A canticle of thanks for the deliverance of God’s people.
A Canticle of thankes for changing the old Synagogue into the Church of Christ: Which hath more light of true faith, 12. and more patience in tribulations: 19. Which in the general resurrection shal be made manifest.
1In that day shall this canticle be sung in the land of Juda. Sion the city of our strength a saviour, a wall and a bulwark shall be set therein.In quel giorno sarà cantato questo cantico nella terra di Giuda. Nostra città forte è Sionne: sua muraglia, e suo parapetto sarà il Salvatore.IN THAT day shal this song be sung in the land of Iuda. Sion the citie of our strength a Sauiour, therin shal be put a wal and bulworke.In die illa cantabitur canticum istud in terra Juda: / Urbs fortitudinis nostræ Sion; salvator ponetur in ea / murus et antemurale. 2Open ye the gates, and let the just nation, that keepeth the truth, enter in.Aprite le porte, ed entri la gente giusta, che custodì la verità.Open ye the gates, and let the iust nation enter in, that keepeth truth.Aperite portas, et ingrediatur gens justa, / custodiens veritatem. 3The old error is passed away: thou wilt keep peace: peace, because we have hoped in thee.L'antico errore è dissipato: tu manterrai la pace: la pace, perchè in te' noi sperammo.The old errour is gone: thou wilt keepe peace: peace, because, we haue hoped in thee.Vetus error abiit: servabis pacem; / pacem, quia in te speravimus. 4You have hoped in the Lord for evermore, in the Lord God mighty for ever.Voi poneste la speranza vostra nel Signore pe' secoli eterni, nel Signore Dio forte in perpetuo.You haue hoped in our Lord in worldes euerlasting, in our Lord God strong for euer.Sperastis in Domino in sæculis æternis; / in Domino Deo forti in perpetuum. 5For he shall bring down them that dwell on high, the high city he shall lay low. He shall bring it down even to the ground, he shall pull it down even to the dust.Perocché egli deprimerà quei, che stanno in posti sublimi, umilierà l'altiera città. La umilierà fino a terra, la abbasserà fino alla polvere.Because he wil bowe downe them that dwel on high, the high citie he wil abase. He wil abase it euen to the ground, he wil plucke it downe euen to the dust.Quia incurvabit habitantes in excelso; / civitatem sublimem humiliabit: / humiliabit eam usque ad terram, / detrahet eam usque ad pulverem. 6The foot shall tread it down, the feet of the poor, the steps of the needy.La calpesteranno i piedi, i piedi del povero, le orme del mendico.The foote shal treade it downe, the feete of the poore, the steppes of the needie.Conculcabit eam pes, / pedes pauperis, gressus egenorum. 7The way of the just is right, the path of the just is right to walk in.La via del giusto è diritta; diritti i sentieri, pe' quali il giusto cammina.The path of the iust is right, the path of the iust is right to walke in.Semita justi recta est, / rectus callis justi ad ambulandum.
8And in the way of thy judgments, O Lord, we have patiently waited for thee: thy name, and thy remembrance are the desire of the soul.E nella via de' tuoi giudizj noi te aspettammo, o Signore: il tuo nome, e la memoria di te sono il desiderio dell'anima.And in the path of thy iudgements ô Lord, we haue patiently expected thee: thy name, and thy memorial are in the desire of the soule.Et in semita judiciorum tuorum, Domine, sustinuimus te: / nomen tuum et memoriale tuum in desiderio animæ. 9My soul hath desired thee in the night: yea, and with my spirit within me in the morning early I will watch to thee. When thou shalt do thy judgments on the earth, the inhabitants of the world shall learn justice.L'anima mia te bramò nella notte: e col mio spirito, e col mio cuore mi volgerò a te dalla punta del giorno. Allorché tu avrai eseguiti i tuoi giudizj in terra, gli abitanti del mondo appareran la giustizia.My soule hath desired thee in the night: yea and with my spirit in my hart I wil watch to thee in the morning. When thou shalt doe thy iudgments in the earth, the inhabitants of the world shal learne iustice.Anima mea desideravit te in nocte, / sed et spiritu meo in præcordiis meis de mane vigilabo ad te. / Cum feceris judicia tua in terra, / justitiam discent habitatores orbis. 10Let us have pity on the wicked, but he will not learn justice: in the land of the saints he hath done wicked things, and he shall not see the glory of the Lord.Abbiasi compassione dell'empio, ed ei non apparerà la giustizia: egli ha commesse iniquità nella terra dei santi, e non vedrà la gloria del Signore.Let vs haue mercie on the impious, and he wil not learne iustice: in the land of the holie he hath done wicked thinges, and he shal not see the glorie of our Lord.Misereamur impio, et non discet justitiam; / in terra sanctorum iniqua gessit, / et non videbit gloriam Domini. 11Lord, let thy hand be exalted, and let them not see: let the envious people see, and be confounded: and let fire devour thy enemies.Alza, o Signor, la tua mano, ed ei non veggano: veggano gl'invidiosi del popolo, e rimangan confusi: e sian divorati dal fuoco i tuoi nemici.Lord thy hand be exalted, and let them not see: let the enuious people see, and be confounded: and let fyre deuoure thine enimies.Domine, exaltetur manus tua, et non videant; / videant, et confundantur zelantes populi; / et ignis hostes tuos devoret. 12Lord, thou wilt give us peace: for thou hast wrought all our works for us.Signore, tu a noi darai pace: perocché tutte le opere nostre hai tu fatte per noi.Lord thou wilt geue peace to vs: for al our workes thou hast wrought to vs.Domine, dabis pacem nobis: / omnia enim opera nostra / operatus es nobis.
13O Lord our God, other lords besides thee have had dominion over us, only in thee let us remember thy name.Senza di te, o Signore Dio nostro, abbiamo avuti de' padroni, che ci han dominato: di te solo, e del nome tuo fa, che noi abbiamo memoria.O Lord our God, there haue lordes besides thee possessed vs, onlie in thee let vs remember thy name.Domine Deus noster, possederunt nos / domini absque te; / tantum in te recordemur nominis tui. 14Let not the dead live, let not the giants rise again: therefore hast visited and destroyed them, and hast destroyed all their memory.I morti non tornino a vivere; i giganti non risorgano: che perciò tu li visitasti, e gli sterminasti, e cancellasti affatto la loro memoria.Let not the dead liue, let not the giants rise againe: therfore hast thou visited and destroyed them, & hast destroyed al their memorie.Morientes non vivant, / gigantes non resurgant: / propterea visitasti et contrivisti eos, / et perdidisti omnem memoriam eorum. 15Thou hast been favourable to the nation, O Lord, thou hast been favourable to the nation: art thou glorified? thou hast removed all the ends of the earth far off.Tu favoristi, o Signore, la nazione, tu favoristi la nazione; ne sei tu stato forse glorificato per aver dilatati tutti i confini della (sua) terra?Thou hast bene fauorable to the nation ô Lord, thou hast bene fauourable to the nation: wast thou glorified? thou hast made al the endes of the earth far of.Indulsisti genti, Domine, / indulsisti genti, numquid glorificatus es ? / elongasti omnes terminos terræ. 16Lord, they have sought after thee in distress, in the tribulation of murmuring thy instruction was with them.Nell'afflizione cercaron te, o Signore, e la tribolazione, onde gemono, e per essi tua istruzione.Lord in distresse they haue sought after thee, in tribulation of murmur thy doctrine was to them.Domine, in angustia requisierunt te, / in tribulatione murmuris doctrina tua eis. 17As a woman with child, when she draweth near the time of her delivery, is in pain, and crieth out in her pangs: so are we become in thy presence, O Lord.Come quella, che concepì, avvicinandosi al parto grida affannata nelle sue doglie, tali siam noi, o Signore, dinanzi a te.As she that conceiueth, when she draweth neere to be deliuered, being sorowful crieth in her paines: so are we become at thy presence ô Lord.Sicut quæ concipit, cum appropinquaverit ad partum, / dolens clamat in doloribus suis, / sic facti sumus a facie tua, Domine.
18We have conceived, and been as it were in labour, and have brought forth wind: we have not wrought salvation on the earth, therefore the inhabitants of the earth have not fallen.Abbiam concepito, e abbiam qua si sofferti i dolori del parto, e abbiam partorito lo spirito. Noi non facemmo nella terra opere di salute, per questo non caddero gli abitatori della terra.We haue conceiued, and as it were traueled, and brought forth the spirit: saluations we haue not done in the earth, therfore the inhabitants of the earth haue not fallen.Concepimus, et quasi parturivimus, / et peperimus spiritum. / Salutes non fecimus in terra; / ideo non ceciderunt habitatores terræ. 19Thy dead men shall live, my slain shall rise again: awake, and give praise, ye that dwell in the dust: for thy dew is the dew of the light: and the land of the giants thou shalt pull down into ruin.Avranno vita i tuoi morti; gli uccisi miei risorgeranno: svegliatevi, e cantate inni di laude voi, che abitate nella polvere: perocché la tua rugiada è rugiada di luce, e tu rovinerai la terra de' giganti.Thy dead shal liue, my slaine shal rise againe: awake, and prayse ye that dwel in the dust: because the dew of the light is thy dew; & the land of the giants thou shalt plucke downe into ruine.Vivent mortui tui, / interfecti mei resurgent. / Expergiscimini, et laudate, / qui habitatis in pulvere, / quia ros lucis ros tuus, / et terram gigantum detrahes in ruinam. 20Go, my people, enter into thy chambers, shut thy doors upon thee, hide thyself a little for a moment, until the indignation pass away.Vanne popolo mio, entra nelle tue camere, chiudi dietro a te le tue porte, nasconditi un momento, fintantoché passi lo sdegno.Goe my people, enter into thy chambers, shut thy doores vpon thee, be hid a litle for a moment, til the indignation passe.Vade, populus meus, intra in cubicula tua; / claude ostia tua super te, / abscondere modicum ad momentum, / donec pertranseat indignatio. 21For behold the Lord will come out of his place, to visit the iniquity of the inhabitant of the earth against him: and the earth shall disclose her blood, and shall cover her slain no more.Imperocché ecco che il Signore verrà fuori dalla sua residenza a visitare l'iniquità dell'abitatore della terra contro di lui: e la terra renderà il sangue, che ha bevuto, e non ricoprirà più lungamente quelli, che sopra di lei furono uccisi.For behold our Lord wil come out of his place, to visite the iniquitie of the inhabitant of the earth against him: and the earth shal reuele her bloud, and shal couer her slaine no more.Ecce enim Dominus egredietur de loco suo, / ut visitet iniquitatem habitatoris terræ contra eum; / et revelabit terra sanguinem suum, et non operiet ultra interfectos suos.
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Worthington
Day. Under the law of grace, Christians sing this and such like canticles. (Worthington)
Worthington
Other nations have their respective cities. All Christians admit this one. (Worthington)
Calmet
The captives continue to return thanks. Yet the Holy Ghost speaks chiefly of the Church, and of the general resurrection. (Calmet)
Worthington
Bulwark. Faith and good works. (Worthington)
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Truth. The Jews who returned from Babylon, were more virtuous than their ancestors, as the prophets intimate; though they have Christians principally in view.
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Menochius
Away: condemning the virtuous, as if they were fools. (Menochius)
Haydock
Symmachus, "our work, or fiction, is taken away." Hebrew may have other meanings. (Haydock)
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You, people of Juda.
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High: Nabuchodonosor and his empire.
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Haydock
Needy. The Jews shall behold the ruin of the city by Cyrus, (Calmet) who was of a contemptible nation. (Haydock)
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In. God will remove every obstacle, at their return.
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Night of distress.
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Justice. Clemency would therefore be ill placed. If the Israelites had not been led away captives, would they ever have been reformed?
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Not see. Let them perish, or live to witness the glory of the Jews.
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Calmet
Works, both in punishing and rewarding. (Calmet)
Estius
God crowns his own gifts. (Estius)
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Haydock
Lords of Babylon, (Calmet) and our own passions. (Haydock)
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Giants; the proud emperors of Babylon, whom thou wilt destroy. Septuagint, "physicians;" as Rephaim has also this meaning.
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Calmet
Nation of the Jews. (Calmet)
Haydock
Septuagint, "add evils to them, O Lord; add evils to the nobles of the land." (Haydock)
Hebrew may have the same sense.
Ends: princes, or the Chaldeans, sending them also into captivity; or thou hast propagated thy Church over the world.
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Calmet
They. Septuagint, "We," etc. (Calmet)
Haydock
Affliction is a wholesome medicine. (Haydock)
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Calmet
Wind. Our expectation of aid from others has been disappointed. (Calmet)
Haydock
Septuagint, "the spirit of thy salvation, which thou hast wrought on the earth. We shall not fall, but the inhabitants of the earth shall fall." (Haydock)
Their copies must have been different from ours.
Calmet
Fallen. The Chanaanites are left for our trial and punishment. (Calmet)
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Dead: a civil death, shall regain their liberty; and those who have left this world in a state of virtue, shall be happy.
Ruin. Cyrus liberated the Jews, having conquered Babylon.
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Challoner
Shall cover her stain no more. This is said with relation to the martyrs, and their happy resurrection. (Challoner)
Calmet
The blood of the saints shall demand vengeance. (Calmet)
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Shall cover her slain no more.... This is said with relation to the martyrs, and their happy resurrection.
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In the time of grace geuen by Christ his whole Church singeth this and other like canticles of praises.
Other peoples haue their peculiar proper cities: Babylon, Damascus, Tyrus, Sidon, &c. but al Christians haue one citie the Catholique Church signified by Sion.
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Fensed vvith vval, and bul vvorke, of faith & good vvorkes. S. Ierom here noteth that the sense of this Canticle is hard, by reason of often and sudaine inter locutions of diuers persons consisting in questions and ansvvers. To vvhose lerned commentaries vve remitte the studious readers.
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A prophecie of the general resurrection of al men.
Some in glorie.
Some in miserie.
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Concordance Mich. 1
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St Justin Martyr † AD 165 Dialogue with Trypho 24
… But lest I appear now to diverge to other subjects, understand what I say: the blood of that circumcision is obsolete, and we trust in the blood of salvation; there is now another covenant, and another law has gone forth from Zion. Jesus Christ circumcises all who will—as was declared above —with knives of stone;
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St Augustine of Hippo † AD 430 Lectures or Tractates on the Gospel According to St. John 121.4
… He indeed could enter without their being opened, by whose birth the virginity of His mother remained inviolate, “Then were the disciples glad when they saw the Lord. Then said He unto them again, Peace be unto you.” Reiteration is confirmation; for He Himself gives by the prophet a promised peace upon peace.
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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. To tread My courts ye shall not proceed, but the feet of the meek
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Origen † AD 254 Origen's Commentary on the Gospel of John 2.20
… And we must recognize the analogous case of those on the other side, and of their evil actions, and of that which is thought to be but is not really knowledge, since those who exercise it have the reason (Logos) not of light but of darkness. And because the sacred word knows the things which produce light, Isaiah says:
St Athanasius of Alexandria † AD 373 Festal and Personal Letters of Athanasius 20
… as David sang, ‘My God, my God, early will I seek Thee, my soul thirsteth for Thee; many times my heart and flesh longeth for Thee in a barren land, without a path, and without water. Thus was I seen by Thee in the sanctuary .’ And Isaiah the prophet says, ‘From the night my spirit seeketh Thee early, O God, because Thy commandments are light
St John Chrysostom † AD 407 Homilies on 1 Timothy 14
… And the songs themselves too are suitable, and full of the love of God. “In the night,” they say, “lift up your hands unto God. With my soul have I desired Thee in the night, yea with my spirit within me will I seek Thee early,” (
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St Irenaeus of Lyons † AD 202 Against Heresies 5.35
… they be not inhabited, and the houses so that there shall be no men in them and the land shall be left desolate.” “For, behold,” says Isaiah, “the day of the Lord cometh past remedy, full of fury and wrath, to lay waste the city of the earth, and to root sinners out of it.” And again he says, “Let him be taken away, that he behold not the glory of God.”
St Hippolytus † AD 235 Treatise on Christ and Antichrist 63
… because they received not the love of the truth. And for this cause God shall send them strong delusion, that they should believe a lie: that they all might be damned who believed not the truth, but had pleasure in unrighteousness.” And Esaias says, “Let the wicked be cut off, that he behold not the glory of the Lord.”
St Athanasius of Alexandria † AD 373 Festal and Personal Letters of Athanasius 7
2. When by such faith and knowledge the saints have embraced this true life, they receive, doubtless, the joy which is in heaven; for which the wicked not caring, are deservedly deprived of the blessedness arising from it. For, ‘let the wicked be taken away, so that he shall not see the glory of the Lord
St John Chrysostom † AD 407 The Homilies of St. John Chrysostom on the Gospel of St. John 12
… O blessed, thrice blessed, yea many times so, they who are deemed worthy to be beholders of that glory! It is concerning this that the prophet says, “Let the unrighteous be taken away, that he behold not the glory of the Lord.” (
St Augustine of Hippo † AD 430 On the Holy Trinity 14.19
… must understand it to be said on account of this perfection, that “we shall be like Him, for we shall see Him as He is.” For this gift will be given to us at that time, when it shall have been said, “Come, ye blessed of my Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you.” For then will the ungodly be taken away, so that he shall not see the glory of the Lord,
St Augustine of Hippo † AD 430 A Treatise on the Spirit and the Letter 37
… not in the form of a servant, for in this He will display Himself even to the wicked also. Then, however, shall that come to pass which is written, “Let the ungodly man be taken away, that he see not the glory of the Lord.”
St Augustine of Hippo † AD 430 The Harmony of the Gospels 3.25
… For there, those on the left hand shall go away into eternal burning, but the righteous into life eternal. Hence they shall pass thither, and there, shall they see Him, as the wicked do not see Him. For the wicked shall be taken away, so that he shall not see the brightness of the Lord;
St Augustine of Hippo † AD 430 Lectures or Tractates on the Gospel According to St. John 111.3
… which the Father gave His co-equal Son in begetting Him, but as that which He gave Him, when become the Son of man, after the death of the cross;—when, I say, we shall see that glory of the Son, then of a certainty shall take place the judgment of the quick and the dead, and then shall the wicked be taken away that he may not behold the glory of the Lord;
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St Cyprian of Carthage † AD 258 Three Books of Testimonies Against the Jews 2.5
… “Thus saith the Lord, Heaven is my throne, and the earth is the support of my feet. What house will ye build unto me? or what is the place for my rest? For all these things hath mine hand made.” Also in the same: “O Lord God, Thine Arm is high, and they knew it not; but when they know it, they shall be confounded.”
St Gregory of Nazianzus † AD 389 Select Orations of Saint Gregory Nazianzen 16.7
… I know Him, Who, though free from passion, meets us like a bear robbed of her whelps, like a leopard in the way of the Assyrians, not only those of that day, but if anyone now is an Assyrian in wickedness: nor is it possible to escape the might and speed of His wrath when He watches over our impieties, and His jealousy,
St Augustine of Hippo † AD 430 City of God 20.12
… This is the fire which shall devour them, and this is “from God;” for it is by God’s grace the saints become unconquerable, and so torment their enemies. For as in a good sense it is said, “The zeal of Thine house hath consumed me,” so in a bad sense it is said, “Zeal hath possessed the uninstructed people, and now fire shall consume the enemies.”
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St John Chrysostom † AD 407 Homily on the Paralytic Let Down Through the Roof 6
… and again in another place we read, “Comfort ye my people, say ye to the heart of Jerusalem, that she hath received of the Lord’s hand double for her sins.” And again the prophet says “O Lord give us peace, for thou hast requited all things to us,”
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.”
St John Chrysostom † AD 407 Homilies on Second Corinthians 23
… yet afterwards did this captivity become a consolation to them in respect of their sins. Therefore He saith to Isaiah, “Comfort ye, comfort ye My people, ye priests: speak unto the heart of Jerusalem, for she hath received of the Lord’s hand double for sins.” ( Is. xl. 1, 2 .) And again; “Grant us peace, for Thou hast repaid us every thing.” (
St John Chrysostom † AD 407 The Homilies of St. John Chrysostom on the Epistle to the Hebrews 5
… xl. 2 ); and again David, “Behold mine enemies that they are multiplied above the hairs of my head and [with] an unjust hatred have they hated me”: “and forgive Thou all my sins.” ( Ps. xxv. 19, 18 .) And again another: “O Lord, our God, give peace unto us; for Thou hast rendered all things to us again.” (
St Jerome † AD 420 The Letters of St. Jerome 125.20
… He will not suffer you to turn to the right hand or to the left or to leave the king’s highway; for to this Israel pledges itself to keep in its hasty passage to the land of promise. May God hear the voice of the church’s supplication. “Lord, ordain peace for us, for thou hast also wrought all our works for us.”
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St Athanasius of Alexandria † AD 373 Against the Arians. (Orationes contra Arianos IV.) 2.15
… but afterwards, as the ancient people when oppressed in Egypt groaned, so, when we too had the Law ‘engrafted ’ in us, and according to the unutterable sighings of the Spirit made our intercession, ‘O Lord our God, take possession of us
St Gregory of Nazianzus † AD 389 Select Orations of Saint Gregory Nazianzen 42.3
3. To speak in a more feeling strain, trusting in Him Who then forsook me, as in a Father, “Abraham has been ignorant of us, Israel has acknowledged us not, but Thou art our Father, and unto Thee do we look; beside Thee we know none else, we make mention of Thy name.”
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Sulpicius Severus † AD 420 The Doubtful Letters of Sulpitius Severus 2.16
Take heed that ye love not human glory in any respect, lest your portion also be reckoned among those to whom it was said, “How can ye believe, who seek glory, one from another?” and of whom it is said through the prophet, “Increase
John Cassian † AD 435 The Conferences of John Cassian 6.6
… And another prophet, knowing that these are profitable to some men, and certainly not through any jealousy of their safety, but with an eye to their good, prays thus: “Add evils to them, O Lord, add evils to the haughty ones of the earth;”
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St Augustine of Hippo † AD 430 Expositions on the Book of Psalms 48.5
… Serve the Lord with fear, and rejoice unto Him with trembling.” And what did they? “There pains as of a woman in travail.” What are the pains “as of a woman in travail,” but the pangs of a penitent? See the same conception of pain and travail: “Of Thy fear” (saith Isaiah) “we have conceived, we have travailed of the Spirit of salvation.”
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Archelaus † fl. AD 278 The Acts of the Disputation with the Heresiarch Manes 33
… The case may be the same, indeed, with those who devote themselves to virtue; for I have heard the most valiant men say to God, “For Thy fear, O Lord, we have conceived in the womb, and we have been in pain, and have brought forth the spirit of salvation.”
St Gregory of Nazianzus † AD 389 Select Orations of Saint Gregory Nazianzen 16.4
… For He inclines from severity to indulgence towards those who accept chastisement with fear, and who after a slight affliction conceive and are in pain with conversion, and bring forth
St Gregory of Nyssa † AD 395 On Virginity 19
… Indeed it has been revealed in the oracles of God, on what occasion to conceive and to bring forth is a good thing, and what species of fecundity was desired by God’s saints; for both the Prophet Isaiah and the divine Apostle have made this clear and certain. The one cries, “From fear of Thee, O Lord, have I conceived
St Ambrose of Milan † AD 397 On the Decease of His Brother Satyrus 2.67
… They that inhabit the earth shall fall, they shall rise that are in the graves. For the dew which is from Thee is health for them but the land of the wicked shall perish. Go, O my people, and enter into thy chambers; hide thyself for a little until the Lord’s wrath pass by.”
St Jerome † AD 420 The Letters of St. Jerome 22.38
… “Take thee a great roll and write in it with a man’s pen Maher-shalal-hash-baz.” And when you have gone to the prophetess, and have conceived in the womb, and have brought forth a son, say: “Lord, we have been with child by thy fear, we have been in pain, we have brought forth the spirit of thy salvation, which we have wrought upon the earth.”
St Augustine of Hippo † AD 430 Of Holy Virginity 39
… It is good for thee, O virgin soul, that thus, as thou art a virgin, thus altogether keeping in thy heart that thou hast been born again, keeping in thy flesh that thou hast been born, thou yet conceive of the fear of the Lord, and give birth to the spirit of salvation.
St John of Damascus † AD 749 An Exact Exposition of the Orthodox Faith 4.27
Further Isaiah says: The dead shall rise again, and they that are in the graves shall awake
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St Irenaeus of Lyons † AD 202 Against Heresies 4.33.11
… Those, again, who declare that at His coming “the lame man shall leap as an hart, and the tongue of the dumb shall [speak] plainly, and the eyes of the blind shall be opened, and the ears of the deaf shall hear,” and that “the hands which hang down, and the feeble knees, shall be strengthened,” and that “the dead which are in the grave shall arise,”
St Irenaeus of Lyons † AD 202 Against Heresies 5.15.1
1. Now, that He who at the beginning created man, did promise him a second birth after his dissolution into earth, Esaias thus declares: “The dead shall rise again, and they who are in the tombs shall arise, and they who are in the earth shall rejoice. For the dew which is from Thee is health to them.”
St Irenaeus of Lyons † AD 202 Against Heresies 5.34.1
1. Then, too, Isaiah himself has plainly declared that there shall be joy of this nature at the resurrection of the just, when he says: “The dead shall rise again; those, too, who are in the tombs shall arise, and those who are in the earth shall rejoice. For the dew from Thee is health to them.”
Tertullian † AD 220 On the Resurrection of the Flesh 31
… For the language is universal: “The dead shall arise, and come forth from their graves; for the dew which cometh from Thee is medicine to their bones.”
St Hippolytus † AD 235 Treatise on Christ and Antichrist 65
65. Moreover, concerning the resurrection and the kingdom of the saints, Daniel says, “And many of them that sleep in the dust of the earth shall arise, some to everlasting life, (and some to shame and everlasting contempt).” Esaias says, “The dead men shall arise, and they that are in their tombs shall awake; for the dew from thee is healing to them.”
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 36
… For concerning the general resurrection and the kingdom of the saints, Daniel says: “And many of them that sleep in the dust of the earth shall awake, some to everlasting life, and some to shame and everlasting contempt.” And Isaiah says: “The dead shall rise, and those in the tombs shall awake, and those in the earth shall rejoice.”
Aphrahat † AD 346 Aphrahat: Select Demonstrations 8.10
… Again also Hannah said thus in her prayer:— The Lord causeth to die and quickeneth; He bringeth down to Sheol and bringeth up (therefrom). The Prophet Isaiah also said thus:— Thy dead shall live, O Lord, and their bodies shall rise, and they that sleep in the dust shall awake and praise thee.
Aphrahat † AD 346 Aphrahat: Select Demonstrations 8.18
… Or how shall a dead man arise to bury another dead man? But receive this explanation from me, that a sinner, while he is living, is dead unto God; and a righteous man, though dead, is alive unto God. For such death is a sleep, as David said, I lay down and slept, and awoke . Again Isaiah said, They that sleep in the dust shall awake .
Aphrahat † AD 346 Aphrahat: Select Demonstrations 22.3
… He bringeth down to Sheol and raiseth up . Furthermore Moses said as from the mouth of God:— I make to die and I cause to live . Again the Prophet Isaiah also said:— Thy dead shall live, and their dead bodies shall rise again; and the sleepers of the dust shall be awakened, and shall glorify Thee .
St Cyril of Jerusalem † AD 386 The Catechetical Lectures of S. Cyril 4.31
31. Heed not those who say that this body is not raised; for it is raised: and Esaias is witness, when he says: The dead shall arise, and they that are in the tombs shall awake
St Cyril of Jerusalem † AD 386 The Catechetical Lectures of S. Cyril 18.15
… he says, For if a man die, he shall live again ; and immediately he adds, I will wait till I be made again ; and again elsewhere, Who shall raise up on the earth my skin, which endures these things . And Esaias the Prophet says, The dead men shall rise again, and they that are in the tombs shall awake
St Gregory of Nyssa † AD 395 Against Eunomius 2.15
… How does the Psalmist seek his healing from God, saying, “Have mercy upon me, O Lord, for I am weak; O Lord, heal me, for my bones are vexed !” It is to God that Isaiah says, “The dew that is from Thee is healing unto them
Rufinus of Aquileia † AD 411 A Commentary on the Apostles' Creed 41
… Although on this point also the faith of the Church is impugned, not only by Gentiles, but by heretics likewise. For Valentinus altogether denies the resurrection of the flesh, so do the Manicheans, as we shewed above. But they refuse to listen to the Prophet Isaiah when he says, “The dead shall rise, and they who are in the graves shall be raised,”
St Augustine of Hippo † AD 430 City of God 20.21
The prophet Isaiah says, “The dead shall rise again, and all who were in the graves shall rise again; and all who are in the earth shall rejoice: for the dew which is from Thee is their health, and the earth of the wicked shall fall.”
St Augustine of Hippo † AD 430 City of God 22.3
Wherefore, not to mention many other instances besides, as we now see in Christ the fulfillment of that which God promised to Abraham when He said, “In thy seed shall all nations be blessed,” so this also shall be fulfilled which He promised to the same race, when He said by the prophet, “They that are in their sepulchres shall rise again,”
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Pope St Clement I † AD 99 The First Epistle of Clement to the Corinthians 50
… For it is written, “Enter into thy secret chambers for a little time, until my wrath and fury pass away; and I will remember a propitious day, and will raise you up out of your graves.”
Tertullian † AD 220 On the Resurrection of the Flesh 27
… Thus we are furnished even with an allegorical defence of the resurrection of the body. When, then, we read, “Go, my people, enter into your closets for a little season, until my anger pass away,”
St Hippolytus † AD 235 Treatise on Christ and Antichrist 64
… and there is no one hid from the heat thereof.” By the heat he means the conflagration. And Esaias speaks thus: “Come, my people, enter thou into thy chamber, (and) shut thy door: hide thyself as it were for a little moment, until the indignation of the Lord be overpast.”
St Athanasius of Alexandria † AD 373 Apology to the Emperor. (Apologia Ad Constantium.) 34
Now when such enormities as these were again perpetrated by the Arians, I surely was not wrong in complying with the direction of Holy Scripture, which says, ‘Hide thyself for a little moment, until the wrath of the Lord be overpast
St Athanasius of Alexandria † AD 373 Defence of His Flight. (Apologia de Fuga.) 21
… hide thyself as it were for a little moment, until the indignation be overpast
St Athanasius of Alexandria † AD 373 Persecution at Alexandria 1
… He however had withdrawn before these instructions reached them, and from the time when Syrianus broke into the Church; for he remembered that which was written, ‘Hide thyself as it were for a little moment, until the indignation be overpast
St Gregory of Nazianzus † AD 389 Select Orations of Saint Gregory Nazianzen 2.115
… but I fell down and humbled myself under the mighty hand of God, and asked pardon for my former idleness and disobedience, if this is at all laid to my charge. I held my peace, but I will not hold my peace for ever: I withdrew for a little while,
St Jerome † AD 420 The Letters of St. Jerome 22.26
… “Come, my people, enter thou into thy chambers, and shut thy doors about thee: hide thyself as it were for a little moment, until the indignation” of the Lord “be overpast.”
St Jerome † AD 420 To Pammachius against John of Jerusalem 33
… This Lazarus had already done. They shall, moreover, come forth from the tombs; that is, they who had been laid in the tombs, the dead, shall come, and shall rise again from their graves. For the dew which God gives is healing to their bones. Then shall be fulfilled what God says by the prophet,
St Augustine of Hippo † AD 430 The Confessions 8.8
19. In the midst, then, of this great strife of my inner dwelling, which I had strongly raised up against my soul in the chamber of my heart,
St Augustine of Hippo † AD 430 The Confessions 12.16
… But should they be unwilling, and should they repel me, I beseech, O my God, that Thou “be not silent to me.” Do Thou speak truly in my heart, for Thou only so speakest, and I will send them away blowing upon the dust from without, and raising it up into their own eyes; and will myself enter into my chamber,
St Augustine of Hippo † AD 430 Letters of St. Augustin 36.8
… death and the resurrection of the dead. In death is that rest of which the prophet speaks: “Come, my people, enter thou into thy chambers, and shut thy doors about thee: hide thyself as it were for a little moment, until the indignation be overpast.”
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1. THIS SONG SHALL BE SUNG (by the Blessed) IN THE LAND OF JUDA, — namely in Sion, that is in the heavenly Church, of which he has been treating hitherto. For there will be eternal praise and confession of God: this indeed is signified by Juda, especially when they shall see so great their own glory, and so great a punishment of Moab, that is of the damned, that they have escaped. Thus St. Jerome. Secondly, St. Cyril also adapts these things to the Church militant, which is the way and beginning of the heavenly and triumphant Church. THE CITY OF OUR STRENGTH SION, THE SAVIOUR SHALL BE SET IN IT FOR A WALL AND BULWARK. — The Septuagint, perigitages, that is a circumwall; Symmachus, firmament: for this is the Hebrew חיל chel. The word Saviour can be referred either to what precedes, or to what follows. The Roman Bible, and St. Jerome and Adam refer it to what precedes, and then the sense is, as if to say, The city of our strength, that is our strength, our secure protection, and quiet dwelling like the city of Sion is Christ the Lord: because He Himself will be a wall and bulwark to us, that is like a very strong wall and bulwark He will protect and fortify the Blessed in heaven. In a similar trope it is said in Proverbs XVIII, 10: The name of the Lord is a strong tower; the just runneth to it, and shall be exalted; and in Jeremiah cap. I, 18: I have made thee this day a fortified city, and a pillar of iron, and a wall of brass, etc., to the kings of Juda, etc. Otherwise St. Gregory, hom. 14 in Ezech.: In the holy, he says, Church the Lord (Christ) is a wall to us, and His Prophets a bulwark, are set: because to us, whom He Himself perfectly protects, even the words of the Prophets have come for the building up of faith. Otherwise also St. Jerome: The wall, he says, of the Church is faith; the bulwark, are good works. And St. Bernard, serm. 5 On the Assumption of the B. Virgin: The wall, he says, is continence, the bulwark patience. Which he elegantly pursues further, serm. 3 On the Dedication of the Church. Thus Alcidamas said that Philosophy is a rampart and fence of laws, as if in it were situated the sum and strength of laws; which Aristotle, lib. III Rhetor., cites and unjustly reproves. Secondly, the Saviour can be referred to what follows with the Hebrews, and that is more apt and fitting, as if to say, The city of our blessedness, namely heavenly Sion, will be most fortified and most strong, so that no force, no age can overturn it, nor can the gates of hell prevail against it. The reason is: because Christ the Saviour will be to it a wall and bulwark, that is a most strong guardian and protector on all sides. Thus St. Thomas, Hugo, Forerius, Vatablus, Sanchez and others. Whence more significantly the Hebrews for Saviour have ישועה iescua, that is salvation, and they exhibit this meaning: The city of our strength is to us, salvation will set walls and a bulwark. Thus Vatablus; or, as others: God will set salvation to it for walls and a bulwark, as if to say: Do you wish to know how strong that city of the Blessed is? Hear: salvation itself has surrounded it with its walls and bulwarks, God has set salvation itself to it for walls and bulwarks: salvation itself therefore surrounds and defends the city on all sides. But there is no one who can harm that salvation and safety itself. Indeed from things which do not have salvation, salvation can be taken away the next day: but who will shake salvation itself? In a similar manner it is said cap. LX, 18: "Salvation shall occupy thy walls," etc., so that whoever wishes to be safe and unharmed, let him flee to thee. Thus Forerius. Whence also the Arabic translates: The city whose salvation is strengthened (or prevailed) they set a wall and a son of the wall, that is a bulwark. Now our Translator for salvation renders Saviour; for He is the causal salvation of heavenly Sion: because He brings it full salvation. For salvation cannot be separated from the Saviour, nor the Saviour from salvation. He opposes the city Sion to Moab, that is heaven to hell, the Blessed to the damned; for concerning Moab he said: "The fortifications of thy high walls shall fall, and be brought low, and shall be brought down to the ground even to the dust." But concerning Sion on the contrary he says, that salvation will be to it a wall and bulwark, so that it ought not to fear ruin, destruction or calamity. By bulwark is understood either a rampart and crescent-shaped work, which is made before the gate and walls, so that from them the citizens may keep the enemy away from them, or the very round ramparts themselves, which like towers run out between the walls and project, so that from them the inhabitants may transfix and drive away the enemy approaching the walls with missiles. Thus literally the Saviour was a wall and bulwark to Clovis, king of the Franks, still pagan. For when he was being overcome in war against the Alemanni, he invoked Jesus Christ whom his wife Clotildis revered, promising that if he should conquer, he would become a Christian. Wherefore the fortune of war being changed, he himself began to conquer. The Alemanni gave way, and finally submitted themselves to him; and thus he himself became a Christian, as Gregory of Tours relates, On the Deeds of the Franks, book II, chapter xxx. Morally, Jesus, that is the Saviour, is our strength, wall and bulwark: for first, He cares for us from every infirmity and vice; and thus He incites and inflames us to love of Himself: for who does not love his own salvation and his own Saviour? Hear St. Augustine on Psalm CI: "Men are willing to be bound and cut, giving certain pain for uncertain health, and great reward: God who made you, and is certain to care for you, and does so freely." Secondly, He directs right intention toward God and toward salvation. Hence Paul teaches, I Corinthians X, that all things are to be done in the name of Jesus. For if, as Chrysostom says, homily 9 on the epistle to the Colossians, the names of consuls add security to letters, much more does the name of Christ. Therefore in the name of Jesus do all things, and they will succeed prosperously: let us learn all these things not by word only, but also by fulfilling them in our very works. Thirdly, it is an incitement to humility and hope: because while we both hope for and seek salvation from Jesus, we confess and accuse our own miseries, and diseases, and sins, and offering ourselves as to a physician, we await from Him the remedy of our evils: for who would not hope for salvation from the Saviour? Fourthly, it is a stimulus to devotion, so that, just as He Himself gave Himself wholly to me for my benefit and salvation, so also I may be wholly His, He who has become wholly mine, and my heart may be sweetened, and my lips in this most sweet name of Jesus: just as St. Francis was so recreated with such sweetness of heart, while uttering it, that he would even kiss his lips; as those do who have tasted something most sweet in their mouth. Fifthly, it teaches gratitude, which we owe to Him for so great a benefit of salvation, especially if we attend to the price at which this salvation of ours cost Him: for indeed, as St. Bernard rightly says: "When He created me, He spoke, and things were made; when He redeemed me, He spoke much, did wonders, endured hardships, and not only hardships, but also indignities." Sixthly, it provokes to obedience; because Paul affirms that He merited this so great a name for Himself through obedience, Philippians II, namely because He became obedient unto death, God the Father gave Him a name which is above all names. Seventhly, it invites us that in every necessity we should have recourse to this most holy name, as to a sacred anchor. Hear St. Bernard, sermon 15 in the Canticles: To whom, he says, trembling and fearful in dangers, has the invoked name of power not immediately given confidence, driven away fear? To whom in adversities distrustful, and now failing, if the name of help has sounded, has strength been lacking? Eighthly finally, this most sacred name of Jesus teaches every Christian perfection. St. Paul, I Corinthians I, urges to union and perfection by this title: I beseech, he says, by the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, that you all say the same thing, and that there be no schisms among you; but that you be perfect in the same sense, and in the same mind, as if to say: By this glorious name I adjure you, to whom you owe so much, who is the prince of peace and salvation, who destroyed enmities in His body, who justly demands this of you, that you be perfect, that is united inwardly and outwardly. St. Bernard in the place cited: When I name, he says, Jesus, I set before myself a man meek and humble of heart, benign, sober, chaste, merciful, and conspicuous in every holiness and honesty; and when I consider Him as God, who heals me by His example, and strengthens me by His aid: I take therefore examples from the man, and aid from the Mighty One. Finally St. Jerome: The Saviour, he says, is a wall of good works, and a bulwark of faith. For it is not enough to have a wall of faith, unless faith be confirmed by good works. Note this, Luther, note this Calvin. Jesus therefore to the Church and to the faithful is a wall and bulwark, is prow and stern, is ditch and rampart. Thus Scipio was to the Romans, against Hannibal and the Carthaginians, said to be a ditch and rampart, namely every protection, every safeguard, every strength.
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2. OPEN THE GATES, AND LET THE JUST NATION ENTER. — St. Jerome notes here that the persons change: for it is as it were a dialogue. See Can. XIV. He therefore thinks these are the words of Christ to the Angels, as if to say: O Angels! open heaven, that my holy followers may enter into that vision of peace, which through my faith and grace they have hoped for here. Secondly, Sanchez probably thinks these are the words of the Blessed, who, hearing from the Judge: Come, ye blessed of my Father, possess the kingdom prepared for you; exulting, they say to the Angels: Open, O Angels! the gates of heaven, into which we have now ascended with triumphal acclaim, that the nation which cultivated justice and kept truth may enter. Thirdly, Cyril thinks these are the words of God to the Apostles, as if to say: You, O Apostles, and your imitators! open the way to the Gentiles through preaching into the Church, that they may become a just nation and keep truth. But it is clear from what has been said that these are not spoken of the Gentiles entering the Church, but of the Blessed entering into heaven.
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3. THE OLD ERROR HAS DEPARTED. — In Hebrew it is יצר סמוך ietser samuch: which first, Symmachus and Aquila translate, our thought is established, as if to say: We rejoice because our mind in the contemplation of the first truth, namely in the vision of God, is fixed and stabilized. Secondly, Pagninus translates, desire is joined, as if to say: Now we enjoy our wishes, we possess whatever we desired. For we are joined to God, we hold him, who fulfills in us all our desire for good things. Thirdly and best, our translator renders ietser as figment, error, as if to say: Now the old error of the voluptuous and the damned is revealed, by which we foolish and insane were judged by them, because we entered upon the narrow and harsh path of Christian life: but now it is clear that we were wise, while they erred foolishly. For behold we have obtained peace, that is, abundance of all good things, which you, O Lord! have bestowed upon us, and will preserve forever, because we hoped for it from you, and endured all hardships for its sake. See this error of the reprobate acknowledged and lamented pathetically by themselves, Wisdom V, 3.
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4. YOU HAVE HOPED IN THE LORD IN THE ETERNAL AGES. — For you have hoped, in Hebrew it is hope, so that it may be the voice and mutual congratulation of the Blessed, as if they say: O blessed ones! who now begin the blessed life, hope and trust in God through all ages: for he will certainly provide and preserve this blessedness for you through all eternity. Others think these are the words of Isaiah to men, devoted to the vain riches and pomp of the world, as if to say: Do not, O worldly ones, O men of the world! pursue these vain and perishable things, but like the blessed, strive for eternal riches and honors, by serving God and hoping in him. IN THE LORD GOD STRONG FOREVER. — In Hebrew, because in the Lord God there is צור עלמים tsur olamim, that is, the rock of the ages, that is, constancy, firmness and perpetual strength, which will never find an end; so that you may rightly fix your hopes in him, knowing that they will never be frustrated through all eternity.
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5. FOR HE SHALL BRING DOWN THOSE WHO DWELL ON HIGH. — He shows that God is strong forever, and therefore hope is to be placed in him, from the fact that he himself will bend down and depress all who dwell on high, that is, all princes and the powerful and the proud, who were in sublime dignity and offices, dwelling in lofty palaces, who bore great spirits and aspired to great things: and the "lofty city," namely not Rome, as the Jews wish; nor Jerusalem, as St. Jerome holds, but the world, he will "humble," and reduce it to dust through the fire of conflagration, and will destroy its ambitious, avaricious inhabitants, etc.
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6. THE FOOT SHALL TREAD IT DOWN, THE FEET (I say) OF THE POOR. — He calls the poor and needy the Apostles and other faithful, who followed the poverty of Christ: for these will tread down the world, that is, the proud and impious of the world, that is, will judge and condemn them. Thus St. Jerome and the Septuagint. For God chose the weak and ignoble things of the world, that he might confound the strong, the powerful and the wise of the world. Secondly, the same St. Jerome, Origen, St. Chrysostom, Eusebius, and from them Leo Castrius, understand these things of the destruction of Jerusalem, on account of the neglected preaching of Christ and the Apostles. But, as I have said, these regard the destruction of the world, not of the city. Thirdly, some with St. Cyril refer these things to the Church militant and Roman. Whence Galatinus, lib. IV, cap. XXVI: The lofty city, he says, that is Rome and Italy, God will humble. For when the sublimity of the Roman empire nearly touched heaven, it bent its neck humbly under the yoke of Christian faith. Then he trod it down with the foot of the poor, namely of St. Peter the fisherman, who now occupies the Vatican, the city and the world, so much so that kings and emperors kiss his feet in his successor the Pontiff.
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7. THE PATH OF THE JUST IS RIGHT. — He shows here that the way which led the just to heaven to such great glory, the wicked being destroyed and trampled down, was right, and is itself righteousness, that is, love and zeal for what is right and equitable: namely that it was the path of the judgments, that is, of the commandments, of the Lord. The Hebrew texts have word for word, the path to the just is righteousness, namely they are. Secondly, the path of the just is right, that is, equitable, level, direct, without any, not only mishap or fall, but not even stumbling. For this is what the Hebrew misor signifies, and the related mesarim. Whence Pagninus translates, the path to the just is right: thou, O God, rightly! thou shalt free the path of the just; Forerius, the path to the just, equities: thou shalt direct the right course of the just; Vatablus, the way to the just shall be of equities (that is, level and plain): thou, O God! shalt make level by the plumb line, lest namely it offend. This is what God promises to the just, Proverbs IV, 11: I will lead thee by the paths of equity, which when thou shalt have entered, thy steps shall not be straitened, and running thou shalt have no stumbling block. Such right and level paths are the paths of virtue: for these are the paths of the will and law of God, which have not the scandal of sin, ruin, stumbling, and vengeance, as the crooked and unequal paths of vices have. Whence we must pray daily with the Psalmist, Psalm XXVI, 11: Direct me in the right path; and Psalm XXIV, 4: Thy ways, O Lord, show unto me: and teach me thy paths, which may lead me right to thee in heaven, to happiness and eternal glory.
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8. THY NAME, AND THY MEMORIAL IN THE DESIRE OF THE SOUL, that is to say, We have desired and continually desire that thy name, O Lord! and thy memory be recalled and celebrated by us, then by all nations continually, and therefore we have desired vengeance upon the wicked, as follows, because they themselves neglect thy name, nay, profane it. For the saints desire always to have God present, and to walk before him, as Noah did, Genesis VI, 9; and Abraham, Genesis XVII, 1. See the things said there. Whence the Hebrew word for word is: To thy name and to thy memory is the desire of our soul. Thus the soul of St. Julian desired, thus it melted away for the name of God and of the Lord Jesus Christ, so that wherever he found it written in books, he would wash it with tears, and by their abundance he would cause many erasures in the books, as St. Ephrem, an eyewitness, relates in his Life: "On a certain day," he says, "I said to him: Who corrupts these books with erasures? And the blessed one said to me: I will hide nothing from thee. A sinful woman coming to the Saviour washed his feet with tears, and wiped them with the hair of her head; and I, wherever I find the name of God written, I water it with my tears, so that I too may receive from him the remission of sins. But he said: My heart is not watered unless I weep before the Lord my God." St. Bonaventure relates of St. Francis that when reading the psalms, whenever the name of the Lord occurred in them, he seemed to lick his lips from the sweetness of its sweetness. But when he expressed or heard the name of Jesus, filled with a certain jubilation inwardly, he seemed to be wholly changed outwardly, as if a honeyed flavor had changed his taste, or a harmonious sound had changed his hearing. And St. Bernard says: Jesus, he says, is honey in the mouth, melody in the ear, jubilation in the heart. For when thou thinkest and namest Jesus, thou thinkest and namest thy salvation and thy Saviour. Wherefore Arnobius, in book I, says that by this name the deeds of the magicians are broken, the attempts of demons are weakened, not by horror, as you say, O Gentiles! of the name, but by the license of greater power;" namely because this name torments and puts to flight demons, as is evident in Luke chapter IX, verse 49.
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9. MY SOUL HATH DESIRED THEE IN THE NIGHT. — Here the canticle of the Blessed seems to end; now Isaiah, admonished and stirred by it, and seeing what outcome both the poverty and affliction of the pious then had, and the false and deceptive prosperity of the impious, and aspiring to the Blessed, says that he likewise wishes to bear God continually in mind and soul, to worship Him, to desire Him both night and day, and that seriously and earnestly, so as even to anticipate the light; this is indeed what he adds: "And with my spirit in my heart I will watch for thee in the morning." Thus David says, Psalm LXII: "O God, my God, to thee do I watch at break of day." Otherwise Sanchez: By night, he says, that is by tribulation and the cross, through which thou leadest us to glory, I will sigh unto thee. Otherwise also Theodoret: By night, he says, that is before the incarnation of Christ; and in the morning, that is in the incarnation and after it, I have desired thee. But this is mystical. As also is this from St. Gregory, book XXIII of the Morals, XII: "By night," he says, as if to say, "In this obscurity of the present life I desire to see thee; but still I am circumscribed by the cloud of infirmity." Beautifully and piously Carpentarius renders this verse thus: Meanwhile, whether night brings dark inertness, Or kindly light the rosy day, with all our heart We seek thee, O eternal pleasure of men and gods! Let our minds thirst for thee alone, let our hearts Pant for thee, O God, our God: guardian and author of salvation. WHEN THOU SHALT HAVE MADE THY JUDGMENTS TO BE HEARD IN THE EARTH, THE INHABITANTS OF THE WORLD SHALL LEARN JUSTICE, — as if to say, From the zeal with which I desire that thy name and memory, O Lord, be sanctified by all, even the impious, I wish that thou shouldst thereupon exercise some judgment and public vengeance upon the impious in this life, through which they may know and learn thee and thy justice; for most are so attached to their vices that they cannot be corrected except through grave scourges. Thus St. Thomas, Adam, Sanchez and others. Secondly, St. Jerome refers these things to the day of judgment, as if to say, When thou shalt have rendered to each according to the quality of his work on the day of judgment what he deserves, then thy justice shall be known in the orb of the earth, which before seemed unjust to the unbelievers. But that discipline will be late and useless, unless those who still live receive it from the examples of those who have already after particular judgment been thrust down into hell where they are tormented, as Virgil, book VI of the Aeneid, says of Phlegyas: And Phlegyas, most wretched, admonishes all, And with a loud voice testifies through the shades: Learn justice, warned, and do not despise the Gods.
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10. LET US HAVE PITY ON THE WICKED, AND HE SHALL NOT LEARN JUSTICE, — as if to say: I justly desire thy judgment in the vengeance of the impious. For if thou shouldst have pity on them and spare them, they shall not learn justice, but shall remain in their impiety; but if thou punish them, either they themselves, or certainly others terrified by their example and punishment, shall be converted, or at least shall praise thy power and justice; even if the impious themselves, whom thou scourgeth, are hardened more by scourges, as Pharao was hardened by them; wherefore this clemency and mercy toward the impious appears to be without mercy. Such is the nature of men addicted to their lusts, and hard and obstinate, such as heretics, barbarians and rustics, who are exasperated by gentleness, and are softened and tamed by harshness. Whence the Poet: The rustic stabs the ointment, and anoints him who stabs. Hear St. Bernard, sermon 42 in the Canticles: Then God is more angry, when He is not angry: Let us have pity, he says, on the wicked, and he shall not learn to do justice: I do not will this mercy; above all anger is this pity, teaching me the ways of justice. It is surely better for me, according to the counsel of the Prophet, to take hold of discipline, lest the Lord be angry at some time, and I perish from the right way. I will that thou be angry with me, Father of mercies, but with that anger by which thou correctest the wanderer, not with that by which thou drivest from the way; thy benign reproof brings forth that for us, this fearful dissimulation nourishes: for when I feel thee angry, then especially do I trust thou art merciful: for when thou art angry, thou wilt remember mercy. Then he proves it by example: God, he says, thou wast merciful to them, and avenging upon all their inventions, Psalm XCVIII: he speaks of Moses, Aaron and Samuel, whom he had sent before, and he calls this propitiation, that he spared not their excesses. Come now thou therefore, and exclude this for thyself eternally, defending error, and accusing correction. Is not this to call evil good, and good evil? Shall not from this hateful shamelessness impentience soon spring forth, the mother of despair? IN THE LAND OF THE SAINTS HE HATH DONE UNJUSTLY, AND SHALL NOT SEE THE GLORY OF THE LORD. — First, Forerius: "The land," he says, "of the saints," is Judaea. For the Jews were called children of the saints: and in Judaea alone was the true knowledge of God, the laws and ordinances of God; as if to say: The Jews in the holy land, which they received as a heritage from the holy Patriarchs as if sanctified, act unjustly: "and shall not," that is, therefore shall not see, "the glory of the Lord," that is, the glory which Christ procured for himself through the preaching of the Gospel. This sense is fitting, but more restricted. Second, Adam: The whole earth, he says, is called the land of the saints; because in it there are many saints, and all ought to be saints: for to this end it was established by God, that it be a dwelling place of saints, not of the impious; as if to say: Since the impious have lived among the saints in the land, and yet have lived impiously, hence they shall not see the glory of the Lord. As the preceding sense is more restricted, so this one is equally more extended. Third, Sanchez: To be in the land of the saints, he says, is to suffer hardship, to be exercised in discomforts, and to be indulged in no delights of body and mind; but this is the most efficacious medicine for healing the diseases of the soul; as if to say: If therefore this medicine brings no health to the sick souls of the impious, it is all over with them: if among the saints who live harshly and austerely, or are indulged, or live austerely with the Saints, for example in a monastery, they nevertheless act impiously; what remains, except that they be excluded from the house and glory of God? Fourth, Vatablus, for the land of the saints, says that in Hebrew it is the land of נכוחות nechochot, that is, of rectitudes, that is, straight and level, in which is an easy way, not rough, not rocky, such as that which the delicate and soft enter; as if to say: If the wicked in a soft and delicate way and life act impiously; therefore let them be transferred to a rough way and life, that they may learn to live continently and holily. Fifth and most aptly, there is here an auxesis: for it augments and exaggerates the sin of the impious, in that he perpetrated it in the land of the saints: the land of the saints is the Church, whose epithet and title is holy. For in it the Holy Spirit reigns, and sanctifies many: in it holy things are handled, and especially the holy Gospel and the word of God are preached, that is to say, The impious in the Church as in the land of the saints, where they had so many holy laws, so many holy sacraments, so many holy examples, so many holy exhortations, so many holy inspirations, ought to have lived holily with the saints; but they themselves in this land of the saints, or, as it is in Hebrew, of righteousnesses, wrought iniquities, which in Hebrew means perverse and distorted things: therefore unless they do serious penance, and completely change their life, they shall not see the glory of the Lord, but shall be excluded from heaven and salvation. He speaks of the faithful alone, who are in the Church: for the unfaithful are already judged and condemned. Moreover, the whole Church, but especially the Roman, is the land of the saints, inasmuch as in it St. Peter founded the seat of faith and holiness, which so many holy Pontiffs, Virgins, Doctors, and three hundred thousand Martyrs have sanctified, and even now sanctify with their relics; so that Blessed Catherine of Siena rightly said when making the stations in Rome: "I tread upon the blood of Martyrs." Wherefore she herself wished to live and die in Rome, and was buried in the temple of the Blessed Virgin above the Minerva. Tropologically, let those adapt this to themselves who live dissolutely or irreligiously in a holy society or Religion. For a grave censure of divine judgment shall fall upon them, in that in the land of the saints among holy Religious, where every access to sins seemed to be shut out, and a plain and easy way to all virtue and holiness lay open, they lived loosely and remissly, and wrought iniquities. Whence St. Bernard in his Declamation, after the beginning, says: "Being in the land of the saints, that is in the clergy, as in heaven, he wrought iniquities; therefore his iniquity was found unto hatred, nor shall it be forgiven." For this sin is as it were sacrilege: for it is a violation and defamation of a sacred thing, namely the Ecclesiastical or Religious state. The same, sermon 23 in the Canticles: Let them fear, he says, the Clergy, let the ministers of the Church fear, who in the lands of the saints, which they possess, work such iniquities, that not content with the stipends which ought to suffice them, they impiously and sacrilegiously retain for themselves the superfluous things by which the needy ought to be sustained, and do not fear to consume the sustenance of the poor in the uses of their pride and luxury; sinning truly with a double iniquity, in that they both plunder what belongs to others, and abuse sacred things in their vanities and turpitudes.
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11. LORD, LET THY HAND BE EXALTED, AND LET THEM NOT SEE: AND LET THEM BE CONFOUNDED. — St. Jerome thinks there is here a dialogue between God and Isaiah, that is to say, Isaiah: O Lord! exalt Christ the Lord, who is thy hand, that is, thy power, that the unfaithful and impious may not see him, because they are unworthy. To which God responds: Nay, let them see him as judge, and let them be confounded and condemned by him. Secondly, Sanchez thinks it is a somewhat bitter irony, as when we say: "Raise up the whelps of wolves, and dogs that may tear thee," that is to say, Exalt, O Lord, thy hand, and restrain it from inflicting a plague upon the impious; and the impious shall never open their eyes, shall never cease to err in darkness blind, that is to say, If thou shalt restrain thy plagues, the impious shall remain in their blindness. Thirdly, others say, that is to say, Smite the impious with thy hand, and punish them with blindness, that they may not see thy justice in this life, that they may embrace it and be saved; but let them see it late on the day of judgment, to their damnation and confusion. Fourth and genuinely, Forerius: The Prophet had said: "In the land of the saints he wrought iniquities, and shall not see the glory of the Lord;"; now he confirms the same thing, saying and praying: "Lord, let thy hand be exalted," etc., that is to say, Lord, by thy mighty hand effect that such impious and unworthy ones may not see thy glory; then by way of correction he adds: Nay, let them see it from afar, and as it were through a shadow on the day of judgment, but to their confusion, the people zealous, namely the impious, who shall waste away with zeal and envy, seeing the Saints called to that glory, but themselves excluded from it, when they could easily have obtained it as well as they. Thus the Jews were moved with zeal and indignation, and shall be moved then seeing the Gentiles preferred to them in grace and glory. See the parables of Christ on this matter, Matt. XX, 1, and XXI, 33. AND LET FIRE DEVOUR THY ENEMIES. — First, St. Jerome: "Fire," he says, let the fire of late repentance torment their hearts, in that they have lost so great a glory. Secondly, "fire," namely of tribulation, devour thy enemies, even unto consumption and ashes, that is to say, that it may instruct them, consume them, and convert them from enemies into friends. See here what is the utility of tribulation. Thirdly and most plainly, Theodoret understands by fire the fire of Gehenna.
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12. LORD, YOU WILL GIVE PEACE TO US: FOR ALL OUR WORKS YOU HAVE WROUGHT FOR US. — From the wickedness and punishment of the impious, he turns here to the pious and holy, wishing and praying for them perpetual peace. First, Sanchez explains this, as if to say: Afflict, O Lord! the impious who vex and trouble us, so that they may change their life and become holy and peaceful, and thus we may have peace: for from your generosity we expect peace and all good things, and it is yours to convert the hearts of the impious, and to work all good works in them and in us. Second, St. Jerome, as if to say: Give peace to us in heaven: for whatever you promised through the Prophets, you have fulfilled and wrought in this life. Third, The Septuagint translates: give us peace, for you have restored all things to us, as if to say, as St. Jerome explains: Give us peace, because by our evil works you have rendered just punishments, and thus you have justly punished and expiated them. Give therefore forgiveness and peace: because we have suffered enough punishments. Fourth and genuinely, this is the voice of the Church and of the Saints, whose works are twofold, namely first, passive, which we suffer while God works; second, active, which we work together with him. For the Hebrew מעשה maase signifies not only work and action, but also every deed, every event. Whence first, the sense here is: Give, or, as it is in Hebrew תשפות tispoth, that is, establish, and firmly place within our borders (so that it may never depart from us) peace: for you have wrought all other things for us, as if to say: All things whatsoever have been done for us, all things whatsoever have happened to us, these have happened from you: therefore also give peace, for you are the giver and worker of all things; in your hands is all our lot. Whence Forerius aptly explains thus: You, Lord, who have wrought the works of our redemption through Christ for us (for he says for us, not in us), who through the Apostles and their successors have done so many miracles, have converted so many nations, have so enlarged and exalted your Church, and have so often either prostrated or subjugated her enemies: give also to that same Church full peace and quiet from persecutors, and begin it in this life, so that you may perfect it in heaven, when, as has been said before, fire will devour the impious, your enemies as well as ours. Thus also St. Cyril, who understands by works the benefits and divine miracles, as if to say: You will give us peace, since all our wonders, that is, the things that have been done in us, are your gifts; and yet lords besides you have possessed us.
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13. OTHER LORDS BESIDES YOU HAVE POSSESSED US, ONLY IN YOU LET US MAKE MENTION OF YOUR NAME. — These lords first are idols; second, kings and tyrants. Therefore first, the sense is, as if to say: It was yours, O Lord! to possess us; for you have wrought all our works. But alas! strange gods, or idols which we have worshipped, have possessed us, "besides you," that is, without your command, you resisting, nay you being deprived of your possession; but our folly has brought them upon us, and set them as lords, nay as tyrants: wherefore we pray that you remove them, and turn us back to you and compel us, so that we may worship and invoke you alone, the true God and Lord. This was indeed done in that time when Ezechias purified the temple, and overthrew the altars of idols. Second, Sanchez, as if to say: While we are vexed by the wicked, not you alone, O Lord! possess us: for "besides you," that is, besides you, who alone ought to rule in our souls, other strange lords also, namely the kings of Syria, Samaria, etc., rule over us; while pressed by enemies, we implore their aid, or they themselves willingly invade us, divided among ourselves and abandoned by you. You will therefore give peace; so that it may not be necessary to call upon or fear these external lords and kings: so that we may think of you alone, regard you alone, in your name let our counsels, studies and endeavors rest. Note the pleonasm, in you, and of your name; for one or the other is redundant. The sense is, as if to say: "In you," that is, with you, let the gaze of our mind and our memory be constantly turned, so that we may always have you present, and remember your name. Vatable translates: only of you and of your name let us remember. For the Hebrew בך becha, that is, in you, is often taken for the government of the genitive, and is the same as of you. Mystically, as if to say: Other lords, namely the world, the flesh, the devil and sin, "besides you," that is, against you (for they are your enemies), have possessed us; but we beseech you to free us from them, so that we may remember you only, be devoted to you alone forever. Give therefore to us your grace, and the gift of perseverance. Thus St. Jerome, Cyril and the Septuagint, who translate: Possess us, Lord.
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14. THE DYING SHALL NOT LIVE, GIANTS SHALL NOT RISE AGAIN. — He explains who possessed them, namely "giants," that is, mighty tyrants, and endowed with giant strength and spirits: these same are called the dying, or the dead, both here and elsewhere: because all giants before the flood, of whom Genesis VI speaks, were submerged and killed by the flood, according to that passage in Job XXVI, 5: "Behold, the giants groan under the waters." Whence Scripture everywhere places giants, as it were condemned on account of their remarkable pride and impiety, in hell, and calls hell the place of giants, Proverbs cap. IX, vers. 18, and cap. XXI, vers. 17; Wisdom cap. XIV, vers. 6. Indeed the Gentiles, as Macrobius testifies, lib. I Saturn. cap. XX, said that the giants of the poets signified an impious nation, contemning and denying the gods; and therefore they affixed to them the feet of dragons, to signify that they thought nothing upright, the whole course and progress of their life tending downward to the infernal regions, as if to say: These lords and tyrants of ours, who are like unto giants, equally as those shall die, and be cast down from their strength, insolence and tyranny, nor shall they rise again to that, or to life; but let their name and memory perish, that thou mayest be our Lord, and we may always remember thee. Thus Forerius. Secondly, others explain generally: "The dying," namely the impious, in sins "shall not live," but shall die with death and eternal torment; and "giants," that is, oppressors of others, "shall not rise again" to blessed life. Thus Adams. Whence the Septuagint translates, the dead shall not see life, nor shall physicians raise them up. For the Hebrew word רפאים rephaim signifies both physicians and giants. Thirdly, Symmachus translates, the dead shall not vivify, giants shall not raise up, as if to say: I have prayed that foreign lords might not possess us, but thou, O Lord, and that we may always remember thee: because those lords, namely idols, since they are dead, cannot vivify; and those kings and tyrants like unto giants, since they themselves like those shall die, cannot raise us up and restore us to our former state. Thus Sanchez. THEREFORE (that namely the dying might not live, and giants might not rise again) THOU HAST VISITED AND DESTROYED THEM, AND HAST DESTROYED ALL MEMORY OF THEM. — From what has been said, the sense of this passage is plain, namely, first, concerning idols, as if to say: When thou didst afflict the Jews through Sennacherib and through the kings of Syria and Samaria, thou didst remove from their minds all memory of idols, and didst compel them by this affliction to thee and to thy worship and invocation through Hezekiah: similarly therefore afflict the impious nations, and thus compel them to thee. Secondly, concerning kings and tyrants, as if to say: Thou hast destroyed, and wilt destroy the kings and tyrants who afflict us, and compel us to think of them; and thus thou wilt remove their memory from our souls, that we may think of thee alone, and always remember thee.
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15. THOU HAST BEEN GRACIOUS TO THE NATION. — He proves from the event what he said vers. 10 and thereafter, namely that affliction is useful to the impious, and that clemency or indulgence is harmful, as if to say: Thou didst spare the impious for a long time, for example the Jews, yet they did not return to thee, nor did they glorify thee; but rather by this means thou didst remove them further from thee and alienate them, according to that passage in Deuteronomy XXXII, 15: "The beloved grew fat, and kicked;" and Hosea X, 1: "According to the abundance of his land he hath made goodly images." For it is evident from the books of Judges and Kings that the Jews in prosperity turned aside to idols, in tribulation and affliction from the Philistines and other enemies they returned to God, and called upon him as suppliants. THOU HAST REMOVED ALL THE BORDERS OF THE LAND — as if to say, St. Jerome says: From this thy indulgence the ungrateful people departed from thee, even to the uttermost borders of the earth. Secondly, and better, as if to say: Thou didst permit the Jews to live in peace, and to wander without fear through all the borders of their land, namely of promise, repeat, "wast thou glorified thereby?" as if to say: No: nay, then the people worshipped idols most of all; on the contrary, when distressed they sought thee, as follows. Thirdly, Vatable and Leo Castrius: "Thou hast removed the borders," that is, thou hast extended their boundaries and estates: were they therefore glorified by thee? as if to say: Not at all. This sense is most plain.
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16. IN THE TRIBULATION OF MURMURING THY DOCTRINE TO THEM. — as if to say: The impious, when they are afflicted, accept and practice thy doctrine and discipline, although with murmuring. Thus St. Jerome. For as the doctrine of oxen is the goad, so the foolish learn in no other way than when pricked by goads: whence in Hebrew the same word מלמד malmad signifies both the goad and doctrine, says Sanchez. Others, such as Vatable and Forerius, understand by murmuring prayer, to which tribulation excites. Others understand contrition and indignation, by which the sinner taught by tribulation reproves himself. Whence the Chaldean for murmuring translates silence, by which namely the sinner is silently smitten within himself. The Septuagint translates, in small tribulation thy doctrine to us, as if to say: Tribulation, although in itself great, yet seems small to the penitent: because it brings them discipline, and a change of life.
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17. THUS WE HAVE BEEN MADE BY THY FACE. — It is the voice of a people beaten with scourges and repenting, as if to say: Just as a woman conceives from the pain of childbirth, so we from thy face, that is, from thee afflicting us outwardly and piercing us inwardly, have conceived, and with great effort and striving have labored to give birth, and finally have brought forth the spirit of salvation, namely as it were a new offspring and new child: whence the Septuagint, connecting these things with the following, thus translates: We have brought forth the spirit of salvation which we made (the Royal codices read, thou madest) upon the earth. Let the preachers of the word of God learn to generate this spirit in their hearers with St. Paul saying: "My little children, of whom I am in labour again, until Christ be formed in you." Vatablus understands by spirit the wind, as if to say: A woman in childbirth after pains brings forth a child; but we impious after the pains of long labour have brought forth wind, that is, something vain. Whence follows: "We have not wrought salvation." This sense is subtle, but not fitting. Furthermore, by these words Isaiah describes what the fear of God effects in the womb of our soul, namely the conception and birth of grace, which he calls the spirit of salvation. Whence Theodoret from Eusebius: "The fear of the Lord," he says, "makes the soul fruitful, and restrains the motion of concupiscence which arises from the flesh. For the human mind is indeed like the womb of a woman, which if it receives from God the seeds of piety, certainly brings forth good fruits." St. Cyril, however, thus translates: "For fear of thee, O Lord, we have borne a womb and labored and brought forth the spirit of salvation, with which we were heavy upon the earth." Therefore the fear of the Lord impregnates the soul with holy thoughts and purposes, and leads it to the birth of a good spirit, that is, charity.
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18. WE HAVE NOT WROUGHT SALVATION IN THE EARTH, THEREFORE THE INHABITANTS OF THE EARTH HAVE NOT FALLEN. — It is the voice of Isaiah, the Prophets and Preachers, as if they say: Because we have not wrought holy works, works glorious and heroic of salvation, both our own and that of our neighbors; because we are slow to works of piety; therefore the inhabitants of the earth have not fallen from their pride and malice. Let the Saints say this even now, especially the preachers of the word of God: Therefore few abandon vices, because we preachers perform our duty sluggishly, because we preach with little spirit, because what we teach by word, we do not first teach by example. Secondly, fittingly St. Jerome, St. Thomas, Hugh and Sanchez, as if the Jews say: Therefore the inhabitants of the earth, namely our own and neighboring to us, such as the Jebusites, Philistines and others have not fallen, have not been destroyed, but still vex and assail us; because we have not wrought salvation, that is, holy works which bring forth salvation; they therefore are left to us as a goad and as a lye, so that by their assault they may wash away and purge whatever vice remains in us. Thirdly, Vatablus translates and explains otherwise, as if to say: Salvation has not been made in the earth, that is, tribulation has not ceased, and yet the inhabitants of the earth have not fallen under the hand of God, that is, those who afflicted us did not obey God, overcome by our patience.
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19. THY DEAD SHALL LIVE (O Lord! here is a remarkable enallage; for here is the voice of Isaiah to God: "The dead shall live," that is to say, They shall rise again, and blessed shall be the dead who die in the Lord. There follows the voice of God): AND MY SLAIN SHALL RISE AGAIN (that is to say, It shall come to pass entirely as thou sayest, O Isaiah! God calls His slain Martyrs, who, just as Isaiah, were cut by a wooden saw for God, or slain in another manner. Finally there follows the voice of Isaiah to the dead, that they may rise to immortality, and praise God, saying): AWAKE AND GIVE PRAISE, YOU THAT DWELL IN DUST. — For "give praise" the Septuagint renders εὐφρανθήσονται, that is, they shall rejoice; Aquila, αἰνέσαι, that is, they shall praise; Theodotion, ἀλαλάξωσι, that is, they shall shout for joy; others ἀγαλλιάσονται, that is, they shall exult. From the Hebrew others translate differently, namely Vatablus and Pagninus, to wit: Thy dead, O Lord, shall rise with my corpse at the end of ages. Our Jerome Prado explains this otherwise in Ezech. cap. XX, 4, note 5, where he understands the dead and slain who rise again to be Martyrs, whose constancy and virtue lives in the present Church, and established and increased it, with giants laid low, that is, the Decii, Diocletians, and other tyrants attacking it. But this resurrection is symbolic and mystical, not literal. Therefore here is the applause of Isaiah and the Saints on account of the future resurrection, to which God applauds. Thus we read in the Life of St. Leocadia, December 9, who was a noble virgin and martyr of Toledo in Spain, under the Emperor Diocletian and the governor Dacian, that after her death St. Ildefonsus, Archbishop of Toledo, and Recesuintus, king of Spain, came to her sepulchre on the feast of St. Leocadia for the sake of veneration and prayer; and behold, a huge stone of her sepulchre rolled away of its own accord, St. Leocadia rose up, and taking the hand of St. Ildefonsus in her hand, said: "O Ildefonsus! through thee the glory of my Lady lives;" for he himself defended the virginity of the Blessed Virgin against heretics. Ildefonsus answered her: "O glorious virgin! thou reignest with God in heaven with good reason, because thou hast spent thy life for love of Him. Look upon this city of thine, which celebrates thy feast, and protect and console it." As the Saint returned to the sepulchre, St. Ildefonsus, having received a knife from the king, cut off a portion of her veil as a memorial of the miracle; which is preserved in the Church of Toledo as a treasure. BECAUSE THE DEW OF THY LIGHT IS THY DEW. — Our Jerome Prado in Ezech. cap. XXVI, 20, thinks this to be the praise and canticle of those rising again, that is to say, Isaiah: Awake from dust and sepulchre, O dead! and praise God, and sing what follows, namely: "Because the dew of thy light is thy dew, and thou shalt bring down the land of giants to ruin." For "of light" in Hebrew is אורות oroth, which first means lights; secondly, it signifies herbs and green and shining vegetables. Whence some translate and explain thus: Just as dew falling upon herbs causes them to grow and rise up; so the dew of thy grace falling upon dead bones shall revive them. Thus it is said in Isaiah LXVI, 14: "Your bones shall spring up like an herb;" and in Ecclesiasticus XLVI, 12: "Let the bones bud forth from their place." Thus Vatablus. Our author translates "dew of light," that is, before dawn and a herald of light: for this fecundates herbs. Again "dew of light," that is, of life. It is the voice of Isaiah, or of those rising again to God, that is to say, Just as our dew brings light and life to plants, so thy divine dew, that is thy quickening grace, thy benignity and vital breath, thy word, thy command, thy voice through the Archangel, arise, ye dead, shall bring light and life, and that more illustrious than the former earthly life, namely blessed and glorious, to the dead, that they may rise again. Thus Irenaeus, lib. III, cap. XI; Tertullian, lib. De Resurrectione carnis, XXXI; St. Jerome and Cyril here. Whence also St. Augustine, lib. XX De Civit. cap. XXI, and serm. 3 De Consolatione mortuorum, understands this of the splendor of glorious bodies, by which like stars they shall shine for eternal ages. Whence the Arabic of Antioch translates: Thy dew shone or gleamed upon them. Tropologically Procopius: Light, he says, or life is the remission of sins, which Christ, who is the dew of the Father, distils into souls dead by sin. Whence the Arabic of Alexandria has: The dew which is from thee (from thee) healed them. Symbolically, the dew and manna of light, that is of the truth of the Gospel, is the Eucharist; for the manna and dew of the Jews was of the night, because it was typical and shadowy. Again, it is called of light on account of the glory of the resurrection and the brightness of immortality which is given through it; for assigning the reason why the dead and slain shall rise again, he says: "Because the dew of thy light is thy dew," that is to say, Our dew, our manna, namely the Eucharist, shall recall the dead to life and light, and by its power and efficacy the dead shall rise to immortal glory, according to that passage in John VI, 52: "If any man eat of this bread, he shall live for ever." Thus our Vincent the Royal, book IV of Disquisitions on the Gospel, chapter XXI. Furthermore, Arias Montanus refers these things to the plastic or potter's art, in which dry clay is sprinkled by the potter, and water is sprinkled upon it, so that he may form his vessels from it. But this is colder, thinner, and more foreign; for God is here compared not to a potter, but to dew. AND THOU SHALT BRING DOWN THE LAND OF THE GIANTS TO RUIN,—that is, thou shalt set on fire this land, which is the seat of the proud and violent and all the impious, and reduce it to dust. St. Jerome understands by the land of the giants the bodies of the impious.
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20. GO, MY PEOPLE, ENTER INTO THY CHAMBERS.—It is the voice of God to the Saints who die in the Lord, that is to say, Go for a little while, O Saints! into chambers, that is into your sepulchres, there sleep and rest; for soon, namely on the day of judgment, I shall raise you up. For death is not troublesome to the Saints, but sweet like the sleep of one night in respect of the resurrection and eternity: a chamber is a sepulchre; whence cemeteries are called in Greek as it were dormitories. Thus St. Augustine, epistle 36 to Casulanus; and Tertullian, book On the Resurrection of the Flesh, chapter XXVII, where for chambers he reads store-rooms, that is store-houses or pantries. For thus it reads: "My people, enter into the store-rooms for a little while, until my wrath pass by. Sepulchres shall be store-rooms, in which those who shall have departed in the ends of the world under the final wrath through the force of Antichrist shall have to rest for a little while." He then asks why he calls them store-rooms rather than a receptacle? and answers: "Because in store-rooms salted flesh and that set aside for use is preserved, to be brought forth thence in its own time. For this reason also bodies treated with the spices of burial are sequestered in mausoleums and monuments, to proceed thence when the Lord shall command." SHUT THY DOORS UPON THEE,—shut thy eyes, shut thy senses; take care that thy sepulchre be closed, so that thou mayest rest there silently without disturbance. He alludes to the manner of acting of those who, when a storm is imminent or pressing, enter their chambers, and with them shut, remain at home. Thus Vatablus. Morally St. Gregory, IV Morals XXIV: We enter chambers, he says, when we enter the secret places of our mind. But we shut the doors when we restrain illicit desires. UNTIL MY INDIGNATION PASS BY,—both that by which I wished to punish sin and your individual sins by the common death and corruption of all; and rather that by which I shall punish the impious, especially at the end of the world, through so many plagues preceding judgment and resurrection; for he commands the Saints to sleep, so that they may not feel these plagues.
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21. BEHOLD, THE LORD SHALL GO FORTH — from heaven, He shall descend with all the Angels to judge the world, and then the earth shall give back the blood of the just and of the Martyrs, which it has drunk and absorbed, nor shall it absorb it any longer. Whence He says: "And the earth shall cover the slain of them no more," that is, the earth shall give back and pour forth all the Martyrs, all the dead and buried as it were from its bosom, by which it now holds them, so that it may no longer receive them into itself, as if to say: On the day of judgment all homicides, martyrdoms and sins shall be revealed, and the very tyrants and sinners shall be punished by God; but the Saints shall rise again to blessed immortality, and shall be glorified by God. God says the same thing to so many hundreds of thousands of Martyrs, who at Rome were killed in various ways by pagan Emperors and buried there. Indeed, this saying of Isaiah affected me wonderfully when I saw in the Vatican the tombs of SS. Peter and Paul; in the Pane Perna the very place in which St. Lawrence under Decius was roasted and burned on a gridiron; in the temple of St. Cecilia her house and the bath in which she herself was struck with a sword; and the crypt in which she was buried with SS. Valerianus, Tiburtius and others, and recently under Clement VIII found intact, surrounded by eighty lamps always burning, as if resting in the dew and expectation of eternal light; in St. Agnes her house and church, in which she was recently likewise found, buried with SS. Emerentiana and Constantia, the daughter of Constantine the Great. But my heart almost leaped out when in the chapel of St. Paul I saw the very place and the column at which the Doctor of the Gentiles was beheaded with Nero's sword, and three most limpid fountains, which sprang forth from the triple and indeed great leap of his head, a stupendous and unheard-of miracle in all ages, and have continuously sprung forth for 1600 years. Again, when I saw on the Montorio hill the chapel in which St. Peter, like Christ, but with his head turned downward, was crucified; in St. Pudentiana the well in which she herself with her own hands buried three thousand Martyrs. Finally, when I saw besides many other tombs of Martyrs and Virgins, the cemeteries of St. Lucina, St. Callistus, St. Priscilla and others, once reddened with the blood of Martyrs, indeed swimming in it, in which innumerable Martyrs are laid. Truly, O Lord, Rome is a holy land, in which our Fathers praised Thee more by deeds than by words, more by blood than by voice, more by dying than by speaking. With good reason therefore Thou sayest to them: "Go, my people, enter into thy chambers, shut thy doors upon thee, hide thyself for a little moment," until the dew of light and resurrection shining forth shall gleam, so that then rising again to glory, ye may shine as stars, nay as suns, into perpetual eternities; and may tread under foot with your feet Nero, Domitian, Decius, Diocletian, etc., your former torturers and tyrants, now suppliants and defendants. This is what they themselves caused to be inscribed in their crypts; this is what, silent, not so much by voice as by inscription as if under the altar, they cry out: "We await here rest and resurrection." Thus our Jerome Prado in fact concluded his Commentary on Ezekiel chapter XXVI with his life by this saying of Isaiah: Go therefore, my people, enter into thy chambers, shut thy doors upon thee, hide thyself for a little moment; for in writing these things he himself entered into his chamber, and, with the door closed, hidden a little from our eyes, rests for a moment of the present age, about to rise soon, as we hope, to blessed eternity. In like manner the souls of the Martyrs are commanded to rest for a time under the altar, Apocalypse VI, 11. Similarly, as Helinandus relates in the Life of St. Gereon and the Theban Martyrs, St. Evergistus Archbishop of Cologne, seized with a headache, went to the church of the Theban Martyrs to pray, and began this verse: The saints shall exult in glory; the Martyrs answered: They shall rejoice in their beds. And so Evergistus, touching their sacred ashes, was freed from the pain.
Machine translation from the Latin, not reviewed.
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In parte ista gratias agit de populi justificatione; et dividitur in duas. In prima praecidit justorum statum; in secunda ostendit justitiae fructum, ibi, Vetus error abit. Circa primum duo. Primo enim praecidit justorum fiduciam, In die illa, post reditum de captivitate, et afflictionem Moabitaram a Machabaeis; vel post Christi adventum. O Sion, salvator, Christus, vel Judas Machabaeus, est, urbs fortitudinis in ea, scilicet protectione; ponetur murus et antemurale, Christi tantum. Ad litteram, tempore Machabaeorum, murus, idest defendens. Vel murus, Christus, antemurale, scilicet prophetae. Vel aliter Sion est urbs, salvator Deus, vel Christus, vel Judas Machabaeus. Murus, idest defendens sicut murus.
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Proverb. 18: «Turris fortissima nomen Domini.» Zach. 2: «Ero eis, ait Dominus, murus ignis in circuitu.» Secundo Dominus praedicat eorum justitiam, dicens ad Angelos, Aperite portas, caeli vel virtutis, clausas peccatis: vel, ad litteram, non oportet vos claudere portas propter infideles, quia omnes erunt justi. Psal. 117: «Haec porta Domini; justi intrabunt in eam:» Vetus error abit. Hic ponit justitiae fructum, scilicet pacem; de qua primo ponitur populis petitio, quae tria continet. Ponitur enim idoneitas potentium, Vetus error, scilicet idolatriae: 2 Cor. 5: «Vetera transierunt.» Postulatur pacis beneficium, Servabis pacem, corporis et animae. Infra 52: «Sedebit populus meus in pulchritudine pacis, in tabernaculis justitiae et in requie opulenta.» Allegatur pacis meritum: Quia in te speravimus. Eccli. 2: «Quis speravit in Domino, et confusus est?» Secundo ponitur prophetae responsio, qui est mediator inter populum et Deum, Sperastis. Et dividitur in tres. In prima ponitur pacis promissio; in secunda pacis impetratio, ibi, Semita justi recta est; in tertia impetratae pacis denuntiatio, ibi, Justitiam discent habitatores orbis. Circa primum tria.
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Primo concedit meritum: Sperastis in Domino in saeculis aeternis, idest semper. Psal. 27: «In ipso speravit cor meum, et adjutus sum.» Secundo adhibet consilium, in Domino Deo, supple, sperate.
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Matth. 10: «Qui perseveraverit usque in finem, hic salvus erit.» Tertio promittit pacis beneficium, pro destructione hostium: Quis incurvabit habitantes. Judaei referunt ad Romanos. Potest autem referri ad quoslibet ipsorum hostium. Vel mystice ad ipsos Judaeos. Supra 25: «Munimenta sublimium murorum tuorum corruent.» Et adjungit destruentium conditionem: Conculcabit eam per pauperis. Judaei, qui parum habent; egenorum, qui egent plura habere.
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Vel si mystice, ponit meritum destructionis Judacorum propter pauperem Christum, de quo in Psal. 69: «Ego autem egenus sum et pauper.» Et alibi 68: «Ego sum pauper et dolens.» Egenorum, discipulorum, Semita justi recta est. Hic ponitur quasi disceptatio prophetae cum Domino, ad impetrandam petitionem populi: et primo inducit ad puniendum hostes per argumenta; secundo per experimenta, ibi, Indulsisti genti, Domine. Circa primum duo facit. Primo inducit ut puniat; secundo ut in poena detineat, ibi, Morientes non vivant. Circa primum tria. Primo inducit ad justitiam; secundo excudit misericordiam, ibi, Misereamur impiis; tertio determinat poenam, ibi, Et non videbit gloriam Domini. Provocat autem ad justitiam, tria imponens. Primo justitiae rectitudinem, ibi, Semita justi, idest justitiae.
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Sap. 10: « Justum deduxit Dominus per vias rectas. » Secundo afflictorum expectationem, proponens tria: scilicet ipsam expectationem, in semita, idest per poenam judiciorum tuorum, quibus nos vindicas et liberas. Psal. 118: « In aeternum non obliviscar justificationes tuas, quia inipsis vivificasti me. » Expectantium desiderium, Nomen tuum. Jer. 25: « Hoc est nomen quod vocabunt eum, Dominus justus noster. » Desiderii assiduitatem: Quia die et nocte, idest omni tempore, vel in prosperis et adversis, anima mea. Cant. 5: « In lectulo meo quaesivi quem diligit anima mea. » Psal. 62: « Deus Deus meus, ad te de luce vigilo. » Tertio proponit justitiae utilitatem, Cum fecerit judicia. Psal. 9: « Cognoscetur Dominus judicia faciens. » Misereamur im- pio. Hic excludit misericordiam; et circa hoc duo facit. Primo Dominus interroganti proponit misericordiam, Misereamur. Psalm. 118: « Misericordia Domini plena est terra. » Secundo propheta excludit ipsam, propter ejus inutilitatem, Et non dis- scet. Eccl. 8: « Quia non profertur cito contra malos sententia, absque timore ullo filii hominum perpe- trant mala. » Eccli. 50: « Equus indomitus evadet durus, et filius remissus evadet praeceps. » Et pro- pter peccati gravitatem, propter sacri loci profanatio- nem, In terra sanctorum. Psalm. 78: « Deus, venerunt gentes in hereditatem tuam, polluerunt templum sanctum tuum. » Jerem. 11: « Quid est quod dilectus meus in domo mea facit scelera multa?
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Et non videbit gloriam Domini. Hic ponitur discre- patio de poena determinanda: et primo Dominus interrogat, Et non videbit; quasi dicit: Numquid debeo hanc poenam sibi dare quod non videat? Vel remissive, Et sufficit hoc ad poenam.
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Secundo propheta respondet: Domine exaltetur. Tertio Do- minus poenam determinat spirituale et confundantur: Apocal. 4: « Videbit eum omnis oculus, » in gloria humanitatis, non divinitatis: et corporalem. Apocal. 19: « Missi sunt in stignum ignis. » Quarto propheta congaudens consentit, proponens duo bona consequentia ex dicta poena: scilicet pacem populi.
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Ergo, Domine, hoc facto, dabis pacem; et hoc de te speravimus; omnia enim. Phil. : « Deus est qui operatur in nobis velle et perficere: » operatus es, opera, idest poenas, quibus sufficienter nos purgasti.
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Infra 40: « Suscipiet de manu Domini duplicia. » Secundo laudem Dei: Domine Deus possederunt; et ideo laudi tuae vacare non potuimus. Tamtum in te, non habentes alium Deum cui soli vacemus. Thren. ult.: « Servi dominati sunt nostri. »
Nota super illo verbo, Urbs fortitudinis, quod Christus est urbs fortitudinis nostrae, quia nos confirmat primo in fide. 1 Cor. 3: « Fundamentum aliud nemo potest ponere praeter id quod positi- tum est, quod est Christus Jesus. » Secundo in spe. Heb. 6: « Fortissimum solatium habeamus qui confugimus ad tenendam propositam spem. » Tertio in caritate. Eph. 5: « In caritate radicati et fundati. » Luc. 12: « Ignem veni mittere in terram; et quid volo nisi ut ardeat? » Quarto in opere. Phil. 2: « Deus est qui operatur in no- bis velle et perficere pro bona voluntate. » Quinto in tentatione. 1 Cor. 10: « Fidelis Deus, qui non permittet vos tentari supra id quod
potestis. » Sexto in accusatione. 1 Joan. 2: « Advocatum habemus apud Patrem Jesum Christum. » Septimo in remuneratione. Apocal. 5: « Faciam illum columnam in templo Dei mei. » Item nota super illo verbo, Aperite, quod aperire debemus portas per meditationem primi infernalis miseriae, infra 58: « Vadum ad portas inferi. » Secundo justae vitae. Prov. ult.: « Laudem dent eam in portis opera ejus. » Tertio caelestis gloriae. Psalm. 147: « Confortavit seras portarum tuarum. »
Item nota super illo (!) verbo Pacem, quod tria sunt quae faciunt pacem in praesenti. Primo contemptus temporalis opulentiae. Infra 57: « Cor impii quasi mare fervens, quod quiescere non potest. » Secundo subjugatio carnalis concupiscentiae. Eccl. 44: « Pacificantes in domibus suis. » Tertio contemptatio divinae sapientiae. Psalm. 75: « In pace factus est locus ejus, et habitatio ejus in Sion. »
Item nota super illo verbo, Semita justi, quod est via justitiae recta primo propter itineris brevitem. Sap. 5: « Ambulavimus vias difficiles. » Secundo propter situs aequalitatem: quia rectum est illud cujus medium non discrepat ab extremis. Joan. 15: « Sciens quia a Deo exivit, et ad Deum vadit. » Tertio propter pulchritudinem. Jer. 31: « Benedicat tibi Dominus, pulchritudo justitiae, mons sanctus. »
Item nota super illo verbo, Pacem, quod tria sunt quae faciunt pacem in futuro. Primo bonorum ubertas. Psal. 147: « Posuit fines tuos pacem. » Secundo malorum securitas. Infra 52: « Sedebit populus meus in tabernaculis fiduciae. » Tertio immobilitas. Psal. 4: « In pace in idipsum dormiam et requiescam. »
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Morientes non vivant. Hie petit ne punitos ulterius a poena liberet. Et primo ponit petitionem: Morientes peccatores non vivant, vita gratiae ubi poeniteant. Gigantes, de sua potentia gloriantes, von resurgant, ad gloriam. Psal. 1: « Non resurgent impii in judicio, neque peccatores in concilio justorum. » Eccli. 16: « Non exoraverunt pro peccatis suis antiqui gigantes. » Vel petit ut hostes eorum decepi, ulterius non resurgent ad potentiam. Secundo ponit exauditionem: Propterea. Psal. 9: « Pereat memoria eorum cum sono. » Jerem. 8: « In tempore visitationis suae corruent.
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Indulsisti genti, Domine. Hic inducit Deum ad justitiae opus per experimentum inutilitatis misericordiae: tum quantum ad remissionem poenarum, Indulsisti; tum quantum ad multiplicationem bonorum, Elongasti. Jer. 5: « Magnificati sunt et ditati, et incrassati sunt et impinguati, et praeterierunt sermones meos pes- sime. » Prov. 1: « Prosperitas stultorum perdet eos. » Secundo utilitatem vindicantis justitiae, Domine in angustia.
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Oseae 6: « In tribulatione sua mane consurgent ad me. » Jer. 2: « In tempore afflictionis dicent: Surge, et libera nos. » Sicut quae concepit, cum appropinquaverit ad partum dolens clamat in doloribus suis; sic facti sumus. Hic probat idem per experimentum in Judaeis. Et primo ponit tribulationis flagellum, Sicut quae concepit. Joan. 16: « Mulier cum parit, tristitiam habet. » Psal. 47: « ibi dolores ut parturientis. » Secundo emendationis fructum, A face e tua.
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Hebr. 12: « Omnis quidem disciplina, in praesenti quidem videtur non esse gaudii, sed moeroris; postea autem fructum pacatissimum exercitatis per eam reddit justitiae. » Justitiam non fecimus in terra. Hic denuntiat impetratam pacem: et circa hoc tria facit. Primo ostenditur ratio dilationis, Justitiam non fecimus, ut alludat ei quod dicitur Deut. 28: « Dabit Dominus inimicos tuos qui contra surgunt adversus te, corruentes in conspectu tuo. » Secundo ponitur promissio restitutionis populi per resurrectionem, sive corporalem in die novissimo, sive a miseria captivitatis. Unde promittitur resurrectio. Vivens mortui. Ezech. 57: « Vaticinare ad spiritum, vaticinare, fili hominis etc. » Indicitur resurgentibus gratiarum actio, Erpergesecimini. Dan. 12: « Multi ex his qui dormiunt in pulvere terrae, evigilabunt. » Et assignatur resurrectionis causa,
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v. 4 « In die illa cantabitur canticum illud in terra. Iuda : urbs. fortitudinis nostrae Sion, Salvator ponetur in ea murus et antemurale » ; — hebr. urbs fortitudinis nobis, salutem ponit muros et antemurale i. e. iubilant quod iam habeant urbem firmam ac tutam, urbem roboris, novam scil. Ierusalem ; quae salutem habeat tamquam muros et propugnacula, cui ergo nullus hostium nocere iam potest et quae omnes incolas beatos reddit. Salus ipsa vel quod idem est ipse Deus auctor salutis sese urbis defensorem praestabit ; dupliciter i. e. multipliciter urbem protectione cinget. Ergo haec urbs expugnari non poterit. Ipsa haec exclamatio wrbs fortitudinis nobis optimum dat responsum ad 25, 11. 12. S?on in vulg. additur tamquam interpretamentum neque tamen adest in hebr. apud LXX, Syrum, neque in commentario S. Hier. neque apud Chald. ; aptius et concinnius ponitur Salvator in altero membro (cf. Osor. Sanct. Malv. Mar. Lap. Tir. Calm.) ; ita parallelismo consulitur et sensus exoritur ad hebr. et graecum consentaneus : ipse Deus est murus qui nos undique custodiendo circumdat ; cf. Zach. 9, 5. Dicitur terra fuda eodem fere modo, ut 24, 93 et 25, 6 de monte Sion sermo est ; ibi theocratia radices suas habet; inde propagatur et diffunditur; ergo vice versa, ubicumque theocratia consistit, regio Iuda creatur. Iam si Sion talem praebet opem et salutem, cives sionitici omnes invitant, ut ad eam urbem accedant
Hoc quoque carmine id agitur, ut salutis divinae excellentia nobis denuo commendetur. Proponuntur enim nobis iusti qui ea salute potiti ex laetissimis et maxime incitatis animi affectionibus carmen hoc laudis et exsultationis fundunt. Uti fit in magnis animi commotionibus et in materia qua affectus varii excitentur oportet, carmen ipsum liberius incedit, ab alio ad alium affectum transit, modo de salute parta gaudet, modo de periculo ablato sibi gratulatur, tum Deum exaltat, tum sibi faustissima quaeque promittit. Ita enim ab aliis ad alia celeri quodam cursu, minime quaesito, properans optime ipsas animorum affectiones depingit et exprimit, quibus iusti magnalia Dei consalutant. Apte For. : « Dei vietoriam animo volvens propheta et novam Ierusalem animo contemplatus vastata illa impiorum hominum et honicidarum civitate canticum prophetico more adnectit » :
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v. 2 « aperite portas et ingrediatur gens iusta, custodiens veritatem » ; — omnes enim populi vocantur (cf. 9, 9 ; 95, 6) et iusti huic vocationi omnium gentium et earum ad populum Dei aggregationi desiderio ardenti obviam feruntur. In nova Sion adest iustitia, fidelitas inconcussa ; cf. 1, 26 ; 2, 8; 4, 3 ; 11, 9 et saepissime in altera parte ; antea foedere violato fidem fregerunt, non ita instauratione facta. Unde memores temporum antiquorum magis praesentem beatitatem extollunt
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v. 3 « vetus error abiit ; servabis pacem, pacem, quia in te speravimus » ; —iam Sion ad normam divinam exacta est ; populus in ea inhabitat sanctus ; error vetus, quo a Deo declinatum est et auxilium expetitum ab alienigenis, abiit ; peccata fontes fecundissimi omnium malorum deleta sunt ; unde Deus abundantissimam suam pacem potest communicare iis qui iam in eo solo spem omnem collocant neutiquam ad extraneos deflectentes. Videmus ergo vatem statum, conditionem, affectiones iustorum ita describere, ut in iis simul praeclarissima documenta enuntientur et vivide proponantur eorum, quae in aequalium animis quam maxime insidere exoptat et in opus deduci. Hebr. intellige /ndolem (cogitationem) firmalam servabis in pace i. e. novus populus Sion indolem habet firmam et fixam in iustitia, iam non claudicat in duas partes ; huic autem firmae fidelitati respondet pax stabilis, imperturbata, abundans ; ita in novo populo imago quaedam relucet ac similitudo cám Iahve qui est Deus foederis fidelissimus, immutabilis. S. Hier. ad suam versionem scribit : « hebraice jeser samuch (420 x"), quod Aquila et Symmachus similiter transtulerunt ssp Ernpsiouivov hoc est: error noster ablatus cst, sive cogitatio nostra firmala est, quae prius inter te et idola fluctuabat, ut nequaquam eireumferamur omni vento doctrinae, sed in te Dominum Salvatorem tota inente eredamus. Pro quo nos, ut sensus manifestior fieret, transtulimus vetus error abiit »; at stalim pergit : « et quia cogitatio nostra firmata est, propterea servabis nobis pacem »; el hoc sensum textus hebr. plane reddit. Intellexit ergo S. JJier. veterem errorem fluetuationem illam mentis, quam cum cogitatione firmata ablatam cerneret, errorem abiisse inlerpretatus est. — Secundum Epiphanium * Aquila verüit z)ácpx Eocnpryuivoy (ef. M. 16, 1759). Alii ità vertunt hebr. : cogitatio fixa, servabis paeem i. e. hoc tuum consilium est firmum et fixum, hacc libi stat sententia, ut speranlibus in te pacem conserves (Mald. Mar. Calm. Hitz. Drechsl. Cheyne), vel nobis firnium fixumque est sperare (cf. Sanct. Malv.). At prius parum dicit, quia decretum Dei pacem dandi piis non tum demum conditum est, sed semper exstitit ; neque alterum placet, quod ne verbis quidem satis congruit. Alii vertunt : aedificium firmatum servabis incolume (Vel.), ut rem firmam servabis pacem (Naeg.), vel etiam : eum qui mente firma est incolumem servabis (In.), sed hisce vel vox vel collocatio vocis minime favet. Bred.verba ca refert ad antecedentia : gens custodiens.. indolem firmatam. Hanc indolem in Deo firmam fixamque ut eminenti modo prodant inter se hortantur etiam in subseq. ex hebr. sperate in lahve; in vetere foedere saepe a spe divina ad foedera cum extraneis defluxerunt; unde in novo rerum statu unice Deo adhaereri et in eo omnem reponi fiduciam qui solus esse possit auxiliator asserunt
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v. 4 « sperastis in Domino in saeculis aeternis, in Domino Deo forti in perpetuum »; — hebr. quia in Iah Iahve saxum saeculorum; ipsis Dei nominibus fundamentum spei immotum continetur; de Iahve vide ad Os. 2, 20; 19, 5. Ioel 2, 32; saxum YS Deus saepius appellatur, quippe qui sit tutissimum praesidium sui populi et fundamentum immutabile atque immobile, cui theocratia innititur; saxum enim vel rupes quam maxime menti ingerit. speciem firmitatis, soliditatis inconcussae, perpetuitatis (cL Deut. 39, 45. 37. P&. 48, 3. 1215 19, 15; 28, 41 18, 26; 89, 91 hebr. etc.). Atque huius protectionis specimen praeclarissimum edidit Deus in deiectione inimicorum ; quare id opus Dei celebrant
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v. 5 « quia incurvabit habitantes in excelso, civitatem sublimem | humiliabit; humiliabit usque ad. terram, detrahet. eam usque ad. pulverem ;
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v. 6 conculcabit eam pes, pedes pawperis, gressus egenorum »; — non tempora futura explica ex hebr. sed praeterita vel praesentia, quibus Dei facinora praesentia sistuntur laudantibus. Ea autem longiore enumeratione praedicant ostendentes, quanti ea aestiment et quantopere singulorum memoriam gerant animis impressam. Civitatem intellige, sicut 23, 2; 94, 10; de locutione vide 93, 19. Ad iubilum iustorum quam maxime spectat, ut populus Dei qui videbatur nationibus superbis adeo vilis et contemptus in victoriae societatem a Deo assumatur, ut scil. Deus infirma mundi elegisse dicatur et per ea confudisse fortia; quare cum laeta repetitione efferunt ürbem magnificam conculeatam esse pedibus pauperum, gressibus egenorum ! En, deposuit potentes de sede et exaltavit humiles; cf. 14, 39; 95, 4. Quantopere differt sors pauperum illorum a ruina civitatis sublimis ! V. 'l « semita iusti recta est, rectus callis iusti ad. ambulandum » ; — via eius non ad praecipitia ducit, sed plana est, ita ut facile et tuto incedat; eum ducit Dominus ne impingat; unde in hebr. rectam complanas orbitam iusti; cf. Prov. 3, 6; 11, 5; Deus ipse removet obstacula, emollit aspera, dura aufert, ut iustus suaviter incedere possit, Id iusti ex periculis erepti Deo laudi vertunt et in se ipsis experti! sunt. Verum eandem fidem ac spem semper tempore tribulationum firmiter retinuerunt; quare ea fide armati excelsos gerebant animos
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v. 8 « et in semita iudiciorum tuorum Domine sustinuimus te; nomen (twm et memoriale tuum in desiderio animae »; — illos non latuit per iudicia divinitus immissa procurari salutem; quare cum iudicia ingruerent, in ea quasi via Dominum auxiliatorem et salvatorem venturum exspectabant; cum gaudio recordantur et cum grato animo recolunt, quomodo in tempore iudiciorum nomen. Dei i. e. Deus ipse fidelissimus atque immutabilis promissionum sponsor et «memoria eius, recordatio Dei salvatoris intimo affectu et desiderio cordis ipsorum animis fuerit impressa ; ecce, quam praeclara documenta vates tradat in hac iustorum descriptione, quid in rerum angustiis ob oculos habere oporteat ! Et quanto desiderio in mediis tribulationibus animati fuerint et gloriosam illam Dei manifestationem et salutem expetierint, iam in singulis quibusque vates accuratius describit
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v. 9 « «nima mea desideravit te in nocte, sed et spiritu meo in praecordiis meis: de mane vigilabo ad te »; — totum hominem maximo illo desiderio urgeri sententia dicit; spiritu meo in medio mei cupide te quaesivi (hebr.); partem inferiorem et superiorem animae intime affici et suo quamque modo versus Deum impelli voces declarant. Intellige &octem de nocte tribulationis, uti 21, 11; ita ex hebr.' ; mane vigilare . explica sicuti phrasin mane consurgere et mittere i. e. sedulo et magno studio, cura et sedulitate eximia. Tanto autem desiderio tenebantur, quia quid praeclari ex iudiciis secuturum sit, bene perspectum habebant : « cum feceris. iudicia tua in terra, iustitiam discent habitatores orbis » ; — ecce divinam illam praedicant normam : Sion, orbis in iudicio redimetur, et quia eum rerum statum quem Deus vult (— haec est demum vera et plena iustitia —) etiam ipsi hisce in terris consistere expetunt, id autem fieri posse per iudicia et divinas castigationes intelligunt, ideirco in ipsa periodo tribulationum hac se cogitatione erigebant et consolabantur, hac molestias et aerumnas emolliebant divino consilio cum laeta spe acquiescentes. Tantum vero bonum ex castigationibus originem ducere ulteriore consideratione rem a contrario perpendentes proponunt ex communi omnium experientia qua patet impium dum prospere agit nihil curare de Deo vel de iustitia:
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v. 10 « misereamur impio et non discet iustitiam; in terra sanctorum. iniqua gessit et non videbit gloriam Domini » ; — i. e. « iuste desidero iudicium tuum et scelestorum punitionem; nam dum illis parcitur, deteriores fiunt » (Men. sim. Sanct. Sasb. Pint. Mald. et plerique); « finge, inquit, improbum non puniri quin immo bene habere et beneficiis affici, actum est; scito nunquam ad sanam mentem rediturum » (For.); vérum ad maiora mala perpetranda se accinget audacter; in terra rectitudinum (For. Mald. Vat. Mar. Malv.) i. e. in ea regione ubi leges iusti et veri notae sunt et ab aliis servantur, inique et perverse agit; « exaggerat scelus impii dicens esse inter viros et sanctos admissum » (Pint.); malum enim est inter pravos peccari, peius inter bonos et sancios (Mar.), cum tamen rectitudines palam sint propositae. lta autem agens nullo modo reverentia quadam vel timore maiestatis vel sublimitatis (hebr.) Dei tangitur; non videti. e. ncn advertit, non considerat, sed negligit atque spernit. Immo, ita pergitur in hebr., etiam magnam maiestatis divinae manifestationem non advertere volebant impii; quare iam exoptandum, ut nune experiantur, quanto zelo Deus pro suo populo rem sit acturus et scelera vindicaturus ; nam v. 41 in hebr. Domine exaltata est manus tua neque tamen vident ; videbunt (et confundentur) zelum pro populo, ignis adversarios tuos devorabit; vel etiam : videbunt et confundentur! zelus pro populo, immo ignis adversarios tuos devorabit; sed communiter prius sequuntur. Manus Dei, Dei potentia et ratio gubernandi in rebus populi electi semper erat manifesta, verum impii sensibus obtusi id advertere minime volebant; quare certam perniciem illis annuntiat; in magnis ilis iudieiis volentes nolentes videbunt et in se experientur, sed cum magna sua confusione, quomodo Deus maximo zelo et magna amoris aemulatione (cf. ad 9, 7. Ioel 2, 48. Zach. 1, 14) pro populo suo sit pugnaturus. Neque multum ab hoc sensu recedit vulg.
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v. 11 « Domine exaltetur manus tua. et mon videant! videant et confundentur. zelantes. populi et. ignis. hostes tuos devoret »! — indignatio enuntiatur iustorum ea imprecatione, ut impii ab initio non advertentes ad Dei iudicia demum maiore illorum severitate perstringantur; dicuntur zelantes populi eo scil. sensu quo apostolus dicit : aemulantur vos non bene (Gal. 4, 1'1). Talis ergo exitus iudiciorum appetebatur a iustis; pro impiis vel interitum vel ut discant iustitiam (v. 9) exspectabant. Quid ipsi pro se desideraverint et quibus animorum affectionibus iudicium Dei devolvi viderint, in parte subsequenti explicant. Cum in v. 9 singulari uumero dicatur anima mea etc., aliqui eam partem iam non ad canticum iustorum referendam esse censuerunt, sed ita accipi volunt, ut ipse Isaias suos animi sensus prodat. Ita Sanct. et inter recentiores Hitz. Kn. aliique. At iuremerito plerique tenent etiam haec ad.canticum pertinere. Nam bene describuntur et exprimuntur sensus et affectiones iustorum, quibus Dei iudicia opperiebantur, atque ad conditionem carminis lyrici prorsus accommodatum est, ut illius temporis angustiis pleni sensus recolant. Insuper a v. 12 certissime idem canticum continuatur ; ergo si non aperta necessitate cogimur, etiam pars interiecta non erit a carmine avellenda. Sed tantum abest ut talis adsit necessitas, ut quae ibi dicantur, optime ad carminis rationem conveniant. Neque mutatio illa qua dicitur anima mea tanta est, ut propter eam carmen interrumpatur. Transitus enim talis satis est frequens atque bene h. 1. inservit, ut vividius affectiones depingantur, dum unusquisque loquens pro se et per se inducatur. In hisce versibus S. Hier. cernit dialogum inter Deum et prophetam hunc in modum : advertit vates : « quamdiu non exerees iudicia tua super terram et nec bonis bona nec malis retribuis mala, iustitia tua, o Deus, ignoratur in terra ; eum autem in iudicii die pro qualitate operum unicuique reddideris quod meretur, tunc iustitia tua cognoscetur in orbe terrarum » ; ad quod respondet Dominus : misereamur impio ; « et est sensus : magis impius misericordiam consequatur et discat clementiam meam » ; at reponit propheta « ex persona humanae impatientiae : ef non discet iustitiam; estque sensus : et quomodo poterit iuam nosse iustitiam, si tantum clementiam fuerit expertus ? redditque causas quare eum velit Dei iustitiam discere »; rursum autem Dominus sententiam temperaus et non videat, inquit, sive non videbit gloriam Domini i. e. sufficit ei pro universa poena, quod me cum sanctis meis non videbit in mea maiestate regnantem ; respondet propheta : exaltetur manus tua et non videant ; cui Dominus reponit : videant magis et confundantur. — Séd talis dialogus, cuius nullum apud prophetam vestigium, et carmen importune interrumpit et artificiosius et subtilius fingitur. Alii v. 10 ita concipiunt : si impius benigne habeatur qui non didicit iustitiam, perverse aget et Dei gloria non agnoscetur (cf. Drechsl.); at haec explicatio verbis non satis congruit; nam quid sibi vult otiosum illud qui non didicit iustiliam ? si enim est impius, id per se intelligitur, neque ulla cernitur ratio, cur ' qui supplendum sit; dein arbitrarie in ultima sententia novum introducitur subiectum grammaticale, cum in textu hebr. habeatur perverse aget et mon respicit maiestatem. Dei scil. idem ille impius. Insuper quod vult Drechsl. sensum esse : illo casu supposito non fore ut regnum Dei unquam erigatur et gloria Dei manifestetur, et illatio est longius petita et praemissis amplior et vix ad indolem carminis facta. Hoc totum autem carmen esse, neque carmen finiendum esse cum v. 2, satis supra dictum est et argumento proposito comruendatur. Recoluerunt iusti quid ratione habita impiorum de iudiciis Dei senserint. lam memoria volvunt (antithetum est praecedentis membri, Mald.), quomodo ipsi turbinem iudiciorum appropinquantem et irruentem exceperint. Cum spe et obsecratione felicem exitum et salutem sibi sunt polliciti
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v. 12. « Domine dabis pacem nobis; omnia enim opera nostra operatus es nobis » ; — pacem pro se fore imperturbatam invicte sperant et eam spem ex iis reddunt vividam, quae Deus eousque mirabilia pro suis gessit; quaecumque enim nobis evenerunt, a te evenerunt (Men. Sanct.) maximis iam beneficiis potiti per omnem rerum israeliticarum cursum habent pignus operum ac beneficiorum maiorum et hac spe sese consolabantur. Neque frustra. Nam iterum experti suntopus Dei; unde
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v. 13 « Domine Deus noster, possederunt nos domini absque te; tantum inm te recordemur mominis tui »; — oppressionem ab inimicis illatam sola ope divina excusserunt; unde iubilantes confitentur : solum per te stat, ut nomen tuum cum laude praedicemus; in Deo quasi constituti, eius ope circumdati et fulti id obtinuerunt, ut iam cum cantico nomen Dei extollant. Domini absque te alieni sunt dominatores et inimici Deo qui populum Dei quasi Deo eripere et Deo seposito in illum dominari et tyrannidem exercere conabantur. Solus Deus populum suum sibi et suae ditioni restituit ; unde vero et proprio sensu dicunt in te nomen tuum celebramus, et simul hac locutione optime illustrant quod modo laudantes extulerunt*: omnia Opera operatus es nobis. Et in hac pace et in nominis Dei laude iam plane tuti et securi sunt ; Deus enim oppressores, dominos illos absque Deo, morti tradidit, eorum vim plane contrivit; unde
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v. 44 « morientes non vivant, gigantes non resurgant ; propterea, visitasli et contrivisti eos. et perdidisti omnem memoriam eorum »; — verte hebr. per simplex futurum : mortui non vivent, wmbrae non resurgent, uti S. Hier. ipse ad h.l. adnotat : « Symmachus more suo manifestius : mortui non vivificabunt, gigantes non suscitabunt »; de gigantibus vide ad 14, 9. « Non solum ipsi non resurgent, sed ne memoria quidem illorum exstabit » (Mar. sim. Osor.); propterea i. e. « idcirco enim vel ad hoc enim eos abolevisti ne iterum resurgerent »(For.) et nos vexarent; particula 125 id introducitur quod eo ipso fit, cum prius illud evenerit (cf. 61, 1. Ier. 5, 9; 2, 33. Zach. 11, 7. Iob 34, 25; 42, 3; uti graecum ez; Del.). Quomodo oppressores devicti sint et morte oppressi, enumeratione longiore sublimem in modum recenset Ezechiel 32, 18-32. Hostibus vero prostratis Deus et populo suo benigne adfuit et suam gloriam manifestavit et regnum suum ac dominium propagavit, suam scil. cognitionem magnis illis facinoribus spargens
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v. 18 « éndulsisti genti, Domine, indulsisti genti , numquid. glorificatus es? elongasti omnes terminos lerrae »; — hebr. addidisti populo,.. glorificatus es; latinum numquid explica nonne glorificatus es? uti numquid saepius in vulg. (Gen. 18, 14. 23; 29, 5. Ps. 86, 3 etc.); vetus theocratia arctis terminis ac limitibus erat conclusa; quare eius super orbem diffusio quae non fit sine variis iudiciis Dei (cf. 25, 5) apte dicitur elongatio terminorum, qua scil. fines terrae in longum dimoventur seu dilatantur (cf. ad Mich. 7, 11). En, magna adest concinnitas aptusque progressus carminis in hac explanatione a v. 12 ; postquam enim in v. 19 summatim propositum est quid ipsi speraverint et cur eam spem foverint, in v. 13 oppressio describitur et liberatio per solum Dominum facta declaratur; qualis autem fuerit liberatio, in v. 14 morte et interitu hostium proponitur, in v. 18 vero exhibetur aucto populo gloria Dei manifestata, theocratia per orbem diffusa; declaratur itaque liberatio ut ita dicam negative et positive. (Sasb. sim. S. Hier.). At ea explanatio, uti ex interrogatione sensu negativo (qui non adest in hebr.) prolata originem ducit, ita etiam rei et verbis est contraria; nam populum augeri, terminos elongari prosperum dicit theocratiae statum, sicut Deum honorari ; dein postquam in v. 14 de morte et excidio hostium eum in modum sermo factus est, ut hostes plane interiisse et eorum memoriam penitus esse deletam dicatur, iam non est probabile, in v. 45 iterum de hostibus, qui nunc vivi ac florentes essent censendi, institui mentionem. Neque ad hostes in haec serie cogitationum post v. 14 aptari potest id quod in v. 16 enuntiatur; sed in v. 16 praeluditur ad sequentia, in quibus apertissime de ipso Dei populo, non de hostibus texitur oratio. Quare versus 15 sensu bono de populo Dei accipi debet et explicat liberationem et suo modo spem in v. 19 enuntiatam complet (cf. Osor. Calm. Rohl. Troch.). — Singulari plane ratione Naeg. versum interpretatur ; dici scil. de regno mortis, quod regnum continuo crescat, quia homines continuo alii post alios moriantur; in hoc autem mortuorum cumulo qui crescat continuo, gloriam Dei contineri, quippe qui Dominus vitae et mortis homines mori velit ita exhibens omnipotentiam suam et impotentiam hominum ; hac ratione terminos inferni et mortis continuo dilatari. Sed arbitrarie gens explicatur gens mortuorum, ferra regio mortis, ut de aliis incommodis et de coacta expositione taceam. Si Isaias de inferno et regno mortis loquitur, id quam aperte et propriis verbis faciat legere poteris 5, 14 seq. 14, 9 seq. — Bred. legi vult 11222 genti gloriosa tribuisti largiter. Liberatione commemorata redeunt, uti supra v. 8. 9, ad contemplandam viam qua ad beatam illam felicitatem pervenerunt; talis reditus in carmine lyrico variis affectionibus agitato facile fit, cum notum sit quoties in tali genere carminis canticum in suos quasi sinus redire ac replicari solent. Eo enim modo et assiduitas contemplationis et magnitudo ambitusque affectuum depingitur, qui una orationis complexione nequaquam digne possint exprimi, sed repetito indigeant circuitu, descriptione iterata. Unde
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v. 16 « Domine in angustia requisierunt te, in tribulatione murmuris doctrina tua eis » ; — ultimum membrum ex hebr. effuderunt tacitam orationem, cum castigares eos (cf. Mald. For. Vat. Mar. Malv. et recentiores) submissa voce et tacitae mentis desiderio preces ad Deum fuderunt, dum divinis iudiciis et tribulationibus erudirentur; alii in vrm5 (incantatio) preces maxima cum obsecratione fusas intelligunt; S. Jlier. murmur concipit, « quando tantum eis malorum pondus incumbet, ut ne clamare quidem audeant confidenter, sed dolorem suum silentio devorent » ; in tali ergo rerum angustia iis fore doctrinam i. e. eruditionem et, salutarem institutionem (cf. Is. 98, 19. Ez. 6, 9). Quaenam fuerit illa angustia et castigatio, illustratur
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v. 17 « sicut quae concipit cum appropinquaverit ad. partum, dolens clamat in dolo- ribus suis, sic facti sumus a facie tua, Domine» ! — hebr. sicut. gravida etc. ; sunt enim dolores parturientis acutissimi ; unde saepe adhibentur ad comparationem (cf. Ps. 47, "i. Is. 13, 8; 21, 3. Ier. 4, 31; 6, 24; 13, 21; 22, 23; 49, 24. Ez. 30, 16. Os. 13, 13. Mich. 4, 9 etc.) et magnitudinem angustiarum declarant. Eo melius autem hac comparatione utitur vates, quia ex tribulationibus novus partus edendus erat, i. e. ope tribulationum in ipso populo Dei regeneratio quaedam spiritualis erat efficienda, ex calamitate salus erat proditura (cf. ad Mich. 4, 10); unde iusti quoque magno desiderio eiusmodi partui obviam ferebantur. Aderat in populo Dei ex institutione et gratia divina nisus quidam ad eiusmodi partum edendum, ad populum sanctum Deo procreandum ; at quam impar fuerit ex sese huic partui edendo, eadem comparatione retenta describitur
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v. 18 « concepimus et quasi parlurivimus et .peperimus spiritum; salutes non fecimus in terra, ideo non ceciderunt habitatores terrae »; — i. e. ventum peperimus ;. frustra fuit labor ac vanus, frustra nostri conatus (cf. Osor. Mald. .Mar. Men. Calm.), uti supra dictum est tantum in te praedicamus nomen tuum v. 13; populus altiorem illum salutis statum, novam theocratiam, efficere non potuit; huius impotentiae documentüàm ac monumentum iam eo continebatur, quia ne incursus hostium quidem efficaciter propellere et avertere potuit : et non ceciderunt habitatores terrae (hebr.) i. e. dominatores et hostes qui nos affligebant nos nostra virtute non potuimus e sede et auctoritate et potentia deiicere (cf. S. Ilier. Sasb. Sanct. Pint. Mald. Mar. Men. Calm. Troch.). Eadem comparatione utitur propheta cum de invasione assyriaca loquitur 37, 3; qua simul ostenditur quam impotes fuerint ad salutem efficiendam. Verum quod ipsi suis viribus efficere non poterant, Deus facillime e, abundantissime praestare poterit. Unde humili confessione suae impotentiae facta ad praeclaram de Deo spem eriguntur : Deus non solum novam rerum conditionem in opus deducere potest, sed ita opus suum exsequetur et tanta gloria et amplitudine regnum suum exornabit, ut ipsos quoque mortuos ad vitam reductos gloriae suae reddat testes et participes :
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v. 19 « vivent mortui tui, interfecti mei resurgent ; ezpergiscimini et laudate qui habitatis in pulvere! quia vos lucis ros tuus et lerrum gigantum detrahes in ruinam » ; — dicuntur mortui twi, qui cum Deo pietate iuncti mortem obierunt ; interfecti me?, qui populi theo- €ratici causam agentes, defendentes et ut membra eius populi naturae "lebitum solverunt (hebr. cadavera mea). Isti vivent, resurgent; ita Dei potentia egregie laudatur, qui non solum regnum suum per orbem ter- Tàrum diffundit, sed mortuos quoque vita donatos et e sepuleris excita- "ios in gloriae suae regnum assumit. Quare maxima cum iubilatione hanc periodum iam praeoccupantes exclamant : expergiscimini et laudate.. daec nova vita unice laudibus Deo canendis erit dicata; habitatores pulveris sunt qui in sepuleris conditi dormiunt (cf. Iob 1, 91; 47, 16; 290, 11; 21, 26 et quae notavi ad Iob 49, 23). Hisce ad vitam suscilatis insignis splendor additur novae theocratiae. Elucet enim eius vis et gloria, qua morti ipsi praeda eripitur, et vietoria quam Deus reporiare dicitur, agminibus illis e sepulcro eductis insigni modo exaltatur et regnum Dei coelum et terram, tempus et aeternitatem complectens exhibetur. In ea autem suscitatione mortuorum praeclarissima includitur consolatio pro lis qui mediis in tribulationibus antequam novus rerum ordo oriatur diem obeunt; etiam ipsis nova vita promittitur, et cum Deus regnaverit et coram senibus adsit gloria (24, 23), hoc regnum et gloria haec ita absolvitur, ut omnes servi Dei sepulcris relictis regni eius et gloriae sint cives. IIaec autem suscitatio fit quia ros luminum ros tuus (hebr.) ; nam ut. S. Hier. dicit : « quomodo iactis in terram seminibus ros paulatim crescere facit herbas, sic Domini ros ros erit luminum plurimorum » ; uti ros seminibus vitam dare vel ea ad vitam exserendam allicere et plantas iam fere emortuas ad novum vigorem provocare concipitur, ita ubicumque Deus qui est lux suae lucis radium immittit, mors pellitur, redit vita; unde ros luminum est ros qui ad lucem et vitam vires tribuit, ad lucem vitae excitans et revocans (Men. Sanct. Calm.), vel ut S. Cyr. textum graecum : ros qui a te est sanitas illis est, exponit : « rorem vocari sentimus vivificam spiritus efficacitatem et potentiam ; est ergo ros vivificus spiritus a Patre per Filium, per quem terrestribus corporibus incorruptio tribuitur.... quemadmodum enim ros in terram delapsus est, ut sensim ac leniter semina in ipsa recondita augeantur et crescant, eodem modo ros a te stillans medicinam et vitam et salutem praebebit defunctis tuis ». Futura ergo corporum resurrectio hoc lococlare enuntiatur, uti etiam interpretes catholici omnes et ex acatholicis plerique agnoscunt; cum lux et vita intimo nexu inter se saepe copulentur (uti e contra tenebrae et mors — cf. Iob 3, 16. 20; 33, 30), resurrectio convenientissime ad Dei lucem refertur, idque eo magis quia resuscitatorum demum agminibus maximus accedit splendor et gloria eximia maiestati divinae. Ultimo demum membro ex vulg. mortuis Dei qui nova luce vitae splendescent ex regione opponuntur adversarii Dei qui in ruinam detrahuntur : confer, quibus Christus publicae praedicationi finem imposuit : et ibunt hi in supplicium aeternum, iusti autem in vitam aeternam (Matth. 25, 46); en omnium rerum finis, en consummatio saeculorum, en sors aeternitatis immutabilis ; quare hoc carmine optime finis imponitur iudiciorum divinorum considerationi quam a cap. 94 vates. nobis proposuit. Vita resuscitatorum beata h. 1. duobus indicatur, exhortatione ut Deo exsultationem et iubilum canant (zubilate hebr.) et metaphora roris luminum qua ad vitae et lucis Dei consortium eos admitti, rore luminum infundi, ergo vita et gloria donari designatur. Quodsi id conferas cum v. 14, consequitur dum servi Dei summa vita et luce fruantur, adversarios Dei contumaces in perpetuum omni potenlia spoliatos a Deo conteri ac castigari plane devictos. Sunt qui hebr. explicent ros herbarum ros tuus vel ros olerum; vide Vat. Mald. Sanct. For. Malv. Lap. Men. Calm. Ros. Ges. Drechsl.; qua explicatione vis illa vivifica simpliciter effertur, uti v. g. Eccli. 46, 14 : ossa eorum pullulent de loco suo (49, 129) vel apud ipsum "e :'O0ssa vestra quasi herba germinabunt (66, 14). At iuremerito alii retinent interpretationem de rore luminum ; ita Syrus, S. Hier. Chald. Saadias quos sequuntur Grotius, Ges. in comment. Ewald, Umbreit, Kn. Del. Naeg. Bred. Rohl. Net. quae explicatio et uberior est et magis ad rem. Nam rorem ad herbas spectare, non opus erat efferre; sed inesse rori divino vim vivificatricem eamque vim repeti ex Dei natura qui est essentialiter lux et proin vita, hoc et aptissime simul et pulcherrime dicitur. — In hebr. verte membrum ultimum ef terra umbras (mortuos) proüciet i. e. reddet mortuos qui sunt in sepulcris (cf. Mald. Vat. Malv. Yet recentiores), Verba quidem hebr. verti possunt, uti S. Hier. intellexit, et uti sim. LXX, Syrus et ut videtur Chald.(impios trades in gehennam) verterunt ; sed cum DN» in v. 14 de mortuis, de umbris dictum sit, difficile erit et coactum eandem vocem hoc loco sensu alio accipere et Rephaim nomen speciale gentis pro- Cerae extendere ad omnes Dei adversarios. Hoc loco non tam spem tirmam resurrectionis enuntiari quam solum desiderium eius ardens, quo tenuis quaedam opinio vel suspicio fore resurrectionem contineatur, Kn. ad h. l. asserit. At perperam. Verbis enim ipsis et rationibus in textu allatis certa et firma proponitur praedictio. Duplici exhortatione exper- ' giscimini et iubilate iam indicatur certa prophetae sententia, qui postquam -futurum dixit, ut vivant, ut resurgant, iam hos ipsos ad vitam reduces admonet, ut iubilent ; ratio vero additur de rore Dei qui sit ros luminum vel vitae, quae ratio ex Dei vita qua alios vita donare vulf (ros tuus) deprompta Deum ostendit rorem suum vivificum immiltentem, ergo efficaciter operantem ; et quid revera ros ille divinus sit effecturus, in ultimo membro hebr. denuo indicatur. Veteres quoque versiones quotquot fragmenta serváta sunt, non pium quoddam desiderium per modum optativi, sed praedictionem futuro enuntiatam exhibent. [ta LXX &yxac(aovtut ot vex Qo! , &yepÜfiaovcot ot £y. ot; Uynuetot xa togoavÜT.covvat ol iy 77, 15; eodem modo praebent Cácovcos Aq. Sym. Theod., praebent &uzwiOorcos, aiyscouty (Aq.), dyodQudaovens (Sym.), diaAzovaty (Theod. c£. Field, Hexapl. ad h. 1.). Immo Chald. habet : tu es qui vivificas mortuos, ossa cadaverum eorum tu suscitas. — Sed per se solum h. l. sermo est de resurrectione iustorum ; de 2 omnium etiam impiorum resurrectione loquitur Daniel (12, 2); spem resurrectionis eiusque fidem iam notam supponit Ezechiel (37, 2 seq.).
26:20
v. 20 « Vade populus meus, intra in cubicula tua, claude ostia tua super te, abscondere modicum ad momentum, donec pertranseat. indignatio »! — « metaphora sumpta est a tempestate, qua ingruente solemus nos in domus penetralia recipere » (Mald.) ; id ergo Deus suis commendat, « ut quieti sint neque desperatione aut diffidentia despondeant animum, utque in silentio Deum toto cordis affectu deprecentur (eisdem enim prope verbis in evangelio Dominus orare docens suos erudiebat) neque solliciti essent de quarumvis rerum visibilium facieaut vicissitudine aut transmatatione, sed de Deo cuius providentia omnia dispensantur » (For.). Modo loquendi admonentur vel de Noe qui iubetur ante inundationem in arcam ingredi, quo ingresso Dominus ianuam clausit (Gen. 1, 16), vel de Israelitis in Aegypto, qui iubentur suis se domibus continere, dum transiturus sit Dominus percutiens Aegyptios (Ex. 12, 22. 23). Dicitur autem modicum, quia pro singulis tempus probationis et tribulationis comparatione instituta cum aeterna regni Dei gloria ad quam praeparantur et adducuntur, semper est in praesenti momentaneum (cf. 2 Cor. 4, 1'1. Mald.), vel etiam quia singulae afflictiones populi Dei tamquam breves considerantur, cum de singulis valeat quod Habacuc de una enuntiat : « si moram fecerit, exspecta illam, quia veniens veniet et non tardabit » (Hab. 2, 3) ; revera sunt singulae breves considerato toto theocratiae tempore ; ità v. g. tempestas a Sennacherib invecta brevi dici potest pertransiisse ; eodem enim modo sicut nos de periodis anteactis loquimur, brevi huius vel illius regis seu dynastiae gloriam transiisse, etsi per annos complures floruerit, ita prophetae de rebus futuris et annorum serie futura pronuntiant. Quaenam pertransitura sit indignatio, explicatur
Postquam vates magnificum Dei consilium et ultimam: theocratiae consummationem quae in resurrectione mortuorum habetur exposuit, d iam nihil aliud restare videtur, nisi ut ea quae dicta sunt in praesentem im populi et aequalium utilitatem convertantur. Ita enim agere prophetam jam saepius deprehendimus ; vaticinio de montis Dei exaltatione proposito ad adhortationem suis aequalibus necessariam se convertit (2, 5 seq.); idem adverti potest ad 8, 11 seq. 20, 1. Similiter hoc quoque loco suos iam docet, quid ex normis illis divinis pro praesenti temporum necessitate et pro ingruentibus calamitatibus sit colligendum, scil. quali ratione sese habere oporteat, quomodo cum fide et patientia et spe adversa omnia sint toleranda. Ita propheta qui futurorum temporum mysteria divinitus accepta communicavit, iam pressius doctoris munere pro suo populo fungitur, ostendens qualem habere possint ac debeant utili- * tatem et ad praesentem conditionem applicationem vaticinia de rebus maxime remotis, et quomodo ex iis fides et spes sit nutrienda et vera capienda regula, qua de rerum cursu et variis eventibus iudicium feratur secundum normam divinam. Unde pro ingruente tribulatione monet
26:21
v. 21 « ecce enim Dominus egredietur de loco suo, ut visitet iniquitatem habitatoris terrae contra eum, et revelabit terra sanguinem suum et non operiet ultra interfectos suos » ; — Deus dicitur surgere, egredi de loco suo (de throno suo coelesti), venire, quando de effectu quodam peculiari, praesertim de -actione iudiciaria mentio infertur ; cf. ad Mich. 4, 3 et ad Hab. 2, 3 et vide Os. 5, 45. Ps. 17, 8 ; 49, 3 ; 19, 3 ; 95, 13 ; 96, 3 etc. Deus ultor et vindex animadvertet in iniquitatem, ubicumque ea adest ; ergo etiam in ipsius populi sui peccata, pro quorum ultione mittit tamquam virgam furoris sui (Is. 10, 5) alias gentes ; et talem visitationem etam h. 1. inteligi, concluditur ex v. 18 et 20 ; in ea sententiam adeo generalem non sistere, liquet. Iniquitas visitatur contra eum i. e. in ipso habitatore terrae, in eo ipso qui eam patravit punitur ; iusta retributio effertur eo modo quo dicitur : convertetur dolor eius in caput eius et in verti. cem ipsius iniquitas eius descendet (Ps. 1, 11. Mald.). Atque hanc iustam scelerum vindictam ipsa iam terra, tot scelerum scena, expostulare inducitur : sanguinem occisorum quem absorbuerat iam palam profert et ostendit vindictam expetens eo fere modo quo « vox sanguinis fratris tui clamat ad me de terra » (Gen. 4, 10) vel quo Iob 16, 19 : « terra, ne operias sanguinem meum » a contrario dicitur i. e. ne sileas, o terra, ea quae mihi acciderunt neque sanguinem meum iniuste effusum contegas, quin tamquam Abelis sanguis clamorem edat ; cf. Ez. 24, 71. 8. Insuper terra quo efficacius vindictam expetere concipiatur, « interfectos producet in publicum ad condemnationem eorum qui occiderunt » (S. Hier.); sim. Sanct. Sasb. Lap. Men. Tir. Rohl. ; post v. 19 id facile de resurrectione intelligitur, in qua omnes sese sistunt et iniuriarum sibi illatarum vindictam a Domino expostulant : vindica sanguinem sanctorum tuorum qui effusus est. Unde simul apparet, in hac Dei visitatione iudicium quoque universale repraesentari. — Verba non operiet... apte de occisis quos terra quasi e suo gremio emittit accipiuntur ; idque et efficacius nervosiusque est neque post v. 19 ulli potest difficultati subiacere; si alii in istis verbis solum sententiam antecedentem repeti volunt (cf. For. Mald. Mar. Calm. Schegg), a proprietate verborum recedunt et languidam repetitionem textui obtrudunt. Qualem visitationem Dominus sit instituturus et quomodo iniquitatem orbis terrarum sit deiecturus, iam proponitur 21, 1 « in die illa visitabit Dominus in. gladio suo duro et grandi et forti super Leviathan serpentem vectem et super Leviathan serpentem. tortuosum et occidet. cetum qui in mari est » ; — hebr. leviathan serpentem | fugacem, LXX Égw oeóyov:x. Cum addatur ad leviathan serpens fugax, serpens flexuosus, vel sinuosus, leviathan hoc loco de immani bellua, non speciatim de crocodilo (Iob 3, 8; 40, 20) accipi debet; etiam v2n belluam. immanem dicit et adhibetur vox ad significandam Aegyptum (Is. 51, 9. Ez. 29, 3. Ps. "13, 13) et Babylonem (Ier. 51, 34), sicut leviathan designat Aegyptum (Ps. 73, 14). Similiter Aegyptus Is. 30, 6 nominatur iumentum austri et belluae saepius ut symbola regnorum proponuntur (ef. Is. 14, 29 et praecipue Dan. 1, 3 seq. Apoc 13, 1). Unde dubium esse non potest, quin leviathan et draco etiam hoc loco proxime regna potentia dicant quae gladio Domini prosternantur; quae acceptio hoc loco eo magis commendatur, quia oraculum hoc agmen illorum claudit quibus de variis regnis propheta vaticinatus est, et quia iniquitas habitatoris terrae (26, 91) et in Deum rebellio in regnis potentissimis mundi repraesentari et exhiberi solet(cf. ad cap. 13). Cum draco saepius Aegyptum significet, ad quam significationem etiam qui est in mar? apte additur, cum Nilus etiam mare appelletur, etiam hoc loco haec notio erit retinenda; praeter Aegyptum Is. 49, 23 Assur nominabatur etin hoc ipso capite v. 12. 13 mentio fit Assur, Babyloniae, Aegypti; cum praeterea hisce regna potissima designentur, quae veteri theocratiae infesta exstiterunt, haec tria proxime designari certum videtur. Assyria et Babylonia uno symbolo leviathan describuntur, quia regnum illud septemtrionale exhibent, a quo castigatio in populum Dei foedifragum exercita est; erant duo illa regna saepe sub unius imperio vel hegemonia et in locum et ditionem Assyriorum successerunt Babylonii, quare hae etiam consideratione facta uno symbolo apte exprimuntur. Neque tamen aliquid discriminis et distinctionis abest. Serpens fugax vel celer et serpens tortuosus multa sane habent communia, at in. ultimo symbolo fortasse Babylonia exprimitur artificis magiae, incantationum, divinationum celebris, dum in Assyriis fortitudo et celeritas bellica potissimum laudetur. Aliis placet nomina explicare ex situ urbium Ninives et Dabylonis; erat enim Ninive ad Tigridem sita, qui fluvius ob cursum rapidum apud indigenas sagitta! vocabatur, Babylon autem ad Euphratem qui ibi maxime est tortuosus et maeandribus volvitur. Hisce addunt, Assyrios celeriter in Israelitas prorupisse et regnum israeliticum celeriter suppressisse, Babylonios vero multis nexibus popu. Ium obstrinxisse, immo cum Babel symbolum sit pro potentia theocraiiae adversaria in universum, populum Dei eius serpentis sinibus usque ad consummationem esse implicatum (cf. Del.). Utut haec non sine probabilitate dicuntur, tamen cur cum emphasi serpentis mentio ingeratur, non satis explicatur. Id vero plane explicatur, si vestigia prementes SS. Patrum et fere omnium veterum interpretum in serpente hoc loco etiam diabolum designari dixerimus ; cum igitur leviathan quo regnum mundanum exprimitur, simul dicatur serpens celer, serpens tortuosus, innui videtur potestati illi adversariae quae in regnis continetur, addi et substare aliam quandam cui serpentis nomen proprium sit i. e. diabolum (cf. Gen. 3). Hac acceptione sane optime tota illa potentia Deo inimica describitur: adest serpens et eius Semen, adsunt homines Deo rebelles, sed ei rebellioni stimuli adduntur a diabolo, qui est princeps huius mundi et qua talis summus dux et imperator hostium Dei. Neque hac explicatione a rerum nexu et serie obscure innueretur, ita in eiusdem partis fine iterum a propheta ad serpentis illius astutias et conatus attenti reddimur eo quod in regnis terrenis prostratis nobis ostendit serpentem celerem et serpentem tortuosum gladio Domini devictum aec prostratum. Insuper postquam 24, 21 Deus visitaturus super militiam altitudinis in altitudine nobis est propositus, hoc loco apte omnino in serpente devicto illam quoque mili-- tiam altitudinis prostratam et punitam agnoscemus. Omnibus vaticiniis iam praeformatum est, potestate adversaria deiecta fore ut exsistat populus sanctus, Deo placens. Is enim est fructus et effectus qui ex Dei iudiciis exoriturus constanter praedicitur. Describitur hoc loco ita, ut populus iam proponatur vinea Domini amoenissima Deoque gratissima. Remittimur igitur a contrario ad 5, 1 seq. et ut utramque vineam inter se comparemus admonemur, illam ante iudicia devoluta, hanc iudiciis factis et inimicis prostratis. Unde
26:9
… hymn: the I from the canticle of the Israelites (Ex. 15, 1-8); the II - the canticle of Moses near death (Deut. 32, 1-43); the III - the canticle of Hannah (I Sam. 2, 1-10); the IV - the prayer of Habakkuk (Hab. 3, 2-19); the V - the prayer of Isaiah (Is. 26, 9-21); the VI - the prayer of Jonah (Jon. 2, 3-10); the VII - the hymn of the three youths of Babylon, also called of Azariah (Dan. 3, 2-33); the VIII - the hymn of the youths in the furnace …
… It is said, for example, that the Lord will give, in messianic times, a "new rūah" (Ez. 11, 19; 18, 31; 36, 29; Ps. 51 [50], 12); in the rūah thoughts ascend (Ez. 11, 5); the rūah seeks, desires the Lord (Is. 26, 9), is cast down (Is. 66, 2; Prov. 15, 13), humble (Prov. 16, 19; 29, 23), magnanimous (Ps. 51 [50], 14).
26:12
… The messianic gifts, in fact, are described in the Old Testament as superior qualities that will make man act with justice and equity (Is. 11:2-4); as an interior renewal (Ez. 36:25-31). This will not be the fruit of human industry, but only of God (Is. 26:12). This Kingdom of men interiorly docile, in opposition to legal exteriorism (Jer. 31:53), entails, as is better expressed in the New Testament, an interior holiness, similar to that …
26:14
the inhabitants of šē'ōl (Isa. 14:9; 26:14, 19; Ps. 88:11; Prov. 2:18; Job 26:5). Their name evokes the idea of weakness, of lack of consistency, contained in the root rāphāh (Septuagint: laxpoî, Vulg. medici, from the root rāphā' [Ps. 87:11]; Isa. 26:14).
… The deceased, called (Is. 14:9; 26:14, 19; Ps. 87:11; Prov. 2:18; 9:18; 21:16; Job 26:5) rēphā'im ("weak, flaccid, evanescent," Vulg. gigantes), as among the Canaanites-Phoenicians (Ugarit, inscriptions of Eshmun'azar and …
26:19
… In Is. 26:19 is the oldest explicit attestation of the resurrection (= "going up" from the f.: Job 7:9). The divine promises of redemption and spiritual restoration present themselves as liberation …
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.