The general judgment of the wicked.
A prophecie of the destruction of the whole world, at the day of Iudgement, 5. and in particular of I dume•, 9. & Ierusalem, as figures therof.
1Come near, ye Gentiles, and hear, and hearken, ye people: let the earth hear, and all that is therein, the world, and every thing that cometh forth of it.Accostatevi, o nazioni, ed ascoltate: popoli ponete mente: oda la terra, e le cose tutte, che la riempiono, il mondo, e tutto quello, ch'egli produce;COME neere ye Gentiles, and heare, and ye peoples attend let the earth heare, & the fulnes therof the round world, and euerie spring therof.Accedite, gentes, et audite; / et populi, attendite: / audiat terra, et plenitudo ejus; / orbis, et omne germen ejus. 2For the indignation of the Lord is upon all nations, and his fury upon all their armies: he hath killed them, and delivered them to slaughter.Perocché l'ira del Signore sta sopra a tutte le genti, e il suo furore sopra tutta la lor moltitudine: la ucciderà, e daralla a morte.Because the indignation of our Lord is vpon al Gentiles, and furie vpon al their hostes: he hath killed them, & geuen them into slaughter.Quia indignatio Domini super omnes gentes, / et furor super universam militiam eorum: / interfecit eos, et dedit eos in occisionem. 3Their slain shall be cast forth, and out of their carcasses shall rise a stink: the mountains shall be melted with their blood.I loro uccisi saran gettati al campo, e si alzerà la puzza dai loro cadaveri: i monti coleranno del loro sangue.Their slaine shal be cast forth, and out of their carcasses shal rise a stinche: the mountaines shal melt with their bloud.Interfecti eorum projicientur, / et de cadaveribus eorum ascendet fœtor; / tabescent montes a sanguine eorum. 4And all the host of the heavens shall pine away, and the heavens shall be folded together as a book: and all their host shall fall down as the leaf falleth from the vine, and from the fig tree.Verrà meno tutta la milizia de' cieli, e i cieli saranno ravvolti come un libro; e tutta la lor milizia cadrà, come cade la foglia della vite, e del fico.And al the host of the heauens shal melt away, and the heauens shal be folded together as a booke: and al their host shal fal away as the leafe falleth from the vine, and from the figge tree.Et tabescet omnis militia cælorum, / et complicabuntur sicut liber cæli: / et omnis militia eorum defluet, / sicut defluit folium de vinea et de ficu. 5For my sword is inebriated in heaven: behold it shall come down upon Idumea, and upon the people of my slaughter unto judgment.Perocché la mia spada si è insanguinata nel cielo: ecco che ella piomberà sopra l'Idumea, e sopra quel popolo, che sarà ucciso da me per giusta vendetta.Because my sword is inebriated in heauen: behold it shal descend vpon Idumaea, and vpon the peoples of my slaughter to iudgement.Quoniam inebriatus est in cælo gladius meus; / ecce super Idumæam descendet, / et super populum interfectionis meæ, ad judicium.
6The sword of the Lord is filled with blood, it is made thick with the blood of lambs and buck goats, with the blood of rams full of marrow: for there is a victim of the Lord in Bosra and a great slaughter in the land of Edom.La spada del Signore è tutta sangue, tutta unta di grasso, di sangue degli agnelli, e de' capri, del sangue de' grassi arieti: perocché la vittima del Signore è in Bosra, e un gran macello nella terra di Edom.The sword of our Lord is filled with bloud, it is fatted of the bloud of lambes and buckgoates, of the bloud of rammes ful of marow: for the victime of our Lord is in Bosra, & agrear slaughter in the land of Edom.Gladius Domini repletus est sanguine, / incrassatus est adipe, / de sanguine agnorum et hircorum, / de sanguine medullatorum arietum: / victima enim Domini in Bosra, / et interfectio magna in terra Edom. 7And the unicorns shall go down with them, and the bulls with the mighty: their land shall be soaked with blood, and their ground with the fat of fat ones.E cadranno a terra con essi gli unicorni, e tori co' potenti: sarà inebriata di sangue la loro terra, e la loro campagna del grassume de' corpi:And the vnicornes shal come downe with them, and the bulles with the mightie: their land shal be drunke with bloud, & their ground with the farnes of fatte ones.Et descendent unicornes cum eis, / et tauri cum potentibus; / inebriabitur terra eorum sanguine, / et humus eorum adipe pinguium. 8For it is the day of the vengeance of the Lord, the year of recompenses of the judgment of Sion.Perchè giorno è questo della vendetta del Signore, anno, in cui renderassi giustizia a Sionne.Because it is the day of the reuenge of our Lord, the yeare of retributions of the iudgement of Sion.Quia dies ultionis Domini, / annus retributionum judicii Sion. 9And the streams thereof shall be turned into pitch, and the ground thereof into brimstone: and the land thereof shall become burning pitch.E i suoi torrenti si cangeranno in pece, e la sua terra in solfo; e i suoi campi diverran pece ardente.And the torrents therof shal be turned into pitch, and the ground therof into brimstone: & the land therof shal be into burning pitch.Et convertentur torrentes ejus in picem, / et humus ejus in sulphur; / et erit terra ejus in picem ardentem. 10Night and day it shall not be quenched, the smoke thereof shall go up for ever: from generation to generation it shall lie waste, none shall pass through it for ever and ever.Né dì, né notte cesserà l'incendio, salirà in eterno il fumo di lei: sarà desolata per generazioni, e generazioni: non vi passerà, anima per tutti i secoli.Night and day it shal not be quenched, the smoke therof shal goe vp for euer: from generation vnto generation it shal be desolate, there shal none passe by it world without end.Nocte et die non extinguetur, / in sempiternum ascendet fumus ejus, / a generatione in generationem desolabitur, / in sæcula sæculorum non erit transiens per eam.
11The bittern and ericius shall possess it: and the ibis and the raven shall dwell in it: and a line shall be stretched out upon it, to bring it to nothing, and a plummet, unto desolation.E ne saranno padroni l'onocrotalo, e l'ericio: l'ibide, e il corvo vi avranno stanza: sarà tesa sopra di lei una corda, affine di annichilarla, e un livello per desolarla.The onocrotalus, and hedgehog shal possesse it: & the ibis, and the rauen shal dwel in it: and a measure shal be stretched out vpon it, to bring it to nothing, and a plumme line vnto desolation.Et possidebunt illam onocrotalus et ericius; / ibis et corvus habitabunt in ea: / et extendetur super eam mensura, ut redigatur ad nihilum, / et perpendiculum in desolationem. 12The nobles thereof shall not be there: they shall call rather upon the king, and all the princes thereof shall be nothing.Non vi saran più suoi nobili, ma ei chiederanno un re, e tutti i suoi principi saranno annientati.The nobles therof shal not be there: they shal cal rather vpon the king, and al the princes therof shal be as nothing.Nobiles ejus non erunt ibi; regem potius invocabunt, / et omnes principes ejus erunt in nihilum. 13And thorns and nettles shall grow up in its houses, and the thistle in the fortresses thereof: and it shall be the habitation of dragons, and the pasture of ostriches.E sulle case di lei nasceranno spine, ed ortiche, e roveti sulle sue rocche: ella sarà covile di dragoni, e luogo di pastura agli struzzoli.And thornes and nettles shal grow vp in the houses therof, and the thisle in the munitions therof: and it shal be the couche of dragons, and the pasture of ostriches.Et orientur in domibus ejus spinæ et urticæ, / et paliurus in munitionibus ejus; / et erit cubile draconum, / et pascua struthionum. 14And demons and monsters shall meet, and the hairy ones shall cry out one to another, there hath the lamia lain down, and found rest for herself.E vi s'incontreranno demoni con onocentauri, e i satiri grideranno l'uno all'altro: ivi s'accovaccerà la lamia, e vi riposerà.And spirites shal meete the onocentaurus, and the satyr shal crie one to the other, there hath the lamia lien, and found her self rest.Et occurrent dæmonia onocentauris, / et pilosus clamabit alter ad alterum; / ibi cubavit lamia, / et invenit sibi requiem. 15There hath the ericius had its hole, and brought up its young ones, and hath dug round about, and cherished them in the shadow thereof: thither are the kites gathered together one to another.Ivi ha sua tana l'ericio, e vi al leva i suoi parti, e dilatata all'intorno la tana li nutre all'ombra di lei: ivi i milvi si uniscono l'uno coll'altro.There hath the hedgehog had an hole, and brought vp whelpes, and digged round about, and cherished them in the shadow therof: thither are the kites gathered together, one to an other.Ibi habuit foveam ericius, et enutrivit catulos, / et circumfodit, et fovit in umbra ejus; / illuc congregati sunt milvi, alter ad alterum.
16Search ye diligently in the book of the Lord, and read: not one of them was wanting, one hath not sought for the other: for that which proceedeth out of my mouth, he hath commanded, and his spirit it hath gathered them.Cercate diligentemente nel libro del Signore, e leggete: di queste cose una non mancherà, una non sarà senza l'altra: perocché quello, che esce dalla mia bocca, egli me lo ha dettato, e lo spirito di lui ha egli stesso riunite queste cose.Searche ye diligently in the booke of our Lord, and read: one of them hath not wanted, one hath not sought for the other, because that which procedeth out of my mouth, he hath commanded, and his spirit the same hath gathered them.Requirite diligenter in libro Domini, et legite: / Unum ex eis non defuit, / alter alterum non quæsivit; / quia quod ex ore meo procedit, ille mandavit, / et spiritus ejus ipse congregavit ea. 17And he hath cast the lot for them, and his hand hath divided it to them by line: they shall possess it for ever, from generation to generation they shall dwell therein.Ed egli è, che darà ad essi la lor porzione, la mano di lui dividerà ad essi l'Idumea con misura: ei la possederanno sempre in eterno, e per tutte le generazioni la abiteranno.And he hath cast them a lot, and his hand hath diuided it vnto them by measure: they shal possesse it for euer, in generation & generation they shal dwel therein.Et ipse misit eis sortem, / et manus ejus divisit eam illis in mensuram: / usque in æternum possidebunt eam; / in generationem et generationem habitabunt in ea.
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Calmet
Away. These strong expressions denote great misery, Isaias 13., and Joel 2:10., and Ezechiel 32:27. (Calmet)
Haydock
Book. Hebrew, "roll." (Haydock)
Huet
Some thence foolishly inferred that the destiny of every one might be read in the heavens. (Huet.; Eusebius, praep. 6:11.; Philoo. xxiii.; Pic. Astrol. 8:5.)
Haydock
The prophet only means that the heavens shall be devoid of beauty, (Calmet) and covered with darkness. (Haydock)
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Calmet
The resolution to destroy the Idumeans, for their cruelty to the Jews, has been taken long ago. All these expressions allude to the last judgment. (Calmet)
Challoner
Idumea. Under the name of Idumea or Edom, a people that were enemies of the Jews, are here understood the wicked in general, the enemies of God and his Church. (Challoner)
Calmet
Assaradon fell upon Edom two years after Sennacherib's death. (Calmet)
Worthington
No strong place like Bosra, shall rescue any from destruction at the last day. (Worthington)
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Challoner
The unicorns. That is, the great and mighty. (Challoner)
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Challoner
Recompenses. When the persecutors of Sion, that is, of the Church, shall receive their reward. (Challoner)
Calmet
The Idumeans had frequently shown their ill-will towards the Jews, 2 Paralipomenon 28:17., and Amos 1:11. (Calmet)
Worthington
Sion shall perish as the wicked in hell shall be tormented. (Worthington)
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Pitch. The soil was sulphureous, and became neglected, (ver. 10.) like the territory of Sodom. The people are now no more, and only a few miserable Arabs pitch their tents there.
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Calmet
Line. Intimating entire destruction, Lamentations 2:8., and 4 Kings 11:13. (Calmet)
Menochius
Yet God will not punish more than people deserve. (Menochius)
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Haydock
Dragons, Thannim, Isaias 13:22. (Haydock)
Ostriches, or swans.
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Haydock
Monsters. Literally, "Ass-centaurs." (Haydock)
Hebrew, "fishermen shall find islands," Isaias 13:21.
Ones. Goats.
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Bochart
Ericius. Hebrew, "kippoz, (Haydock) hath its nest." It may denote the serpent, acontias. (Bochart)
All this shews the desolation of the country.
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Read what I have written.
Haydock
The other. All these beasts will be there, (Calmet) or all these declarations will be verified. (Haydock)
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And all the host of the heavens.... That is, the sun, moon, and stars.
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The unicorns.... That is, the great and mighty.
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The year of recompenses, etc.... When the persecutors of Sion, that is, of the church, shall receive their reward.
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God willeth as vvel the gentiles that were farre of, to come neere.
As. Iso the Iewes, that were his pecular people al to attend that he wil destroy this whole world, before the general Iudgement.
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No defence of strong places (signified by Bosra) shal saue anie men from destruction in the day of Iudgement.
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In the meane time, as a figure therof Sion shal be destroyed: and therfore the metaphorical destruction folovving rather perteyneth to the state of the damned in the next vvorld then to the afflicted in this life.
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Tertullian † AD 220 Against Hermogenes 34
Besides, the belief that everything was made from nothing will be impressed upon us by that ultimate dispensation of God which will bring back all things to nothing. For “the very heaven shall be rolled together as a scroll;”
Aphrahat † AD 346 Aphrahat: Select Demonstrations 21.7
… For the broken cisterns are the fear of images and idols. And He calls the heavens to astonishment, because they worshipped the hosts of the heavens. And the heavens shall receive as a penalty, that they shall be rolled up as a scroll, and all the host of them shall fall down.
St Cyril of Jerusalem † AD 386 The Catechetical Lectures of S. Cyril 15.3
… And wouldest thou receive the proof of this out of the words of Scripture? Listen to Esaias, saying, And the heaven shall be rolled together as a scroll; and all the stars shall fall, as leaves from a vine, and as leaves fall from a fig-tree
St John Chrysostom † AD 407 An Exhortation to Theodore After His Fall 1
… As for me Daniel, my spirit shuddered within me, and the visions of my head troubled me.” Then all the gates of the heavenly vaults are opened, or rather the heaven itself is taken away out of the midst “for the heaven,” we read “shall be rolled up like a scroll,”
St Augustine of Hippo † AD 430 The Confessions 13.15
16. Or who but Thou, our God, made for us that firmament of authority over us in Thy divine Scripture? As it is said, For heaven shall be folded up like a scroll;
St Augustine of Hippo † AD 430 Expositions on the Book of Psalms 8.7
… we understand consistently with this, that, in this place, the books of both Testaments are called “the heavens.” Now it is said too of Moses himself, by the magicians of king Pharaoh, when they were conquered by him, “This is the finger of God.” And what is written, “The heavens shall be rolled up as a book.”
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St Jerome † AD 420 The Letters of St. Jerome 22.3
3. I would have you draw from your monastic vow not pride but fear. You walk laden with gold; you must keep out of the robber’s way. To us men this life is a race-course: we contend here, we are crowned elsewhere. No man can lay aside fear while serpents and scorpions beset his path. The Lord says: “My sword hath drunk its fill in heaven,”
St Jerome † AD 420 The Letters of St. Jerome 125.7
… how much less men whose whole life is one long temptation. Woe be to us who commit fornication every time that we cherish lust. “My sword,” God says, “hath drunk its fill in heaven;”
St Jerome † AD 420 Against the Pelagians 2
Is. xxxiv. 5 . “My sword hath drunk its fill in the heavens. It will come down in Edom.” How much more is there wrath against sin on earth! Edom means blood, which cannot inherit the kingdom ( 1 Cor. xv. 50 ).
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John Cassian † AD 435 The Seven Books of John Cassian on the Incarnation of the Lord, Against Nestorius 7.1
… Take away the uncleanness their blasphemy has brought on them, and purify with the fan of Thy sacred cleansing the souls that are plunged in stinking mud, so that the “dens of thieves” may become “houses of prayer:” and that in those which are now, as is written, the dwellings where hedgehogs and monsters,
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St Jerome † AD 420 The Letters of St. Jerome 22.6
… I pray you, let not Zion the faithful city become a harlot: let it not be that where the Trinity has been entertained, there demons shall dance and owls make their nests, and jackals build.
Pope St Gregory I the Great † AD 604 The Book of Pastoral Rule 3.11
… so that often one who has a care to reprove their faults, led astray by the mists of the falsehood that surrounds them, finds himself to have almost lost what he just now held as certain concerning them. Hence it is rightly said through the prophet, under the similitude of Judah, to the soul that sins and excuses itself, There the urchin had her nest (
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1. Come near, O nations, and hear; and peoples, attend: let the earth hear, and the fullness thereof; the world, and all that is generated in it. 2. For the indignation of the Lord is upon all nations, and his fury upon all their army: he hath killed them, and delivered them to slaughter. 3. Their slain shall be cast out, and their stink shall come up from their carcasses, and the mountains shall be melted with their blood. 4. And all the host of the heavens shall pine away, and the heavens shall be folded together as a book: and all their host shall fall down as the leaf falleth from the vine, and from the fig tree. 5. For my sword is inebriated in heaven: behold it shall come down upon Idumea, and upon the people of my slaughter unto judgment. 6. The sword of the Lord is filled with blood, it is made thick with fatness, with the blood of lambs and goats, with the blood of the rams full of marrow: for there is a victim of the Lord in Bosra, and a great slaughter in the land of Edom. 7. And the unicorns shall come down with them, and the bulls with the mighty men: their land shall be inebriated with blood, and their dust made fat with fatness: 8. For it is the day of the vengeance of the Lord, the year of recompense of the judgment of Sion. 9. And the streams thereof shall be turned into pitch, and the dust thereof into brimstone: and the land thereof shall become burning pitch. 10. Night and day it shall not be quenched, the smoke thereof shall go up for ever: from generation to generation it shall lie waste, for ever and ever there shall be none to pass through it. 11. And the pelican and the porcupine shall possess it: and the ibis and the raven shall dwell in it: and a line shall be stretched out upon it, to bring it to nothing, and a plummet to its desolation. 12. The nobles thereof shall not be there: rather shall they call upon the king, and all the princes thereof shall be brought to nothing. 13. And thorns shall spring up in its houses, and nettles and brambles in its fortifications: and it shall be the lair of dragons, and the pasture of ostriches. 14. And demons shall meet with monsters, and the hairy one shall cry out to his fellow: there the lamia hath lain down, and found rest for herself. 15. There hath the porcupine made its burrow, and brought up its young, and hath dug round about, and sheltered itself in the shadow thereof: thither shall the kites be gathered, one to another. 16. Search ye diligently in the book of the Lord, and read: not one of them shall be wanting, one shall not seek for another: for that which proceedeth from my mouth, he hath commanded it, and his spirit it is that hath gathered them. 17. And he hath cast the lot for them, and his hand hath divided it unto them by measure: they shall possess it for ever, from generation to generation they shall dwell therein. 1. COME NEAR, O NATIONS, AND HEAR. — Hugo, Lyra and Castrius from Theodoret and Origen refer all these things to the destruction of Judea; for in verse 8 it is said: "The year of recompense of the judgment of Sion." But the very words themselves stand in the way here; for he says: "The indignation of the Lord is upon all nations;" and: "Let the earth hear"
From the disaster of Sennacherib there arises and flies away in the manner of the destruction of the world at the end of the age, so that from the disaster of the Assyrians all the impious may learn how great a slaughter shall befall them on the day of judgment, if they imitate their crimes and do not repent. Again, verse 5, he sets forth another type of the destruction of the world, namely the destruction of Idumaea; for then all the reprobate shall be punished with a similar, indeed greater punishment, by which the Idumaeans were once smitten, namely by fire, pitch and sulphur, as verse 9 says, and by perpetual desolation, so that onocentaurs, fauns, lamiae, etc., shall dwell there, as verse 11 and following say. 1. Come, ye nations, and hear; and ye peoples, give ear: let the earth hear, and the fulness thereof, the world, and all that springeth from it. 2. For the indignation of the Lord is upon all nations, and his fury upon all their army: he hath killed them, and delivered them to slaughter. 3. Their slain shall be cast out, and their stench shall come up from their carcasses: and the mountains shall be melted with their blood. 4. And all the host of heaven shall be dissolved, and the heavens shall be folded together as a book: and all their host shall fall down as the leaf falleth from the vine, and from the fig tree. 5. For my sword is inebriated in heaven: behold it shall come down upon Idumaea, and upon the people of my slaughter, to judgment. 6. The sword of the Lord is filled with blood, it is made thick with fatness, with the blood of lambs and goats, with the blood of the kidneys of rams: for there is a victim of the Lord in Bosra, and a great slaughter in the land of Edom. 7. And the unicorns shall come down with them, and the bulls with the mighty ones: their land shall be inebriated with blood, and their dust made fat with fatness: 8. For it is the day of the vengeance of the Lord, the year of recompense of the judgment of Sion. 9. And the streams thereof shall be turned into pitch, and the dust thereof into brimstone: and the land thereof shall become burning pitch. 10. Night and day it shall not be quenched, the smoke thereof shall go up for ever: from generation to generation it shall lie waste, for ever and ever there shall be none to pass through it. 11. And the bittern and the ericius shall possess it: and the ibis and the raven shall dwell in it: and a line shall be stretched out upon it, to bring it to nothing, and a plummet upon the desolations thereof. 12. The nobles thereof shall not be there: rather shall they call upon the king, and all the princes thereof shall be brought to nothing. 13. And thorns and nettles shall grow up in its houses, and the paliurus in its fortifications: and it shall be the lair of dragons, and the pasture of ostriches. 14. And demons shall meet with onocentaurs, and the hairy one shall cry out to his fellow: there the lamia hath lain down, and found rest for herself. 15. There hath the ericius made its burrow, and brought forth young, and hath digged round about, and cherished them in its shadow: thither shall the kites be gathered, one to another. 16. Search ye diligently in the book of the Lord, and read: not one of them shall be wanting, one shall not seek for another: because that which proceedeth from my mouth, he hath commanded it, and his spirit it is that hath gathered them. 17. And he hath cast the lot for them, and his hand hath divided it to them by line: they shall possess it for ever, from generation to generation they shall dwell therein. 1. Come, ye nations, and hear. Hugo, Lyra and Castrius from Theodoret and Origen refer all these things to the destruction of Judah; for in verse 8 it is said: "The year of recompense of the judgment of Sion." But the very words themselves stand in the way here; for he says: "The indignation of the Lord is upon all nations;" and: "Let the earth hear and the fulness thereof; the world, and all that springeth from it." I say therefore that the Prophet speaks of the final judgment and the consummation of the age; for then all nations shall perish. Thus St. Jerome, Cyril, Procopius, and St. Augustine, book XIII of the Confessions, chapter 15, and Eusebius, book XI of the Preparation for the Gospel, chapter On the Renewal of the World; where he adds that Plato transferred this passage of Isaiah into his writings. The mountains shall be melted with their blood. — That is, so great shall be the multitude of the slain, that from their putrefaction, corruption and decay, the mountains themselves shall contract decay. Secondly, that is, so many shall be slain, so much blood shall be shed, that the mountains shall be dissolved and flow away with blood. Whence Vatablus and others translate, the mountains shall melt away with gore. It is a hyperbole.
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and the fulness thereof; the world, and all that springeth from it." I say therefore that the Prophet speaks of the final judgment and the consummation of the age; for then all nations shall perish. Thus St. Jerome, Cyril, Procopius, and St. Augustine, book XIII of the Confessions, chapter 15, and Eusebius, book XI of the Preparation for the Gospel, chapter On the Renewal of the World; where he adds that Plato transferred this passage of Isaiah into his writings. 2. HE HATH KILLED THEM, — all the nations, partly through the fire of the conflagration of the world, partly through the plagues that precede it. 3. AND FROM THEIR CARCASSES SHALL ASCEND A STENCH. — He alludes to the carcasses of the Assyrians slain by the Angel, which rotted and stank. Such likewise shall there be at the end of the world, partly in battles, partly elsewhere slain by God. THE MOUNTAINS SHALL BE MELTED WITH THEIR BLOOD, — that is, so great shall be the multitude of the slain, that from their putrefaction, corruption and decay, the mountains themselves shall contract decay. Secondly, that is, so many shall be slain, so much blood shall be shed, that the mountains shall be dissolved and flow away with blood. Whence Vatablus and others translate, the mountains shall melt away with gore. It is a hyperbole.
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2. He has slain them, — all nations, partly by the fire of the world's conflagration, partly by the plagues preceding it.
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Thirdly, Sanchez, "Mountains," he says, that is princes: equally with the common people they shall lie unburied, and shall waste away and putrefy, wallowing in their blood, "that is their own; for the Hebrews have the same reciprocal and absolute pronoun. 4. ALL THE HOST OF THE HEAVENS SHALL WASTE AWAY. — "Host" or soldiers "of heaven" are the sun, moon and stars. First, St. Thomas, Hugo, Vatablus, Lyran and others thus expound by hyperbole: So great shall be the calamity, that it shall seem as if heaven itself perishes; so great shall be the affliction of those times, that men shall seem to themselves to see the heavens, which are spread out, folding together, contracting and rolling themselves up, and the very stars falling from heaven. A similar passage is Ezech. XXXII, 4. See Canon, XXXII. Secondly, St. Thomas, Lyran and Sanchez thus expound, as if to say: Under Christ the worship and idolatry of the stars shall waste away and perish; for then they shall not worship them, as they worshipped before, but God and Christ: and thus the stars shall fall, that is demons, from heaven as it were from their divinity, which the idolaters attributed to them by their worship. But this sense seems more remote and mystical; for here we are dealing with the consummation of the age. Thirdly, better our Jerome Prado in Ezech. I, page 19, at the end: The heavens, he says, shall waste away, that is shall flow away, so that the stars, that is lightnings, fall from heaven; for the common people, when it lightens, seem to themselves to see as if stars were falling from heaven. Fourthly and properly, the sun, moon and stars shall be moved under the day of judgment, shall be darkened, and shall withdraw their light, so that they may seem to waste away, to melt and to dissolve before God's indignation. Others add that the fixed stars shall properly fall from heaven to earth. Thus St. Chrysostom, and Maldonatus in Matt. cap. XXIV (who says: More to Christ affirming this, than to Aristotle denying that it can happen, assenting, because they are directed by no breath of the Holy Spirit. And therefore this ship, having lost the helm of true faith, with adverse spirits ruling, is sunk into shipwreck of eternal death, which does not deserve to be governed by Christ the Lord, and becomes prey to demons and to hell.
3. And from their dead bodies shall come up a stench. — He alludes to the dead bodies of the Assyrians slain by the Angel, which rotted and stank. Such things also will occur at the end of the world, partly in battles, partly elsewhere, slain by God. 4. All the host of heaven shall waste away. — The "host" or soldiers "of heaven" are the sun, moon and stars. First, St. Thomas, Hugo, Vatablus, Lyran and others explain it thus by hyperbole: So great will be the calamity that it will seem as if heaven itself perishes; so great will be the affliction of those times that men will seem to themselves to see the heavens, which are spread out, folded together, contracted and rolled up, and the very stars falling from heaven. A similar passage is Ezekiel xxxii, 4. See Canon XXXII. Second, St. Thomas, Lyran and Sanchez explain it thus, as if to say: Under Christ the worship and idolatry of the stars will waste away and perish; for then men will not worship them as they did before, but God and Christ: and thus the stars will fall, that is, the demons, from heaven as it were from their divinity, which the idolaters had attributed to them through their worship. But this sense seems more remote and mystical; for here we are dealing with the consummation of the age. Third, better is our Jerome Prado in Ezekiel I, page 19, at the end: The heavens, he says, will waste away, that is, will flow away, so that the stars, that is, the lightnings, fall from heaven; for the common people, when it lightens, seem to themselves to see as if stars were falling from heaven. Fourth and properly, the sun, moon and stars will be shaken on the day of judgment, will be darkened, and will withdraw their light, so that they may seem to waste away, melt and dissolve before God's wrath. Others add that the fixed stars will properly fall from heaven to earth. Thus St. Chrysostom, and Maldonatus in Matthew chapter xxiv (who says: I assent more to Christ affirming this than to Aristotle denying that it can happen), and the Sibyl in St. Augustine, book XVIII On the City of God, chapter xxiii: The sun's brightness, she says, grows dim, and the chorus of stars perishes: Heaven will be dissolved, the moon's splendor will depart. From which Ovid, book I of the Metamorphoses, thus sings: He also recalls that it is in the fates that a time will come when the sea, when the earth, and the seized kingdom of heaven will burn, and the laborious mass of the world will struggle. This is what Christ says, Matthew chapter xxiv, 29: "The sun shall be darkened, and the moon shall not give her light, and the stars shall fall from heaven;" and John, Revelation vi, 12, uses the same words as Isaiah here, according to the Septuagint: "The sun," he says, "became black as a sackcloth of hair; and the whole moon became as blood; and the stars from heaven fell upon the earth, as the fig tree sheds her figs when shaken by a mighty wind; and heaven departed as a book rolled up;" and chapter viii, 12: "And the third part of the sun was smitten, and the third part of the moon, and the third part of the stars, so that the third part of them was darkened, and the day shone not for a third part of it." Symbolically, some in St. Jerome understand by stars the demons who move about in the air, so as to tempt men, who from heaven, that is, from this air, will fall into hell on the day of judgment. For of these it is truly said what follows: "Because my sword is made drunk in heaven." Shall be folded together as a book of heaven. — He alludes to the books of the ancients, which were not distributed by leaves as ours are, but were one sheet or parchment sewn from various pieces, which they rolled around a cylinder, as we roll up geographical charts. For when they wished to read them, they unrolled and unfolded them; but when reading was finished, they rolled them up again: for this was to them what closing a book is to us. I have seen two such ancient books of the Pentateuch, written in Hebrew in the Vatican Library, whose material is skin, or raw and hairy parchment. Now "the heavens shall be folded together," first, because the Gentiles, as St. Thomas and Lyran say, in the heavens thus disturbed, and as it were folded and rolled up, will no longer be able to read, nor to foretell the future outcomes of things, as if to say: They will no longer divine from the stars and heavens, as from a book of prognostication. Second, Dionysius the Carthusian, as if to say: The entrance into the kingdom of heaven will no longer be open, but the gate will be closed. Thirdly and genuinely, that is to say: Just as a book of the ancients rolled up and wrapped in a cylinder could not be read with its letters hidden, so the heaven and its stars, as it were letters, will be hidden by dark clouds and will be obscured, so that they cannot be seen, just as if heaven were rolled up and wrapped together, indeed as if heaven had vanished and withdrawn into another world, as St. John says in the Apocalypse vi. For just as the creation of the heavens is signified by a skin or tabernacle spread out (as in Psalm ciii: "Stretching out the heavens like a skin"), so its obscuration, which is a certain moral dissolution, is indicated by a skin and a volume rolled up, says Sanchez. Again, the known use, motion and influence of the heavens will cease, just as we cease to use a book when we roll it up or close it. For there is a metalepsis in the word "shall be rolled together." Moreover, just as books or parchments torn apart have each part folded back and rolled up in itself, so heaven, as it were torn by lightnings into itself, that is into opposite parts, will be seen to roll back and fold in upon itself, says Prado, that is to say: At the end of the world the heavens and stars will change their aspects and influences, and thus all things will be thrown into confusion. Then by lightnings, clouds, comets, falling stars and other meteors, the air will be so mixed together that the heavens will appear to be rolled up and wrapped together, and all things will seem to be thrown into confusion and mixed up. Thus Adam, Pererius, in the Apocalypse vi, and throughout the Scholastics, who together with St. Augustine, book XXIX of the City of God XIV; St. Jerome, in Isaiah II; Gregory, book XVII of the Morals cap. v, and others, hold that the heaven and stars are to be changed and renewed only according to light and other qualities, but not according to form and substance. For in Psalm cxlviii, 6, it is said that God founded them in the ages of ages; and because, according to Aristotle and the Philosophers, the form of the heavens is incorruptible, Aristotle therefore deduces from this that it is eternal. For he himself holds that the world has been from eternity and uncreated, as some think, in which it is clear that he erred. Many of the Fathers, however, and more recent thinkers, who wish philosophy to be brought into agreement with Holy Scripture, not the reverse, wish the heaven and earth to perish also as to substance, and to be changed into another new heaven and another new earth. For this seems to be said most clearly here and elsewhere, as in cap. li, 6; cap. lxv, 17; Apocalypse cap. vi, 14, and cap. xxi, 1; Ecclesiasticus cap. xlvii, 30; Psalm ci, 27; Matthew xxiv, 35; II Peter iii, 7 and 12. Where note that Holy Scripture speaks far more effectively of the change of the heavens and elements than of the bodies of the blessed in the resurrection, and plainly signifies that the change of those will be far greater than that of these; because that will be substantial, this only accidental. It is added that the heavens were made from the abyss and waters, as I taught in Genesis I, 8: therefore they are not entirely incorruptible according to form, but according to primary matter, according to which they are said to remain in eternity. This same thing is confirmed by the fact that in the year 1572 a new star was seen in Cassiopeia, which disappeared after two years. Many such changes in the heavens have been noted by modern astronomers; from which therefore some, convinced by these phenomena, hold that the heavens are not solid and hard, but yield, change, and are cut and divided like air; yet air excels them in subtlety and excellence; for the heavens are ethereal, not aerial, and are the ether itself. But this is a matter of another question and place. Again, since light naturally flows forth as it were from the essence of the heavens, and it will then be far greater and more noble, it seems likewise that it will flow from another more noble substantial form. For such light as will then be is not connatural to the form of the sun which now is. Thus St. Chrysostom thinks, homily 14 on the epistle to the Romans, and after him Theodoret and Oecumenius; Justin, Question xcviii; Ambrose, book I of the Hexaemeron cap. vi; Basil, homily 3 of the Hexaemeron; Gregory of Nyssa, book On the Creation of Man, cap. xxiv; Clement, books II and III of the Recognitions; the Sibyl in St. Augustine, book XVIII of the City of God cap. iii, when she sings: "Times will grow sluggish, all seeds of the world widowed, Air, earth, sea, light, burning fire, heavens, The hinge, days, nights, all things will settle into fires: And there will be made a most eloquent appearance of things. For all things will fall, shining stars from heaven." The same thing Jerome Magius teaches at length, book II On the Burning of the World, cap. vi and vii; and Valesius, Sacred Philosophy cap. lxxxix; and our Molina, tract. On the Work of Six Days, disputation 3. For fire can act upon the heavens and corrupt them, if not naturally, certainly by divine power and operation, all concede; nor can this be denied, since it is certain that the fire of hell acts by the same power upon demons and burns them, who have no body, but are pure spirits. Moreover, what Scripture says elsewhere, that the heavens and earth will stand forever, does not contradict this opinion. For the same earth will remain, the same sun, and the same heavens generically; for the earth will retain the form of earth, the heavens will retain the generic form of the heavens, even if they receive a specifically different and more excellent form. For then there will be a renewal, reformation and recreation of the whole world.
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Nevertheless philosophers in general, and most Scholastic theologians, among whom is Francis Suarez, III part., Question lix, art. 2, disputation 58, sect. 6, and the Coimbra commentators, lib. I De Coelo, cap. iii, Question I, hold that the heavens are to be changed accidentally only, not substantially, as I have said. Whence to this and similar Scriptures, which seem to say the contrary, they give three responses. The first is that some speak hypothetically and comparatively, as that saying of Christ: "Heaven and earth shall pass away, but my words shall not pass away." For the sense is, as if to say, Sooner shall heaven and earth pass away than my words shall pass away, and my promises shall fail. The second is that by heavens is understood the air. For thus are called "the fowls of the heaven," that is of the air. And thus they understand that passage of St. Peter, epistle II, cap. iii, 7: "But the heavens that now are, etc., by the same word (by which at God's command they were overwhelmed by the waters of the flood, as went before) are kept in store, reserved unto fire against the day of judgment." This is well: but this exposition does not sufficiently agree with verses 10 and 12, where he opposes the heavens to the elements, therefore by heavens he understands not the airy, but the starry heavens. For he says: "The heavens shall pass away with great violence, but the elements shall be dissolved with heat;" and more forcefully, verse 12: "The heavens being on fire shall be dissolved, and the elements shall melt away with the burning heat:" where they are forced themselves to take by heavens the highest air; but by elements the air, water and fire, which are on the earth or around the earth. The third is, when St. Peter adds there and Scripture elsewhere: "But we look for new heavens and a new earth according to his promises;" they say this renovation shall be not substantial, but accidental: namely because the sun, moon and heavens shall be adorned with greater light, and shall shine more brightly, so that they may share something of the glory of the Blessed, whom they served in this life. Either opinion is probable, and has weighty doctors: the former more conformable to Holy Scripture, the latter to Aristotelian Philosophy. Which is the truer, shall be treated elsewhere. 5. My sword is made drunk in heaven. — Drunkenness signifies an abundance of shed blood: for just as a man is made drunk by much wine, so a sword by much blood which it pours forth. First, some expound it thus: The sword, that is, severe punishment, I have drawn against Lucifer and his apostate companions, when I cast them down from heaven: how much more shall I draw my sword against earthly men, who resist me? To this is added the exposition of St. Jerome, who takes these things of the sword of God's wrath, by which He Himself shall cast the demons from this airy heaven into the depths on the day of judgment. Secondly, Lyra and Vatablus: "In heaven," they say, that is in the decree and ordinance of God, who dwells in the heavens, as if to say, In His stable and immovable decree God has already decreed to exercise His sword against sinners. Thirdly, others: "In heaven," that is from heaven shall this sword descend and rage against Idumea. Fourthly, Adam: "In heaven," he says, that is up to heaven, as if to say, So great shall be the vengeance at the end of the age, that it shall even reach up to the heavens, that is, it shall be the greatest. Thus it is said in Psalm xxxv, verse 6: "O Lord, in heaven," that is up to heaven, "thy mercy" reaches, as if to say, Thy mercy is most ample and greatest; whence explaining it he adds: "And thy truth unto the clouds." Fifthly and properly, the Prophet here gives the reason why the heavens and stars shall waste away and flow down at the end of the world: "Because," he says, "my sword is made drunk in heaven;" that is, because in the very heaven my vengeance shall rage even unto satiety, and as it were unto drunkenness in the very stars, so that by this I may punish and terrify sinners on earth, who have abused the stars and heaven for their sins.
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Behold upon Idumaea shall descend (my sword), and upon the people of my slaughter. — In Hebrew, חרמי chermi, that is, of my anathema; the Septuagint, of perdition, that is, upon the Idumeans destined for slaughter by me, whom I have devoted to vengeance, says Vatablus, to judgment, so that namely I may exercise just judgment and vengeance upon them. He names the Idumeans before others, because these were constant and most fierce enemies of the Jews, and thus joined with the Babylonians they overthrew Judea: wherefore they themselves also were punished with grave calamity and destruction by God through those same Chaldeans, as is evident from Obadiah, and from Jeremiah, chapter xlix, and from Ezekiel, chapter xxv, finally from Isaiah, chapter xxi, 5, but in passing; wherefore here again he treats of it more fully. The Prophet therefore touches upon here only superficially the calamity and destruction of the Idumeans by the Chaldeans: but by that he intends to signify symbolically the calamity and ruin of all the impious on the day of judgment: for to that alone is fitting what is said in verse 10, that it shall burn forever, and for ages of ages. Of which more presently. 6. The (sword of God) is made fat with fat, from (more clearly for from Vatablus translates, and) blood of lambs and goats. — The knife with which fat sheep are slaughtered is wont to be filled, and as it were made fat, with both their fat and blood: but by this he signifies that God with the sword of the Chaldeans shall pierce through the Idumeans, so that their sword shall be stained with blood, and made fat with the fat of the Idumeans. By lambs, he understands the common people; by goats, the leaders and princes; by rams, the magistrates and the wealthy, as if to say: No age, sex or rank shall the hostile sword spare, but it shall rage promiscuously against all. For a victim of the Lord in Bosra. ("Victim," or sacrifice signifies slaughter and carnage: because sacrifice is not made without slaughter, as if to say: God shall make slaughter in Bosra, the chief city of Idumea, so that he may slay the impious in it through the Chaldeans and sacrifice them to his divine justice: hence explaining in the Hebrew manner (which is frequent in the Psalms) he adds): and a great slaughter in the land of Edom. — Bosra, the metropolis of Idumea, was thus named in Hebrew both from the abundance of vintage, and it shall be evident in chapter lxiii, 1; and from the firmness of walls, says St. Jerome; hence Psalm cvii, 11, for what we have: "Who will lead me into the fortified city?" in Hebrew is: "Who will lead me to Bosra?" Hence from Bosra by metathesis was named Byrsa, the citadel of Carthage most fortified, not however from the Greek βύρσα, that is, hide: for the Carthaginians, sprung from the Phoenicians, spoke not Greek, but the Phoenician or Punic language, which is akin to Hebrew, as St. Augustine testifies, not Hebrew.
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Now symbolically, by "Bosra" and "Edom" understand the whole world gross, earthly, bloody, and solidified, which shall perish at the end. For "Edom" signifies red, "Bosra" fortified, says St. Jerome, in the last chapter of Joel, although he explains it otherwise here. For Edom or Esau thirsted for the blood and death of his brother Jacob. The Jews ineptly understand by Idumeans Rome and the Romans, as I said in chapter xxi, 11. Moreover Arias Montanus by Bosra (which in Hebrew signifies fortified) understood Pagan Rome, which was the most fortified citadel of the Gentiles. Moreover he interprets the burning of the evangelical fire, which kindled the hearts of the Romans with faith and love of Christ. But he expounds the smoke of uncertain fables, and statues, idols, temples, left after conversion in the city as a memorial. To this Alcozar adds in Apocalypse xiv, 11, note 5, who by fire understands the vengeance of God, from which as it were smoke proceeded the praise and glory of God: vengeance, I say, which God took upon the Romans, both when infidels, condemning them to the fires of hell; and when faithful, and believers in St. Peter, whom he kindled with the fire of charity. But this twofold vengeance is very dissimilar and contrary; and therefore if the former is literal, the latter cannot be literal, but rather allegorical: for neither can the fire of hell allegorically signify the fire of charity.
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7. And the unicorns shall come down and the bulls with the mighty. — He calls unicorns and bulls the Idumeans strong in strength and mighty in arms: he calls the mighty the rich and honored, as if to say: All these shall fall with the common people, and shall descend to the underworld. Thus Christ suffering prays, Psalm xxi: "Save me from the mouth of the lion, and from the horns of the unicorns my humility:" he calls unicorns the mighty and cruel Pontiffs, Scribes and Pharisees. 8. The year of recompenses for the judgment of Sion, — that is, against Sion, say St. Jerome, Cyril, St. Thomas, Hugh, Adam and Forerius. For they think that the Prophet here passes from the calamity of the Idumeans to the calamity of Jerusalem and of the Jews to come through the Romans. But better the Chaldean, Lyra, Vatablus, Montanus and Sanchez interpret the judgment of Sion as judgment, that is, vengeance, which God shall exercise for Sion, that is, for the Jews, against the Idumeans: for all these things pertain to them. Hence with Vatablus thus also it can be translated: The year of recompenses of the quarrel with Sion, that is, the year in which God shall repay retaliation to the Idumeans, who have continually quarreled and waged war with the Jews.
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Symbolically: "The year of retribution of judgment upon Sion" will be at the end of the world, when God shall judge, that is vindicate and punish the injuries done to Sion by the impious, that is to the Church and the holy elect of God. 9. And its torrents (of Idumaea) shall be turned into pitch. — It is a hyperbole, as if to say that Idumaea shall be so dried up both in its torrents and in its fields, that like pitch and sulphur it shall burn, the Chaldaean sending fire upon it; that is, it shall be utterly laid waste and burned. It alludes to Sodom, which was neighboring to Idumaea both in situation and in wickedness and in calamity, which has sulphurous soil, and was consumed by fire and heavenly sulphur. Furthermore, symbolically Idumaea is signified here, that is the impious world to be burned by the fire of conflagration, which shall be so great that torrents of fire, pitch and sulphur shall appear everywhere, as if to say the fire of conflagration compounded of pitch and sulphur shall fill all things, and shall sweep the damned with it into the burning of hell; "it shall not be extinguished for ever." For this properly belongs to hell, only improperly to Idumaea: for this is said to have burned for ever only in this sense, that it burned for a long time and for a long period.
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Morally, learn here that the land, which was fertile with its delights, became for man an occasion of luxury; here for the same man abusing it, it is turned into a splendid fire and torment. Thus Sodom, most fertile on account of the lust of its inhabitants, was turned into the Dead Sea, smoking and most salt. 11. The pelican and the hedgehog shall possess it, and the ibis. — It is a catachresis signifying the utmost desolation and emptiness of Idumaea, that is of the world, so that it is left empty of men, to be inhabited by beasts, if any there be. And a line shall be extended over it, — as if to say God with certain and exact judgment, making punishments equal to deserts, likewise with a certain sentence, destination and designation (for this is what a line is) shall lay it waste, and annihilate its glory. This therefore line of desolation shall be "and a plummet in desolation," that is, it shall be as if a builder's line extended upon the earth, so that according to it the land may be completely desolated, scraped and leveled to the ground. It is a metaphor from the line or plummet of builders, by which they measure houses to be built or destroyed, so that according to it they may precisely build or destroy them. Whence Vatablus translates, he shall extend over it a rule of emptiness, and stones of vacancy; or as others, stones perpendicular to vanity. Thus Isaiah, chapter xxviii, 17, is said: "I will lay judgment in weight, and justice in measure;" in Hebrew לקו lakav, which our translator here likewise renders "measure." Thus II Kings viii, verse 2, of David it is said: "And he smote Moab, and measured them with a line, making them equal to the earth: and he measured two lines, one to put to death, and one to save alive," as if to say David completely humbled and prostrated the Moabites, so much so that he could measure them with a line as if lying upon the earth. Moreover he made two lots of them, but with the measure of justice and of an equitable prince, one of those to be killed, and one of those to be saved. See Cajetan there. See also what I said chapter xviii, verse 2. For "in desolation" in Hebrew is תהו וכהו tohu vabohu, by which name is called the formless earth, created on the first day of the world, which our translator, Genesis chapter I, renders: "And the earth was void and empty," as if to say Idumaea, and its antitype the earth shall be reduced on the day of judgment by fire to that emptiness, nakedness and formlessness, which it had at the beginning of the world and of its creation. Thus Virgil says: "And the fields where Troy was."
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Hence it seems scarcely probable what some think, that the earth after judgment is to be adorned with its plants, trees, fruits, etc., in the manner of the earthly paradise, so that in it little children dead in original sin without baptism may live pleasantly. 12. Its nobles shall not be there (the nobles of Idumaea shall be killed, or stripped, and carried off by the Chaldaeans, equally as the ignoble. Whence the remnants of the destroyed nation) shall rather call upon a king, — that is shall wish for themselves in such desolation a leader who might succor affairs in distress: but no one shall be willing to undertake the governance of a lost commonwealth. Otherwise Lyra; for by "king" he understands Nebuchadnezzar, who laid waste Idumaea: for the conquered and suppliant Idumaeans called upon him. In like manner at the end of the world after the previous plagues and the final destruction, which are described in Revelation viii and ix, the remnants of men shall wish for themselves a king, or Antichrist, or after him is killed another similar most powerful monarch; but in vain: for he himself with all his princes, that is all his strength, pomp, riches and glory shall be reduced to nothing.
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Otherwise they distinguish and translate the Hebrew, Vatablus, Forerius and others, but in the same sense already stated. 13. And thorns and nettles shall spring up in its houses. — To the letter these things and the following were true in Idumaea laid waste; symbolically, the world being burned, they signify that there shall be the utmost desolation. And the paliurus. — It is a kind of thorn and bramble, says Pliny, book xxiv, chapter xiii, of which Virgil, eclogue v:
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The thistle and paliurus with sharp thorns arise. 14. And demons shall meet with onocentaurs, etc. — Note that Centaurs, according to Pindar and Plutarch as cited by Gesner, cap. De equo, were born from Centaurus the son of Ixion, when he consorted with mares of Magnesia: for from this union sons were born who were similar to their father above in human form, but below to their mother the mare in equine form. The same Gesner, cap. De asino, from Plutarch, Aelian and Volaterran, reports that the onocentaur is an animal with neck, breast, breasts and shoulders, arms and fingers human, but with back, sides and feet asinine, and also of ashen color. But the Doctors laugh at these fables transmitted by popular rumor and credulity. Whence note with St. Jerome that Holy Scripture or our Interpreter, and the Septuagint here and elsewhere, sometimes allude to the fables of the Poets. Thus Judith xvi, 8, alludes to the fable of the Titans; for it says: "Nor did the sons of Titan strike him (Holofernes), but Judith." Thus Job xlii, 14, for the horn of stibium the Septuagint renders the horn of Amalthea (which is feigned to be the goat of Jupiter). Thus here it names "lamias" and "onocentaurs." The fable therefore concerning onocentaurs seems to have arisen from this, that a Thessalian king ordered that men mounted on horses should prick with long spears bulls driven mad by gadflies and fleeing, and thus drive them into the city. Whence to the rude ancients this was a new and unusual thing, namely a man mounted on a horse or ass, seen as one nature, one mixed animal composed of horse or ass and man, namely a centaur. Hence centaurs were called from κεντεῖν, that is to prick, to goad, and taurus; centaurus therefore is he who goads the bull. Add ἵππος, that is horse, and it becomes hippocentaurus: add ὄνος, that is ass, and it becomes onocentaurus. Servius relates this matter, lib. III Georgic., and from him Leo Castrius, Henry Stephanus, under the word centaurus, and Gesner. Servius adds: "Others say the fable of centaurs was fabricated to express the swiftness of human life, because the horse is known to be the swiftest." By onocentaurs therefore here understand such specters or demons, who assume these monstrous forms and phantoms, so that they appear partly human, partly horse or ass; and this in order that they might terrify and mock men. This is evident from the Life of St. Anthony by St. Athanasius: for Anthony, seeking St. Paul the first hermit in the desert, saw a beast human as far as the pubis, which then ended in an ass, which he, mocking it, put to flight with the sign of the cross. Moreover, what Pliny, lib. VII, cap. iii, says he saw a hippocentaur brought in honey to Claudius Caesar, it is certain was a sea or land monster, partly resembling a horse, partly a bull, different from these of ours: whence neither does he himself describe its form. And the hairy one shall cry out to another. — In Hebrew, a man to his neighbor: man, that is each one; for in Hebrew man signifies distribution, and likewise multitude. Moreover the hairy ones are the same demons, in the appearance of goats hirsute, whom antiquity called Fauns and Satyrs; whence the Chaldean renders: Demons shall sport with one another (and, as he said cap. xiii, 21, shall dance). Note: Demons delight and attend at dances. Whence Conradus Clingius De Locis Theolog., cap. De Chorea: "A dance, he says, is a circle whose center is the devil, its circumference all his angels;" and Basil here, in cap. xiii, relates that men learned dances from demons. Unless you prefer these monsters to be a kind of apes with Gesner, or to be animals born from the incest of man with a goat and intercourse with beasts; such as St. Jerome asserts was brought to Alexandria: although he doubts, and rightly, whether that other thing seen by St. Anthony was an animal or a demon: for it conversed with him in human reason and voice, although he calls it a beast, and it is certain it was not a man. Morally St. Gregory, VII Moral. xii: "Dragons, he says, are the wicked, ostriches the hypocrites: onocentaurs the lustful and proud, who, subject to the vices of lust, from that point raise their neck where they ought to have been humbled. The hairy one cries out to another, when preceding guilt invites the subsequent, for example gluttony invites lust." There lay down a lamia. — Lamiae are demons, succubi, or their specters, which are called Empusae: hence they are of the form of women, who are said to entice men to lust in order to devour them: for Philostratus relates that such a phantom enticed Menippus, lib. IV, in the Life of Apollonius: and the form of these is described as entirely fabulous by Plutarch, Aristophanes and Eustathius. They were called lamiae from λαιμός, that is, the throat; or from Lamia, that cruel Pontic queen, who cut open the wombs of pregnant women, and devoured the children extracted from them, concerning whom Aristotle speaks in the Ethics, and Clement of Alexandria in the Protrepticus; or, as Diodorus, Phavorinus and Suidas say, from Lamia, a queen on a mountain in Asia among the Automolae, who, having lost her son, in her jealous rage ordered all the sons of other mothers to be killed. Others wish lamiae to be called as it were laniae, from laniando (tearing). Hence lamiae are called nocturnal larvae, or μορμολύκεια, by which nurses frighten children, as if they were puerperal women who devour children. Altogether it is very probable that foolish, timid men (for just as lovers fashion dreams for themselves, so also do the fearful) and superstitious men of old rashly attributed to the natural kind of animals, indeed affixed to them, various and empty phantasms, or various apparitions and species of demons: just as a painter does, who joins a horse's neck to a human head. Thus concerning lamiae think Strabo, Lucilius in Lactantius and Gesner. Certainly the Hebrew word לילית lilit from ליל lil, that is, night, signifies a nocturnal specter or monster. Wherefore the Chaldean translator rendered lilit as nocturnal, or night-wandering. Secondly, lamiae can here be understood as striges and witches, who poison and kill children: for these are accustomed to hold their assemblies in these deserts. See our Delrio in the Magics. Thirdly, Dionysius, Chrysostom in the Libyan History, teaches that lamiae are beasts, with face and body feminine to the navel, and their lower part ending in a dragon; these allure men with their breasts and hissing, and seizing those who approach, kill and devour them. Be that as it may, that lamiae are not only women, but also beasts, either these, or of the kind of apes, as Gesner wishes, or others, whether real or commonly believed, is evident from Lamentations iv, 3: "But the lamiae also have drawn out the breast:" where for lamia in Hebrew is תנין tannin, that is, a dragon, or any fierce and monstrous creature nursing its young. Thus Lyran, the Gloss, Haymo and St. Jerome there, as if Jeremiah said: Even with the most savage beasts, such as histories, fables, or common report tells lamiae to be most voracious, maternal pity toward their young does not fail; yet this pity was lacking to the women of Jerusalem, who in their hunger devoured even their own children. Thus here Isaiah says, as if: This world and this place after judgment will be so desolate that it will be the dwelling place of beasts alone, of demons, specters and larvae, or it can be, which antiquity believed to be of marvelous forms and named onocentaurs, fauns and lamiae: indeed the damned alone and demons, now assuming the form of onocentaurs, now of lamiae, now of hedgehogs, now of kites, now of dragons (so as to terrify men, especially the damned: as they wished to terrify St. Anthony and other Saints in similar form), will dwell in the earth, that is, in Gehenna, which is the lower and hollow part of the earth: for the convex and outer surface will be entirely desolate and empty, both of men and animals and demons. Just as therefore the Saints will rejoice not only in soul by seeing God, but also in body by seeing the glorious humanity of Christ: so also the damned will be tormented not only in soul, by seeing so many torments; but also in body, by seeing horrible specters of demons. For both the eyes of the body and of the mind either sinned or lived holily: it is therefore fitting that they also have their own punishment or reward. Hence painters depict these monstrous demons clothed in the masks of beasts in horrible form in Hell. This among others our John of Salas teaches expressly in III, Question V, article 5, tract. 2, disp. 14, sect. xiv, num. 113, and confirms it from Wisdom xvii, 4, where concerning the Egyptians in the plague of darkness he says: "Sad forms appearing to them brought fear upon them:" for these were a type and prelude of Hell and the damned; and Job xx, 25: "They shall go, and horrible things shall come upon him;"; and Deuteronomy xxxii, 24: "I will send the teeth of beasts upon them, with the fury of creatures that crawl upon the earth, and of serpents." In like manner it is probable that Angels in heaven will assume beautiful bodies from the ether, by which they may feast the eyes of the Blessed, so that they may be seen by them, and may speak mouth to mouth. For this seems to be demanded by friendship, and the closest union and communication, which will be between Angels and blessed men, as it were fellow-citizens of heaven. Again, this seems to be merited by the mortification of the senses, and the angelic life which the Saints lived in this life with this hope, that they might enjoy the fellowship of Angels in the heavens: otherwise indeed the senses of the Blessed would receive no joy from Angels, indeed would not communicate with them in anything; and thus between Angels and the Blessed there would be communication only as to mind, not as to body. Third, because Angels in every way desire to praise God: therefore not only in mind, but also in body and with assumed voice (for they are able to assume these) they will praise Him: just as we praise God not only with voice, but also with organs and other musical instruments. Fourth, because Isaiah, chapter vi, saw Seraphim in human form in heaven: in similar form Ezekiel saw Cherubim, chapter I, and St. John saw Angels throughout the Apocalypse. Finally, Angels have often been seen bearing human form, carrying the souls of the holy dead to heaven, and have been heard singing sensible melody and most sweet hymns to God. Thus St. Anselm teaches expressly in the Elucidarium, and Viguier, chapter xvi, § 4, verse 36. And our Lessius, book XIII On Divine Attributes, chapter xxii, number 32, speaking of the day of the last judgment: "It is highly credible," he says, "that all Angels will appear in splendid bodies; otherwise this glory and power of Christ could not be seen by the impious, for whose sake it will chiefly be displayed, nor would the external majesty thereof (which Scripture wishes to describe) be increased by that army. Since therefore the multitude of Angels is innumerable, they will fill far and wide the highest regions of the air on all sides through many thousands of miles even to the heavens themselves, and will present the appearance of an immense army;" and number 134: "It is highly credible that demons too will appear in bodies: either because otherwise they could not be seen by the impious, or because it pertains to the glory of Christ and the confusion of the impious that they be seen." Concerning these things Virgil sings, book VI of the Aeneid: Centaurs in the gates stand stabled, and Scyllas of double form, And the hundred-fold Briareus, and the beast of Lerna Horribly hissing, and Chimaera armed with flames, Gorgons, Harpies, and the form of the three-bodied shade. Other Poets have similar things.
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Symbolically, Leo Castrius from St. Basil, Athanasius, Theodoret, Ambrose and Gregory, understands by unicentaurs, fauns and lamias, vices and sins: for these are the greatest monsters and specters, through which man degenerates into beasts, indeed into a demon: or certainly, he says, the demons themselves are understood, the suggesters of monstrous crimes, or the impious men who perpetrate the same, whose dwelling place will be Judaea, indeed the whole earth at the end of the world. 16. Search diligently in the book of the Lord. — In Hebrew it is, count over, supply, the evils here counted, or rather the animals or monsters already mentioned, as if to say: When the desolation of Idumaea shall come to pass, which I have described in this book and chapter, search from this prophecy whether the evils and punishments here placed and mentioned, or rather the animals, are in it and dwell; you will surely find that not even one is lacking, as if to say: In truth you will see most certainly and truly that I have predicted concerning the destruction of Idumaea: for these properly regard the desolation of Idumaea, under which he understands the whole world and the assembly of the impious, in which under the day of judgment, before its complete destruction, these same things will come to pass. He calls this prophecy of Isaiah the book of the Lord, dictated by God. Thus St. Thomas, Hugh and Lyra. Others understand the prophecy of Amos, chapter I, and of David, Psalm cxxxvi, and of Balaam, Numbers xxiv, 18, who predicted this same destruction of Idumaea.
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One sought not the other, — as if to say: Some one of these monsters or punishments was not lacking, so that it should be sought by a companion: because the spirit of God's vengeance gathered all these things carefully. 17. And He Himself cast the lot for them (for the animals or monsters), — as if to say: God has already divided Idumaea among the said animals and monsters, and gave to each his own lot, place and measure, as if they were to be its own and perpetual inhabitants. By this phrase therefore he signifies that the desolation of Idumaea will be long-lasting. Whence he adds: "Forever." See what is said at verse 10.
Machine translation from the Latin, not reviewed.
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66 In parte ista comminatur his qui fuerunt Assyriis coadjutores: et primo omnibus; secundo specialiter Idumaeis, ibi, Ecce super Idumaeam d. scendit. Circa primum duo Primo excitat attentionem, et attentionis ordinem, ut accedentes appropriquent, propinqui audiant, et audientes attendant. Infra 49: « Audite insulae, et attendite populi de longe. » Et ponit convocatorum universalitatem: Audiat terra, quantum ad mediocres: continens pro contento; plenitudo, quantum ad majores; germen ejus, quantum ad minores: omnibus est praeparatus ad annuntiandum, ut quod omnes possint audire ostendat. Psal. 25: « Domini est terra, et plenitudo « ejus. » Secundo ponit comminationem populorum, ponens judicis, scilicet Dei, indignationem, Quia indignatio.
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Supra 14: « Haec est manus ex- « tenta super omnes gentes. » Dominum necem, Interfecit eos; per auctoritatem, dedit, quasi dicat, aliis ad interficiendum, sicut executoribus. Zach. 11: « Ego tradam homines, unumquemque in manu « proximi sui. » Cadaverum abjectionem, Interfe- « citi projicientur.
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Jer. 22: « Sepultura asini sepelie- « tur » Joel. 2: « Ascendent foetor ejus, et ascendet « putredo ejus, quia superbe egit. » Secundo quantum ad tyrannorum cessationem: Tabescent montes, idest tyranni, a sanguine, idest propter culpam effusi sanguinis. Infra 64: « A facie tua montes « defluxerunt. » Tertio quantum ad destructionem idolorum: et circa hoc tria facit. Primo ponit cessaturum idolorum auxilium, Tabescent caelorum, aereorum, idest daemonum; vel, ad litteram, spiritus qui praesidebant sideribus secundum opinionem gentilium. Supra 19: « Movebuntur simulacra « Aegypti. » Et in consiliis, inquantum scilicet dividabant in astris, Et complicabuntur; idest: sicut in libro plicato non potest aliquid legi, ita nec in caelo poterunt mala eis futura praevidere. Apoc. 6: « Caelum recessit sicut liber involutus. » Secundo ostendit cessaturum idolatriae cultum, Et omnis militia: vel facilitatem impletionis praedictorum. Apoc. 6: « Stellae de caelo ceciderunt super « terram. » Tertio ostendit utriusque effectum: Quoniam gladius, idest ultio, inebriatus estin carlo, idest abundantier in daemonibus ultionem exercet, qui idolis praesidebant. Deut. 52: « Inebriabo sa- « gittas meas sanguine, et gladius meus devorabit « carnes. »
Nota super illo verbo, Accedite, quia homo accedit ad Deum per susceptionem gratiae. Hom. 5: « Accessum habemus per ipsum ad Deum. » Secundo per contemplationem divinae sapientiae. Ps. 55: « Accedite ad Deum et illuminamini. » Tertio per ministerium obedientiae. Ezech. 40: « Filii Sa- « doch qui accedunt de filiis Levi ad Dominum, « ut ministrent ei. » Quarto per spiritum concordiae. Eph. 2: « Per ipsum habemus accessum am- « bo in uno spiritu ad Patrem. »
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Ecce super Idumaeam descendet. Hic comminatur specialiter Idumaeis, qui cum hostibus contra Jerusalem venerunt, sicut dicitur in Abdia, quando capiebant alieni exercitum: et circa hoc tria facit. Primo comminatur hominum interfectionem; secundo terrae destructionem, ibi, Et convertentur torrentes ejus in picem. Tertio ponit utriusque confirmationem, ibi, Requiret diligentier in libro Domini. Circa primum tria. Primo describit poenae acquitatem, Ecce super Idumaeam, ad opprimendam. Interfectionis, idest digni a me interfici.
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Jer. 49: « Perditionem Esau adduxi super « eum. » Secundo describit interfectionem quantum ad mediocres, ponens interfectorum diversitatem, Gladius, Agnorum, et hircorum, et de sanguine mdullatorum arietum: per quae omnia intelliguntur diversi gradus interfectorum. Ezech. 21: « Hic est gladius interfectionis magnae, qui obsti- « pescere eos facit. » Et necis magnitudinem, Vi- ctima, idest quasi sicut in convivio magni regis, in quo multa animalia interficiuntur. Ezech. 59: « Ego immolo vobis victimam. » Et quantum ad majores, ponens eorum occisionem: Et descendent, in mortem, unicornes: animal est in quantitate, et tactu atrocssimum, habens cornu unum: unde significat potentess Monarchas. Supra 5: « Descendent « fortes ejus et sublimes ejus gloriosique ejus ad « eum. » Et occisionis magnitudinem, Inebriabitur. Psalm. 105: « Infecta est terra in sanguinibus. » Tertio ponit poenae rationem: Dies ultionis Domini, annus retributionis judicii Sion, ut scilicet judicetur Sion de Idumaeis.
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Infra 65: «Dies ultionis « in corde meo, annus retributionis meae venit. » Tamen secundum Glossam, Sion, idest contra Sion. Unde omnia sequentia exponit de destructione Jerusalem facta per Romanos. Et converterunt tor- rentes ejus in picem. Hic ponit comminationem quantum ad terrae destructionem: et circa hoc tria facit. Primo praedicit destructionem; secundo terrae destructae solitudinem. ibi, Desolabitur in saccula saeculorum; tertio solitudinis horrorem, ibi, Et erit cubile draconum, Circa primum duo ponit. Primo destructionem, Convertentur; idest. ita tota terra comburetur ab hostibus, ae si aqua esset pix et terra sulphur. Psalm. 10: « Ignis, sulphur et spiritus « procellarum. » Secundo ponit destructionis durationem, Non extinguetur; idest, effectus illius incendii manebit semper. Fumus, signum in memoriam praesentis incendii. Apoc. 19: « Fu- « mus ejus ascendet in saecula saeculorum. » Et hoc intelligentiam est manente causa combustio-nis, scilicet peccato: sie enim conditionaliter expone-nendae sunt omnes hujusmodi prophetiae secundum quod ipsemet Dominus exponit se. Jer. 18: « Re- « pente loquar adversum gentem, et adversus re- « gnum, ut eradiceim et destruam et disperdam « illud. Si poenitentiam egerrit gens illa a malo « suo, quod locutus sum adversus eam, agam et « ego poenitentiam super malo quod cogitavi. » Desolabitur in saccula saeculorum. Hic ponit solitudinem: et primo praedicit rationem, vel solitudinem quantum ad habitatores. Desolabitur. Thren. 1: « Posui me desolatam, tota die moerore confecta. » Quantum ad viatores, Non erit transitus. Jerem. 49: « Non manebit ibi vir, et non incolet « eam filius hominis. » Quantum ad bestiarum habitationem: Et possidebit, quasi sine timore, ono-crotalus, idem est quod pellicanus; ibis, avis serpentibus inimica. Est ibex ibicis quadrupes: ibis ibidis avis. Et invidus ibis. Psalm. 105: « Herodii « domus dux est eorum... petra refugium herina- « ciis. » Secundo ponit solitudinis acquitatem: et primo acquitatis judicium, Et extendetur mensura, poenae contra mensuram culpae. Perpendiculus, regula caementarii. Supra 27: « In mensura contra « mensuram cum abjecta fuerit, judicabit eam. » Secundo ponit judicii modum, Nobiles ejus, in quibus gloriabantur. Soph. 3: « Auferam de medio « tui magniloquos superbiae tuae. » Orientur in domibus, quas nimis ruinosas aedificabant. Et pullivrus, quaedam herba multarum spinarum, quae palis adhaeret, lata habens folia.
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Oscae 9: « Desiderabile argentum eorum urtica hereditabit, lappa « in tabernaculis eorum: ut sic quantum glorificavit se et in deliciis fuit, tantum haberet tormentum. » Apocal. 18: Et erit cubile draconum. Hic ostendit horrorem solitudinis ex monst ris quae ibi habitabunt, Daemonia, daemonum monstra, quae in desertis plurimum apparent: onocentaurus, qui est medius asinus, et medius equus, vel illud est daemonium potius quam naturale animal.
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Pilosus, simia, vel homo sylvester, vel daemon incubus: lamia, habens cetera membra feminea, pedes equi- nos: alter ad alterum clamabit. Supra 13: « Re- « quiescent ibi bestiae et replebuntur domus eorum « draconibus, et habitabunt ibi struthiones. » Requirite diligenter in libro Domini. Hic confirmat omnia quae dicta sunt ex auctoritate divinae inspirationis.
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Requirite, vos qui futuri estis, in libro Domini, idest in hoc libro, quem ego a Domino didici, Unum ex eis non defuit; idest omnia monstra quae dixi erunt ibi, Alter ad alterum, mas ad feminam. Ea, scilicet monstra, marem et feminam. Sortem, distribuens singulis loca apta ad manendum. Luc. 21: « Caelum et terra transibunt, « verba autem mea non praeteribunt. » Vel si exponatur de Judaea, intelliguntur per haec diversa monstra, diversi gentilium errores, qui ibi a colentibus Romanis introduci sunt.
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v. 4 « Accedite gentes et audite el populi attendite ; audiat terra. et plenitudo eius, orbis et omne germen eius » ! — plenitudo i. e. omne id quod terram implet, in ea continetur, crescit (cf. Mich. 4, 2). Haec adhortatio 'ad totum qui sequitur sermonem (cap. 34. 33) referatur oportet, cuius est apta quaedam praefatio. Eo ipso quod gentes invitantur, ut audiant, apparet eas menti prophetae obversari tamquam quae sanari salvarique possint et quas utraque sorte proposita ad salutis viam seligendam incitare desideret. Primo quaecumque Deo adversantur, deiicientur et funditus evertentur
Ultimum rerum omnium exitum annuntiaturus et descripturus maledictionem qua impii sint percutiendi et benedictionem piorum, quia omnium res ibi agitur et ipsa quoque creatura suam habet in hominum sorte partem, omnes alloquitur propheta omniaque attendere iubet
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v. 9 « quia indignatio Domini super omnes gentes et. furor. super universam militiam eorum ; interfecit eos et dedit eos in occisionem » ; — hebr. anathemate damnavit i.e. interitui eos devovit et dedit eos in mactationem ; cf. 24, 1 seq. 30, 33. Et ad quid tandem recidet omnis fastus et pompa, omnis magnificentia et superbia adversariorum Dei? v, 3 « interfecti eorum proiicientur et de cadaveribus eorum ascendet foetor ; tabescent montes a, sanguine eorum » ; — nihil remanet nisi cadavera et foetores. Ecce quam nihil reputandum est quodeumque Deo adversatur, etsi maximo splendore oculos hominum offuscat et admirationem concitat. Tanta est autem strages, ut prae sanguinis copia, quasi inundatione crebrisque imbribus, montes liquescant et diffluant. Hyperbolicum dicendi genus est ut exprimatur, quam severum et quam universale futurum sit Dei ultoris iudicium. Si montes, terrae fulcra et quasi fundamenta, colliquescunt ac dissolvuntur, ipsam quoque terram eadem sorte liquescere et interire patet; cf. 24, 20. Praeter terram coelum quoque iudicio illo involvi, docetur
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v. 4 « ef tabescet omnis militia coelorum et. complicabuntur sicut liber coeli et omnis militia eorum deftuet, sicut defluit folium de vinea etde ficu » ; — quanta maiestatis et potentiae divinae significatio ! quando coeli creantur, dicuntur extendi tam facile sicut extenditur velum vel aulaeum (40, 22. Ps. 103, 2); quando dissolvuntur, id tanta facilitate efficitur ac si liber complicatur, ac si folium putridum decidat! Coeli militia vel ornatus (cf. Gen. 2, 1) sunt stellae, quae suo tempore decident, sicut autumni tempore folia; veterascet ergo mundi machina et concidet, ut demum novi coeli novaque terra exoriantur; cf. 94, 91. Ioel 9, 30 ; 3, 15. lis novi foederis oracula concordant : virtutes coeli commovebuntur, stellae cadent de coelo, coeli magno impetu transibunt (cf. Matth. 94, 99. 2 Petr. 3, 10). Iuremerito igitur statuunt interpretes plerique iudicium universale hisce depingi (cf. S. Hier. Cyr. Euseb. Theod. etc. excepto S. Ephr. qui de Assyriis intelligit).
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v. 5 « Quoniam inebriatus est in coelo gladius meus ; ecce super Idumaeam descendet et super populum interfectionis meae ad iudicium » ; — gladius symbolum est irae ac vindictae Dei ; dicitur inebriatus in coelo, quia furore Domini tot sceleribus offensi incitatur et urgetur ad vindictam capiendam ; dicit ergo decretum in coelo constitutum de ultione capienda (cf. Mald. Sa, Mar.) et hanc exercendam esse in populo anathematis mei (hebr.), qui iam iusta interitus maledictione condemnatus est. Gladium iam cernit vates descendentem et ingentem Stragem edentem ; quare pergitur
Iam singulari ratione in uno Dei populique electi hoste describitur, quid omnibus immineat. Edom, gens quidem israelitico populo cognata sed odio et inimicitiis continuo in eum flagrans et multarum in eum iniuriarum rea, iuremerito seligitur, ut in ea gente quasi in typo omnium peccatorum sors et iudicium exhibeatur. Notum est ex libris historicis quantum molestiae Israelitis creaverint Edomitae (cf. Num. 90, 15 seq. Iud. 11, 41. 3 Reg. 11, 14. 4 Reg. 8, 20) ; immo ipso Isaiae tempore sub rege scil. Achaz « venerunt ldumaei et percusserunt multos ex Iuda et ceperunt praedam magnam » (2 Par. 98, 1). Quare iure miraberis quod aliqui ex eo quod in Edomitas castigatio h. l. denuntatur, tempus arguunt post Isaiam (cf. Kn.), quasi non etiam Ioel 3, 19 et Am. 1, 41 et Abd. v. 10-14 minas in Edom pronuntiaverint. Nam quod exsilii quoque tempore Edomitae in Iudaeos inimicitias exercuerunt, minime sufficit ut dicamus quod illi volunt, oraculum omne « odium spirans » in Edomitas non posse esse ortum nisi eo tempore. Terror iudicii universalis ex eo probatur, quia gladius Domini iam sit paratus et quia in uno illo contra Edom iudicio pignus habeatur et documentum ultionis divinae et exemplum. Inde patet cur vates pergat nexu causali
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v. 6 « gladius Domini repletus est sanguine, incrassatus est adipe de sanguine agnorum et hircorum, de sangwine medullatorum arietum ; victima enim Domini in Bosra et interfectio magna in terra. Edom » ; — qui anathemate, cherem, percussus est, debet exscindi ;.uti alias gladius per modum prosopopoeiae' proponitur, quando sermo est de ore gladii, de gladio devorante, bibente (cf. 1, 20. Ier. 46, 10. Os. 11, 6), ita h. 1. gladius sátiatur sanguine, impinguatur adipe. Apposite scribit Sanct. : « egregia descriptio horribilis stragis, in qua nulli hominum aetati aut ordini parcitur; uti autem in victimis immolantium cultri pleni sunt sanguine.et arvina pingui, non aliter divinus gladius in populum bacchabitur et stillabit sanguine ». Tali quasi sacrificio oblato ira Dei est placanda et iustitiae eius satisfaciendum ; cf. n3*; de Bosra vide ad Am. 1, 12 (Proph. min. I p. 260). Non solum agni et arietes, id est, imbellis turba et commune vulgus cadet, sed etiam qui potentiores sunt et magis ad resistendum parati (Sanet.) ;
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v. 1 « et descendent unicornes cum eis et tauri cum potentibus; inebriabitur terra eorum sanguine et. humus eorum adipe. pinguium » ; — hebr. et corruent bubali feri cum eis et fuvenci cum tauris ; de 2x* vide quae notavi ad Iob 39, 9 (Comment. p. 431) !. Quam ingens strages edatur, collige ex terra ebria sanguine et ex pulvere qui adipe impinguatur (hebr.). Tale autem iudicium fit
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v. 8 « quia dies ultionis Domini, annus retributionum (iudicii Sion » ; — scil. ut ius reddatur .Sioni, quae multas passa est iniurias (cf. Osor. Mald. Sanct. Sa, Men. Tir.). Animadvertit Deus in hostes Sion, i. e. in hostes theocratiae, qui eius consiliis se opponunt, et ultionem exercens regni sui causam agit. Unde denuo clare cernitur, Sion i. e. theocratiam spectari et ad eam tendere quaecumque demum in rerum humanarum administratione a Deo geruntur. Si vero ita causa agitur theocratiae, consequens est in eos quoque dirigi iram Dei qui ex Iudaeis agendi modum theocratiae contrarium sequuntur. Quare iudicium hoc omnibus admonitioni et documento proponitur. Cur iudicium fiat declaratum est v. 8 et simul indicatum qui eius terroribus sint involvendi. Iam ut hi qui hostes sunt theocratiae in ipsa residentes et cives Sion animum abiiciant a theocratia alienum et sensus induant populo Dei dignos, horrores ultionis divinae magis magisque spectandi proponuntur. Unde qualis futurus sit dies ultionis et quali maledictione terram hostilem sit percussurus, describitur
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v. 9 « et convertentur torrentes eius in picem et humus eius in. sulphur et erit terra eius in picem ardentem » ; — pro aquis quae terrae fertilitatem et florem gignunt aderunt rivi picis; pro humo sulphur; unde tota regio incendio horrendo et foetido flagrat. Notat Mald. alludi ad eversionem Sodomae et Gomorrhae, quae regio maledicto obruta non adeo distat ab Edom et tale supplicium experta est quale nunc describitur (cf. Santt. Lap. Tir. Gord. Rohl.). Extremam ergo exhibet vastitatem eamdue quam maxime foedam. Per ignem enim, ut advertit Sanct. summum in homine cruciatum, et in aliis rebus summam vastitatem exprimimus, quia ille et cruciare durius et corrumpere alia atque dissolvere solet vehementius; hanc autem stragem illi comparat materiae quae et citius concipit flammam et diutius conservat et vim ignis maxime auget et foetores gignit intolerabiles. Atque horrendum et foetidum incendium ulterius sensibus proponit v. 40 « nocte àc die non ezstinguetur ; in sempiternum ascendet fumus eius ; a generatione in generationem desolabitur, in saecula saeculorum non erit transiens per eam »; — torrentes picis, humus sulphure constans, terra ipsa quae pice ardente consistat, incendium hoc perpetuum, haec omnia satis per se ostendunt, vatem non terrae edomiticae sortem et vastationem praedicere, sed in tali descriptione per modum symboli vel allegoriae depingere, quam terribile futurum sit iudicium Dei et quomodo in maledictionem peccati et punitionem res quoque creatae pertrahantur. Uti beatitas messianica in terram quoque redundare dicitur et terrae fertilitate et amoenitate describitur, ita a contrario maledictio peccati etiam terram inficit et in vastitate terrae exprimitur. — Quam stabili maledictione peccatum puniatur, quater in v. 10 effertur : bis notatur incendium perpetuum, bis vastitas perpetua. De incendio cf. 30, 33; 33, 14. Ea omnia colliguntur quae ad sensum horroris gignendum apta sunt. Vastitas ac solitudo porro cernitur, quia regio ab animalibus occupatur et incolitur, « quae in desertis locis habitare consueverunt » (S. Hier.)
34:11
v. 44 « et possidebunt illam onocrotalus et ericius, ibis et corvus habitabunt in ea, et extendetur super eam mensura, ut redigatur ad nihilum et perpendiculum in desolationem » ; — hebr. Tii hoc loco et Lev. 41, 1i et Deut. 14, 16 a LXX et S. Hier. explicatur ibis ; vocem Chald. interpretatur noctuam, wululam, quam significationem alii adoptant (cf. Mald. Mar. Vat. For. Kn. Naeg. Del. ') ; ceterum vide 13, 90-92; 44, 93. Soph. 92, 14. Ps. 101, 7. Tota regio in vastam quandam et horridam redigetur molem; in hebr. extendet super eam (Deus) lineam tohu (vastitatis) et perpendidulum. bohu (confusionis) ; cf. Gen. 1, 2; quae ad aedificandum adhibentur, linea et perpendieulum, ad destructionem inservire dicuntur, ut per regulam industriam et artificium intelligas ad diruendum (Mar.); « desolabit eam et evertet ad lineam, faniculum et filum, hoc est summo iudicio et quam regulatissime » (Malv.) vel « erit quasi linea fabrilis in terra extensa, ut iuxta eam plane desoletur, radatur et solo aequetur » (Lap.) ; cf. àm. 7, "i. Lament..2, 8. 4 Reg. 21, 13. Ergo regula et mensura, ad quam opus destructionis exigitur, est ipsa vastitas et rerum confusio vel inanitas. Alii exprimi cernunt omnem punitionis modum quasi perpendiculo aut amussi dirigi (Lap. Men.), Deum adhibito diligenti meritorum examine ad rigidam iustitiae normam puniturum (Sanct. Troch.). Ita ergo antiqua Edomitarum gloria (cf. Gen. 36, 31) penitus evanuit
34:12
v. 19 « nobiles eius non erunt ibi ; regem polius invocabunt et omnes principes eius erunt in nihilum »; — regnum interiisse ruina irrepara- 4. Eam notionem etiam Delitzsch, Prolegg. p. 80 ex assyriacis commendat. bili, textu vulg. dicitur; nobiles enim iam e regione pulsi sunt; quaerunt quidem regem et optant qui rebus afflictis suceurrat regnumque collapsum erigat (Lap. Tir. Sa, Sanct.) — at frustra ; omnes enim principes Edom iam quasi nihil reputantur i. e. aut morte abrepti sunt aut omni auctoritate et ope plane destituti. Idem fere etiam habes in hebr. nobiles eius (quod attinet) non tam ibi sunt qui regnum proclamant vel non est regnum quod proclament (cf. Malv. fiohl. Drechsl. Kn. Del. Naeg. Bred.). Aliialiter : non adesse nobiles qui reges eligi possent (cf. Ros. Hitz.), nobiles cogi, ut supplices regem alienum invocent (Men. Schegg) et ab eo opem efflagitent. Sunt qui ex hoc loco concludunt nobilibus Edom ius fuisse eligendi quem vellent regem (/oAl. Troch. Del. Naeg.). At conclusio audacius fieri videtur; nam regnum. proclamare non idem est ac regem pro lubitu eligere; vel etsi vertas : non adest quem ad regnum capessendum vocent, nondum illud sequitur ; nam regnum plane iam destructum proponitur et describitur, ita ut nemo iam adsit qui possit regni gubernacula suscipere; sed ex eo minime inferri potest antea regem pro arbitrio fuisse electum. Nobilibus interemptis vel e terra eiectis palatia ruinis concidunt et habitacula fiunt ferarum
34:13
v. 13. « et orientur. in. domibus eius spinae et urlicae et paliurus in. munitionibus eius et erit cubile draconum et pascua struthionum » ; — bene adnotat S. Cyr. : « rursum nobis alio modo quae in solitudine contingunt conatur declarare » et quae h. l. dicuntur, signa sunt extremae solitudinis (S. Hier.) et ad solitudinis horrorem (S. Thom.) declarandum proferuntur. Quem horrorem quia vates sensibus et mentibus quam maxime imprimere vult — rebus enim sensibilibus territi homines iudicia Dei timere facilius discent — pergit eandem imaginem latius depingens
34:14
v. 14 « et occurrent daemonia onocentauris et pilosus clamabit alter ad alterum, ibi cubavit lamia et invenit sibi requiem ; v. A9. ibi habuit foveam ericius et enutrivit catulos et circumfodit et fovit in. umbra eius ; illuc congregati sunt milvi, alter ad alterum » ; — plurima ferarum genera ibi degunt et imperturbata quiete suas sequuntur vivendi rationes ; ergo hominum nemo a quo perturbentur ibi transit (v. 10). Ad versionem S. Hier. nota nomina animalium hebr. ab ipso aliter aliis in locis verti (cf. 13, 21. Ier. 50, 39) ; daemonia et onocentauros hoc loco ex LXX transtulit. Scribit enim ad h.l. : « et occurrent sibi in ea solitudine iuxta LXX diversa daemonum phantasmata, sive ut omnes alii iuxta hebr. transtulerunt siim D*"w et iim à" ». Pro lamia hebr. legitur lilt, « et a solo Symmacho translata est lamia » (S. Hier.), '»» spectrum dicit nocturnum ; a rabbinis daemon habetur muliebris quae noctu infantibus insidietur, fere ut strix et lamia Romanorum et 5552523 Graecorum (cf. Levy, Chald. Woerterb. Ip. 410). Is: 34, 18-11 58'l In v. 15 veteres versiones **5p reddunt eodem modo quo vp i. e. ericius ; sed apposite monet Mald.: « sed epitheta repugnant; nam ericius non nidificat neque ova ponit » ; verba enim hebr. sunt ova ponere, excludere. Recentiores explicant serpentem. iaculum, serpentis genus, àxovvíac, quod in iaculi modum prosiliens mordet (cf. Ges. Thes. p. 12926). Depinxit vates Dei iudicium et iram in impios. Quod ut alte animis imprimant, explicite monet, ut oracula secum perpendant et illa eventu compleri certissime sibi persuadeant
34:16
v. 16 « requirite diligenter. in libro Domini et legite; unum ez eis nom defuit, alter alterum non quaesivit, quia quod ez ore meo procedit, ille mandavit et spiritus eius ipse congregavit ea. ; v. V1 et ipse misit eis sorlem et manus eius divisit eam illis in mensuram ; usque in aeternum possidebunt eam in generationemet generationem habitabunt in ea» ; — uttestimonium adsit oraculi dati, illud literis consignat Zn libro Domini, qui eo nomine optime vocatur quia verba Dei continet et mandato Dei conscriptus est. Vaticinium autem scribitur, ut et aequalibus et generationibus posteris sit documento et testimonio. Adillos propheta iam maxima cum certitudine loquitur affirmans.se spiritu Dei regi et Dei verba promere, hos autem adhortatur ut rerum eventum comparent cum vaticiniis : nihil ex praedictis deesse deprehendent, nihil desiderari, omnia rite esse completa videbunt. Omnia enim mandato Dei esse dicta. Textus mas. praebet nam os meum — ipse mandavit, et. spiritus eius — ipse collegit ea; quae lectio durior est. LXX habent xjpig £vevefAazo ; Syrus : ipse ore suo praecipiet. Omnino praeferenda est lectio quam affert Kennicolt ex codice manuscripto m ^52» quia os Domini mandavit (cf. Kennicott, Dissertation the second, Oxford 1739 p. 330). Confirmationis gratia denuo asseritur talem vastitatem a Deo esse terrae Edom decretam, esse illis attributam tamquam sortem et hereditatem ; cf. Mal. 1, 4; reparationem quandam vel instaurationem ullo unquam tempore fore plane negatur i.e. «ex quo semel Deus regiones istas feris habitandas assignaverit, nunquam desinet maledictio eis regionibus pronuntiata ; assignationem autem propheta figurat duobus modis, sorte et funibus, qui modi tunc in usu erant, ut. terra tribubus sorte et agri funibus in familias distributi sint » (Malv. cf. Num. 26, 53. Ios. 18).
34:4
… In the customary biblical apparatus of theophanies (trumpet, cry, cloud, smoke, storm), amid human calamities and the convulsions of the entire cosmos (Mt. 24:6-9, 29: prophetic images from Is. 13:10; 34:4; Am. 8:9; etc.) — which has also reached its final goal — Jesus with his own destroys in the parousia all hostile forces (flesh, sin, death in the individual sphere; evil spirits and …
It is the plural of ṣābhā', which means "army," but in the construct state with ḥaṭ-ōmājim it can also mean "stars" (cf. Isa. 34:4; 40:26; 45:12 etc.) or "angels" (cf. 1 Kings 22:19; 2 Chron. 18:18). In the plural it often retains its ordinary meaning. …
34:6
… Bošrah) in Arabia Petraea (Gen. 36:33; 1 Chron. 1:44; Amos 1:12), perhaps the present-day el-Bušejreh, south-southeast of the Dead Sea. It sometimes stands for Edom (Jer. 49:13, 22; cf. Isa. 34:6; 63:1), of which it also takes on the meaning of the typical opponent of the divine kingdom, as in Isa. 63:1. (Cf. E. Robinson, Palaestina, III, [Boston 1843], p. 125 ff.; A. Musil, …
… In the era of the kings of Judah the existence of an eastern E. is certain, which comprised the stretch between the Wādi el-Ḥesā and the Gulf of 'Aqabah with the slopes of Gebal (Eusebius and St. Jerome consider Gebalene = Idumea) and of Sera; Bosra (v.) was the capital (Am. 1, 12; Is. 34, 6; 63, 1; Jer. 49, 13, 22); Jer. and Obad. in their invectives against E. allude to the holes of Petra (Sela) and the eagles' nests, which formed its jagged crests. …
34:10
… παλιγγενεσία of Matt. 19:28; the καινὴ κτίσις of Gal. 6:15; 2 Cor. 5:17; the passage from death to life of John 5:24-28; E. B. Allo, op. cit., p. 325). Finally the various elements (angels, cloud, fire, etc.) that accompany the manifestations of God as judge (Isa. 34:10; 66:15; Dan. 7:13 ff., etc.; Matt. 16:27; 26:63 f.; Mark 14:61 f., etc.) are merely descriptive, characteristic of the prophetic style.
34:14
LILITH. - A female demon, named only once in the Bible (Isa. 34:14), together with the monsters and animals that will inhabit the earth on the «day of Yahweh».
34:16
… after the volume has been burned by the King (Jer. 36). Another proof of the inspiration of the Old Testament is furnished by the titles with which the books are designated, namely "holy," "sacred" (II Macc. 12, 9; II Macc. 8, 23), "book of the Lord" (Is. 34, 16), or simply "book" or "Scripture" (Dan. 9, 2; Ex. 17, 14 etc.).
Douay-Rheims (Challoner) · Vulgata Clementina · original Douay-Rheims (Douay 1609-10), transcription by EEBO-TCP (CC0) · La Sacra Bibbia, tradotta dalla Volgata da Antonio Martini (1769-1781) (LaParola (laparola.net), Martini OSIS text, Public domain (LaParola's electronic edition marks it 'Dominio pubblico')). Public domain.