The prophet complains of the sins of Juda and Jerusalem, and exhorts them to a sincere conversion.
Isaie prophecying in the dayes of foure kinges of Iuda, 2. admonisheth both princes and people of their ingratitude, and other sinnes against God. 7. for which they shal be led captiue. 11. Neither shal sacrifices, nor prayers saue them, 16. except they cleanse their soules from sinnes. 20. which they not doing shal be seuerely punished. 26. Wherby the reliques shal be purged, and the Church shal flourish.
1The vision of Isaias the son of Amos, which he saw concerning Juda and Jerusalem in the days of Ozias, Joathan, Achaz, and Ezechias, kings of Juda.Visione d'Isaia figliuolo di Amos, la quale egli vide intorno alle cose di Giuda, e di Gerusalemme a' tempi di Ozia, di Joathan, di Achaz, e di Ezechia regi di Giuda.THE vision of Isaie the sonne of Amos, which he sawe concerning Iuda and Ierusalem in the dayes of Ozias, Ioathan, Achaz, and Ezechias kinges of Iuda.Visio Isaiæ, filii Amos, quam vidit super Judam et Jerusalem, in diebus Oziæ, Joathan, Achaz, et Ezechiæ, regum Juda. 2Hear, O ye heavens, and give ear, O earth, for the Lord hath spoken. I have brought up children, and exalted them: but they have despised me.Udite, o cieli, e tu o terra porgi le orecchie. Il Signore ha parlato: Ho nudriti, e esaltati de' figli: ed eglino mi han disprezzato.Heare ye heauens, & geue eare ô earth, because our Lord hath spoken. I haue brought vp children, and exalted them: but they haue despised me.Audite, cæli, et auribus percipe, terra, / quoniam Dominus locutus est. / Filios enutrivi, et exaltavi; / ipsi autem spreverunt me. 3The ox knoweth his owner, and the ass his master’s crib: but Israel hath not known me, and my people hath not understood.Il bue distingue il suo padrone, e l'asino la greppia del suo signore: ma Israele non riconobbe, e il popolo mio non intende.The oxe hath knowen his owner, and the asse his masters crib: but Israel hath not knowen me, and my people hath not vnderstood.Cognovit bos possessorem suum, / et asinus præsepe domini sui; / Israël autem me non cognovit, / et populus meus non intellexit. 4Woe to the sinful nation, a people laden with iniquity, a wicked seed, ungracious children: they have forsaken the Lord, they have blasphemed the Holy One of Israel, they are gone away backwards.Guai alla nazion peccatrice, al popolo aggravato d'iniquità, alla stirpe malvagia, ai figli scellerati: hanno abbandonato il Signore; hanno bestemmiato il santo d'Israele, si non separati, han voltate le spalle.Woe to the sinful nation, the people loden with greeuous iniquitie, the wicked seede, vngracious children: they haue forsaken our Lord, they haue blasphemed the holie one of Israel, they are reuolted backewards.Væ genti peccatrici, / populo gravi iniquitate, / semini nequam, filiis sceleratis ! / dereliquerunt Dominum; / blasphemaverunt Sanctum Israël; / abalienati sunt retrorsum. 5For what shall I strike you any more, you that increase transgression? the whole head is sick, and the whole heart is sad.Perchè vi percuoterò io di più, se aggiungete prevaricazioni? Tutto il capo è malato, e tutto il cuore è afflitto;For what shal I strike you anie more, which adde preuarication? euerie head is sicke, & euerie hart in heauines.Super quo percutiam vos ultra, addentes prævaricationem ? / omne caput languidum, / et omne cor mœrens.
6From the sole of the foot unto the top of the head, there is no soundness therein: wounds and bruises and swelling sores: they are not bound up, nor dressed, nor fomented with oil.Dalla pianta del piede fino alla sommità della testa non è in lui sanità: ma ferite, e lividure, e piaga marciosa, che non è stata fasciata, né medicata, né disacerbata col balsamo.From the sole of the foote vnto the toppe of the head, there is no health therein: wound, and wayle, and swelling stroke: it is not bound vp, nor cured with medicine, nor mollified with oile.A planta pedis usque ad verticem, / non est in eo sanitas; / vulnus, et livor, et plaga tumens, / non est circumligata, nec curata medicamine, / neque fota oleo. 7Your land is desolate, your cities are burnt with fire: your country strangers devour before your face, and it shall be desolate as when wasted by enemies.Deserta la vostra terra, incendiate le vostre cittadi: le possessioni vostre sugli occhi vostri son divorate dagli stranieri, e devastate come devasta il nimico.Your land is desolate, your cities burnt with fire: your countrie strangers deuoure before your face, and it shal be made desolate as in the spoile of enemies.Terra vestra deserta; / civitates vestræ succensæ igni: / regionem vestram coram vobis alieni devorant, / et desolabitur sicut in vastitate hostili. 8And the daughter of Sion shall be left as a covert in a vineyard, and as a lodge in a garden of cucumbers, and as a city that is laid waste.E rimarrà la figlia di Sion come una capanna in una vigna, e come un tugurio in un cocomeraio, e come città espugnata per forza.And the daughter of Sion shal be left as a vineyard, and as a cottage in a place of cucumbers, and as a citie that is wasted.Et derelinquetur filia Sion / ut umbraculum in vinea, / et sicut tugurium in cucumerario, / et sicut civitas quæ vastatur. 9Except the Lord of hosts had left us seed, we had been as Sodom, and we should have been like to Gomorrha.Se il Signore degli eserciti non avesse lasciato di noi semenza, saremmo diventati come Sodoma, e simili saremmo stati a Gomorra.Vnlesse the Lord of hostes had lefte vs seed, we had beene as Sodom, and we should be like to Gomorrha.Nisi Dominus exercituum / reliquisset nobis semen, / quasi Sodoma fuissemus, / et quasi Gomorrha similes essemus. 10Hear the word of the Lord, ye rulers of Sodom, give ear to the law of our God, ye people of Gomorrha.Udite la parola del Signore voi principi di Sodoma, porgi le orecchie alla legge del nostro Dio tu popolo di Gomorra.Heare the word of our Lord ye princes of Sodom, geue eare to the law of our God ye people of Gomorrha.Audite verbum Domini, / principes Sodomorum; / percipite auribus legem Dei nostri, / populus Gomorrhæ.
11To what purpose do you offer me the multitude of your victims, saith the Lord? I am full, I desire not holocausts of rams, and fat of fatlings, and blood of calves, and lambs, and buck goats.Che ho da far io della moltitudine delle vostre vittime, dice il Signore? Io ne son pieno. Io non amo gli olocausti degli arieti, e il grasso de' pingui bovi, e il sangue de' vitelli, e degli agnelli, e de' capri.To what purpose do you offer me the multitude of your victimes, saith our Lord? I am ful the holocaust oframmes, and the fatte of fatlings, and the bloud of calues, and lambes, and buck goates I haue not desired.Quo mihi multitudinem victimarum vestrarum ? / dicit Dominus. / Plenus sum: / holocausta arietum, / et adipem pinguium, / et sanguinem vitulorum et agnorum et hircorum, / nolui. 12When you came to appear before me, who required these things at your hands, that you should walk in my courts?Quando voi vi presentate al cospetto mio, chi ha domandate tal cose dalle vostre mani per farvi spasseggiare pe' miei cortili?When you should haue come before my sight, who sought for these thinges at your handes, that you should walke in my courtes?Cum veniretis ante conspectum meum, / quis quæsivit hæc de manibus vestris, / ut ambularetis in atriis meis ? 13Offer sacrifice no more in vain: incense is an abomination to me. The new moons, and the sabbaths and other festivals I will not abide, your assemblies are wicked.Non offerite più sagrifizio inutilmente: ho in abbominazione l'incenso. Non posso patire il Novilunio, e il sabato, e le altre feste. Sono iniquità le vostre adunanze.Offer sacrifice no more in vaine: incense is abomination to me. The Newe moone, and the Sabbath, and other sestiuities I wil not abide, your assemblies are wicked.Ne offeratis ultra sacrificium frustra: / incensum abominatio est mihi. / Neomeniam et sabbatum, et festivitates alias, non feram; / iniqui sunt cœtus vestri. 14My soul hateth your new moons, and your solemnities: they are become troublesome to me, I am weary of bearing them.Le vostre calende, e le vostre solennità sono odiose all'anima mia: mi son diventate moleste, sono stanco di sopportarle.My soule hateth your Calendes, and your solemnities: they are become tedious to me, I haue laboured in susteyning.Calendas vestras, et solemnitates vestras odivit anima mea: / facta sunt mihi molesta; laboravi sustinens. 15And when you stretch forth your hands, I will turn away my eyes from you: and when you multiply prayer, I will not hear: for your hands are full of blood.E allorché stenderete le vostre mani, rivolgerò gli occhi da voi; e allorché moltiplicherete le preghiere, non darò retta; imperocché le mani vostre son piene di sangue.And when you shal streach forth your hands, I wil turne away mine eies from you: & when you shal multiplie prayer, I wil not heare: for your handes are ful of bloud.Et cum extenderitis manus vestras, avertam oculos meos a vobis, / et cum multiplicaveritis orationem, non exaudiam: / manus enim vestræ sanguine plenæ sunt.
16Wash yourselves, be clean, take away the evil of your devices from my eyes, cease to do perversely,Lavatevi, mondatevi, togliete da gli occhi miei la malvagità de' vostri pensieri, ponete fine al mal fare,Wash you, be cleane, take away the euil of your cogitations from mine eies: cease to doe peruersely.Lavamini, mundi estote; / auferte malum cogitationum vestrarum / ab oculis meis: / quiescite agere perverse, 17Learn to do well: seek judgment, relieve the oppressed, judge for the fatherless, defend the widow.Imparate a fare del bene; cercate quello, che è giusto, soccorrete l'oppresso, proteggete il pupillo, difendete la vedova.Lerne to doe good: seeke iudgement, succour the oppressed, iudge for the pupil, defend the widow.discite benefacere; / quærite judicium, subvenite oppresso, / judicate pupillo, defendite viduam. 18And then come, and accuse me, saith the Lord: if your sins be as scarlet, they shall be made as white as snow: and if they be red as crimson, they shall be white as wool.E venite, e doletevi di me, dice il Signore: se saranno i peccati vostri come cocciniglia, saran fatti bianchi come la neve; e se saran rossi come il baco della cocciniglia, saran fatti del colore di bianca lana.And come, and accuse me, sayth our Lord: if your sinnes shal be as scarlet, they shal be made white as snow: and if they be red as vermelon, they shal be white as wooll.Et venite, et arguite me, dicit Dominus. / Si fuerint peccata vestra ut coccinum, / quasi nix dealbabuntur; / et si fuerint rubra quasi vermiculus, / velut lana alba erunt. 19If you be willing, and will hearken to me, you shall eat the good things of the land.Se vorrete, e mi ascolterete, sarete nudriti de' frutti della terra.If you be willing, and wil heare me, you shal eate the good thinges of the earth.Si volueritis, et audieritis me, / bona terræ comeditis. 20But if you will not, and will provoke me to wrath: the sword shall devour you because the mouth of the Lord hath spoken it.Che se non vorrete, e provocherete il mio sdegno, la spada vi consumerà; imperocché la bocca del Signore ha parlato così:But if you wil not, and wil prouoke me to wrath: the sword shal deuoure you, because the mouth of our Lord hath spoken.Quod si nolueritis, et me ad iracundiam provocaveritis, / gladius devorabit vos, / quia os Domini locutum est. 21How is the faithful city, that was full of judgment, become a harlot? justice dwelt in it, but now murderers.Come mai la città fedele piena di equità è diventata una adultera? Ella fu già sede di giustizia, ora poi di omicidi.How is the faythful citie, ful of iudgement, become an harlot? iustice hath dwelled in it, but now mankillers.Quomodo facta est meretrix / civitas fidelis, plena judicii ? / justitia habitavit in ea, / nunc autem homicidæ.
22Thy silver is turned into dross: thy wine is mingled with water.Il tuo argento si è cangiato in iscoria: il tuo vino è stato mescolato coll'acqua.Thy siluer is turned into drosse: thy wine is mingled with water.Argentum tuum versum est in scoriam; / vinum tuum mistum est aqua. 23Thy princes are faithless, companions of thieves: they all love bribes, they run after rewards. They judge not for the fatherless: and the widow’s cause cometh not in to them.I tuoi magnati infedeli fanno a mezzo co' ladri; tutti quanti amano i regali, van dietro al guadagno: non rendon ragione al pupillo, e la causa della vedova non trova accesso presso di loro.Thy princes are vnfaithful, companions of theues: al loue giftes, folow rewardes. They iudge not for the pupil: and the widowes cause goeth not in to them.Principes tui infideles, / socii furum. / Omnes diligunt munera, / sequuntur retributiones. / Pupillo non judicant, / et causa viduæ non ingreditur ad illos. 24Therefore saith the Lord the God of hosts, the mighty one of Israel: Ah! I will comfort myself over my adversaries: and I will be revenged of my enemies.Per questo dice il Signore Dio degli eserciti il (Dio) forte d'Israele: Ahi; che io prenderò satisfazione de' miei avversarj, e farò vendetta de' miei nemici.For this cause sayth our Lord the God of hostes the mightie one of Israel: Alas, I wil comfort myselfe vpon mine aduersaries: and wil be reuenged of mine enemies.Propter hoc ait Dominus, / Deus exercituum, Fortis Israël: / Heu ! consolabor super hostibus meis, / et vindicabor de inimicis meis. 25And I will turn my hand to thee, and I will clean purge away thy dross, and I will take away all thy tin.E stenderò sopra di te la mia mano, e purificherò la tua alchimia, e toglierò da te il tuo stagno.And I wil turne mine hand to thee, and I wil boyle out thy drosse til it be pure, & wil take away al thy tinne.Et convertam manum meam ad te, / et excoquam ad puram scoriam tuam, / et auferam omne stannum tuum. 26And I will restore thy judges as they were before, and thy counsellors as of old. After this thou shalt be called the city of the just, a faithful city.E renderò i tuoi giudici quali eran prima, e i tuoi consiglieri come in antico, dopo di ciò sarai chiamata città del giusto, città fedele.And I wil restore thy iudges as they haue beene before, and thy counselers as of old. After these thinges thou shalt be called the iust, a faithful citie.Et restituam judices tuos ut fuerunt prius, / et consiliarios tuos sicut antiquitus; / post hæc vocaberis civitas justi, / urbs fidelis. 27Sion shall be redeemed in judgment, and they shall bring her back in justice.Sionne sarà redenta in giudizio, e rimessa in libertà per giustizia:Sion shal be redemed in iudgement, and they shal bring her backe in iustice.Sion in judicio redimetur, / et reducent eam in justita.
28And he shall destroy the wicked, and the sinners together: and they that have forsaken the Lord, shall be consumed.Ma (Dio) distruggerà insieme gli scellerati, e i peccatori, e coloro, che hanno abbandonato il Signore saranno consunti.And he shal destroy the wicked, and the sinners together: and they that haue forsaken our Lord, shal be consumed.Et conteret scelestos, et peccatores simul; / et qui dereliquerunt Dominum consumentur. 29For they shall be confounded for the idols, to which they have sacrificed: and you shall be ashamed of the gardens which you have chosen.Imperocché saranno la lor confusione gl'idoli, a' quali sagrificarono, e vi vergognerete degli orti amati da voi,For they shal be confounded for the idols, to which they haue sacrificed: and you shal be ashamed of the gardens, which you chose.Confundentur enim ab idolis quibus sacrificaverunt, / et erubescetis super hortis quos elegeratis, 30When you shall be as an oak with the leaves falling off, and as a garden without water.Allorché sarete qual quercia cadute le foglie, e come orto senz'acqua.When you shal be as an oke the leaues falling of, and as a garden without water.cum fueritis velut quercus defluentibus foliis, / et velut hortus absque aqua. 31And your strength shall be as the ashes of tow, and your work as a spark: and both shall burn together, and there shall be none to quench it.E la vostra fortezza sarà quasi stoppa, che va in faville, e le opere vostre quasi scintilla; e l'una, e l'altre aiuteranno nel fuoco, cui nissuno estinguerà.And your strength shal be, as the isles of to we, and your worke as a sparke: and both shal be set on fire together, and there shal be none to quench it.Et erit fortitudo vestra ut favilla stuppæ, / et opus vestrum quasi scintilla, / et succendetur utrumque simul, / et non erit qui extinguat.
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Amos. His name is written in a different manner, in Hebrew, from that of the third among the minor prophets, (Worthington) though St. Augustine has confounded them.
Ezechias. He wrote this title towards the end of his life, or it was added by Esdras, etc.
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Earth. He apostrophises these insensible things, (Calmet) because they contain all others, and are the most durable. (Theodoret) (Deuteronomy 31:1.)
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Calmet
Sad. This was spoken after Ozias had given way to pride, when the Ammonites, etc., began to disturb Juda, (4 Kings 15:37., and 2 Paralipomenon 27:7.) under Joathan, who was a good prince, but young. (Calmet)
Calmet
Enemies. At the last siege, (St. Jerome) or rather when Jerusalem was taken by the Chaldeans. (Calmet)
Worthington
Many, from the highest to the lowest, had prevaricated: but God always preserved his Church. (Worthington)
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Cucumbers. Or melons, which grew in the fields, and huts were erected for guards, till they were gathered.
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1:11
Theodoret
Victims. Without piety, they are useless. God tolerated bloody victims to withdraw the people from idolatry, but he often shewed that they were not of much importance, in order that they might be brought to offer the sacrifice of the new law, which eminently includes all the rest. (St. Jerome) (Psalm 49:9., Amos 5:21., and Jeremias 6:20.) (Theodoret)
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Haydock
Bearing. Hebrew, etc., "pardoning," (Calmet) or "bearing." Septuagint, "I will no longer pardon your sins." (Haydock)
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Calmet
Wash. Interiorly. (Calmet)
Theodoret
He seems to allude to baptism. (Eusebius) (Theodoret)
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Accuse me. If I punish you without cause.
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Calmet
Water. There is no sincerity in commerce. (Calmet)
St. Jerome
Teachers give false interpretations of the law. (St. Jerome)
Worthington
Iniquity abounded before the destruction of Jerusalem by the Chaldeans and Romans. (Worthington)
1:24
Menochius
Ah! God punishes with regret. (Menochius)
Comfort. I will take complete vengeance under Joathan, (4 Kings 15:37.) Achaz, etc.
1:25
Calmet
Tin. I will reform abuses in the reign of Ezechias, but much more by establishing the Church of Christ, which shall be the faithful city. (Calmet)
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Worthington
Judges. The Jews explain this of the judges, and priests, who governed after the captivity; though it refer rather to the apostles, etc. (St. Jerome) (Worthington)
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Haydock
Idols. Protestants, "oaks, which ye have desired, and ye shall be confounded for the gardens," etc. (Haydock)
1:31
Calmet
It. The efforts of Achan and Ezechias against the enemy proved in vain. (Calmet)
1:1
Not A••s the third of the lesse prophetes, for this name is written in other letters in Hebrew: but one of the royal bloud as S. Ierom. testifieth.
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Prince, Priest, and people are al sicke of ingratitude against God & other iniquities.
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Ierusalem defaced and destroyed.
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God continually preserueth some holie seede, that his Church neuer faileth.
Concordance Rom. 9.
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Much wickednes reigned in Ierusalem before their captiuitie in Babylon: but much more at Christs passion, when they persecuted him euen to the Crosse: and his disciples, and al christians, til their citie was taken by the Romanes and the whole nation dispersed.
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The Rabbins vnderstand those Iudges and Priestes that gouerned the people after their deliuerie from captiuitie: but S. Ierom expoundeth this and the like places of the Apostles, and their successors.
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St John Chrysostom † AD 407 Homilies on First Thessalonians 8
The Prophets indeed, wishing to show the credibility of the things said by them, before all other things say this, “The vision which Isaiah saw” (
St Augustine of Hippo † AD 430 City of God 18.27
… Isaiah the son of Amos—either the above-named prophet, or, as is rather affirmed, another who was not a prophet, but was called by the same name—also puts at the head of his book these four kings named by Hosea, saying by way of preface that he prophesied in their days.
1:2
St Barnabas † AD 61 The Epistle of Barnabas 9
… By hearing let him hear the voice of my servant.” And again He saith, “Hear, O heaven, and give ear, O earth, for God hath spoken.”
St Irenaeus of Lyons † AD 202 Against Heresies 4.2.1
… and hear, O earth, the words of my mouth.” Again, David saying that his help came from the Lord, asserts: “My help is from the Lord , who made heaven and earth.” And Esaias confesses that words were uttered by God, who made heaven and earth, and governs them. He says: “Hear, O heavens; and give ear, O earth: for the Lord hath spoken.”
St Irenaeus of Lyons † AD 202 Against Heresies 4.41.2
… those only are so who believe in Him and do His will. And those who do not believe, and do not obey His will, are sons and angels of the devil, because they do the works of the devil. And that such is the case He has declared in Isaiah: “I have begotten and brought up children, but they have rebelled against Me.”
Tertullian † AD 220 An Answer to the Jews 3
… and, deserted and subverted by strange peoples, the daughter of Zion shall be derelict, like a shed in a vineyard, and like a watchhouse in a cucumber-field, and as it were a city which is being stormed.” Why so? Because the subsequent discourse of the prophet reproaches them, saying, “Sons have I begotten and upraised, but they have reprobated me;”
Tertullian † AD 220 An Answer to the Jews 9
… And elsewhere it says, through a prophet, to the people of Israel, “Thy father (was) an Amorite, and thy mother an Hittite;” of whose race they were not begotten, but (were called their sons) by reason of their consimilarity in impiety, whom of old (God) had called His own sons through Isaiah the prophet: “I have generated and exalted sons.”
Tertullian † AD 220 The Five Books Against Marcion 3.6
… Similarly it is said elsewhere: “Who is blind, but my servant? or deaf, but he who ruleth over them?” Also when He upbraids them by the same Isaiah: “I have nourished and brought up children, and they have rebelled against me. The ox knoweth his owner, and the ass his master’s crib: but Israel doth not know; my people doth not consider.”
Tertullian † AD 220 The Five Books Against Marcion 3.13
… Thus He calls the chief men of the Jews “rulers of Sodom,” and the nation itself “people of Gomorrah.” And in another passage He also says: “Thy father was an Amorite, and thy mother an Hittite,” by reason of their kindred iniquity; although He had actually called them His sons: “I have nourished and brought up children .”
Tertullian † AD 220 The Five Books Against Marcion 3.24
… up into the clouds to meet the Lord (even the Son of man, who shall come in the clouds, according to Daniel ) and so shall we ever be with the Lord, so long as He remains both on the earth and in heaven, who, against such as are thankless for both one promise and the other, calls the elements themselves to witness: “Hear, O heaven, and give ear, O earth.”
Tertullian † AD 220 The Five Books Against Marcion 5.9
… Nor, again, would God have said, “I have begotten Thee,” except to His true Son. For although He says of all the people (Israel), “I have begotten children,”
Tertullian † AD 220 On Prayer 2
… Happy they who recognize their Father! This is the reproach that is brought against Israel, to which the Spirit attests heaven and earth, saying, “I have begotten sons, and they have not recognized me.”
Tertullian † AD 220 On Modesty 8
… So, too, it will be no speech of the Father to the Jew: “Thou art always with Me, and all Mine are thine.” For the Jews are pronounced “apostate sons, begotten indeed and raised on high, but who have not understood the Lord, and who have quite forsaken the Lord , and have provoked unto anger the Holy One of Israel.”
St Cyprian of Carthage † AD 258 On Jealousy and Envy 15
… What a palm of righteousness is it, what a crown to be such a one as that the Lord should not say of you, “I have begotten and brought up children, but they have despised me!”
St Cyprian of Carthage † AD 258 Three Books of Testimonies Against the Jews 1.4
… I have begotten and brought up children, but they have rejected me. The ox knoweth his owner, and the ass his master’s crib: but Israel hath not known me, and my people hath not perceived me. Ah sinful nation, a people filled with sins, a wicked seed, corrupting children: ye have forsaken the Lord, and have sent that Holy One of Israel into anger.”
St Alexander of Alexandria † AD 326 Epistles on the Arian Heresy and the Deposition of Arius 1.3
3. We, therefore, say these wicked men, can also be the sons of God even as He. For it is written, “I have nourished and brought up children.”
St Alexander of Alexandria † AD 326 Epistles on the Arian Heresy and the Deposition of Arius 1.8
… And it is mutable as the Scripture recognises: “For when the sons of God saw the daughters of men, they took them wives,” etc. And in another place: “I have nourished and brought up children, but they have rebelled against Me,”
Aphrahat † AD 346 Aphrahat: Select Demonstrations 17.4
… I will slay thy son, thy firstborn . And also through the Prophet He testified concerning this, and reproved them and said to the people, Out of Egypt have I called My son. As I called them, so they went and worshipped Baal and offered incense to the graven images. And Isaiah said
St Hilary of Poitiers † AD 367 De Trinitate or On the Trinity 6.23
… What means this evidence, not of titles, but of pronouns? Titles may be appended to names at will; pronouns are a sure indication of the persons to whom they refer. And here we have, in This and My , the clearest of indications. Mark the true meaning and the purpose of the words. You have read, I have begotten sons, and have raised them up
St Hilary of Poitiers † AD 367 De Trinitate or On the Trinity 12.13
… Moreover, we have not been born, but made; not begotten, but purchased. For God purchased a people for Himself, and by this act begot them. But we never learn that God begot sons in the strict sense of the term. For He does not say, “I have begotten and brought up My sons,” but only, I have begotten and brought up sons
St Athanasius of Alexandria † AD 373 De Decretis. (Defence of the Nicene Definition.) 3
10. For if He were called God’s Son, and we the Son’s sons, their fiction were plausible; but if we too are said to be sons of that God, of whom He is Son, then we too partake the Father , who says, ‘I have begotten and exalted children
St Athanasius of Alexandria † AD 373 Against the Arians. (Orationes contra Arianos IV.) 1.11
… but the so called sons from virtue and grace, have but in place of nature a grace by acquisition, and are something else besides the gift itself; as the men who have received the Spirit by participation, concerning whom Scripture saith, ‘I begat and exalted children, and they rebelled against Me
St Athanasius of Alexandria † AD 373 Against the Arians. (Orationes contra Arianos IV.) 4.15
… But if because of the Word the Man is called Son, it follows necessarily, since the ancients are called sons even before the Incarnation, that the Word is Son even before His sojourn among us; for ‘I begat sons,’ saith Scripture; and in the time of Noah, ‘When the sons of God saw,’ and in the Song, ‘Is not He thy Father
St Athanasius of Alexandria † AD 373 Festal and Personal Letters of Athanasius 10
… For thus in the Psalms was it before declared, saying, ‘The strange children have acted falsely by Me.’ And by Isaiah the prophet; ‘I have begotten and brought up children, and they have rejected Me.
St Basil the Great † AD 379 De Spiritu Sancto 13
… call to the heavens above and to earth, that he may judge his people.” And so Moses when about to deliver his oracles to the people says, “I call heaven and earth to witness this day;” and again in his song he says, “Give ear, O ye heavens, and I will speak, and hear, O earth, the words of my mouth;” and Isaiah, “Hear, O heavens, and give ear, O earth;”
St John Chrysostom † AD 407 The Homilies of St. John Chrysostom on Paul's Epistle to the Romans 5
… and we have not only not received the embassy, but have even insulted those that came. But not even for this did He spew us out of His mouth, but like those slighted lovers that be very earnest, He went round beseeching all, the heaven, the earth, Jeremiah, Micah, and that not that He might weigh us down, but that He might speak in behalf of His own ways (
St John Chrysostom † AD 407 The Homilies of St. John Chrysostom on Paul's Epistle to the Romans 14
… lxxxii. 6 ); and again, “I have nourished and brought up children” (
St John Chrysostom † AD 407 Homilies on Colossians 6
… Thus too the Prophets do. They always first point out the benefits, and then they magnify their accusation; as Esaias saith, “I have begotten children, and exalted them, but they have rejected me” (
St John Chrysostom † AD 407 The Homilies of St. John Chrysostom on the Epistle to the Hebrews 5
“For a testimony of those things which shall be spoken.” What meanest thou? Doth God receive the witness of man? Yes, certainly. For if He call to witness heaven and earth and hills (saying by the prophet, “Hear, O heaven, and give ear, O earth, for the Lord hath spoken”—
St John Chrysostom † AD 407 The Homilies of St. John Chrysostom on the Epistle to the Hebrews 23
… there is no man to convert [you]: all means have been used by us in vain, and we seem to you as idle talkers. It is seasonable even now to call on the heaven, because there is no man that heareth; to take to witness the elements: “Hear, O heaven! and give ear, O earth! for the Lord hath spoken.” (
St Augustine of Hippo † AD 430 A Treatise Against Two Letters of the Pelagians 4.31
… For, expounding Isaiah the Prophet in reference to what is written, “I have begotten and brought up children, and they have despised me,”
St Augustine of Hippo † AD 430 Our Lord’s Sermon on the Mount 2.4
… for the prophets often show that this same Lord of ours might have been their Father also, if they had not strayed from His commandments: as, for instance, we have that statement, “I have nourished and brought up children, and they have rebelled against me;”
St Augustine of Hippo † AD 430 Expositions on the Book of Psalms 82.1
… but ye shall die like men, and fall like one of the princes.” In the synagogue of these children of the Most High, of whom the same Most High said by the mouth of Isaiah, “I have begotten sons and brought them up, but they despised Me,”
Socrates Scholasticus † AD 440 The Ecclesiastical History of Socrates Scholasticus 2.37
… But perhaps the holy prophets’ record of time afforded them a precedent for [noticing] the consulate! Now even if they should presume to make this pretext, they would most glaringly expose their own ignorance. The prophecies of these holy men do indeed mark the times. Isaiah and Hosea lived in the days of Uzziah, Joatham, Ahaz, and Hezekiah;
Theodoret of Cyrus † AD 458 The Ecclesiastical History of Theodoret 1.3
… ‘We are also able,’ say these accursed wretches, ‘to become like Him, the sons of God; for it is written,— I have nourished and brought up children
Theodoret of Cyrus † AD 458 The Ecclesiastical History of Theodoret 1.5
… For of men it is said, ‘ I have begotten and brought up sons, and they have rebelled against me
Theodoret of Cyrus † AD 458 The Ecclesiastical History of Theodoret 4.19
The whole city groaned, and is lamenting to this day. Some men beating on their breast with one hand after another raised a mighty noise; others lifted up at once their hands and eyes to heaven in testimony of the wrong inflicted on them, and so saying in all but words, “Hear, O heavens, and give ear, O earth,”
Theodoret of Cyrus † AD 458 Letters of the Blessed Theodoret, Bishop of Cyprus 147
… and the God of all Himself said to this Prophet “Thou shalt say unto Pharaoh, Israel is my son even my first-born.” In the great song he says “Rejoice O ye nations with His people and let all the sons of God be strong in Him;” and by the mouth of the prophet Isaiah He says “I have nourished and brought up sons (children) and they have rebelled against me;”
Pope St Leo I the Great † AD 461 Sermons 26
… “I have begotten and raised up sons, but they have scorned Me: the ox knoweth his owner and the ass his master’s crib: but Israel hath not known Me and My people hath not acknowledged Me
1:3
St Justin Martyr † AD 165 The First Apology 37
… “The ox knoweth his owner, and the ass his master’s crib; but Israel doth not know, and My people hath not understood. Woe, sinful nation, a people full of sins, a wicked seed, children that are transgressors, ye have forsaken the Lord.”
St Justin Martyr † AD 165 The First Apology 63
And all the Jews even now teach that the nameless God spake to Moses; whence the Spirit of prophecy, accusing them by Isaiah the prophet mentioned above, said “The ox knoweth his owner, and the ass his master’s crib; but Israel doth not know Me, and My people do not understand.”
St Irenaeus of Lyons † AD 202 Against Heresies 1.19
… Their object in this is to show that our Lord announced another Father than the Maker of this universe, whom, as we said before, they impiously declare to have been the fruit of a defect. For instance, when the prophet Isaiah says, “But Israel hath not known Me, and My people have not understood Me,”
Tertullian † AD 220 The Five Books Against Marcion 3.23
… the daughter of Sion has been deserted like a cottage in a vineyard, or a lodge in a garden of cucumbers,” ever since the time when “Israel acknowledged not the Lord, and the people understood Him not, but forsook Him, and provoked the Holy One of Israel unto anger.”
Tertullian † AD 220 The Five Books Against Marcion 4.25
… And other heretics, too, prop themselves up by this passage; alleging in opposition to it that the Creator was known to all, both to Israel by familiar intercourse, and to the Gentiles by nature. Well, how is it He Himself testifies that He was not known to Israel? “But Israel doth not know me, and my people doth not consider me;”
Tertullian † AD 220 The Five Books Against Marcion 5.14
… and in this way did they maintain their own righteousness in opposition to Him. But so does the Creator Himself testify to their ignorance concerning Him: “Israel hath not known me; my people have not understood me;”
Tertullian † AD 220 On Patience 4
… understanding that they have been provided and delivered for our uses by the Lord. Shall, then, creatures which God makes subject to us be better than we in the discipline of obedience?
St Cyprian of Carthage † AD 258 On the Lord's Prayer 10
… but they have despised me. The ox knoweth his owner, and the ass his master’s crib; but Israel hath not known me, and my people hath not understood me. Ah sinful nation, a people laden with sins, a wicked seed, corrupt children! Ye have forsaken the Lord; ye have provoked the Holy One of Israel to anger.”
St Ephrem the Syrian † AD 373 Ephraim Syrus: The Pearl. Seven Hymns on the Faith 4.2
With the swallow and the crow did He put men to shame; with the ox, yea with the ass,
St Basil the Great † AD 379 The Hexæmeron 8.1
… Aquatic animals, on the contrary, are not only dumb; it is impossible to tame them, to teach them, to train them for man’s society. “The ox knoweth his owner, and the ass his master’s crib.”
St Basil the Great † AD 379 The Letters 235.3
… Why are the “foolish Galatians” reproached by Paul in the words, “After that ye have known God, or rather are known of God, how turn ye again to the weak and beggarly elements?” How was God known in Jewry? Was it because in Jewry it was known what His essence is? “The ox,” it is said, “knoweth his owner.”
St Gregory of Nazianzus † AD 389 Select Orations of Saint Gregory Nazianzen 38
… if thou be one of those who are pure and lawful food, and who chew the cud of the word and are fit for sacrifice. Or if thou art one of those who are as yet unclean and uneatable and unfit for sacrifice, and of the gentile portion, run with the Star, and bear thy Gifts with the Magi, gold and frankincense and myrrh,
St Ambrose of Milan † AD 397 Selections from the Letters of St. Ambrose 63.24
… “We found it in the wooded plains.” He does not say, My portion consists of herds of horses, for “a horse is a vain thing for safety.” He does not say, My portion consists of herds of oxen, asses, or sheep; except perchance he reckons himself amongst those which know their Owner, and wishes to company with the ass which does not shun the crib
St John Chrysostom † AD 407 The Homilies on the Statues to the People of Antioch 12.6
… “Behold the fowls of the air, for they sow not, neither do they reap, nor gather into barns; yet your heavenly Father feedeth them.” The prophet also, to shame the ungrateful Jews, thus speaks; “The ox knoweth his owner, and the ass his master’s crib; but Israel doth not know me.”
St John Chrysostom † AD 407 The Homilies of St. John Chrysostom 43
… and here, “There shall no sign be given it, but the sign of Jonas the prophet:” declaring both that He should die and “the ox that knoweth his owner, and the ass that remembereth his crib.”
St John Chrysostom † AD 407 The Homilies of St. John Chrysostom on the Gospel of St. John 50
… He doth not contradict, (away with the thought,) but is very consistent with Himself. For He speaketh of a different kind of knowledge, when He saith, “ye know not”; as when He saith, “The sons of Eli were wicked sons, they knew not the Lord” ( 1 Sam. ii. 12 ); and again, “Israel doth not know Me.” (
St John Chrysostom † AD 407 The Homilies of St. John Chrysostom on the Gospel of St. John 80
… For how could He be unwilling, who prayed that this might come to pass, and called the action “glory,” not only for Himself the Crucified, but also for the Father? since this was the case, for not the Son only, but the Father also was glorified. For before the Crucifixion, not even the Jews knew Him; “Israel,” it saith, “hath not known Me” (
St Jerome † AD 420 The Letters of St. Jerome 108.10
… Here, when she looked upon the inn made sacred by the virgin and the stall where the ox knew his owner and the ass his master’s crib,
St Augustine of Hippo † AD 430 Reply to Faustus the Manichæan 13.11
… The prophecies of the unbelief of the Jews no one can avoid seeing, no one can pretend to be blind to them. No one can doubt that Isaiah spoke of the Jews when he said, "The ox knoweth his owner, and the ass his master’s crib; but Israel hath not known, and my people hath not considered;"
St Augustine of Hippo † AD 430 Lectures or Tractates on the Gospel According to St. John 10.7
… “Deliver mine only one from the power of the dog?” They who say always, “The Lord be magnified.” Those oxen, then, magnified the Lord, not themselves. See this ox magnifying his Lord, because “the ox knoweth his owner;”
St Augustine of Hippo † AD 430 Expositions on the Book of Psalms 78.2
… or must it be figuratively understood, in the sense that the same Synagogue, that is, the same people, hath understood, unto whom is said, “Hearken, My people, unto My law”? Why is it then that He is rebuking the same people by the mouth of the Prophet, saying, “But Israel hath not known Me, and My people hath not understood”?
John Cassian † AD 435 The Seven Books of John Cassian on the Incarnation of the Lord, Against Nestorius 4.13
“ Thou art then,” he says, “our God, and we knew Thee not, O God of Israel the Saviour.” Who do you imagine chiefly say this; and in whose mouths are such words specially suitable, Jews or Gentiles? If you say Jews: certainly the Jews did not know Christ, as it is said, “But Israel hath not known Me, My people have not considered;”
Pseudo-Clement The Clementine Homilies 18.18
“From the circumstance that Isaiah said, in the person of God,
1:4
Tertullian † AD 220 An Answer to the Jews 3
… and if ye shall have multiplied prayers, I will not hear you: for your hands are full of blood;” and again, “Woe! sinful nation; a people full of sins; wicked sons; ye have quite forsaken God, and have provoked unto indignation the Holy One of Israel.”
Tertullian † AD 220 The Five Books Against Marcion 3.6
… “Ye have forsaken the Lord, and have provoked the Holy One of Israel to anger.”
Origen † AD 254 Origen Against Celsus 2.76
… And does not the following resemble the threats of which he speaks: “Ah sinful nation, a people laden with iniquity, a seed of evildoers, children that are corrupters?”
St Athanasius of Alexandria † AD 373 Festal and Personal Letters of Athanasius 51
… the perversity of their ways, as we find it written in the thirteenth Psalm, ‘The fool said in his heart there is no God;’ and presently follows, ‘Corrupt are they and become abominable in their works .’ Hence the Jews who denied the Son of God, deserved to be called ‘a sinful nation, a people laden with iniquity, a seed of evil doers, children without law
St John Chrysostom † AD 407 Homilies on Second Corinthians 2
… and the inward ears as yet they have not: wherefore also he next invoketh for them a Prophet’s gift, for the Prophet spoke on this wise; “God giveth me the tongue of instruction, that I should know how to speak a word in season; for He opened my mouth; He gave to me betimes in the morning; He granted me a hearing ear.” (
1:5
St Gregory of Nazianzus † AD 389 Select Orations of Saint Gregory Nazianzen 16.16
… For whenever I hear Isaiah threaten the people of Sodom and rulers of Gomorrah, and say Why will ye be smitten any more, adding sin to sin?
St John Chrysostom † AD 407 The Homilies on the Statues to the People of Antioch 6.14
… as on the other hand, it is the greatest honour and repose to live virtuously, though we may be punished. For sins separate us from God; as He Himself speaks; “Have not your sins separated between you and Me?” But punishments lead us back to God. As one saith, “Give peace; for Thou hast recompensed us for all things.”
1:6
St Athanasius of Alexandria † AD 373 Persecution in Egypt 1
One might say much more against this detestable and antichristian heresy, and might demonstrate by many arguments that the practices of Constantius are a prelude to the coming of Antichrist. But seeing that, as the Prophet
St Cyril of Jerusalem † AD 386 The Catechetical Lectures of S. Cyril 12.7
7. Very great was the wound of man’s nature; from the feet to the head there was no soundness in it; none could apply mollifying ointment, neither oil, nor bandages
St Gregory of Nazianzus † AD 389 Select Orations of Saint Gregory Nazianzen 1
… and you who exercised it, if you had cause to blame my tardiness; for perhaps this tardiness may be more precious in God’s sight than the haste of others. For it is a good thing even to hold back from God for a little while, as did the great Moses of old, and Jeremiah later on; and then to run readily to Him when He calls, as did Aaron and Isaiah,
St Gregory of Nazianzus † AD 389 Select Orations of Saint Gregory Nazianzen 16.16
… It is impossible, he says, to find any blow to add to those which are past, because of your newly added sins; so completely have you run through the whole, and exhausted every form of chastisement, ever calling upon yourselves some new one by your wickedness. There is not a wound, nor bruise, nor putrefying sore;
St Ambrose of Milan † AD 397 On the Duties of the Clergy 1.3
… Let them be rather confined, and held back within their own banks. An overflowing river quickly gathers mud. Bind up also thy meaning; let it not be left slack and unchecked, lest it be said of thee: “There is no healing balsam, nor oil, nor bandage to apply.”
St Ambrose of Milan † AD 397 Selections from the Letters of St. Ambrose 41.19
… for they had nothing to pour in, since if they had had oil they would have poured it into their own wounds. But Isaiah declares: “They cannot apply ointment nor oil nor bandage.”
John Cassian † AD 435 The Conferences of John Cassian 7.31
… From the sole of the foot unto the top of the head there is no soundness therein: wounds and bruises and swelling sores: they are not bound up nor dressed nor fermented with oil.”
1:7
St Justin Martyr † AD 165 The First Apology 47
… And concerning its desolation, and that no one should be permitted to inhabit it, there was the following prophecy by Isaiah: “Their land is desolate, their enemies consume it before them, and none of them shall dwell therein.”
Tertullian † AD 220 An Answer to the Jews 3
… your cities utterly burnt with fire; your country, in your sight, strangers shall eat up; and, deserted and subverted by strange peoples, the daughter of Zion shall be derelict, like a shed in a vineyard, and like a watchhouse in a cucumber-field, and as it were a city which is being stormed.”
Tertullian † AD 220 An Answer to the Jews 13
… “Your land is desert, your cities burnt up by fire,”—that is, (he is foretelling) what will have happened to them in time of war “your region strangers shall eat up in your sight, and it shall be desert and subverted by alien peoples.”
Tertullian † AD 220 The Five Books Against Marcion 3.23
… neither in the interval from Tiberius to Vespasian did they learn repentance. Therefore “has their land become desolate, their cities are burnt with fire, their country strangers are devouring before their own eyes; the daughter of Sion has been deserted like a cottage in a vineyard, or a lodge in a garden of cucumbers,”
St Hippolytus † AD 235 Treatise on Christ and Antichrist 30
… For thou didst speak boldly and openly: “Your country is desolate, your cities are burned with fire; your land, strangers devour it in your presence, and it is desolate as overthrown by many strangers. The daughter of Sion shall be left as a cottage in a vineyard, and as a lodge in a garden of cucumbers, as a besieged city.”
St Hippolytus † AD 235 A discourse by the most blessed Hippolytus, bishop and martyr, on the end of the world, and on Antichrist, and on the second coming of our lord Jesus Christ 3
… What, then, does he say? “Your country is desolate, your cities are burned with fire: your land, strangers devour it in your presence: the daughter of Zion shall be left as a cottage in a vineyard, and as a lodge in a garden of cucumbers, as a besieged city.”
Origen † AD 254 Origen Against Celsus 2.76
… For is it not a threatening, and a great one, which declares, “Your country is desolate, your cities are burned with fire: your land, strangers devour it in your presence, and it is desolate, as overthrown by strangers?”
Origen † AD 254 Origen's Commentary on the Gospel of John 10.18
… For in that region, too, it was possible for the prophecy to be fulfilled which says,
St Cyprian of Carthage † AD 258 Three Books of Testimonies Against the Jews 1.7
… and the daughter of Zion shall be left deserted, and overthrown by foreign peoples, as a cottage in a vineyard, and as a keeper’s lodge in a garden of cucumbers, as a city which is besieged. And unless the Lord of Sabaoth had left us a seed, we should have been as Sodoma, and we should have been like unto Gomorrah.”
St John Chrysostom † AD 407 The Homilies of St. John Chrysostom on the Gospel of St. John 70
[3.] Be we then also clean; learn we to do well. But what is “well”? “Judge for the fatherless, plead for the widow; and come, let us reason together, saith the Lord.” (
1:8
St Irenaeus of Lyons † AD 202 Against Heresies 4.4.2
… Well spake he, who said that the unmeasurable Father was Himself subjected to measure in the Son; for the Son is the measure of the Father, since He also comprehends Him. But that the administration of them (the Jews) was temporary, Esaias says: “And the daughter of Zion shall be left as a cottage in a vineyard, and as a lodge in a garden of cucumbers.”
Tertullian † AD 220 The Five Books Against Marcion 4.25
… Well, how is it He Himself testifies that He was not known to Israel? “But Israel doth not know me, and my people doth not consider me;” nor to the Gentiles: “For, behold,” says He, “of the nations I have no man.” Therefore He reckoned them “as the drop of a bucket,” while “Sion He left as a look-out in a vineyard.”
Tertullian † AD 220 The Five Books Against Marcion 4.31
… and I will move them to jealousy with those which are not a people: I will provoke them to anger with a foolish nation” —even with us, whose hope the Jews still entertain. But this hope the Lord says they should not realize; “Sion being left as a cottage in a vineyard, as a lodge in a garden of cucumbers,”
Tertullian † AD 220 The Five Books Against Marcion 4.42
… And it shall come to pass in that day, saith the Lord, that the sun shall go down at noon and the earth shall be dark in the clear day.” (At noon) the veil of the temple was rent” by the escape of the cherubim, which “left the daughter of Sion as a cottage in a vineyard, as a lodge in a garden of cucumbers.”
St Hippolytus † AD 235 A discourse by the most blessed Hippolytus, bishop and martyr, on the end of the world, and on Antichrist, and on the second coming of our lord Jesus Christ 34
And the churches, too, will wail with a mighty lamentation, because neither “oblation nor in cense” is attended to, nor a service acceptable to God; but the sanctuaries of the churches will become like a garden-watcher’s hut,
Origen † AD 254 Origen's Commentary on Matthew 14.19
… Wherefore, when He was avenged, Jerusalem was compassed with armies, and its desolation was near, and their house was taken away from it, and “the daughter of Zion was left as a booth in a vineyard, and as a lodge in a garden of cucumbers, and as a besieged city.”
St Cyril of Jerusalem † AD 386 The Catechetical Lectures of S. Cyril 16.18
… The city was still standing, and beautified with public places, and robed in majesty; yet he says, Zion shall be ploughed as a field , foretelling what is now fulfilled in our days . And observe the exactness of the prophecy; for he said, And the daughter of Zion shall be left as a booth in a vineyard, as a lodge in a garden of cucumbers
Socrates Scholasticus † AD 440 The Ecclesiastical History of Socrates Scholasticus 1.17
Helena, the emperor’s mother (from whose name having made Drepanum, once a village, a city, the emperor called it Helenopolis), being divinely directed by dreams went to Jerusalem. Finding that which was once Jerusalem, desolate ‘as a Preserve for autumnal fruits,’
1:9
St Justin Martyr † AD 165 The First Apology 53
… He spoke as from their person: “Except the Lord had left us a seed, we should have been as Sodom and Gomorrah.”
St Justin Martyr † AD 165 Dialogue with Trypho 140
… For if so, Isaiah would never have said this: ‘And unless the Lord of Sabaoth had left us a seed, we would have been like Sodom and Gomorrah.’
St Gregory of Nazianzus † AD 389 Select Orations of Saint Gregory Nazianzen 21.7
… For she, like Ishmael, fainting from her thirst for the truth, needed to be given to drink, or, like Elijah, to be refreshed from the brook, when the land was parched by drought; and, when but faintly breathing, to be restored to life and left as a seed to Israel,
St Gregory of Nazianzus † AD 389 Select Orations of Saint Gregory Nazianzen 21.24
… For with very few exceptions, and these either men who from their insignificance were disregarded, or from their virtue manfully resisted, being left unto Israel,
St John Chrysostom † AD 407 The Homilies of St. John Chrysostom on Paul's Epistle to the Romans 16
Ver 29 . “And as Esaias said before, Except the Lord of Sabaoth had left us a seed, we had been as Sodoma, and had been made like unto Gomorrha.” (
St Jerome † AD 420 Against Jovinianus 1.26
… If, then, we allow that they were not virgins (and, with the exception of Peter, the point cannot be proved), yet I must tell him that it is to the Apostles that the words of Isaiah relate:
St Augustine of Hippo † AD 430 Sermons on Selected Lessons of the New Testament 50.4
… for that there should be any “remnant” in thee, the grace of God hath brought to pass, not thine own deserts. For the Prophet Isaiah again having this remnant in view, had said already, “Except the Lord of Hosts had left us a seed, we should have become as Sodom, and should have been like unto Gomorrah.”
Theodoret of Cyrus † AD 458 Letters of the Blessed Theodoret, Bishop of Cyprus 182
… Well may we quote those words of the prophet “Except the Lord of hosts had left unto us a very small remnant we should have been as Sodom and we should have been like unto Gomorrah.”
1:10
St Barnabas † AD 61 The Epistle of Barnabas 9
… By hearing let him hear the voice of my servant.” And again He saith, “Hear, O heaven, and give ear, O earth, for God hath spoken.” These are in proof. And again He saith, “Hear the word of the Lord, ye rulers of this people.”
St Irenaeus of Lyons † AD 202 Against Heresies 4.41.3
… Wherefore the prophet David says, “Man, being placed in honour, is made like unto cattle.” And again Jeremiah says, “They are become like horses, furious about females; each one neighed after his neighbour’s wife.” And Isaiah, when preaching in Judea, and reasoning with Israel, termed them “rulers of Sodom” and “people of Gomorrah;”
Tertullian † AD 220 An Answer to the Jews 9
… for she had at that time revolted from God under King Jeroboam. For this, again, is no novelty to the Divine Scriptures, figuratively to use a transference of name grounded on parallelism of crimes . For it calls your rulers “rulers of Sodom,” and your people the “people of Gomorrha,”
Tertullian † AD 220 The Five Books Against Marcion 3.13
… Nor is this an unusual manner for the Creator, (in His Scriptures ) figuratively to employ names of places as a metaphor derived from the analogy of their sins. Thus He calls the chief men of the Jews “rulers of Sodom,” and the nation itself “people of Gomorrah.”
Tertullian † AD 220 The Five Books Against Marcion 4.27
… When, again, He upbraids those who caught at the uppermost places and the honour of public salutations, He only follows out the Creator’s course, who calls ambitious persons of this character “rulers of Sodom,”
Tertullian † AD 220 Five Books in Reply to Marcion 4
With swarm of sin? Does He, the truthful, bid,
Origen † AD 254 A Letter from Origen to Africanus 1
… and they please not God, and are contrary to all men.” What I have said is, I think, sufficient to prove that it would be nothing wonderful if this history were true, and the licentious and cruel attack was actually made on Susanna by those who were at that time elders, and written down by the wisdom of the Spirit, but removed by these rulers of Sodom,
Aphrahat † AD 346 Aphrahat: Select Demonstrations 21.3
… For their vine is of the vine of Sodom, and of the planting of Gomorrha. Their grapes are bitter and their clusters gall unto them. And Isaiah also calls them rulers of Sodom, and people of Gomorrha .
St Athanasius of Alexandria † AD 373 Defence of His Flight. (Apologia de Fuga.) 2
… but being wicked-minded, they grudged the disciples the way of salvation, and desired that their own private notions should have the sole pre-eminence. They however have received the reward of their iniquity, having ceased to be an holy nation, and being counted henceforth as the rulers of Sodom, and as the people of Gomorrah
St Ephrem the Syrian † AD 373 Ephraim Syrus: Nineteen Hymns on the Nativity of Christ in the Flesh 4
Let every man chase away his weariness, since that Majesty was not wearied with being in the womb nine months for us, and in being thirty years in Sodom among the madmen.
St Cyril of Jerusalem † AD 386 The Catechetical Lectures of S. Cyril 2.14
… but having by experience learned the power of the man before him, he says, Entreat the face of the Lord thy God ; and because of this saying his hand was restored again. If the Prophet healed Jeroboam, is Christ not able to heal and deliver thee from thy sins? Manasses also was utterly wicked, who sawed Isaiah asunder
St Gregory of Nazianzus † AD 389 Select Orations of Saint Gregory Nazianzen 16.16
… Nahum the Elkoshite was afraid before me, when he proclaimed the burden of Nineveh, God is jealous, and the Lord takes vengeance in wrath upon His adversaries, and uses such abundance of severity that no room is left for further vengeance upon the wicked. For whenever I hear Isaiah threaten the people of Sodom and rulers of Gomorrah,
St John Chrysostom † AD 407 The Homilies of St. John Chrysostom 11
… Since then they were priding themselves on their forefathers, and this was like to prove the cause of their destruction, and was casting them into a state of carelessness, he cuts away the roots of their pride. For this cause Isaiah also calls them, “rulers of Sodom,” and “people of Gomorrah;”
St John Chrysostom † AD 407 The Homilies of St. John Chrysostom 55
… but when He saith, “Which was for to come,” He calls John, Elias, with regard to the manner of his administration. Yea, and so the prophets used to call every one of their approved kings, David; and the Jews, “rulers of Sodom,”
St John Chrysostom † AD 407 Homilies on First Corinthians 8
Shouldest thou then have gone all lengths in wickedness, yet say unto thyself, God is loving unto men and he desires our salvation: for “though your sins be as scarlet, I will whiten you as snow,” (
St John Chrysostom † AD 407 The Homilies of St. John Chrysostom on the Gospel of St. John 52
… For ye also believed not God, as Paul saith; “What if some did not believe? shall their unbelief make the faith of God of none effect? God forbid.” ( Rom. iii. 3, 4 .) For the Prophets ever rebuked them, saying, “Hear, ye rulers of Sodom”; and, “Thy rulers are disobedient” (
1:11
St Barnabas † AD 61 The Epistle of Barnabas 2
… I am full of burnt-offerings, and desire not the fat of lambs, and the blood of bulls and goats, not when ye come to appear before Me: for who hath required these things at your hands? Tread no more My courts, not though ye bring with you fine flour. Incense is a vain abomination unto Me, and your new moons and sabbaths I cannot endure.”
St Irenaeus of Lyons † AD 202 Against Heresies 4.17.1
… but He exhorts and advises them to those things by which man is justified and draws nigh to God. This same declaration does Esaias make: “To what purpose is the multitude of your sacrifices unto Me? saith the Lord. I am full.”
Tertullian † AD 220 An Answer to the Jews 5
… And thus, as carnal sacrifices are understood to be reprobated—of which Isaiah withal speaks, saying, “To what end is the multitude of your sacrifices to me? saith the Lord”
Tertullian † AD 220 The Five Books Against Marcion 2.18
… As for the burdensome sacrifices also, and the troublesome scrupulousness of their ceremonies and oblations, no one should blame them, as if God specially required them for Himself: for He plainly asks, “To what purpose is the multitude of your sacrifices unto me?” and, “Who hath required them at your hand?”
Tertullian † AD 220 The Five Books Against Marcion 2.22
… We have spoken of the rational institution of the sacrifices, as calling off their homage from idols to God; and if He afterwards rejected this homage, saying, “To what purpose is the multitude of your sacrifices unto me?”
Tertullian † AD 220 On Prayer 28
For this is the spiritual victim which has abolished the pristine sacrifices. “To what purpose,” saith He, “(bring ye) me the multitude of your sacrifices? I am full of holocausts of rams, and I desire not the fat of rams, and the blood of bulls and of goats. For who hath required these from your hands?”
St Cyprian of Carthage † AD 258 Three Books of Testimonies Against the Jews 1.17
In Isaiah: “For what purpose to me is the multitude of your sacrifices? saith the Lord: I am full; I will not have the burnt sacrifices of rams, and fat of lambs, and blood of bulls and goats. For who hath required these things from your hands?”
St Athanasius of Alexandria † AD 373 Against the Arians. (Orationes contra Arianos IV.) 2.17
… and weakness, in that He could not make by Himself, but needed a fellow-worker, or under-worker; and that, though it has been already shewn that created nature admits of being made by God alone, since they consider the Son to be of such a nature and so made. But God is deficient in nothing: perish the thought! for He has said Himself, ‘I am full
St Athanasius of Alexandria † AD 373 Festal and Personal Letters of Athanasius 19
… and although ye bring fine flour, it is vanity, incense also is an abomination unto Me .’ For God does not need anything ; and, since nothing is unclean to Him, He is full in regard to them, as He testifies, by Isaiah, saying, ‘I am full
St Gregory of Nazianzus † AD 389 Select Orations of Saint Gregory Nazianzen 28
… especially envy of that which is the most honourable of all His creatures. For what does the Word prefer to the rational and speaking creatures? Why, even their very existence is a proof of His supreme goodness. Nor yet is this incomprehensibility for the sake of His own glory and honour, Who is full,
St John Chrysostom † AD 407 A Commentary on the Acts of the Apostles 17
… But they not only knew Him not: they also insulted in another way, by their idol making. “Then God turned, and gave them up to worship the host of heaven” ( v. 42 .) Hence these same “customs” date their origin, hence the sacrifices: they were themselves the first that made sacrifices to their idols! For that is why it is marked,
St Augustine of Hippo † AD 430 Expositions on the Book of Psalms 16.4
… “Afterwards they made haste.” Accordingly after infirmities multiplied they made haste, that they might be healed. “I will not gather together their assemblies by blood.” For their assemblies shall not be carnal, nor will I gather them together as one propitiated by the blood of cattle.
1:12
St Athanasius of Alexandria † AD 373 Festal and Personal Letters of Athanasius 19
… and, further, as they had hypocritically made a pretence of the plain text of Scripture, and had confidence in this, He is angry with them, saying by Isaiah, ‘Who hath required these of your hands
St Gregory of Nazianzus † AD 389 Select Orations of Saint Gregory Nazianzen 42.8
… For this kind of glory depends upon purpose, not upon affluence. These things be well assured, I will accept at your hands.
St John Chrysostom † AD 407 The Homilies of St. John Chrysostom on Paul's Epistle to the Romans 20
… Since He saith, “Who hath required this at your hands?” (
St John Chrysostom † AD 407 The Homilies of St. John Chrysostom on the Epistle to the Hebrews 18
[2.] And why dost thou wonder that it is not the will of God now, when it was not His will even from the beginning? For “who,” saith He, “hath required this at your hands?” (
1:13
St Barnabas † AD 61 The Epistle of Barnabas 15
… Then we shall be able to sanctify it, having been first sanctified ourselves. Further, He says to them, “Your new moons and your Sabbaths I cannot endure.”
Tertullian † AD 220 An Answer to the Jews 4
… And through this arises the question for us, what sabbath God willed us to keep? For the Scriptures point to a sabbath eternal and a sabbath temporal. For Isaiah the prophet says, “ Your sabbaths my soul hateth;”
Tertullian † AD 220 The Five Books Against Marcion 1.20
… thus by Hosea: “I will also cause all her mirth to cease, her feast-days, her new moons, and her Sabbaths, and all her solemn feasts.” So likewise by Isaiah: “The new moons, and Sabbaths, the calling of assemblies, I cannot away with; your holy days, and fasts, and feast-days, my soul hateth.”
Tertullian † AD 220 The Five Books Against Marcion 4.12
… For that was really God’s work, which He commanded Himself, and which He had ordered for the sake of the lives of His servants when exposed to the perils of war. Now, although He has in a certain place expressed an aversion of Sabbaths, by calling them your Sabbaths ,
Tertullian † AD 220 The Five Books Against Marcion 5.4
… your fasting, and feasts, and ceremonies my soul hateth;”
Origen † AD 254 Origen De Principiis 2.8.1
… But with regard to God, we find it written as follows: “And I will put My soul upon that soul which has eaten blood, and I will root him out from among his people;” and also in another passage, “Your new moons, and sabbaths, and great days, I will not accept; your fasts, and holidays, and festal days, My soul hateth.”
Origen † AD 254 Origen's Commentary on the Gospel of John 10.11
… that in the law we never find it said, “Your passover;” but in all the passages quoted the phrase occurs once without any adjunct, while we have three times “The passover of the Lord.” To make sure that there is such a distinction between the passover of the Lord and the passover of the Jews, we may consider the way in which Isaiah speaks of the matter:
Theodoret of Cyrus † AD 458 Dialogues. The “Eranistes” or “Polymorphus” of the Blessed Theodoretus, Bishop of Cyrus 2
Orth. —You have quoted this testimony most appositely and properly, but your opponent might reply that even before the incarnation God said to the Jews, “Fasting and holy day and feasts my soul hateth.”
1:14
St Justin Martyr † AD 165 The First Apology 37
… your hands are full of blood; and if ye bring fine flour, incense, it is abomination unto Me: the fat of lambs and the blood of bulls I do not desire. For who hath required this at your hands? But loose every bond of wickedness, tear asunder the tight knots of violent contracts, cover the houseless and naked, deal thy bread to the hungry.”
St Irenaeus of Lyons † AD 202 Fragments from the Lost Writings of Irenaeus, XXXVIII 1
… whence these schisms? We keep the feast, but in the leaven of malice and wickedness, cutting in pieces the Church of God; and we preserve what belongs to its exterior, that we may cast away these better things, faith and love. We have heard from the prophetic words that these feasts and fasts are displeasing to the Lord.
Tertullian † AD 220 On Idolatry 14
… fellow-possessors of the world, not of error. But if we have no right of communion in matters of this kind with strangers, how far more wicked to celebrate them among brethren! Who can maintain or defend this? The Holy Spirit upbraids the Jews with their holy-days. “Your Sabbaths, and new moons, and ceremonies,” says He, “My soul hateth.”
Tertullian † AD 220 The Five Books Against Marcion 4.12
… But even if, as being not the Christ of the Jews, He displayed a hatred against the Jews’ most solemn day, He was only professedly following the Creator, as being His Christ, in this very hatred of the Sabbath; for He exclaims by the mouth of Isaiah: “Your new moons and your Sabbaths my soul hateth.”
St Hilary of Poitiers † AD 367 De Trinitate or On the Trinity 10.58
58. But, further, no one who is endued with reason can impute to God a soul; though it is written in many places that the soul of God hates sabbaths and new moons: and also that it delights in certain things
St Athanasius of Alexandria † AD 373 Festal and Personal Letters of Athanasius 6
… It was not the Passover of the Lord, but that of the Jews . The Passover was named after the Jews, my brethren, because they denied the Lord of the Passover. On this account, the Lord, turning away His face from such a doctrine of theirs, saith, ‘Your new moons and your sabbaths My soul hateth
St Athanasius of Alexandria † AD 373 Festal and Personal Letters of Athanasius 19
… But the feast of the heathen He reproves, as the bread of mourners, and He turns His face from that of the Jews, as being outcasts, saying, ‘Your new moons and your sabbaths My soul hateth
St Gregory of Nazianzus † AD 389 Select Orations of Saint Gregory Nazianzen 3
… How is it that, now you have got it, you thus despise what you so greatly desired to obtain, and seem to be better able to desire the absent than to enjoy the present; as though you preferred to possess my teaching rather than to profit by it? Yes, I may even say this to you: “I became a surfeit unto you before you tasted of me, or gave me a trial”
St John Chrysostom † AD 407 Two Homilies on Eutropius 2.7
… How is God jealous? “I am jealous over you with the jealousy of God.” Is God wroth? “O Lord reproach me not in thine indignation.” Doth God slumber? “Awake, wherefore sleepest thou, O Lord?” Doth God repent? “I repent that I have made man.” Doth God hate? “My soul hateth your feasts and your new moons.”
1:15
Tertullian † AD 220 An Answer to the Jews 3
… Because the subsequent discourse of the prophet reproaches them, saying, “Sons have I begotten and upraised, but they have reprobated me;” and again, “And if ye shall have outstretched hands, I will avert my face from you; and if ye shall have multiplied prayers, I will not hear you: for your hands are full of blood;”
Tertullian † AD 220 On Prayer 14
… His hands , at all events, are ever unclean, eternally dyed with the blood of the prophets, and of the Lord Himself; and on that account, as being hereditary culprits from their privity to their fathers’ crimes, they do not dare even to raise them unto the Lord, for fear some Isaiah should cry out,
St Cyprian of Carthage † AD 258 Three Books of Testimonies Against the Jews 1.25
… and although your sins be as scarlet, I will whiten them as snow; and although they were as crimson, I will whiten them as wool. And if ye be willing and listen to me, ye shall eat of the good of the land; but if ye be unwilling, and will not hear me, the sword shall consume you; for the mouth of the Lord hath spoken these things.”
St John Chrysostom † AD 407 The Homilies of St. John Chrysostom 51
… how then durst thou in such sort draw nigh to God? Since in truth the tongue is the hand of them that pray, and by it we lay hold on the knees of God. Defile it not therefore, lest to thee also He say, “Though ye make many prayers, I will not hearken.”
St John Chrysostom † AD 407 The Homilies of St. John Chrysostom 65
… as also He Himself declared when He said, “Fill ye up the measure of your fathers.” For from the first the prophets used to charge them with these things, saying, “Your hands are full of blood;”
St John Chrysostom † AD 407 Homilies on 2 Timothy 1
… What punishment then dost thou not deserve? For the being heard depends not upon the lifting up of thy hands, nor on the multitude of thy words, but upon thy works. For hear the prophet, “When ye” spread “forth your hands, I will hide mine eyes from you: yea, when ye make many prayers, I will not hear.” (
St John Chrysostom † AD 407 The Homilies of St. John Chrysostom on the Gospel of St. John 66
… They set their hand therefore to kill him, and thought they were not daring anything, so murderous were they. On this account the Law at its commencement opens with this, “Thou shalt not kill” ( Ex. xx. 13 ); and the Prophet brings this charge against them, “Their hands are full of blood.” (
St Jerome † AD 420 Against Jovinianus 1.30
… O my dove, thou art in the clefts of the rock, in the covert of the steep place. Let me see thy countenance, let me hear thy voice; for sweet is thy voice, and thy countenance is comely.” Whilst thou coveredst thy countenance like Moses and the veil of the law remained, I neither saw thy face, nor did I condescend to hear thy voice. I said,
1:16
Pope St Clement I † AD 99 The First Epistle of Clement to the Corinthians 8
… He declares, Though your sins be like crimson, I will make them white as snow; though they be like scarlet, I will whiten them like wool. And if ye be willing and obey Me, ye shall eat the good of the land; but if ye refuse, and will not hearken unto Me, the sword shall devour you, for the mouth of the Lord hath spoken these things.”
St Justin Martyr † AD 165 The First Apology 44
… and come and let us reason together, saith the Lord: And if your sins be as scarlet, I will make them white as wool; and if they be red like as crimson, I will make them white as snow. And if ye be willing and obey Me, ye shall eat the good of the land; but if ye do not obey Me, the sword shall devour you: for the mouth of the Lord hath spoken it.”
St Justin Martyr † AD 165 The First Apology 61
… learn to do well; judge the fatherless, and plead for the widow: and come and let us reason together, saith the Lord. And though your sins be as scarlet, I will make them white like wool; and though they be as crimson, I will make them white as snow. But if ye refuse and rebel, the sword shall devour you: for the mouth of the Lord hath spoken it.”
St Irenaeus of Lyons † AD 202 Against Heresies 4.41.3
… And inasmuch as they were not by nature so created by God, but had power also to act rightly, the same person said to them, giving them good counsel, “Wash ye, make you clean; take away iniquity from your souls before mine eyes; cease from your iniquities.”
Tertullian † AD 220 The Five Books Against Marcion 2.19
… To help forward this beneficent, not onerous, purpose of the law, the prophets were also ordained by the self-same goodness of God, teaching precepts worthy of God, how that men should “cease to do evil, learn to do well, seek judgment, judge the fatherless, and plead for the widow:”
St Hippolytus † AD 235 The Discourse on the Holy Theophany 10
… And come and let us reason together, saith the Lord. Though your sins be as scarlet, I shall make them white as snow; and though they be like crimson, I shall make them white as wool. And if ye be willing, and hear my voice, ye shall eat the good of the land.”
St Cyril of Jerusalem † AD 386 The Catechetical Lectures of S. Cyril 1.0
Wash you, make you clean; put away your iniquities from your souls, from before mine eyes , and the rest
St Cyril of Jerusalem † AD 386 The Catechetical Lectures of S. Cyril 1.1
… Ye that are clothed with the rough garment of your offences, who are holden with the cords of your own sins , hear the voice of the Prophet saying, Wash you, make you clean, put away your iniquities from before Mine eyes
St Gregory of Nyssa † AD 395 The Great Catechism 40
… It is evident that when those evil features which mark our nature have been obliterated a change to a better state takes place. If, then, by being “washed,” as says the Prophet
St Gregory of Nyssa † AD 395 On the Baptism of Christ 1
… These then are indications in deed and act of regeneration by Baptism. Let us for the rest consider the prophecies of it in words and language. Isaiah cried saying, “Wash you, make you clean, put away evil from your souls
St John Chrysostom † AD 407 Homilies on First Thessalonians 4
For other things also know how to pollute the soul, and no less. For that wickedness defiles the soul, hear the prophet, saying, “O Jerusalem, wash thine heart from wickedness.” ( Jer. iv. 14 .) And again, “Wash you, make you clean, put away the wickednesses from your souls.” (
St John Chrysostom † AD 407 Homilies on 2 Timothy 6
… Let the hands be clean; and they will be so, if we wash them not with water only, but first with righteousness. This is the purifier of the hands. But if they be full of unrighteousness, though they be washed a thousand times, it avails nothing. “Wash you, make you clean” (
St John Chrysostom † AD 407 Homilies on Titus 3
Moral . What then is unclean? Sin, malice, covetousness, wickedness. As it is written: “Wash you, make you clean, put away the evil of your doings.” (
St John Chrysostom † AD 407 The Homilies of St. John Chrysostom on the Gospel of St. John 70
… That thou mayest not deem them clean, as delivered from their sins, He addeth, Behold, “ye are clean through the word that I have spoken unto you.” That is, “In this way ye are so far clean; ye have received the light, ye have been freed from Jewish error. For the Prophet also saith, ‘Wash you, make you clean, put away the wickedness from your souls’ (
St John Chrysostom † AD 407 The Homilies of St. John Chrysostom on the Epistle to the Hebrews 8
… For see, I repeat the same statement expressed in other words. “Wash ye, make you clean, put away your wickedness from your souls before Mine eyes, learn to do well, seek out judgment. Keep thy tongue from evil, and do good: learn to do well.” (
St John Chrysostom † AD 407 The Homilies of St. John Chrysostom on the Epistle to the Hebrews 12
Let us become clean to the utmost of our power. Let us wipe away our sins. And how to wipe them away, the prophet teaches, saying, “Wash you, make you clean, put away your wickedness from your souls, before Mine eyes.” (
St Augustine of Hippo † AD 430 The Confessions 13.19
24. But first, “Wash you, make you clean;” put away iniquity from your souls, and from before mine eyes, that the dry land may appear. “Learn to do well; judge the fatherless; plead for the widow,”
St Augustine of Hippo † AD 430 Our Lord’s Sermon on the Mount 2.12
… For thus also he will wash his face, i.e. cleanse his heart, with which he shall see God, no veil being interposed on account of the infirmity contracted from squalor; but being firm and stedfast, inasmuch as he is pure and guileless. “Wash you,” says He, “make you clean; put away the evil of your doings from before mine eyes.”
St Augustine of Hippo † AD 430 Expositions on the Book of Psalms 104.45
45. “Let my discourse be pleasing to Him: my joy shall be in the Lord” ( ver. 34 ). What is the discourse of man unto God, save the confession of sins? Confess unto God what thou art, and thou hast discoursed with Him. Discourse unto Him, do good works, and discourse. “Wash you, make you clean,” saith Isaiah.
John Cassian † AD 435 The Conferences of John Cassian 7.4
… viz., those that sink down to carnal and earthly things. And if this was not in our power the Lord would not have rebuked the Pharisees, saying “Why do ye think evil in your hearts?” nor would He have given this charge by the prophet, saying: “Take away the evil of your thoughts from mine eyes;” and “How long shall wicked thoughts remain in you?”
Pope St Gregory I the Great † AD 604 The Book of Pastoral Rule 3.30
… because in withholding purity of life from his weeping he makes even his very tears filthy before the eyes of God . Hence again it is written, Repeat not a word in thy prayer ( Ecclus. vii. 14 ). For to repeat a word in prayer is, after bewailing, to commit what again requires bewailing. Hence it is said through Isaiah, Wash you, be ye clean (
1:17
St Irenaeus of Lyons † AD 202 Against Heresies 4.36.2
… Wash you, make you clean, put away evil from your hearts, learn to do well, seek judgment, protect the oppressed, judge the fatherless ( pupillo ), plead for the widow; and come, let us reason together, saith the Lord.”
Tertullian † AD 220 The Five Books Against Marcion 4.14
… “Do justice to the fatherless, and deal justly with the widow; and come, let us be reconciled, saith the Lord.”
Tertullian † AD 220 The Five Books Against Marcion 4.17
… Compassion also does He teach: “Be ye merciful,” says He, “as your Father also that had mercy upon you.” This injunction will be of a piece with, “Deal thy bread to the hungry; and if he be houseless, bring him into thine house; and if thou seest the naked, cover him;” also with, “Judge the fatherless, plead with the widow.”
Tertullian † AD 220 The Five Books Against Marcion 4.29
… Justly also does He upbraid them for “not even of themselves judging what is right.” Of old does He command by Zechariah, “Execute the judgment of truth and peace;” by Jeremiah, “Execute judgment and righteousness;” by Isaiah, “Judge the fatherless, plead for the widow,”
Tertullian † AD 220 To His Wife i.8
For, concerning the honours which widowhood enjoys in the sight of God, there is a brief summary in one saying of His through the prophet: “Do thou
St Cyprian of Carthage † AD 258 Three Books of Testimonies Against the Jews 3.114
… But if ye afflict them, and they cry out and call unto me, I will hear their cryings, and will be angry in mind against you; and I will destroy you with the sword, and your wives shall be widows, and your children orphans.” Also in Isaiah: “Judge for the fatherless, and justify the widow; and come let us reason, saith the Lord.”
St Gregory of Nazianzus † AD 389 Select Orations of Saint Gregory Nazianzen 39.5
XX. But let us venerate to-day the Baptism of Christ; and let us keep the feast well, not in pampering the belly, but rejoicing in spirit. And how shall we luxuriate? “Wash you, make you clean.”
St Ambrose of Milan † AD 397 Concerning Widows 2
… This is mentioned as the only cause which will mitigate the wrath of God against their sin, if they honour the widow, and execute true judgment for minors, for thus we read: “Judge the fatherless, deal justly with the widow, and come let us reason together, saith the Lord.”
St Ambrose of Milan † AD 397 Concerning Widows 9
… Say not, “I am alone.” Chastity seeks solitude: the modest seek privacy, the immodest company. But you have necessary business; you have also one to plead for you. You are afraid of your adversary; the Lord Himself will intervene with the judge and say: “Judge for the fatherless, and justify the widow.”
St John Chrysostom † AD 407 The Homilies of St. John Chrysostom on Paul's Epistle to the Romans 25
… Hear then what He hath enjoined: “If thou forgive thy neighbor, I also will forgive thee” ( ib. vi. 14 ), He says. What hardship is there in this? “If ye judge the cause of the fatherless, and see that the widow have right, come and let us converse together,” He saith, “and if your sins be as purple, I will make them white as snow.” (
St John Chrysostom † AD 407 Homilies on First Corinthians 23
… For, “Judge,” saith He, “the orphan, and plead for the widow, and come and let us reason together, saith the Lord. And if your sins be as scarlet, I will make them white as snow; and if they be as crimson, I will make them white as wool.” (
St John Chrysostom † AD 407 Homilies on Second Corinthians 4
… So did the widow propitiate the cruel and unyielding judge. And if she the unjust, much more thou the gentle. There is yet another way along with these, defending the oppressed; “for,” He saith, “judge the fatherless, and plead for the widow; and come, and let us reason together, and though your sins be as scarlet, I will make them white as snow.” (
St John Chrysostom † AD 407 Homilies on 1 Timothy 14
… There are many such often among us, though they are in secret. Nor let us despise them, because they go from house to house, or go into the forum, or stand forth in public. God hath even commanded such services, saying, “Judge the fatherless, plead for the widow.” (
St John Chrysostom † AD 407 Homilies on 2 Timothy 1
… yea, when ye make many prayers, I will not hear.” ( Isa. i. 15 .) For he ought to be silent, who needs mercy, and not even to look up to heaven; he that hath confidence may say much. But what says the Scripture, “Judge for the fatherless, plead for the widow, learn to do good.” (
St John Chrysostom † AD 407 The Homilies of St. John Chrysostom on the Epistle to the Hebrews 12
… “Learn to do well, seek judgment, do justice for the poor and lowly.” “Come now, and let us reason together, saith the Lord: and though your sins be as scarlet, I will make you white as snow, and if they be as crimson, I will make you white as wool.” (
1:18
Pope St Clement I † AD 99 The First Epistle of Clement to the Corinthians 8
… Say to the children of My people, Though your sins reach from earth to heaven, and though they be redder
Tertullian † AD 220 The Five Books Against Marcion 2.19
… To help forward this beneficent, not onerous, purpose of the law, the prophets were also ordained by the self-same goodness of God, teaching precepts worthy of God, how that men should “cease to do evil, learn to do well, seek judgment, judge the fatherless, and plead for the widow:” be fond of the divine expostulations:
Tertullian † AD 220 The Five Books Against Marcion 4.10
… “For,” he says, “He shall remit to many their sins, and shall Himself take away our sins.” For in an earlier passage, speaking in the person of the Lord himself, he had said: “Even though your sins be as scarlet, I will make them as white as snow; even though they be like crimson, I will whiten them as wool.”
Tertullian † AD 220 Scorpiace 12
… The uncleanness, indeed, is washed away by baptism, but the stains are changed into dazzling whiteness by martyrdom. For Esaias also promises, that out of red and scarlet there will come forth the whiteness of snow and wool.
St Basil the Great † AD 379 The Letters 46.6
… “Death in his might has swallowed up, but again the Lord hath wiped away tears from off all faces” of them that repent. The Lord is faithful in all His words. He does not lie when He says, “Though your sins be scarlet they shall be as white as snow. Though they be red like crimson they shall be as wool.”
St Cyril of Jerusalem † AD 386 The Catechetical Lectures of S. Cyril 15.21
… And the Father shall sit , having His garment white as snow, and the hair of His head like pure wool . But this is spoken after the manner of men; wherefore? Because He is the King of those who have not been defiled with sins; for , He says, I will make your sins white as snow, and as wool
St Ambrose of Milan † AD 397 Exposition of the Christian Faith 1.20
… Cleanse thoroughly, then, our ears, not with water of well, river, or rippling and purling brook, but with words cleansing like water, clearer than any water, and purer than any snow—even the words Thou hast spoken—“Though your sins be as scarlet, I will make them white as snow.”
St Ambrose of Milan † AD 397 On the Mysteries 7
… according to the Gospel, because Christ’s garments were white as snow, when in the Gospel He showed forth the glory of His Resurrection. He, then, whose guilt is remitted is made whiter than snow. So that God said by Isaiah: “Though your sins be as scarlet, I will make them white as snow.”
St John Chrysostom † AD 407 The Homilies of St. John Chrysostom on Paul's Epistle to the Romans 18
… Now to keep this from coming to pass, let such of us as have a pure soul keep it still such, or rather let us make its brightness more intense. And let those of us that have a soiled one, not despair. For “if” (he says) “your sins be as purple, I will make them white as snow. And if they be as scarlet, I will make them white as wool.” (
St John Chrysostom † AD 407 The Homilies of St. John Chrysostom on the Gospel of St. John 69
… But if thou put them about thy soul, thou shalt soon make it white instead of black, instead of ugly and unsightly, thou shalt make it beautiful and well-favored. The words are not mine, but those of the Lord Himself, who saith, “Though thy sins be as scarlet, I will make them white as snow” (
St Augustine of Hippo † AD 430 The Confessions 13.19
24. But first, “Wash you, make you clean;” put away iniquity from your souls, and from before mine eyes, that the dry land may appear. “Learn to do well; judge the fatherless; plead for the widow,” that the earth may bring forth the green herb for meat, and the tree bearing fruit; and come let us reason together, saith the Lord,
St Augustine of Hippo † AD 430 Reply to Faustus the Manichæan 12.42
… We see Him washing His garments in wine; for He is one with the glorious Church, which He presents to Himself, not having spot or wrinkle; to whom also it is said by Isaiah: "Though your sins be as scarlet, I will make them white as snow."
St Augustine of Hippo † AD 430 Reply to Faustus the Manichæan 22.52
… Again, the hope of the eternal contemplation of God, accompanied with a sure and delightful perception of truth, is Rachel. And on this account she is described as fair and well-formed. This is the beloved of every pious student, and for this he serves the grace of God, by which our sins, though like scarlet, are made white as snow.
St Augustine of Hippo † AD 430 A Treatise on Grace and Free Will 13
… On this account it is written concerning the Church herself in the book of Canticles: “Who is this that cometh up in white raiment, leaning upon her kinsman?” Made white is she who by herself alone could not be white. And by whom has she been made white except by Him who says by the prophet, “Though your sins be as purple, I will make them white as snow”?
St Augustine of Hippo † AD 430 Sermons on Selected Lessons of the New Testament 28.2
… What wonder if the Church is signified by white raiment, when you hear the Prophet Isaiah saying, “Though your sins be as scarlet, I will make them white as snow”?
St Augustine of Hippo † AD 430 Sermons on Selected Lessons of the New Testament 29
… “His face did shine as the sun:” this is a figure of the shining of the Gospel. “His raiment was white as the snow:” this is a figure of the purity of the Church, to which it was said by the Prophet, “Though your sins be as scarlet, I will make them white as snow.”
St Augustine of Hippo † AD 430 Expositions on the Book of Psalms 45.24
… Of her the sinner, the unrighteous, the ungodly, such as she was with her “father,” the devil, and among her own “people”? No, but hers of whom it is said, “Who is this that cometh up made white?” She was not white then at the first, but was “made” white afterwards. For “though your sins shall be as scarlet, I will make them white as snow.”
St Augustine of Hippo † AD 430 Expositions on the Book of Psalms 51.12
… he was breathing out slaughter, breathing out blood, his lung not yet cleansed. Hear also in this place one humbled, because with hyssop purged: “Thou shalt wash me,” that is, shalt cleanse me: “and above snow I shall be whitened.” “Although,” he saith, “your sins shall have been like scarlet, like snow I will whiten.”
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St Ignatius of Antioch † AD 108 Epistle to Hero, a Deacon of Antioch 1
… Bear [the burdens of] the weak, that “thou mayest fulfil the law of Christ.” Devote thyself to fasting and prayer, but not beyond measure, lest thou destroy thyself thereby. Do not altogether abstain from wine and flesh, for these things are not to be viewed with abhorrence, since [the Scripture] saith, “Ye shall eat the good things of the earth.”
Tertullian † AD 220 On the Resurrection of the Flesh 26
… “For they shall look on Him whom they pierced.” If indeed it will be thought that both these passages were pronounced simply of the element earth, how can it be consistent that it should shake and melt at the presence of the Lord, at whose royal dignity it before exulted? So again in Isaiah, “Ye shall eat the good of the land,”
Origen † AD 254 Origen De Principiis 3.1.6
… “I have placed before thy face the way of life and the way of death: choose what is good, and walk in it.” Isaiah, moreover, makes this declaration: “If you are willing, and hear me, ye shall eat the good of the land. But if you be unwilling, and will not hear me, the sword shall consume you; for the mouth of the Lord has spoken this.”
Origen † AD 254 Origen De Principiis 3.1-2.6
… “I have placed before thy face the way of life, and the way of death: choose what is good, and walk in it.” Isaiah too: “If you are willing, and hear me, ye shall eat the good of the land; but if ye be unwilling, and will not hear me, the sword will consume you: for the mouth of the Lord hath spoken it.”
Origen † AD 254 Origen Against Celsus 6.57
… “This persuasion cometh not of him that calleth you.” Such also is the view indicated by these words: “If ye be willing and obedient, ye shall eat the good of the land; but if ye refuse and rebel, a sword shall devour you.”
St Cyprian of Carthage † AD 258 Three Books of Testimonies Against the Jews 3.53
In Deuteronomy: “Lo, I have set before thy face life and death, good and evil. Choose for thyself life, that thou mayest live.” Also in Isaiah: “And if ye be willing, and hear me, ye shall eat the good of the land. But if ye be unwilling, and will not hear me, the sword shall consume you. For the mouth of the Lord hath spoken these things.”
St Cyril of Jerusalem † AD 386 The Catechetical Lectures of S. Cyril 4.19
… Listen not, I pray thee, to any one perversely interpreting the words, But if I do that which I would not : but remember Him who saith, If ye be willing, and hearken unto Me, ye shall eat the good things of the land: but if ye be not willing, neither hearken unto Me, the sword shall devour you, &c.
St John Chrysostom † AD 407 The Homilies of St. John Chrysostom on Paul's Epistle to the Romans 3
… And in this way the prophet puts the good first, saying, “If ye be willing and will obey me, ye shall eat the good of the land: but if ye be not willing and will not obey me, the sword shall devour you.” (
St John Chrysostom † AD 407 Homilies on First Corinthians 14
For we too have depending on us both sides of the alternative; both falling into hell, and obtaining the kingdom: since God hath so willed it. For, “behold,” saith he, “fire and water: whichever way thou wilt, thou mayest stretch forth thine hand” ( Ecclus. xv. 16 .) And, “If ye be willing, and will hearken unto me, ye shall eat the good of the land; (
St John Chrysostom † AD 407 Homilies on Ephesians 1
What again is “spiritual blessing in the heavenly places?” It is not upon earth, he means, as was the case with the Jews. “Ye shall eat the good of the land.” (
St John Chrysostom † AD 407 Homilies on First Thessalonians 5
… Many however of the rich toss themselves through a whole night, from their not waiting for the need of sleep, and then sleeping. And in short nothing is difficult, when men are willing; as nothing is easy, when they are unwilling; for we are masters of all these things. On this account the Scripture says, “If ye be willing and hear me.” (
St John Chrysostom † AD 407 The Homilies of St. John Chrysostom on the Gospel of St. John 1
… So that a man may change suddenly, and become gold instead of clay. For since what belongs to virtue and to vice is not by nature, the change is easy, as being independent of any necessity. “If ye be willing and obedient,” He saith, “ye shall eat the good of the land.” (
St Augustine of Hippo † AD 430 A Treatise Concerning Man’s Perfection in Righteousness 40
… Before man are good and evil, and life and death; poverty and honour are from the Lord God.’ So again in Isaiah we read: ‘If ye be willing, and hearken unto me, ye shall eat the good of the land; but if ye be not willing, and hearken not to me, the sword shall devour you: for the mouth of the Lord hath spoken this.’”
St Augustine of Hippo † AD 430 A Treatise Concerning Man’s Perfection in Righteousness 42
He, however, thought he had discovered a great support for his cause in the prophet Isaiah; because by him God said: “If ye be willing, and hearken unto me, ye shall eat the good of the land; but if ye be not willing, and hearken not to me, the sword shall devour you: for the mouth of the Lord hath spoken this.”
St Augustine of Hippo † AD 430 A Treatise Against Two Letters of the Pelagians 4.2
In the praise of free will they say, “that free will has not perished, since the Lord says by the prophets, ‘If ye be willing and will hear me, ye shall eat the good things of the land: if ye are unwilling, and will not hear, the sword shall devour you.’
St Augustine of Hippo † AD 430 A Treatise Against Two Letters of the Pelagians 4.12
Moreover, that, in opposition to the Manicheans, they praise free will, making use of the prophetic testimony, “If ye shall be willing and will hear me, ye shall eat what is good in the land; but if ye shall be unwilling and will not hear me, the sword shall consume you:”
St Augustine of Hippo † AD 430 A Treatise on Rebuke and Grace 40
… since here we have to beware so much of pride, that even so great an apostle was buffetted by a messenger of Satan, lest he should be lifted up. Hence it was said to the apostles, “If ye abide in me;” and this He said who knew for a certainty that they would abide; and through the prophet, “If ye shall be willing, and will hear me,”
John Cassian † AD 435 The Conferences of John Cassian 13.9
… But who can easily see how it is that the completion of our salvation is assigned to our own will, of which it is said: “If ye be willing, and hearken unto Me, ye shall eat the good things of the land,”
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St Melito of Sardis † AD 180 Melito, the Philosopher 9
The mouth of the Lord —His Son, or word addressed to men. In the prophet, “The mouth of the Lord hath spoken;”
Tertullian † AD 220 An Answer to the Jews 13
… “If ye shall have been unwilling, and shall not have been obedient, the glaive shall eat you up.”
Tertullian † AD 220 The Five Books Against Marcion 3.23
… has been deserted like a cottage in a vineyard, or a lodge in a garden of cucumbers,” ever since the time when “Israel acknowledged not the Lord, and the people understood Him not, but forsook Him, and provoked the Holy One of Israel unto anger.” So likewise that conditional threat of the sword, “If ye refuse and hear me not, the sword shall devour you,”
Origen † AD 254 Origen Against Celsus 6.62
Celsus, again, having perhaps misunderstood the words, “For the mouth of the Lord hath spoken it,”
Novatian † AD 258 A Treatise of Novatian Concerning the Trinity 6
… righteous;” or when it says, “The Lord God smelled the smell of a good savour;” or when there are given to Moses the tables “written with the finger of God;” or when the people of the children of Israel are set free from the land of Egypt “with a mighty hand and with a stretched out arm;” or when it says, “The mouth of the Lord hath spoken these things;”
St John Chrysostom † AD 407 Homilies on First Thessalonians 5
… And in short nothing is difficult, when men are willing; as nothing is easy, when they are unwilling; for we are masters of all these things. On this account the Scripture says, “If ye be willing and hear me.” ( Isa. i. 19 , Sept.) And again, “If ye be unwilling, and hear not.” (
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St Hippolytus † AD 235 Treatise on Christ and Antichrist 8
… For first he shot forth, and then he flourished in the world. And the expression, “he stooped down, he couched as a lion, and as a lion’s whelp,” refers to the three days’ sleep (death, couching) of Christ; as also Isaiah says, “How is faithful Sion become an harlot! it was full of judgment; in which righteousness lodged (couched); but now murderers.”
Origen † AD 254 Origen's Commentary on Matthew 12.4
… But you might say that the Word of God, leaving the synagogue of the Jews as adulterous, departed from it, and took a wife of fornication, namely, those from the Gentiles; since those who were “Sion, a faithful city,”
St Basil the Great † AD 379 The Letters 46.3
3. Who would not grieve over such things and say, “How is the faithful city become an harlot?”
St Jerome † AD 420 The Letters of St. Jerome 22.6
… and shall open her feet to every one that passeth by, and shall be polluted to the crown of her head. Better had it been for her to have submitted to the yoke of marriage, to have walked in level places, than thus, aspiring to loftier heights, to fall into the deep of hell. I pray you, let not Zion the faithful city become a harlot:
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St Irenaeus of Lyons † AD 202 Against Heresies 4.12.1
1. For the tradition of the elders themselves, which they pretended to observe from the law, was contrary to the law given by Moses. Wherefore also Esaias declares: “Thy dealers mix the wine with water,”
Tertullian † AD 220 A Treatise on the Soul 3
… This admonition about false philosophy he was induced to offer after he had been at Athens, had become acquainted with that loquacious city, and had there had a taste of its huckstering wiseacres and talkers. In like manner is the treatment of the soul according to the sophistical doctrines of men which “mix their wine with water.”
St Athanasius of Alexandria † AD 373 De Decretis. (Defence of the Nicene Definition.) 3
… and man in divine Scripture, yet the clear-sighted, as Paul enjoins, will study it, and thereby discriminate, and dispose of what is written according to the nature of each subject, and avoid any confusion of sense, so as neither to conceive of the things of God in a human way, nor to ascribe the things of man to God . For this were to mix wine with water
St Athanasius of Alexandria † AD 373 To the Bishops of Egypt 2
… (for since He is in essence like the Father, He cannot be a creature, but must be the Creator, as Himself hath said, ‘My Father worketh hitherto, and I work :’) so being made man, and bearing our flesh, He is necessarily said to be created and made, and that is proper to all flesh; however, these men, like Jewish vintners, who mix their wine with water
St Athanasius of Alexandria † AD 373 Against the Arians. (Orationes contra Arianos IV.) 2.22
… startled, so, if He, the True and Framing Wisdom, the Only-begotten Word of God, should use what belongs to His image as about Himself, namely, ‘The Lord created me for the works,’ let no one, overlooking the wisdom created in the world and in the works, think that ‘He created’ is said of the Substance of the Very Wisdom, lest, diluting the wine with water
St Athanasius of Alexandria † AD 373 Against the Arians. (Orationes contra Arianos IV.) 3.26
… But if a man looking at what is done divinely by the Word, deny the body, or looking at what is proper to the body, deny the Word’s presence in the flesh, or from what is human entertain low thoughts concerning the Word, such a one, as a Jewish vintner
St Gregory of Nazianzus † AD 389 Select Orations of Saint Gregory Nazianzen 2.46
46. And who is sufficient for these things? For we are not as the many, able to corrupt the word of truth, and mix the wine,
St John Chrysostom † AD 407 Homilies on Second Corinthians 5
… when one sells for money what he ought to give freely. For he seems to me to be here both taunting them in respect to money, and again hinting at the very thing I have said, as that they mingle their own things with God’s; which is the charge Isaiah brings when he said, “Thy vintners mingle wine with water:” (
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St Justin Martyr † AD 165 Dialogue with Trypho 82
… For no man can convict us of any of these [vices]. No more do we wish to live like the rulers of your people, whom God reproaches when He says, ‘Your rulers are companions of thieves, lovers of bribes, followers of the rewards.’
St Irenaeus of Lyons † AD 202 Against Heresies 4.2.7
… And therefore the scribes and Pharisees, too, who from the times of the law had begun to despise God, did not receive His Word, that is, they did not believe on Christ. Of these Esaias says: “Thy princes are rebellious, companions of thieves, loving gifts, following after rewards, not judging the fatherless, and negligent of the cause of the widows.”
St Gregory of Nazianzus † AD 389 Select Orations of Saint Gregory Nazianzen 2.56
… and further make themselves happy, and confuse the way of your feet, or mockers ruling over you, or children in authority, immature in mind, not even having bread and clothing enough to be rulers over any; or prophets teaching lies, or rebellious princes,
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John Cassian † AD 435 The Conferences of John Cassian 7.25
… “Like as silver and gold are tried in the furnace, so the Lord chooseth the hearts;” And again: “The fire tries gold and silver; but man is tried in the furnace of humiliation;” and this also: “For whom the Lord loveth He chasteneth, and scourgeth every son whom He receiveth.”
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St Hippolytus † AD 235 On Daniel 2.26
26. He added also these words: “And his arms and his feet like polished brass;” to denote the first calling of men, and the second calling like unto it, viz. of the Gentiles.
St Cyril of Jerusalem † AD 386 The Catechetical Lectures of S. Cyril 18.34
… And within a little while ye shall hear that excellent lesson which says, Shine, shine, O thou new Jerusalem; for thy light is come . Of this Jerusalem the prophet hath said, And afterwards thou shalt be called the city of righteousness, Zion, the faithful mother of cities
St John Chrysostom † AD 407 The Homilies of St. John Chrysostom 5
… How is it then that the prophet said, “Call his name Maher-shalal-hash-baz?” Because, when he was born, there was a taking and dividing of spoils, therefore the event that took place in his time is put as his name. And the city, too, it is said, shall be called “the city of righteousness, the faithful city Sion.”
St John Chrysostom † AD 407 Homilies on First Corinthians 41
And yet the one indeed is written, but the other not written. How then said he, “it is written?” He modified the expression according to the issue of events: as he is wont continually to do: and indeed as it is the way of every prophet. For so Jerusalem, the prophet said, should be “called a city of righteousness;” (
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St Justin Martyr † AD 165 Dialogue with Trypho 88
… but he cried to them, ‘I am not the Christ, but the voice of one crying; for He that is stronger than I shall come, whose shoes I am not worthy to bear.’
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St Jerome † AD 420 Against the Pelagians 1.28
… For you say it is written in the one hundred and fourth Psalm, “Let sinners cease to be in the earth, and the wicked be no more.” And in Isaiah,
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St John Chrysostom † AD 407 The Homilies on the Statues to the People of Antioch 2.3
… But behold now, this hive hath become solitary! For even as smoke does those bees, so fear hath driven away our swarms; and what the prophet says, bewailing Jerusalem, we may fitly say now, “Our city is become ‘like a terebinth that hath lost its leaves, and as a garden that hath no water.’”
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1. The vision of Isaiah the son of Amos which he saw concerning Judah and Jerusalem in the days of Ozias, etc. — This is the title of the book containing the name of the author himself, namely the Prophet, and the people to whom he prophesies, and the time in which he prophesied, namely under Ozias or Azarias, Joatham, Achaz and Ezechias, kings of Judah. Note first, "vision," that is, a sight or thing seen, namely a prophecy, which Isaiah saw not with the eyes of the body, but with the eyes of imagination, or rather of mind and intellect: where to see and to hear are often the same thing, namely to know a thing clearly. For although Isaiah sometimes saw certain symbols, as in chapter vi he saw God upon a throne with the Seraphim; yet commonly he only heard God speaking to him. Secondly, he says "vision" rather than prophecy, both to indicate the certainty of his prophecy; because, as St. Basil says, sight is the most certain of the senses; and also that we may know that Isaiah in this illumination from God saw not, as it were, a foreknowledge of a future thing, but as it were a clear inspection of a present thing: for in God's foreknowledge and prevision all things, even future things, are as it were present. Thus Cyril. St. Gregory relates, in book II of the Dialogues, chapter xxxv, concerning St. Benedict, that he was so elevated in mind to God in prayer, that he saw the whole world under him as it were a small globe gathered in the rays of the sun. To one asking how this could happen, he answers, and assigns the cause and manner, saying: "Because to one who sees God all creation is narrow," and the mind of St. Benedict, dilated in God, saw the world under him as it were a small globe. In a similar way our Prophets were so elevated in spirit to God, that they discerned even remote things as if placed before them, and therefore their prophecy is called Vision, and they themselves are called Seers, as the book of Addo the Seer, that is, the Prophet; and Saul to Samuel: "Where is the house of the Seer?" to whom Samuel: "I am a seer," that is, a Prophet, I Kings ix, 18. God communicated this prevision to the Prophets, but especially to Isaiah. For Isaiah proposes those things which he predicts so distinctly and clearly, that he who reads them might think he sees them present rather than hopes for them as future. Thus Thales, when asked, "how far does truth differ from falsehood?" answered: "As far as the eyes differ from the ears." The wise man perceived that those things are truly of undoubted faith which are discerned by the eyes of men, not which are heard by the ears. Thirdly, the Prophets often take these three things for the same thing, namely, "vision, word, burden," that is, for prophecy, concerning which see chapter xiii, 1. See Canon I. Fourthly, he says "vision," not mine, but of Isaiah: not so much for the sake of modesty as of history, namely that in following centuries it may be known that this is the book of Isaiah, not of another: for this reason writers prefix their name to the books which they publish. Son of Amos. — This Amos is different from Amos who is the third among the minor Prophets, as I said in the Proem. The Hebrews hold that both were Prophets; for they hand down this rule: whenever in the title of the Prophets the father of the Prophet, or grandfather, or great-grandfather is named, it signifies that each of them was a Prophet; but this rule appears doubtful and false to the learned, concerning which matter I shall treat elsewhere. Which he saw (that is, heard from God) concerning Judah and Jerusalem. — The Septuagint, which he saw against Judah and Jerusalem. For the Hebrew אל al means both "upon" and "against": here you may better translate "upon." For Isaiah announces not only adversities, but also joyful things to Judah. Under "Judah" understand also the tribe of Benjamin: for in the schism of the ten tribes under Jeroboam, this tribe adhered with Judah to Roboam, and to the house of David, that is to say, This book of Isaiah contains both prosperous and adverse things, which he in spirit foresaw in the days of Ozias, Joatham, Achaz and Ezechias, to befall the posterity of Judah and Benjamin, and especially the inhabitants of Jerusalem, partly under those very kings, partly after them. For "in the days of Ozias" is to be referred to "saw," as is evident: for although Isaiah, in chapter xiii and following, prophesies also against the Babylonians, Medes, Syrians, Egyptians, etc., yet he prophesies chiefly and most commonly to the Jews. Whence he inscribes his prophecy to them. St. Jerome notes, and: "That in the titles it is put that Isaiah prophesied under Ozias, Joatham, Achaz and Ezechias, not as in other Prophets, confusedly to be understood, so that we do not know what was said specially under which king; but to the end of the volume it is written what separately under Ozias," namely the sayings from chapter 1 to chapter vi, verse 1, "and what under Joatham," namely the sayings in chapter vi, "and what under Achaz," namely the sayings from chapter vii, verse 1, to chapter xiv, verse 28, "and what was revealed to him under Ezechias by the Lord," namely the rest from chapter xiv, verse 28, to the end of the book. Thus he himself. This is generally true; yet it admits of an exception, as will appear in chapter xvii, verse 1.
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2. Hear, O heavens, and let the earth give ear, because the Lord hath spoken. — Isaiah draws attention to himself through pathos by invoking heaven and earth, that they may hear words, not his own, but the Lord's. Now Haymo understands by heaven virtuous men, spiritual and heavenly: by earth, ruder men and earthly, or even wicked and unbelieving men. But this sense is tropological. According to the letter, therefore, St. Basil, Jerome and Cyril understand by heavens the inhabitants of heaven, namely Angels: by earth, earthborn creatures, namely men, so that it is metonymy. Secondly, more literally and properly, the same Cyril and Rupert take heaven and earth themselves properly: for Isaiah uses prosopopoeia toward inanimate creatures, so that the discourse may be weightier and full of indignation, and this first, that he may signify that the Jews received all their good things from heaven and earth through God, to whom they had become so ungrateful; secondly, because the Jews worshipped the sun, moon, and stars in heaven, and on earth beasts and stones, therefore he now invokes these very things as it were their judges; thirdly, and chiefly, because when rational men, namely the Jews, would not hear God and the Prophets, hence Isaiah invokes inanimate creatures which always obey God, that the complaint and reproach may be most grave; he invokes them, I say, as it were mute and eternal witnesses, so that namely heaven and earth may be witnesses both of the covenant made in the past by God with the Jews, Deuteronomy xxx, 19: "I call heaven and earth to witness this day, that I have set before you life and death, blessing and curse;" and of the present perfidy of the Jews, by which they violated this covenant: for these words of Isaiah correspond exactly to those already cited words of Moses; and of their future punishment, so that namely heaven and earth may be not only witnesses, but also avengers of their Creator. For "the whole world will fight with him against the senseless." Wisdom v, 21. Similar passages are Psalm xlix, 4, and Deuteronomy xxxii, 1: "Hear, he says, O heavens, the things I speak, let the earth hear the words of my mouth." Thus St. Ambrose in Psalm cxviii, sermon 14: "God testifies, he says, by the elements to reprove those who are unwilling to keep the divine precepts; that he may block up all refuges of excuse." And St. Chrysostom here, who also adds examples: "For this reason, he says, a Prophet was sent to Jeroboam, and the king to whom he was sent being passed over, the discourse was turned to the altar," III Kings xiii: "And Jeremiah called upon the earth itself, saying: Earth, earth, earth, write down this man, this man excommunicated, or cast out," Jeremiah xxii. He says therefore: because the impiety of men is so great that they harden themselves against the words of God, I will speak to heaven and earth. Heaven, although it be most remote, will hear; earth, although it be stony and gross, will listen. But the ears of men are deaf. The sense therefore is, as if to say: You, O insensible and inanimate heavens, you, O brute and deaf earth, hear from me those things which my people are unwilling to hear, hear my just complaint against them: so that, as you have been mute and eternal witnesses of my covenant made with the Jews, and of the law given to them by me, so now be witnesses both of their disobedience, ingratitude and rebellion; and of my just complaint against them and my threat, and in the future be witnesses of my vengeance, by which I shall execute the evils which I threaten them here, and inflict them upon them: nor be witnesses only; but also be lictors and avengers, namely you, O earth, show yourself iron to the impious Jews: you, O heaven, be bronze to them. Again and more, on the day of judgment you, O heaven, hurl thunders and lightnings upon them, you, O earth, open yourself to them. Thus Rupert; see what is said in Deuteronomy iv, 16. Let the same preacher say in the name of God to any sinner: Hear, O heavens, hear, O elements, hear, O rocks, hear, O beasts, a new thing to you, hear an unheard-of deed, hear a portent of the ages: This sinner whom I created, redeemed, endowed with my grace and all good things, despised me, blasphemed me, preferred Venus to me, Bacchus to me: he made his belly his god, and thus he stripped me of my divinity, and transferred it to Venus and his own belly: why then, O heavens, O lightnings! do you not rush upon this wicked one? why do you not strike, afflict, torture, and slay him, guilty of lèse-majesté divine? Allegorically, "this matter was fulfilled in the Lord's passion, in which heaven lost the day in the middle of the day, the earth lost its firmness through excessive trembling. Hence it is permitted to estimate what is reserved for those, in whose cause nature endured the punishment of funeral mourning," says Zeno, Bishop of Verona, sermon 5 On Isaiah, who was renowned for learning, sanctity, miracles and martyrdom and flourished under the Emperor Gallienus, whom St. Gregory also mentions, book III of the Dialogues, chapter xix. His writings are extant in volume II of the Library of the Holy Fathers. Because the Lord hath spoken. — He prepares attention from the dignity of the speaker, as if to say: Not I, but sacred and divine majesty decrees these things through me: for my tongue is the pen of the divine scribe, namely the Holy Spirit, and my throat is a trumpet inflated by divine breath and sounding forth. I have nourished and brought up children: and they have despised me. — By "children" properly and primarily, he understands the Jews of his own time, not those who were in the time of Christ, as Jerome wishes, although these words can be extended and applied to them, indeed to all men, by a similar reasoning; for the ingratitude of all is censured here. You therefore, O my people! as a son I have "nourished," and, as Theodoret translates, "brought up"; the Septuagint translates "begotten," namely when I created you and through calling and adoption made you my adopted son, Exodus iv, 22. In Hebrew it is הגדלתי higdalti, that is, I magnified, that is, I nourished, I caused you to grow and come of age. For I nourished you when you were small and few, through Joseph in the land of Goshen, so that you would grow into an immense multitude. Again I nourished you with manna in the desert, and with milk and honey in Canaan. Second, and rather, I nourished you with spiritual food, namely the law given on Sinai, with so many prophecies, so many sacred books, so many admonitions, so many promises. This is what Hosea says, chapter xi, verse 3: "I was like one nursing Ephraim, carrying them in my arms"; and Isaiah, chapter xlvi, verse 3: "You who are carried from my womb." Finally, "I have exalted," that is, above all other nations I have heaped you with riches, miracles, victories, kingdom, temple, and other gifts, and made you exalted and glorious, and formidable to other nations. And they have despised me. — He does not say: They forgot, they neglected, but positively, "they have despised me," as if directly contemning and scorning my commands, rejecting, violating and transgressing them, as the Hebrew has, and finally crucifying me, says Zeno of Verona, sermon 1 On Isaiah. How great is this, O Jew! O Christian! your impudence, how great your ingratitude, how great your pride! These words of Isaiah again respond as if in antistrophe to the words of Moses, Deuteronomy xxxii, 6: "Is this how you repay the Lord, foolish and senseless people? Is he not your father, who possessed you, and made, and created you? etc." Lycurgus refused to enact a law against the ungrateful, because it would be a monstrous thing not to acknowledge a benefit. Therefore it is a twofold portent for an ungrateful son toward his father: but threefold toward a liberal and beneficent father. 3. The ox knoweth his owner, and the ass his master's crib: but Israel hath not known me. — It is an argument from the lesser to the greater, namely from brutes to men, and that for pathos. St. Jerome notes that the rebellious and ungrateful Jews are here compared not to a noble horse, or to a sagacious and grateful dog, but to a stupid ox and ass; for what is more stupid than an ox? what more senseless than an ass? yet the Jews and all the ungrateful are more senseless than these. Thus conversely Plato used to call Aristotle a mule: for a mule, when satiated with its mother's milk, kicks its mother with its hooves: thus also Aristotle, stuffed with the best doctrines of Plato, opened a school against him in the Peripatos, and wished to be his perpetual adversary. Thus Aelian, book IV. Note secondly: "The ox knoweth," that is, is accustomed to know, "his owner," and shows itself kind and grateful to him by plowing, threshing and bearing his burdens. Thus also "the ass his master's crib," that is, the master of the crib, or the master who feeds himself in the crib (this is hypallage), recognizes; and serves and obeys him, namely either by plowing or by carrying him and his panniers. For "ox," in Hebrew it is שור schor, the Chaldeans תור tor (for the Chaldeans change shin to tau): whence the Latin taurus. Hence Francis Forerius by schor understands a breeding bull, which leads the herds like a leader, and is fierce and impatient of the yoke, as if to say: This bull, although fierce, recognizes his master, and leads back the herd of cows which he leads into the master's pens. But Israel hath not known me, the Lord its master, nay, it leads away my flocks, namely my people, from me to idols. Yet the Hebrew schor means not only a bull, but any tamed and gentle ox, and Isaiah seems to speak of it more. Do you wish for a rare example of a beast recognizing and repaying a benefit to a man? Take what Gellius narrates from Appian, an eyewitness, lib. V, xiv, in his own words, which I have abbreviated to avoid prolixity. At Rome in the circus a combat of men with beasts was being given: there was among others a vast and terrible lion: "There had been introduced among many foreign captives for the combat of beasts a Dacian, a slave of a man of consular rank. This slave was named Androdus (or rather Androcles, as Aelian writes). When that lion saw him from afar, suddenly, he says, as if in amazement he stood still: and then slowly and gently, as if recognizing him, he approaches the man. Then his tail, in the manner and fashion of fawning dogs, he moves gently and kindly; and he joins himself to the man's body, and his legs and hands, now almost lifeless with fear, he gently caresses with his tongue. Androdus amid such fierce beast's caresses recovers his lost spirit; and gradually he turns his eyes to look upon the lion. Then as if by mutual recognition made, joyful, he says, and congratulating you would see the man and the lion. By this thing truly so admirable, he says the greatest clamors of the people were aroused; and Androdus was summoned by Caesar, and the cause was inquired why that most fierce of lions had spared this one man, Androdus recounted an admirable thing: I fled, he says, my cruel master, and came into a cave, where I found a lion showing his foot and seeking help: there I drew out a huge thorn from his foot, expressed the discharge, dried the wound: he, relieved in his foot, lay down in my hands and rested. And from that day for the whole space of three years both I and the lion lived in the same cave and on the same food. For whatever beasts he hunted, the choicer parts he brought to the cave for me, which I, not having a supply of fire, dried in the midday sun and ate. But when I, he says, was now weary of that wild life, the lion having gone out to hunt, I left the cave, and having traveled a journey of nearly three days, I was seen by soldiers and captured, and was brought to my master from Africa to Rome. He immediately had me condemned to capital punishment and given to the beasts. But I understand, he says, that this lion too was then captured when separated from me, and now repays me the favor of my benefit and medicine." This Appian reports Androdus to have said; and all these things written and circulated on a tablet he declares to the people: and therefore with all requesting it, Androdus was released and freed from punishment: and the lion was given to him by the votes of the people. Afterwards, he says, we saw Androdus and the lion bound with a thin rope, going around the whole city past the shops, Androdus being given money, the lion being strewn with flowers, and almost all everywhere meeting them saying: "This is the lion, the guest of a man; this is the man, the physician of the lion." The lion, brutal and wild, recognizes a benefit, spares him, caresses him and serves him: and man, rational, does not recognize his Creator, does not obey him, does not serve him, to whom he owes his soul? No less rare and wonderful is what Democritus writes, and from him Lilius Giraldus, lib. De Ingratis, that a dragon saved Thoas in Arcadia: Thoas, he says, as a boy had reared a dragon, which when it had grown up, fearing the dragon's nature and size, he took it into solitude: departing thence, when he had fallen into the ambush of robbers, he cried out; whose voice the dragon hearing, and recognizing it to be that of his rearer Thoas, ran up immediately, and snatched him from the hands of the robbers. Similarly he narrates there from Demetrius the natural philosopher concerning a panther, which is a most ferocious animal: for when her cubs had fallen into a pit, and she alone was not sufficient to draw them out from there, she remained there so long, until seeing a man passing by, gently dragging him by her claws through his garment, and by nod and gesture indicating the fall of her cubs, and seeking his help, with his assistance she drew her cubs out of the pit. Wherefore the panther, rejoicing and grateful, accompanied the man through the pathless ways of forests and groves with her cubs, until she brought him back into the road and safety. But all this is surpassed by what Philarchus relates concerning the asp. The asp, he says, reared by an Egyptian man, had given birth to him in the house of a guest, it happened that one of the cubs killed the guest's son with a venomous bite. The asp was then by chance absent from the house: returning, considering it unjust that the guest's son was killed by her cub; in the presence of the guest, lest she appear ungrateful, indeed that she might punish the ungrateful one, she killed her own cub, the murderer. Refer to this the lion of St. Gerasimus the Abbot (the common people err, thinking it was St. Jerome, from which error painters depict a lion for him), who on account of the thorn removed from him by him, served him diligently throughout his whole life, and dying from grief died with him, and paid him honor by his death, as Sophronius relates in the Spiritual Meadow. Note thirdly: This passage speaks generally of any oxen, asses and masters. The ancients, however, such as St. Augustine Against the Jews, cap. xiii, St. Ambrose, lib. II in Luke, cap. II, Origen, hom. 13, and others whom Leo Castrius cites here (whom Calvin here mocks too petulantly and arrogantly, calling them fabulists and asses; thus indeed the calf itself is made a calf), adapt these things to Christ the boy and Lord reclining in the manger between the ox and the ass, and by them either ordinary and natural
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4. Woe to a sinful nation, a people laden with iniquity, a wicked seed, children that are transgressors. — Here the Prophet speaks in the third tone of preaching. For "woe" in Hebrew is הוי hoi, which Vatablus translates as "alas": for it is, he says, a voice of one lamenting and bewailing another's misery and calamity. But others more commonly translate hei as "woe": for here it is the speech of God threatening and indignant. "Woe" signifies threats, a decree and sentence, both of temporal devastation and of eternal damnation, says St. Gregory, homily 9 on Ezekiel. Israel is called here first "laden with iniquity," that is, weighed down and bowed down by the weight and multitude of crimes, as if to the earth. Second, "a wicked seed," because the Jews, degenerate from the grace of God by which they had been made his sons, turned the depravity of will as it were into nature, says St. Augustine, book VII Against the Adversaries of the Law and the Prophets, chapter 22. Here is a climax or gradation: for the discourse increases gradually and becomes graver and more vehement. For there are here five degrees of impiety and of the impious. The first is when it is said: "Woe to a sinful nation," that is, wandering from the law of God! for this is חטא chote. The second, when he says, "a people laden with iniquity," who namely have already become hardened to crimes, and are pressed down by their weight even to the ground. The third, when he says, "a wicked seed," as if to say, The worst children are from the worst parents, who namely as it were from their parents obedience, or perhaps also some extraordinary and miraculous reverence (as St. Bonaventure wishes) recognized and adored. For if the lamb of St. Francis bent its knees to the Holy Eucharist; if larks and birds honored and revered St. Francis preaching to them by their silence and applause; if wild beasts honored Anthony, Paul, Hilary, and others approaching the primeval innocence of Adam; if bees more than once protected the Holy Eucharist: why should not the ox and ass in the manger have honored by some special worship the present and newly born Christ, most innocent, their Lord and ours, and served him by bending themselves, covering him with hay, warming him with their breath, and in other ways? especially since not only Angels and shepherds, but also the star served him then, calling and leading the Magi to him in Bethlehem. Certainly thus the beasts, oxen, horses and asses honored and revered the Saints of Christ. Illustrious is what we read in the Life of St. Kilian, Apostle of Franconia: for when by Geila, wife of Gosbert Duke of Franconia, because he reproved her illicit marriage, executioners were sent against him, he said: "You will fulfill the commandment, we will finish our course." Therefore beaten by them, when Geila, to cover up the crime, ordered a stable of horses to be made where the Martyr was buried; the beasts refused to enter it, indeed those that entered immediately fell dead. Thus also St. Cyprian, or rather Origen (as Pamelius gathers from the style and other things), in the book On Individual Clerics: "Just as," he says, "a small drop of water mixed with much wine is wholly lost from itself, and takes on the color and taste of wine; burning iron is stripped of its former and proper form, and becomes most like fire; air suffused with the ray of the sun is transformed into the same clarity of light; a mirror directly irradiated by solar rays receives in itself the likeness of the sun, and you would think it another sun: thus also the Saints are wholly penetrated in their innermost being by the charity of God, and thus made deiform are transformed into the likeness of God." Mystically on these words of Isaiah, Richard of St. Victor wrote a treatise On the State of the Interior Man. The Holy One of Israel. — This is emphasis, as if to say, they blasphemed God, who is the Holy of Holies, and holiness itself to be adored, and supremely to be revered and glorified, especially by Israel, inasmuch as he chose it for himself as a peculiar and holy people, and gave to it his sacred law, holy faith, holy sacrifices and ceremonies. For "Israel" here is in the genitive case: "the holy one therefore of Israel" is the God of Israel, whose holiness the impious profaned and polluted. For blasphemy directly violates the holiness of God: hence it is the greatest sin. St. Jerome and Cyril refer these things to the Jews in the time of Christ: for the same genius was theirs, as those following their fathers, and the Holy Spirit foresaw and foretold it here through Isaiah: for they properly blasphemed Christ, calling him a wine drinker, a demoniac, and saying that he cast out demons in the name of Beelzebub. Note: Isaiah here speaks not so much of diseases, wounds and bodily afflictions, as of the soul, namely of vices and sins: for he passes from the effect to the cause, that is from the plague to the fault, as if to say, Your whole body is wounded by my plagues; because that same whole body is infected and weakened by fault and sins. Thus St. Jerome and Basil. Hence secondly, by the head and heart as it were the primary parts of the body, he leaves the other members to be understood synecdochically, and thus the whole body politic of the Synagogue, namely the whole people of Israel, to be in a bad state, corrupted by vices: for that Isaiah speaks literally of the body of his people, not however of the body of Christ in his passion scourged and afflicted with wounds everywhere (to which most preachers apply these words), is evident from what precedes and follows. Thirdly, by enallage the word "all" is taken for the whole, as is evident from what follows; yet he says "all," because the head can be accommodated to princes, the feet to the people subject to them, the heart to priests. First, because just as the senses are vigorous in the head, so in the prince wisdom and provident governance ought to be vigorous. Secondly, just as the heart is the principle of motion and direction in man; for the heart first receives life from the soul, and diffuses it through the vital spirits into the whole body, whence the heart in an animal is the first to live and the last to die (just as conversely the eyes, because most remote from the heart, are the last to live and the first to die): so the priest is the mediator between God and men, and the spiritual charisms and motions which he receives from God, he pours forth into the people; and thus he moves and directs them in the way of God. Thirdly, the heart dying the body dies, the heart living the body lives: thus the priest being vigorous the people flourish, the priest being weak the people languish, and die away in spirit. Thus Cyril, Haymo, St. Thomas and others. or from what he said: "They have turned away backward." For God is the strength, health and joy of the soul and of the commonwealth. If therefore you fail from God, you will become weak and sad. Hear St. Cyprian, or rather Origen (as Pamelius gathers from the style and other things), in the book On Individual Clergy: "Just as," he says, "a small drop of water mixed with much wine entirely fails from itself, and takes on the color and taste of wine; glowing iron is stripped of its former and proper form, and is made most like fire; air suffused with the ray of the sun is transformed into the same brightness of light; a mirror directly irradiated by solar rays receives in itself the likeness of the sun, and you would think it to be another sun: so also the Saints are wholly penetrated in their inmost being by the charity of God, and thus made deiform are transformed into the likeness of God." Mystically on these words of Isaiah, Richard of St. Victor wrote a treatise On the State of the Interior Man.
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5. Upon what shall I strike you further, adding transgression? — There is here a threefold sense, and a convenient one. First, "upon what," that is, to what end, for what purpose shall I strike you, since you are obstinate in evil, so that I do not hope for your amendment? Thus Vatablus. Second, "upon what," that is, on what member, what part of the body? as if you were to say: I find no remaining member in your body in which there is room for a new blow. For all is one wound, one bruise and swelling, as follows. Thus St. Jerome and Nazianzenus, oration On the Plague of Hail. Thus Ovid says, book IV of Epistles from Pontus: What avails it to strike iron upon lifeless limbs? There is no room in us now for a new wound. Third, "upon what," that is, with what blow shall I strike you? Thus St. Jerome, as if to say: In vain shall I strike you henceforth: for I have sent upon you every kind of blow, and have spent myself in vain, and you have become no better: I have afflicted you with famine, war, plague, servitude, and have as it were exhausted my whole arsenal upon you: I have nothing further with which to strike you: it remains therefore that I abandon you and cast you out from me entirely. Thus Cyril. This abandonment and rejection is the gravest plague of God, of which Psalm 80:13: "I sent them according to the desires of their heart, they shall walk in their own inventions;" and Ezekiel 16:24: "My zeal shall be taken away from you, and I will be angry no more;" and Romans 1:24: "Wherefore God delivered them up to the desires of their hearts." Every head is faint, and every heart is sorrowful. 6. From the sole of the foot to the top of the head there is no soundness in him. — Behold here is the effect of defection from God. Whence also the Chaldean translates: "From the people to the princes all are rebellious." For, as Seneca says to Nero: "From the head good health flows vigorous and upright to all, or falls weakened by sickness." And Ecclesiasticus chapter 10, verse 3: "A foolish king shall destroy his people." And Hesiod: "For the crime of one the whole city pays the penalty." He names therefore the head and heart, because just as the natural body receives from the head animal spirits, from the heart vital spirits: so the political body, namely the commonwealth, receives its vigor and strength from the royal and priestly order, and when that languishes, it languishes and dies. Sanchez suspects not badly that Isaiah, when he says "Every head is faint," is noting and censuring King Uzziah, who arrogantly claimed for himself the right of the priesthood in offering incense, and was struck with leprosy on his head and forehead, and this perhaps at the same time when Isaiah spoke these words. Finally, he says "every" or all, that is, many, the greater part, not all or the whole entirely. For the holy Church always remained, that is, some assembly of the faithful, the pious and the saints, though small, and as Christ says, a little flock. Thus St. Augustine, book On the Unity of the Church, chapter IV. Similar sayings of the Gentiles Delrio cites, adage 133. Wound, and bruise, and swelling sore, — on account of corruption namely and pus: whence for "swelling" in Hebrew it is טריה teria, that is, a wound full of corruption, purulent and putrid. Thus Pagninus, as if to say: The whole body of this people is so infected with vices and diseased, that it appears to be nothing other than one continuous wound, ulcer, bruise and blow of sin. Others apply these specifically, so that "wound" is the inward sin of the heart, "bruise" is the outward sin of the mouth, "blow" is the public sin of deed. Others understand by "wound" open malice, by "bruise" hidden envy, by "swelling blow" the swelling of the soul and pride, says Sasbout. To this our Sanchez adds: "In the wound, he says, which is a division of continuity, and which as it were gapes open with open mouth and cries out, is understood public sin; by the bruise, which is corrupt humor collected under the skin, hidden sin; by the swelling blow, long-standing sin," which already stinks and reeks. It is not bound up (the wound already mentioned), nor healed with medicine, nor soothed with oil. — as if to say: There was no one who would heal this wound of your sin. Second and genuinely, as if to say: You, obstinate in the disease of your sins, were unwilling to admit any hand of the physician and any cure; whence the Septuagint translates: There is no poultice to apply, as if to say: The lack of cure proceeds from your obstinacy, by which you reject all medicine: but not from the lack of a physician; because the Prophets, who as it were physicians of the soul exhort you to penance, are not lacking to you: but you despise their warnings. This will be said far more truly now of Christians, who have so many Sacraments, graces, and other means of salvation; and yet they neglect or reject them.
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7. Your land is desolate, your cities are burned with fire: your region before you (you beholding, lamenting, groaning and gnashing your teeth) strangers devour. — Hitherto Isaiah has set forth the crimes of the people, and their obstinacy in them: now he threatens punishment worthy of the guilt. Sanchez and some others take "desolate, burned," properly, as past or present, as they sound: for often the Jews were laid waste by the Egyptians, Ammonites, Moabites, Philistines, Midianites and Syrians in the time of Amaziah, and by the Assyrians in the time of Ahaz and Hezekiah. But because this first (as it is set down here) seems to have been the prophecy of Isaiah, made under King Uzziah, when the affairs of the Jews were flourishing, and because what follows are future tenses "shall be desolate, shall be left," etc., hence we shall better say that in the Hebrew these are not past tenses, but participles; which can be expounded both through the future and through the past or present; what therefore Our Author says: "Your land desolate," supply shall be; "your cities burned," supply shall be; "strangers devour your region," in Hebrew, devouring, supply shall be, that is shall devour: or the Interpreter put participles (which in Hebrew are present) for futures: "desolate," that is shall certainly be desolated: "burned," that is shall certainly be burned: "devour," that is shall certainly devour, namely the Babylonians under Nebuchadnezzar, says Basil, and much more the Romans under Titus and Vespasian: for these left not one stone upon another in Jerusalem. Thus Cyril, Jerome, Haymo and others, and this shall be more evident in verse 9. Where note: Isaiah and the Prophets, although they speak to the Jews present in their own age, yet in the prophetic spirit extend themselves and speak also to those in the future, who were about to share in the crimes of their fathers, and consequently also in their punishment, especially in the time of Christ. Whence the ancients everywhere (one may see them in Leo Castrius) take all these things said by Isaiah to the people of his own age, as also said to the Jews in the time of Christ: for He was the Holy One of Israel, whom they themselves blasphemed, and therefore by Titus they were cut off and desolated. Tropologically, St. Clement, book IV of the Apostolic Constitutions, chapter 1, rightly adapts these to the rich, who, being without children, do not take in orphans, whom they might have in place of sons, to whom it usually happens by the just judgment of God, that strangers enjoy their goods: "If any rich man, he says, is ashamed of an orphan, the orphan indeed the Father of orphans shall provide for, and the Judge of widows; but he himself, the rich man, shall fall into him who shall consume the goods, which he spared, and from which he abstained; and it shall happen to him what is said: What the holy ones did not eat, the Assyrians shall eat, as Isaiah says: Strangers devour your region in your sight." To this pertains that saying of St. Augustine: "What Christ does not take, the treasury snatches." And it shall be desolate as in the desolation of the enemy. — "As" here is a note of truth, not of similitude, and signifies truly, plainly, and fully, as if to say: With true and full desolation, such as is wont to be from enemies, by the Chaldean enemies Judea shall be desolated. Thus in John 1, 14, it is said: "We saw his glory as of the only-begotten of the Father," as if to say: We saw the glory of Christ so great, as it behooved him to have, who was truly the only-begotten of God the Father.
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8. And the daughter of Sion shall be left as a shelter (Tertullian, in the book Against the Jews, chapter iii, reads it as a house, and in book III Against Marcion, chapter xxiii, as a watchtower, so as to allude to the etymology of Sion, which signifies a watchtower) in a vineyard, and as a cottage in a cucumber garden. — Sion or Jerusalem is called "daughter," both for the reasons stated in canon xviii, and especially because the city of Jerusalem is subject to the mount of Sion, so that it appears to descend and be born from it as a daughter; and because God loved and protected it singularly as a daughter. Now the sense is, as if to say, Jerusalem shall be desolated by the Chaldeans, and afterwards by the Romans, and shall become a desert, just as after the vintage is made, the shelter or covering is wont to be abandoned and destroyed, in which before the vintage the keeper of the vineyard dwelt, so that he might protect the grapes and fruits from thieves and beasts: so that, just as from this scattered shelter nothing remains except timbers and supports cast here and there, so from Jerusalem laid waste and burned, except for ruins and the scattered stones of the sanctuary here and there, nothing of its ancient glory remains: nay, it shall itself be burned, just as after the grapes and fruits are gathered and removed, the little cottages of the keepers in the cucumber gardens are burned. Secondly, Sanchez aptly understands by "daughter of Sion" the citadel of Sion, which overlooked the city of Jerusalem as a stronghold, and was to it what a cottage is to a cucumber garden, or a shelter to a vineyard, as if to say, When the enemy has harvested the city as a vineyard, the citadel of Sion and the temple are likewise scattered like a cottage. Note: A cucumber garden is a garden or place in which cucumbers grow, under which understand citrons, melons, and gourds: for there is great abundance of these in Palestine, as a warm region. Whence the keepers are wont to construct cottages in these cucumber gardens, and in them to keep watch against thieves. The same or a similar cottage erected in orchards for guarding fruit the Septuagint understand here and elsewhere by ἐπωροφυλάκιον, that is, the guarding of fruit: which word they themselves frequently and willingly use. Tertullian and Cyprian against the Jews translate it as a guardhouse. And as a city that is laid waste. — In Hebrew, and as a city besieged, that is, captured and laid waste by siege; it is a metalepsis. Thus Vatable.
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9. Unless the Lord of hosts had left us a seed, we should have been as Sodom. — In Hebrew it is, unless the Lord צבאות sabaoth, that is, of hosts: for sabaoth is a name, or rather an epithet of God, signifying God's power equipped with the greatest, most ready and unconquerable hosts of heavenly and earthly creatures, namely Angels, stars, lightnings, hail, thunders, bears, lions, wasps, and all creatures, against which no one can resist, as if to say: Why then do you, O Jews, dare to resist God of hosts? The first to name and invoke God of hosts is read to be Anna, mother of Samuel, I Kings i. See concerning the ten names of God what is said at Exodus vi, 3. Note: For seed in Hebrew it is שריד sarid, that is, a remnant, few remnants, as if to say: Unless God from that common and universal desolation by the enemy had preserved a few, as it were remnants and seed of the nation (as Noe was the seed of the human race) and made them survivors; we all Jews would have been utterly destroyed like Sodom: for so great was the impiety of Jerusalem as well as of Sodom, that Josephus, book VI of the War, chapter xvi, says: "I think, if the Romans had delayed coming against the guilty, either the city would have been devoured by a chasm of the earth, or perished by a flood, or suffered the fires of lightning and of Sodom: for it bore a far more impious generation than that had produced." Isaiah speaks literally both of those few Jews who survived the Babylonian captivity, and returned to Jerusalem with Zerubbabel and Jesus son of Josedec; and of the fewer who survived the Roman disaster through Titus. The Jews therefore, because they sinned equally, nay more, than the Sodomites, hence were punished more than they: this indeed is what Jeremiah says in Lamentations iv, 6: "Greater has been made the iniquity (that is, the punishment of iniquity) of the daughter of my people than the sin (that is, the punishment of the sin) of Sodom." This sense corresponds to the Hebrew sarid, and is the plainest and simplest, and therefore the genuine one. Sanchez explains it somewhat differently, as if to say: On account of a few just men, such as Hosea, Amos, Joel, Jonah, Micah, who were the true seed of God, that is, holy men, God did not utterly destroy the city and nation of the Jews: just as He would not have destroyed Sodom, if ten just men had been found in it. Allegorically the Apostle, Romans ix, 29, transfers these words to Christ, as if to say: Unless God from the Jews a small remnant, namely the Blessed Virgin, the Apostles, and a few others believing in Christ, had selected and reserved, all Israel would have been rejected on account of infidelity, and would have perished like Sodom and Gomorrha. Thus St. Jerome, Cyril, Rupert and Haymo. To this are added Origen and Oecumenius in Romans ix, who by "seed" understand Christ, or the doctrine of Christ. Thus also St. Basil and Hugh explain it, as if to say: Unless God from the Jews His seed, that is, Christ about to be born, had decreed, and therefore had preserved some Jews, from whom He would be born, in this destruction, all would have been destroyed. To Christ therefore the Jews owe it that they were not completely cut off. Thus of Fabius Maximus Ovid said in book I of the Epistles from Pontus, elegy 2: That thou mightest be born, though three hundred fell, One day took not all the Fabii from the world. as if to say: In so great a disaster of the Fabii brought about by Hannibal, God preserved one, from whom Fabius Maximus, the pillar of the Republic, would be born. to endure not rarely, on account of holy offspring which He either foresees or predestines to be born from them. "Thare," he says, "father of Abraham, both worshipper and maker of idols, yet God did not inflict the punishment of impiety; and with reason. For if God had cut off the root, whence such great fruits of faith (Abraham) would have sprouted? What more wicked than Esau? But if he had been cut off, the world would have lost the greatest fruit of justice; and hear what kind. Esau begat Raguel, Raguel Zara, Zara Job. Do you see how great the flower of patience would have languished, if God preventing had exacted punishment from the root. He also used this providence over the Egyptians, beyond belief blasphemous: for He waited until there were monasteries there, in which those flourished who imitated the angelic life. Moreover human laws preserve even a pregnant mother, though a sinner, unharmed until childbirth, lest they take away an innocent child. Finally, if God had been swift to punish, the Church would not have possessed Paul: He therefore delayed the blasphemer, that He might show forth God's longsuffering in the penitent. And how many offspring did Paul beget for God?" These and more things Chrysostom says. Tropologically, let the penitent soul say this to itself: Unless the Lord had left in my heart a seed of good inspiration, fear, compunction and penance, I would have perished like Sodom: "The mercies of the Lord, because we are not consumed: the mercies of the Lord I will sing forever." This St. Mary of Egypt understood, this she said. 10. Hear the word of the Lord, princes of Sodom, receive in your ears the law of our God, people of Gomorrha. — Note: The Jews are here called "people of Gomorrha:" just as "princes of Sodom" are called the princes of the Jews, both those who were in the time of Isaiah, and, as Basil and Jerome say, those who were in the time of Christ, namely Annas, Caiaphas, the Scribes, the Pharisees, and the magistrates themselves: and this for several reasons. First, because the sins of Sodom were "pride, fulness of bread, and abundance, and the idleness of her, and of her daughters: and they did not put out their hand to the needy and the poor;" as Ezech. cap. xvi, vers. 49 says; from this they plunged themselves into all wickedness and became most evil. The same were the sins of the Jews. Whence God expressly swears through Ezechiel in that same place, vers. 48, saying: "As I live, Sodom and her daughters have not done as thou hast done: thou hast exceeded them in all thy iniquities." Secondly, because the Jews themselves were subject to the abominable vice of sodomy, as appears in cap. xxvi. Thus Cyril. Thirdly, because in their wickedness they were shameless and impudent equally as the Sodomites; for this is what is said in cap. iii, vers. 9: "They have proclaimed their sin as Sodom." Fourthly, because, just as in Sodom few just men were found, namely Lot with his own; so also in Judea, says Cyril. Fifthly, because Sedom or Sodom, in Hebrew, says Basil, signifies declination, Gomorrha rebellion: but these princes with the people of the Jews were transgressors and rebels against God. See Can. xxii, q. d. Hear the word of the Lord, once Israelites, now Sodomites, once Abrahams and Jacobs, now Gomorrhans. He alludes to Deut. xxxii, 32: "Their vine is of the vine of Sodom, and of the suburbs of Gomorrha: their grapes are grapes of gall, and their clusters most bitter." Thus Ezech. cap. xvi, vers. 3 says: "Thy father was an Amorrhite, and thy mother a Cethite," and Daniel to the elder committing incest, cap. xiii, vers. 56: "Seed of Chanaan, and not of Juda."
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With the same freedom Pope Agapetus, sent by Theodatus king of the Goths to the Emperor Justinian, when, after peace was made between them, he was pressed by Justinian, and even threatened with force, to confirm the Eutychian heresy, replied: "I wished to come to Justinian the most Christian prince, but I found Diocletian," the most bitter enemy of Christians; Cedrenus and others bear witness to this. The same Pope Vigilius later said to the same Justinian. Thus St. Hilary calls the Emperor Constantius, who persecuted Christians, "a tyrant and enemy of Christ;" Lucifer of Cagliari calls him "Judas the traitor" and "the worm of Arius;" St. Athanasius calls him "Antiochus, Herod," indeed "Antichrist." Thus to the Emperor Leo the Isaurian, who was the first Iconoclast, St. Germanus, Patriarch of Constantinople, said to his face: "Thou art Antichrist," as his Acts contain, and from them Baronius. 11. What is the multitude of your sacrifices to Me? I am full. — Here He refutes the vain and harmful confidence of the Jews in their sacrifices and ceremonies, as if to say: "I am full," that is, as in Hebrew, satiated, "with your sacrifices." Those so frequently repeated cause me nausea: because although they are good in themselves and prescribed by Me, nevertheless because they are offered by you, they displease Me. First, because you offer them with an impure heart and full of sins. "For your hands are full of blood," as follows: for "the sacrifices of the wicked are abominable to the Lord: the vows of the just are acceptable," Prov. xv, 8. Secondly, because in those external sacrifices you place all holiness, and neglect the internal, which is the true one: indeed you think it is permitted you with impunity to rob, to become drunk, to fornicate, etc., because you think you can expiate these sins by your sacrifices; for this is what Jeremias reproaches them with, cap. vii, 4: "Trust not in the words of lying, saying: The temple of the Lord, the temple of the Lord, the temple of the Lord is, etc. Steal, kill, commit adultery, swear falsely, offer to Baalim; and you said: We are delivered, because (that is, although) we have done all these abominations." In this you err most gravely. For God is not nourished by your external sacrifices, but by internal ones, and therefore through external ones, as it were through an image and shadow, He wishes only to stir you up to internal ones, namely to acts of religion, piety, love, obedience to the divine law, in which He delights. You therefore, clinging ambitiously to your sacrifices and empty shadows, and offering only these to God, do just as if someone inviting friends to dinner were to offer them, though hungry, hares and meats not real,
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but painted and shadowy ones: in which manner Lampridius teaches that Heliogabalus mocked his guests; Suetonius teaches the same of Caligula, cap. xxxvii. Thus do Irenaeus, lib. IV, cap. xxxii, Theodoret, lib. De Sacrificiis, before the middle, St. Chrysostom in this place, Haymo, Thomas, Hugo, Adam, Forerius, and clearly St. Jerome expound this passage. "Sacrifices," he says, "were not principally sought by God, but lest they be offered to idols, and that by carnal victims as it were through a type and image we might pass over to spiritual sacrifices." Thirdly, these old sacrifices in the time of Christ were displeasing to God; because through Christ slain by the Jews they were altogether abolished, rejected and made deadly. For to Christ also Isaiah is taught to look by St. Cyprian, lib. I Against the Jews, cap. xvi, Cyril, Basil, Procopius, Dionysius and Leo Castrius, who in denying this almost accuse him of Jewish perfidy. Holocausts of rams, etc., I did not will. — On account of the causes already stated: to which St. Jerome, Cyril, Rupert add another, namely that God did not will the old sacrifices in themselves, because they did not please Him from the work performed, as do the sacrifices of the new law please, but from the work of the one performing, which was lacking here: for the very ones performing or offering were impious. And it is to be known that the old sacrifices were prescribed by God to the Jews, not because they were pleasing to God, or because God desired them, but that through them He might turn away the people occupied with them from the sacrifices of the Gentiles and idols: concerning which matter I have spoken in Leviticus, in the Preface. 12. Who required these things from your hands (did I require them? by no means): that you should walk in my courts? — Repeat the word who required. That you should walk, in Hebrew, that you should tread my courts? as if to say, In my temple you do nothing else than tread the courts and wear away the pavement: this I do not seek, indeed I think that in this manner the sacred things are rather trodden and defiled than adorned and honored: for the court before the Holy of Holies was the temple of both people and priests: for these in the court under the open sky burned their victims.
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13. Incense is an abomination to Me. — "Incense," that is victims incensed and burned for Me: for the discourse was concerning these, and they are called incense, or burning or burned thing; because they were offered to God by fire, as I said in Leviticus. Secondly, however, "incense" can properly be taken for frankincense; for this equally with victims they sacrificed and burned on the altar of frankincense; which although in itself it were aromatic and pleasing to the nostrils, nevertheless from the fact that it contracted a stench from the foul hands of the impious, it breathed forth something grave and putrid to the nostrils of God. Wherefore ineptly and impiously does Wolfgang Musculus here twist these words of Isaiah against the thurifications which are performed in the Mass, and against the golden and silver censers of the Church, which he himself called abominable, when they are angelic. For the angels of St. John, Apocalypse viii, 4, and elsewhere often are seen with censers, in which they burn frankincense to God.
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The new moon, and the sabbath, and other festivals I will not bear. — In Hebrew, חודש chodes, in Greek neomenia, in Latin is the new moon, or calends, as follows: namely the first day of each month (for the Hebrews used lunar months, and they reckoned them from one new moon to another), which was celebrated and festive both with sacrifices and with the blast of trumpets, as I said at Num. xxviii, 11. Other festivals were Passover, Pentecost, Tabernacles, Trumpets, Expiation, concerning which I spoke at Levit. xxiii. For the same reason God rejected the festivals of the Jews, as also the sacrifices, namely because, as follows, Your assemblies are wicked. — In Hebrew, עצרה atsara, that is your congregation and iniquity, that is equally is iniquity, that is it is most wicked; your assemblies are most wicked, because namely they are assemblies of impious men and obstinate in sins. Again, because you gather together not so much to sacrifice as to feast, to drink and to revel: for in the courtyard the laity feasted from the peace offerings. Hence beautifully St. Chrysostom: "To conduct festivals, he says, in licentiousness, is to turn propitiation into guilt;" and St. Augustine, in the book On the Ten Strings: "Better, he says, would a Jew do something useful in his field, than to exist idle in the theatre; and better would their women spin wool on the sabbath day, than to dance immodestly the whole day at their new moons." Properly atsara, that is the festival of assembly and gathering, was the eighth and last day of unleavened bread or Passover, and the eighth day of the festival of Tabernacles: for on that day the people, about to return home, as if the festivals were now completed, would first gather in the temple to give thanks to God and to bid farewell, and from this the day was called assembly or gathering, as I said at Levit. xxiii, 36. The Septuagint translates it, fasting and idleness, which St. Jerome explains, as if to say, That fasting does not please God, which has idleness of good works, that is which is empty of good works. But Sanchez thus, as if to say, Your fasting is idle, because although it is laborious, nevertheless it is useless: but those things which lack honest utility, however much they may exhaust the one laboring with fatigue, are idle. 14. Your calends (new moons), etc., My soul hated them. — God properly does not have a soul, as neither a body. But His anthropopathic divinity, which is the purest spirit, is called "soul."
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They have become burdensome to me. — The Septuagint translates: You have become to me a satiety, I will no longer remit your sins, as if to say, I will shake off or vomit you forth with your sins, just as a stomach full of harmful food is relieved by vomiting. 15. And when you stretch forth your hands (when with outstretched hands in tribulation you flee to me, and implore my aid), I will turn away My eyes from you. — For your prayers reek of a foul soul, from which they are formed and poured forth. The reason follows:
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Your hands are full of blood. — "With blood," that is with the shedding of blood and murders, as if to say, You are murderers, cruel in vengeance, keen on hatred, on violence and plunder: for all these things are the beginning and inception of murder, and therefore are rightly signified by blood. Secondly, "with blood," that is with crimes. Where note that blood in the Prophets is a symbol of sin, as is evident from verse 18, and Osee iv, 2: "Blood has touched blood," that is sins accumulate upon sins, as the Chaldean, and St. Jerome and St. Gregory explain, book XIII of the Morals, chapter vi: "Blood, he says, touches blood, when guilt has accumulated upon guilt." Both because the shedding of blood or murder is the gravest sin; and because the eating of blood was forbidden to the Jews and abominable, Levit. chapter vii, verse 27; and finally because nothing is more unclean and virulent than menstrual blood, as I said at Levit. xv, 25. In like manner the sins of men, especially carnal ones, such as gluttony and lust, are most unclean, and pollute the mind equally as blood and flesh. 16. Wash yourselves, be clean, take away the evil of your devices from My eyes: cease to do perversely. — Here he undertakes the second part of the discourse, in which he exhorts the Jews to penance.
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St. Paul, a disciple of St. Anthony, when he had previously seen him entering the church black and cloudy, being dragged and ruled by demons with a bridle placed in his mouth, and his holy angel following him from afar sad: now saw him going out with a clear face and white body, and demons following him from afar, but his holy angel near him cheerful and rejoicing exceedingly, as Rufinus relates, lib. III in the Lives of the Fathers, num. 167. Tropologically, to those who are initiated by baptism it is said: Be washed, be clean, says St. Clement, lib. VIII Const. Apost. cap. viii. Cease to do perversely: (you have acquired the worst habits, you have become accustomed to drunkenness, quarrels, hatreds, frauds, robberies, etc., now unlearn those things, become unaccustomed to them, and gradually adopt contrary good habits), learn to do well. — "The entire religion of Christians is to live without crime and without stain," says Lactantius, lib. V, cap. ix, and Hermes Trismegistus: "The sole worship of God is not to be evil." 17. Seek judgment. — Inquire more carefully whether the cause of the litigants is just: do not on account of gifts, favors or fear precipitate or pervert your judgment. This verse pertains to judges, advocates,
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the point was turned, and plainly he changed an unchaste life into a chaste one. Whence 18. And come, and accuse Me, says the Lord: if your sins be as scarlet, they shall be made white as snow: and if they be red as vermilion, they shall be as white wool.
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stole with stains as it were of red blood, and indeed you will have infected others like a little worm of scarlet; do penance, change your life, do good works, and soon all sins shall become white as snow and wool, that is, shall be utterly washed away and forgiven, and you, says Chrysostom, in place of the dye of wickedness, shall receive the first garment of grace and justice, a white and splendid stole. Observe here: If wool has once drunk in scarlet dye, it cannot naturally be washed out and bleached; but God purifies the soul which shall wash away sins from them completely, so that no scar or trace of sin remains, which no physician can do in healing a wound, says St. Chrysostom, hom. 80 to the People. Otherwise Tertullian explains this in the Scorpiaco, cap. xi, and Leo Castrius from him stubbornly: Stains, he says, of the soul are made white by scarlet (Tertullian reads rosy) and by the little worm, that is, by martyrdom or the blood of Christ, according to that in the Apocalypse vii, 14: "These are they who have washed their stoles, and made them white in the blood of the Lamb." But this sense does not fit this place and the letter: for here the sins themselves are compared to scarlet and the little worm, not however the blood of Christ or of the martyrs. It alludes to the dress of a harlot. For Jerusalem he calls a "harlot," verse 21, for harlots of old adorned themselves with scarlet. Whence Martial: You give scarlet and amethyst to the famous harlot. Or purple. Whence Plautus in the Poenulus: It is more fitting for a harlot to wear shame than purple. Fine adornment soils base morals worse than mud. Hence also Babylon, says St. Jerome, is called the purple harlot, Apoc. xvii, 4. He compares sins to scarlet and purple on account of the bloody redness, not on account of its splendor, says St. Cyril, Haymo, Rupert and others. Cajetan goes further, who thinks that by redness is signified God's vengeance, by whiteness glory. Wolfgang Musculus plays the buffoon here, while he explains thus: "If your sins shall be red like the sins of Cardinals." For sins are not compared to sins, but to cloths dyed with scarlet dye here: but these jesters know how to do nothing in Scripture but jest and revile. Note the Hebraism. For sins properly cannot be bleached; what therefore he says: "Your sins shall be bleached," is the same as if he said: You sinners shall be cleansed and bleached from your sins. It is a metonymy, by which a quality is put for the person in whom the quality inheres. Thus in Leviticus xiv, it is often said that leprosy is cleansed, that is, the leper is cleansed from leprosy; and in III Kings xiv: "As dung is wont to be cleansed," that is, a house from dung. St. Basil reads from the Septuagint: If your sins shall be as scarlet, and thinks that sins are compared here to elephantiasis and leprosy; for these diseases are called in Greek φοινικαί, because they are of a reddish color like the palm, which is called φοῖνιξ, says Galen: for sin is the leprosy of the soul, says St. Basil. But the Hebrew שני scani signifies not leprosy, but scarlet. Whence Note: Coccus is a dye-grain, which grows on a certain shrub, concerning which Pliny, lib. IX, cap. xii, and lib. XVI, cap. viii, and Dioscorides, book IV, cap. xliii. In this grain is born a certain small reddish and fragrant little worm, which coming forth from the grain is sprinkled with strong white wine, dries and is ground into a powder for dyeing and reddening cloths, which from this are called scarlet or scarlet-colored: just as cloths dyed with the blood of a fish, which is called purple, are called purple or purple-colored. Moreover this color, especially when repeated, or dyed twice and double-dyed, is stubborn, bright and radiant. Whence Silius, lib. XVII: But on the other hand Scipio shone bright with scarlet. That is to say: If you have soiled your first white stole of innocence with stains as it were of red blood from your sins... 19 and 20. If you are willing and hear Me, the good things of the land (of Chanaan); for he speaks to the Jews, yet through this anagogically understand the land of the living in the heavens. Whence Tertullian, lib. De Resurrect. carn. cap. xxvi, explains this of the gifts of the glorified body, and (as he himself speaks, made angelic) you shall eat.
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But if you will not, the sword (of the Babylonians, and afterwards of the Romans, says St. Jerome) shall devour you. — Why therefore do heretics deny that there is free will in the sinner? For the sinner can at his pleasure will and not will to obey God, as Isaiah here says. Musculus and Calvin answer that the sinner does not act freely indeed, but yet willingly, not by compulsion, wickedly, and therefore is reproved and punished by God. But even asses and brute beasts act willingly; yet who would be so foolish as to command an ass, saying: If you will and obey the commands of your master, you shall be well fed by him? Who would not punish him with threats and death for not obeying the commands? For "sword" in Hebrew is חרב chereb: which if you read with other points חרב choreb, it will be dryness and sterility, which directly opposes the fertility and abundance of good land. Thus Sanchez. Symbolically, St. Justin, in his Oration to Antoninus Pius, explains that passage of Isaiah 1, "the sword shall devour you," thus: The sword, he says, is the fire of hell, whose food are those who perpetrate evils, hence he says, the sword, that is the fire, shall devour you; otherwise he would have said: The sword shall cut you; for to devour belongs to fire, not to the sword. 21. How (note the word of one wondering and lamenting with wonder) has the faithful city become a harlot? (Jerusalem namely, which before was faithful to God, and kept faith with Him as with a husband chastely, and adhered to Him alone, and from this was) full of judgment, that is, had pious and just judges, and just tribunals: now "become a harlot," to idols as to adulterers, and from this turned to frauds and injustices: whence) justice dwelt in her, now but murderers. — For "harlot" in Hebrew is זונה zona, which can be translated as an innkeeper, a stable-keeper, a huckster, who makes gain from every quarter; and therefore receives any guests. For such was Jerusalem, which received all nations and their vices and customs, especially frauds and injustices, as follows, so that the crimes of all nations, as it were a certain flood, flowed into that common inn. Thus Sanchez. Secondly, for "dwelt," in Hebrew is ילין ialin, that is, lodged for the night: the Septuagint ἐκοιμήθη, that is, slept, as if to say: Before justice rested softly and slept securely in Jerusalem, as in its bed, now in it sleep without quiet and without fear robbers and murderers. Thirdly, two, says Jerome Prado in Ezechiel ix, at the end, capital vices does Isaiah here reproach the Jews with: first, harlotry and defection from God their husband; second, murder. The first against the first table of the Decalogue, the second against the second: first he opposes faith, second justice, which two flourished in the noble city, while it kept both tables, that is, the whole law.
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Note here: Faith and true religion have justice as their companion and effect, just as infidelity and impiety have injustice as their companion and effect: for those who do not keep faith with God, how shall they keep it with men? Among heretics therefore, who are prodigal of faith, there cannot be true justice, nor true chastity either. 22. Your silver is turned into dross: your wine is mixed with water. — Faith, says Prado, he here calls "silver," justice "wine:" which two when mixed and corrupted with dross and water he laments, namely, first, in place of fidelity to God, the filthiness of idols succeeding, in place of religion, superstition; second, in place of wine of fervent charity and justice toward one's neighbor, succeeding water of poured-out liberty and boldness for every kind of fraud and wickedness. It is therefore a saying, as if to say, "Your silver is turned into dross," or into dregs and foam, that is, pure religion of God is turned into impure superstitions; "your wine is mixed with water," that is, your justice is mixed with avarice and injustice.
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Secondly, Sasbout and others: Silver, they say, here and in Psalm xi, 7: "The words of the Lord, the words pure (as) silver tried in fire;" and elsewhere it signifies the words, the law and pure doctrine of the Lord. The word "wine" here denotes the same thing, as also in Proverbs ix, 5; Apocalypse vi, 6. By "dross" however and "water" is signified the very corruption of the law, through the traditions which the Scribes and Pharisees introduced, says St. Jerome, Cyril and Basil. Thirdly, Leo Castrius understands by "silver" the very doctors and wise men of the Jews, and adds: Plato, he says, in book III of the Republic, borrowed from Isaiah and Jeremiah, so that he might name golden men those men endowed with heavenly wisdom and virtue; but he says that heavenly silver is implanted in their souls, who are distinguished by common wisdom and common virtues; to the remaining men according to the variety of their customs either bronze, or iron, or tin is implanted in their souls. In like manner among the Jews Isaiah and the other Prophets were as gold, heavenly and incorruptible, the Scribes and Priests were as silver. The sense therefore is, as if Isaiah said: Your doctors and priests, O Jerusalem! are corrupted in doctrine and morals, and corrupt others. St. Jerome, Cyril, Basil favor this, who refer these things tropologically to heretics, and Basil also to preachers who traffic in the favor of men by flattering them with their blandishments, and make the Gospel serve their cupidity, avarice and ambition: for these are adulterated and corrupted silver and wine, of which it could be said what Ennius said of deceitful soldiers and commanders: "Trafficking in war, not waging war." Thus indeed these are trafficking in the Gospel (as the Apostle says, II Corinthians ii, 17) not evangelizing. See Ambrose on Psalm cxviii, sermon 12. These three senses are fitting, and tend almost to the same thing. Your wine is mixed with water. — He says the same thing by another proverb. The Seventy translate: "Your traffickers mix water with wine." St. Jerome follows them, in the Commentary. The traffickers are the Scribes and Pharisees, who corrupted the law by their Pharisaic interpretations. Note here: St. Jerome sometimes translates differently in the Commentary than he translated in the Bibles; but the Church received his version of the Bibles: that therefore is to be followed before the Commentaries, when it dissents from them. Secondly, Hector Pintus thus expounds: "Your wine is mixed with water," that is, there is in you no pure and genuine virtue: your justice is mixed with cruelty, vengeance, and a certain malicious interpretation of law: fortitude is mixed with rashness and haughtiness of spirit: temperance is conjoined with negligence and cowardice: prudence has coupled malice and cunning with itself. A religious person mixes wine with water, when he mixes with obedience his own will and judgment, with curious prayer and worldly conversations, with heavenly thoughts and consolations vile and human delights. Preachers mix wine with water, if they join with the word of God the allurements of words, with reproofs flattery, with the glory of God the glory of men. This sense is fitting, but moral. Therefore Luther wrongly, in a writing published against the King of England in the year 1522, strives to prove from this place of Isaiah that water ought not to be mixed with wine in the chalice of the Eucharist. "For it has," he says, "this very bad signification, Isaiah saying: Your wine is mixed with water." Bellarmine rightly responds to him, in book IV On the Eucharist, chapter xi, that it has a very bad signification, if the traffickers (of whom Isaiah speaks here) mix water with wine: for this signifies their avarice, fraudulence and injustice. But not if those drinking it mix them; for this argues their temperance. But the glutton Luther wishes to drink unmixed wine, not mixed: hence the mixed has for him a very bad signification, namely because through it he cannot satisfy his gluttony and drunkenness. 23. Your princes are faithless. — In Hebrew there is a paronomasia between שרים sarim, that is princes, and סוררים sorerim, that is faithless, just as if you were to say, the first are depraved. Thus voices, says Calvin in Marlorat, Bishops Episcotos or Aposcopos, Cardinals Carnals or Carpinals, Canons Cænonicos, Provosts Præposteros. Thus this buffoon with a virulent tongue learned nothing but to calumniate and curse from his father the devil: but let him be gone, branded, and mindful of his own brand, let him starve. Companions of thieves: (because, as follows) all love gifts; — and therefore they pervert all laws. See how judges ought to despise gifts, the examples and sentences of the ancients, which I cited at Exodus xxiii, 21, and Exodus xxiii, 8. Moreover, admirable in this matter in this age was Blessed Thomas More, who, when he was the supreme judge and Chancellor of all England, and had found his tribunal full of cases and lawsuits, in the space of two years decided and settled all of them, so that he left not even one remaining, and that with such faithfulness that no one could complain of him: and he was so great an enemy of avarice and a despiser of gifts, that, although from boyhood he had been engaged in the republic until the fiftieth year of his age, and had discharged the highest offices, nevertheless he did not increase his annual income throughout all this time beyond seventy gold pieces. How many do we see today who are poor, who when they are raised to dignities, in a few years increase their income through many thousands. These are not More, they are not Mores. Blessed Peter Damian adapts this passage to avaricious Prelates, epistle 2, book II, which he wrote to the Bishops and Cardinals of the Holy Roman Church, in which he teaches that all the calamities of the Church flow from the vice of avarice, especially in accepting gifts. Thus therefore he begins: "A wise man says, Ecclesiasticus xx, Gifts and presents blind the eyes of judges, and like a muzzle in the mouth turn aside their reproofs. For he arms those who come with gifts, and through them assails, and blinds the hearts of those who have obtained a place for suggesting things at the ears of principals, concerning whom the Lord complains through Isaiah, saying: Thy princes are faithless, companions of thieves, all love gifts, they follow rewards. Someone will say: I indeed seek nothing, but if something is offered freely, I do not refuse to accept it. Behold, here those are not noted who seek gifts, but who only love them. Who are also not undeservedly called companions of thieves (for in Italian a thief is called furbo as it were furo): because while they receive stolen gifts, they also shudder to be caught by their fellow ministers and associates as in the crime of theft. And it should be noted that it is said, They follow rewards; because although they expend to their munificent ones the aid which is requested, nevertheless they do not escape the stains of guilt; because while they receive the retaliation of their benefit, they lose the fruit of eternal reward. Concerning whom he also says a little later: Alas! I will be comforted over my enemies, and I will be avenged of my enemies. He adds the cause: "For when gifts are accepted, if we wish to do anything against the giver, immediately the words in our mouth become soft; the sharpness of speech is blunted, the tongue is hindered by a certain blushing of shame. For the mind, conscious of the gift received, weakens the vigor of judicial censure, restrains the freedom of eloquence. For although the rectitude of judgment is not utterly taken away, nevertheless the authority of judging is weakened. According to the Prophet therefore (Isaiah cap. xxxiii), let us shake our hands from every gift, and preserve for ourselves the genuine freedom of harming or helping; so that we may not litigate under the servitude of money, but may serve in the freedom of justice." Note: For "faithless" in Hebrew it is סוררים sorerim, from the root סור, that is, he declined, withdrew, was perverse and rebellious. Whence Aquila translated it, withdrawing; Pagninus, declining; Pintus, perverse; the Septuagint and St. Jerome, in the Commentary, disobedient: for obedience is not only of subjects, but also of a good prince. For as the people obeys the prince, so he ought to obey the laws of God. The prince presides over the people, the law over the prince. Hence, Deuteronomy xvii, 18, God commands that the king have the law with him, and read it all the days of his life. Whence IV Kings xi, 12, it is said of Jehoiada the priest: "And he brought out the king's son (the boy Joash) and put upon him the diadem and the testimony; and they made him king." By "testimony" the law is understood, which was given to the king together with the royal crown, so that he might govern according to it. The Gentiles felt the same. Bias, when asked "who was truly a prince?" answered: "He who first subjects himself to the law." Pindar says: "The law is the queen of all mortals." The reason is, because, since justice is the end of the law, it cannot happen that the law being despised the prince does not despise justice; which being done, there follows a seditious and turbulent state of the republic, and from this its ruin and destruction. Justinian therefore rightly said: "It is a worthy utterance for a prince to profess himself subject to the laws." But that flatterer spoke wrongly to Alexander the Great, groaning because when drunk he had killed his friend Clitus, saying that justice is painted standing by Jupiter, because whatever Jupiter or the king commands is just. Finally, St. Bernard adapts this fittingly, serm. 1 De Adventu, to our first parents: "Your princes, he says, are unfaithful, or, as another translation has it, disobedient, companions of thieves. Indeed truly our princes Adam and Eve, the beginnings of our descent, are disobedient and companions of thieves: who attempt to steal by the serpent's counsel, nay by the devil's through the serpent, what belongs to the Son of God. Nor does the father dissimulate the injury to his son, but straightway inflicts vengeance upon man himself, and lays his hand heavily upon us. For we all sinned in Adam, and in him we received the sentence of damnation." The cause of the widow does not enter before them. — Because they do not expect gifts or favors from poor widows, hence they do not undertake to defend or judge their causes, but always postpone them to the richer; or, if they are forced to judge a cause, they adjudicate it not to them, but to the adverse party, because it is rich or friendly. Note here and in verse 17, how much care God has for widows and orphans, and commands that their right be restored to them, and punishes those who oppress them. Theophilus the Emperor was illustrious in this regard; for, as Cedrenus and Zonaras relate, tom. III, in his Life: A certain duke had despoiled a soldier of a distinguished horse; this soldier fell in battle, the duke gave this horse to the Emperor Theophilus: the wife of the slain soldier, seeing the Emperor Theophilus riding on horseback at the temple of Blachernae in his customary manner, mounted on her husband's horse, rushed forward with quickened pace, seized the bridle of the horse, crying out that it was hers and no other's; and that the Emperor himself had been the cause of her husband's death. The Emperor, terrified, orders her to wait until he himself should return to the palace, and returning, straightway calls her to him, and inquires more carefully into the whole matter. When she had recited it to him from beginning to end, immediately this duke too is brought forward, and the woman being hidden by order of the Emperor, is sharply questioned about the horse. When he asserted it was his, and not obtained by robbery, the woman is produced from behind the curtain, the guilty party in the act of violence. At the sight of her he grew rigid, and stood silent for some time, and then, coming to himself, threw himself at the feet of the Emperor weeping, and confessed his sin. Therefore the Emperor adjudges his property to the widow and her children by right of inheritance; and him, stripped of his dignity, he condemns to perpetual exile. Zonaras relates of the same: a woman came to Theophilus and accused Petronas, the brother of the Empress, that he was building a house so high in her neighborhood that it obstructed her light. Petronas was summoned by the emperor, and when asked what the woman said, he said she was talking nonsense. Then the emperor: "Beware," he said, "lest she appeal to me again on the same matter, which will not be good for you;"; and he ordered the woman to go to Petronas, and, unless the damage were made good to her, to return to him. When she had done this, and obtained nothing from Petronas, in desperation she appealed to the Emperor again: he immediately ordered certain senators to see whether damage was being done to the woman. They went at once, and reported the damage to the Emperor: who went forth to the forum, and standing in a certain place there, ordered Petronas to be stripped of his garments, and beaten on the back and on the breast, and the things he had built to defraud the woman to be destroyed, and the material and the ground itself to be given to the woman. 24. Therefore says the Lord God of hosts. — Here Isaiah properly begins to act as a Prophet, to pave the way to Christ, who will give a remedy to all the evils hitherto described. This part of the chapter is therefore joyful and consolatory.
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Alas! I shall be comforted over my enemies, and I shall be avenged. — Forerius thinks that heu, or הוי hoi, is an interjection not of sorrow, but of exultation, as if to say: God, I exult, because I shall receive consolation in the vengeance and destruction of my enemies the Jews. For in a similar manner he himself says, Ezech. v, 13: "I will accomplish my fury, and I will cause my indignation to rest upon them, and I shall be comforted;" and Deuteron. xxviii: "As the Lord rejoiced over you, doing well to you, and multiplying you; so he will rejoice destroying you and overthrowing you." But properly the Hebrew hoi, and the Latin "heu," belongs to one who sorrows, not to one who exults. Therefore God signifies by this voice: first, that he sorrows and unwillingly punishes sinners, so that it may appear that he departs from his nature and from himself. Second, that the punishment will be grave. For thus a physician groans when he sees someone so sick that he must be burned or cut. "A strong man then groans, when he composes himself for firmness," says Cicero in Tuscul. Thus those who split wood, about to give a heavy blow, draw it forth with groaning and sighing. "Alas" therefore belongs to one who sorrows, "I shall be comforted" to one who rejoices: "I shall be comforted," that is, I shall be avenged: for the first hemistich, I shall be comforted over my enemies, is explained in the Hebrew manner by the latter, when he adds, "and I shall be avenged of my enemies." For men who have suffered injury are accustomed to rejoice and be comforted if they can avenge themselves upon their enemies: thus here God speaks of himself in human fashion, yet so that he may signify that he, because he is most benign, far otherwise than men, against his will sorrows and groans as he descends to vengeance, although that vengeance is his justice and consolation. Thus therefore his vengeance and justice is mixed with clemency and mercy, and so the vengeance itself afflicts not so much the sinner as God himself anthropopathically; because God, unwilling and as if sorrowful, punishes and afflicts the sinner: nay rather, the same affection in God by which he avenges and punishes, and by which he condoles and sympathizes with the punished. Whence the Hebrew hoi is both of one who sorrows and of one who rejoices, and signifies both heu and væ, as the Septuagint translates it; because God perceives the solace which vengeance is accustomed to bring, with sorrow, truly a pious father even in judgment and chastisement. Add: this vengeance of God is the highest mercy; for by this chastisement he converts and amends the sinner, and makes him from an enemy a friend, from an unjust man a just man, from a slave of the devil and hell a servant of God, and an heir of heaven. See Can. xlvi. Whence it follows: 25. And I will turn my hand to thee, and I will melt away thy dross as with lye, and I will take away all thy tin. — Vatablus translates, I will purge thy dross like soap. But dross is not usually purged with soap, and the Hebrew בר bor signifies not only soap, but every thing which has the power of purging: bor also signifies pure, as our translator clearly translates it. Again Vatablus and the Hebrews refer these things to Sennacherib, who besieged Jerusalem in the time of Hezekiah. But these were only threats of Sennacherib: for he neither took nor laid waste the city, nay rather by the prayers of Isaiah and Hezekiah he himself with his men was smitten by an angel; wherefore it is better that you refer these things to the captivity both Babylonian and Roman, and this will be clear, vers. 27. Furthermore these words are of God angry at sins, but propitious to sinners: for this is the wonderful vengeance of God, by which he pursues sins in man, kills and abolishes them; but by his wonderful clemency he transforms the sinner, transfers him to another life, and bestows upon him his graces and gifts: for he makes it so that, for example, Peter dies impure, drunk, incestuous, proud, and rises again Peter pure, sober, chaste, humble, etc. And it is a metaphor from goldsmiths and silversmiths, who by fire melt silver, separate and purge it from dross, tin, and other metals, as if to say: Just as the silversmith melts and smelts an impure mass of silver by fire, and does so long and often (whence in Hebrew for "I will turn" is אשיב aschib; that is, I will bring back and return my hand, as the goldsmith does so that he may purge, file and polish the work), until pure silver is separated from tin and dross: so also I by the fire of tribulations, plagues, and enemies the Chaldeans and Romans will so long smelt and afflict you, O Jews! until idolatry, injustice, the traditions of the Pharisees, and other filth of sins shall be fully separated and purged from you; and from leaden, tinny and iron men you shall become silver and golden men. Again I will punish, and I will remove from the midst the wicked judges, princes, Pontiffs, Scribes and Pharisees. For these can be understood by dross and tin, as I said vers. 22. Whence Jeremiah uses a similar metaphor of the smelter and reprobate silver, cap. vi at the end. Note: Here tribulation is a furnace and smelting-house, by which the elect are purged, the wicked are burned up. See what is said Threnor. 1, 13, and Daniel. xi, 35. 26. And I will restore thy judges as they were before, and thy counsellors as in the beginning. — The former judges of the Hebrews were good men: Moses, Joshua, Gideon, and others in the books of Judges; and after them David, Solomon, Jehoshaphat, etc. But God restored such judges after the Babylonian captivity, when he gave them Ezra, Nehemiah, Jesus the son of Josedech, the Maccabees, etc. Thus St. Jerome, Chrysostom, Haymo, Hugo, Sanchez.
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Again and more fully, after the Roman captivity, of which the Babylonian captivity was a prefigurement and type, in the time of Christ God restored to the Jews in place of the impious Scribes and Pharisees pious and holy Apostles and other Princes of the Church, who surpassed those first judges both in wisdom and in diligence and in facility and success in teaching and governing. St. Jerome, Cyrillus, Hugo, Haymo, Dionysius, and Forerius understand this of the Apostles, whence it follows: After this thou shalt be called the city of the just. — The Septuagint and the Hebrew: city of justice, namely that just princes, Esdras, Nehemias and others dwell in Jerusalem and govern and judge it justly, and that justice and the just God rule in it: for those princes shall govern the people according to the just laws of God prescribed and sanctioned by Him. He alludes to the ancient king of the Solymaeans, who was called Melchisedech from his probity, that is, king of justice. Secondly, and more truly, "thou shalt be called the city of the just," namely of Christ, when He shall be born and shall teach and sanctify thee; especially when at Pentecost He shall send the Holy Spirit upon thee. Thus St. Jerome. For Christ is called antonomastically in Scripture the Just One and the Holy of Holies, and therefore justifies and sanctifies all: whence He brought it about that the Apostles and their successors governed the Church, not for their own advantage or glory, but looking to the one most just and most holy will and glory of Christ the Lord in governing it. A faithful city, — namely to God, persisting in His faith alone, worship and obedience: this therefore pertains to the observance of the first table of the Decalogue: just as the city of justice pertains to the second, as I said in verse 21. For the Church was faithful to God, because she constantly kept the conjugal faith given to God, whereas the Synagogue often violated it and, as it were an adulteress, turned again and again to idols. 27. Sion shall be redeemed in judgment. — That is to say, Israel shall be freed from Babylon by Cyrus after just satisfaction, namely the penalty of seventy years of captivity endured: for that is here called judgment, because it was inflicted upon them by the just judgment of God. Hence the Septuagint translates: With judgment shall her captivity be saved. Whence then Esdras, Nehemias and other just judges and princes shall "restore" and govern "her in justice," as I explained in the preceding verse. Otherwise Sanchez says, "in judgment," that is, not rashly, but with selection; namely because those shall be restored who shall be fearing God, as Tobias says, last chapter, verse 7, and whose spirit God stirred up, as it is said in I Esdras 1, 1. Secondly, more fully and truly this was accomplished through Christ (to whom the Prophet flies here as is customary, according to Canon vi and xii) who "in judgment," that is, from strict justice, redeemed Sion, that is, the Church of Jews and Gentiles, which began in Sion and Jerusalem.
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Note here: This redemption of Christ, although it was a work of supreme clemency and mercy, is nevertheless here called "judgment and justice." First, because Christ redeemed us from justice by paying a ransom, namely the price of His blood. Secondly, because the demon, as a tyrant, unjustly held the Jews and other men captive, although sinners, driving them at his will to every crime; whence he was justly deprived of this tyranny by Christ. Thirdly, because although the demon received power from God as a torturer over sinners, to kill them with present and eternal death, nevertheless he did not receive power over Christ, who is just and the Son of God. Whence because he abused this power of his, when he contrived to have Him killed through the Jews, he justly merited to be deprived of it entirely: Christ also by His death, so iniquitous and unworthy, merited this same thing; and this is what Christ says in John, chapter xii, verse 31: "Now is the judgment of the world: now shall the prince of this world be cast out." Thus St. Jerome and Rupertus. Fourthly, because Christ gives and infuses justice to the Church and to sinners, while He redeems them from sin and justifies them. Anagogically Christ shall most perfectly redeem Sion, that is, the Church, from all evil both of guilt and of punishment in the last resurrection, and this on account of the merit of the penance and patience of Sion in this life. 28. And He shall crush (namely God, see Canon 17) the wicked and the sinners together: and they that have forsaken the Lord shall be consumed. — Here the Prophet flies back from the time of Christ to the punishments of his own time and his people; therefore connect this with verse 24: "I will be revenged of my enemies." Secondly, however, these things can also be referred to the time of Christ, that is to say, God shall redeem Sion, that is, the faithful and pious of Sion, who shall believe in Christ and obey Him; but the other sons of Sion according to the flesh, namely the Jews, who shall be unwilling to believe in Christ and obey Him, He shall "crush" as wicked or sinners (for it is more to be wicked than to be a sinner), and therefore not so much sons as spurious, nay enemies of Sion. See Canon vii. He shall crush, I say, them partly in this life through Titus and Vespasian, partly in judgment both particular and universal, condemning them to hell: for then all "who have forsaken the Lord," that is, God and Christ, "shall be consumed."
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And they that have forsaken the Lord, shall be consumed — by poverty and the miseries of captivity in Babylon: for just as out of so many thousands of Hebrews who went forth from Egypt, on account of their murmuring few, namely Joshua and Caleb, entered the promised land, so also few from Babylon shall return into Judea. Thus Sanchez. 29. They shall be confounded by the idols. — Castalion translated perfidiously, "by the gods," so as to charge the invocation of Saints. "They shall therefore be confounded by the idols," that is on account of the idols (thus is a or ab taken for on account of, Jer. xxii, 22; Osee vii, 16.); because namely they shall see their idols, which they worshipped, and in which they hoped, to be unable to free themselves or them from this scourge of God. These words properly pertain to the time of the Babylonian captivity, not to the Roman time in the time of Christ, because then the Jews did not worship idols; but at the end of the world under Antichrist they shall again worship them. Whence then again shall they be confounded in them, when their leader Antichrist with his followers shall be struck down, and thrust down to the depths of hell. And you shall be ashamed of the gardens which you have chosen, — in which you worshipped idols lasciviously and shamelessly, especially the obscene Beelphegor or Priapus. See II Paralip. xv, 16. By "gardens" understand also groves consecrated to idols. It is an enallage of person: for it passes from the third to the second, signifying that this scourge is not remote, but imminent, and shall befall those to whom he speaks. See Can. xvi. 30. When you shall be as an oak with the leaves falling off, — which once flourishing now in winter or old age losing its leaves withers, dries up, dies: so shall it be with you: you have sinned in gardens, as gardens you shall wither and be punished. And as a garden without water, — which without moisture dries up and is parched, and produces nothing green, so also you shall waste away with hunger and the miseries of the body: but in the soul destitute of the water of grace you shall live a life without the fruit of good works, not angelic, not human, but brutal, but diabolical, but infernal. 31. And your strength shall be as the tinder of tow, and your work as a spark: and both shall be kindled together, and there shall be none to quench it. — "Both" namely "work" and "strength." Now he calls the strength of the Jews both their cities, walls, arms, fortresses; and more especially their idols, in which they themselves placed all their hope and strength; whence for אוון chosen, others with different pointing read חוסן chosan, that is strong. Whence Vatablus translates, it shall be most strong (of your gods) as tow. By "work" he understands the adornment, pomp and worship which they exhibited to idols: again the riches, lands, palaces obtained by the aid of idols and demons through frauds, injustices and robberies, and consequently the frauds themselves, injustices and robberies, and other works of impiety, as if to say: You thought all these things to be most strong and to be perpetual; but I through the destruction of Judea shall destroy and burn them like tow, which is consumed by a light flame; I shall burn them, I say, both through the Babylonians, and more especially through the fire of hell: for this shall properly be inextinguishable, in which the works of the impious, and all their glory, riches and strength in the impious man himself shall be burned. Thus St. Basil, whom St. Jerome and Haymo follow, who mix both fires here, namely the temporal and the eternal. Whence also the Chaldean translates: "The impious shall be burned and their wicked works." Otherwise Sanchez takes this: Strength, he says, are walls and towers, fire is sins, as if to say: Walls, which otherwise would mock their enemies, now shall be tow: because, even if no enemy should invade them, yet your sins like enemies raging within would consume them, and reduce them to ashes, just as fire consumes dry stubble; but this seems to be mystical.
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through frauds, injustices and robberies, obtained, and consequently the frauds themselves, injustices and robberies, and other works of impiety, as if to say: You thought all these things to be most strong and to be perpetual; but I through the destruction of Judea shall destroy and burn them like tow, which is consumed by a light flame; I shall burn them, I say, both through the Babylonians, and more especially through the fire of hell: for this shall properly be inextinguishable, in which the works of the impious, and all their glory, riches and strength in the impious man himself shall be burned. Thus St. Basil, whom St. Jerome and Haymo follow, who mix both here. Whence also the Chaldean translates: "The impious shall be burned and their wicked works." Otherwise Sanchez takes this: Strength, he says, are walls and towers, fire is sins, as if to say: Walls, which otherwise would mock their enemies, now shall be tow: because, even if no enemy should invade them, yet your sins like enemies raging within would consume them, and reduce them to ashes, just as fire consumes dry stubble; but this seems to be mystical.
Machine translation from the Latin, not reviewed.
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1. Iste liber dividitur in duas partes, in prooemium et tractatum. Secunda incipit, ibi, Audite caeli, auribus percipe terra. Prooemium inducitur quasi titulus, ad manifestationem sequentis operis. Manifestatur autem ex quatuor. Primo ex operis genere; secundo ex auctore, ibi, Isaiae; tertio ex materia, ibi, Quam vidit super Judam et Jerusalem: quarto ex tempore, ibi, In diebus Oziae, Joathan, Achaz et Ezechiae regum Judae. Genus operis ostenditur in hoc quod dicit, Visio; in quo differt a libris historicis, quia prophetia est. Oseae 12: « Ego visiones multiplicavi eis. » Et sequitur: « In manibus prophetarum assimilatus sum » Hic oportet tria videre. Primo qualiter se habeat visio ad prophetiam; secundo de modis prophetarum visionum; tertio de differentia propheticae visionis ad alias visiones. Circa primum sciendum est, quod prophetia potest habere duplicem interpretationem, secundum quod potest venire a phantos, quod est apparitio, vel a for faris. Secundum primam derivationem dicitur prophetia habens apparitionem de his quae procul sunt; et secundum hoc prophetia differt a visione in modo; quia apparitio dicit relationem visibilis ad videntem, sed visio e contrario. Iterum se habent ex additione: quia visio est de quibuscunque, sed prophetia de his quae procul sunt. Dicuntur autem aliqua esse procul a cognitione nostra dupliciter; simpliciter, et secundum quid. Simpliciter procul sunt futura contingentia ad utrumlibet, quorum non potest alicui determinata cognitio nec in se nec in suis causis provenire; et de his prophetia proprie est. Secundum quid procul sunt quorum cognitio diffugit a cognoscente, sicut quaedam praeterita et quaedam praesentia; et de his non est prophetia simpliciter, sed quo ad nescientes. Sed secundum secundam derivationem dicitur prophetia quasi procul fans. Et sic prophetia addit supra visionem actum exterioris denuntiationis, et visio erit materialis respectu prophetiae. Circa secundum sciendum est, quod modi prophetalium visionum distinguuntur secundum ea in quibus accipitur scientia futuri contingenti. Illud autem est aut species facta in sensu, et dicitur visio corporalis, quia sensus accipit species praesentibus corporibus quorum sunt: aut est species recepta in imaginatione, et dicitur visio spiritualis, quia primo manifestatur in ipsa actu et proprietatis spiritualiter, quae est cognoscere rem abstractam a materia; aut est species existens tantum in intellectu, et dicitur visio intellectualis. Et est sciendum, quod prophetia salvatur in istis tribus sicut totum potentiale in suis partibus; cujus natura est quod secundum perfectam suam virtutem est in uno, et in aliis est quaedam participatio et quidam motus illius; sicut est in anima, quod ejus tota virtus salvatur in anima rationali; et sensitiva non habet perfectam animae virtutem, et adhuc minus anima vegetabilis. Propter quod dicit Gregorius, quod planae non vivunt per animam, sed per vigorem. Similiter etiam et corporalis visio et spiritualis vel imaginaria est aliquid prophetiae; sed non possunt dici verae prophetiae, nisi addatur visio intellectualis, in qua est completa ratio prophetiae. Dan. 10: « Intelligentia enim » opus est in visione: » unde antecedit: « Intelle- « xitque sermonem, » scilicet Daniel. Visio autem primo et proprie dicitur de visione corporali. Et quia omnis nostra cognitio est a sensibus, inter quos visus potior est et subtilitate et universalitate, quia plures rerum differentias ostendit; ideo transfertur nomen visivae cognitionis ad alias cognitiones interiores. Circa tertium sciendum, quod non quaelibet visio intellectualis est visio prophetalis: est enim quaedam visio ad quam sufficit lumen naturale intellectus, sicut est contemplatio invisibilium per principia rationis: et in hac contemplatione ponebant philosophi summam felicitatem hominis. Est iterum quaedam contemplatio ad quam elevatur homo per lumen fidei sufficiens, sicut sanctorum in via. Est etiam quaedam beatorum in patria ad quam elevatur intellectus per lumen gloriae, videns Deum per essentiam, inquantum est objectum beatitudinis; et hoc plene et perfecte non est nisi in patria: sed quandoque ad ipsam raptim elevatur aliquis etiam existens in hac mortali vita, sicut fuit in rapto Pauli. 2 Cor. 12: « Scio ho- « minem in Christo ante annos quatuordecim: (sive « in corpore nescio, sive extra corpus nescio, Deus « scit) raptum hujusmodi usque ad tertium cae- « lum. » Ubi dicit Glossa, quod vidit sicut illi qui sunt de tertia hierarchia. Nulla autem istarum est visio prophetalis, quia ad ipsam nec lumen naturale nec lumen fidei sufficit; sed elevatur ad ipsam intellectus prophetae per lumen gratiae gratis datae, quod est donum prophetiae: neque enim attingit ad videndum Deum prout est objectum beatitudinis, sed prout est ratio eorum quae pertinent ad dispositionem hominum in mundo. Similiter non omnis visio corporalis, vel imaginaria dicitur prophetica, sed illa tantum quae sit per speciem specialiter divina virtute ad hoc ordinatam, ut sit in signum alicujus futuri, sive videns sive alio modo intelligentium accipiat. Auctor tangitur in hoc quod dicit, Esaiæ filii Amos. Et quamvis iste Amos fuerit propheta, quia ponitur in titulo prophetiae, secundum regulas Hebraeorum; non tamen est ille qui est de numero XII prophetarum; quia aliis elementis apud Hebraeos uterque describitur. Materia tangitur in hoc quod dicit, Quam vi-dit super Judam et Jerusalem, quia de his quae pertinent ad Judam et Jerusalem, ut ly super accipiatur pro de secundum translationem Symmachi, vel pro, idest contra, secundum Septuaginta: ut Juda sumatur pro terra duarum tribuum, et Jerusalem pro Metropoli illius regionis. Vel Juda pro sorte Judae, et Jerusalem pro sorte Beniamin, quia in forte illius erat quantum ad corpus civitatis, quod erat in planitie; quamvis quantum ad verticem montis, in quo erat turris David et templum,
pertineret ad domum Dei, sicut potest 5 Reg. 12 haberi. In diebus. Hic notificatur opus ex tempore; et ponuntur quatuor reges, quorum tempore Isaiæ prophetae hanc edidit: unde quidam dividunt hunc librum secundum tempora regum sub quibus revelationem accepit. Ut in prima ponantur ea quae visa sunt tempore Oziae; in secunda ea quae visa sunt tempore Joathan, in 6 cap.: In anno quo mortuus est Ozias et inde usque ad finem 14 ubi dicuntur ea quae sunt visa tempore Achaz Sed quare non facit mentionem de regibus Israel, sicut Osee in suo titulo facit mentionem de Jeroboam filio Joas, cum fuerint contemporanei?
Ad quod dicitur, quod iste prophetavit contra duas tribus principaliter; et ideo eorum reges tantum in titulo habet; sed ille contra utrosque.
Item quaeritur quare non fit mentio de Manasse rege Juda: sub quo etiam prophetavit, cum constet eum non amisisse spiritum prophetiae.
Ad quod dicendum, quod omnia quae in hoc libro scripta sunt, temporibus prophetarum vidit. Sed non erat decens ut propheta qui principaliter consolationis est, in comminatione terminaretur; aut quod tempore mali regis, qui iram Dei provocabat, Dei consolatio praedicaretur. Jer. 13: « Dabo « eos in furorem universis regnis terrae. »
2. Hic incipit tractatus istius libri: unde accipietur divisio secundum exigentiam materiae. Dictum est autem, quod principaliter intentio ejus est circa adventum Christi, et gentium vocationem. Constabit autem quod « universae viae Domini misericordia et veritas; » ut dicitur in Psalm. 24. Unde Christo nato dictum est a Simeone, Luc. 2: « Ecce « hic positus est in ruinam et in resurrectionem mul- « torum in Israel. » Et intrantibus gentibus dictum est ab Apostolo. Rom. 2: « Caecitas ex parte con- « tigit in Israel, donec plenitudo gentium « subintraret. » Dividitur ergo iste liber in duas partes. In prima ponitur comminatio divinae justitiae ad excidium peccatorum; in secunda consolatio divinae misericordiae ad resurrectionem justorum, cap. 40, ibi, Consolamini. Prima in tres. Cum enim principaliter super Judam et Jerusalem loquatur; in prima parte comminatur duabus tribubus peccantibus; in secunda aliis eas persequentibus. 7 cap., Et factum est in diebus Achaz filii Joathan filii Oziae regis Juda, ascendit Rasin Rex Syriae, et Phacee filius Romeliae rex Israel in Jerusalem ad praelandum contra eam . . . Haec dicit Dominus Deus: Non stabit, et non erit is’ud. Ecce in justitia regnabit Rex. Prima dividitur in duas. In prima reprobant culpam, et comminatur poenam corrigentem; in secunda comminatur poenam condemnantem incorrigibles. 6 cap.: In anno quo mortuus est rex Ozias, vidi Dominum sedentem super solum excelsum et elevatum. Prima dividitur in duas. In prima arguit de culpa ex parte aversionis, in secunda ex parte conversionis. 2 cap., ibi, Verbum quod vidit Isaias filius Amos super Judam et Jerusalem. Prima in duas. In prima arguit in eis peccatum aversionis a cultu Dei; in secunda a jusitiua proximi, ibi, Quomodo facta est meretrix civitas fidelis, plena judicii? Prima in tres. In prima increpat culpam; in secunda pro culpa comminator poenam, ibi, Terra vestra deserta, civitates vestrae succensae igni, regionem vestram coram vobis alieni devorant; et desolabitur sicut in vastitate hostili. In tertia quaerit poenae medelam, ibi, Audite verbum Domini, principes Sodomorum. Prima in tres. In prima quaerit judicii testem: in secunda arguit peccati deformitatem, ibi, Filios e-nutrivit; ipsi autem spreverunt me; in tertia ostendit peccantium incorrigibilitatem, ibi, Super quo percuiam vos ultra, addentes praevacationem? Requirit autem creaturam in testem in judicium peccati, quae etiam fuerat testis in obligatione praecepti.
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Audite caeli, et auribus percipe terra. Deut. 52. « Audite caeli quae l-quor » Fuerat enim creatura testis obligationis ad praeceptum. Deuteron. 52. Nunc autem invocatur ut arbiter transgressionis. Psalm. 49: « Advocavit caelum desursum, et terram discernere populum » ejus. » Sed quandoque vocabitur ut instrumentum divinae ultionis. Sapient. 16: « Creatura creatori suo deserviens, excandeset in tormentum adversus injustos. »
Sed videtur inconveniens quod terra et caelum, quae sunt insensibiles creaturae, vocentur ad audiendum.
Sed dicendum, quod ad ea quae sunt rationalis naturae, vocatur insensibilis creatura propter quinque. Primo ad ostendendum divinam potentiam. Job 58: « Conclusi eam terminis. » Et Rom. 4: « Vocat ea quae non sunt tamquam ea quae sunt. » Secundo per evidentiam. 2 Reg. 12: « Ego vero faciam verbum istud in conspectu omninis Israel, et in conspectu solis. » Et Luc. 19. « Dico vobis, quia si hi taccebunt, lapides clama-bunt. » Tertio ad exaggerandam malitiam. Jer. 2. « Obstupescite caeli super haec, et portae ejus desolamini vehementer. » Quarto ad magnificandam laetitiam. Ps. 95. « Laetentur caeli, et exultet terra. » Quinto ad stupendum tristitiam. Oseae, 4. « Propter hoc lugebit terra, et infirmabitur omnis qui habitat in ea. » Ac si diceret: Peccatum vestrum est adeo patens quod ab irrationabilibus, si fieri posset, convinceretur; et similiter de aliis. Vel est ibi metonymia, ut ponatur caelum pro Angelis, et terra pro hominibus. Caeli, plurale pro singulari. Vel quia ad litteram sunt plures caeli et unum centrum quod est terra. Dominus locutus est. Ipsum loquentem auditis, quo loquente facta estis. Psalm. 148: « Dixit, et facta sunt; ipse mandavit, et creata sunt. » Audite caeli, quasi distantes; percipe terra, quasi propinqua. Filios enutrivit. Hic ostendit peccati deformitatem: et circa hoc tria facit. Primo ostendit contemptum in affectu; secundo ignorantiam in intellectu, ibi, Cognovit bos possessorum suum; tertio aversionem in operis effectu, ibi, Vae genti peccatrici etc. Et servatur hic ordo, ut ex contemptu aggravetur ignorantia, idest non ignorantia ex-cuset contemptum. Contemptum aggravat per beneficium impensum: unde circa primum duo facit. Primo commemorat beneficium; secundo ingrati-tudinis vitium, ibi Ipsi autem spreverunt me. Ponit autem triplex beneficium. Primum est filialis adoptionis, cum dicit, Filios. Exod. 4. « Filius primogenitus meus Israel. » Secundum solicitatione educationis, ibi, Enutrivit. Sap. 16: « Angelorum esca nutrivisti populum tuum. » Tertium singularis exaltationis, ibi, Et exaltavi. Sap. 2: « Ostendens per sitim quae tunc fuit, quemad-modum tuos exaltares, et adversarios eorum » necares. » Primum quantum ad patrum assumptionem et exaltationem; secundum in filiorum libertatem; tertium in hostium subjugationem. Ipsi autem spreverunt me. Jer. 3: « Quomodo si contemnat mulier amatorem suum, sie contemptit me domus Israel. » Ignorantiam autem aggravat per brutorum exemplum: unde circa hoc duo facit. Primo inducit cognitionem brutorum; secundo ignorantiam peccatorum, ibi, Israel autem me non cognovit.
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Cognovit bos possessorum suum, et asinus praesepe domini sui, quadam consuetudine beneficii. Israel autem. Arguit in eis duplicem ignorantiam; scilicet praecipientis, cum dicit, Non cognovit me, contra id quod dixerat, Possessorem suum; et contra rationem nominis; Israel: Israel enim, videns Deum, interpretatur. Joan. 16: « Non noverunt » Patrem, neque me. » Et ignorantiam legis: Et populus meus non intellexit; contra id quod dixerat, Praesepe, et quod dixerat, Populus, qui legislatoris praeceptis subjecitur. Oseae 8: « Scribam » eis multiplices leges meas, quae velut alienae computatae sunt. » Effectum autem operis aggravat per confirmationatum usum: unde primo ostendit confirmationem; secundo eorum aversionem, ibi, Derelinquerunt Dominum.
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Confirmationem ostendit primo per peccati consuetudinem, quae inducit habitum: unde dicit, Vae genti peccatrici. Sic enim est peccator ex habitu sicut cantor ex arte, vel officio, Infra 48: Transgressorem ex ventre vocati te. Secundo per peccati promptitudinem, quae est quasi quaedam gravitas in peccante. Gregorius: « Peccatum quod per poenitentiam non diluitur, mox suo pondere ad aliud trahit. » Psalm. 15: « Veloces pedes eorum ad effundendum sanguinem. » Tertio ex peccati successione: quia peccata patrum imitantes, quasi ex propagatione habent: unde dicit, Semini nequam, idest pessimum, secundum aliam translationem. Ps. 105: « Peccavimus cum patribus nostris, injuste egimus, iniquitatem fecimus. » Quarto quantum ad peccatorum magnitudinem, cum dicit, Filiis sceleratis. Ezech. 22: « Viri dectractores fuerunt in te, ad » effundendum sanguinem, . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . ab anima et transfundit in corpus, quasi medium inter animam et corpus; ita sacerdos est medius inter Deum et populum. Exod. 18: « Tu cris eis » in his quae ad Deum pertinent.
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« Quantum ad personam privati hominis, cum dicit: A planta pedis usque ad verticem non est in eo sanitas. Infra 56: Omnes in viam suam declinaverunt, unuquisque ad avaritiam suam, a summo usque ad novissimum. Et notandum, quod indoneitas regis ostenditur in langnore, quia subvenire non poterat puniendo per potentiam. Eccli. 7: « Noli quaerere » fieri judex, nisi virtute valeas irrumperе iniqui- tatem. Sacerdotis autem indoneitas ostenditur in moerore, per quem fit indoneus ad sacrificia, quibus expiabat peccata. Lev. 10: « Quomodo » potui comedere eam, aut placere Domino in cae- « remoniis mente lugubri? » Psal. 99: « Introite » in conspectu ejus in exultatione. « Privatus poterat corrigere per exemplum; et ideo osten- ditur indoneus per peccatum, quod designatur in privatione sanitates: A planta pedis. Psal. 15: « O- » mnes declinaverunt, simul inutiles facti sunt; » scilicet ad corrigendum. Tertio, ibi, Vulnus et livor, removet modum qui est per humanum studium, sicut quando aliquis disponitur ad gratiam, quae delet peccata, per bona opera. Unde dicit: Vulnus, culpa patens, et livor, invidia latens, et plaga tumens, superbia inflans, non est circumligata, vinculo legis retrahentis. Jer. 2: « A sae- » culo confregisti jugum meum, rupisti vincula » mea, dixisti, Non serviam, » quantum ad primum: nec curata medicamine, caritate sanante, quantum ad secundum: Prov. 10: « Universa deli- » cta operit caritas: » nec fota oleo, humilitate leniente. Judith 9: « Humilium et mansuetorum tibi » semper placuit deprecatio. » Eccl. 5: « Quan- » to major es, tanto magis humilia te in om- » nibus. » Prov. 15: « Responsio mollis frangit » iram. » Jud. 9: « Numquid possum desere » pinguedinem meam, qua dii utuntur et homines? » Terra vestra deserta, civitates vestras succensae igni. In hoc comminatur poenam: et primo ponit punitionis judicium; secundo consolationis quaecumque solutium, ibi, Nisi dominus exercituum reliquisset nobis semen. Poenam ponit triplicem. Primo quantum ad destructionem possessionum; unde dicit, Terra vestra deserta, quantum ad campestria, quae ita inculta erunt sicut desertum. Infra 7: « Vepres enim » et spinae erunt in universa terra. Civitates vestrae succensae igni, quantum ad urbana.
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Amos 2: « Mittam ignem in Judam, et devorabit aedes » Jerusalem. » Jer. 4: « Aspexi, et ecce Carme- » lus desertus, et omnes urbes ejus destructae a » facie Domini et a facie furoris ejus. » Secunda poena est quantum ad destructionem terrae nascen- tium: unde dicit: Regionem vestram coram vobis alieni devorant, quantum ad fructus. Deut. 28: « Devoret fructum jumentorum tuorum, ac fruges » terrae tuae, donec intereas. » Desolabitur, quantum ad destructionem arborum et vinearum. Jer. 4: « Vae nobis, quoniam vastati sumus. » Tertio quantum ad captivitatem hominum: unde: Derelinquetur Filia Sion, idest Jerusalem, vel templum, unde erat custodia totius provinciae, ut solitaria, et ut umbraculum in vinea, post vindemiam. Infra 5: « Vinea enim Domini, domus Israel est, et vir
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« Juda germen delectabile ejus. » Sicut tugurium in cucumerario, post fructus ultimos collectis, per quos significat patres. Oseae 9: « Quasi prima po- » ma ficulneae, in cacumine vidi patres eorum. » Sicut civitas quae vastatur, quia metropolis erat. Ezech. 53: « Vastata est civitas, ait ille qui vene- » rat de Jerusalem. » Jer. 6: « Haec est civitas » visitationis: omnis calumnia in medio ejus. » Nisi Dominus exercituum reliquisset nobis semen. Hic ponitur consolatio ex promissione liberandi seminis. Reliquit autem Dominus ei semen carnis congregatum. Infra 45: Ab oriens ad occidentem semen tuum, et ab occidente congregabo te. Semen benedictionis promissum. Gal. 5: « Abraham dictae » sunt promissiones, et semini ejus. » Semen praedicationis diffusum. Infra 27: Qui egredientur im-petu a Jacob, florebit et germinabit Israel: e imp- lebunt faciem orbis semine. Semen sanctorum novum. Infra 66: Sicut caeli novi et terra nova, quae ego facio stare coram me, sic stabit semen vestrum et nomen vestrum, dicit Dominus.
Filios enutrivi et exaltavi, ipsi autem spreverunt me. Hie notanda sunt tria: scilicet nutritionis beneficium, exaltationis privilegium, ingratiudinis contemptum. Nutrivit quidem tempore legis, quando adhuc heres parvulus erat, Gal. 4, primo reficiens promissis in paribus. Gal. 5: « Abrahae » dictae sunt promissiones. » Secundo gubernans judiciis in legislatoribus Psalm. 147: « Non fecit taliter omni nationi, et judicia sua non manifesta- » vit eis. » Tertio defendens auxiliis in judiciis et Regibus, Judith 2: « Deus eorum defendet eos, » et erimus in opprobrium universae terrae. » Quarto erudivit monitis in prophetis. Malach. 2: « Et testificatus est Dominus inter te et uxor- » em pubertatis tuae. » Quinto correxit flagellis in hostibus, 2 Mach. 6: « Etenim non multo tem- » pore sinere peccatoribus ex sententia agere, sed » statim ultiones adhibere, magni beneficii est in- » dicium. » Sed exaltavit tempore gratiae primo secundum carnis assumptionem. Hebr. 2: « Nusquam » Angelos apprehendit; sed semen Abrahae appre- » hendit. » Secundo per personalem praedicationem. Matth. 10: « Non sum missus nisi ad oves » quae perierunt domus Israel. » Tertio per suam conversationem. Joan. 10: « Multa bona opera ope- » ratus sum in vobis: propter quod opus vultis me » lapidare? » Quarto per miraculorum operationem. Joan. 4, et Luc. 7: « Quia propheta magnus » surrexit in nobis, et quia Deus visitavit plebem » suam. » Quinto per discipulorum praedicationem. Psalm. 44: « Pro patribus tuis nati sunt tibi filii: » constitues eos principes super omnem terram. » Sed e contrario illi Christum vituperant, Luc. 4: « Nonne hic est filius Joseph? » Secundo doctrinam improbant. Matth. 26 et Luc. 25: « A Galilaea » usque huc, hunc invenimus subvertentem gen- » tem nostram. » Vitam blasphemant. Matth. 9: « Quare cum publicanis et peccatoribus manducat » magister vester? » Miracula pervertunt. Matth. 12: « In principe daemoniorum ejicit daemonia. » Discipulos occidunt. Matth. 10: « Ecce mitto vos ut » oves in medio luporum. »
5. Hic ponitur medicina contra poenam: et primo convocat ad audiendum; secundo removet inutilis remedium, ibi, Quo mihi? tertio adhibetur salubre consilium, ibi, Lavamini, mundi estote.
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Convocat autem ad audiendum primo majores; dicens: Audite verbum Domini, principes Sodomorum; secundo minores, ibi, Populus Gomorrhae.
Sed quare invitat majores ad audiendum et minores ad percipiendum? Quia ea quae sunt a majoribus audita, facile percipiunt minores.
Item cum relinquat eis semen, quare comparat eos Sodomitis et Gomorrhaeis, qui penitus consumpti sunt? Et dicendum, quod quantum ad incorrigibiles comparat propter duo. Primo propter peccati similitudinem: infra 2: Et pueris alienis adhæserunt; et propter publicationem: infra 5: Peccatum suum quasi Sodoma praedicaverunt, nec absconderunt. Et cum fuerint quinque civitates subversae, nihilominus praecipue comparat istis, quia sunt praecipuae inter alias. Et propter hoc etiam principes comparat Sodomitis, quia civitas illa metropolis erat, sic ut patet Genes. 14. Principum autem est audire a Domino verbum suum et populo legem imponere; et ideo invitat illos ad audientiam verbi, et populum ad perceptionem legis. Quo mihi? Hic ostendit inutilitatem remedium quod apponcbant; et primo quantum ad sacrificiorum oblationes; secundo quantum ad festorum celebrationes, ibi, Neomenias vestras et sabbatum et festivitates alias non feram; tertio quantum ad divinas orationes, ibi, Et cum extenderitis manus vestras, avertam oculos meos a vobis. Circа primum duo facit. Primo reprobат oblationem de animalibus; secundo de inanimatis, ibi, Incensum abominatio est mihi. In sacrificiis autem animalium erat aliquid quod totum cedebat in cultum Dei; sicut holocaustum, quasi totum incensum, ab olon, quod est totum, et cauma, quod est incendium. Unde adeps totus adolebatur, ut habetur Levitic. 1. et sanguis totus effundebatur, Levitic. 5, Quaedam autem erant quae partim cedebant in cultum Dei, partim in usum ministrì; sicut hostia pro peccato; nisi quando erat pro peccato sacerdotis vel multitudinis, Levitic. 4. Quaedam autem de quibus cedebat aliquid in cultum Dei, et aliquid in usum ministri, et aliquid cedebat ipsi offerenti, sicut in hostiis pacificis, quae pro gratiarum actione offerebantur, vel pro salute, Levitic. 7. Et secundum haec tria dividitur in tres partes. Primo reprobat sacrificia in tria distributa, scilicet pacifica.
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Et primo ponit reprobationem, dicens, Quo mihi, idest ad quod mihi offerlis, multitudinem victimarum vestrarum, quasi non meam? Et dicuntur victimæ, vel quia animal vinculum ad sacerdotem ducebatur, vel quia pro victoria habita vel habenda offerebatur. Deinde reprobationis rationem ponit dicens, Plemus sum: vel propter fastidium, quia non bona: Genes. 4: « Ad Cain autem et ad munera ejus non respexit: » vel propter dominium: Psalm. 49: « Meae sunt omnes ferae sylvarum, jumenta in montibus et boves. » Secundo reprobat ea quae ex toto erant oblata Deo. Et primo ponit reprobatione illorum trium; et ponit tantum tria animalia, quia de his fiebant tantum sacrificia quae erant de armatis: fiebant etiam quaedam de avibus turturem et pullis columbae: sed hoc erat propter defectum paupertatis, sicut patet Levitic. 24 et pluribus aliis locis. Et iterum non erat usus eorum universalis in omnibus, quia non offerebatur ex his hostia pacifica.
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Deinde ponit reprobationis rationem, ibi, Cum veniretis ante conspectum meum, quis quaesivit hæc de manibus vestris, ut ambulareis in atriiis meis? quasi dicat: Plus offenditis me ambulantes in atriiis meis polluentes ea, quam holocaustum placeat: unde non accepto hanc communionem.
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Psalm. 59: « Holocaustum et pro peccato non postulasti. » Jerem. 7: « Non sum locutus cum patribus vestris, et non praecepi eis in die qua eduxi eos de terra Ægypti de verbo holocaustatum et victimarum; sed hoc praecepi eis, audite vocem meam; et ero vobis Deus, et vos mihi populus. » Tertio reprobат ea quae erant Deo et sacerdoti debita, dicens: Ne offeratis ultra. Jerem. 11: « Numquid carnes sanctae auferent a te malitias tuas, in quibus gloriata es? » Et Mich. 6: « Quid dignum offeram Domino? .. Numquid offeram ei holocaustata et vitulos anniculos? Numquid placari potest in millibus arietum, aut in millibus hircorum pinguium? » Incensum. Hie reprobат oblationes de rebus inanimatis, pro quibus omnibus ponit incensum, eo quod hoc erat inter alia dignius, sicut thymiama, Exod. 30. et communius, quantum ad thus, quod ponebatur et adjungebatur cuilibet tali oblationi, et totum Deo incendebatur. Infra 66: Qui re ordiatur thuris, quasi qui benedicat idolo.
Sed objicitur de hoc quod dicit Glossa quod nunquam sacrificia eorum amavit, cum praeceperit ea ad hoc quod fierent. Genes. 8: « Odoratusque est Dominus odorem suavitatis; et ait ad eum: Nequaquam ultra maledicam terrae propter hominem. »
Et dicendum: quod in qualibet sacrificio est aliquid considerandum ex parte offerentis, et aliquid ex parte rei oblatae. Ex parte rei oblatae, sacrificia nostra placent Deo per se, non autem antiquorum sacrificia; et hoc est quod placitum non fuit. Amatum dicitur per se quod in se habet unde ametur, sicut bonum honestum; quod autem tantum amatur per relationem illius ad alterum, non dicitur per se amatum, sicut dicitur se-cari vel uri amatum, secundum quod est ad finem sanitatis relatum. Nostra autem sacrificia in seipsis continent gratiam sanctificationis, secundum quam sunt Deo accepta; sed illa antiquorum sacramenta erant tantum signa istorum; et ideo non erant per se amata. Ex parte autem offerentis, et nostra et illorum possunt esse accepta ex devotione offerentis. Potest ergo quadruplex tempus distinguì. Primum ante legem scriptam et idolatriam; et tunc placebant antiqua sacrificia facta a sanctis patribus et propter devotionem offerentis et propter significationem rei oblatae. Secundum tempus est sub lege scripta; et tunc interveniente idolatria, additum fuit quiddam propter quod displicebant, quia non erat dignum quod eodem placaretur Deus et coleretur diabolus: et ex alia parte fuit addita una utilitas ex parte offerentis, ut esset remedium contra idolatriam populo ad hoc prono. Unde etiam de sacrificiis nihil præceptum est ante fabricationem idoli. Et sic intelligitur auctoritas Jeremiæ inducta. Tertio tempus fuit sub prophetis, in quo propter peccata populi jam non placebant ex parte offerentis, sed tantum inquantum erant signum. Unde secundum hoc non placabant Deum, sed ma-gis offendeabant. Quartum tempus est sub gratia, quando jam usus eorum ex toto abolutis est, quia veniente veritate cessavit figura.
4. Hic removet solemnitatum celebrationes. Et primo, quantum ad futurum, ponit prohibitionis propositum dicens, Neomeniam. Psal. 80: «Buc-cinate in neomenia tuba, in insigni die solemni-tatis vestrae.» Sabbatum. Exod. 20: Festivitates alias. Levit. 25: «Hae sunt feriae Domini, quas vocabitis celeberrimas et sanctissimas.» Iniqui sunt coetus vestri. Infra 58: «Ecce in die jejunii vestri invenitur voluntas vestra, et omnes debitoris vestros repetitis.» Non feram.
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Secundo quantum ad praesens ponit odium dicens: Cal-lindas vestras, quod addit supra neomeniam, et solemnitates vestras odivit anima mea. Unde Psalm. 80: «Sumite psalmum, et date tympanum: psalte-rium jucundum cum cythara. Buccinate in neo-menia tuba, in insigni die solemnitatis vestrae.» Thren. 2: «Oblivioni tradidit Dominus in Sion fe-stivitatem et sabbatum, et in opprobrium et in indignationem furoris sui regem et sacerdo-tem.» Tertio, quantum ad praeteritum, ponit taedium, dicens: Facta sunt mihi molestia: et ponit gravitatem ponderis: Psal. 57: «Sicut onus grave gravatae sunt super me:» secundo laborem portantis: Laboravi sustinem. Infra 45: Praebuisti mihi laborem in iniquitatibus tuis. Et loquitur hu-mano more de Deo: quia homini dicitur esse grave laborare in eo quod non placet sibi.
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Et cum extendertis manus vestras, avertam oculos meos a vobis. Reprobat orationes eorum: et primo ponit reprobationem; secundo reprobationis rationem, ibi, Manus enim vestrae sanguine plenae sunt. Circa primum duo facit. Primo reprobant quantum ad si-gnum devotionis, ibi, Et cum extenderitis. Thren.
5. «Levemus corda nostra cum manibus in caelum ad Deum.» Et infra 65: Tota die expandi manus meas ad populum incredulum, qui gracilior in via non bona. Secundo prolitiatem o-rarionis. Prover. 28: «Qui declinat aurem suam ne audiat legem, oratio ejus erit execrabilis. Manus enim vestrae sanguine plenae sunt, quem fudistis. Psalm. 15: «Veloces pedes eorum ad ef-fundendum sanguinem.» Prover. 1: «Prohipe pedem tuum a semitis eorum: pedes enim illo-rum ad malum currunt, et festinant ut effundant sanguinem.» Laramini. Hic ponit salubre con-silium; et circa hoc tria facit. Primo ponit efficax remedium; secundo remediis effectum, ibi, Venite, et arguite me, dicit Dominus; tertio poenam con-tra contemptum, ibi, Quod si nolueritis, et me ad iracundiam provocaveritis, gladius devorabit vos. Remedium consistit in duobus: in fuga mali et in sequela boni, ibi, Discite bene facere. Malum fugatur dupliciter. Primo per purgationem praete-riti; et quantum ad hoc dicit, Lavamini, Jer. 4: «Lava a malitia cor tuum, Jerusalem, ut salva fias. Usquequo morabuntur in te cogitationes no-xiae?» Secundo per cautelam futuri: et hoc fit tripliciter. Primo ut corde mala non cogitet: Munditi esote. Prover. 22: «Qui diligit cordis mun-ditiam, propter gratiam laborior habebit amicum regem.» Secundo ut cogitata opera non im-
pleat.
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Micheae 2: «Vae qui cogitatis inutile, et o-peramini malum in cubilibus vestris: in luce matutina faciunt illud.» Auferte malum, scilicet opus. Tertio ut incepta non perficiat: Quiescite a-gere perversse. Jerem. 2: «Prohibe pedem tuum a nuditate, et guttur tuum a siti.» Et in eodem capitulo: «Cursor levis explicans vias suas.» Di-scite bene facere. Hic ponit remedium quantum ad sequelam boni: et primo ponit ut addiscat; secundo ut opere impleat, ibi, Subvenite oppresso, judicate pupillo, defendite viduam. Operatur enim aliquis bonum in ordinando seipsum; et quantum ad hoc dicit, Discite bene facere.
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Jer. 6: «Eru-dire, Jerusalem, ne forte recedat anima mea a te; ne forte ponam te terram desertam et inha-bitabilem.» In ordine ad proximum; et hoc est quod dicit, Quaerite judicium. Job 29: «Causam quam ego nesciebam, diligentissime investiga-bam.» Jerem. 6: «State super vias, et vide-te et interrogate de semitis antiquis.» Subve-nite oppresso. Hic ponit implentionem operis in sub-veniendo miseris. Miserum autem facit vel vio-lentia; et quantum ad hoc dicit, Subvenite oppres-so: Prover. 24. «Eruе eos qui ducuntur ad mor-tem, et qui trahuntur ad interitum liberare non cesses:» aut aetatis ignorantia: Judicate pupillo: Eccli. 4: «In judicando esto pupilli ut pater: aut sexus impotentia: Defendite viduam. Job 29: «Auris audiens beatificabat me, et oculus videns testimonium reddebat mihi.» Et venite. Hic promittit effectum: et circa hoc tria ponitur. Pri-mo promittentis obligatio, cum dicit, Venite; ac si diceret: Si facitis quae dico, et non sequatur quod promitto, obligo me quod arguatis me. Hoc plan-gebat Job 9: «Non est qui utrumque possit ar-guere et ponere manum suam in ambobus.» Se-cundo malorum cessatio: Si fuerint pecrata vestra ut coccinum, quasi nix dealbabuntur. Et promit-tit specialiter mundationem a peccatis: quia cessan-te causa, cessat effectus. Duo genera peccati tangit. Primum quod est ex amore incedente, quod notat in coccino propter intensum ruborem, contra quod ponit candorem nivis frigidae.
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Job 9: «Si lotus fue-ro quasi aquis nivis et fulserit velut mundissimae manus meae; tamen sordibus intinges me, et abo-minabuntur me vestimenta mea.» Secundum quod est peccatum ex timore mortificante, quod notatur in vermiculo, cujus color accedit ad albedinem: Et si fuerint rubra quasi verminulus; contra quod ponit lanam: unde velut lana alba erunt.
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Ezech. 57: «In multitudine diversarum opum in lanis optimi coloris.» Dan. 7: «Vestimentum ejus sicut nix candidum, et capilli ejus quasi lana munda.» Tertio ponitur bonorum restitutio: Si volueritis, et audieritis me, bona terrae comedetis. Psalm. 26: «Credo videre bona Domini in terra viventium.» Comedetis. Infra 65: «Ecce servi mei comendent, et vos esurietis.» Quod si nolueritis. Ponit poenam contemptus.
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Et primo ponit contemptum, dicens: Quod si nolueritis, et me ad iracundiam provocaveritis. Zach. 8. «Cogitavi ut affligerem vos, cum ad iracundiam me provocarent patres vestri.» Secundo comminator vindictae gladium; Gladius devorabit vos. Ezech. 5: «Gladium eva-ginabo post eos, et complebo furorem meum; et quiescere faciam indignationem meam in eis.»
Tertio ostendit esse immutabile judicium: Quia os Domini locutum est. Numer. 25: « Non est Deus » ut homo et mentiatur, nec ut filius hominis ut » mutetur. »
§. Hic ostendit peccata eorum secundum aversionem a justitia proximi: et circa hoc tria facit. Primo describit culpam; secundo comminatur poenam, ibi, Propter hoc dicit Dominus Deus exercituum; tertio poenae sequelam, ibi, Et restitutum. Circa primum primo arguit peccatum plebis; secundo peccatum sacerdotis, ibi, Argentum tuum versum est in scoriæm; tertio peccatum Principum, ibi, Principes tui infideles, socii furum.
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In plebe duo arguit, aggravans per comparationem ad priorem statum: scilicet venialitatem per comparationem ad priorem fidelitatem: unde dicit: Quomodo facta est meretrix civitas fidelis? Jer. 2: « Sub omni ligno » frondoso et in omni colle sublimi tu prosternebaris » meretrix: » et credulitatem per comparationem ad justitiam et judicium, quod est justitiae executio. Plena judicii. Justitia habitarit in ea. Psal. 93: » Quoadusque justitia convertitur in judicium. Unde dicit: Nunc autem homicidiae. Oseae 4: « Ma- » ledictum et mendacium et homicidium et furtum et » adulterium inundaverunt, et sanguis sanguinem te- » tigit. » Peccatum sacerdotis in duobus arguit.
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In corruptione veritatis doctrinae: unde dicit: Argentum tuum, versum est in scoriæm. Psal. 2: « Eloquentia » Domini eloquia casta, argentum igne examina- » tum, probatum terrae, purgatum septuplum. » Jer. 5: « Prophetæ prophetaverunt mendacium. » Secundo in remissione severitatis disciplinae, quae significatur in vino; hoc enim est vinum quod infudit Samaritanus: Luc. 10. Unde dicit: Vinum tuum mixtum est aqua. Ezech. 15: « Vae qui con- » suunt pulvillos sub omni cubito manus, et fa- » ciunt cervicalia sub capite universae aetatis ad » capiendas animas » Principes tui infideles. Hic arguit peccatum principum: et primo ostendit eos infideles in officii executione, quod ad suam utilitatem et non populi exequuntur. Amos 6: « Un- » gnento optimo delibuti, bibentes in phialis vi- » num. » Ezech. 54: « Vae pastoribus Israel, qui » pascunt semetipsos. Nonne greges pascuntur a » pastoribus? » Et propter hoc dicit, Infideles. Secundo ostendit eos transgressores in malefactorum receptione: Socii furum, eos defendendo et patroncinium praestando: Oseae 6: « Quasi fauces viro- » rum latronum principes sacerdotum. » Proverb. 1: « Filii, ne ambules cum eis. » Tertio ostendit eos corruptos in munerum receptione. Infra §. Vae qui justificatis impium pro munerebus, et justitiam justi aufertis ab eo.
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Unde dicit: Omnes diliguunt munera, recepta, sequuntur retributiones, scilicet promissas vel speratas Quarto, ostendit eos iniquos in pauperum repulsione. Pupillo non judicant, et causa viduae non ingreditur ad eos.
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Jer. 5: « Cau- » sam viduae non judicaverunt, causam pupilli » non dixerunt. » Propter hoc haec dicit Dominus exercituum fortis Israel. Hic comminatur poenam: et primo praelatorum; secundo subditorum, ibi, Et convertam manum meam ad te. Circa primum ponit tria. Primo punienti potestatem in auctoritate, dicens, Dominus. Malach. 1: « Si ego » Dominus, ubi est timor meus? dicit Dominus. » In ministrorum multitudine: Exercituum. Job 25:
« Numquid est numerus militum ejus? » In fortitudine, Fortis. Job 9: « Sapiens corde est, et fortis » robore: quis restitit ei, et pacem habuit? » Secundo ponit punientis voluntatem. Heu, scilicet eis, con-olabor, quia mea consolatio erit punitio eorum. Infra 65: Dies ultionis in corde meo, annus retributionis meæ venit. Tertio ponit poenae crudelitatem: Et vindicator de inimicis: quia sicut hostis puniam vos. Deut. 52: « Reddam ultionem hosti- » bus meis, et his qui oderunt me retribuam. » Et convertam manum meam ad te. Hic comminatur poenam subditorum. Et primo ponitur punientis praeparatio, ibi, Et convertam manum meam ad te puniendum, quam parcendo quasi plicatam tenueram. Job 19: « Manus Domini tetigit me. » Secundo poenae perfectio: Excoquam, igne tribulationis, ad purum scoriæm tuam, quoquesc aliquid purgandum sit.
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Math. 3: « Non exhibis inde donec » reddas novissimum quadrantem. » Tertio poenarum multitudo: Auferam omne stammum tuum: quia pro omni peccato puniam. Infra 40: « Recepti » de manu Domini duplicia pro omnibus peccatis » suis. » Et restituam judices tuos. Hic ponit poenae sequelam: et primo quantum ad correctos, renovationem; secundo quantum ad obstinatos, consumptionem, ibi, Et conteret scelestos. « Eodem » enim igne (ut dicit Augustinus) acrum proba- » tur, et palea fumât. » Circa primum tria facit. Primo promittit renovationem quantum ad praelatorum emendationem: secundo quantum ad famae restitutionem, ibi, Post hoc vocaberis; tertio quantum ad justitiae observationem, ibi, Sion in judicio redimetur.
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Dicit ergo: Restituam judices, quantum ad saeculares principes, quorum est judicare populum, et consiliarios tuos, idest sacerdotes, quorum est consilia Dei manifestare populi: Malach. 2: « Labia sacerdotum custodiunt scientiam, et legem » exquirunt ex ore ejus, quia Angelus Domini » exercituum est: » ut fuerunt prius, sicut Moses et Josue qui Deo placuerunt. Jerem. 5: « Dabo » vobis pastores juxta cor meum, qui pascunt vos » scientia et disciplina. » Et vocaberis, idest recuperabis famam, ut dicaris talis qualis ante fueras, civitas justi, idest in qua servatur justitia.
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Infra 62: « Non vocaberis ultra derelicta, nec vo- » caberis ultra desolata; sed vocaberis voluntas » mea in ea. » Sion in judicio, per executionem justitiae, redimetur, a calumniantibus; et reducent eum in justitia; quia judicium est reducere ad aequalitatem, in qua consistit justitia. Psal. 71: « Judicaret populum tuum in justitia, et pauperes » tuos in judicio. » Jerem. 25: « Regnabit rex.... » « et faciet judicium et justitiam in terra. » Ex conteret scelestos. Hic ponitur obstinatorum destructio; et circa hoc tria facit. Primo praedicit destructionem; secundo destructionis modum, ibi, Confundentur enim ab idolis; tertio auferet evasio-nis spem, ibi, Et erit fortitudo tua ut favilla stupæ. Et quia poena ordinatur contra culpam; ideo circa primum tangit culpam dupliciter. Ex parte conversionis, quantum ad seclus idolatriæ: unde dicit. Scelestos; et quantum ad peccatum voluntatis et luxuriæ: unde dicit, Peccatores: quia ad talia homines maxime proni sunt; contra quod ordinat poenam contritionis, in qua notatur poena pro inflictione. Jerem. 17: « Duplici contritione » contre eos; » quasi pro duplici peccato.
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Secundo ex parte aversionis, quia dereliquerunt Dominum; contra quod ordinat poenam consumptionis, dicens, Consumptur; in quo designat poenam desertionis: quod enim consumitur, in nihilum vadit, et « omnia in nihilum deciderent, nisi manus Domini ea contineret; » ut dicit Gregorius.
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Jer. 17: « Domine, omnes qui te derelinquunt, confundentur; recedentes a te in terra scribentur: quoniam desreliquierunt venam aquarum viventium Dominum. » Confundentur enim ab idolis.
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Hic ponit modum destructionis: et primo quantum ad confusionem peccati; secundo quantum ad subtractionem boni, ibi, Cum fueritis velut quercus defluentibus foliis. Circa primum contra idolatriam ordinat confusionem, dicens: Confundentur ab idolis, idest propter idola. Psalm. 96: « Confundantur omnes qui adorant sculptilia: » contra voluptatem erubescientiam, cum dicit: Erubesces super hortis quos elegeratis, luxuriae vestrae. Rom. 6: « Quem fructum habuistis in illis in quibus nunc erubescitis? » Confusio enim magis respicit malum; sed erubescencia culpam. Peccata enim carnalia ( ut dicit Gregorius ) sunt minoris culpae et majoris infamiae. Et ratio est, quia sunt secundum potentias ignobiliiores, et maxime materiales: et tamen sunt innatae et connaturales et passibiles. Cum
fueris. Hic ponitur subtractio boni: et primo ejus quod ad protectionem et ornatum spectat; quod significatur in oblatione filiorum; secundo ejus quod pertinet ad fructum, ibi, Velut ortus absque aqua. Et contra dictur de viro justo, Psalm. 4: « Erit tamquam lignum quod plantatum est secus decursus aquarum. » Et erit. Hic aufert eis evasionis spem: et ponit tria.
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Primo aufert ab eis propriæ fortitudinis firmitatem: unde dicit: Erit fortitudo vestra ut favilla stupæ, quæ cito consumitur. Eccl. 24: « Stupa collecta synagoga peccantium. » Secundo idolorum auxilium, dicens: Opus vestrum, scilicet idolorum, quod manus vestræ operatae sunt, quasi scintilla, quæ nullius momenti est. Deuter. 52: « Ubi sunt dii eorum, in quibus habebant fiduciam? » Et tamen comburitur: unde sequitur, Et succendetur. Infra 50: Ambulate in lumine ignis vestri. Tertio hominum succursus: Et non erit qui extinguat. Ezech. 20: « Non extinguetur flamma sæcensionis, et comburetur in ea omnis facies ab austro usque ad aquilonem; et videbit omnis caro quia ego Dominus succendi eam; nec extinguetur. »
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v. 9 « Audite coeli et auribus percipe terra, quoniam Dominus locutus est : filios enutrivi et exaltavi ; ipsi autem spreverunt me » ! — bene monet Pint. :« intuere huius principii amplitudinem et maiestatem ! Voluit sanctissimus vates et eloquentissimus orator coelum terramque in exordio invocare, ut rerum dicendarum magnitudinem ostenderet et auditorum animos attentos redderet ». Sed non id tantum, verum etiam, ut advertit S. Chrys. : « multa plenum est ira hoc exordium ; nisi enim. ingens esset et ineffabilis indignatio nequaquam missis hominibus ad elementa sermonem vertisset ». Praeterea sermonis vis ex eo crescit quia verba deprompta sunt ex cantico Moysis (Deut. 32, 1), Moyses autem coelum et terram invocaverat testes, quod legem populo tradidisset et quod per inobedientiam legis essent perituri (cf. Deut. 4, 26; 30, 19) et canticum illud voluit esse in testimonium contra eos (Deut. 31, 28). Cum ergo vates istis utatur vocibus, eventum auditorum mentibus obviam fert grandem : Moysen eis ostendit coelum et terram obtestantem, ut sicut fuerint testes legis divinitus datae, ita etiam sint vindices legis a perfidis turpiter violatae. Requirit enim, ut ait S. TAom., creaturam in testem in iudicium peccati, quae etiam fuerat testis in obligatione praecepti (sim. S. fier. Theod. Basil.) Cur autem coeli advocentur et terra, ipsa sacra historia edocemur ; non enim solum propterea invitantur, quia ipsa nutui Dei obsequentia pluviam et fertilitatem afferant et beneficia populo Dei conferant, ideoque merito testes contra ingratos citentur (cf. S. Ephr. Zeno veron. M. 11, 462), sed quia erant quasi instrumenta Dei in liberatione populi ex servitute aegyptiaca : « creatura enim a Domino contra inobedientes et rebelles est armata ; e supernis enim et e coelo plurima et conspicua signa facta sunt, plurima item et in ipsa terra mirabilia... itaque perinde quasi ipsa elementa tantum non frustra pro his qui liberati fuerunt. laborassent, audi, inquit, coelum.. » (S. Cyr.). Adde quod in ipsa legis promulgatione coelum et terra suas quoque partes ad legis reverentiam inculcandam praestiterunt : « de coelo te fecit audire vocem suam et in terra ostendit tibi ignem maximum » (Deut. 4, 36). Quare iuremerito nunc invocantur ut arbitri transgressionis, cum alias quoque ut instrumenta divinae ultionis appellentur (Ps. 49, 4. Sap. 46, 24. S. Thom.). Quando autem illis ut instrumentis divinae vindictae scelera hominum panduntur vel si tamquam testes advocantur, non adeo longe aberit cum multis cogitare etiam de iis quae in coelis et in terra continentur, cogitare de angelis et hominibus, quos, universos tamquam scelerum testes et vindices contra ingratum populuin appellet vates (cf. S. Hier. Theod. heracl. Procop. Barh. Herv. Pint. RoAL.). Compellari coelos et terram tamquam testes vera est plurimorum interpretum et veterum et recentiorum explicatio. Pauci contra eam excipiunt, solum advocari coelos et terram, ut audiant, quia sequatur quoniam. Dominus loquitur (cf. Kn. Diest.), et si Dominus loquatur, utique decere ut omnia attente audiant (Ros. Hitz.). At isti non attendunt, admonitionem minime fieri in universum ac quasi indeterminate, ut audiant, verum ut audiant Dominum conquerentem de populi electi infidelitate et apostasia. Sed cum populi electio et legis promulgatio signis iis sit facta quibus coelum et terra in unum quasi conspirabant, eum insuper Moyses coelum et terram testes invocaverit et canticum populo tradiderit eadem invocatione insignitum, fieri non potuit quin propheta eum sensum verbis inderet quem ex historia populi electi et ex Moysis verbis iis inesse perspicuum est.- Quam efficacia verba sint eo sensu accepta et quam praeclarum efficiant prooemium, quantas simul minas perfidis indicent, facile assequeris, si tecum perpenderis Deum qui tantis miraculis populum sibi elegerit sane maximis poenis esse perfidos prosecuturum. Simul eadem verba animum prophetae intime tangi ac commoveri de tanta populi infidelitate clarissime produnt, Similia vide Ier. 2, 13. Mich. 1, 2; 6, 2. Iam causa tanti affectus et obtestationis panditur : divina enim maiestas benignitate immensa tot ac tanta conferre dignata est beneficia et naturalia et supernaturalia eaque maxima fidelitate per longum iam saeculorum cursum populo servari voluit; illi vero non opponunt nisi infidelitatem, contemptum, apostasiam. Quare dicit filios educavi vel erescere feci (hebr.) ' i. e. populum hunc Deus peculiari ratione sibi elegit et in filium primogenitum adoptavit (Ex. 4, 22) electumque omni cura et sollicitudine fovit. Cernitur id iam in vocatione et electione Abraham et in promissis divinis ei factis — quare ea saepe in memoriam revocantur ; cf. Is. 29, 22; 41, 85; 51, 2; 63, 16 — cernitur in peculiari providentia tempore patriarcharum ei stirpi impensa ; inde répetitur liberatio ex Aegypto; inde enascitur electio « in peculium de cunctis populis » et foedus sollemniter in Sinai monte conclusum (Ex. 19, 4 seq.). Crescit beneficii magnitudo, si cum S. Chrys. expendimus, ex qua conditione fuerint assumpti; cf. Ez. 16, 3 seq. Hos autem filios etiam exaltavit i. e. « quae in Aegypto, quae in deserto, quae in Palaestina gessit, uno verbo carptim tetigit » (S. Chrys.) et « enutrivi filios in Abraham, Isaac, Iacob; exaltavi in Moyse, Iosue, David, educendo illos mirabiliter de terra Aegypti, dividendo illis terram, decorando illos regalibus victoriis » (Rup.). Omnia decora populo olim collata, legislationem, regni splendorem, victorias et hostium. deiectionem;,. insignium prophetarum missionem etc. in exaltatione comprehensa facile intellexeris (cf. S. Cyr. Theod. heracl. Procop. Thom. Pint.) ; inde petuntur nomina quibus Israel honoratur gens sancta, electa, regnum sacerdotale. Haec divinorum beneficiorum commemoratio (cf. Deut. 4, 32-66; 32, 9 etc.) eo magis tempore Isaiae Iudaeorum animos tangere debuit et maiore pudore afficere, quia Azaria rege conditio prospera et florens iis concessa erat (cf. 2 Par. 26, 8); unde gravior quoque exsistit accusatio et reprehensio. Eundem in finem prophetae beneficia Dei ingratis solent in memoriam revocare ; cf. Os. 71, 15; 9, 10; 11, 1. Am., 2, 10. 3, .9. Mich. 6, 4. Sed quid tot ac tantis Dei favoribus rependerunt? illi vero defecerunt a me (hebr.) i. e. perfide desciverunt, rebellarunt (cf. Caiet. Mald. Malv.). Quantopere foedifragi et rebelles facti sint et in rebus religiosis et civilibus, in subsequentibus prophetae sermonibus satis declaratur. Hic nervose et breviter uno verbo YW5 perfidiam et defectionem omnis generis designat vates. Statimque quam enorme sit crimen et quantopere ab omni veri rectique sensu recedát, comparatione illustrat
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v. 3 « cognovit bos possessorem suum et asinus praesepe domini sui; Israel autem me non cognovit, et populus meus non intellexit »; — bruta animalia beneficiis demulcentur ! ; iumenta heros agnoscunt et sequuntur; Israel (nomine utitur honorifico ad pudorem incutiendum; cf. Gen- 32, 28) non scit, populus meus non intelligit ; hebr: enim dicitur abso-. lute i. e. populus ?eus, a me exaltatus et ex nomine meo appellatus mihique addictus sensu caret et intelligentia. In hac compellatione et dolor et indignatio et tantae stupiditatis et ingratitudinis admiratio efficaciter notantur; « illi autem ne hoc quidem fecerunt quod bruta faciunt animalia, ut beneficiis vincerentur et intelligerent pastorem ac nutricium suum ; nec comparavit eos canibus, quod sagacissimum genus animantium est et pro parvo cibo dominorum tecta defendit, sed stolidioris sensus bovi et asino » (S. Hier.) vel, ut ait S. Chrys. : « brutorum stupidissimis eos confert illisque peiores esse ostendit »; in tauro enim, ut notat For., ferocia, in asino stoliditas non auferunt cognitionem sive sensum dominorum; plus ergo quam tauri sunt intractabiles Iudaei et magis quam asini stolidi qui non cognoverunt Deum (sim. Ephr. Haim. Caiet. Mald. Calm.). Ea enim comparatione stupor et vecordia hominum ita significantur, ut non videantur exprimi posse significantius (Sanct.). Duplicem in ea argui ignorantiam S. Thom. censet : scil. ipsius Domini eiusque legis, vel forte melius ad praesepe, beneficiorum eius. Quae igitur natura duce et mero naturae impulsu atque instinctu fiunt, ea ratione praeditis proponuntur, ut quantopere a recto ordine deviaverint, cum sui erubescentia agnoscant. Talis loquendi modus simul loquentis dolorem et indignationem effert et significanter prodit, in quantum ea scelera detestetur; cf. ler. 8, i. Prov. 6, 6. Adde quod animalia illa in heri utilitatem aluntur; Deus autem populum adoptavit, non üt sibi quidquam commodi afferret, sed ut bona cuncta soli obtingerent populo. Iam exponitur quam vere talia reprehendantur et quantopere defecerint a Domino :
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v. 4 « vae genli peccatrici, populo gravi iniquitate, semini nequam, filiis sceleratis! dereliquerunt Dominum, blasphemaverunt, Sanctum Israel, abalienati sunt. retrorsum » ; — vae vox est abominantis, detestantis, indignantis et ob crimina iustam punitionem imprecantis (cf. For.); attende paronomasiam in hebr. Aoi goi et « respice congeriem rhetoricam, qua significat esse Hebraeos omni scelerum genere contaminatos » (Pint.). Vocantur enim quattuor nominibus, quibus undique scelesti declarantur; et quantopere desciverint a Domino (v. 2) tribus: modis exprimitur; en numerus septenarius talis qui sit quam maxime sanctitati oppositus! Singula membra explicatius exponunt, quam longo iam intervallo distent ab ea populi electi forma quam in lege mosaica expressam cernimus : nomine gentis appellantur, quae vox plerumque extraneos et idolorum cultores dicit; iam non est populus sanctus (cf. Ex. 19, 6; 92, 31. Lev. 20, '1) sed gens peccatria ; non est « populus sapiens et intelligens, gens inclyta, populus sanctus, peculiaris, populus hereditarius Dei, pars Domini » (Deut. 4, 6. 90; 7, 6; 9, 29; 14, 2. 21; 32, 9), sed populus iniquitate onustus et pondere iniquitatis oppressus (Osor.); iam non sunt semen sanctum et pia sanctorum patrum soboles, verum semen iniquorum (hebr.)'i. e. progenies a malis parentibus sata et prognata, quae proinde inolitam habet impietatem ; sunt scil. ex parentibus improbis filii improbi (cf. S. Cyr. For. Sanct. Vat. Mald. Mar.). Ita locutionem esse accipiendam, ipso contextu et gradatione suadetur. Nam quod aliis placet explicare genus constans improbis (cf. Kn. Drechsl. Rohl.), nec verbis satisfacit (attende enim quid sibi velit encomium illud : semen Abraham Is. 41, 8; A5, 19), nec enumerationis gradationi; nune enim subditur eos qui. ab improbis descendentes improbitatem quasi iure hereditario habeant, etiam popria iniquitate hanc hereditatem auxisse, sunt enim iam non filii Dei, sed fili? scelerati, (ilii corruptores vel perditores ex hebr. qui agunt perdite, seipsos et alios perdunt. Et tales facti. sunt, quia dereliquerunt Iahve, Deum foederis et fontem omnis perfectionis; immo eum respuerunt, dicteriis prosciderunt et ore blasphemo Sanctum Israel violarunt. Sanctus Israel Deus cum emphasi dicitur (cf. Is. 6, 3), qui quo magis est ipse sanctus et imaginem sanctitatis suae relucere vult in populo electo ?, eo maiore odio eos persequetur qui linguis sacrilegis sanctitati eius conviciari non verentur. Eos iam describit vates qui Deum odio habent quia sanctus est et sanctitatem postulat, qui igitur altiore quolam gradu Deum dereliquerunt. Tertio demum eos designat, qui abalienati sunt retrorsum, qui plane a Deo aversi in hac abalienatione iam obdurati sunt et consulto mente et voluntate omnem Deo nuntium remittentes et terga vertentes nec hilum de eo curant. Et talis quidem apostasia culmen perversitatis ascendit. Idem eo quoque ostenditur, quia poenae et castigationes in correptionem a Deo inflictae nullum .fructum attulerunt. Ita scil. Deus eos castigavit, ut in toto corpore iam non sit sine vulnere locus, ut omnes reipublicae partes poenis sint afflictae; attamen peccare non cessant. Unde quia nihilominus peccatum quodvis suam exigit poenam, Deus humanos induens affectus (Sanct.) eos non sine sarcasmo interrogat, qua in parte se demum percuti velint quia continuo augeant praevaricationem :
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v. 8 « super quo percutiam vos ultra addentes praevaricationem »? — hebr. super quo percuti vultis adhuc ? additis (augetis) defectionem; ut peccantes ad scelerum conscientiam revocet, eos quasi consulit dicens : ecce iam tot plagas excepistis, ut iam nullus supersit vulneri locus, et tamen peccata additis peccatis; in qua ergo parte debitas vobis poenas iufligam? Qua interrogatione simul indicatur frustra omnia remedia correctionis esse tentata ; quare adnotat S. Basil. : « haec vox est deficientis et de correctione desperantis » et S. Thom. hinc peccati incorrigibilitatem ostendi merito asserit; neque minus ea. quaestione panditur, Deum instar solliciti medici, ut ait Sanct., quem morbi prolixitas et in dies peior status gravat et frangit, significare nullum esse supplicii aut, me.licamenti genus quod in corrigendo populo non ante sit expertus ; « afflixit enim fame, bello, peste, servitute, quare in illius caput totam videbatur hoplothecam exhausisse ». In vertenda et explicanda particula mo-oy in varias partes abeunt interpretes, Alii enim interpretantur locutionem ex usu communi quo saepe adhibetur : quare vel propetr quid ? quorsum (cf. Iob 13, 14; Comment. p. 183) ? Ita v. g. Vat. For. Sa, Mar. Calm. Drechsl. Del. Rohl. Naeg. in quam acceptionem iam praeierunt LXX «( £c zXysce ; Syrus (N25) et Chald. qui habet : « non animadverterunt dicentes : quire percussi sumus » ? Sed cum statim tota civitas exhibeatur imagine corporis quod totum sit vulneribus saucium et discissum, praeplacet altera explicatio quae etiam vocibus omnino aptatur. super quo ? ubi, in qua parte vel in quo membro ? [ta rem concipiunt S. Hier. Haim. Mald. Pint. Umbreit, Ges. Ros. Ewald, Kn. Allioli, Loch, Schegg, Troch. Accedit quod prioris explicationis sensus non adeo aptus esse videtur. Nam quare vos percutiam addentes praevaricationem ? dicit : iam non operae pretium vos punire quia punitione non corrigimini; nihil prodest vos punire; quare quod inutile est iam non faciam ; quae tamen senténtia certe neque cum norma providentiae divinae neque cum indole poenae concordat, non enim est poenae finis unicus emendatio, verum exsistit poena mere vindicativa — neque in historia Israelitarum ullum habet fundamentum. Haec difficultas in textu hebr. quidem satis evitari potest. Debet enim verti : quare perculiemini ? i. e. quamobrem percuti vultis ? cur continuo per peccata vestra plagas vobis iufligi expostulatis ? Sed nihilominus prior explicatio sensum effert magis efficacem, magis ad concitatos affectus (actum, et eum imago corporis reipublicae statim adeo explicite proponatur, magis est ad sensus concinnitatem, ut in quaestione super quo iam quasi totum enuntietur implicite quod per partes. in subsequentibus declaratur. — Alii tertiam interpretationem afferunt : quo plagae g^nere ? cf. Lap. Est. Sanct. Tir. Men. lta graecum textum quoque intellexit. Theod. : « quonam, inquit, supplicio vos ultra afficiam » ? et S. Cyr : « quaenam ultionis mensura vobis erit satis ad emendationem ? in summa quae acerbitas, quae càalamitas inferri possit quae iam non accidit » ? Apte ad quaestionem propositam adnectitur miserrimae reipublicae totius conditionis descriptio, qua de scelerum effectibus apertissime edocentur, ut prae afflictionum magnitudine nauseam et fastidium peccatorum concipiant; « omne caput languidum et omne cor moerens,
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v. 6 a planta. pedis usque ad verticem non est in eo sanitas ; vulnus et livor et. plaga tumens, non est circumligata nec. curata medicamine Is. 1,6 à; 35 neque fota oleo » ; — hebr. verte : totum caput aegritudini (est), totum cor languor ; ita enim verba de toto! capite, non de quovis, intelligi oportet propter unitatem imaginis, qua respublica eorpori confertur. Uti ex quaestione proposita : su»er quo percutinm? elucet et v. 1. 8 comprobatur, non est hic sermo proxime de morum corruptione, de scelerum morbis, sed de poenis et afflictionibus quibus omnes ordines et partes reipublice multiplici ratione iam afficiebantur. Sed per se patet has ipsas afflictiones et plagas esse luculentissima documenta quanta morum perversitas adfuerit, quia inflictae sunt propter scelera, uti ex nexu inter v. 4 et 5 et ex ipsa quaestione v. 5 et ex norma generali pro V. T. statuta (cf. Deut. 28) indubie colligitur. Caput reipublicae principes esse censentur, cor vero sapientes et doctores vel sacerdotes, uti communiter explicant; proinde et prine'pes et sacerdotes iam variis calamitatibus puniti esse dicuntur. Membra igitur praecipua, a quibus reliqua gubernari et in officio dirigi oportet (Sasb.), multis vulneribus saucia exhibentur i. e. « tota administratio politica et ecclesiastica infirmata est et quod maxime in populo firmum esse debet, id ipsum est tenuissimum » (Malv.), vel « percussi estis in iis partibus in quibus vita maxime consistit » (Mald.). Quae hae partes praecipuae sint, fortasse melius explicabimus ex mente prophetae, si accurate id respicimus quod v. "1 et 8 proponitur. Ibi enim apertum est ab co explanari id quod antea sub corporis saucii metaphora dixerat. Iam vero hoc si assumimus quod vix in dubio versari potest, caput et cor dici videtur ipsa filia Sion, civitas Ierusalem, caput regni et theocratiae centrum. Referuntur quippe versus "| et 8 chiastice ad antecedentia. Tum aegritudo et languor ea conditione exprimitur, qua urbs in v. 8 nobis describitur. Etsi modus iste explanationis alius sit, sensus tamen non adest magnum discrimen. Nam in ipsa urbe principali afflieta ordines praecipui reipublicae afflicti cernuntur. Simul cum iis reliqui omnes miserum in modum iam , poenas dederunt ; unde a planta pedis... cf. Deut. 28, 35. Iob 2, '1. Corpus vario genere saucium exhibetur : adest vulnus quo caro finditur ac scinditur (cf. Y32), vibex sive tumor, plagarum scil. vestigium lividum in cute remanens, demum plaga recens saniosa et purulenta. Similiter Basil. et Procop. explicant : « est vulnus continuitatis in corpore solutio, livor (uy) autem plagae vestigium subcruentum ; eAeyuovf tumor ignitus, Zyxo; «»po35;, cum in debiliorem partem decumbit humor et affectam calore praeter naturam accendit » ; cf. de nominum explicatione For. Malv. Vat. Ros. Ges. Del. Misce remedia debita et opportuna minime applicantur ; ea (hebr.) enumerantur : plaga sanie fluens exprimi debet, vulnus carnisque scissio fasciis est liganda, contusio oleo est delinienda ; at nihil horum factum est. « His ergo vocibus significat Deus et olim vulnera populum accepisse gravia quae nunc etiam sanie puteant et nunc etiam nova quae stillant sanguine ex recenti vulnere ; neque illa antiqua aliqua medicina levata sunt, ut oleo vel malagmate confota, neque recentia circumligata » (Sanct.); « aut cnim verberibus livent corpora,aut plagis tument, aut hiant vulneribus » (S. Hier.. Exprimi hisce flagella et supplicia populo inflicta rite agnoscunt S. Cyr. Chrys. Basil. Theod. Osor. Mald. Malv. Rohl. ; alii ea proxime referunt ad vitia et mala moralia, uti S. Jer. Barh. Thom. Haim. Est. Sasb. Caiet. Lap. Men. Tir. Pint. Naeg. Sed haec postrema explicatio potius conclusio quaedam est ex flagellis immissis ducta; quia vulneribus spiritualibus saucii sunt, rerum conditionem habent adeo desperatam ; hoc utique verissimum est; at proxime tanguntur poenae et afflictiones. Idque eo quoque confirmatur, quia v. iam relicta imagine rerum status propriis verbis exponitur. Bene nexum effert S. Cyr. : « quod dictum videbatur quodammodo obscurius, id planum et apertum facit » (sim. Theod.);
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v. 1 « terra vestra deserta, civitates vestrae succensae igni ; regionem vestram coram vobis alieni devorant et. desolabitur sicut in vastitate hostili » ; — hebr. nervosius miseram rerum conditionem depingit : terra vestra desolatio (solitudo, vastitas).. regionem. vestram alieni devorantes et desolatio sicut eversio (subversio) hostium (cf. Malv. For. Caiet.). Ecce fructus peccati! et cum tamen nulla subsecuta sit emendatio, quo iure quaestio ponatur v. 5 iam plane perspicitur. Vastationem propheta eo modo descriptam proponit quo iam in lege mosaica peccatoribus intentatur (cf. Lev. 26, 16. 31. 33. Deut. 98, 93). Minae ibi expressae iam cernuntur opere completae, quae totidem sunt documenta et argumenta scelerum patratorum. Quare Dominus quasi hostis insurgit contra terram suam eamque subversione delet haud adeo absimili illi qua olim pentapolin subvertit. Talem quippe subversionem hebr. n2202 innuit; cf. Deut. 29, 22. Is. 43, 19. Am. 4, 11; ita compellatio quae fit v. 9 iam praeparatur !, et si in poena (et proin in scelere quoque) similes facti sunt pentapoli, abunde probatum est eos iuremerito v. 3 et 4 diris onerari accusationibus. Deus hereditatem suam peccatis pollutam alienis conculeandam permisit, insigne irae divinae documentum ; et subversio 1. Verum inde minime sequitur pro z^ legendum esse et corrigendum c5r, id quod talis facta est qualem hostium furor et exterorum odium facere solent ; rei horrorem nomina abstracta in hebr. bene depingunt. Caput quidem regni nondum truncatum est, cor theocratiae nondum vulnere letali est percussum ; at ipsum quoque non uno plagarum genere laborat; qualis sit in vastitate universa urbs regia, describitur
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v. 8 «.et derelinquetur filia Sion ut umbraculum in. vinea et. sicut tugurium in cucumerario et sicut civitas quae vastatur » ; — in hebr. descriptio pergit eodem modo, ut v. 1; unde : et reliqua est filia Sion; quare non de tempore futuro est sermo. Ex more loquendi terrae, regiones, urbes considerantur tamquam matres incolarum, incolae tamquam filii earum ; omnes habitatores simul etiam nomine abstracto designantur habitatriz vel filia; unde filia Sion idem dicit quod habitatores Sion. Sed praeterea usus quoque obtinuit, ut urbes metaphorice nominibus filiae, virginis, dominae appellarentur; id quod nostro loco obtinet. Est filia Sion ipsa urbs Ierusalem, nominata a parte potiore, a monte Sion, in quo arx regia et urbs Davidis erat collocata et qui colles reliquos altitudine superabat. Ipsa igitur urbs superest sed qua in conditione? Comparatio cum miseris illis et humilibus casulis et tuguriis, quae in vineis agrisque eriguntur ad breve tempus et mox deseruntur et collabuntur, miseriam et pauperiem urbis et conditionem humilem et afflictam bene connotat et simul regionis vastationem denuo illustrat. Membrum tertium sicut urbs obsessa (hebr. LXX, Syrus) labores, timores, angustias, pericula continua et plurimas molestias breviter sed efficaciter innuit. Quare bene dictum erat : caput languidum, cor moerens v. 5. Interpretes non pauci iam v. 7 de tempore futuro, de expugnatione per Nabuchodonosor facta vel etiam de Titi et Vespasiani tempore explicant (ef. S. Hier- Chrys. Basil. Pint. Sanct. Sasb. Mald. Mar. Lap. Men. Troch.). Ratio qua inducuntur est, quia multi putant sermonem hunc sub Ozia esse habitum, quando res ludaeorum florentes erant : ergo non posse esse nisi vaticinium de futuro. Sed si caput istud tamquam prologus et totius libri argumentum (For.) consideratur, haec ratio concidit. Ceterum de ea re postmodum commodius in fine capitis sermo recurret. Alterum quo ea explicatio suadebatur, in versione graeca et latina v. 8 habetur, in qua tempus exprimitur futurum ; unde faeile consequebatur ut simul cum v. 8 etiam praecedens intime ei cohaerens de eodem tempore acciperetur. Sed tale futurum in hebr. non adest, idque etiam ex v. 9 excluditur, sicut ex antecedentibus quoque. Nam uti in.v. 3-6 rerum conditio tunc exsistens describitur, ita idem necessario obtinet in v. 7 et 8 qui non sunt nisi propria explicatio locutionis praecedentis metaphoricae. Quomodo v. 8 verti debeat yy "y, multum disceptant. Alii urbem intelligunt servatam, alii munitam, alii custoditam, alii urbem vigiliarum etc. (cf. Ros. Ges. Kn. Diest. Drechsl.; varia etiam afferunt. Malv. For.). Aplissima videtur explanatio quam dederunt LXX, Syrus, Chald. de urbe obsessa. Si cum punctalione mas. verbum *Y3 assumitur, a notione custodiendi ad significalionem obsidendi erii deveniendum ; est igitur eustodire sensu hostili; simili módo quo 2 Sam. 11, 16 et fer. 4, 16 (Chaldaei custodes) et 5, 6. Sed forte praestabit legere misi a verbo "Ww arctare, obsidere, cingere quod (quamvis non in niphal) verbum est salis frequens; cf. Deut. 20, 12. 19. Is. 21, 2; 29, 3. Ier. 32, 2. 2 Reg. 6, 25 etc. Alii ea verba ut apodosin capiunt : ut tugurium... ità est urbs haec servata. . At ad Dei miserentis beneficium referendum est, quod caput regni non sit obtruncatum et theocratia non penitus abiecta et destructa. Populi enim ac principum iniquitas tanta est, ut nisi Deus gratia et misericordia poenam temperasset, peccatorum pondere opprimendi ac funditus delendi fuissent. Utrumque propheta ad pudorem omnibus incutiendum sine cunctatione profitetur dicens
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v. 9 « nis? Dominus exercituum reliquisset nobis semen, quasi Sodoma fuissemus et quasi Gomorrha similes essemus » , — hebr. nisi... reliquisset nobis residuum sicut parvumi. e. paucas aliquas reliquias et valde parvas Dominus servavit; quasi Sodoma completum dicit interitum et exstirpationem ; praeterea ipsa haec urbium illarum male famosarum mentio etiam accusationem criminum haud absimilem indicat contra Iudaeos prolatam ; cf. v. 10; 3, 9. ler. 23, 14.. Ez. 16, 48. Appellatur Dominus exercituum nomine quo Dei potestas et maiestas in angelorum agminibus, in stellarum splendoribus, in totius mundi ornatu atque etiam in exercitibus praedicatur ' ; hoc loco speciatim eo sensu, ut Deus tamquam dux et imperator agminum hostilium agnoscatur, cuius nutu illa tamquam Dei instrumenta vastitatem et ruinam intulerint. Sed eo ipso quod consummationem non fecerit, ponitur hic, ut S. Thom. recte monet, consolatio ex promissis. Est quasi primus radius spei et salutis qui hic illucescere coepit, ut in subsequentibus maiore splendore gratiam Dei et opem illustret. Habet enim Israel, habet theocratia tamquam sibi propria magna . ila promissa messianica quae frustrari nequeunt, ideoque Israel et theocratia deleri nequit. Verum 2n parvis reliquiis ex ruina servatis etiam iam adumbratur norma quae adeo constanter in historia Israelitarum cernitur : reliquiae salvantur. Eam enim videmus monente S. Cyr. in deserto servatam, cum universis in deserto morte ablatis solum Iosue et Caleb ex illa generatione quae vidit Dei magnalia in Aegypto, in terram promissam superstites ingressi sint; eam Isaias saepe declarat (10, 21. 22), eandem reliqui prophetae efferunt. (cf. Am; 9, 14. Mich. 7, 18. Ier. 30, 11. Ez. 5, 3 etc.); eadem iterum cernitur in regni messianici institutione, de qua re S. Paulus monet (Rom. 9, 29), idque « iure, quia multa est affinitas vetus inter et novum testamentum » (S. Chrys.) ; eadem demum fit, ut multi sint, vocati, pauci electi. In totius regni desolatione, cui una urbs Ierusalem superest eaque non uno solum vulnere afflicta, id spei et consolationis effert propheta, quod postea similiter Ieremias : « misericordiae Domini quia non sumus consumpti, quia non defecerunt miserationes eius » (Lament. 3, 92).
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v. 10 « Audite verbum. Domini, principes Sodomorum! percipite auribus legem Dei Deut. 32, 1; ita nunc quoque compellatio et reprehensio ad idem carcia primores quoque propheta officii admonuerit ' et quam severe eos reprehenderit, sola haec appellatio iam probat. Quid enim superbis. principum animis et etiam plebeculae arroganti molestius accidere potuit. quam compellatio haec contemptu et opprobrüs plena, cum tamen, utrique se generosam esse Abrahae sobolem non sine supercilio iactantes reliquas gentes fastidiose despicerent (cf. Euseb.)? Et ne excusationes obtendant, os eis occludit clamans ut audiant verbum Domini, idque declarat esse legem eam qvam iam dederit sed quam nunc denuo tamquam verbum suum iis mittat ? utpote specialem doctrinam eorum. ex ea consequentem. Ita enim Deus revelationem datam conservat, explicat, pro temporis necessitatibus applicat et in memoriam reducit , per prophetas. In lege quippe mosaica non uno loco vera expostulatur pietas et in vera cordis circumcisione, in obedientia et amore Dei rei vitaeque summam contineri clare docetur (Deut. 10, 16; 30, 6 etc.) ; unde consequens est, istis Deum placari; quae si defuerint, nihil Deo posse esse acceptum. Verum quae fuit indoles iudaica ad externos ritus prona facile fieri potuit, ut summa legis seposita de caerimoniis sacrificiisque sibi blandientes praesumerent, quamdiu rite ea perficerentur, omnia esse in tuto collocata et impietatis insimulationem argui mendacii. Quare quid Deus mihi multitudinem victimarum vestrarum? dicit Dominus ; plenus sum s holocausta arietum et adipem pinguium et sanguinem vitulorum et agnorum et hircorum nolui » , — ne scil. more gentilium putent se hisce Deo aliquid afferre commodi vel utilitatis (cf. Ps. 49, 1) ; hebr. satiatus sum i. e. ipsi iam sunt nauseae et fastidio; nam « victimae impiorum abominabiles Domino, vota iustorum placabilia » (Prov. 15, 8; 21, 271. Eccli. 34, 21). Longiore et distincta enumeratione cum emphasi osten- | dit se singula cum animi indignatione spernere et reiicere; ita enim loqui solent qui impatientia et ira accensi alios de male factis carpunt, singula scil. recensentes et reprehendentes, quo rei maiore confusione obruantur; insuper solet ira quandoque esse liberalior in verbis profundendis. Sacrificia recensentur cruenta; tangitur quoque in adipe et sanguine offerendi ritus, qui alius erat in holocaustis, alius in sacrificiis pro peccato et in pacificis. Ipsa enumeratione ostenditur, cultum externum eo tempore satis floruisse; at isto solo Deum minime placari vates monet. Debet enim cultus externus consecrari et animari mentis animique pietate, cuius est indicium et exhibitio. Quare similia frequenter apud prophetas monentur; cf. Os. 6, 6. Am. 5, 91. Mich. 6, 6. Ier. 1, 22 etc. Sacrificia enim Deo solum placebant propter devotionem offerentis et propter significationem rei oblatae (S. Thom.); haec autem significatio duplex erat : agnitio summae maiestatis divinae eiusque adoratio et ratio typica quatenus Christi sacrificium portendebant (cf. S. Cyr. Procop. Thom. Sanct. Pint. Lap.). Apte monet Caiet. (dico apte, quia hodie non desunt qui ex hisce sacrificiorum reprehensionibus concludunt leges de sacrificiis mosaicis nondum exstitisse) : « quod autem dicit non volui, non contrariatur legi divinae in qua Deus voluit sibi offerri ista- Nam hic est sermo de sacrificiis et holocaustis incorrigibilium, in lege autem de sacrificiis et holocaustis iustorum vel poenitentium ; et propterea nulla est contrarietas inter haec Dei verba et legem ; immo haec Dei verba declarant legem quoad hoc quod sacrificia non sunt. secundum se ipsa grata Deo sed ratione personarum iustarum seu. poeriitentium ». Eodem modo reprobantur alia genera cultus externi
Hac parte accusationes antea prolatae ulterius probantur; praescinduntur ea quibus crimina obtegere vel veniam sine emendatione se consequi posse falso sibi promittebant ; in ipsa ratione qua cultum Dei obeunt clare cernitur, quantum a Deo eiusque lege sancta defecerint, et cum id sine | sacerdotum culpa accidere minime potuerit, huius ordinis theocratici negligentia et corruptio quoque exponitur. Quare quae in antecedentibus ducta sunt lineamenta his iam accuratius et uberius adumbrantur. Sermo ad v. 9 arcte adnexus latentem idi accusationem audacter effert et uti v. 2 interpellatio fiebat coeli et terrae, ita nunc scelerum fautores ducesque compellantur cum tota populi perversi multitudine :
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v. 19 « cum veniretis ante conspectum meum, quis quaesivit haec de manibus vestris, ut ambularetis in atriis meis »? — efficacius in hebr. conculcare atria mea ; ita cum contemptu loquitur de aditu ad templum, Deum nihil aliud cernere in eo cultu, nisi atriorum suorum conculcationem, cum solum pedibus veniant, non animis (Mald. sim. Malv. Sanct.). Dicitur apparere ante faciem Domini (hebr.), quia Dominus speciali ratione in templo habitat; ceterum facies Domini etiam dici potest nubes illa lucida (schechina) qua Deus vel angelus Domini personam Dei gerens ac repraesentans in deserto supra arcam foederis et etiam saepius in templo suae praesentiae atque inhabitationis in populo signum ac symbolum exhibuit (cf. Ex. 33, 11. 14. Deut. 5, 4. Is. 63, 9) ; apparere ante faciem Domini vel in conspectu Domini de aditu ad templum adhibetur qui ter in anno Israelitis erat praeceptus (Ex. 23, 171; 34, 23) et de alio quovis accessu ad templum ádorationis causa (Ps. 41, 3; 83, 8). Et cum praescriptum sit : « non apparebis in conspectu meo vacuus » (Ex. 23, 15), facilis est nexus et transitus, quo reliqua quoque sacrificia. - et generatim coetus religiosi ab iis celebrati repudiantur :
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v. 13 « me offeratis ultra sacrificium frustra ; incensum abominatio est mihi. Neomeniam et sabbatum et festivitates alias non feram, iniqui sunt. coetus vestri ;
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v. 14 calendas vestras et sollemmnitates vestras odivit anima mea, facta, sunt mihi molesta, laboravi sustinens » ; — hebr. ne addatis offerre oblationem (fertum) inanitatis 1. e. talem oblationem quae sit vana, inanis, mendacii plena, utpote ab impiis et sceleratis facta. Apte commemoratur post sacrificia cruenta v. 11 nunc sacrificium incruenium, fertum, nnz5, ' quod vel solum vel cum cruentis offerebatur (cf. Lev. 1, 41 ; Num. 15, 4) ; commemoratur éncensum, quod singulis diebus cum iugi sacrificio offerebatur (Ex. 30, 7) et fertis quoque addi solebat (Lev. 2, 1. 15 ; 6, 13) et panibus propositionis (Lev. 24, '1), ut eo modo omnia sacrificiorum genera ? propter offerentium immunditiem reiieiantur enumeratione completa. Cum oblationibus etiam dierum festorum celebrationes reprobantur : neomenia et sabbatum et convocatio coetum (hebr.) i. e. singulis enim sabbatis ac primo quoque ae septimo die trium maiorum sollemnitatum coetus sacer populi convoca-. batur ex lege (cf. Lev. 23, 3. 1. 8. 24. Num. 928, 95 ; 29, 1. '1 etc.). Indignabundusclamat ex hebr. : /lagitium et coetus ad dies sacros agendos; quomodo scil. duo haec adeo inter se diversa consociari feram ! Et ut est indignantis et expostulantis, non abstinet a repetita eiusdem rei denuntiatione ; unde v. 14 novilunia vestra (iam non sunt mea festa, a me praecepta) qualia scil. a vobis aguntur impiis, et sollemnitates vestras i. e. tempora sacra a vobis celebrata odit anima mea, facta sunt super me oneri vel in gravamen, sunt mihi vexationi ; fatigatus sum sustinendo vel defessus sum ferendo (cf. Malv. Sanct. Vat.). Taedium et, fastidium quam maxime effertur ; LXX : facti estis mihi in satietatem. In hebr. v, 13 Np explicatur a LXX Zpu£ox us1205; fortasse intellexerunt festum Is. 4, 14-11 48 tum vanitatis. At obstat sensus, neque enim fertum apte nominatur ex addito thymiamate suffiLus. Unde versio alia retinenda est, quam iam LXX (0optap.x gofkoypa po: $oxiv), Syrus, S. llier. etc. exprimunt, Propheta enim varia oblationum genera recenset, unde verba apte explicantur ex legibus de sacrilieiis et proinde nYCp quoque non ex Ps. 66, 15, sed ex Ex. Lev. Num. exponi debet. In altero versus membro varie coniungunt : neomenia et sabbutum et coetus convocatio (scil. abominatio est mihi) ; non feram iniquitatem et coetum sollemnem ; vel prima iam verba faciunt dependentia : neomeniam... non feram, sicut ultima quoque ; vel absolute, ut. supra propositum est (cf. For. Malv.), qui modus abruptus et per brevia incisa incedens magnam habet ad commotionem animi exprimendam efficaciam. Contra eos qui hisce et similibus locis abutuntur, ut legem mosaicam de sacrificiis nondum eo tempore exslilisse asserant, advertere liceat : non reprobari sacrificia, sed sacrificia iniquitatis; quod additum iam demonstrat exsistere vera sacriücia quae Deus accipere velit. Pari ratione v. 1G orationes reiiciuntur ; sed quis ex eo loco concludat, Deum nunquam velle aut praecepisse orationem? Annon hi loci aperte dicunt sacrificia esse oblata? Ergo cx eo quod fierent talia sacrificia, qualia in lege mo- Saica praecipiuntur, potius colligendum est legem illam notam fuisse. Reiecit Daus orationis adorationisque actas praecipuos et publicos, qui in saerificiis exercentur, reiecit cultum qui in celebratione festorum dierum cernitur, iam ulterius progressus etiam orationem omnem reprobat et obsecrationem, quamd;u non sincere scelera eluant :
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v. 18 « et cum extenderitis manus vestras, avertlam oculos meos a vobis, et cum m"ltiplicaverilis orationem, non exaudiam ; manus enim , vestrae sanguine plenae sunt » ; — hebr. obvelabo oculos meos i. e. Deo nullo modo curae erit, etsi ritu supplicantium se sistunt; manus enim quas implorantium ritu ad coelum tendunt iniustitiis, oppressionibus, rapinis, caedibus maculatae sunt. Qui enim officia negligunt erga Deum (v. 2. 3), erga homines quomodo iusti et pii erunt? Ita versus scelerum descriptionem complet. Eadem scelera 58, 4; 59, 3 seq. accásantur. Sed quamvis eos dure increpaverit (v. 10), immo se nausea, et fastidio adversus eos affici asseruerit (v. 11-14), tamen salutis viam aperit-simul manifestans quem in finem reprehenderit et punierit et quae sit lex ipsius quam percipere eos iubeat. Unde
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v. 16 « lavamini, mundi estote, auferte malum cogitationum vestrarum ob oculis meis, quiescite agere perverse; v. A'i discite benefacere, quaerite iudicium, siibvenite oppresso, iudicate pupillo, defendite viduam »! — quantae Sit haec adhortatio miserationis Dei, apte declarat Sanct : « hic observa quo evaserint illae tam incensae ac horribiles minae. Quis putaret non eruptura fulmina ex tam obscura ac densa minarum nube? Sed descendit quasi mollis pluvia in vellus et stillavit misericordiam ». Nam ut e tantis malis emergant, ponit hic salubre consilium.et efficax indicat remedium (S. Thom.). Hortatur scil. ut antiquorum peccatorum sordes ex animis removeant, ut corda emundent, ut scelerum radices evellant i. e. ut malum cogitationum ex mente auferant propter reverentiam quam debent Deo inter eos inhabitanti et cuncta omniscientia sua complectenti. Interna mentis emundatio et renovatio quam maxime postulatur; de corde enim exeunt cogitationes malae, homicidia, adulteria (Matth. 13, 19). Ibi igitur remedium est applicandum. Ipsa autem officiorum summa continetur in illo : declina a malo et fac bonum (Ps. 36, 27). Atque bonum quidem quod praestandum sit, ex ea virtute declarat quae et facillime ipsa natura duce ab omnibus cognoscitur necessaria et omnis vitae civilis ac socialis sacrosanctam esse debet fundamentum, cuius proinde regulae ac normae praecipuae omnium mentibus clara luce affulgent et ad quam sancte servandam naturali quodam impulsu omnes se induci sentiunt, éustitiam dico. Quare admonentur primo generatim, ut iudicium quaerant i. e. ut ius ac iustitiam appetant, desiderent, eius in omnibus normam sequantur atque vita et opere exprimere studeant. Deinde id agant quod huic quam maxime cognatum est, dirigite violentum (hebr.) i. e. eum qui vi et oppressione uti solebat, docete et in viam iustitiae reducite!. Qui enim ius sincere amat, id ab omnibus sancte custodiri e£ omnem averti iniuriam strenue vult et ut id fiat, pro viribus et munere suolaborat. Porro praecipue admonentur, ut iis opem ferant qui omnium maxime ea indigent utpote derelicti et auxilio destituti, in quibus iuvandis cum amore iustitiae simul exercitium caritatis ac misericordiae egregium habetur et qui ipsa sua lamentabili conditione omnium pietati natura: duce commendantur. Accedit quod orphanorum et viduarum cura in lege habetur praecipua; cf. Ex. 22, 22. Deut. 10, 18; 271, 19 etc. Quare : ius dicite pupillo, suscipite causam viduae (hebr. cf. For. Malv. Vat.);id quod proxime spectat ad principes qui et iudices sunt, ut scil. pupillo ius suum restituant et conira potentem etiam actorem vel oppressorem defendant, ut litem et causam viduae ne respuant, sed agendam et urgendam et ex iure definiendam suscipiant, ne scil. miseri isti impune bonis spolientur et opprimantur. Textum lat. ita paucis ordinat S. Thom. : « hic ponit impletionem operis in subveniendo miseris; miserum autem facit vel violentia aut aetatis ignorantia aut sexus impotentia ». Si primores emendantur, eorum exemplum etiam valebit in vulgus. Quare haec quoque adhortatio ad omnes spectat; potes enim dicere cum Sasb. : 1. Ita recentiorum plerique. Ceterum vide notam. Num verbum ^v non mitius dici viistis paucis synecdochicos significare vult propheta omne genus bonorum operum quibus proximo quoquo modo subveniri potest », vel cum Euseb. : « a malitia translati ne in eo steteritis, sed vitam virtute ornatam suscipite ». Hebr. ww in piel plerumque significat felicem. praedicare; ita in vulg.. exprimitur Gen. 30, 13. Is. 3, 12; 9, 15. Mal. 3, 12. Prov. 3, 18; 4, 14; 31, 28. Iob 29, 1l. Cant. 6, 9. Ps. 71, 17; sed etiam regere, dirigere denotat, uti Prov. 23, 19 : « dirige in via animum tuum ». Nostro loco hac altera sane significatione capienda erit' vox. Veteres interpretes yan intellexerunt oppressum, afflictum (S. Hier. Syrus, Chald.), &àvxobugvov LXX. Unde ei notioni significationem verbi YUN adaptantes verterunt subvenite, $$e«o0s, benefacite. (Syrus), innocentem declarate (Chald.); sim. Yat. dirigite negotia oppressi; For. consolamini afflictum; alii : iter praebete oppresso etc. (cf. Malv. Ros.) vel : emendate quod corruptum est (Bauer). Verum recentiores plerumque explicant vr violentum, qui vi et violentia utitur (cf. Del. Naeg.), eadem notione qua Ps. 71, 4 von adhibetur, quae notio formae vocis ex aliarum analogia magis est conformis, quamvis etiam prior explicatio analogia ex simili formatione petita non careat (cf. 33m cincius et sim.). Et verbum dirigere, in planam viam ducere non tam quadrat ad violentum emendandum quam ad oppressum iuvandum, Quare recentiorum interpretationi (cf. Ges. Drechsl. Diest. Rohl. Del. Naeg.) non omnino certo standum erit. De vocis formatione cf. Ewald, Lehrbuch : 8. 152 b. Aliis placet legere v7 sensu utique passivo. Quid Deus ab eis postularet, proposuit. Hac norma considerata iam fieri nequit, ut quis de illata populo calamitate conqueratur, sed iudiciis Dei assentiri eisque tamquam secundum omnem iustitiam prolatis adstipulari cogitur (cf. S. Basil.). Unde Dominus dicit :
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v. 18 « et venite et arguite me, dicit Dominus » ; — si respicimusad v. 10. 11 et ad obiectionem ibi praeoccupatam, sensus esse potest: venite si placet et lege mea percepta arguite me, si quid arguere et reprehendere potestis! sed communiter interpretes verba referunt ad sequentia, ita ut Deus lege sua tamquam norma proposita iis novum quasi pactum secum ineundum offerat : venite disceptemus (hebr.) scil. « cum autem, inquit, haec feceritis, arguite me, si non reddidero praemia quae pollicitus sum » (S. Hier. sim. Ephr. Thom. Sanct. Sasb. Pint. For. Lap. Mald. Sa, Mar. Men. etc.). Et ad qualem disceptationem ipse paratus sit, i. e. quantopere desideret causas iudicii et afflictionum removere et gratiae suae ubertate eos donare, sequentia mirum in modum declarant : « s? fuerint peccata vestra. ut coccinum, quasi nix dealbabuntur | et si fuerint rubra quasi vermiculus, velut lana alba erunt » ; — ait enim hisce se minime scelerum enormitate prohiberi quominus gratiam largiatur et quam efficax ea sit, comparatione declaratur; animam enim peccatorum fuco millies infectam ac delibutam ad candorem usque nivis reducit et significat, hominem a peccatis mundari posse quamvis illa alte et diu infixa sint et inoleverint animo; « lana deponere non potest quantavis hominum industria at jue labore quos bibit ante a vermiculo aut e conchylio succos ; dicit ergo Deus se eluiturum esse sordes ex animis eosque ita puros et candi los redditurum a :si nullas a peccato sordes contraxissent » (Sanct.). Peccata ut « opera cruoris et sanguinis » (S. Hier.) rubra sunt ; cf. v. 18 « manus vestrae sanguine plenae sunt ». Similiter in Apoc. 17, 4 mulier illa peecatrix est circumdata purpura et coccino, dum sancti vestimentis alb's refulgent (Apoc. 3, 4. 5; 7, 14). Coloralbus et splendida lucis forma emblema est puritatis et ut Deus lumine cinctus est tamquam vestimento et vestimentum eius est quasi nix et capilli capitis eius quasi lana munda (Ps. 103, 2. Dan. 71, 9; cf. Ps. 50, 9. Matth. 17, 2), iia lux ipsius divinitatis et proin omnis sànctitatis ac beatitatis symbolum est ex ipsa quasi natura oriundum et apud omnes gentes receptum, quippe quae numen divum in lucis regione collocant. [psa comparatio internam animi purgationem et renovationem indicat, qua sordibus maculisque peccatorum amotis animus reldatur candidus ac lumine perfusus ac delibutus, ut iustitia accepta resplendeat in luce sancta tamquam eius imago qui est lux et tenebrae in eo non sunt ullae (1 Ioan. 1, 5). Est igitur iustificatio descripta ut peccatorum ablatio et novi splendoris et candoris infusio. — Vermiculus est vermis coccifer ; unde coccus, color coccineus qui istis animaleulis debetur ; quare rite etiam LXX reddiderunt óz x5xxivzv ; D'3 vestes coccineae sunt (cf. Prov. 81, 21), LXX ó; ecco» sicut purpura. Deus igitur:se paratissimum declarat ad vetera delicta condonanda et ad statuam prosperitatis felicissimum restituendum. Quare in hac quasi foederis innovatione, ut olim Moyses vitam et mortem, benedictionem et maledictionem proposuit (Deut. 39, 13. 19), euam illis optio datur :
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V. 19 « si. volueritis et audieritis me, bona terrae comedetis;
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v. 90 quodsi nolueritis et me ad iracundiam provocaveritis, gladius devorabit vos, quia os Domini locutum est » ; — nota paronomasias in hebr. thobu - tub ; tokelu teukkelu ! ; bona terrae scil. ab eorum bona voluntate dependent quam in obedientia erga Deum manifestent ; aut comedent Deo servientes aut comedentur gladio ? hostium rebelles Deo. Ergo ruina illa sodomitica i. e. interitus et excidium singulis instat, nisi ad meliorem frugem redierint (cf. v. 9). Et promissio et minae legem mo- saicam iis in mentem revocant ; cf. Lev. 96, 95. Deut. 98, 11 ; ; quare iuremerito v. 10 ler Domini iis denuo percipienda proponitur. Hebr. v. 20 si renueritis et rebelles fueritis vel contumaces ; ita oppositio ad v. 19 quam. maxime effertur ex parte eorum ; quid ex Dei parte inobedientes consequatur, Dei scil. indignatio, textus lat. explicite effert. Liberum asseri arbitrium, bene hic aliqui monent (cf. S. Hier. Chrys.). Promittuntur bona terrae i. e. pax, felicitas, frugum abundantia, uti fert indoles veteris foederis; erat enim tranquilla terrae possessio et vitae suavitas externum beneplaciti divini indicium quod populo promiserat utique tamquam maiorum bonorum pignus et arrham. « Orationem vero suam propheta fide dignam esse demonstrat : os Domini... cum enim fieri non possit ut Deus mentiatur, manet enim semper idem quod est nempe veritas, aünon est necessario intelligendum ea quae praenuntiata sunt certissim» ad finem esse perventura » (S. Cyr.)? Concludit ergo quia os Domini.. ne dicta parvi pendant (Procop.) sed ut sciant esse immutabile iudicium (S. Thom.) eius qui se tamquam /aAve populo suo sit exhibiturus, promissiones scil. et minas in opus deducturus (cf. ad Os. 2, 22; 12, 5. Ioel 2, 32. Hab. 3, 18. Zach. 13, 9. Mal. 3, 6). Ceterum quia Dominus locutus est saepius adlitur vaticinii confirmatio quasi sigillo diviao roborata ; cf. 40, 5; 58, 14. Ioel 3, 8. Abd. 18. Mich. 4, 4. Ier. 13, 13 et sim. Is. 22, 295; 93, 8 ; 291, 11; 24, 3.
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v. 21 « Quomodo facta est meretrix civitas fidelis, plena. iudicii ? iustitia. habitavit in. ea, nunc autem homicidae » |. — foedus cum Deo initum tamquam sacrum quoddam connubium consideratur : Deus enim populum sibi elegit in peculium et. possessionem : praecipuam ; in miseria.et abiectione repertam puellam: ad | sponsae dignitatem evexit, praeclaris monilibus ornavit; sponsa haec prompto animo vocem Dei secuta Aegypto relicta per desertum ad montem Sinai ad foedus concludendum sponsum invitantenr subsecuta est (cf. Ier. 2, 2 Ez. 16, 8); inde sermo infertur de matre, cui Deus libellum repudii non dederit, quam non dimiserit uxorem infidelem (Is. 50, 1) ; inde.a Dei cultu deficere et idola sequi est fornicari; inde idola colere vel etiam Deo neglecto ad exteras gentes auxilii petendi causa confugere, foedera cüm illis appetere, eorum mores imitari est sequi amalores, est adulteros admittere, est opera patrare meretricia (cf. Os. 2, 13. 16; et iam Ex. 34, 16. Lev. 20, 6. Num. 15, 39. Deut. 31, 16. Ier. 2, 23. Ez. 16, 15; 23, 3 etc.). Atque idololatria eo aptius eo nomine designatur, quia quantopere in cultibus aegyptiaco, canaanitico, assyriaco, babylonico etiam varia impudicitiarum genera exercita sint, et monumenta sacra et profana satis superque testantur (cf. ad Os. 4, 14. Nah. 3, 4. Baruch 6, 49 etc.). Quare civitas quae filem Deo datam multiplici ratione violavit, iure merito turpi meretricis nomine compellatur (Mald.). Dolet propheta quod a pristina exciderit dignitate, quam tripliciter describit non sine auxesi quadam, uti fieri solet in lamentatione boni amissi : olim fidem servavit Deo, omnia in ea ex ?uris norma et regula erant constituta, unde talis in ea invaluit ratione stabili conditio quae exactam referebat iustitiam, eum scil. recti verique ordinem quem Deus adesse voluit et ita quidem, ut ibi iustitia firmum suum collocasse videretur ac permanens domicilium (hebr. I quasi pernoctat, habitat continuo). Verum en, quae luctuosa mutatio : nunc ibi homicidae ; fide enim in Deum abiecta omnis etiam fides humana et ius omne collabitur, quam ruinam declarat caedibus perpetratis, quippe quae maximam. sane iustitiae aliis debitae violationem involvunt. Videntur vati obversata esse tempora illa prisca, quibus reges vere theocratici ad normam theocraticam regnum administrabant, vitia compescebant, v. g. quae de Iam declarat, qui sint eius luctuosissimae conversionis auctores et fautores praecipui, qui scil. quo altiore nobilitate praediti erant eo turpius dignitatem suam proiecerint; declarat id per metaphoram, cui statim locutionem propriam subiungit :
5 U vates redit ad perversitatem aequalium castigandam. Sed uti . 4 et 10 praevaluit sacra quae.lam indignatio de tanta iniquitate, ita nunc dolorem magis prae se fert de tam [n conversione et. quandam admirationem tristitia plenam ; confert.enim conditionem praesentem cum excelsa dignitate ad quam populus electus erat et qua olim non indignum se praestitit. Quare ex lamentationibus voce petita querelam luctuosam orditur
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v. 22 « argentum tuum versum est in scoriam, vinum. tuum mistum est aqua;
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v. 23 principes tui infideles, socii furum ; omnes diligunt munera, sequuntur retributiones; pupillo non iudicant et causa viduae non ingreditur ad, illos » ;—i. e. qui nobiles esse debent, perversi sunt et corrupti. Hebr. principes tui rebelles, contumaces contra Deum ; nota paronomasiam in hebr. sarim sorerim ; et quia in Deum rebellant, quid mirum, si contra homines iura omnia divina et humana conculeant? Ut principes sunt participes potestatis divinae ad bonam reipublicae administrationem et quasi socii Dei, per quos Deus partem gubernationis exerceri vult; sed facti sunt socii furum : proiecta avaritia furantur, rapiunt, iuris administrationem venalem habent, non iustitiam, sed pecuniam prosequuntur, et quos Deus sua praecipua cura protexit et fovit pupillos scil. et viduas, hos iam quasi a limine repellunt. Tam praeclare scil. Dei vicem gerunt et eius personam sustinent qui vi muneris mn5x quoque vocantur! Et si principes ac duces /ales se exhibent, « nihil iam mirum est si repudiata fide civitas ipsa meretrix evaserit » (Procop.). Plerique veterum interpretum v. 22 aliter accipiunt; explicant enim de lege sacraque doctrina, quam illi adulteraverint et corruperint (cf. S. Hier. Cyr. Basil. Euseb. Burh. Procop. Thom. For. Pint. etc.) ; S. Chrys. textum graecum: argentum vestrum reprobum, caupones tui miscent vinum aqua, accipit de . nummulariorum — vafritie et de cauponum corruptela et dolis, eosque reprehendit qui talia diei indignum censent magno et sublimi propheta ; nam etiam Salvatorem sermonem intulisse de salutationibus, de medio loco, de primo aecubitu ; « nam haec quae exigua videntur esse si negligantur, magni peccatorum fomites sunt ». Sed praestat cum Sa, Malv. aliisque metaphoram ita accipere, uti statim v. sequenti declaratur. Ita ea metaphora argenti etc. cernitur usurpata ler. 6, 27. Ez. 92, 18 et statim v. 95 eodem modo a propheta adhibetur. — Ad locutionem hebr. vna notant similes locutiones vinum castrare Plin. H. N. 19, 19, 2. iugulare Falernum Mart. 1, 18 et alias apud Arabes obvias vide Ges. in h.l. Diest. Del. Naeg. — Ad textum graecum advertit For., forte S. Paulum ex hoc loco locutionem .deprompsisse adulterare verbum Dei x«zzAsjovrag et comparat illud apud Ennium : cauponantes bellum, non belligerantes (cf. Sunct.). At istis criminibus (v. 21-23) vindicta Dei necessario provocatur : "v.
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24 « propter hoc ait Domin"s Deus exercituum, fortis Israel : heu, consolabor swper hostibus meis et. vindicabor de inimicis meis »! — nomina, Dei hic accumulata, ut nullibi, terrorem maiestatis divinae et iremendae ultionis horrorem audientibus incutere debent; qui punit, est lahve, Deus foederis quem spreverunt, cuius sacramenti fidem tot beneficiis devinctam abiecerunt; est Domnus exercituum, cui ad ultionem praesto sunt universa creaturarum agmina tamquam Dominatori; est fortis [srael (Gen. 49, 24), qui sicut in bonis populo praestandis se potentissimum praestitit omnibus eorum hostibus prostratis et. praeclaris de coelo et in terra editis miraculis, ita cum amorem suum cernat contemptum, non minore potentia contemptores suos diris excruciare potest ac miris suppliciis. Nam « non leve est quod Dominus exercituum dicit heu, non parvi ponderis est. quod fortis [srael dicit Aeu; grandis causa, magnus dolor quo afflictus iste fortis dicit heu » (Rup.). Istud heu magnitudinem poenae ind:cat (hebr. Aoi, ut. v. 4 vae), fore scil. lamentationes et planctus et vae populo isti. Modus loquendi consolationem capiam de hostibus meis (hebr. cf. Malv. For.) ostendit, quanto« humanitus est dictum ae si Deus levamen ex ultionibus perciperet. Sane in graviter offensis summa est vindictae dulcedo ac. voluptas, qua animus commotus penitus sedatur ac quiescit » (Malv.); sim. Ez. 5, 13. Quanta rerum mutatio! « sicut ante laetatus est Dominus super vos bene vobis faciens, sic laetabitur dispergens vos atque subvertens, ut auferamini » (Deut. 28, 63. For.). En, quomodo duces et fautores scelerum et mali iustitiae administratores hostes Dei et inimici dicuntur, quorum castigatione Deus se laetari dicit; cf. Prov. 1, 26. Post iudicii denuntiationem subditur modus quo illud Deus sit exsecuturus et finis quem in poena infligenda obtinere cupit
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v. 25 « et convertam manum meam ad te et ezcoquam ad. purum scoriam tuam et auferam omne stannum tuum » ; — hebr. excoquam quasi sale lizivüi! scorias. (uas ; adest igitur in Israel pretiosum metallum, sed commixtum .cum scoriis et stanno; vl enim electionis divinae cum dona Dei sint sine poenitentia, populus electus plane interire nequit, sed semper adesse debet semen, sanctum (cf. 6, 13). Id ergo agitur, ut iudiciis divinis boni purgentur, separentur a malis, mali vero interimantur; quem duplicem castigationum divinarum effectum in resurrectionem et ruinam optime ea comparatione illustrat vates et declarat. Nota in sale lixivii castigationis severitatem, in stanno auferendo interitum peccatorum obstinatorum, in excoctione purgationem et probationem bonorum. Deus dicitur manum convertere, admovere i. e. iam non scelera in immensum augeri permittet, verum qui eousque quiescere videbatur exsurget contra contemptores suos ; locutio ea saepe sensu infenso adhibetur (cf. ad Am. 1, 8), sed etiam sensu prospero (Zach. 13, 7); hic denotat iudicium emendationis et expurgationis, quale illud est: « cuius ventilabrum in manu eius et expurgabit aream suam congregabitque triticum suum in horreum, paleam autem comburet igni inexstinguibili » (Matth. 3, 12. S. Cyr.). Iam castigationis finem et fructum quem modo per allegoriam expo- 'Suit, verbis declarat propriis (cf.
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v. 99. 93) : v. 96 « et restituam iudices tuos ut. fuerunt prius et consiliarios tuos sicut. antiquitus ; post haec vocaberis civitas 4usti, urbs fidelis »; — iudices prisci et consiliarii in initio (hebr.) sunt duces illi praeclari, fide et pietate insignes, qui populo ad veram pietatem et felicitatem suasores et auctores exstiterunt : Moyses, Iosue, Gedeon, Samuel, David etc. Ergo promittit iudicio devoluto fore in theocratia duces et principes, qui ita populum doctrina et exemplis erudient, ut theocratia nomine civitatis iustitiae, urbis fidelis sit cohonestanda. Proinde periodum indigitat verae sanctitatis, in qua fides in Deum et omnis generis iustitia florebit. Hisce ergo via et regula data est pro Israel : ex castigatione salus exsurget ; per punitionem et afflictionem populus Dei quasi per gradus quosdam adducendus est ad veram illam theocratiae et sanctitatis formam quam Deus obtinendam proposuit. Nota in hebr. ab eodem verbo incipere v. 93 et 26 et reducam, ut etiam eodem sono et verbo idem utriusque versus argumentum vestiatur. Cum haec lex proposita adeo sit generalis, eius usus saepius in historia populi electi deprehendi potest; quare non immerito multi interpretes censent, inchoatione quadam hanc restituuonem iam tentatam fuisse tempore Zorobabel, Esdrae, Nehemiae, Machabaeorum, qui praeclari populi duces fuerint, sed plane et perfecte hanc instaurationem et iustitiae fideique splendorem pertinere ad tem- .pora messianica (cf. S. Hier. Haim. For. Sanct. Lap. Tir. Calm.) ; cf. Ier. 3, 45; 23, 4; 33, 15. 16. Iam haec norma qua in posterum sortes populilIsraeleiusque vicissitudines dirigendae sunt, breviter et lucide quasi per modum axiomatis proponitur :
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v. 21 « Sion in iudicio redimetur et reducent. eam in iu- ^Sstitia » ; — hebr. ei reduces eius in iustitia i. e. erit redemptio etsalus pro Sion, pro Israel; sed ope iudicii ; eo quod Deus iustus iudex punit et castigat, redimentur et salvabuntur. Ergo illa via iam est constanter ineunda, de qua Deus ad David locutus est regno messianico promisso et optione proposita, qua ratione domus davidica ad gloriae fastigium ten- "dere velit : « qui si inique aliquid gesserit, arguam eum in virga virorum et in plagis filiorum hominum, misericordiam autem meam non auferam ab eo » (2 Reg. '1, 14. 15). Alii iudicium explicant ius et normam iusti scil. eo quod incolae ius et iustitiam sancte servant, Sion redimetur, salus in iuris observatione consistit (cf. Ros. Ges. Schegg, Diest. Drechsl. Naeg. Loch, Allioli, Troch.); at rectius alii de iudicio divino accipiunt (cf. S. Ephr. Chrys. Malv. Mar. Lap. Men. Tir. Gord. Net. Roll. Del.), quod sane illud v. 23 denuntiatum intelligi oportet. Atque ea explicatio et propter antecedentes versus (v. 24. 93) et propter subsequentes qui hoc iudicium peccatoribus inflictum magis amplificant, omnino videtur praeferenda neque est ea ullo modo ab usu vocis aliena (cf. Ges. Thes. p. 1464). Haec autem redemptio in eo consistit, ut poenis eruditi et purgati veram consequantur iustitiam eamque ita in se exprimant indole sanctitatis, ut. appellatio illa v. 26 iis iuremerito indatur. Hac enim iustitia et sanctitate Sion aedificabitur et consistet. Id demum plene factum est in Christi Ecclesia, cuius typus et praeparatio erat Sion, Alii aliter iudicium concipiunt. Et S. Cyr. ita: « quoniam autem non citra delectum, sed cum sollieitudine et ratione et iustitia Dei excoctio sive exploratio habetur quae genus per fidem approbatum discernit planeque detegit, porro addit et dicit : quia cum iudicio servabitur captivitas eius.. discretis enim generibus et eo qui credidit approbato, altero autem graviter impingente, electum quidem servatum est, sed periit quidquid nefandum ac odiosum fuit ». Sim. Sanct. explicat : « rediere in iudicio et iustitia i. e. non temere et sine delectu ». Alii iudicium intelligunt de iudicio passionis et mortis Messiae et pretio redemptionis rite persoluto (cf. Caiet. Pint. Sas5.). S. Basil. explicationem de delectu et de iudicio divino castigationis coniungere videtur, scribit enim : « consiliarii quae ad salutem pertinerent suad»bant, ut civitatis huius captivitas efficeretur digna quae salutem consequeretur ; hoc est enim salvari cum iudicio i. e. xexptuévog xat earucgevoc. Deinde quoniam si iniquitates observaverit, sustinebit nemo, connexuit misericordiam iudicio, ut misericordiae temperatura iudicii severitatem mitigaret; itaque per iudicium addita civitas est captivitati, sed revocata est per misericordiam ». Quas supra commemoratas habes explicationes non ita multum quoad sensum inter se differunt. Nam in utraque verum est ope iu lieii iri restitutum ex norma divina ius ac iustitiam i. e. conditionem legi divinae ac voluntati consentaneam. — Aptam eo loco inserit F'or. considerationem, esse scil. vastationes ceterasque plagas, immo et haeresum inundationes veluti divinitus missas conflagrationes in vindictam hostium Dei et ad absumendas scorias et ut fides electorum probata :nveniatur; esse flagella et quasi initium damnationis impiorum ; si autem mentem Dei attenderis, esse beneficia in pios etc. Sed vae illis qui iudicio divino non se sinent reduci ad veram iustitiam, qui divinis poenis non emendabuntur ; illis erit idem iudicium in ruinam quia « edictum gratiae » (Rup.) in illo expressum: abiecerunt. Et hanc iudicii viam ad terrorem. incutiendum magna cum emphasi in subsequentibus (v. 28-31) vates delineat. Primo interitum eorum generatm annuntiat :
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v. 28 « et conteret. scelestos et peccatores simul, et qui dereliquerunt. Dominum. consumentur »; — hebr. magis nervose per modum exclamationis : confractio apostatarum | et peccatorum. simul. Ita minae v. 9 et 20 contentae clarius efferunturetadhortatio v. 46. 41 data magis e contrario inculcatur. Deinde qui sint illi apostatae (vel deficientes hebr. cf. v. 2) et qualis poena criminibus consentanea iis sitinferenda, declaratur
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v. 29 « confundentur enim ab idolis quibus. sacrificaverunt et erubescetis super hortis quos elegeratis,
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v. 30. cum fueritis velut quercus deftuentibus foliis et velut hortus absque aqua » ; — hebr. quia confundentur propter terebinthos quibus delectati estis ; ipmisltus fit ad allocutionem animi commoti causa. Commemorantur terebinthi et horti, quia ibi idololatria et spurcitiae ei coniunctae exercebantur; cf. 57,5 ; 65,3; 66, 11. Ier. 2, 20; 3, 6. Ez. 6, 13; 20,98. 05. 4,13. 3 Reg. 14, 23 et vide quae nctata sunt ad Mich. 5, 13. Pudor vero et confusio inde orietur, quia idola opem nullam ferre possunt tempore calamitatis quo cum irrisione eis dicetur : ubi sunt dii tui quos fecisti tibi ? surgant et liberentte in tempore afflictionis (cf. Ier. 9, 98. S. Cyr.). Idololatriae instrumenta destruentur, montes et colles et regiones cultu illo turpiter infectae vastatione poenas datas exhibebunt et ita abundantissima confusionis materia aderit. Populi ipsius felicitas, prosperitas, regni vigor et potentia, divitiae, omnia iacebunt prostrata et conculcata; sicut enim terebinthi et horti, idololatriae testes et adiumenta, vastatione et excidio peribunt, ita eodem modo ii qui in illis suam collocaverant fiduciam, qui illa elegerant iisque delectati sunt. Et ita elegit populus ille electus a Deo et. qui ipse sollemni foedere Deum sibi elegit (cf. Ex. 19, 5. Deut. 1, 6. Ios. 94, 15 seq. etc.). Quare cum emphasi sors eorum et poena v. 30 ita describitur, ut plane fiant sicut ea quae turpiter dilexerant. Comparatio autem diiudicari debet ex regione orientali, ubiaquae penuria sterilitatem, horrorem, solitudinem quam maxime inducit. « Quid tristius quercu seu terebintho, ubi frigus aut aestus aut acrior aliqua. vis florum pulchritudinem excusserit? quid horto miserabilius cuius luxuriae atque amoenitati squalor successit et vastitas » (Sanct.)? Ut appareat quantus miseriae cumulus in aversionea Deo contineatur, ad horrorem vastitatis addit vates horrorem incendii inexstincti
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v. 34 « et erit fortitudo vestra ut favilla stupae et opus vestrum qua» scintilla, et succendetur utrumque | simul et non erit qui exstinguat » ; — hebr. e£ erit opulentus in stupam et opus eius in scintillam i. e. omnia scil. ingenii, artis, naturae praesidia quae opem afferre et stabilem for-. tunam praebere videntur erunt quasi stupa et opera eorum flagitiosa erunt sciütilla cadens in stupam et ingens excitans incendium quod exstinguere nemo poterit. Ipsi igitur sibi operibus suis interitum accersunt, divinas in se attrahunt castigationes ; « hinc vides peccatores esse sibimetipsis et operibus manuum suarum conflagrationis et perditionis auctores ; ecce quod v. 28 dixerat ; nempe fiduciam impiorum simul cum ipsis interituram esse » ( For. sim. S. Chrys. Cyr. Hier. Basil. Haim. Lap. Men. Mar. Calm.), et addit S. Chrys. indicari quoque inexpugnabilem Dei potentiam et ipso puniente et vindictam sumente neminem posse resistere et mala solvere. Indicat enim sacer vates eundem interitum malorum queni in fine trium sermonum partis alterius affert : « non est pax impiis... ignis eorum non exstinguetur » (48, 22 ; 51, 21 ; 66, 24), ita ut prologus eadem ratione finiatur qua liber integer ostendens ruinam irreparabilem et miseriam eorum qui salutem a Domino oblatam repudiaverint. eultus publicus et ritus sacrificiorum et variae caerimoniae ita commemorentur ut dubium esse nequeat quin sedulo ac diligenter fuerint observata et exercita, statim cuique in mentem veniet, haec in tempus Achaz minime posse convenire. Erat enim ipse idololatra, qui non uno sacrilegio templum Domini maculavit et spoliavit, immo (utique post bellum syriacum) ianuas templi Dei clausit (ef. 4 Reg. 16, 14. 17. 2 Par. 98, 9-95). Floruit cultus Dei sub Ezechia rege. Anc. — Orditur vates ab oraculo de monte damus Domini elevato ad quem omnes gentes confluent, quo vaticinio theocratia ex Israel oriunda et per orbem propaganda designatur et simul egregie illustratur, quae sint populi electi partes in salute diffundenda (2, 1-4). Hanc populi dignitatem theocraticam intuitus propheta oculos iam coniicit in . studia plane contraria, quibus eius aequales longissime a vera theocratia absunt quaeque sacra quadam indignatione castigat (2, 5-9). lis enim imminet terribile iudicium Dei, quo omnis fastus et pompa, omnia subsidia humana et praeprimis idola prosternentur cum magna idololatrarum ignominia (2, 10-22). Iudicio ita generatim proposito iam distinctius exsequitur vates affliciionum genera in Iudam et lerusalem devolvenda: auferet enim Deus omnia illa quibus regnum firmiter consistit, immittet perturbationes quibus regnum sit ruiturum ; ruinam enim merentur ob peccatorum scelerumque impudentiam : uade iustis quidem salus obtinget, interitus vero impios involvet (3, 1-11). Ruinae auctoribus accensendi sunt principes ac duces, qui populum seducunt, exspoliant, opprimunt, nec minore vituperatione dignae sunt mulieres superbiae ac voluptati deditae, quas Deus ignominia, squalore, orbitate puniet (8, 12-4, 1). Sed si omnis fastus mundanus iusto Dei iudicio prostratus iacet et conculeatus, tunc efflorebit salus messianica : germen Domini erit in magnificentia et gloria, reliquiae S:on sanctitati restituentur, Ecclesia Dei miris favoribus et protectione divina illustrabitur sicuti olim in egressu ex Aegypto et in migratione per desertum (4, 2-6). Sic igitur vaticinium hoc redit ad oraculum unde initium duxit. Tempus enim messianicum i. e. terminus ille illustrissimus ad quem omnes res gestae Israelitarum divina disponente providentia et gratia tendunt, uti ab initio, ita in fine huius sermonis clarissime proponitur. Quae interiacent, eam delineant viam qua Israel ad illum terminum est adducendus. Cum enim quam maxime ab indole theocratica defecissent, nihil aliud restat; nisi ut Deus severo iudicio castiget, prosternat et deleat omnia impedimenta. Ergo quod vates in prologo iam indicavit, in hoc vaticinio clarius et distinctius effertur : Sion in iudicio redimetur. Huic vaticinio subiungitur cp. 5 carmen parabolicum de vinea Domini, quo ostenditur, quanta cura et sollicitudine Deus vineam excoluerit quae tamen cum non uvas, sed labruscas protulerit, vastationi et direpüoni iamiam tradetur ; in qua parabola populus Dei delineatur (5, 1-7). Qua enim ingratitudine et perversitate beneficia divinitus sibi collata rependerint, propheta longiore enumeratione explicat, vae dicens et competentem poenam annuntians avaris et ebriis voluptuosisque (5, 8-171), illusoribus verbique divini contemptoribus et corruptoribus, superbis, iudicibus iniquis (3, 18-23). Tales igitur labruscas cum attulerit vinea Domini, devastanda erit et exscindenda ; ad quod Deus suos mittet milites ab extremis terrae, fortitudine insignes, armis instructos egregiis, qui horrorem et vastitatem ubique spargent (5, 24-30). Hac igitur oratione vates iis in memoriam revocat beneficia a Deo accepta, quibus tanta criminum enormitate responderint ; unde necessitas iudicii et castigationis nova ratione ostenditur. Modum autem castigalionis eius.quae cp. 3 in universum erat denuntiata, iam accuratius effert, cum hostium a longinquo irruentium turbas et furorem describat, Stragem et vastitatem universam annuntiet. Habet haec series propriam inscriptionem : « Verbum Domini quod vidit Isaias, filius Amos, super Iudam et lerusalem » ; — non est inusitatum in libris propheticis, ut varia vaticinia propriis titulis. distinguantur (cf. 13, 4; 15, 1; 171, 1 etc. Ier. 7, 1; 11, 4; 14, 1 etc.) ; quare specialis ratio cur in singulis ita fiat, non erit inquirenda. Sunt qui censeant eam vaticiniorum partem eo titulo inscriptam ab Isaia esse editam antequam integra eius oraculorum collectio institueretur; quare ei titulo retento quo iam praedita esset demum insertam esse opinantur ; id quod neque negare neque affirmare possumus, sed neque multum refert cui sententiae quis adhaereat, cum inter omnes constet hoc ora- , culum ab Isaia et annuntiatum et scripto relictum fuisse. Ex hebraismo noto verbum ?31 sensu latiore ! dicitur de rebus illis, argumentis, doctrinis, praeceptis etc. quae Deus cum vate suo. communicare voluit, qui usus in s. Scriptura late omnino patet. Communicationis modum, certitudinem, claritatem designat illud vidit visione scil. interna intellectuali vel etiam visione symbolica, ita ut res sub involucris quibusdam ac symbolis menti prophetae repraesententur. lam cum in sequenti vaticinio eiusmodi imago vel repraesentatio symbol:ca aperte habeatur : mons scil. domus Domini elevatus ad quem omnes populi confluunt, hac ipsa voce etiam monemur, ut sedulo imaginem distinguamus et rem seu veritatem imagine expressam. Imago ex iis peti debet quae vati iam nota sunt, ut ex notis ducatur in incognita quae revelatione ei pateliunt ; imago talis ut est sensibus internis obiecta multa in se comprehendere potest quae in rebus: gestis nonnisi paulatim et variis intervallis separata exprimuntur. Talis enim repraesentatio symbolica considerari debet eodem modo quo dea alicuius rei concipitur ; in ipsis autem symbolis et involucris diligenter distinguendum est, quid repraesentationi suo modo sensibili et formis sensibilibus alligatae adscribi oporteat, quidve ad ideam rei efformandam pertineat. — Dicitur super luda.... cum omnia quae sequuntur ad theocratiam quae in Iuda et Ierusalem vel iam adest vel typice repraesentatur, intime referantur (cf. S. Cyr. et vide ad 1, 1). 4) De theocratia universali 2, 2-4. ' Cum hoc loco Isaias subito et immediate incipiat sermonem ab oraculo de monte templi, quo in Israel esse fontem doctrinae ac.salutis pro omnibus conclusum designatur, haud immerito supponendum erit, oraculum afferri iam. notum et saepius iam populo propositum. Sic enim exordium hoc quasi ex abrupto facillime intelligitur, sic maiore quoque cum efficacia animi audientium pulsantur, si tam excelsa dignitate proposita quam turpiter ab ea defecerint sermone gravissimo vates declarat. Rem autem ita esse etiam eo facile tibi persuaseris, quia a nullo propheta vaticinium de re sublimi futura ita repente et nulla praeparatione praemissa introducatur. Atque revera idem vaticinium invenitur apud Michaeam (4, 1-3) et invenitur ibi non abrupte positum, sed in nexu intimo cum antecedentibus. Michaeas enim in altero suo sermone (cap. 3-9) annuntiat interitum Iudae propter peccata principum, pseudoprophetarum, sacerdotum : « propter hoc causa vestri Sion quasi ager arabitur et Jerusalem quasi acervus lapidum erit et mons templi in excelsa silvarum » (3, 12). Sed statim more prophetico subiungit ruinae instaurationem et quidem ut nexus apertissime pateat, triplici ruinae triplicem instaurationem modo chiastico : mons templi elevatus ad quem omnes confluent 4, 1-3 proponitur, 4, 6-1 populi reductio (Ierusalem) celebratur, 4, 8 ad Sionem redituram esse priscam dominationem praedicitur (vide ad Mich. 4, 1 in comment.). Cum igitur vaticinium suo loco et quasi propria in sede apud Michaeam reperiatur, satis certum esse videtur illud non per Michaeam ab Isaia esse desumptum, verum potius Isaiam illud a Michaea accepisse. Neque obstat quod seniores apud Ieremiam (26, 1'1 seq.) narrant Michaeam istud vaticinium dixisse sub Ezechia rege, dum tamen sermoiste Isaiae quem nunc prae manibus habemus ad tempus ante Achaz referendus sit. Nam seniores id narrant quod recordantur neque asserunt, Michaeam velsemel tantum vel primum sub Ezechia minas illas edidisse, sed id monent quanta cum reverentia et pietate minae propheticae eo tempore sint acceptae. Quocum optime anterior quaedam vaticinii cognitio consistit. — Aliis demum placet coniectare, utrumque prophetam, Isaiam et Michaeam oraculum ab antiquiore propheta, forte ab Ioele, accepisse (ita Hitz. Cheyne, neque dissentit Ewald ; cf. Del. Naeg.). Quam magnificum sit divinum consilium de centro theocratiae eiusque gloria et proin de gloria Israel, praeclaro symbolo propheta proponit
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Isaias (HEB. JĒŠA-JĀH[Ā] "SALVATION [IS] YAHWEH", SEPTUAGINT 'HESAIAU)
I. THE PROPHET. - Isaiah's activity is intimately connected with the history of the rulers who were his contemporaries, according to the indications of individual biblical passages and the general datum of Is. 1:1: "In the days of Uzziah, Jotham, Ahaz, and Hezekiah, kings of Judah." Their reigns together occupy the advanced 8th century, for some seventy years: a difficult period from the political …
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… Scripture suffice: in the Old Testament: the call and the promises made to Abraham (Gen. 12:1-3; 15:1-21; 17:1-22), the revelation of the burning bush and of Sinai (Ex. 3:1-17; 19:1 ff.; 24:1), the call and the teaching of the prophets (1 Kings 3:1-21; Is. 1:2; 2:1; Jer. 1:4-19). In the New Testament the existence of a divine revelation is clearly taught by Jesus Christ himself: "No one knows the Son except the Father, and no one knows the …
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i passi di Is. 1, 3,
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… Nor did the latter understand the lesson of the terrible collapse of Samaria (Ez. 16, 44-52; 23); it grew worse rather in the way of idolatry, injustice and immorality (Is. 1, 5 ff.; Mic. 3; 7, 2-6; Jer. 2; 5, 19-31; Ez. 4-6, etc.), reducing relations with Yahweh to external worship alone (like the other peoples with their deities) and wholly neglecting the precepts …
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… which he will purify in the long exile and lead back to Palestine to reconstitute the new Israel; this, in due time, will be raised up and absorbed into the kingdom of the M., the end of the whole divine economy (Am. 4, 11; 9, 9; Mic. 4, 6 f.; 7, 19; Is. 1, 9; 7, 3; 10, 20 ff.; 40-66; Jer. 3, 14, 16; 23, 3; 24, 6; 30-31; 33; Ez. 11, 13-20; 34; 37, 12; etc.). …
The four cities became the type of perversity and of the ruin that follows it (Deut. 29:22; Sodom, Ex. 16:79; Sodom and Gomorrah Is. 1:9; 13:19; Jer. 23:14; 48:18; 50:40; Am. 2:9; Admah and Zeboiim Hos. 11:8). "A witness to so much wickedness remains a smoking wasteland and trees that bear unripe fruit, and, in memory …
The catastrophe, already presented by Moses (Deut. 29:22) as an image of the punishments that would strike the enemies of God, is often evoked in biblical tradition either with the name of S. alone (Ezek. 16:49; Matt. 11:23-24; Luke 10:12) or associated with G. (Amos 4:11; Isa. 1:9; 13:19; Jer. 23:14; 49:18; 50:40; Matt. 10:15; Rom. 9:26; Jude 7; II Pet. 2:6: an example for those who would live wickedly in the future).
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… They therefore deny to external worship any efficacy, when it is not accompanied by corresponding internal dispositions (Is. 1, 10-17).
… Among the prophets the t. (usually in the singular) is moral and spiritual "teaching" (Am. 2, 4); "the t. of our God" encompasses the norms of morality in which true service of God consists (Is. 1, 10; 5, 24; 8, 16, 20; 30, 9). The prophet is called môrah ("teacher"), of the same root as t. (Is. 9, 14; 30, 20). In Jer. 6, 19; 9, 13; etc., t. designates both the preaching of …
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… 111:5-9; Prov. 14:21; 22:9); it affirms that almsgiving obtains all graces, not excluding the remission of sins (cf., for example, Tob. 4:7-9; 12:9; Sir. 3:33; 7:36; Dan. 4:24); it is preferable to fasts and even to sacrifices themselves (cf., for example, Is. 1:11-17; 58:5-7). Indeed the Old Testament also establishes certain concrete forms of aid to the poor (cf., for example, Lev. 19:9 ff.; 23:22; Deut. 14:28; 24:20).
… Iud., II, 8, 7). They welcomed children whom they educated according to the ideal of the sect (loc. cit., 8, 2). At the time of Jesus they numbered about 4000. Characteristics instead contrary to every Jewish mentality are: the exclusion of bloody sacrifice (perhaps because of Is. 1, 11; Hos. 6, 5); the prohibition of any oath; turning toward the sun in prayer, instead of toward Jerusalem (cf. Ex. 8, 16); the belief in the pre-existence of souls and, if righteous, …
… And if in the struggle against erroneous ideologies they sometimes expressed themselves with vehemence (cf. Am. 5:21-25; Hos. 6:6; Is. 1:11-14; Mic. 6:6-8; Jer. 6:20; 7:21 ff.; Ps. 49:7-15), they did not thereby intend to condemn sacrifices as such, willed and ordained by God himself, but to bring external worship back to …
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… And they presuppose these precepts as known, when they inveigh against their violation: Am. 2:4-16; Hos. 4:6; 6:5-11; Is. 1:12; Jer. 6:19; Mic. 6:8; etc.
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… Jud., III, 10, 1). There was no abstention from work, but the day was felt to be festive (merriment, Hos. 2:13; banquets, 1 Sam. 20:5, 24; devotional gatherings, Is. 1:13). It lasted, at first, two days (1 Sam. 20:27-34), the last of the preceding month and the first of the following month; the phrase tricesimo sabbata of Horace (Sat., I, 9, 60) refers …
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… assiduous remembrance of the presence of God being, as can be seen, a living exercise of hope, it is found in various ways at the beginning of every kind of spiritual perfection (Gen. 17:1), whether in sincere horror, sorrow and turning away from sin (Is. 1:15-16), or in the constant progress of the virtues (Jn. 15:4-5), or in the unitive conformity and the imperturbable peace that rewards it (Lk. 1:46-49). This universal seeking of God …
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… of the violent (cf. Job 22, 9; 34, 3, 21; Ps. 95, 6; Wis. 4, 10; Is. 1, 23; 10, 2; Jer. 7, 6; Ex. 22, 7, 25; Mal. 3, 5, etc.); she is consoled and helped only by the charitable man (cf. Job 29, 13; 31, 16; Jer. 22, 3; Zech. 7, 10; Is. 1, 17; etc.). …
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From the whole of the Old Testament one can easily derive these elements, in which the fundamental concept of sanctifying grace is implicit: a) an action of God in the depths of the soul (Jer. 18, 6; 17, 14; 31, 18; I Reg. 8, 58); b) a purification of the spirit (Is. 1, 18; Ps. 50); c) an interior renewal according to the forceful expression of Ez. 11, 19: « Et dabo eis cor unum et spiritum novum tribuam in visceribus eorum et auferam cor lapideum de …
… mortal sins (cf. ibid., 3, q. 87, a. 4); d) he who is in the grace of God can be absolved from some venial sins without the remission of the other venial sins; e) sins erased in the Sacrament of Penance do not revive because of a subsequent sin (cf. Is. 1:18; 43:25; Ez. 33:12-16; Council of Trent, sess. …
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… to pity (cf. Ex. 22, 22; Deut. 24, 17; 19, 21; 14, 29; 26, 12-13; 16, 11, 14; 10, 18; 27, 19; 22, 24); very often, having no close relatives to defend her, she is at the mercy of the violent (cf. Job 22, 9; 34, 3, 21; Ps. 95, 6; Wis. 4, 10; Is. 1, 23; 10, 2; Jer. 7, 6; Ex. 22, 7, 25; Mal. 3, 5, etc.); she is consoled and helped only by the charitable man (cf. Job 29, 13; 31, 16; Jer. 22, 3; Zech. 7, 10; Is. 1, 17; 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.