we read:—“the son shall not bear the iniquity of the father, neither shall the father bear the iniquity of the son,” but “the soul that sinneth it shall die”?
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Origen † AD 254 Origen's Commentary on Matthew 12.30
… convert are wiped out, and the former uprightness of him who has utterly fallen away is not held of account—that in the case of him who is perfected, and has altogether laid aside wickedness, the sins are wiped out, but that, in the case of him who has altogether revolted from piety, if anything good was formerly done by him, it is not taken into account.
St Augustine of Hippo † AD 430 Concerning the Nature of Good, Against the Manichæans 48
… who in the day when a man shall have turned from his iniquity to Thy mercy and truth, wilt forget all his iniquities:
St Augustine of Hippo † AD 430 Sermons on Selected Lessons of the New Testament 32.14
… Moan with no fruitless moaning. For it may be thou art saying to thyself, “God hath promised me forgiveness, whenever I reform myself I am secure; I read the divine Scripture, “In the day that the wicked man turneth away from his wickedness, and doeth that which is lawful and right, I will forget all his iniquities.”
St Augustine of Hippo † AD 430 Sermons on Selected Lessons of the New Testament 37.10
… The Lord of the vineyard goeth forth to them, and by the Prophet Ezekial knocketh, and calleth to them in their despair, and as they turn their backs to Him that calleth them. “In whatsoever day a man shall turn from his most wicked way, I will forget all his iniquities.”
St Augustine of Hippo † AD 430 Lectures or Tractates on the Gospel According to St. John 33.8
… for suddenly His anger will come, and in the time of vengeance, will utterly destroy thee.” To those who are in danger from despair, what does He say? “In what day soever the wicked man shall be converted, I will forget all his iniquities.”
Anonymous A Treatise Against the Heretic Novatian by an Anonymous Bishop 14
… according to the faith of the Scripture which says, “But if the wicked will turn from all his sins which he hath committed, and will do righteousness, he shall live in eternal life, and shall not die in his wickedness.”
Early Popes (Pseudo-Isidorian Decretals) The Epistles of Pope Callistus 2.5
… The blessed Peter also shed the bitterest tears when he repented of having denied the Lord; but still he abode an apostle. And the Lord by the prophet makes this promise to the sinning: “In the day that the sinner is converted, and repenteth, I will not mention any more against him all his transgressions.”
Pseudo-Cyprian Exhortation to Repentance 1
… None of his sins which he has committed shall be in remembrance; in his righteousness which he hath done he shall live. Do I willingly desire the death of the unrighteous man, saith Adonai the Lord, rather than that he should turn him from his evil way, that he should live?”
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St Ignatius of Antioch † AD 108 Epistle to the Philadelphians: Shorter and Longer Versions 11
… And I myself give thanks to God for you, because ye have received them: and the Lord will also receive you. But may those that dishonoured them be forgiven through the grace of Jesus Christ, “who wisheth not the death of the sinner, but his repentance.”
Tertullian † AD 220 The Five Books Against Marcion 2.8
… Accordingly, God gave him to live when he was formed into a living soul; but He charged him to live virtuously when he was required to obey a law. So also God shows that man was not constituted for death, by now wishing that he should be restored to life, preferring the sinner’s repentance to his death.
Tertullian † AD 220 On the Resurrection of the Flesh 9
… disordered, since “they that are whole need not the physician, but they that are sick;” although not honourable, since “we bestow more abundant honour upon the less honourable members;” although ruined, since He says, “I am come to save that which was lost;” although sinful, since He says, “I desire rather the salvation of the sinner than his death;”
Tertullian † AD 220 On Modesty 2
“But,” say they, “God is ‘good,’ and ‘most good,’ and ‘pitiful-hearted,’ and ‘a pitier,’ and ‘abundant in pitiful-heartedness,’ which He holds ‘dearer than all sacrifice,’ ‘not thinking the sinner’s death of so much worth as his repentance’,
Eusebius of Caesarea † AD 339 The Oration of Eusebius 11.5
… saying, “Come unto me, all ye that labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest.” And again, “I am not come to call the righteous, but sinners, to repentance.” And he adds the reason, saying, “For they that are whole need not a physician, but they that are sick.” And again, “I desire not the death of a sinner, but rather that he should repent.”
Aphrahat † AD 346 Aphrahat: Select Demonstrations 8.17
… but he was accounted dead unto God because of his sins. But that it may be made certain for thee that a sinner is called dead even when he lives, I will make it clear to thee. For thus it is written in Ezekiel the Prophet, As I live, saith the Lord of lords, I desire not the death of the dead sinner.
St Athanasius of Alexandria † AD 373 Festal and Personal Letters of Athanasius 3
… would that it were already kindled !’ For He desired, as He testified in Ezekiel
St John Chrysostom † AD 407 The Homilies of St. John Chrysostom 45
For if it had not been His will that they should hear and be saved, He ought to have been silent, not to have spoken in parables; but now by this very thing He stirs them up, even by speaking under a veil. “For God willeth not the death of the sinner, but that he should turn unto Him and live.”
St John Chrysostom † AD 407 The Homilies of St. John Chrysostom 82
But about not despairing, it is said, “Doth he fall, and not arise? Doth he turn away, and not return?” and, “I do not will the death of the sinner, so much as that he should turn and live:”
St Jerome † AD 420 The Letters of St. Jerome 41.3
… No doubt their object is to make their religion more pretentious by putting that last which we put first. Again they close the doors of the Church to almost every fault, whilst we read daily, “I desire the repentance of a sinner rather than his death,”
St Jerome † AD 420 The Letters of St. Jerome 77.4
… This is not however the place to preach penitence, neither am I writing against Montanus and Novatus. Else would I say of it that it is “a sacrifice…well pleasing to God,” I would cite the words of the psalmist: “the sacrifices of God are a broken spirit,” and those of Ezekiel “I prefer the repentance of a sinner rather than his death,”
St Jerome † AD 420 Against the Pelagians 1.28
… that is to say, until he is redeemed by the Saviour’s blood, either in the baptistery, or in penitence which is a copy of the grace of baptism, through the ineffable mercy of the Saviour, who
St Augustine of Hippo † AD 430 Sermons on Selected Lessons of the New Testament 21.21
21. But this impenitence or impenitent heart may not be pronounced upon, as long as a man lives in the flesh. For we are not to despair of any so long as “the patience of God leadeth the ungodly to repentance,” and doth not hurry him out of this life; “God, who willeth not the death of a sinner, but that he should return from his ways and live.”
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Origen † AD 254 Origen's Commentary on Matthew 10.11
… etc., down to the words, “that he turn from his wicked way and live;” but concerning the man who returns from the advance towards virtue unto the flood of wickedness it is said, “But in the case of the righteous man turning away from his righteousness and committing iniquity,” etc., down to the words, “in his sins which he hath sinned in them shall he die.”
St Basil the Great † AD 379 The Letters 42.2
… So we hear from Ezekiel teaching as it were in the name of the Lord, when he says, “if the righteous turneth away and committeth iniquity, I will not remember the righteousness which he committed before; in his sin he shall die,”
St John Chrysostom † AD 407 Homilies on 2 Timothy 3
… xxii. 13, and xxv. 26 .) For awful truly and terrible is that tribunal. And yet God is gracious and merciful. He is called a God “of mercies and a God of comfort” ( 2 Cor. i. 3 .); good as none else is good, and kind, and gentle, and full of pity, Who “willeth not the death of a sinner, but that he should be converted and live.” (
Sulpicius Severus † AD 420 The Doubtful Letters of Sulpitius Severus 1.2
… Moreover, he does not secure even a measure of the reward, if he has, in a measure, failed. For, as we must flee from sin to righteousness, so he who has entered on the practice of righteousness must beware lest he lay himself open to sin. For it is written that “his righteousness shall not profit the righteous on the day on which he has gone astray.”
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St Augustine of Hippo † AD 430 Expositions on the Book of Psalms 18.27
27. “And with the chosen Thou shalt be chosen.” ( ver. 26 ). And by him whom Thou choosest, Thou art chosen. “And with the froward Thou shalt be froward.” And with the froward Thou seemest froward: for they say, “The way of the Lord is not right:”
John Cassian † AD 435 The Conferences of John Cassian 24.25
… “The folly of man corrupteth his ways, but he blames God in his heart;” and as Haggai the prophet says, when we say that “the way of the Lord is not right” the reply is aptly made to us by the Lord: “Is not My way right? Are not your ways rather crooked?”
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St Athanasius of Alexandria † AD 373 Life of Antony. (Vita Antoni.) 16
… but, as it is written in the Gospel, daily shows the same readiness to please his master, and to avoid risk: so let us daily abide firm in our discipline, knowing that if we are careless for a single day the Lord will not pardon us, for the sake of the past, but will be wrath against us for our neglect. As also we have heard in Ezekiel
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Pope St Clement I † AD 99 The First Epistle of Clement to the Corinthians 8
The ministers of the grace of God have, by the Holy Spirit, spoken of repentance; and the Lord of all things has himself declared with an oath regarding it, “As I live, saith the Lord, I desire not the death of the sinner, but rather his repentance;” adding, moreover, this gracious declaration, “Repent, O house of Israel, of your iniquity.
Tertullian † AD 220 On Repentance 4
To all sins, then, committed whether by flesh or spirit, whether by deed or will, the same God who has destined penalty by means of judgment, has withal engaged to grant pardon by means of repentance, saying to the people, “Repent thee, and I will save thee;”
St Jerome † AD 420 The Letters of St. Jerome 122.1
… “Repent,” he cries, “and turn yourselves from all your transgressions; so iniquity shall not be your ruin. Cast away from you all your transgressions whereby ye have transgressed; and make you a new heart and a new spirit: for why will ye die, O house of Israel? For I have no pleasure in the death of him that dieth, saith the Lord.”
Anonymous A Treatise Against the Heretic Novatian by an Anonymous Bishop 9
9. What sort of folly is thine, Novatian, only to read what tends to the destruction of salvation, and to pass by what tends to mercy, when Scripture cries, and says, “Repent, ye who err: be converted in heart;”
Anonymous A Treatise Against the Heretic Novatian by an Anonymous Bishop 18
… Cast away from you all your impieties which ye have committed against me; and make to yourselves a new heart and a new spirit. And why do ye deliver yourselves over to death, O house of Israel? For I do not desire the death of the sinner.”
Pseudo-Cyprian Exhortation to Repentance 1
… “Be ye converted, and turn you from all your wickedneses, and they shall not be to you for a punishment. Cast away from you all your iniquities which ye have wickedly committed against me, and make to yourselves a new heart and a new spirit; and why will ye die, O house of Israel? For I desire not the death of him that dieth, saith Adonai the Lord.”
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St Cyril of Jerusalem † AD 386 The Catechetical Lectures of S. Cyril 1.1
1. Disciples of the New Testament and partakers of the mysteries of Christ, as yet by calling only, but ere long by grace also, make you a new heart and a new spirit
St Gregory of Nazianzus † AD 389 Select Orations of Saint Gregory Nazianzen 34
… then cease your babbling, though so late, O ye sophists of vain talk that falls at once to the ground; for why will ye die O House of Israel?
St Augustine of Hippo † AD 430 A Treatise on Grace and Free Will 31
… and make you a new heart and a new spirit; and keep all my commandments. For why will ye die, O house of Israel, saith the Lord? for I have no pleasure in the death of him that dieth, saith the Lord God: and turn ye, and live.”
John Cassian † AD 435 The Conferences of John Cassian 13.9
… “Make straight paths for your feet and direct your ways,” and what is it that we say in our prayers: “Direct my way in Thy sight,” and “establish my goings in Thy paths, that my footsteps be not moved?” What is it again that we are admonished: “Make you a new heart and a new spirit,”
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St Cyprian of Carthage † AD 258 On the Advantage of Patience 4
… bearing, that is to say, mercifully, and putting off, so that, if it might be possible, the long protracted mischief may at some time be changed, and man, involved in the contagion of errors and crimes, may even though late be converted to God, as He Himself warns and says, “I do not will the death of him that dieth, so much as that he may return and live.”
St Basil the Great † AD 379 The Letters 44
… Do not despair of salvation. Recall your recollection of how it is written in the Scriptures that he who is falling rises and he who turns away returns; the wounded is healed, the prey of beasts escapes; he who owns his sin is not rejected. The Lord willeth not the death of a sinner but rather that he should turn and live.
St Ambrose of Milan † AD 397 Concerning Repentance 1.3
… In order, then, that we may recognize that the God of mercy is rather prone to indulgence than to severity, it is said: “I desire mercy rather than sacrifice.” How, then, can your sacrifice, who refuse mercy, be acceptable to God, since He says that He wills not the death of a sinner, but his correction?
St John Chrysostom † AD 407 The Homilies on the Statues to the People of Antioch 18.9
… And again: “The inhabitants of Ænan went not forth to bewail the house next unto them.” For although they are justly punished, God willeth that we should condole with them, and not rejoice or insult. “For if I that punish,” saith He, “do not this rejoicingly; nor take pleasure in their punishment; for “I do not at all will the death of the sinner;”
St John Chrysostom † AD 407 The Homilies of St. John Chrysostom on Paul's Epistle to the Romans 31
… Seek we not then to know where it is, but how we may escape it. Neither yet because God doth not punish all here, therefore disbelieve things to come. For merciful and long-suffering He is: that is why he threatens, and does not cast us into it forthwith. For “I desire not,” He says, “the death of a sinner.” (
St John Chrysostom † AD 407 The Homilies of St. John Chrysostom on the Gospel of St. John 68
… I called, and there was none to hearken.” ( Isa. l. 2 , LXX.) These things He saith, showing that we begin the desertion, and become the causes of our perdition; for God not only desireth not to leave or to punish us, but even when He punisheth, doth it unwillingly; “I will not,” He saith, “the death of a sinner, so much as that he should turn and live.” (
Early Popes (Pseudo-Isidorian Decretals) The Epistles of Pope Callistus 2.6
… “Shall he who falls not also rise again? and shall he who turns away not return?” And in another passage the Lord says: “I desire not the death of the sinner, but that he may turn, and live.”
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2. WHAT IS IT THAT YOU TURN THIS PARABLE INTO A PROVERB AMONG YOU (in Hebrew, Why do you parabolize this parable? that is, why do you frequently use this parable, or proverb?) THE FATHERS HAVE EATEN A SOUR GRAPE, AND THE TEETH OF THE CHILDREN ARE SET ON EDGE. The Syriac: The fathers have eaten a sharp grape, and the teeth of the children are set on edge, or are frozen, that is, as the Chaldean: The fathers have sinned, and the children are beaten. The occasion of the proverb was that the Prophets everywhere proclaimed that Jerusalem was to be overthrown on account of the sins of Manasseh; just as Israel was overthrown on account of the sins of Jeroboam. For these were the inventors and, as it were, the founders of the idolatry of the Jews. Thus Theodoret. From this it is clear that the Prophet here and throughout this chapter speaks of actual sins, not of original sin. For in this it is true to say: "Our father Adam ate a sour apple, and the teeth of all his children are set on edge," or, as St. Bernard says, in the tract On the Degrees of Humility: "Therefore we are born to die, because we first die in being born," and, as St. Augustine says: "First condemned than born; because God, from His supreme dominion (which He has over His creatures), by right placed the will of all posterity in the will of Adam, so that whatever he did well or badly, posterity would be considered to do the same. The will of Adam therefore was the will of all posterity; and God did this so that Adam would be a type, indeed an antitype of Christ, whose will, satisfaction and merits He willed to be our will, satisfaction and merits. For Christ has been made unto us wisdom from God, and justice, and sanctification, and redemption," says the Apostle in 1 Corinthians 1:30, who also adds the reason: "That he who glories, may glory in the Lord." Whence piously St. Bernard, in the sermon On the Passion: "Elect," he says, "child of my God, what so great bitterness, what so great confusion have you deserved? truly nothing. I, I the lost man have been the cause of all your perdition. I, O Lord, have eaten the sour grape, and your teeth are set on edge." Moreover, by what wisdom, equity, power and goodness God did this, we cannot perceive and penetrate in this life, but we believe by faith. Wherefore this is one of the four greatest and most difficult mysteries of our faith, which surpass human understanding. For the first is the mystery of the Holy Trinity; the second, of the Incarnation of the Word; the third, of the Eucharist; the fourth, of original sin. Note "are set on edge:" for those who eat unripe grapes themselves suffer from odontalgeia, that is, pain of the teeth: but those who stand by and look upon those eating, their teeth are set on edge, says Aristotle, Problems, section VII, Question V. Thus also here the children complain that from the gluttony and fault of their parents their teeth are set on edge. Thus the Poet says: "Undeserving, O Roman, you suffer the plague of your fathers' crimes." Similar is the adage of Eubulus: "If the cook errs, the flute-player is beaten." And that one: "The dog sins, the pig pays: The craftsman falls when you strike the fuller: This one sins, that one is beaten: Whatever the kings rave, the Achaeans are beaten." Morally St. Gregory, book XI of the Morals, chapter XV: "What," he says, "is a sour grape but sin? For a sour grape is fruit before its time. Whoever indeed desires to be satisfied with the delights of the present life, hastens as it were to eat fruit before its time. Whoever therefore eats a sour grape, his teeth are set on edge: because whoever feeds on the delight of the present world, his inner senses are bound, so that he can no longer chew, that is, understand, spiritual things: because from what they have delighted in externally, they are set on edge internally." 3. AS I LIVE, SAYS THE LORD GOD, IF THIS PARABLE SHALL BE UNTO YOU A PROVERB ANY MORE. Vatablus: There shall not be any more who use it in a parable, that is, I swear by my life, that I will make it so that you shall no longer use this parable: because namely I will show the contrary in reality. Otherwise Prado: for he thinks these words are not of asseveration, but of threatening, that is, I swear by my life, that if you use this proverb any further, I will severely punish you. For this is understood in this execratory if, which however the Hebrews pass over in silence for the sake of good omen and euphemism. This sense is plain, but the former is plainer. 4. ALL SOULS ARE MINE, by reason of their creation and infusion into bodies, says Vatablus, that is to say: All souls are created by me and infused into bodies by me; therefore, on account of the sins of the father, the son shall not perish by eternal death. Secondly, and better, all souls, that is, all my men, that is to say: Let no one think that I am harsh toward the sons because I cannot punish the parents, as weak and infirm men sometimes do; behold, I decree what all know: "All souls are mine," that is to say: I am equally the creator, Lord and judge of all men, both parents and children, both greater and lesser: I have dominion over the life and death of all: I am he who, whomever I please, I put to death and make alive: and therefore I shall give to each an equal sentence and lot according to their merits (for I am most just as well as most powerful) of temporal life or death. Thus Polychronius. For that the Prophet speaks here literally of temporal things is evident from what follows: "The soul," that is, the man, "that shall sin, the same shall die." For he answers the Jews, who falsely complained that they were punished, and punished with death and other calamities on account of sins, not their own, but their parents'. Although from an argument drawn from the lesser to the greater, it is more truly so in eternal punishment.
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5. HAS DONE JUDGMENT. A judge does judgment when he condemns the guilty; justice, when he absolves and vindicates the innocent. Each private person does judgment if he does harm to no one; justice, if he does good and accumulates good works. Thus it is taken here: for these things are said to each private person. Thus Prado. St. Jerome notes here a catalogue, as it were, of seventeen degrees of virtues: "The first," he says, "is to have done judgment; the second, to have joined justice with judgment; the third, not to have eaten upon the mountains; the fourth, not to have lifted up his eyes to idols; the fifth, not to have violated the wife of his neighbor; the sixth, to have avoided the embraces of a menstruating wife; the seventh, not to have grieved any man; the eighth, to have returned the pledge to the debtor; the ninth, to have taken nothing by violence; the tenth, to have given his bread to the hungry; the eleventh, to have covered the naked with clothing; the twelfth, not to have given money at usury; the thirteenth, to have received nothing more from those things which he gave; the fourteenth, to have turned his hand away from iniquity; the fifteenth, to have done true judgment between man and man; the sixteenth, to have walked in the precepts of the Lord; the seventeenth, to have kept his judgments and justifications."
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6. ON THE MOUNTAINS. That is, in the high places of idols he shall not have eaten things sacrificed to idols. For those who sacrificed to idols were accustomed to eat from the victims sacrificed by themselves, so that they might be partakers of the sacrifice. And this eating was the consummation of idolatry. Thus St. Jerome. NOR SHALL HE LIFT UP HIS EYES. That is, he shall not have adored, he shall not have besought. For hence comes the gesture of those praying, that they lift up their eyes to God, Psalm 122:2: "Behold, as the eyes of servants look to the hands of their masters, and as the eyes of a handmaid to the hands of her mistress, so our eyes look unto the Lord our God, until he have mercy on us." IDOLS. In Hebrew gillulim, that is, rollings, that is, dung rolled together. Thus idols are called, on account of their baseness. The Septuagint translates: thoughts, that is, gods devised by them. For these are the rollings of their mind: for they continually turn over their gods in their mind, and devise new rites and ways of appeasing them. NOR SHALL HE HAVE APPROACHED A MENSTRUATING WOMAN. Because, as St. Jerome says, from this intercourse there are sometimes born lepers and defective children, and, as Xystus the Pythagorean said: "He is an adulterer, a lover of his wife too ardently." But such is he who uses her at an improper time. See what is said Leviticus 20:18.
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7. HE HAS NOT GRIEVED A MAN, has not harmed him. The Septuagint: he has not oppressed. HE HAS RETURNED THE PLEDGE TO THE DEBTOR, namely, one who is poor. For to such a one the law commands that a pledge be returned out of charity, Exodus XXII, 26. It is therefore iniquity, to use the utmost rigor, when by this charity is violated; whence concerning such a one God says: "If he shall cry to me (the poor man from whom you demand the pledge), I will hear him," and I will punish you, a harsh creditor: "Because I am merciful," Exodus XXII, 26. HE HAS GIVEN HIS BREAD TO THE HUNGRY. Note: Here the Prophet commends two works of mercy, which wonderfully and to the sinner and to the just conciliate the grace of God. The first is to feed the hungry. To this the faithful of old and the Saints devoted themselves earnestly. "St. Exuperius," says St. Jerome, in his epistle to Rusticus the monk, "Bishop of Toulouse, an imitator of the widow of Zarephath, feeds others while hungry, and with a pale face from fasting, is tormented by the hunger of others, and has distributed his entire substance to the bowels of Christ. Nothing is richer than he, who carries the body of the Lord in a wicker basket, the blood in a glass." St. Dominic, while still young, in the common famine of Spain distributed his books and all his possessions, and spent the price on the poor. The same thing Ecdicius the senator did in the famine of Burgundy, who continually nourished four thousand poor. Whence a voice fell to him from heaven: "Ecdicius, bread shall not fail you and your seed forever; because you have obeyed my words, and have satisfied my hunger by the relief of the poor." Thus Gregory of Tours, lib. II Hist. Franc. cap. xxiv. St. Judocus, son of the king of the Bretons, distributed the one loaf of bread which he had for his daily sustenance to the poor, saying: "God will provide for us." And behold, through a window four boats laden with provisions were seen and found in the bed of the river, from which, who brought them, or to where, having unloaded them of provisions, returned them, is not known even to this day, says Florentius the Abbot in his Life. Leo I the Emperor, when he still lived as a private person, on a journey was a guide to a certain blind man who was thirsty, and sought drink; and when seeking for a long time he did not find it, the Blessed Virgin Mary with a voice fallen from heaven showed him water in a grove, and promised that by anointing the blind man's eyes with mud she would illuminate him, and finally promised him the empire. All these things happened to him in reality. Thus the Ecclesiastical history, and from it Baronius, in the year of Christ 457. When St. Heimerammus Bishop of Regensburg was in the most severe torments, the executioners seeing him thus tortured, and yet not ceasing from praises, envying him cut out his tongue, and thus leaving the trunk of his body departed. Clerics came to him and Vitalis the presbyter, a pious man, from whom he asked for water; who answered: "What do you wish to be refreshed, when you are destitute of the members of your body? Death is rather to be desired by you than life." To whom the Bishop, speaking without a tongue, inflicted this punishment, saying: "As often as you shall apply drink to your mouth, may you become bereft of mind; and yet harm no one, but provide an example of disobedience from yourself." The holy man said this, and as he said so it came to pass. Thus Cyrinus the Bishop in his Life. In the year of the Lord 1123, the winter was most severe, whence followed a great famine, in which the wonderful liberality of Charles count of Flanders was manifest. For he commanded that every day to all who asked for bread a whole loaf be given; so that once at Ypres, in one hour eight hundred poor received eight hundred loaves. Moreover it was his custom, on all Fridays to give to thirteen poor thirteen tunics, as many pairs of shoes, as many linen undergarments. He himself on those same Fridays (unless a principal feast fell on it) fasted on bread and water. Clothed in a hair shirt, with bare feet, in a long tunic, so that the nakedness of his feet might not easily be seen, he hastened to church in the morning: there he remained devoted to prayer until midday. Meanwhile two of his nobles, the provost of St. Donatus, and the provost of the palace, bought a very great quantity of grain, so that they might sell it at their pleasure: but Charles made them return the money; the grain however he distributed to the needy, some freely, some at a fair price. Which the said merchants bore ill, and from that day conspired unto the death of their lord. And so on the second day of March, a Friday, in the temple of St. Donatus, after the altar while reading the psalm Miserere, they killed him, with his head split open, and his right arm cut off. Whose precious death was immediately declared by miracles. Thus Christian Maffaeus, lib. XVIII Chronicorum, and James Meyer, lib. IX Annal. Flandric. in the year of the Lord 1116. Remarkable is what Martin Cromerus writes in book II of his History of Polish Affairs: that Popiel, a prince of the Poles, on account of his cruelty and slaughter of his own people, was killed by mice born from corpses, and was succeeded by Piast, a simple man who sustained his life by tilling a small field and keeping bees, because he was beneficent toward the poor and hospitable toward strangers. For when he had excluded two men in pilgrim's garb (they are thought to have been angels, or the holy martyrs John and Paul, whom Julian the Apostate killed on account of their riches spent on the poor and on account of their faith in Christ) from the royal court, and had received them joyfully into his home, and had treated them generously according to his means, his swine increased, and mead overflowed from his vessel, so much so that he refreshed the prince with his entire retinue, who were suffering from want, with an abundance of provisions. When this miracle was made public, all with one voice cried out that Piast was given to them as prince by divine judgment, and they dragged him, unwilling and clothed in rustic garb, into the royal palace and inaugurated him to the principate. AND HE COVERED HIM WITH RAIMENT. This is another work of mercy that conciliates the grace of God, and therefore was frequently practiced by the ancients, as by Tobias in chapter 1, verse 20, and by St. Job in chapter 31, verses 19 and 20. Thus St. Martin of Amiens gave half his cloak to a poor man, having nothing else. In the following night he saw Christ clothed in the part of his cloak with which he had covered the poor man, who said to a multitude of angels: "Martin, still a catechumen, has clothed me with this garment." Sulpitius testifies to this in his Life. Thus St. Marcianus clothed a poor man with the single inner garment with which he was clothed, as Baronius relates from his Life in the year of Christ 459. Thus St. Martyrius, wrapping a leper in his cloak and carrying him, discovered by an admirable miracle that he had clothed and carried Christ. For Christ, ascending into heaven, said: "Martyrius, you did not blush for me on earth, I will not blush for you in the heavens." Thus St. Gregory relates it in homily 39 on the Gospel. St. Francis, still a layman, clothing a poor soldier, saw in the following night a beautiful and magnificent palace, and when he asked whose all this was, he heard: "It will be yours and your soldiers'." Thus St. Bonaventure in his Life. St. Elizabeth, daughter of the King of Hungary, giving her cloak to a poor man, when her husband demanded it from her, she showed it to him miraculously restored on a pole, as James of Speyer relates in her Life. Hear the wonderful liberality of St. Catherine of Siena and likewise her reward, which Raymond relates in her Life. For when she wished to return home from the church, Christ met her in the form of a young man and pilgrim, about thirty years old, and asked her for a garment. She, returning to the chapel from which she had come down, carefully removed from herself a tunic without sleeves, which she had under her outer garment on account of the cold, and gave it to the poor man, not knowing it was Christ. And he also asked for a linen garment. Then she ordered him to follow her to her home: where she gave him an undershirt and undergarment. But he did not cease to beg for more, in order to test her spirit. "What," he said, "shall I do with this tunic, which lacks sleeves? I beseech you also to give me sleeves." She searches through the house, and behold she saw a new tunic of her maidservant hanging from a pole: from which, taking off sleeves, she gives them to the poor man. Again he also said he had a companion in the hospice at home, very much in need of garments. Then indeed the holy virgin, seeing that she had nothing at all left to give except the tunic with which she was clothed, which her virginal modesty and propriety did not allow her to remove from herself, lest she be forced to go about naked to the offense of many, said to the poor man: "Truly, dearest, if I could in any way, I would gladly provide something for your companion." But he, smiling: "I see," he said, "your ready spirit; but now farewell." Although the holy virgin, when he departed, conjectured from certain signs that it was the Lord Jesus: nevertheless, because she thought herself most unworthy of such grace, she returned to her customary exercises. But in the following night the Lord, while she was praying, manifestly showed himself to her in the likeness of that poor man, holding in his hand the tunic which the virgin had given him, now conspicuous with pearls and gleaming gems, and said he would give her an invisible garment, which would protect her from all harmful cold of either season. Which certainly he also performed in reality, so much so that from that time, in the same winters in which she was content with summer garments: indeed she never felt the harshness of winter. At the same time also the Lord, when he showed her this tunic, made such promises to her, from which it could be certain to her that she herself would enjoy in the heavens an excellent glory without end. Let the rich hear, let princes hear the golden sanctity of the renowned sentence of Agapetus the Pontiff in his letter of exhortation to the Emperor Justinian: "The garment that does not grow old is the cloak of beneficence, and an incorruptible robe is mercy toward the poor. Therefore he who wishes to reign piously ought to adorn his soul with the beauty of such garments. For he who is clothed in purple and has put on love toward the needy is made a partaker also of the heavenly kingdom." When St. Willebrord asked a rich man for food and drink, and the latter refused and departed, he was struck with a burning thirst, which he could not quench for a whole year, until after a year, when St. Willebrord returned, he sought and obtained pardon from him. For the Saint gave him to drink from his chalice with a blessing, and thus he was absolved and healed. So Albinus Flaccus in his Life. More illustrious is the example of a pagan girl of Alexandria, which Sophronius relates in the Spiritual Meadow, chapter CCVII. She freed a certain man from debt and death, who was preparing a noose for himself, by bestowing all her wealth upon him. Whence she herself began to be in want, so much so that to procure her livelihood she prostituted her body. She fell into a sickness, by which she came to herself, and repenting of her deed, she sought baptism. The priest rejected her unless she would bring a sponsor who would vouch that she would thereafter live chastely. When she could find no one willing to be her sponsor, angels appeared in the form of certain courtiers, saying they would be sponsors for her, and thus she was baptized; afterwards, when those courtiers were asked about her, they denied that they knew her or had seen her. Whence it was known that they were angels. She being asked by the Bishop, recounted her life and her almsgiving, and soon fell asleep in the Lord, the Bishop saying: "Just art Thou, O Lord, and right is Thy judgment."
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8. FURTHERMORE (in Hebrew, superabundantly, that is, something beyond the principal, or capital) HE SHALL NOT HAVE TAKEN INCREASE. Note: God, among other crimes, threatens death also to usury and usurers, and that justly. For, as St. Ambrose says in the book On Tobit, chapter x: "There is no difference between a funeral and usury, nothing distinguishes death from interest." And Cato, when asked: "What is it to lend at interest?" answered: "It is to kill a man." Wherefore St. Ambrose in the aforesaid book, chapter XII, compares usury to an asp or viper: "An asp, he says, is in some way the money of the usurer, which brings forth so many evils. Yet the asp, being fertile and dragging forth its poisoned entrails, is burst by its own offspring, and by its maternal death teaches its brood not to be degenerate toward its mother. It tears itself with its own bites. There where poison is born, it is first proved. But the money of the usurer conceives all its evils, brings them forth, nourishes them, and itself grows more in its offspring, more numerous in sad progeny." And further below: "There therefore are the pains, as of one in travail. Whence also the Greeks called usuries tokous, because they seem to excite the pains of childbirth in the soul of the debtor." I have said more concerning usury at Deuteronomy XXIII, 9. 9. HE SHALL HAVE WALKED IN MY PRECEPTS, AND KEPT MY JUDGMENTS. He inculcates the same thing again in other words by way of explanation. For judgments and precepts are the same in reality; but they are distinct in connotation, as is evident to one considering the etymologies. Others understand by precepts the affirmative commandments, by judgments the negative ones; understand those that are grave and binding under pain of mortal sin. For as St. Augustine wisely says in his Sentences: "Just as certain venial sins, without which this life cannot be lived, do not hinder the just from eternal life: so certain good works profit nothing to the impious for eternal salvation, without which the life of even the worst man can scarcely be found." THAT HE MAY DO TRUTH, that is, his duty, or the obligation of virtue. For just as truth in words is the conformity of the word to that which is in the mind: so truth in deeds is the conformity of the work to that which the law, reason, or faith dictates should be done. HE SHALL LIVE, he shall live a happy life, namely temporal; and secondly, the just man shall live the life of grace and glory in heaven and be blessed. For to live life, in Hebrew is to live pleasantly, happily, to live according to one's will and pleasure. 13. HE SHALL SURELY DIE, he shall be snatched away by an unhappy death, the virtue of his country shall not profit him, a wicked man. Thus Prado. HIS BLOOD SHALL BE UPON HIM, he shall pay with blood, that is, with death which he has brought upon himself; he himself shall be the cause of his own death. Thus in chapter XXXIII, 4, it is said: "His blood shall be upon his own head." Otherwise the Chaldee paraphrase, as if to say, He shall be guilty of death. Otherwise also Maldonatus, as if to say, He shall pay the penalty of bloods, that is, of the murders which he has committed: just as he has shed the blood of others, so his blood shall be shed.
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14 and 17. IF HE BEGET A SON (the robber already mentioned in verse 10 and following) WHO, SEEING ALL THE SINS OF HIS FATHER WHICH HE HATH DONE, FEARETH, AND DOTH NOT THE LIKE TO THEM, etc., THIS ONE SHALL NOT DIE FOR THE INIQUITY OF HIS FATHER, BUT SHALL LIVE. Thus Ahaz, Manasseh, Amon, impious kings, perished miserably: but their pious sons, namely Hezekiah and Josiah, lived happily and gloriously. So Theodoret. You will say: In Exodus XX, 5, it is said: "I am the Lord thy God, mighty, jealous, visiting the iniquity of the fathers upon the children, unto the third and fourth generation." Again in II Kings XXIV, on account of the sin of David seventy thousand of the people were slain. On account of the sins of Dathan, Abiron and the Sodomites the whole family and nation with innocent children was destroyed. Thus in Midian God commanded all even the little ones to be slain, Numbers XXXI, 17. Thus in Jericho He commanded Joshua to slay all even the infants, Joshua VI, 17 and 21. Therefore God punishes the sins of parents in the children. St. Augustine answers, epistle 75, that children are punished for the sins of parents with the punishment of the body, which they received from the parent, not with punishments of the soul, that is spiritual ones. But Ezekiel, equally as Moses, speaks properly of the punishments of the body, as I have said. Secondly, St. Augustine, Enchiridion XLVI; St. Leo, epistle 84, and St. Gregory, XV, Morals XXII, explain these things concerning actual sin, which is opposed to original: Original sin, they say, we draw from parents, because we are one with them: but freed from it through baptism, we now have not the faults of parents, but those which we ourselves commit. But Ezekiel, as also Moses, speaks of punishment, not fault; punishment, I say, temporal not of original sin, but of actual sins, which the Jews after circumcision, and after original sin was blotted out through it, had committed. Thirdly, St. Augustine, book VI Questions on the Old Testament chapter VIII, and St. Thomas, II-I, Question LXXXVII, article 8, answer that God scourges the children, even good ones, of evil parents, so that these scourges may be the punishment of the parents and a preservative medicine for the children. The same teaches Plutarch in the book On the Delayed Vengeance of God. Prado refutes this: because this medicine of the children is not a punishment. Fourthly, Maldonatus answers that this general sentence of the Prophet should be understood, not generally of all persons and at all times: but accommodated to that which is being discussed. But what is being discussed here is the punishments which the Jews complained they were suffering on account of the sins of Manasseh: to which God responds that they shall no longer be punished on account of the sins of Manasseh, either because they had already given sufficient punishment for them; or because they themselves had enough of their own sins, so that God justly inflicted the most severe punishments upon them. But the general words of the Prophet prove the sentence to be general, although its occasion was the particular crime of Manasseh. I answer therefore that the Prophet speaks of adult pious sons, who detest the sins of impious parents; but Moses speaks of impious sons of impious fathers, who imitate the sins of parents: for in these God punishes the sins of parents. Then indeed the parent is punished both in himself and in the son: and the son is punished for the sin of the father, not insofar as it is the sin of the father, but insofar as he has imitated it and made it his own. But it is nevertheless true that the son would not be punished so quickly and severely unless the sins of the father had preceded; because he sins more gravely, in that imitating the greater crimes, he approves them and by taking pleasure participates in them, and therefore is more shameless and obstinate, while he adds his own to them and increases the heap. Thus St. Jerome. See what is said at Exodus chapter XX, 5. I say, of adults, because God sometimes punishes little ones with the punishment of temporal death, and involves them in the common calamity of parents, as is evident in the Sodomites, in Jericho, in Canaan, in the Midianites, in David. The reason is, because little ones are still as it were one with the parent, and as it were his part and possession. Whence the parent is more grievously tormented by the death of an innocent little one, conscious of his crime. But for the little ones themselves this death is good; because if they are expiated by original sin, they are saved, and snatched from the perils of damnation. But if they are in it, as were the little ones of the Sodomites, it is better to die with him alone, than with many and unspeakable actual sins, into which they would certainly have fallen if they had lived. In adult impious sons therefore of impious parents, that saying of Exodus is true: for adult sons learn from parents and imbibe wicked customs, on account of which both they themselves and the parents are punished in them. A similar proverb is: "A bad raven lays a bad egg." The origin of this is referred by some as follows: A certain Corax was the first at Syracuse, after the death of Hiero, to establish the art of rhetoric as a profession for pay. Then a certain young man Tisias made an agreement with him on this condition, that he would pay the fee only when he had learned the art. Then, when he had already learned the art, the young man hesitated to return the reward, and Corax brought his disciple to court. There the young man proposed such a dilemma: When Corax was asked what the end of rhetoric was, he answered, to persuade by speaking: "Come now," said he, "if I persuade the judges that I owe nothing, I will not pay, because I won the case: but if I do not persuade them, I will not pay, because I did not learn the art." But Corax turned the dilemma, as it were an antistrephon, back upon the disciple: "On the contrary," said he, "if you persuade, you will pay, because you possess the art, and you owe it by agreement: but if you do not persuade, you will pay, because you are condemned by the judgment of the judges." The judges, hearing this clever invention of the young man, cried out: Kakou korakos kakon oon, A bad raven, a bad egg. For Corax in Greek means raven! Thus it is read in the Prolegomena to the Rhetoric of Hermogenes. Gellius, lib. V, cap. x, narrates something altogether similar concerning Protagoras the Sophist and his disciple Evathlus. 17. IN INIQUITY (that is, on account of the iniquity) OF HIS FATHER. 18. BEHOLD HE IS DEAD (behold he shall die) IN HIS INIQUITY, on account of his iniquity. 20. THE SOUL THAT SHALL SIN, THE SAME SHALL DIE. Hence St. Augustine infers, tract. III in Apoc. tom. IX: "Many," says he, "are known to carry dead souls in living bodies." For just as the soul is the life of the body: so the life of the soul is God and the grace of God: therefore the soul, losing this through sin, is rightly said to die. Secondly and more simply, "the soul," that is, the man, who shall have sinned, the same shall die, by death both temporal (which the Jews especially feared), and spiritual and eternal. What then is sin? It is the death of the immortal soul: it is therefore a living death, an eternal death, because it is the death of a soul always living and eternal. Therefore its immortal death is sin. THE JUSTICE OF THE JUST SHALL BE UPON HIM, that is to say, The just man shall receive the reward of his justice, namely life; and the impious man the penalties of his impiety, namely death. Hence it is clear that we are formally just through justice, not imputed to us from Christ, as the heretics wish, but through our own and inherent justice, which God infuses into the soul on account of the merits of Christ. Again, we truly and properly, with the grace of God, by working well merit rewards, just as without it by working ill we merit penalties and death. For the Prophet speaks of both in the same manner here. Morally, learn from this that saying of St. Clement, lib. II Const. Apost. cap. XIV: "That communion of speech with those who sin is not to be avoided, but communion of action; for the latter contaminates, not the former."
18:21
21. IF HOWEVER THE WICKED MAN SHALL DO PENANCE, if he be contrite in heart, if he seriously grieve and repent, and change his life. Whence in Hebrew it is: When he shall have turned away from all his sins, and shall have kept all my commandments, that is, shall have proposed to keep all, even if he has not yet kept them in act; for not all the commandments can be kept in one day or hour; nor yet is remission of sins to be awaited for a long time, since Ezechiel cap. XXXIII, 12, asserts that a sinner, on whatever day he shall have been converted, shall obtain pardon. These things therefore are to be referred to the will and purpose of keeping the commandments, which the contrition of the penitent includes. For the words of the Hebrews often signify not a perfect act, but an inchoate one, namely a purpose, a determination, an attempt. Thus Paul says: "Grace, which was given (that is, decreed or predestined) to us before the times of ages," II Timothy I, 9. Here therefore the penitent "in his justice, which he hath wrought," that is, which he hath begun to work, and thereafter firmly proposed to work, "shall live." Thus St. Bellarmine, lib. II De Paenit. cap. VI, who hence proves that a formal purpose of amendment is ordinarily required for true contrition: nor is a virtual one sufficient. On the contrary, Andreas Vega, lib. XIII in Trident. cap. XXI, saying that a virtual one suffices, thus explains it, as if to say: After justification obtained through penance, one must remain in it, by the keeping of all precepts thereafter. But, because the Prophet requires this as a condition and disposition before the remission of sins, so that God may not remember them, and so that the sinner may live by life: hence the former exposition is the truer one, which Cajetan, Soto, Navarrus, Gerson, Ruardus and others follow, whom Francis Suarez cites and follows in his treatise De Paenit., Question LXXXV, art. 1, disp. IV, sect. III. SHALL LIVE BY LIFE, certainly shall live both temporal life, and spiritual and eternal life. See what is said at verse 4. 22. ALL HIS INIQUITIES, etc. I WILL NOT REMEMBER. "So much," says St. Jerome, "do the sins of fathers not overflow into sons, that if the same wicked man himself repent, God says: I will not remember his sins." Note the power of penance, which deletes sin not only from conscience, but also from God's memory, God's, I say, who has been offended. For otherwise it is commonly said of men: He who wounds in dust writes, but wounded in marble. In Hebrew it is, they shall not be remembered to him, that is, shall not be imputed to him for guilt and punishment, that is, shall be forgiven and abolished, so that they may be no more. Hence therefore it is clear that perfect contrition, which absolutely detests all sins admitted, as supreme evils, from love of God above all things, with serious and absolute purpose of avoiding them and all others henceforth, abolishes all sins, and brings forth justifying grace. For it is the ultimate disposition to it: wherefore this contrition is called, and in reality is, "formed by charity." Moreover, just as this was true in the Old Testament (where the Sacraments justifying from the work worked, and other remedies of justice, they did not have) so it is also in the New. For it is this as it were connatural to true contrition: but God does not change, but perfects the nature and order of things. Thus teach the Fathers and all the Scholastics in the III part in the matter De paenitent., indeed the Council of Trent, sess. XIV, cap. IV. From this place Peter Martyr attacks purgatory: If God, he says, after penance and contrition does not remember sins, therefore He does not punish them with temporal punishment in this life or in the future. I answer by denying the consequence. For the sense of this place is: "I will not remember iniquities," supply, as if remaining hostile and an enemy, who remembers an injury received from an enemy, so as to avenge it; for thus God before penance remembered sin: but after it, being now reconciled, He does not remember it, that is to say, I now lay down the memory of injury and the enmity which I have held and kept in mind toward him who sinned: now I receive him again into favor and friendship and restore him, and therefore he shall live and shall not die, that is to say, I will not punish him with death, as I had before decreed, but life both present (to the Jews who especially looked to this and desired it) and eternal I will truly give to the penitent, reconciled to me, and will preserve them in it; yet so that they expiate and atone for some temporal punishment, either here or in purgatory, not as enemies, but as friends and sons who have recently offended me, on account of the delight which they drew from sin and my offense. Otherwise indeed it is certain that God remembers sins speculatively, as also all other things which are past; therefore this opinion is not to be taken and limited absolutely, but determinately to the present matter. For on the other hand it is said of the just, that if he sin, "All his justices shall not be remembered," namely so that on account of them he may remain just and a friend, and life both present and eternal be given to him. For it is certain that God rewards the good works of those, indeed even of those who have always been impious, with some temporal reward: and this is expressly taught by St. Chrysostom, homily 67 to the People, Jerome in chapter 39 of Ezekiel, Augustine, book 5 of The City of God, chapter 15. 23. Is it the will of my will that the impious die? Do I antecedently and from myself will and delight in the death of the impious? Far be this from divine goodness and mercy. Away then, Calvin, you who blaspheme, saying that God created the damned for their damnation and eternal death: this fate is not Christian, not Stoic, but tyrannical, but diabolical. 24. All his justices which he had done shall not be remembered, so as to make him just before God, acceptable, and worthy of life, not death. See what is said at verse 22. 25. And you said: The way of the Lord is not right. Truly St. Augustine in Sentences, volume 3, sentence 177: "Just as," he says, "food is painful to an unhealthy palate, which is pleasant to a healthy one: and light is hateful to diseased eyes, which is pleasing to pure ones: so the justice of God, if they would submit to it, would not be troubled." Is not my way right? etc. When the just man shall turn away. Note: God answers those calumniating His justice with that very thing which they calumniated, as if by this argument convicting them; because namely first principles have no cause and demonstration, but rest on themselves and are understood by knowledge and inculcation of terms. Thus divine truth rests on itself, and divine equity has no reason for its justice except itself: but the thing itself cries out that it is most just. Thus Polychronius, Theodoret, Prado and others. Thus Cicero, aggravating the crime of parricide, says: "You killed your mother. What more shall I say? You killed your mother." Because he had nothing graver to add. 26. He shall die in them, for them, on account of them, namely iniquities. Otherwise Theodoret and Polychronius, that is to say, He who is hardened in sins and impenitent shall die in them, and consequently shall go to eternal death. 27. Shall give life. The Septuagint: Shall keep and preserve in life. 30. Iniquity shall not be in you unto ruin, sin shall not be to you a cause of ruin and death. 31. A new heart, a new will, a new spirit, a new affection, fervor, so that from idols to me, from vices to virtues you may pass over. It notes the freedom of will, by which with the grace of God we can make for ourselves a new heart. Why will you die? that is, as Vatablus, why by your negligence and impenitence would you bring it about that you die? And as Maldonatus: If you do this, there will be no reason why you should die. For it is not the will of my will that you die, as I said at verse 23. Sin alone is to you the cause of death, why will you die? Why do you of your own will wish to die? Why do you not seize the salvation which I offer to you? Our Prado excellently and effectively presses and exhausts the words of the Prophet. If I, he says, who am the supreme judge, incline to your side, I utterly refuse to pronounce a sentence of condemnation upon all; if I myself, who am the plaintiff, even when provoked by you, do not seek vengeance, but freely forgive the wrong, if you are well and do not despise your own life: "And why will you die, O house of Israel?" when you have an advocate in place of a plaintiff, and a patron in place of a judge? We shall die, because the law, the servant of death, condemns transgressors. But I absolve the penitent: "Why therefore will you die?" Because our fathers sinned, we die. But as I live, the sons shall not bear the iniquity of the fathers. "And why will you die, O house of Israel?" Because we have made a covenant with death, and a pact with hell. But it is in your power to dissolve the covenant struck: turn back, and live. "Why will you die, O house of Israel?" Because burdened by the law of the members we are cast down into the abyss of death. But it is permitted, if you wish, to make for yourselves a new heart. "And why will you die?" Because it is difficult to strive toward life through the keeping of the law. And it is easy for you to obtain a new spirit and a new soul, by which you may be snatched away to heavenly life. "Why will you die, sons of Israel?" Because we are already delivered to death by divine justice. But I, who do not will the death of the dying, shall snatch even those already devoured from the very jaws of death. "Why therefore will you die?" Because the Lord has forgotten us on account of the sins of our kings, Ahaz and Manasseh, therefore we die. But I cannot forget the services of Abraham, Isaac, Israel and David: mindful of them, to you, O house of Israel! I shall show mercy and clemency. "And why will you die?" Because we cannot resist divine power, which has sold us to the Babylonians. But it is permitted to you, if you flee to mercy, to be strong against God, which you know that Israel your father once did: "Why therefore will you die?" That one thing alone is what accuses you, what depresses you, what condemns you, and adjudges you to death, namely that you do not wish to come to your senses, because you do not yet know what it is to live. But I shall not cease to admonish even those laboring under such dangerous madness and to exhort them to sounder counsels: "Why will you die, O house of Israel? because I do not will the death of the dying, etc., turn back, and live." Plutarch relates that once certain Milesian maidens, seized by madness, were accustomed to take their own lives, when they had no reason except: "I wish to die." And when they could not be turned from this by neither threats nor promises, a certain wise man gave this counsel, that as many as had hanged themselves should be publicly suspended naked. This infamy restrained the maidens from their self-slaughter. Thus the sinner acts; for as if raging he rushes to his own destruction, he brings death upon himself, and that eternal. Is this not madness? is it not frenzy? The damned now see their own frenzy, their own error, and grieve. "But the Phrygians are wise too late." Justly therefore does the worm of conscience gnaw at them continually: Why, most foolish of the living, have you willingly brought this eternal misery upon yourself? why have you voluntarily cast yourself into the eternity of fires? No one compelled you: the devil did not compel, but invited. Impute your lot to yourself; you freely chose death before life, demons before angels, hell before heaven. While we have time, let us think on these things and be wise.
Machine translation from the Latin, not reviewed.
18:2
… A popular saying is also called a m. (1 Sam. 24:14); an apologue, a witty saying (synonymous with hīdhāh; cf. Ezek. 17:2); a satirical saying (Isa. 14:4; Ezek. 13:22 ff.; 16:44; 18:2 ff.). …
… the parable more properly so called (Ezek. 17, 2; 24, 3), the similitude and the example, the saying of popular use (more precisely proverb: I Kings 5, 12; Job 13, 12; Prov. 1, 1.6; 10, 1; 25, 1; 26, 7.9), the witty and sarcastic mot (Ezek. 12, 22 f.; 18, 2 f.; Mic. 2, 4; Hab. 2, 6), the words of mockery
18:5
1. The Old Testament. - Traces of the solution are already contained in it. To escape from sin, first of all observance of the Law is necessary, recommended by God himself or by Moses and the Prophets in God's name (cf. Deut. 4:1 ff.; 6:4 ff.; 12:28 ff.; Lev. 18:5; Ezek. 18:5 ff.; cf. Tob. 12:9). At the same time, trust in the God who saves is required, as the Psalms especially inculcate, and above all faith in God and in the One whom God will send to his people …
18:7
Breaking of Bread (Ἐλᾶσις τοῦ δρῦσου)
Similar expressions are found in the Old Testament (Is. 58, 7; Jer. 16, 6-7; Lam. 4, 4; Ez. 18, 7, 16) and in part reflect the thought of the Jews, among whom the rite of breaking bread, performed by the father of the family at the beginning of a common meal, had a religious character …
18:8
… it. Among the Hebrews the idea of gratuitous lending was deeply rooted, but violations were continuous, until, under the pretext of conforming to the practice of foreigners, they did not hesitate to openly violate the law (cf. Ex. 22:25; Lev. 25:35-37; Ezek. 18:8, etc.). …
18:21
This doctrine is founded both in Sacred Scripture (Joel, 2, 12 ff.; Lk. 13, 3-5; Acts 3, 19; cf. Ezek. 18, 21 ff.; Jer. 18, 8; Eccl. 2, 22), in which God's forgiveness is conditioned upon the detestation of one's own faults and the will to bring forth fruits of penance; and in the constant …
… The fact of the r. of m. is today commonly admitted, because it is founded, at least implicitly, on texts of Scripture (Ezek. 18:21; 33:12; Joel 2:18; Gal. 3:4; Heb. 6:10; above all the parable of the prodigal son [Luke 15:11-32], who is restored to all his previous rights) and on explicit affirmations of the Fathers …
18:24
Agraphon (Greek: "Unwritten Thing"; plural Agrapha)
… I Thes. 5, 21; Justin, C. Triph. 47, 6, attributes to Jesus the saying: "In whatever state I shall find you, in that I shall judge you"; but of the other twenty citations of this phrase, none attributes it to Jesus, many to the "prophet" (that is, to Ez. 18, 24-30; 33, 12-16, 20). In codex D (cf. A. Merk, Novum Test. gr., 4th ed., Rome 1942, pp. 69, 212) the phrase of Jesus to the Sabbath-breaker (in place of Lk. 6, 5) must be a later invention …
18:31
This notion of contrition faithfully reports the teaching of Sacred Scripture; the Council of Trent itself points this out, citing certain passages of the Old Testament (Ezek. 18:31; Ps. 50:6; 6:7; Isa. 38:15). It is also the constant doctrine of the Fathers, summarized in the very well-known saying of St. Gregory the Great: « Paenitentia est perpetrata mala …
… It is said, for example, that the Lord will give, in messianic times, a "new rūah" (Ez. 11, 19; 18, 31; 36, 29; Ps. 51 [50], 12); in the rūah thoughts ascend (Ez. 11, 5); the rūah seeks, desires the Lord (Is. 26, 9), is cast down (Is. 66, 2; Prov. 15, 13), humble (Prov. 16, 19; 29, …
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.