Under the names of the two harlots, Oolla and Ooliba, are described the manifold disloyalties of Samaria and Jerusalem, with the punishment of them both.
By a parable of two harlottes, Oolla and Ooliba, 5. the idolatrie of the two kingdoms of Israel, 11. and of Iuda is described: 22. with threates (31. as Israel is partly afflicted already) 36. of more affliction to them both.
1And the word of the Lord came to me, saying:Il Signore parlommi, dicendo:AND the word of our Lord was made to me, saying:Et factus est sermo Domini ad me, dicens: 2Son of man, there were two women, daughters of one mother.Figliuolo dell'uomo; furon due donne figlie d'una stessa madre,Sonne of man, there were two wemen daughters of one mother.Fili hominis, duæ mulieres filiæ matris unius fuerunt: 3And they committed fornication in Egypt, in their youth they committed fornication: there were their breasts pressed down, and the teats of their virginity were bruised.Ed elle peccarono nell'Egitto, nella loro adolescenza peccarono: ivi perderono il loro onore, e furon disonorate nella prima loro pubertà.And they fornicated in Aegypt, in their youth they fornicated: there were their brestes pressed. & the pappes of their virginitie were broken.et fornicatæ sunt in Ægypto, / in adolescentia sua fornicatæ sunt: / ibi subacta sunt ubera earum, / et fractæ sunt mammæ pubertatis earum. 4And their names were Oolla the elder, and Ooliba her younger sister: and I took them, and they bore sons and daughters. Now for their names, Samaria is Oolla, and Jerusalem is Ooliba.E si chiamavano la maggiore Oolla, la minor sorella Ooliba; e io le sposai, e partoriron figliuoli, e figlie. Or quanto a' lor nomi, Oolla è Samaria, ed Ooliba è Gerusalemme.And their names Oolla the elder and d Ooliba her yonger sister: and I had them, and they bare sonnes, and daughters. Moreouer their names, Samaria Oolla, and Ierusalem Ooliba.Nomina autem earum, / Oolla major, et Ooliba soror ejus minor: / et habui eas, et pepererunt filios et filias. / Porro earum nomina, / Samaria Oolla, et Jerusalem Ooliba. 5And Oolla committed fornication against me, and doted on her lovers, on the Assyrians that came to her,Oolla adunque mancò a me di fede, e impazzò dietro a' suoi amadori, gli Assiri suoi vicini,Oolla therfore fornicated ouer me, & was madde vpon her louers, vpon the Assirians approching,Fornicata est igitur super me Oolla, / et insanivit in amatores suos, / in Assyrios propinquantes, 6Who were clothed with blue, princes, and rulers, beautiful youths, all horsemen, mounted upon horses.Vestiti di giacinto, che erano gran signori, ed in dignità giovani amabili, tutti cavalieri, e domatori di cavalli:clothed with hyacinth, the princes, and the magistrates, al the youngmen of concupiscences; al the horsmen, the riders of horses.vestitos hyacintho, / principes et magistratus, / juvenes cupidinis, / universos equites, ascensores equorum.
7And she committed her fornications with those chosen men, all sons of the Assyrians: and she defiled herself with the uncleanness of all them on whom she doted.E peccò sfacciatamente con questi uomini distinti, tutti figliuoli degli Assiri, e si contaminò colle immondezze di tutti coloro, dietro a' quali impazzò.And she gaue her fornications vpon them al the chosen children of the Assitians: and in al, on whom she was madde, in their vncleannes she was polluted.Et dedit fornicationes suas super eos electos, / filios Assyriorum universos: / et in omnibus in quos insanivit, / in immunditiis eorum polluta est. 8Moreover also she did not forsake her fornications which she had committed in Egypt: for they also lay with her in her youth, and they bruised the breasts of her virginity, and poured out their fornication upon her.E di più non abbandonò ella le male pratiche, che aveva avute nell'Egitto; imperocché gli Egiziani ancora commisero adulterio con lei nella sua adolescenza, e disonoraron la sua pubertà, e in lei trasfusero tutte le loro fornicazioni.Moreouer also her fornications, which she had made in Aegypt she left not: for they also slept with her in her youth, & they brake the breasts of her virginitie, and powred out their fornication vpon her.Insuper et fornicationes suas, quas habuerat in Ægypto, non reliquit: / nam et illi dormierunt cum ea in adolescentia ejus, / et illi confregerunt ubera pubertatis ejus, / et effuderunt fornicationem suam super eam. 9Therefore have I delivered her into the hands of her lovers, into the hands of the sons of the Assyrians, upon whose lust she doted.Per questo la diedi io in potere de' suoi amatori, in potere de' figli di Assur, nell'amore de' quali avea perduto il senno.Therfore haue I deliuered her into the handes of her louers, into the handes of the children of Assur, vpon whose lust she was madde.Propterea tradidi eam in manus amatorum suorum, / in manus filiorum Assur, / super quorum insanivit libidine. 10They discovered her disgrace, took away her sons and daughters, and slew her with the sword: and they became infamous women, and they executed judgments in her.Ei scopriron la sua ignominia, menaron via i suoi figliuoli, e le figlie, e lei ucciser di spada: e queste divennero donne famose, quando di lei fecer giudizio.They discouered her ignominie, tooke her sonnes and daughters, & her they killed with the sword: and they were made notorious wemen, and they did iudgements in her.Ipsi discooperuerunt ignominiam ejus, / filios et filias ejus tulerunt, / et ipsam occiderunt gladio: / et factæ sunt famosæ mulieres, / et judicia perpetraverunt in ea.
11And when her sister Ooliba saw this, she was mad with lust more than she: and she carried her fornication beyond the fornication of her sister.Le quali cose vedute avendo la sorella di lei Ooliba, impazzì anche peggio di lei, e nella sua fornicazione sorpassò la sorella:Which when her sister Ooliba had seene, she was madde with lust more then she: & she gaue impudently her fornication aboue the fornication of her sisterQuod cum vidisset soror ejus Ooliba, / plus quam illa insanivit libidine, / et fornicationem suam super fornicationem sororis suæ: 12Impudently prostituting herself to the children of the Assyrians, the princes, and rulers that came to her, clothed with divers colours, to the horsemen that rode upon horses, and to young men all of great beauty.Si abbandonò sfacciatamente ai figliuoli degli Assiri, ai capitani, ed a' magistrati, che andavano a trovarla vestiti di vesti a varj colori, a' cavalieri domatori di cavalli, ed a' giovinetti, che eran tutti di straordinaria bellezza.to the children of the Assyrians, to the princes, and magistrates coming to her clothed with partie clothing, to the horsmen that were carried on horses, and to yoongmen al of goodlie beautie.ad filios Assyriorum præbuit impudenter, / ducibus et magistratibus ad se venientibus, / indutis veste varia, / equitibus qui vectabantur equis, / et adolescentibus forma cunctis egregia. 13And I saw that she was defiled, and that they both took one way.E io conobbi, che aveano e l'una, e l'altra le stesse brutte inclinazioni.And I saw that she was polluted, both one way.Et vidi quod polluta esset via una ambarum. 14And she increased her fornications: and when she had seen men painted on the wall, the images of the Chaldeans set forth in colours,E andò sempre avanti nelle sue fornicazioni: e veduti avendo degli uomini dipinti nel muro, immagini de' Caldei colorite,And she increased her fornications: and when she had seene men paynted in a wal, the images of the Chaldees expressed in colours,Et auxit fornicationes suas: / cumque vidisset viros depictos in pariete, / imagines Chaldæorum expressas coloribus, 15And girded with girdles about their reins, and with dyed turbans on their heads, the resemblance of all the captains, the likeness of the sons of Babylon, and of the land of the Chaldeans wherein they were born,Che aveano cinti i fianchi col balteo, e in testa tiare di varj colori, come essendo figure di tutti i capitani, e rappresentanze de' figliuoli di Babilonia, e della terra de' Caldei, dove quegli erano nati;and girded with girdles about their reynes, and died turbants on their heades, the forme of al the dukes, the similitude of the children of Babylon, and of the land of the Chaldees, wherin they were borne,et accinctos balteis renes, / et tiaras tinctas in capitibus eorum, / formam ducum omnium, / similitudinem filiorum Babylonis, / terræque Chaldæorum, in qua orti sunt, 16She doted upon them with the lust of her eyes, and she sent messengers to them into Chaldea.Gli occhi suoi s'invaghirono stranamente di essi, e mandò loro ambasciadori nella Caldea.she was mad vpon them with the concupiscence of her eyes, and she sent messengers to them into Chaldee.insanivit super eos concupiscentia oculorum suorum, / et misit nuntios ad eos in Chaldæam.
17And when the sons of Babylon were come to her to the bed of love, they defiled her with their fornications, and she was polluted by them, and her soul was glutted with them.E venuti a lei i figliuoli di Babilonia, e ammessi al suo talamo, la disonorarono colle loro disonestà, e con essi ella si contaminò, e l'anima di lei di lor si saziò.And when the children of Babylon were come to her vnto the bed of pappes, they polluted her with their fornications, and she was polluted of them, & her soule was filled of them.Cumque venissent ad eam filii Babylonis ad cubile mammarum, / polluerunt eam stupris suis: / et polluta est ab eis, / et saturata est anima ejus ab illis. 18And she discovered her fornications, and discovered her disgrace: and my soul was alienated from her, as my soul was alienated from her sister.Ella non tenne occulte le sue fornicazioni, ma disvelò la sua ignominia: e presela in abbominio l'anima mia, come l'anima mia avea presa in abbominio la sua sorella.She reueled also her fornications, and discouered her ignominie: and my soule departed from her, as my soule departed from her sister.Denudavit quoque fornicationes suas, / et discooperuit ignominiam suam: / et recessit anima mea ab ea, / sicut recesserat anima mea a sorore ejus: 19For she multiplied her fornications, remembering the days of her youth, in which she played the harlot in the land of Egypt.Ma ella moltiplicò le sue fornicazioni, rammentando i giorni di sua adolescenza, quando peccò nella terra d'Egitto.For she hath multiplied her fornications, remembring the dayes of her youth, in which she fornicated in the land of Aegypt.multiplicavit enim fornicationes suas, / recordans dies adolescentiæ suæ, / quibus fornicata est in terra Ægypti. 20And she was mad with lust after lying with them whose flesh is as the flesh of asses: and whose issue as the issue of horses.E arse d'infame amore verso coloro, che hanno carne simile a quella degli asini, e il furore imitano dei cavalli.And she was madde for lust vpon the lying with them, whose flesh is as the flesh of asses: and as the fluxe of horses, their fluxe.Et insanivit libidine super concubitum eorum, / quorum carnes sunt ut carnes asinorum, / et sicut fluxus equorum fluxus eorum. 21And thou hast renewed the wickedness of thy youth, when thy breasts were pressed in Egypt, and the paps of thy virginity broken.E rammentasti le scelleratezze di tua adolescenza, quando il tuo onore perdesti in Egitto, e fu violata la tua pubertà.And thou hast visited the wickednes of thy youth when thy breastes were pressed in Aegypt, & the pappes of thy virginitie broken.Et visitasti scelus adolescentiæ tuæ, / quando subacta sunt in Ægypto ubera tua, / et confractæ sunt mammæ pubertatis tuæ.
22Therefore, Ooliba, thus saith the Lord God: Behold I will raise up against thee all thy lovers with whom thy soul hath been glutted: and I will gather them together against thee round about.Per questo a te, Ooliba, così dice il Signore Dio: Ecco, che io susciterò contro di te i tuoi amatori de' quali è già sazia l'anima tua, e contro di te raunerolli da tutte le parti;Therfore Ooliba, thus sayth our Lord God: Behold I wil rayse vp al thy louers against thee, of whom thy soule is filled: and I wil gather them together against thee round about,Propterea, Ooliba, hæc dicit Dominus Deus: / Ecce ego suscitabo omnes amatores tuos contra te, / de quibus satiata est anima tua, / et congregabo eos adversum te in circuitu: 23The children of Babylon, and all the Chaldeans, the nobles, and the kings, and princes, all the sons of the Assyrians, beautiful young men, all the captains, and rulers, the princes of princes, and the renowned horsemen.I figli di Babilonia, e tutti i Caldei, i nobili, i tiranni, e i principi; tutti i figliuoli degli Assiri, giovani di bell'aspetto, capitani, e magistrati tutti quanti, i principi de' principi, e i famosi nell'arte di cavalcare:the children of Babylon, and al the Chaldees, the nobles, and the tyrants, and princes, al the children of the Assyrians, the yongmen of goodlie beautie, al the captaynes, and magistrates, the princes of princes, and the renowned riders of horses.filios Babylonis, et universos Chaldæos, / nobiles, tyrannosque, et principes, / omnes filios Assyriorum, / juvenes forma egregia, / duces et magistratus universos, / principes principum, et nominatos ascensores equorum: 24And they shall come upon thee well appointed with chariot and wheel, a multitude of people: they shall be armed against thee on every side with breastplate, and buckler, and helmet: and I will set judgment before them, and they shall judge thee by their judgments.E una turba di popoli verran sopra di te con carri, e cocchi; contro di te d'ogni parte si armeranno di corazza, di scudo, e di cimiero: e potestà darò loro di giudicarti, e di te farann'essi giudizio a lor talento.And they shal come vpon thee wel appoynted with chariot, and wheele, a multitude of peoples: with brigin•ine, and buckler, and helmet they shal be armed against thee, on euerie side: and I wil geue iudgement before them, & they shal iudge thee by their iudgements.et venient super te instructi curru et rota, / multitudo populorum: / lorica, et clypeo, et galea armabuntur contra te undique: / et dabo coram eis judicium, / et judicabunt te judiciis suis. 25And I will set my jealousy against thee, which they shall execute upon thee with fury: they shall cut off thy nose and thy ears: and what remains shall fall by the sword: they shall take thy sons, and thy daughters, and thy residue shall be devoured by fire.E dell'offeso amor mio sopra di te prenderò vendetta, ed ei la faranno senza misericordia: ti troncheranno il tuo naso, e le tue orecchie, e il resto faranno in brani colla spada: meneran prigionieri i tuoi figliuoli, e le figlie, e quel, che di te rimarrà, sarà dato alle fiamme.And I wil put my zele in thee, which they exercise with thee in furie: thy nose, and thine eares they shal cut of: and the thinges that remaine shal fal by the sword: they shal take thy sonnes, and thy daughters, and thy verie last thing shal be deuoured with fire.Et ponam zelum meum in te, / quem exercent tecum in furore: / nasum tuum et aures tuas præcident, / et quæ remanserint, gladio concident. / Ipsi filios tuos et filias tuas capient, / et novissimum tuum devorabitur igni:
26And they shall strip thee of thy garments, and take away the instruments of thy glory.E ti spoglieranno delle tue vesti, e ti torran gli ornamenti della tua gloria.And they shal strippe thee of thy garments, and shal take away the vessels of thy glorie.et denudabunt te vestimentis tuis, / et tollent vasa gloriæ tuæ. 27And I will put an end to thy wickedness in thee, and thy fornication brought out of the land of Egypt: neither shalt thou lift up thy eyes to them, nor remember Egypt any more.E farò, che abbian pausa le tue scelleratezze, e la fornicazione apparata nella terra d'Egitto; né gli occhi tuoi alzerai verso de' simulacri, né più ti ricorderai dell'Egitto;And I wil make thy wickednes to cease out of thee, and thy fornication out of the Land of Aegypt: neither shalt thou lift vp thine eyes to them, and Aegypt thou shalt remember no more.Et requiescere faciam scelus tuum de te, / et fornicationem tuam de terra Ægypti: / nec levabis oculos tuos ad eos, / et Ægypti non recordaberis amplius. 28For thus saith the Lord God: Behold, I will deliver thee into the hands of them whom thou hatest, into their hands with whom thy soul hath been glutted.Imperocché queste cose dice il Signore Dio: Ecco, che io ti darò in balìa di color, che tu hai in avversione, in balìa di coloro, de' quali era già sazia l'anima tua.Because thus saith our Lord God: Behold I wil deliuer thee into the handes of them, whom thou hatest, into their handes, of whom thy soule is filled.Quia hæc dicit Dominus Deus: / Ecce ego tradam te in manus eorum quos odisti, / in manus de quibus satiata est anima tua. 29And they shall deal with thee in hatred, and they shall take away all thy labours, and shall let thee go naked, and full of disgrace, and the disgrace of thy fornication shall be discovered, thy wickedness, and thy fornications.E ti tratteranno con odio, e ti torranno tutte le tue fatiche, e nuda ti lasceranno, e piena d'ignominia: e saranno manifestate le tue fornicazioni, le tue scelleratezze, e le tue fornicazioni.And they shal deale with thee in hatred, and they shal take away al thy labours, and shal let thee goe naked, and ful of ignominie, and the ignominie of thy fornications shal be reueled, thy wicked dede, and thy fornications.Et agent tecum in odio, / et tollent omnes labores tuos, / et dimittent te nudam et ignominia plenam: / et revelabitur ignominia fornicationum tuarum, / scelus tuum, et fornicationes tuæ. 30They have done these things to thee, because thou hast played the harlot with the nations among which thou wast defiled with their idols.Queste cose farann'eglino a te, perchè hai peccato dietro alle nazioni, tralle quali ti se' contaminata, servendo agl'idoli loro.They haue done these thinges to thee, because thou hast fornicated after the Nations, among which thou wast polluted in their idols.Fecerunt hæc tibi, / quia fornicata es post gentes / inter quas polluta es in idolis earum.
31Thou hast walked in the way of thy sister and I will give her cup into thy hand.I costumi imitasti di tua sorella, e il calice di lei porrò io nella tua mano.Thou hast walked in the way of thy sister, and I wil geue her cuppe in thy hand.In via sororis tuæ ambulasti, / et dabo calicem ejus in manu tua. 32Thus saith the Lord God: Thou shalt drink thy sister’s cup, deep and wide: thou shalt be had in derision and scorn, which containeth very much.Queste cose dice il Signore Dio: Tu berai il calice di tua sorella profondo, ed ampio: sarai oggetto di derisione, e di scherno: grandissimo è il calice.Thus saith our Lord God: The cuppe of thy sister thou shalt drinke deepe, and wide: thou shalt be into derision and into scorne, which is most capable.Hæc dicit Dominus Deus: / Calicem sororis tuæ bibes profundum et latum: / eris in derisum et in subsannationem quæ est capacissima. 33Thou shalt be filled with drunkenness, and sorrow: with the cup of grief and sadness, with the cup of thy sister Samaria.Tu sarai inebriata, e ricolma di affanno dal calice di afflizione, e di amarezza, dal calice di tua sorella Samaria.With drunckennes, and sorow thou shalt be replenished: with the cuppe of pensifenes, and sadnes, with the cuppe of thy sister Samaria.Ebrietate et dolore repleberis: / calice mœroris et tristitiæ, / calice sororis tuæ Samariæ. 34And thou shalt drink it, and shalt drink it up even to the dregs, and thou shalt devour the fragments thereof, thou shalt rend thy breasts: because I have spoken it, saith the Lord God.E lo berai, e lo suggerai sino alla fondata, e ne divorerai i frammenti, e ti lacererai il seno; perocché io ho parlato, dice il Signore Dio.And thou shalt drinke it, and shalt drinke it vp euen to the dregges, and the fragments therof thou shalt deuoure, thou shalt rent thy breastes: because I haue spoken, saith our Lord God.Et bibes illum, et epotabis usque ad fæces: / et fragmenta ejus devorabis, / et ubera tua lacerabis, / quia ego locutus sum, ait Dominus Deus. 35Therefore thus saith the Lord God: Because thou hast forgotten me, and hast cast me off behind thy back, bear thou also thy wickedness, and thy fornications.Per questo il Signore Dio parla così: Perchè tu ti scordasti di me, e mi gettasti dietro alle tue spalle, tu pure porta le tue scelleraggini, e le tue fornicazioni.Therfore thus saith our Lord God: Because thou hast forgotten me, and hast cast me of behind thy bodie, thou also beare thy wickednes, and thy fornications.Propterea hæc dicit Dominus Deus: / Quia oblita es mei, / et projecisti me post corpus tuum, / tu quoque porta scelus tuum et fornicationes tuas.
36And the Lord spoke to me, saying: Son of man, dost thou judge Oolla, and Ooliba, and dost thou declare to them their wicked deeds?E il Signore parlommi, dicendo: Figliuolo dell'uomo, non farai tu giudizio di Oolla, e di Ooliba, e annunzierai loro i lor delitti?And our Lord spake to me, saying: Sonne of man, doest thou iudge Oolla, and Ooliba, and shewest thou them their wicked deedes?Et ait Dominus ad me, dicens: Fili hominis, numquid judicas Oollam et Oolibam, / et annuntias eis scelera earum ? 37Because they have committed adultery, and blood is in their hands, and they have committed fornication with their idols: moreover also their children, whom they bore to me, they have offered to them to be devoured.Imperocché elle sono adultere, ed han le mani insanguinate, e si son contaminate co' loro idoli: ed oltre a ciò i figli, che aveano a me generati, gli hanno offerti ad essi, perchè li divorassero.because they haue committed aduoutrie, and bloud is in their handes, and with their idols they haue fornicated: moreouer also their children, whom they begate for me, they haue offered vnto them to be deuoured.Quia adulteratæ sunt, et sanguis in manibus earum, / et cum idolis suis fornicatæ sunt: / insuper et filios suos quos genuerunt mihi, / obtulerunt eis ad devorandum. 38Yea, and they have done this to me. They polluted my sanctuary on the same day, and profaned my sabbaths.Ma questo ancora hanno fatto contro di me: Han profanato in quel dì il mio santuario, e violati i miei sabati.Yea and they haue done this to me. They polluted my sanctuarie in that day, and profaned my sabbathes.Sed et hoc fecerunt mihi: / polluerunt sanctuarium meum in die illa, / et sabbata mea profanaverunt. 39And when they sacrificed their children to their idols, and went into my sanctuary the same day to profane it: they did these things even in the midst of my house.È quando agli idoli immolavano i propri figli, entravano lo stesso dì nel mio santuario, affin di contaminarlo: Questo pure elle han fatto nel mezzo della casa mia.And when they immolated their children to their idols, and went into my sanctuarie in that day to pollute it: these thinges also they did in the middes of my house.Cumque immolarent filios suos idolis suis, / et ingrederentur sanctuarium meum in die illa ut polluerent illud, / etiam hæc fecerunt in medio domus meæ. 40They sent for men coming from afar, to whom they had sent a messenger: and behold they came: for whom thou didst wash thyself, and didst paint thy eyes, and wast adorned with women’s ornaments.Elle hanno mandato a cercare di uomini, che eran in lontano paese, a' quali aveano spediti ambasciadori: onde ecco, che quegli sono venuti, e per essi ti sei lavata, ed hai imbellettati gli occhi tuoi, e ti ornasti delle tue pompe.They sent to men comming from far, to whom they had sent a messenger: therfore loe they came: to whom thou didst wash thyself, and didst annoint thine eyes about with stibikestone, and wast adorned with wemens ornaments.Miserunt ad viros venientes de longe, / ad quos nuntium miserant: / itaque ecce venerunt quibus te lavisti, / et circumlinisti stibio oculos tuos, / et ornata es mundo muliebri.
41Thou sattest on a very fine bed, and a table was decked before thee: whereupon thou didst set my incense, and my ointment.Ti ponesti a sedere sopra bellissimo letto, e dinanzi a te fu imbandita la mensa: sopra di questa ponesti i miei timiami, e i miei unguenti.Thou satest in a very faire bed, and a table was decked before thee: mine incense, and mine oyntment thou didst set vpon it.Sedisti in lecto pulcherrimo, / et mensa ornata est ante te: / thymiama meum et unguentum meum posuisti super eam. 42And there was in her the voice of a multitude rejoicing: and to some that were brought of the multitude of men, and that came from the desert, they put bracelets on their hands, and beautiful crowns on their heads.E intorno ad essa (udiansi) le voci di gente festosa, e a quelli, che tralla turba degli uomini eran condotti, e venian dal deserto, poser loro braccialetti alle mani, e vaghe corone sulle lor teste:And the voice of a multitude reioycing was on it: and on the men, that were brought of the maltitude of men, and came from the desert, they did put bracelets on their handes, and beautiful crownes on their heades.Et vox multitudinis exsultantis erat in ea: / et in viris, qui de multitudine hominum adducebantur, / et veniebant de deserto, / posuerunt armillas in manibus eorum, / et coronas speciosas in capitibus eorum. 43And I said to her that was worn out in her adulteries: Now will this woman still continue in her fornication.Ed io dissi riguardo a colei, che è invecchiata ne' suoi adulteri: continuerà ella ancora costei nelle sue fornicazioni?And I said to her, that was worne in aduoutries: Now wil this woman also fornicate in her fornication.Et dixi ei, quæ attrita est in adulteriis: / Nunc fornicabitur in fornicatione sua etiam hæc. 44And they went in to her, as to a harlot: so went they in unto Oolla, and Ooliba, wicked women.Perocché a lei andava la gente, come a pubblica peccatrice. In tal guisa andava la gente a' trovare Oolla, e Ooliba, donne nefande.And they went to her as to an harlot woman: so went they vnto Oolla, and Ooliba wicked wemen.Et ingressi sunt ad eam quasi ad mulierem meretricem: / sic ingrediebantur ad Oollam et Oolibam, mulieres nefarias. 45They therefore are just men: these shall judge them as adulteresses are judged, and as shedders of blood are judged: because they are adulteresses, and blood is in their hands.Questi uomini adunque fanno cosa giusta: ei le condanneranno alla pena delle adultere, e alla pena dei sanguinari; perocché sono adultere, ed han le mani lorde di sangue;They therfore are iust men: these shal iudge them with the iudgement of adulteresses, and with the iudgement of bloudshedders: because they are adultresses, and bloud is in their handes.Viri ergo justi sunt: / hi judicabunt eas judicio adulterarum, / et judicio effundentium sanguinem: / quia adulteræ sunt, / et sanguis in manibus earum.
46For thus saith the Lord God: Bring a multitude upon them, and deliver them over to tumult and rapine:Imperocché queste cose dice il Signore Dio: Conduci contro di esse l'esercito, e abbandonale al terrore, e alle rapine;For thus saith our Lord God: Bring a multitude to them, and deliuer them into tumult, and into spoile:Hæc enim dicit Dominus Deus: / Adduc ad eas multitudinem, / et trade eas in tumultum et in rapinam. 47And let the people stone them with stones, and let them be stabbed with their swords: they shall kill their sons and daughters, and their houses they shall burn with fire.E siano lapidate dai popoli, e trafitte dalle loro spade: eglino uccideranno i figli loro, e le figlie, e daranno le case loro alle fiamme.and let them be stoned with the stones of peoples, and let them be thrust through with their swordes: they shal kil their sonnes, and daughters, and their houses they shal burne with fire.Et lapidentur lapidibus populorum, / et confodiantur gladiis eorum: / filios et filias earum interficient, / et domos earum igne succendent. 48And I will take away wickedness out of the land: and all women shall learn, not to do according to the wickedness of them.E io torrò dalla terra le scelleraggini, e impareranno le donne tutte a non imitare i delitti di quelle.And I wil take away the wickednes out of the land, & al wemen shal learne, not to doe according to the wickednes of them.Et auferam scelus de terra, / et discent omnes mulieres ne faciant secundum scelus earum. 49And they shall render your wickedness upon you, and you shall bear the sins of your idols: and you shall know that I am the Lord God.Le vostre scelleratezze saran poste sopra di voi, e voi porterete i peccati degl'idoli vostri; e conoscerete, ch'io sono il Signore Dio.And they shal geue your wickednes vpon you, and the sinnes of your idols you shal carie: and you shal know that I am the Lord God.Et dabunt scelus vestrum super vos, / et peccata idolorum vestrorum portabitis: / et scietis quia ego Dominus Deus.
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Year of the World 3411.
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Challoner
Fornication. That is, idolatry. (Challoner)
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Challoner
Oolla and Ooliba. God calls the kingdom of Israel Oolla, which signifies their own habitation, because they separated themselves from his temple; and the kingdom of Juda Ooliba, which signifies his habitation in her, because of his temple among them in Jerusalem. (Challoner)
Calmet
The ten tribes first gave way to idolatry, and were more numerous. (Calmet)
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Worthington
Assyrians. That is, the idols of the Assyrians: for all that is said in this chapter of the fornications of Israel and Juda, is to be understood in a spiritual sense of their disloyalty to the Lord, by worshipping strange gods. (Challoner) (Worthington)
Calmet
The Assyrians taught the worship of Baal, the high places, etc. The Egyptians also promoted their abominations. (Calmet)
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Blue, or purple. This was reserved for the principal nobility.
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Egypt. They always retained an affection for those idols, the calf, Adonis, etc.
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Calmet
Disgrace: satisfying their passions, ver. 29. (Calmet)
Haydock
Women. Having once lost all sense of decorum, they became more abandoned. (Haydock)
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This; not chastisement, but dissolution.
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Colours. She was enamoured at the account or picture of these people, without ever having seen them.
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Calmet
Messengers. Achaz invited the Assyrians, and imitated their altars, etc., 4 Kings 16:2., etc. (Calmet)
Haydock
The Chaldeans afterwards possessed the country. (Haydock)
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Haydock
Love. Literally, "of breasts," as Hebrew also signifies. Here it denotes the temples. (Haydock)
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Remembering, or "causing to be remembered" by God, who seemed to have forgotten those ancient scenes of wickedness, Ezechiel 21:24.
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Calmet
Asses. He means the Egyptians, (chap. 16:26.) in whom the kings of Juda trusted. (Calmet)
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Calmet
About. The Philistines, Ammonites, etc., shall join the Chaldeans, (Haydock) and Egypt shall desert the Jews in their greatest need. (Calmet)
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Nobles. Protestants, "Pekod, and Shoah, and Roa:" (Haydock) which Junius takes to be the three great divisions of the empire. Others suppose they denote the dignities, though they occur not in Daniel.
Captains. Hebrew, "Phachat, and Saganim, (ver. 6, 12.) and Schalischim;" officers mentioned [in] Exodus 14:7., and 2 Kings 23:8.
Calmet
Renowned, called to the assemblies and councils of the prince, Numbers 1:16. (Calmet)
Haydock
Horsemen. Protestants, "all of them riding upon horses." (Haydock)
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Judgments, at Reblatha, 4 Kings 25:6.
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Calmet
Jealousy, the most violent of passions. (Calmet)
Worthington
So the Chaldeans are styled, as Assur is the rod, Isaias 10:5. (Worthington)
St. Jerome
Ears, the punishment of adulteresses: both king and priests suffer. (St. Jerome)
Thus the captives were probably treated. (Calmet) See Seneca, Ira. 3:20.
Fire, by Ismahel, Ezechiel 19:14.
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Glory; vanity, or of the temple, Ezechiel 16:17., and Osee 2:4.
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Calmet
Cup. Thou shalt be punished like Samaria, dreadfully, 4 Kings 17:4. (Calmet)
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Fragments, as drunkards sometimes bite (Haydock) the cup in their rage.
Ovid
Rend. What had been the occasion of thy fall: (Calmet) pectori planxi. (Ovid, ep. 5.)
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Worthington
Deeds. He is thus admonished to condemn them; (chap. 20:4.) as times and places tended to aggravate their crimes, ver. 39. (Worthington)
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Paint, with antimony. (Septuagint) See 4 Kings 9:3.
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Calmet
Ointment; using them for thyself, or presenting them to idols, Exodus 30:23, 33. (Calmet)
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And that. Protestants, "Sabeans (marginal note and Septuagint, drunkards) from," etc. Any were admitted (Haydock) to the priesthood and to her favours, even the most rustic and deformed, 3 Kings 12:32.
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Calmet
Just, compared with the Jews, whom they shall chastise. (Calmet)
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Haydock
Stones, like adulteresses, Ezechiel 16:38., and Leviticus 20:10. (Haydock)
Calmet
Let the walls be demolished. (Calmet)
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Committed fornication.... That is, idolatry.
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Oolla and Ooliba.... God calls the kingdom of Israel Oolla, which signifies their own habitation, because they separated themselves from his temple: and the kingdom of Juda, Ooliba, which signifies his habitation in her, because of his temple among them in Jerusalem.
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On the Assyraians, etc.... That is, the idols of the Assyrians: for all that is said in this chapter of the fornications of Israel and Juda, is to be understood in a spiritual sense, of their disloyalty to the Lord, by worshipping strange gods.
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He speaketh here as of two peoples by anticipation, for when the Israelies were in Aegypt, they were but one people, & then also they committed idolatrie
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Though they vvere but beginning to increase
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God called the ten tribes Oolla, vvhich signifieth their ovvne habitation, because they made goddes to themselues, in Bethel and Dan; and the tvvo tribes he called Ooliba, signifying my halitation, because the temple there vvas Gods habitation.
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In al this & the like discourses the prophet speaketh not of carnal fornication, but of spiritual which is idolatrie, by the most frequent figure Metaphora.
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In that the Chaldes vvere the ministers of Gods wrath they are called his •ele, as Assur is called the r•dde of his furie. Isa. 10. v. 5.
By the nose S. Ierom vnderstandeth the king by the ca•es the Priestes and Iudges, who were not ••••e but •ut of from the people, and caried into captiuitie 4. Reg 25. Iere. 52.
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This demand is an admonition to iudge and condemne •he•• wickednes, without intermission, as. c• 20. v. 4.
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Circumstances of places, and
times do aggrauate sinnes very much: vvhich are therfore more seuerely punished.
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Amimonium.
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St Jerome † AD 420 The Letters of St. Jerome 79.10
A noble alternative truly which is only to be embraced in preference to Satan! In old days even Jerusalem went a-whoring and opened her feet to every one that passed by. It was in Egypt that she was first deflowered and there that her teats were bruised.
Pope St Gregory I the Great † AD 604 The Book of Pastoral Rule 3.28
… they committed whoredoms in their youth: then were their breasts pressed, and the teats of their virginity were bruised (
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St Basil the Great † AD 379 De Spiritu Sancto 30
… time, for it is an evil time,” a time when some trip up their neighbours’ heels, some stamp on a man when he is down, and others clap their hands with joy, but there is not one to feel for the fallen and hold out a helping hand, although according to the ancient law he is not uncondemned, who passes by even his enemy’s beast of burden fallen under his load.
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St Ambrose of Milan † AD 397 Concerning Repentance 1.12
… He says, “that whosoever believeth on Me may not abide in darkness,” that is, that if he be in darkness he may not remain therein, but may amend his error, correct his fault, and keep My commandments, for I have said, “I will not the death of the wicked, but the correction.”
St Augustine of Hippo † AD 430 On Baptism, Against the Donatists 2.10
… For "the Lord is merciful and gracious, slow to anger, plenteous in mercy and truth." Let them embrace His mercy and long-suffering in this life, and fear His truth in the next. For He willeth not the death of a sinner, but rather that he should turn from his way and live;
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Aphrahat † AD 346 Aphrahat: Select Demonstrations 22.16
16. Remember that the Apostle also said, We shall judge angels . And our Lord said to His disciples, Ye shall sit on twelve thrones, and judge twelve tribes of the house of Israel . And Ezekiel said concerning righteous men,
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Theodoret of Cyrus † AD 458 The Ecclesiastical History of Theodoret 4.19
A boy who had forsworn his sex and would pass for a girl, with eyes, as it is written, smeared with antimony,
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St Gregory of Nazianzus † AD 389 Select Orations of Saint Gregory Nazianzen 2.90
… For the diadem of beauty, the signet of glory, the crown of magnificence
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2. Two women, — two nations, two republics, namely Judah and Israel, that is, twelve tribes. DAUGHTERS OF ONE MOTHER, — namely of the Synagogue, or of Sarah; "daughters," I say, natural ones: but metaphorically they were daughters of Egyptian gentility, from which, as follows, as from a mother they learned idolatry. Thus he said in cap. XVI, 3: "Thy mother was a Cethite." By a similar riddle and figure Theodectes in the fable of Oedipus, as Hermippus testifies, described day and night: "There are," he says, "two sisters, of which one bears the other, and she who was born destroys the parent." For day bears night, and night bears day: and day destroys the preceding night, and night destroys the preceding day. Note: He describes the impudence and malice of the Israelites and Jews through these two women: because "fire, sea, woman, these are three greatest evils," as an old proverb has it. But Euripides in Planudes' Life of Aesop, among all evils gave the first place to woman, especially to a harlot. Thus he sings: With great fury rages the angry sea, And the rivers of the deep, and the sharp force of fire, Bitter want, and many other bitter things: But nothing so bitter and harmful as an evil woman. To this pertains that of Plautus in the Truculent: A harlot I deem to be like the sea, which devours what you give: it never abounds. AND THEY COMMITTED FORNICATION — mystically, that is, they worshipped idols. 3. THERE HER BREASTS WERE BRUISED. — Note: Breasts erect and firm are signs of virginity; loose, of corruption, for then they fall, as if to say, Israel lost in Egypt virginity, that is the primeval worship of the true God, in adolescence, that is under Moses; whence it flowed loosely into various errors, which, as if milk, it gave to others to drink: as a harlot suckles her son with her breasts. Thus Theodoret.
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4. OOLAH THE GREATER, AND OOLIBAH. — The Scholiast and Polychronius wish these to have been truly harlots in Egypt. Better St. Jerome and others judge this to be a parable, and fictitious names for a mystery; for these are Hebrew names, not Egyptian. OOLAH. — In Hebrew אהלה ohola signifies her tabernacle, namely of Samaria; it is in Dan and Bethel, containing golden calves. This is the elder sister; because more numerous, containing namely ten tribes, when the other contained only two. Oolibah. — In Hebrew אהליבה oholibah signifies my tabernacle in her: for God had his temple in Jerusalem. By Samaria he understands ten tribes, by Jerusalem two: because Samaria was the head and metropolis of ten tribes, Jerusalem of two. Allegorically: Oolah is the synagogue of heretics, which fashions and worships the idol of its own heresy: Oolibah is the Church of the orthodox: for this is the tabernacle of God; but if anywhere, as in Greece, it deflects to schism and heresy, it sins more gravely, and is punished more gravely than Oolah. Tropologically, Oolah is the unfaithful, Oolibah the faithful. Again Oolah is a layman, Oolibah is a cleric and Religious. If this one departs from God through impiety, he sins more gravely, and is punished more gravely than a layman. I HAD THEM — as wives, when under Joshua, David, and other pious princes, they served me as God, their Lord and husband. 5. THEREFORE SHE COMMITTED FORNICATION AGAINST ME, — against me: the Chaldean, from my worship; the Septuagint, from me, as if to say, Oolah, that is Samaria, added to my marriage adulteries and adulterers, namely idols. R. David translates, under me, that is under the veil and covering of marriage made with me, as adultresses are wont to cover their adulteries with the veil of marriage, and to attribute offspring from adultery to the husband. Thus Jeroboam decorated his idols, that is two golden calves, with the name of God, and proposed them to the people to be worshipped, saying: "Behold thy gods, O Israel, who brought thee out of the land of Egypt," III Kings XII, 28. IN THE ASSYRIANS DRAWING NEAR, — that is coming to her, as Our version translates in verse 12, and confederated with her. Thus Maldonatus. Others, as Vatablus and R. Solomon, as if to say, Whom she loved as neighbors, namely those near in character and manners and similar, although distant in place. my ointment, and my perfume thou didst set upon her. 42. And the voice of a multitude rejoicing was in her: and with men who were brought from the multitude of men, and were coming from the desert, they put bracelets upon their hands, and beautiful crowns upon their heads. 43. And I said to her that was worn out in adulteries: Now will she commit fornication in her fornication, and this one also. 44. And they went in to her as men go in to a harlot woman: so they went in to Oolah and Oolibah, wicked women. 45. Wherefore just men shall judge them with the judgment of adulteresses, and with the judgment of them that shed blood: because they are adulteresses, and blood is in their hands. 46. For thus saith the Lord God: Bring upon them a multitude, and deliver them up to tumult, and to spoil: 47. And let them be stoned with stones by the people, and let them be pierced with their swords: they shall slay their sons and daughters, and burn their houses with fire. 48. And I will take away wickedness out of the land, and all women shall learn not to do according to the wickedness of them. 49. And they shall lay your wickedness upon you, and you shall bear the sins of your idols: and you shall know that I am the Lord God.
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6. CLOTHED IN HYACINTH, — etc. Just as women are accustomed to be inflamed by the luxury of garments, by titles of honor, by youthful age, by a vigorous body, so the Israelites had been seduced by the power of the Assyrians.
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7. AND SHE GAVE HER FORNICATIONS UPON THEM. — That is, to them, as verse 12 explains, that is to them, as if to say: She prostituted herself to them, she committed fornication with them, who were "young men of desire," that is, handsome, lovable, alluring, as if to say: Attracted by their form, riches, and garments, she worshipped their gods, that is, idols, and committed fornication with them. For he is speaking of the worship of idols. And in all, — that is, she was polluted in the uncleanness of all her lovers. It is a Hebraism: for the "of them" is redundant, and "in all" is to be resolved as "of all."
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8. MOREOVER SHE DID NOT ABANDON THE FORNICATIONS WHICH SHE HAD COMMITTED IN EGYPT, — as if to say: Samaria retained the idols of the Assyrians and the idols and superstitions of Egypt, with which she had been imbued from her infancy. For these men had deflowered her, when they first taught her to worship idols. POURED OUT, — that is, delivered to her, and imbued her with all their fornication, that is, superstition and idolatry. The word "poured out" signifies the abundance of fornication, that is, of idolatry, says St. Jerome; for Egypt devised various superstitions and monstrous portents of gods: wherefore by Juvenal, Satires XV, it is deservedly called mad: Who knows not what monstrous things mad Egypt worships? Crocodile one part adores: another fears the serpent ibis, etc.
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10. THEY (THE ASSYRIANS) UNCOVERED HER SHAME. — The Chaldee: her nakedness, namely her private parts. For they captured Samaria, despoiled her, treated her ignominiously, and thus uncovered her fornications, that is, her idolatry, on account of which she was so dreadfully treated by God, who by just judgment punished and laid her waste through those whom she had impiously loved, IV Kings cap. XVII, 6. For the Assyrians dealt with Samaria just as an adulterer, sated with the lust of an adulteress, despoils her, and drives her away naked. Thus tropologically the demon, the world, and the flesh do in sinners. Whence St. Jerome: "Whatever," he says, "is said of Jerusalem tropically, and can be referred to the soul, which joined to God in the embrace of virtues, afterwards committed adultery in vices, and withdrew from him, and with all her crimes laid bare, she was stripped and defiled, and exposed to all." HER (Samaria) THEY SLEW, — that is, they laid waste, burned, destroyed. AND THEY BECAME FAMOUS WOMEN (Samaria namely with her sister Judah, or rather with her daughters, as preceded; for he speaks of Judah in what follows, as if to say: Samaria with her sons and daughters became renowned, both for her crimes and for her punishments. For) THEY EXECUTED JUDGMENTS (that is, as the Septuagint, vengeances) UPON HER, — namely Samaria. Thus St. Jerome, as if to say: Samaria was so laid waste to the whole world as an example, that all might beware of fornication, that is, idolatry. 11. HER FORNICATION (namely increasing) BEYOND THE FORNICATION OF HER SISTER, — namely Samaria, as if to say: Jerusalem raged more madly in idols than Samaria, and she who ought to have become better by her example became worse. 12. SHE GAVE HERSELF TO THE SONS OF THE ASSYRIANS, — namely to fornicate, that is, her fornication, as preceded.
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14. Expressed in colors. — In Hebrew, painted with vermilion. For in the time of the Trojans, says Pliny lib. XXXIII, cap. VII, vermilion was in honor and use: for with it the nobles were accustomed to be dyed, and the simulacra of gods; because gold not only appears to shine, but also to burn, when vermilion, as if mixed with burning coals, is mixed with it: and vermilion especially resembles blood, and when mixed with white lead it represents to the life the rosy color of human flesh. THE FORM OF ALL CAPTAINS. — She saw men painted, girded with belts (for by apposition he refers to the form by this), and their tiaras like those of captains, or, as in Hebrew, of generals, and these dyed. For only kings wore white ones, as I said cap. XXI, 26. He describes the dress of the Chaldeans, painted on the wall so to the life, that they seemed not painted, but born and brought forth in the land of Babylon. This is what he adds: THE LIKENESS OF THE CHILDREN OF BABYLON, AND OF THE LAND OF THE CHALDEANS, IN WHICH THEY WERE BORN. — It is an apposition, as if to say, says Prado: These tiaras of gods painted on the wall were similar to those which the young nobles of Babylon and other cities of Chaldea, in which they were born, were accustomed to wear according to the custom of their country, namely the young men themselves, or even the men painted, that is, the gods of the Chaldeans, who were not brought from elsewhere, but were born in Chaldea, and there first divinity and sacrifices were decreed to them. Secondly, more plainly and fittingly, you should refer this not to gods, but to Chaldeans, as if to say: These young men painted on the wall of the Judeans were similar to the nobles of Babylon in the land of their nativity, as the Hebrew has it, that is, they were adorned just as the nobles are clothed and adorned in Chaldea. These young men therefore seem not to have been gods, but noble Chaldeans distinguished by excellent form and Babylonian dress, by which the Judeans were enticed to love them and their gods.
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17. TO THE BED OF BREASTS. — The Hebrew word דודים dodim signifies both breasts and loves: for breasts are a symbol of love. It signifies therefore an amatory bed, says Vatablus. Thus he calls Jerusalem itself, or rather its temples and shrines, into which the Chaldaeans brought their pollutions, that is, the sacred rites of their gods, says Polychroius. Physicians and doctors note, such as Hippocrates, book V of the Aphorisms, and Galen in his Commentary on it, that the breasts correspond to the womb, and consequently in them is the seat of pleasure: for veins and arteries extend from the womb to the breasts: and therefore according to the quality of the fetus the breasts either swell or languish and are depressed: at the time of conception the veins are again filled and become turgid. "Common," says Galen in the VI of Hippocrates, On Common Diseases, Commentary V, "are the veins to the breasts and womb, and when blood is carried to one of these parts, the other dries up." Hence in Scripture the breasts and udders are a symbol of love and lust. As here and verse 3: "In her youth they committed fornication, there her breasts were subdued, and her breasts of puberty were broken." Prov. V, 19: "Let her breasts inebriate thee;" and cap. VII, 18: "Let us be inebriated with the breasts." Wherefore, Hosea cap. II, 2, signifies adultery to consist in lasciviousness, and softly cultivated countenance, and in the breasts: "Let her," he says, "take away her fornications from her face, and her adulteries from the midst of her breasts." Hence Juvenal, satire VI, noted the monstrous lust of Messalina from her exposed breasts. Wherefore the breasts in Scripture signify loves and pleasures, Isa. LXVI, 11: "That you may suck, and be filled from the breast of her consolation;" and verse 12: "You shall be carried at the breasts, and upon the knees they shall caress you." Ezech. XVI, 8: "Thy time, the time of lovers;" in Hebrew, thy time, the time of breasts. Finally the bridegroom has breasts and udders, that is, loves, Cant. cap. I, verse 2, and cap. VII, verse 12. For Galen also at the end of the book On the Use of Parts teaches that in men the breasts are rightly added by nature to the breast, whereas in other animals they are sent down to the extremities of the belly; which in man is a special sympathy of these with the heart: but the heart is the seat of love and of more fervent blood. Thus Pineda in Job XL, 11. Tropologically St. Jerome: "Do we not," he says, "send messengers to the Chaldaeans, who are interpreted as demons, when we open ourselves to them, and offer them to break the breasts in the breast, where the dwelling place of the mind is, through pleasures, running from one to another in the manner of harlots?" AND HER SOUL WAS SATIATED. — "For pleasure is not perpetual, but quickly satiates," says St. Jerome. Hebrew and her soul departed from them. Thus their bed; in Hebrew, upon their concubines, that is to say, Among all the concubines of the Chaldaeans Judaea was most lustful in idolatry, because before all the nations, which as concubines were subject to or devoted to the Chaldaeans, she herself worshipped the idols of the Chaldaeans.
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20. WHOSE FLESH IS AS THE FLESH OF ASSES, — that is, whose members are large, as the members of asses. It signifies the lustful and libidinous. For asses among all beasts have the largest genitals. Whence also the Emperor Commodus from the magnitude of his member was called ὄνος, that is, ass. Thus St. Jerome. Morally St. Bernard, in the book On the Nature and Dignity of Divine Love, chapter II: "Whose, he says, spirit, as the spirit of beasts," or cattle; their "flesh, as the flesh of asses." AND THEIR ISSUE (namely of seed), — as it were the flux and inundation of the seed of horses, says Vatablus. For the horse rushes into lust impotently. Hence the Egyptians, signifying the libidinous, depicted a horse, and called such ἱππομανεῖν and ἱπποπόρνους. Thus Pierius, Hieroglyphics IV. Metaphorically through the members and instruments of lust, it signifies the profuse idolatry and superstition of the Chaldaeans, which the Jews followed effusely. At the same time, it touches upon the lust of the Chaldaeans almost according to the letter: for corruption of life, lasciviousness and lust follow upon idolatry and heresy, says Polycarp; for the members of an ass are the symbol of this. Hence the luxurious after death have often appeared in flesh and in the form of an ass. Thus Blessed Peter Damian, Bishop and Cardinal of Ostia, in his letter to the brothers of the hermitage, and from him Baronius, in the year of Christ 1034, relates concerning Benedict IX of his time, Pope, first Pope, then condemned Antipope: "As it happened, he says, while a certain man was journeying, it came to pass that riding on a horse near a mill he passed by: and behold suddenly he beheld a monstrous portent. Upon seeing which, suddenly terror seized him, and stupefied he trembled. Now that portent seemed to end in the ears of an ass and a tail, the rest was a bear. And when the traveler, terrified at this prodigy, grew rigid and began a precipitous flight in fear: the misshapen prodigy formed words of human voice. Do not, it said, O man, be afraid, believe without doubt that I was once a man, as you yourself now are; but because I lived bestially, after the end of my life, I deserved to take on the appearance of a beast. Moreover, when he inquired who he had been: I, he said, was called by the name Benedictus alone, who recently unworthily held the summit of the Apostolic see. But being asked what retribution he had: Now, he said, until the day of Judgment, through thorny and squalid places, and through sulphurous places, and exhaling stench, and consumed by fires I am snatched and dragged. After the final judgment, my body together with my soul irremediable torment and the irrevocable pot of the hellish abyss will swallow, so that no hope of recovery remains for me hereafter. After these and such words he vanished." Damian then inquires why this wretched man appeared in the form of an ass and a bear, and answers: "Because that miserable one from the very beginning of his Pontificate until the end of his life was immersed in the mire of lust, he was not unfittingly seen to begin from the ears and end in the tail of an ass. For the ass is indeed a lustful animal, as the Prophet says: And the flesh of asses their flesh. But in that through the other members he held the form of a bear, it is taught that he led a carnal life in all things. For the bear when she gives birth does not produce a cub, but pours forth a lump of flesh, which by licking and lapping she shapes." I could recall similar apparitions made in this age, were I not sparing of the honor of distinguished families.
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21. You visited (you repeated the ancient idolatry in Egypt, thus the Chaldee. Or "you visited," that is, you caused yourself to be visited, and brought yourself to God's remembrance: namely you caused God to visit and punish) the wickedness of your youth. 22. LOVERS, OF WHOM YOUR SOUL WAS SATIATED. The Hebrew, from whom your soul departed, that is to say, Just as a harlot, satiated with a lover, seeks another: so you, satiated with the Chaldaeans, flee from them to the Egyptians: whence the Chaldaeans, not bearing this contempt of themselves, as God bore it, will invade Jerusalem with arms.
23:23
23. PRINCES OF PRINCES. — The Septuagint, tristates. "For which the Latin simplicity, says St. Jerome, translated three statores. Now tristate is a name among the Greeks of the second rank after royal dignity, of whom it is written, I Paralipomenon XI: Yet he attained not to the first three: who were princes of horsemen and footmen, and of tributes, whom we now call magistrates of both military branches, and prefects of the title of provisions." Thus far St. Jerome. The Chaldee, thinking the Hebrew names to be proper names of nations, translated: I will raise up against you the Pecodaites, Saoites, Coaites. NAMED RIDERS OF HORSES, — distinguished and celebrated horsemen.
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24. INSTRUCTED WITH CHARIOT AND WHEEL, — that is, with chariots and wheels. AND I WILL GIVE JUDGMENT BEFORE THEM. — The Scholiast says, by these I will judge you: I will permit them knowledge of your cause, judgment and vengeance, so that according to their will they may treat and punish you. For to give before someone, in Hebrew fashion, is to place something in another's power, judgment and discretion, as in Deut. XXX, 15: "I have set before you life and good, and on the other hand death and evil." THEY SHALL JUDGE YOU WITH THEIR JUDGMENTS. — The Chaldean [paraphrase], with their laws, that is to say, according to their will and hatred they will most cruelly punish and destroy you; whereas I, God, although angered and jealous, chastise only, I do not destroy.
23:25
25. AND I WILL SET MY JEALOUSY IN YOU (he calls jealousy a jealous vengeance, or punishment flowing from jealousy), WHICH THEY EXERCISE (that is, will exercise and carry out, as the Hebrew and Septuagint have it, the Chaldeans), AGAINST YOU IN FURY — not so much mine as theirs. Whence in Hebrew it is word for word: And they will do against you in fury, that is, they will rage and act savagely against you, as soldiers inflamed with fury act savagely against citizens, while they forcibly storm a city. Hence Maldonatus, following the Hebrew, understands by jealousy the Chaldeans as ministers of God's wrath, just as Assur is called the rod of God's fury, in Isaiah, cap. X, 5. THEY SHALL CUT OFF YOUR NOSE AND YOUR EARS, — because the Chaldeans killed some of the Jews, and others they mutilated in disgrace by cutting off their noses and ears. He alludes to the punishment of adulteresses, whom the Egyptians mutilated by cutting off the nose, as Rhodiginus teaches, lib. XXI, cap. XXV. Or secondly, that is to say, they will make you most shameful, as is a woman with nose and ears cut off. Thirdly, many understand by the nose the king and kingdom, who in the people stands out as the nose in the face: by the ears, the Pontiff, through whom, as it were, the ears, the people of God heard the voice; all of which God took away and cut off from the Jews. Thus the Hebrews, the Chaldean [paraphrase], Maldonatus and Prado. Indeed, even St. Jerome understands by the nose the king, by the ears the judges. This sense is fitting, but symbolic. These oracles of Ezekiel are aptly adapted by Blessed Peter Damian to John, Bishop of Placentia, an Antipope, who, having ejected Gregory, a kinsman of the Emperor Otto, held the chair of the Roman Church as a thief and tyrant: "But shortly after, when the Roman people came to their senses and grew angry, they rushed upon him and laid hands on him, tore out his eyes, cut off his ears and nose. He thus experienced what the Lord threatens to him both then and now through Ezekiel, cap. XXIII, saying: There shall come upon you those instructed with chariot, and all the multitude of peoples, armed with breastplate, shield and sword against you, etc. They shall cut off your nose and your ears. After the Romans, as has been said, had thus repaid the Pontiff: soon they placed the glorious horseman facing backward on a donkey, holding in his hands the tail of his mount, and through the public way of the whole city, they forced him to sing these words: Let him suffer such punishment who strives to drive the Roman Pope from his seat." Thus he himself [writes] to Cadilo the Antipope, lib. I, epist. 21. YOUR REMNANT (that is, the remains of the city, namely the temple, palaces, and houses, emptied of inhabitants either killed or carried away) SHALL BE DEVOURED BY FIRE.
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27. I WILL CAUSE YOUR WICKEDNESS TO CEASE, — that is to say, then you will be ashamed of idolatry, then you will rest and cease from it, since its shame will be revealed at that time in so shameful a punishment and overthrow of you; so that it is a hypallage: "I will cause your wickedness to cease," that is, I will cause you to cease from your wickedness. Secondly, more simply Maldonatus says it is a Hebraism, that is to say, I will take away, remove your wickedness from you, I will purge you with torments, so that nothing of your former wickedness remains in you. NOR SHALL YOU LIFT UP YOUR EYES TO THEM, — namely to the gods of Egypt; for these are understood in the fornication of Egypt, which preceded, that is to say, you will not invoke them, you will not trust in them. For to lift up the eyes is a symbol of hope and invocation. AND OF EGYPT (that is, of fornication, namely of the idolatry of Egypt) YOU SHALL NOT BE MINDFUL. 28. I WILL DELIVER YOU INTO THE HANDS OF THOSE WHOM YOU HAVE HATED, — namely into the hands of the Chaldeans, whose lust, that is, idolatry, your soul, that is, your appetite, has been satisfied.
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30. THEY DID (that is, they shall do) THESE THINGS TO YOU. 31. In the way of your sister (that is, you have imitated the customs of your sister Oholah, that is, the idolatry of Samaria): AND (that is, for this reason) I WILL GIVE HER CUP INTO YOUR HAND, — that is, I shall afflict you with the same punishments. Note: He calls cup the measure of punishment decreed by God. This is called a cup, says Prado, alluding to the cup of wine, which was given beforehand to those condemned to death, so that they might bear it more strongly. Hence cup signifies the punishment of death, or the decree and destination of death: or rather, as the same author thinks, there is an allusion to drinking companions, who compete in draining cups. For we offer to God as it were a cup of pleasures: He in turn offers to us a cup of vengeance to be drained to the bottom, equally as the former of pleasures. But these are more restricted: the first which I said seems general, and most fitting. For there is an allusion to the master of the feast, who was called a symposiarch or master of the drinking: for he gave to each guest his own cup of wine and tempered it according to each one's age, appetite and taste: thus God according to each one's merits tempers and distributes the cup, that is, the lot, of punishments or rewards. See Psalm XV, 5, and chapter LXXIV, 9. Whence it follows: "You shall be filled with drunkenness and sorrow."
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32. YOU SHALL DRINK THE CUP OF YOUR SISTER (you shall suffer the same punishment as Samaria) DEEP (by the magnitude of punishments) AND WIDE, — by the long time of captivity of 70 years. WHICH IS (thus the Romans read, not are you) MOST CAPACIOUS, — that is, greatest, namely mockery. But from the Hebrew you shall translate plainly, which, namely the cup, is most capacious. The interpreter therefore retains the Hebrew gender. For the cup in Hebrew is of the feminine gender: which therefore, that is, which, namely the cup, is much for holding, or embracing. Otherwise Maldonatus. For he reads, which you are most capacious, that is, O Jerusalem, which now are most ample, and most frequently inhabited, you shall be for a hissing and a desolation because of the solitude, to which the enemies shall reduce you.
23:33
33. CUP, etc., OF SADNESS. — The Septuagint, of destruction, or of deletion, by which you are to be entirely destroyed and deleted; in Hebrew it is, cup of solitude and desolation.
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34. YOU SHALL DRINK IT EVEN TO THE DREGS, — that is, you shall drink the whole cup of punishments, you shall suffer extreme evils. AND YOU SHALL DEVOUR ITS FRAGMENTS. — It is an amplification. For fragments cannot be devoured. The sense therefore is, that is, the cup having been drained and broken, even the drops which remain in the fragments, you shall be forced to lick, that is, you shall be forced to drink the cup even to its last drop. Although it can also be understood properly. For there are some drinkers so intemperate and senseless, that after wine, they swallow broken glass and gulp it down even with danger to their lives, such as I have seen in the waters of Spa, vainly seeking a remedy for death from them, and damning their senselessness too late. Whence it follows: "Your breasts," on account of sorrow, "you shall tear."
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35. YOU HAVE CAST ME BEHIND YOUR BODY, — backward behind your back, that is, you have forgotten me, you have despised me, and you have preferred idols and pleasures to me. Thus Theodoret. 36. SON OF MAN, DO YOU JUDGE? — is it not just, O Ezekiel! that you judge, that is, reprove these harlots? God now speaks to the people, now to the Prophet, that is, Why do you hesitate, why do you delay, O Prophet! why do you not judge and condemn these adulteresses? See the words of chapter XXII, 2. 37. BLOOD IS IN THEIR HANDS, — they have stained their hands, they still have bloody hands from the blood of the Prophets, and of other innocent ones whom they have killed. Otherwise Prado: To carry blood in the hands, he says, is to glory in murder perpetrated, and to display the blood shed as it were. WITH THEIR IDOLS, — The Septuagint, with thoughts, that is, as Cyril says, with idols which they have devised, which they turn over and desire in mind and thought. WHOM THEY BORE TO ME (that is, sons whom they ought to have borne to me as to a husband, they bore, and) OFFERED (to idols) TO BE DEVOURED, — that is, so that in their honor they would be burned and devoured by fire. 38. THEY HAVE DEFILED MY SANCTUARY, — both by other sins, and by placing Baal and idols in the temple, as he said in chapter VIII, 10. THEY HAVE PROFANED MY SABBATHS, — because they observed not my sabbaths and feasts, but those of Baal. 39. IN THAT DAY, — that is, on the same day on which they burned their sons to the idol Moloch, they dared to enter my temple, and to defile it, and to provoke me. Thus the Chaldean. AND THEY HAVE ALSO DONE THIS IN THE MIDST OF MY HOUSE, — that is, they have also sacrificed to idols in my temple, as is evident from Jeremiah VII, 30, and above in chapter VIII, 10.
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40. THEY SENT (messengers) TO MEN COMING FROM FAR (to the Chaldaeans): AND BEHOLD THEY CAME, — namely the Chaldaeans, thy lovers of old, to whom in order to please them, thou didst wash thyself, anoint thyself with stibium, adorn thyself. For they adorned themselves when about to go to the festivals of idols, just as harlots adorn themselves when about to go to their lovers. Thus Theodoret. Again it signifies the Chaldaeans, equally as the Egyptians, when they came into Judaea, were received by the Jews with great pomp and magnificence, and the Jews showed them their treasures and riches, as Ezechias did, Isaiah XXXVIII, 2. These, I say, came, now no longer as lovers, but as sworn enemies of thine, and raging and rushing upon thy destruction.
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41. THOU DIDST SIT UPON A BED, — as a woman. For women, when men reclined at table, that is lay down, sat sitting, because it would be unseemly for a woman to recline. Thus Valerius Maximus lib. II, cap. I. He alludes to harlots adorning themselves with stibium, and feasting with their lovers: for Jerusalem, idolatrous throughout this whole chapter, is compared to a harlot fornicating. He notes moreover the custom of women, who are wont to adorn and paint themselves wonderfully, so that sitting they may appear to be queens, nay even goddesses. Ambrosius, the philosopher of Leo, investigates the reasons why they do this more than men, problem. 199, and answers that there are two. The first, that they are lustful, and desire to entice men into love of themselves. The second, that they are by nature deformed and ugly, because nature has failed in them; hence they strive to repair this very thing with ornaments and paints. He proves that they are deformed: "Because," he says, "they are imperfect males, and of cold temperament. Hence when all ornaments have been removed, they are seen to become dark, and pale, and squalid: whence they are held in contempt and hatred. A sign is, that many males despise their wives, because they often see them unadorned, and turn aside to harlots, who expose themselves only when adorned." TABLE, — namely sacred, that is the altar to thy gods thou didst adorn, cap. XLI, 22. MY INCENSE (which thou shouldest have burned to me) THOU DIDST SET UPON IT, — namely the table, that is upon the altar of idols, as if to say, My incense thou didst give to idols and burn. 42. AND THE VOICE OF A MULTITUDE REJOICING (singing hymns and praises of their gods) WAS IN IT, — near it, around it, namely around the table, that is the altar of idols: or rather, "in it," namely in Ooliba, that is in Jerusalem, was the voice of a rejoicing crowd, as adulterers are wont to gather to harlots in a brothel, and there to rejoice and sing love songs. AND IN MEN, — adulterers, who gathered to her; supply, the voice of rejoicing was heard: or rather: "They put bracelets upon their hands," as follows. AND THEY CAME FROM THE DESERT. — The Interpreter reads שבאים scebaim with shin, or with sche the relative שבאים schebaim, that is who came: or, as Maldonatus, reads with double beth סבכאים sab baim, that is who round about, that is from all sides came. Now the Hebrew texts have סבאים Sebaim with sin, that is Sabaeans, namely Arabs and Ethiopians Abyssinians. The Septuagint read סובאים sobeim, that is drunkards: but all things come to the same meaning, as if to say, Ooliba, that is Jerusalem, received the Sabaeans, according to their name winous, and addicted to drunkenness, who came from the desert of Arabia to Jerusalem, as if to say, Not only the handsome and noble Assyrians, but also vile slaves, the dregs of the world, deformed Ethiopians, and robber Sabaeans did this harlot love: nay she adorned them with her bracelets and crowns, burning with love and mad. Thus St. Jerome and all the Latins, and the Septuagint and the Chaldaean, who read, in the hands of them, although in the Hebrew it is, in the hands of them, as if the lovers gave bracelets to the harlots, not the harlots to the lovers. Perhaps the Hebrew text is corrupted, or certainly here, as elsewhere, hen, that is of them, is taken for hem, that is of them. He notes the wonderful lust of the Hierosolymitans. But under this he properly understands idolatry, whose companion and effect is lust and lasciviousness. Thus Theodoret. Consequently the lovers are idols, which Ooliba, that is Jerusalem, adorned with her bracelets and crowns. CROWNS. — Formerly, says Athenaeus lib. XV, when sacrificing, what they offered to the gods, they crowned. Hence Plautus in Amphitr.: Garlands, ointments, crowns to bear to Venus and Cupid. The same in Aulul. prolog.: These flowery crowns that they may be placed on the hearth of our Lar. The same in Pseudol.: That that was the house of Jupiter, an oak crown gave augury to the mind. And Ovid, lib. III Tristium, eleg. 1: Let the smoking altar be girt with flowering crowns. Aristotle gives the reason in the Symposium book, namely that they might signify that nothing mutilated should be offered to the gods, but whole and perfect things. A crown therefore is a symbol of perfection and fullness. Hence, says Aristotle in Rhodiginus book XXVII, chapter XXVI, at banquets they reclined crowned, as if auguring fertility of grain and abundance of things. But the first origin and cause of this crowning was that, when they drank much, lest their head ache, they bound it with a woolen or linen band. This indeed was the first crown, as Festus testifies. Then for pleasure garlands were added from leaves and flowers, either warm ones, which gently open the passages, so that wine might perspire; this is what a crown of nard does: or cold ones, so that they might bind and restrain the force of wine; this is what a crown of violets, roses and ivy does. Liber or Bacchus, says Plutarch in the third Symposium, crowned the bacchantes with ivy, so that they might be less harmed by wine, ivy extinguishing drunkenness by its coldness. These crowns they either placed on the head, or wound around the forehead and temples, or hung from the neck. Thus Stuckius in Convivial.
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43. AND I SAID TO HER WHO WAS WORN OUT, — that is, accustomed; the Chaldean, inveterate in adulteries, as if to say, Is this old woman not yet satisfied with the filth of harlotry? Does she still rush madly to it? Does she still fornicate and fornicate excessively, so as to be like a public harlot, provoking the Chaldeans and all nations to worship her demons and idols? Otherwise the Chaldean, as if to say, And I said concerning the assembly of Israel, whose people have become inveterate in sins; now let them put away their idols and turn to the worship of me; and they have not turned. 45. THE MEN THEREFORE ARE JUST — The Babylonians shall demand just vengeance upon Jerusalem (just as they did upon Oholah, that is upon Samaria). For although they themselves are equally impious and idolaters and unjust; they shall nevertheless be the officers of God's just sentence and just punishment of the Jews. For it is fitting that the impious be punished by the impious, and idolaters by idolaters, and truly God is accustomed to punish justly. WITH THE JUDGMENT OF ADULTERESSES AND THOSE WHO SHED BLOOD, — that is with that punishment by which adulteresses and murderers are accustomed to be punished (for Jerusalem is both), namely that they be stoned and burned, as he said in chapter XVI, 38 and following.
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46. BRING (that is, prophesy that it shall be brought: see Canon XXIX) A MULTITUDE AGAINST THEM (the Chaldean, an army, namely of the Chaldeans); AND DELIVER THEM TO TUMULT. — The Chaldean, to destruction; the Hebrew, to commotion, that is to trembling, flight, dispersion: according to the threats of Moses, Deuteronomy XXVIII, 23, and Jeremiah XXXIV, 17. 47. THEY SHALL BE STONED, — as adulteresses. It signifies ballistas, by which stones were hurled by the Chaldeans at Jerusalem: or metaphorically it signifies the destruction of the city, by which the city was as it were buried under stones. 48. ALL WOMEN SHALL LEARN, — all cities and provinces. 49. AND THEY SHALL GIVE YOUR WICKEDNESS (that is, the punishment of your wickedness, namely of the worship of idols) UPON YOU, — as if to say, For the merits of your crimes they shall punish you.
Machine translation from the Latin, not reviewed.
23:37
… Hebrew expression: ha-ābhīr... bā'ēl lam-mōlekh (2 Kings 23:10) or ha-ābhīr lam-mōlekh (Lev. 18:21; Jer. 32:35) or even without the name of the god M., which is implied (Deut. 18:10; 2 Kings 16:3; 17:17; 21:6; Jer. 7:31; 19:5; Ezek. 16:21; 20:26, 31; 23:37; etc.).
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.