Neither stars nor idols are to be feared, but the great Creator of all things. The chastisement of Jerusalem for her sins.
Influence of starres, nor imagined powre of idols, is not to be feared: but God only. 6. whose Maiestie is infinite, and idols haue no powre at al. 19. Ierusalem lamenteth, 24. and prayeth God to pardon and protect his owne people.
1Hear ye the word which the Lord hath spoken concerning you, O house of Israel.Udite la parola, che il Signore ha detta sopra di voi, o casa di Israele.HEARE ye the word, which our Lord hath spoken concerning you ô house of Israel.Audite verbum quod locutus est Dominus super vos, domus Israël. 2Thus saith the Lord: Learn not according to the ways of the Gentiles: and be not afraid of the signs of heaven, which the heathens fear:Queste cose dice il Signore: Non andate a imparare i costumi delle nazioni; e non temete i segni celesti, de' quali hanno timore le nazioni:Thus saith our Lord: According to the waies of the Gentils learne not: and of the fignes of heauen, which the heathen feare, be not afraid:Hæc dicit Dominus: / Juxta vias gentium nolite discere, / et a signis cæli nolite metuere, quæ timent gentes, 3For the laws of the people are vain: for the works of the hand of the workman hath cut a tree out of the forest with an axe.Perocché le leggi de' popoli sono vane: conciossiachè l'artefice tronca colla scure una pianta nel bosco, e la lavora,Because the lawes of the people are vaine: because the worke of the hand of the artificer hath cut a tree out of the forest with an axe.quia leges populorum vanæ sunt. / Quia lignum de saltu præcidit opus manus artificis in ascia: 4He hath decked it with silver and gold: he hath put it together with nails and hammers, that it may not fall asunder.La adorna d'oro, e d'argento, unendo il tutto per via di chiovi, e di martello, affinchè non si scompagini.with siluer and gold he hath decked it: with nailes and hammers he hath compacted it, that it fal not asunder.argento et auro decoravit illud: / clavis et malleis compegit, ut non dissolvatur: 5They are framed after the likeness of a palm tree, and shall not speak: they must be carried to be removed, because they cannot go. Therefore fear them not, for they can neither do evil nor good.Ella è fatta come una palma, e non parla: Ella si alza, e si porta, perchè non può dar un passo. Non temete adunque cose tali, che non posson fare né mal, né bene.They are framed after the simulitude of a palme tree, and shal not speake: being caried they shal be remoued, because they are not able to go. Therefore feare them not, because they can neither doe il nor wel.in similitudinem palmæ fabricata sunt, / et non loquentur: / portata tollentur, / quia incedere non valent. / Nolite ergo timere ea, / quia nec male possunt facere, nec bene.
6There is none like to thee, O Lord: thou art great, and great is thy name in might.Non è chi somigli te, o Signore: grande se' tu, e grande il nome tuo in possanza.There is not the like vnto thee ô Lord: thou art great, and great is thy name in strength.Non est similis tui, Domine: / magnus es tu, / et magnum nomen tuum in fortitudine. 7Who shall not fear thee, O king of nations? for thine is the glory: among all the wise men of the nations, and in all their kingdoms there is none like unto thee.Chi non avrà timore di te, o Re delle genti? imperocché tua è la gloria: tra tutti i sapienti delle nazioni, e in tutti i loro regni niuno è simile a te.Who shal not feare thee ô king of Nations? For thine is the glorie: among al the wise of the Gentiles, & in al their kingdoms there is none like vnto thee.Quis non timebit te, o Rex gentium ? / tuum est enim decus: / inter cunctos sapientes gentium, / et in universis regnis eorum, / nullus est similis tui. 8They shall be all proved together to be senseless and foolish: the doctrine of their vanity is wood.Con questo si mostrerà, che ei sono stolti, e insensati: argomento della loro vanità è il legno.They shal be proued altogether vnwise and foolish: the doctrine of their vanitie is wood.Pariter insipientes et fatui probabuntur: / doctrina vanitatis eorum lignum est. 9Silver spread into plates is brought from Tharsis, and gold from Ophaz: the work of the artificer, and of the hand of the coppersmith: violet and purple is their clothing: all these things are the work of artificers.Si porta da Tharsis l'argento ridotto in lamine, e l'oro di Ophaz: si mette in opera dall'artefice, dalla mano dell'argentiere: si veste (la statua) di giacinto, e di porpora. Tutto questo è lavoro d'artefici.Siluer wrapped vp is brought from Tharsis, and gold from Ophaz: the worke of the artificer, and the handes of the coppersmith: hyacinth and purple are their clothing: al these thinges are the worke of artificers.Argentum involutum de Tharsis affertur, / et aurum de Ophaz: / opus artificis et manus ærarii. / Hyacinthus et purpura indumentum eorum: / opus artificum universa hæc. 10But the Lord is the true God: he is the living God, and the everlasting king: at his wrath the earth shall tremble, and the nations shall not be able to abide his threatening.Ma il Signore è il Dio vero; egli è il Dio vivo, e il Rege eterno: dall'ira di lui sarà scommossa la terra, e i popoli non reggeranno alle sue minacce.But our Lord is the true God: he is the liuing God, and the King euerlasting: at his indignation the earth shal be moued: & the Gentils shal not sustaine his threatning.Dominus autem Deus verus est, / ipse Deus vivens, / et rex sempiternus. / Ab indignatione ejus commovebitur terra, / et non sustinebunt gentes comminationem ejus.
11Thus then shall you say to them: The gods that have not made heaven and earth, let them perish from the earth, and from among those places that are under heaven.Voi adunque direte loro così: Gli dei, che non hanno fatto il cielo, e la terra, periscano dalla faccia della terra, e dal numero delle cose, che sono sotto del cielo.Thus then you shal say to them: The goddes that made not heauen and earth, let them perish from of the earth, and from these places, that are vnder heauen.Sic ergo dicetis eis: / Dii qui cælos et terram non fecerunt, / pereant de terra et de his quæ sub cælo sunt ! 12He that maketh the earth by his power, that prepareth the world by his wisdom, and stretcheth out the heavens by his knowledge.Egli con sua possanza fece la terra, regola il mondo colla sua sapienza, e colla intelligenza sua distende i cieli.He that maketh the earth in his strength, prepareth the world in his wisedom, and with his prudence stretcheth out the heauens.Qui facit terram in fortitudine sua, / præparat orbem in sapientia sua, / et prudentia sua extendit cælos: 13At his voice he giveth a multitude of waters in the heaven, and lifteth up the clouds from the ends of the earth: he maketh lightnings for rain, and bringeth forth the wind out of his treasures.A una sua voce aduna nel cielo una gran massa di acque, solleva dalle estremità della terra le nuvole: scioglie i folgori in pioggia, e da' suoi tesori ne tragge il vento.At his voice he geueth a multitude of waters in the heauen, & lifteth vp the cloudes from the endes of the earth: he maketh lightninges into rayne, and bringeth forth the winde out of his treasures.ad vocem suam dat multitudinem aquarum in cælo, / et elevat nebulas ab extremitatibus terræ: / fulgura in pluviam facit, / et educit ventum de thesauris suis. 14Every man is become a fool for knowledge, every artist is confounded in his graven idol: for what he hath cast is false, and there is no spirit in them.Del proprio sapere diventò stolto ogni uomo; la statua stessa confonde ogni artefice: perchè cosa falsa è quella, che egli ha fatto, e spirito in lei non è.Euerie man is become a foole for knowlege, euery craftes man is confounded in the sculptil: because it is false that he hath melted, and there is no spirite in them.Stultus factus est omnis homo a scientia: / confusus est artifex omnis in sculptili, / quoniam falsum est quod conflavit, / et non est spiritus in eis. 15They are vain things, and a ridiculous work: in the time of their visitation they shall perish.Elle son cose vane, e opere degne di riso: al tempo della loro visita, periranno.They are vaine thinges, and a worke worthie to be laughed at: in the time of their visitation they shal perish.Vana sunt, et opus risu dignum: / in tempore visitationis suæ peribunt.
16The portion of Jacob is not like these: for it is he who formed all things: and Israel is the rod of his inheritance: the Lord of hosts is his name.Non è come queste colui, che è la porzione di Giacobbe: imperocché egli è, che ha fatte tutte le cose, e Israele è la sua eredità: il suo nome egli è: Signor degli eserciti.The portion of Iacob is not like to these: for it is he that formed al thinges: and Israel is the rodde of his inheritance: the Lord of hosts is his name.Non est his similis pars Jacob: / qui enim formavit omnia, ipse est, / et Israël virga hæreditatis ejus: / Dominus exercituum nomen illi. 17Gather up thy shame out of the land, thou that dwellest in a siege.Metti insieme da tutta la terra i tuoi obbrobri, o tu, che se' assediata:Gather thy confusion out of the land, thou that dwellest in beseige.Congrega de terra confusionem tuam, / quæ habitas in obsidione: 18For thus saith he Lord: Behold I will cast away far off the inhabitants of the land at this time: and I will afflict them, so that they may be found.Perocché queste cose dice il Signore: Ecco che io questa volta getterò lontano gli abitatori di questa terra, e darò loro tribolazione tale, che li troverà.Because thus saith our Lord: Behold I wil cast forth farre of the inhabitans of the land at this time: & I wil afflict them, so that they may not be found,quia hæc dicit Dominus: / Ecce ego longe projiciam habitatores terræ in hac vice, / et tribulabo eos ita ut inveniantur. 19Woe is me for my destruction, my wound is very grievous. But I said: Truly this is my own evil, and I will bear it.Me infelice nella mia afflizione! la mia piaga è atroce. Ma io ho detto: Questo male veramente è mio, e io dovrò portarlo.Woe is me for my destruction, my plague is very sore. But I said: Truly this is myne infirmitie, and I wil beare it.Væ mihi super contritione mea: / pessima plaga mea. / Ego autem dixi: / Plane hæc infirmitas mea est, et portabo illam. 20My tabernacle is laid waste, all my cords are broken: my children are gone out from me, and they are not: there is none to stretch forth my tent any more, and to set up my curtains.Il mio padiglione è atterrato: tutte le corde sono rotte: i miei figliuoli si sono partiti da me, ed ei più non sono: non v'ha più chi rizzi la mia tenda, e innalzi i miei padiglioni.My tabernacle is wasted, al my cordes are broken in sunder: my children are gone out from me, and are not: there is none to stretch out my tent anie more, & to set vp my courtaines.Tabernaculum meum vastatum est; / omnes funiculi mei dirupti sunt: / filii mei exierunt a me, et non subsistunt. / Non est qui extendat ultra tentorium meum, / et erigat pelles meas.
21Because the pastors have done foolishly, and have not sought the Lord: therefore have they not understood, and all their flock is scattered.Imperocché i pastori si son di portati da stolti, e non han cercato il Signore: per questo non ebber saggezza, e il loro gregge è stato tutto disperso.Because the pastours haue done foolishly, and haue not sought our Lord: therefore haue they not vnderstood, and al their flocke is dispersed.Quia stulte egerunt pastores, / et Dominum non quæsierunt: / propterea non intellexerunt, / et omnis grex eorum dispersus est. 22Behold the sound of a noise cometh, a great commotion out of the land of the north: to make the cities of Juda a desert, and a dwelling for dragons.Voce, che si fa sentire, e tumulto grande ecco che viene dalla parte di settentrione: per cangiare le città di Giuda in deserti, e in abitazione di dragoni.Loe the voice of a bruit cometh, a great commotion from the land of the North: to make the cities of Iuda a desert, & an habitation of dragons.Vox auditionis ecce venit, / et commotio magna de terra aquilonis: / ut ponat civitates Juda solitudinem, / et habitaculum draconum. 23I know, O Lord, that the way of a man is not his: neither is it in a man to walk, and to direct his steps.Io so, o Signore, che non è dell'uomo il seguir la sua strada, e non è dell'uomo il camminare, e il regolare i suoi andamenti.I know Lord, that mans way is not his owne: neither is it in a man to walke, and to direct his steppes.Scio, Domine, / quia non est hominis via ejus, / nec viri est ut ambulet, / et dirigat gressus suos. 24Correct me, O Lord, but yet with judgment: and not in thy fury, lest thou bring me to nothing.Castigami, o Signore, ma con misura, e non nel tuo furore, affinchè tu non mi ritorni nel nulla.Correct me ô Lord, but yet in iudgement: and not in thy furie, lest perhappes thou bring me to nothing.Corripe me, Domine, verumtamen in judicio, / et non in furore tuo, ne forte ad nihilum redigas me. 25Pour out thy indignation upon the nations that have not known thee, and upon the provinces that have not called upon thy name: because they have eaten up Jacob, and devoured him, and consumed him, and have destroyed his glory.Versa la tua indegnazione sopra le genti, che non ti conoscono, e sopra le provincie, che non invocano il nome tuo: perocché elle hanno mangiato Giacobbe, e lo han divorato, e l'han consunto, ed han dissipata la sua magnificenza.Power out thine indignation vpon the Gentiles, that haue not knowen thee, and vpon the prouinces, that haue not inuocated thy name: because they haue eaten Iacob, and deuoured him, and consumed him, and haue dissipated his glorie.Effunde indignationem tuam super gentes quæ non cognoverunt te, / et super provincias quæ nomen tuum non invocaverunt: / quia comederunt Jacob, et devoraverunt eum, / et consumpserunt illum, et decus ejus dissipaverunt.
10:2
Ways. Religious rites, ver. 3.
Worthington
Heathens thought that they had a divine power. (Worthington)
10:4
Calmet
Asunder. Isaias 44:8., Baruch 6:3., and Wisdom 13:11. The pagans themselves laughed at such folly. (Calmet)
Worthington
If such things were gods, the makers and tools deserved more adoration: Fabri deorum vel parentes numinum, says Prudentius. The vanity of such idols was more easily discerned than that of the stars. (Worthington)
10:5
Tree. The ancient statues were ill-formed, (Diodorus 4.) before Dedalus brought the art to greater perfection, and gave them a living attitude.
10:6
Haydock
There. Septuagint omit the three following verses; and from ver. 9., all these, etc., to the end of ver. 10., which Grabe inserts in a different character. (Haydock)
10:7
Kennicott
Wise. Manuscript 2 has in the margin "kings," perhaps more correctly. (Kennicott)
10:8
Haydock
Vanity, and shews them clearly to be foolish (Calmet) and wicked. (Haydock)
10:9
Menochius
Ophaz, or Phison, (Genesis 2:11.; Calmet) the coast of Pegu, Faprobana, etc. (Menochius)
10:10
Wrath. God is the true cause of all that terrifies mankind.
10:11
Heaven. This verse is in Chaldean, for the captives to use at Babylon, to defend themselves. It should be in a parenthesis, as it interrupts the discourse. Perhaps it was added during the captivity.
10:13
Voice. Thunder, (Psalm 28:3.) which is usually the forerunner of rain. Lightning is occasioned by the inflamed exhalations of conflicting clouds.
10:14
Calmet
Knowledge. If it were real, he would see the vanity of idols, ver. 8. (Calmet)
10:16
Portion. The Lord. (Haydock) (Psalm 72:6.)
Menochius
Rod, to measure, (Psalm 73:2.) or the sceptre and ruler. (Menochius)
10:17
Shame. Idols. See if they will keep thee. Hebrew, "thy merchandise," or most precious effects.
10:18
Calmet
Found by the enemy. Hebrew also, "find" me, being taught by affliction, Jeremias 29:13. (Calmet)
Haydock
Entering into sentiments of penance, they shall say, Woe, etc. (Haydock)
10:22
North. He has announced this conqueror eight times.
Calmet
Dragons. Tannim means "huge reptiles," whether of sea or land. (Calmet)
10:23
Worthington
The way, etc. Notwithstanding man's free-will, yet he can do no good without God's help, nor evil without his permission. So that, in the present case, all the evils which Nabuchodonosor was about to bring upon Jerusalem, could not have come but by the will of God. (Challoner) (Worthington)
Theodoret
This prince succeeds by thy order. (Theodoret)
Calmet
Yet chastise us as a father, and leave us not to his fury, ver. 24. (Calmet)
Haydock
"Let new preachers blush, who say that each one is governed by his own will," (St. Jerome; Jeremias 9:23.) and able to do good without God's grace. (Haydock)
10:24
10:25
Menochius
Glory. This is repeated from Psalm 78:6. (Menochius)
Calmet
The prophet supposes that these nations will not repent, and that their sins are more enormous. To see God's people treated with greater severity, might scandalize the weak, while infidels would take occasion to abuse their own impunity. (Calmet)
10:23
The way of a man is not his.... The meaning is, that notwithstanding man’s free will, yet he can do no good without God’s help, nor evil without his permission. So that, in the present case, all the evils which Nabuchodonosor was about to bring upon Jerusalem, could not have come but by the will of God.
10:2
Heathnish idolaters thought the•• was diuine powre in the planetes, and other starres. But the faithful know th•• they are the creatures of God, made for the benefite of men, not that men should serue or feare th••.
10:5
Of other idols made of vvood, siluer, gold, and the like, it is more easie to see the vanitie.
10:6
Concordance Mich. 7.
10:7
Concordance Apoc. 15.
10:13
Concordance Psa. 134.
10:23
Man can not do anie good thing without Gods helpe, nor anie euil without his permission neither of which destroyeth freewil. As in the present example Nabuchodonosor could not afflict the Iewes but by Gods permision.
10:24
Concordance Psal. 6.
10:25
Concordance Psal. 78.
10:2
St Cyprian of Carthage † AD 258 Three Books of Testimonies Against the Jews 3.35
In Jeremiah: “Thus saith the Lord, Walk ye not according to the way of the Gentiles.”
St Cyprian of Carthage † AD 258 Three Books of Testimonies Against the Jews 3.60
… there I will be confounded with fornication. To the wood and to the stone they have said, Thou art my father; and to the stone, Thou hast begotten me: and they turned to me their back, and not their face.”
10:3
St Justin Martyr † AD 165 The First Apology 9
… since we see that these are soulless and dead, and have not the form of God (for we do not consider that God has such a form as some say that they imitate to His honour), but have the names and forms of those wicked demons which have appeared. For why need we tell you who already know, into what forms the craftsmen,
10:11
St Irenaeus of Lyons † AD 202 Against Heresies 3.6.3
… even I am witness, saith God.” He removes them from [the category of] gods, but he makes use of the word alone, for this [purpose], that we may know of whom he speaks. Jeremiah also says the same: “The gods that have not made the heavens and earth, let them perish from the earth which is under the heaven.”
St Basil the Great † AD 379 The Letters 189
… Nay, Holy Scripture does not even shrink from using this term in the case of things of a totally opposite character, as when it applies the title god to idols. “Let the gods,” it is written, “who have not made heaven and earth, be taken away, and cast beneath the earth;”
St Gregory of Nyssa † AD 395 On the Holy Trinity, and of the Godhead of the Holy Spirit 1
… Further, the Divine Scripture is not sparing in this use of the name even in the case of things incongruous, as when it names idols by the appellation of God. For it says, “Let the gods that have not made the heavens and the earth perish, and be cast down beneath the earth
St Ambrose of Milan † AD 397 Exposition of the Christian Faith 4.4
48. But if heretics deny that either the heavens or the earth were made by Thee, let them take heed into what a gulf they are by their own madness hurling themselves, seeing that it is written: “Perish the gods, which have not made heaven and earth.”
St John Chrysostom † AD 407 Homilies on First Corinthians 20
Next, he adduces what indeed is the greatest token of divinity; “of Whom are all things.” For this implies also that those others are not gods. For it is said (
St John Chrysostom † AD 407 The Homilies of St. John Chrysostom on the Gospel of St. John 4
… which His Father also everywhere by the Prophets declares to be especially characteristic of His own Essence. And the Prophets are continually busy on this kind of demonstration, not only of itself, but when they contend against the honor shown to idols; “Let the gods perish,” says one “who have not made heaven and earth” (
… this one thing I can affirm—that it differs widely from the original, and is rightly rejected. For we must bear in mind that Daniel and Ezra, the former especially, were written in Hebrew letters, but in the Chaldee language, as was
St Augustine of Hippo † AD 430 Reply to Faustus the Manichæan 13.7
… He would see the idols of the nations perishing from off the earth, and he would find that this is predicted by the prophets, as in Jeremiah, "Then shall ye say unto them, The gods that have not made the heavens and the earth shall perish from the earth, and from under heaven;"
St Augustine of Hippo † AD 430 Expositions on the Book of Psalms 48.14
… For because they can be called gods, but cannot be so, for a time they are even called so. For what saith the Prophet, or what warneth He to be said to them? This shall ye say to them, “The gods that have not made the heavens and the earth, even they shall perish from the earth, and from those that are under the heavens.”
St Augustine of Hippo † AD 430 Expositions on the Book of Psalms 99.2
… let them be angry, and in their anger let the Martyrs be crowned.…Ye heard when Jeremiah was being read before the reading of the Apostle, if ye listened; ye saw therein the times in which we now live. He said, “The gods that have not made the heavens and the earth, let them perish from the earth, and from under the heaven.”
Theodoret of Cyrus † AD 458 Letters of the Blessed Theodoret, Bishop of Cyprus 147
… The dæmons who have deceived mankind have given this title to idols; whence Jeremiah exclaims, “The gods that have not made the heavens and the earth even they shall perish from the earth and from under these heavens;”
Pseudo-Clement The Clementine Homilies 16.6
… But it is also somewhere else written, ‘Did another god dare to enter and take him a nation from the midst of another nation, as did I the Lord God?’ When He says, ‘Did another God dare?’ He speaks on the supposition that other gods exist. And elsewhere:
Pseudo-Clement The Clementine Homilies 16.8
… “Do you, Peter, listen to what I have to say. You seem to me to sin in speaking against them, when the Scripture says, ‘Thou shalt not revile the gods , nor curse the rulers of thy people.’” And Peter said: “I am not sinning, Simon, in pointing out their destruction according to the Scriptures; for thus it is written:
10:14
St Jerome † AD 420 Against the Pelagians 1.15
… it is high, I cannot attain unto it.” And again, “When I thought how I might know this, it was too painful for me; until I went into the sanctuary of God, and considered their latter end.” And in the same place, “I was as a beast before thee: nevertheless I am continually with thee.” And Jeremiah says,
10:16
St Gregory of Nazianzus † AD 389 Select Orations of Saint Gregory Nazianzen 32
… But our faith is not like this, nor is this the portion of Jacob, says my Theologian.
Theodoret of Cyrus † AD 458 Dialogues. The “Eranistes” or “Polymorphus” of the Blessed Theodoretus, Bishop of Cyrus 1
Orth. —The creature is transformed by the Creator as He will, for it is mutable and obeys the nod of Him that fashioned it. But His nature is immutable and invariable, wherefore of the creature the prophet saith “He that maketh and transformeth all things.”
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St Gregory of Nazianzus † AD 389 Select Orations of Saint Gregory Nazianzen 2.68
68. God speaks to him in reproof of the priests: The priests said not, Where is the Lord, and they that handled the law knew Me not; the pastors also transgressed against Me. Again He says to him: The pastors are become brutish, and have not sought the Lord, and therefore all their flock did not understand, and was scattered.
St Gregory of Nazianzus † AD 389 Select Orations of Saint Gregory Nazianzen 21.24
24. For in reality, as the Scripture says, the shepherds became brutish,
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St Ignatius of Antioch † AD 108 Epistle to Mary at Neapolis 4
… And by this time thou hast added a hundred-fold to thy reputation; and may thou, O woman! still further increase it. I greatly desired to come unto you, that I might have rest with you; but “the way of man is not in himself.”
St Jerome † AD 420 The Letters of St. Jerome 71.7
… When you look upon these trifles call to mind the friend in whom you delight and hasten the voyage which you have for a time deferred. And because “the way of man is not in himself” but it is the Lord that “directeth his steps;”
St Jerome † AD 420 The Letters of St. Jerome 133.7
… “mine eyes are ever toward the Lord: for it is he that shall pluck my feet out of the net.” And so you presume rashly to maintain that each individual is governed by his own choice. But if he is governed by his own choice, what becomes of God’s help? If he does not need Christ to rule him, why does Jeremiah write: “the way of man is not in himself”
St Jerome † AD 420 Against the Pelagians 1.27
27. In another place you maintain that “All are governed by their own free choice.” What Christian can bear to hear this? For if not one, nor a few, nor many, but all of us are governed by our own free choice, what becomes of the help of God? And how do you explain the text, “A man’s goings are ordered by the Lord”? And
St Jerome † AD 420 Against the Pelagians 1.28
Jer. x. 23 . The way of man not in himself.
St Augustine of Hippo † AD 430 A Treatise on the Merits and Forgiveness of Sins, and on the Baptism of Infants 2.7
… Thus it is that God’s grace not only shows what ought to be done, but also helps to the possibility of doing what it shows. “What indeed have we that we have not received?” Whence also Jeremiah says: “I know, O Lord, that the way of man is not in himself; it is not in man to walk and direct his steps.”
St Augustine of Hippo † AD 430 A Treatise on the Merits and Forgiveness of Sins, and on the Baptism of Infants 2.26
… Accordingly Jeremiah, after saying, “I know, O Lord, that the way of man is not in himself, and that it belongeth not to any man to walk and direct his steps,”
John Cassian † AD 435 The Conferences of John Cassian 3.13
… “I know, O Lord, that the way of man is not his: neither is it in a man to walk and to direct his steps.”
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Origen † AD 254 Origen Against Celsus 4.72
… and that such a view is agreeable to Scripture, is evident from what is said in the sixth Psalm , “O Lord , rebuke me not in Thine anger, neither chasten me in Thy hot displeasure;” and also in Jeremiah. “O Lord , correct me, but with judgment: not in Thine anger, lest Thou bring me to nothing.”
St Gregory of Nazianzus † AD 389 Select Orations of Saint Gregory Nazianzen 16.12
… Of whom? Of the nations which know Thee not, and kingdoms which have not been subject to Thy power. But we are Thy people, O Lord, the rod of Thine inheritance; therefore correct us, but in goodness and not in Thine anger, lest Thou bring us to nothingness
St John Chrysostom † AD 407 Homilies on Ephesians 14
… For he indeed who does otherwise, aims only at reputation, and is annoyed at being disregarded; whereas he who on all occasions aims at the recovery of the patient, has this single object in view, how he may restore the patient, and raise him up again. This then is what Paul is doing. He has said, “Lie not.” Yet if ever lying should produce anger,
St Augustine of Hippo † AD 430 A Treatise on the Merits and Forgiveness of Sins, and on the Baptism of Infants 2.26
… Accordingly Jeremiah, after saying, “I know, O Lord, that the way of man is not in himself, and that it belongeth not to any man to walk and direct his steps,” immediately adds, “Correct me, O Lord, but with judgment, and not in Thine anger;”
John Cassian † AD 435 The Conferences of John Cassian 6.11
… but I will chastise thee in judgment, that thou mayest not seem to thyself innocent.” And for this life-giving cleansing David prays when he says: “Prove me, O Lord, and try me; turn my reins and my heart.” Isaiah also, well knowing the value of this trial, says “O Lord, correct us but with judgment: not in Thine anger.”
Anonymous A Treatise Against the Heretic Novatian by an Anonymous Bishop 10
… why do ye give yourselves over to death, O house of Israel?” So, too, by Isaiah the prophet: “I will not be angry with you for ever, nor will I abstain from defending you always.” And because Jeremiah the prophet, in the person of the sinful people, prays to the Lord, saying, “Amend us, O Lord, but in judgment, and not in anger, lest Thou make us few;”
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2. ACCORDING TO THE WAYS OF THE GENTILES DO NOT LEARN. — In Hebrew, ways, that is, the customs and rites of the gentiles, do not learn; especially in what follows: AND BE NOT AFRAID OF THE SIGNS OF HEAVEN. — Note: The gentiles worshipped the stars as gods, deceived by their beauty, and because Plato in the Epinomis considered them to be animate, and from him Origen, book I of the Periarkhon, chapter vii, and St. Augustine doubts, in the Enchiridion, lviii, where he doubts whether the sun, moon and other stars are to be blessed with us. They worshipped them therefore and feared and revered them, as if they were those which governed the sublunary world, and were the cause of all things and actions in it, even free ones: hence also, as Virgil says, they offered a black victim to winter, a white one to the favourable zephyrs, lest namely they should harm, but rather benefit. Thus St. Jerome. For they thought all things were governed by the force of the stars, not by divine providence: whence they feared and worshipped the stars more than God (for "fear first made gods in the world"); especially since they heard from certain natural philosophers that man is as it were a work and fabrication of the stars: for when he is born, he receives his spirit from the sun, his body from the moon, his blood from Mars, his ingenuity from Mercury, his desire from Jupiter, his lust from Venus, his moisture from Saturn. Moreover, from certain astrologers they heard that the stars have eyes and ears, and by these see and hear. For thus among others Julius Firmicus writes, book II of the Mathesis: "Now which stars see others, and which hear, I shall briefly explain. Aries does not see Leo, but hears it: Leo however sees Aries, but does not hear it. Aries sees Cancer, and likewise hears it: Cancer however does not see Aries, but hears it. Leo sees Taurus, and likewise hears it. Similarly Leo, Aries, Gemini see Virgo lightly, but hear it: Virgo sees Gemini lightly, but hears it fully. Cancer sees Libra, and likewise hears it. Leo neither sees nor hears Scorpio; Scorpio however sees Leo, and likewise hears it. Virgo regards Sagittarius obliquely, but does not hear it willingly. Sagittarius both sees and hears Virgo. Libra sees Aquarius, but is not itself seen by Aquarius; they hear each other however. Pisces and Scorpio do not indeed see each other, but hear," etc. And he says these things are excerpted from the books of Abraham. If even wise men believed these deliriums, what did not the common people believe? Others said the stars were not indeed causes, but certain and fatal signs: as if heaven were a book, in which God has depicted our deeds and actions, and all things which are to happen in the course of the whole age of the world. Thus Origen in Eusebius, book VI of the Preparation, ix, who thus introduces the patriarch Jacob speaking to his sons: "I have read in the tables of heaven whatever shall befall you, and your sons." The same teaches Plotinus, the fellow-student of Origen, book VI On Fate. This also Sirenius considers probable, book IX On Fate, xxxv: "The Egyptians," he says, "indicating fate, painted a star, because fate is modulated from the course and dispensation of the stars," says Horus Apollo, Hieroglyphics III. These things finally are followed by judicial astrologers. But Jeremiah here and Ecclesiastes condemn this astrology; and St. Augustine sharply attacks it, book On Christian Doctrine, chapters xxi, xxii, xxiii, and Pico della Mirandola, book XII against it, and Pereira, book II in Genesis, and our Alexander of the Angels, who recently refuted the astrologers in five books. The stars were indeed made for signs, but it is immediately explained how: "That they may be for days and years," Genesis i, 14. Likewise for signs of rain, flood, heat, cold; but these are conjectural only, and often deceive. Thus comets, because they are of a fiery nature, signify and cause heat, dryness, filth, winds and blasts; and from these plague, famine and war, as Aristotle teaches, book I of the Meteorology, chapter vii; Seneca, book VII of Natural Questions; John of Damascus, Question xv, in Genesis and others. Damascenus adds, book II On the Faith, chapter vii; St. Thomas, II part., Question xxxvi, article 7, to 3; Bonaventure in II, distinction 14, III part., last Question, to the penultimate, that comets presignify the death of kings and princes, whether this happens supernaturally from the ordinance and intention of God and angels, as Damascenus and Bonaventure wish; or naturally, as others wish; because namely, as Albert the Great says, although a comet notes and causes deaths, both of the poor and of princes, nevertheless the deaths of princes are noted more than those of the poor: or because princes are of a more delicate complexion, and use more foods, and therefore the air, infected in comets, harms them more: or finally because princes foresee the calamities of the kingdom, and are so moved and grieved by them, that they fall into languor and impending ruin more than others. Thus Christopher a Castro, lib. I Proæmii in minores Prophet. xvi. A pleasant example is that of an astrologer, who, when asked by a prince about to go hunting concerning the weather, asserted it would be clear: but when the prince was departing, a peasant met him and affirmed that rain was imminent: when it came to pass, the prince made his astrologer a peasant, and ordered the peasant to become an astrologer. Hear this epigram on the matter: The astrologer had said the sky would be without cloud, As the prince sought the forest haunts with his own: The ploughman, accustomed to turn the earth with oxen, Said on the contrary that rain would fall from the clouds. Scarcely had the prince entered the dense oak wood, When suddenly the waters of rain are precipitated. The prince praises the ploughman, and wishes to have him teach the stars, but orders the astrologer to take up the rake. Indeed, in this age it would be expedient that some astrologers become rake-ologists. Alfonso, king of Aragon, was liberal to all learned men, but passed over astrologers alone. He was asked why? One who seemed to know more said: "The stars, he said, rule and impel the foolish; the wise command the stars. It is therefore consistent for foolish princes to honor astrologers, not for the wise, among whom Alfonso holds his name." Thus Æneas Silvius, lib. IV De ejus Gestis. Accius the poet in Gellius: "I believe nothing, he said, in augurs, who enrich the ears of others with words, so that they may enrich their own homes with gold." Julius Caesar was most skilled in astronomy, concerning which he published distinguished books: and yet he could neither foresee nor avoid his own fate and slaughter. Bion said, "astronomers are most ridiculous, in that, when they do not see the fish swimming beside them on the shore, they say they see those which are in the sky." Thus Stobaeus, serm. 78. A certain astrologer in the forum, when he had shown stars depicted on a certain tablet, and said: Behold here the wandering stars; hearing this, Diogenes said: "Do not lie, good man; for the stars do not wander, but those do," pointing to those who were sitting. Ibidem. Thales, while contemplating the sky, fell into a ditch, and his maidservant rightly said he suffered this, he who, when things placed at his feet were unknown to him, gazed upon heavenly things. Ibidem. Ariston said, "of the things which philosophers investigate, some pertain to us, some nothing, some are above us." He felt, however, that the discipline of morals pertains to us, sophistry pertains nothing to us, because it not only does not benefit the amendment of life, but also generates quarrels and contentions; but astronomy, astrology, etc., are altogether above us. Ibidem. Phavorinus was accustomed to press judicial astrologers with a clever dilemma: "Either, he said, they say adversities will happen, or prosperity. If they say prosperity, and they are wrong; you will be miserable, waiting in vain. If they say adversities, and they lie; you will be miserable, fearing in vain. If they answer truly, and those things are not prosperous; then from that moment you will be miserable in spirit, before you are so by fate. If they promise happy things, and those are going to happen, then plainly there will be two inconveniences; both the expectation will fatigue you suspended in hope, and hope will have already deflowered for you the fruit of future joy. In no way therefore should such men be used for foretelling future things." Thus A. Gellius, lib. XIV, cap. 1. Hear also Alciatus, Emblem. 103: Icarus, who was snatched up through the heavens and the air, until the melted wax gave him headlong into the sea; now the same wax and the burning fire resurrect you, so that by your example you may teach sure doctrines: Let the astrologer beware to predict anything: for the impostor will fall headlong, while he flies above the stars. Nicetas Choniates relates, lib. I De Imperio Isacii Imperatoris, that an astrologer predicted victory and triumph to Branas Alexius, if he should engage with Conrad, Marquis of Montferrat, who supported the cause of Isacius. He therefore joined battle with him, in which both Branas and the astrologer were killed. In the year of the Lord 1544, Muleasses, king of the Tunisians, a great observer of the stars, when he had divined from the stars that he would lose his kingdom, and that a dire death threatened him, departed from Africa to avoid it; but by that very departure he brought upon his own neck the calamity which he wished to avoid. Finally, from the disposition and concurrence of the stars it could have been foreseen and predicted that there would be a universal flood of the world in the time of Noah: likewise the nativity of Christ from the concurrence of Jupiter and Saturn, and from the horoscope of the Virgin, which at the birth of Christ was, and signified the change of religion to be made by Christ, Albert the Great (or whoever is the author) thought in the Mirror, citing Albumasar, and Peter of Ailly, Archbishop of Cambrai, in the year of the Lord 1400, lib. De Concordia Astrologiæ et Theologiæ. All which things Sixtus Senensis powerfully refutes, lib. VI Biblioth. cap. x, and lib. V, cap. lxxxi. BECAUSE THE LAWS OF THE PEOPLES (concerning the rite of worshipping idols, it is clear from what follows) ARE VAIN,—because idols are vain: that is, representing nothing true, or if they represent something true such as stars, Jupiter, Mars, they have nothing of divinity; therefore the gods are vain: for idols are twofold, and are vain in a twofold way, as I have already said. Jeremiah speaks here more of the former, which namely represent nothing true, as is clear from the following verses. The Syriac version renders it: Because the fears of the peoples are nothing. Fears, that is, idols, which the peoples fear, that is, revere and worship. The Arabic: Because the religion of the peoples is useless.
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3. BECAUSE WOOD FROM THE FOREST. — He describes the vanity of idols from their material and workmanship, because they themselves are nothing other than wood cut from the forest, and the work of the hand of a craftsman "with an axe," that is, with an axe, that is, an adze, supply, hewn and polished: for this is the work of a craftsman, namely a carpenter, and third, decorated with gold, and fastened with nails. Idols therefore are nothing other than manufactured gods.
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5. IN THE LIKENESS OF A PALM TREE, — that is, the idol is level, upright, tall, unable to bend, beautiful, leafy like a palm tree, as if to say: Idols are beautiful outwardly, but inwardly lifeless, tongueless, stupid.
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6. THERE IS NONE LIKE UNTO THEE, O LORD. — It is an apostrophe of Jeremiah to God, by which he compares and prefers him to idols; whence he says: "Who will not fear thee, O King of the nations?"
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7. THINE IS THE GLORY, — namely the kingdom, so that thou art and art worshipped as king and God of the nations, to be feared exceedingly. Whence the Chaldean translator renders it, thine is the kingdom. Allegorically, as if to say: O Christ, King of the nations, what nation will not fear, will not worship thee as its glory? Thus Lyra.
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8. THE FOOLISH SHALL BE PROVED (as if to say: It is easy to prove and convince them to be foolish, from the fact that) THE DOCTRINE OF THEIR VANITY IS WOOD, — because namely they teach that wooden idols are gods, and are to be adored: which is most vain and most foolish. Or, as Sanchez says, as if to say: The wood, from which they form idols, to which they supplicate, easily accuses them of stupor and vanity. In fact it teaches and shows them to be vain and stupid, who consider wood and a log to be God and a deity, and to have knowledge of all things and providence.
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9. INVOLUTUM. — In Hebrew מרקע merucka, that is, ductile, which is the best kind, or extended into plates, which is accustomed to be rolled up, so that it may be more conveniently transported: whence Our translator renders it, involutum; or involutum, that is, capable of being rolled up, ductile, which can easily be rolled up, unfolded, bent by the silversmith, so that the wooden idol may be encrusted and covered with it. FROM THARSIS IT IS BROUGHT. — Tharsis was a city of Cilicia; from there the neighboring sea, and finally any sea, even the Indian, was called Tharsis; and from there Africa and Carthage, which for a long time dominated the sea and flourished in naval affairs, is called Tharsis. Here Tharsis signifies India, or certainly Africa, as the Chaldean translator renders it, which Ezechiel teaches was abounding in silver, cap. xxvii, 12. AND GOLD FROM OPHAZ. — The Chaldean translator, Sanchez and others think that Ophaz or Ophas, or by aphaeresis Pas, is the same as Ophir, as if by dialect the letter r were changed into s (just as the Parisians do when they say pese instead of pere), and the vowel a were changed into i: for the Hebrews very easily interchange the vowel points; thus therefore according to the opinion of the Chaldean translator and others, Ophas is Ophir. Furthermore, Ophir is a region, named from Ophir the son of Jectan, Genesis x, 29. Vatablus and Arias think Ophir to be Hispaniola and Peru: the Hebrew text and the Septuagint favor this, II Paralipomenon iii, 6, where they call Solomon's gold the gold of Peruim, as it were of the Peruvians. Again, if you make the letter vau, which is the first in Ophir, the last, from Ophir you make Peru: for vau among the Hebrews denotes not so much the vowel u as o. Ophir therefore seems to be Peru; but this is opposed first, because in Peru there are neither elephants, nor peacocks, nor apes, nor thyine wood, which were brought from Ophir, III Kings x. Second, because Solomon's fleet set sail for Ophir from the port of Asiongaber on the Red Sea, II Paralipomenon viii, which is near Goa and Eastern India: but if this fleet had sailed to Peru and Western India, it would have set sail from Joppa and through the Mediterranean Sea, and sailed directly to Peru; otherwise, setting sail from Asiongaber, it would have had to go around the Arabian gulf, the Cape of Good Hope, and all of Africa, in order to reach Peru. Others therefore want Ophir to be Angola in Ethiopia; whence Josephus teaches that this fleet, besides gold, also brought Ethiopian slaves. Others want Ophir to be Sofala, which is on the route for those sailing to Goa; whence the Septuagint renders it: Sophar (for the letter r is easily changed into l, as beliar into belial). Others, such as Josephus in Genesis x, and St. Jerome in Questions on the Hebrew, Gaspar Varrerius, in the book On Ophir, think Ophir to be the Golden Chersonese, or rather the whole coast which is contained by the Pegusians, Malaca and Sumatra, and this is probable: for around these places in the East, not the West, Hevila, the brother of Ophir, the son of Jectan, grandson of Noah, seems to have dwelt, Genesis x, 29. The ancients favor this, while they commonly think the river Phison, which in Genesis ii, 11, is said to encircle the land of Hevila, to be the Ganges: for the Ganges is in Eastern India, not Western; whence Maffei, in book XVI of the History of India, teaches that it can be inferred from Chinese letters that the Pegusians trace their origin to exiled Jews, who were condemned by Solomon to the gold mines of Ophir, and were the first to occupy those places. But more about Ophir in the book of Kings. Furthermore, the best gold from Ophir is called obrizum, as it were Ophirisum, says Isidore, and the same is taught by St. Jerome and Eucherius. Second, obrizum is called so because it shines brightly with its splendor, as the same Isidore says, XVI Etymologies xvii. Third, Pliny, lib. XXXIII, cap. iii: The test of gold, he says, is fire, so that it glows with the same color as fire, and they call it obrizum, not from glowing, but because it is most purified, pure indeed, as it were gold obrusam, that is, tested and purified, as Seneca teaches, book II, epistle 23. Or certainly, as Hermolaus from Phocio in that passage of Pliny, obrizum is called as it were exeuzon, which when tested by fire shines more brightly, gleams, glows like fire: and this seems more true, both because it is nearer and more fitting; and because in both places there is the same letter b, not p, which is in Ophir, but not in obrizum. Be that as it may, gold ophas, pas, ophir, obrizum, is the best and most excellent gold; whence also the Arabs call gold Fes; hence John Leo in the Description of Africa, lib. III, thinks the city called Fessa is named from this, because when the foundations of the city were being laid, fes, that is, a heap of gold, was found there. Otherwise Mercerus, Forsterus and others think, namely that gold pas, or ophas, or uphaz, or muphas (for these are all the same) is called not from a place, but from a quality, and is the same as if you were to say: Gold strong and solid, both because purified, and because dug from the best vein; for pas or ophas is said from the root פזז pazaz, that is, he strengthened, he solidified, hence פז paz, that is, strong, solid; muphas indeed plainly appears to be a passive participle hiphil from the root already mentioned pazaz. But it is opposed by the fact that Jeremiah here says: "Gold from Ophas is brought." Ophas therefore is the name of a place, not of a quality of gold. Again, pazaz does not mean to strengthen, to solidify, as the Rabbis wish; but to become soft, to be ductile, soluble, expedient, easy like gold: for thus our translator and the Septuagint render it, Genesis xlix, 24; hence also פוץ puts, which is akin to pazaz, means to scatter, to spread apart. Therefore from the gold of Ophas or pas the verb pazaz is derived, that is, to be ductile like the gold of Ophas: for the best gold, such as was Ophas, can be bent, drawn and extended into the thinnest leaves, as Pineda rightly observed, book IV On Solomon, chapter xviii, where however he distinguishes Ophas from Ophir, as also some others probably distinguish these two places, and think that gold brought from Ophas was better than gold brought from Ophir: although the Chaldean thinks otherwise, as I said at the beginning. Furthermore, muphas is not a participle from pazaz, but by crasis is the same as מאופז meophaz, that is, from Ophas, namely brought. THE WORK OF THE ARTIFICER, — that is, gold and silver is wrought by the work of a goldsmith, or coppersmith, or silversmith, so that he may make an idol from it, or rather already made from wood, as preceded, he may gild it or silver it: and by the work of another artificer, namely a tailor, it is clothed with purple and hyacinth, that is, with a garment of violet and purple color. For idols made from pure gold are not usually clothed with hyacinth, as being a baser thing; but those made from wood, and adorned with golden borders or leaves, are accustomed to be clothed with it. THE WORK OF ARTIFICERS ALL THESE THINGS, — as if to say: There is absolutely nothing in idols that is not made by the hands of artificers, whether you regard their matter and substance, or their garments and ornaments: therefore idols have nothing of life and reason; much less do they have anything of divinity and godhead.
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10. THE NATIONS SHALL NOT ENDURE HIS THREATENING. — In Hebrew זעמו zaamo, his indignation, namely his vengeance. He contrasts God with idols, in that he is angry and punishes, these are not.
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11. THUS THEREFORE SHALL YOU SAY TO THEM, — that is, to idols and to the worshippers of idols, namely the Chaldeans: GODS THAT HAVE NOT MADE HEAVEN AND EARTH, LET THEM PERISH FROM THE EARTH. — Note that Jeremiah here speaks in Chaldean: אלהיא די שמיא וארקא לא עבדו יאבדו מארעא ומן תחות שמיא: elahaia di scemaia, vearka la abadu, iebadu meara umin techot scemata, that is, gods that have not made heaven and earth, let them perish from the earth, and from those things which are under heaven, because namely they unjustly occupy them as if they were alien: for they are indeed creatures of God. Thus we say of a false possessor of a house: It is not fitting for him to dwell in a house belonging to another, or which another has built. Whence it appears that Jeremiah wrote this in the first year of Zedekiah to Joakim and others led captive into Babylon, so that namely they themselves might respond these words to the Chaldeans, inviting the Hebrews to the worship of their idols. Thus the Chaldean and others. Maldonatus adds that Jeremiah speaks in Chaldean in order to mock idols and idolaters: for we are accustomed to ridicule barbarous men when we use their barbarous speech. In Chaldean, note in passing that the Hebrews say artsa, that is, earth, while the Chaldeans say now arka, now ara. Thus St. Eustathius (whose relics I have venerated in Rome in the temple of the German College), a leader of soldiers under Diocletian in Armenia, when he was compelled by Lysius the prefect to worship idols, answered intrepidly: "Accursed demons and deaf simulacra, no man ever who was in his right mind deemed worthy of adoration. For it was said: Gods that have not made heaven and earth, let them perish." Wherefore, burned by fire and torn by rods, he gave no cry or change of countenance, as if he suffered in another's body, mocking the tyrant and enduring the most bitter torments, at length approaching the pyre as if to a feast, from there pure he flew away with the flame as if to God. The Church commemorates his feast on the 13th of December. Similarly St. Perpetua and St. Felicity, with their kinsmen Satyr, Revocatus and Secundulus, condemned to beasts, going to the amphitheater, through the streets sang cheerfully and fearlessly: "All the gods of the gentiles are demons; but the Lord made heaven and earth." Wherefore by order of the Prefect they were beaten with many blows; yet with greater strength of mind and voice they repeated the same verse, praising and glorifying God. And entering the amphitheater generously, soon St. Perpetua and Satyr were torn by lions, St. Felicity truly by leopards, and flew to heaven, in the year of the Lord 203, Severus reigning. On which account St. Augustine often celebrates these two matrons and their fortitude and love toward God, as in book I On the Soul, chapter x, in Psalm xlvii, sermon On the Barbarous Time, and elsewhere. Similarly St. Publia, mother of St. John Chrysostom, her husband dead, establishing a choir of virgins and becoming abbess, when Julian the Apostate passed by, she sang with her virgins in a louder voice that Davidic verse: "The idols of the gentiles are silver and gold;" and: "Let them become like to them, that make them, and all such as trust in them." Julian, indignant, ordered them to be silent. But Publia commanding, they sang more strongly and cheerfully: "Let God arise, and let his enemies be scattered." Wherefore Julian ordered Publia to be beaten with blows and her cheeks to be bloodied. She, however, considering this insult as the highest honor, returning home, rebuked the tyrant, as was her custom, with spiritual songs. Thus Theodoret, book III of History, chapter xvii, and the Roman Martyrology on the 9th of October.
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12. WHO MAKETH, — supply, as if to say, But our God is he who prepareth, that is, as the Hebrew and Chaldean have it, who foundeth the world in wisdom.
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13. AT HIS VOICE, — that is to say, at His command in the air rain is produced: or at the thunder, which is the voice of God, rain follows, Psalm xxviii, 3: "The voice of the Lord is upon the waters, the God of majesty hath thundered, the Lord is upon many waters." AND HE LIFTETH UP CLOUDS, — exhalations. FROM THE ENDS OF THE EARTH, — that is from the sea, which is as it were the boundary encompassing the earth. Thus Theodoret. Hugo, St. Jerome, Lyran. Or from the outermost surface of the earth: for from this vapors ascend, others from mountains. Most excellently Sanchez: The extremities, he says, or the end of the heavens, is called that part of the sky which appears extreme to us, because the common people think the sky ends there: thus also the extreme part of the earth is called that which the common people judge to be extreme; for from there in the distance vapors are seen to rise in the evening, from which rain is generated. HE MAKETH LIGHTNINGS INTO RAIN, — that is to say, God is wonderfully powerful, who makes it so that from fiery lightnings, indeed, as Pagninus renders it, among the lightnings, rain follows and is mingled: for thundering and flashing clouds are as it were roaring lions, and as it were engines of war shaking the earth. These He immediately soothes, dissolves, and as it were tames with rain. HE BRINGETH FORTH WIND OUT OF HIS TREASURES, — as it were from a secret chamber or secret receptacles of His omnipotence: for we are ignorant whence winds come. Or secondly, "out of His treasures," that is out of His riches: for among the riches of God are also winds. Note here the antitheses of idols and God, which clearly show that God is truly God, not idols. First, idols are dead things, namely stones or wood: but God is "the living God." Second, idols began in time: but God is "the eternal king." Third, idols were made by man with an axe and a plane like other works of craftsmen: but God, unbegotten, created the heavens and the earth, and consequently also the matter from which idols were made. Fourth, idols do not feel, do not know, nor can they do good or evil: but God feels, knows, sees and provides for all things; hence from His treasures at the fitting time He produces winds, lightnings, rains, etc. Fifth, idols cannot avenge their contemners: but God, most strong, and equally zealous, avenges the contempt of Himself, so that no one can endure His wrath and vengeance. Whence it is left to be concluded: Therefore idols are to be mocked and despised; but God is to be feared, loved and worshipped. Mystically St. Jerome: Clouds, he says, are doctors and preachers; these God brings forth from the ends of the earth, that is from a humble station, and as it were from His own abasement: on account of which He makes them efficacious, so that they are as it were thunders and lightnings, which soon dissolve and resolve into the contrition and tears of hearers, and the change of life.
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14. EVERY MAN IS BECOME FOOLISH BY KNOWLEDGE. Vatablus, man becomes brutish through knowledge, namely while he wishes to investigate fully the causes of rain, lightning, winds, of which God alone has knowledge and providence. Thus St. Jerome, Lyran, Hugo, Dionysius. Thus Psalm cxxxviii, 6, it is said: "Thy knowledge is become wonderful to me; it is high, and I cannot reach to it." Certainly the generation, circulation, and motion of winds, so varied and contrary, has twisted and twists the minds of all natural philosophers: nor has there been anyone hitherto who assigned their cause clearly. Hence Virgil, Aeneid I, feigns them to be sent forth from Aeolia by Aeolus. Second and more aptly: "Every man is become foolish by knowledge," namely his own, by which, since he cannot penetrate the force of stars, winds, lightnings, he admired them, and as it were worshipped them as rulers of the world, and as gods, and made idols for them; for the discourse is about idols. Thus the Chaldean, St. Thomas, Lyran. Again, man is foolish in his knowledge, by which he carves idols, and melts gold, so that from them he might fashion an idol: for it is foolish to think that he can make God, and that God is one who is made by a craftsman, when rather the craftsman himself, and his art and knowledge, than his work, should be held to be divine. Whence it follows: "Every artificer is confounded in his graven image; for what he hath molten is false, and there is no spirit in them." Thus by Castro and Sanchez. Morally: "Man is foolish," says St. Thomas, "in the knowledge of God. First, on account of the pride of the heart, Rom. i: Professing themselves to be wise, they became fools. Second, on account of curious inquiry, and excessive fatigue of the head; whence King Agrippa said to Paul: Much learning doth make thee mad, Acts xxvi. Third, on account of the uncertainty of knowledge. Isaiah xlvii: This thy knowledge and thy wisdom hath deceived thee. Fourth, on account of the perversity of works. Wisdom ii, 21: For their own malice blinded them." Thus far St. Thomas. CONFUSED, — the artificer of the graven image or idol is affected with shame. FOR WHAT HE HATH MOLTEN IS FALSE, — that is to say, because the graven image which he made deceives and lies that it is God.
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15. IN THE TIME OF VISITATION (that is of punishment), THEY SHALL PERISH, — idols, and the idolaters of the Chaldeans (for of these he speaks), namely when Darius and Cyrus laid waste Babylon. Otherwise Theodoret: "They shall perish," he says, when the Apostles shall root out idolatry; and indeed, says St. Thomas, "they shall perish" on the day of judgment.
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16. THE GOD OF JACOB HAS NO EQUAL, — that is to say, God is not like idols, He who is the hereditary portion of Israel: "My portion is God forever," says David, Psalm lxxii, 26; Psalm xv, 5; Numbers xviii, 20; because namely Israel possessed God, the worship of God, friendship with God, His law and all good things. In turn Israel is "the rod of his inheritance," that is the inheritance of God; because God possessed this people descended from the patriarchs, as it were by hereditary succession, Deuteronomy xxxii, 8, 9. For because inheritances were measured out and divided by rods and ropes; hence rod and ropes signify the hereditary portion, Psalm lxxiii, 2; Psalm civ, 11. Secondly, Israel is to God schebet, that is a rod, or scepter of God's inheritance, because God established His kingdom in Israel. Thus St. Jerome, Rabanus, St. Thomas. Tropologically, the portion of the avaricious man is money, of the obscene man lust, of the proud man dominion; but the true Israelite, despising all things, desires to possess God alone, and says: "My portion, O Lord, I have said, to keep thy law," Psalm cxviii, 57. Whence he is the dwelling place and seat and temple of God; that man is the dwelling of dragons, that is of demons, verse 22.
10:17
17. "Gather," namely, thou O Babylon, as Vatablus and Kimchi: or rather, as Theodoret, Lyra, St. Thomas and others with St. Jerome: Thou, O Jerusalem and Judea! THOU THAT DWELLEST IN SIEGE, — thou who art soon to be besieged. The Chaldee and others translate, thou that dwellest in fortification, or in a fortified place; the Septuagint, in the elect, that is in an elect place, gather thy confusion; the Chaldee, thy merchandise; Maldonatus and Sanchez, thy idols, Isaiah xlvi, 1. The Septuagint, thy substance, that is, all thy riches and strength which shall profit thee nothing, except unto confusion: for all these things in which thou didst trust shall not free thee from the Chaldeans, but shall go with thee into captivity. Thus St. Jerome. It is irony, or rather sarcasm, or hostile mockery. See chapter xi, verse 14.
10:18
18. I WILL CAST FAR OFF (in Hebrew קולע kolea, that is as it were I will hurl far with a sling), THE INHABITANTS OF THE LAND (of Judea): AND I WILL TROUBLE THEM SO THAT THEY SHALL BE FOUND, — in the city and in tribulation, so that they cannot escape it, but shall be caught and taken by the Chaldeans. Thus St. Jerome. Others, as the Chaldee and Vatablus, read ימצאו iimtseu, that is that they may find, namely anguishes and punishments which I have threatened them; or, as Theodoret, that they may find themselves and God, whom by denying they have lost. Some read, that they may not be found, that is, that they may not survive, but may die and perish. But the Hebrew, Chaldee and Roman texts read, that they shall be found.
10:19
19. WOE IS ME FOR MY DESTRUCTION! — that is to say, I grieve over my destruction. It is the voice of Jerusalem, that is of the people of Jerusalem. Whence he adds: I SAID: SURELY THIS IS MY INFIRMITY (that is affliction and plague) MINE (that is my fault has befallen me; therefore) I WILL BEAR IT, — I will patiently endure what I have brought upon myself. Thus St. Jerome. It can be translated with Vatablus: How shall I be able to bear this infirmity? Note here the frequent and silent enallage, and change of the person speaking, in the manner of dialogue: for now God speaks, now the people, now the Prophet. Morally: "Divine punishment," says St. Thomas, "ought to be borne patiently: first, on account of the affection of him who strikes. Proverbs iii: Reject not the discipline of the Lord, my son, neither be thou wearied whilst thou art reproved by him. Secondly, on account of the consciousness of guilt. Micah vii: I will bear the wrath of the Lord, because I have sinned against him. Thirdly, on account of the expectation of reward. James i: Blessed is the man that endureth temptation, for when he hath been proved, he shall receive the crown of life, which God hath promised to them that love him. Fourthly, on account of the uselessness of murmuring. Lamentations iii, 39: Why should a living man, a man for the sins of his flesh, murmur?" Thus far St. Thomas.
10:20
20. MY TABERNACLE IS LAID WASTE (my place, my seat; namely Jerusalem itself, is laid waste, and) MY CORDS, — that is my villages, and neighboring towns which sustained and nourished it as it were by ropes, are broken down, and there is none to build and restore them. For in former times the first houses of the patriarchs were tents; hence all houses and cities are called tabernacles.
10:21
21. BECAUSE THE PASTORS HAVE DONE FOOLISHLY, — namely the priests, likewise the kings and princes. Thus the Chaldee. He transfers the blame for the captivity of the people to the priests and princes. THEY UNDERSTOOD NOT, — they did not foresee the evils coming and the threats of the Prophets, they did not act prudently to avoid them. Thus St. Jerome and Rabanus. A VOICE OF HEARING (that is a great and clear voice, so that it may be easily heard) BEHOLD IT COMETH, AND A GREAT COMMOTION, — namely a great tumult of war, that is to say Behold the sound and roar of the coming Babylonian, and of his horses, arms and chariots is heard. Thus St. Jerome. These are the words of Jeremiah.
10:23
23. I KNOW, O LORD, THAT MAN'S WAY IS NOT HIS OWN. — It signifies that the Chaldeans came to devastate Judea, not so much of their own accord as stirred up by God; as St. Jerome says: "What we suffer from the Babylonians is not the result of their strength, but of our merit and thy indignation." Whence in Hebrew it is, not laadam, that is, of that notable man, namely Nebuchadnezzar, his way: for when Nebuchadnezzar thought to make war upon the Ammonites, God turned him aside, and as it were thrust him upon Jerusalem that he might lay it waste, Ezech. xxi, 19 and 22. See cap. xxxvi and the sayings at cap. vi, vers. 4. And consequently it was not in the power of the Jews to resist him and turn him aside. Otherwise Hugo, Lyra, Dionysius, as if to say: I know that man is weak and blind among so many enemies; whence he easily falls and sins: I pray therefore that thou consider his infirmity, and since thou wilt punish us, do so not severely, but gently and mercifully. Whence St. Augustine refers this to the correction of the predestined, not to the damnation of the reprobate, lib. II De Peccat. merit. cap. xvii. Whence he says: "The Prophet adds: Correct me, O Lord; yet in judgment, not in thy wrath; as if to say: I know that it pertains to my correction that I am less helped by thee, that my steps may be perfectly directed; yet do not deal with me in this manner as in the wrath by which thou hast determined to damn the wicked, but as in the judgment by which thou teachest thy own not to be proud." Hence also Francis Suarez and other Scholastics thus expound it: "Man's way is not his own," that is, the works of grace, which are unto eternal life, are not in man's power without God's inspiration and aid, because God must stir man up to them by his preventing grace: for if we need God's direction in natural things, how much more in supernatural things. Foolishly therefore do heretics wrest this passage against free will. First, because, even by their own admission, he does not speak of every man, but only of Nebuchadnezzar, as if to say: I know that Nebuchadnezzar cannot come, nor take Jerusalem, unless thou help him: "For a horse is prepared for the day of battle; but the Lord giveth safety," Prov. xxi, 31. Secondly, even if he were speaking of every man, as Maldonatus and others wish, yet he does not deny free will, but only signifies that it needs God's aid, and is directed by God and subject to God's providence: and especially that the Jews and other men cannot escape the hands of the Chaldeans and other enemies unless by God's guidance and provident government. Morally, learn here to rely in all things upon God and his direction; for, as it is said in Psalm. xxxvi: "With the Lord the steps of a man shall be directed, and he shall like well his way;" and Prov. xvi: "The heart of man disposeth his way; but the Lord must direct his steps." Whence Theodoret, expounding that passage of Psal. liv: "Cast thy care upon the Lord, and he shall nourish thee: Have God as thy governor, and charioteer, and let thy affairs depend upon his providence. For in this way thou shalt remain unshaken and unchangeable." Wherefore St. Catherine of Siena, when dying, left this memorable instruction to her own: "It behooves one who is a Christian to have great confidence in God's providence, knowing that all things which happen to him or to others come from divine providence; not from hatred of him, but from singular love." And St. Augustine at the end of lib. I Solilog.: "Believe steadfastly, he says, in God, and commit thyself wholly to him as much as thou canst; be not willing to be as it were thy own master, and in thy power, but profess thyself to be the servant of his most merciful and most useful Lord. For thus he will not cease to lift thee up to himself, nor will he permit anything to happen to thee except what shall profit thee, even if thou knowest it not." As therefore the eyes of servants are in the hands of their masters, and as the eyes of a handmaid in the hands of her mistress: so let our eyes be directed toward the Lord our God, and let them always depend upon him and his pious and diligent providence. Thus did St. Gregory the Great commit himself to God, and he learned this in the monastery, where he gave himself wholly to God and his contemplation. Whence, when made Pontiff, for thirteen years he accomplished so many and such great things so happily, and that always in weak health, that he who reads his deeds and life in John the Deacon is amazed. A rare example also is related by Moschus in the Spiritual Meadow, cap. cci, of a noble youth of Constantinople, to whom his dying parent, distributing all his goods to the poor, left Christ as his guardian, nor did Christ fail him: for he procured for him a rich and noble bride beyond all hope. I have said more on this matter in Exodus cap. xxxiii, vers. 17.
10:24
24. CORRECT ME, O LORD, YET IN JUDGMENT, — that is, moderately, with measure and proportion, gently and discreetly: for this is the Hebrew mispat, namely that thou dost not utterly destroy me in thy wrath, and reduce me to nothing. In Hebrew, diminish us not, that is, reduce us not to fewness. It is similar to cap. xxx, vers. 11. It is the voice of Jerusalem.
10:25
25. POUR OUT. — He transferred both the words and the meaning from Psalm 78:6. JACOB — Israel, namely the Jews. ITS BEAUTY (all the beauty and magnificence of the temple, houses and streets of Jerusalem) THEY SCATTERED. — The Chaldeans. The Septuagint, for beauty, render pastures, that is forums and other places of the city, in which citizens, like sheep in pastures, were nourished with all delights.
Machine translation from the Latin, not reviewed.
10:2
Hic ostendit populi dignitatem, ut ex hoc appareat eorum culpa gravior, et poena justior. Et dividitur in tres partes. In prima ostendit eorum dignitatem ex divina majestate; in secunda ex divino foedere, cap. 11: verbum quod factum est a domino ad Jeremiam; in tertia ex dimissa adhaesione, vel protectione, cap. 13: haec dicit dominus ad me. Circa primum duo. In primo ostendit dignitatem eorum in comparatione ad alios populos, ex hoc ipso quod verbum domini colebant; in secunda comminatur poenam, quia cultum Dei repulerunt per idolatriam, ibi, congrega de terra confusionem tuam. Circa primum duo. Primo ostendit differentiam deorum; secundo ex hoc concludit destructionem cultorum, ibi, stultus factus est omnis homo. Circa primum tria. Primo discernit Deum verum a falsis diis, quantum ad dominii majestatem: secundo quantum ad durationis aeternitatem, ibi, doctrina vanitatis eorum; tertio quantum ad divinitatis veritatem, ibi, sic ergo dicetis eis. Circa primum duo. Primo ostendit idolorum vanitatem, et infirmitatem, secundo divinam majestatem, ibi, non est similis tui, domine. Circa primum duo. Primo proponit praeceptum, ut non flectantur ad idolatriam, neque gentium imitatione, juxta vias; neque caelestium magnitudine, a signis caeli nolite metuere, ita scilicet quod in eis divinitatem credatis; vel quod necessitatem habeant super ea quae dependent ex libero arbitrio. Deut. 4: ne forte elevatis oculis ad caelum, videas solem et lunam et omnia astra caeli, et errore deceptus adores ea, et colas quae creavit dominus Deus ut ministerium cunctis gentibus quae sub caelo sunt.
10:3
Secundo probat propositum, ponens idolorum vanitatem: leges populorum, quibus ad idolatriam se obligant, vanae, quia inutiles, et sine veritate divinae scientiae. Sap. 13: vani sunt omnes homines in quibus non subest scientia Dei. Et hanc vanitatem probat ex substantiae vilitate quantum ad materiam, quia lignum. Isa. 44: succidit cedros, tulit ilicem, et quercum, quae steterat inter ligna saltus. Quantum ad causam efficientem principalem. Opus manus; et instrumentalem, in ascia. Sap. 13: infelices sunt, et inter mortuos spes illorum est qui appellaverunt deos opera manuum hominum, et cetera. Isa. 44: fecit illud in angularibus, et in circino tornavit illud, et fecit imaginem viri quasi speciosum hominem habitantem in domo. Quantum ad formam decoris. Argento. Baruch ult.: ligna eorum polita a fabro, ipsa etiam inaurata, et inargentata, falsa sunt, et non possunt loqui.
10:4
Et compositionis, clavis, et malleis. Isa. 41: confortavit faber aerarius percutiens malleo, eum qui cudebat tunc temporis, dicens: glutino bonum est: et confortavit eum clavis, ut non moveretur. Probat etiam ex operis infirmitate, quia non habent operationem sensitivam, neque intellectivam: in similitudinem palmae quae non intelligit, quamvis decora sit, et non loquentur, quantum ad actum rationis, portata, scilicet ab aliis, quia incedere non valent, quantum ad operationem sensitivae animae. Ps. 113: os habent, et non loquentur; oculos habent, et non videbunt; aures habent, et non audient; nares habent, et non odorabunt; manus habent, et non palpabunt; pedes habent, et non ambulabunt; non clamabunt in gutture suo.
10:5
Tertio concludit intentum: nolite ergo timere: quaedam enim colebantur, ut bene facerent; quaedam, ne male. Isa. 41: bene quoque, aut male si potestis facite, et loquemur, et videamus simul.
10:6
Hic ostendit divinae dominationis majestatem: et primo ostendit singularem potentiam: magnus, in seipso, et magnum nomen, in hominum opinione.
10:7
Et ex hoc concludit timorem: quis non timebit? Supra 5: me ergo non timebitis, ait dominus, et a facie mea non dolebitis? Secundo ostendit suam singularem scientiam: et primo excludens sapientiae aequalitatem: tuum est enim decus. Apoc. 7: benedictio et claritas et sapientia et gratiarum actio, honor et virtus et fortitudo Deo nostro in saecula saeculorum. Amen. Secundo ostendens eorum fatuitatem in comparatione ad divinam sapientiam; et in universis regnis eorum nullus est similis tui.
10:8
Pariter insipientes, in divinis, fatui, in humanis. 1 ad Cor. 3: sapientia hujus mundi stultitia est apud Deum.
Hic ostendit differentiam quantum ad aeternitatem: et primo ostendit idolorum inceptionem quantum ad eorum substantiam, quae de ligno facta sunt: doctrina vanitatis eorum, sapientum in gentibus, lignum, idest idolum de ligno factum. Ab hoc enim sapientia vana ipsorum cernitur. Et quantum ad argentea, argentum; et quantum ad aurea, aurum de Ophir, opus, scilicet haec sunt, artificis, et opus manus; quasi etiam vile opus. Ps. 113: simulacra gentium, argentum et aurum, opera manuum hominum. Et quantum ad eorum ornamenta, hyacinthus: constat enim, illud quod factum est, incepisse. Baruch ult. opertis autem illis veste purpurea, extergunt faciem ipsorum propter pulverem domus, qui est plurimus inter eos. Secundo proponit Dei aeternitatem, adjungens veritatem, et majestatem: quia Deus verus et sempiternus. Isa. 40: Deus sempiternus, dominus qui creavit terminos terrae, non deficiet.
10:10
Et ex his concludit timorem: ab indignatione ejus commovebitur terra; quasi dicat: etiam insensibilia ipsius iram sentiunt: non sustinebunt prae timoris magnitudine. Ps. 17: commota est, et contremuit terra, fundamenta montium conturbata sunt.
10:11
Hic ostendit differentiam quantum ad divinitatis veritatem: quam primo excludit ab idolis, ostendens in eis non esse divinam operationem: sic ergo dicetis eis, cultoribus idolorum. Unde in Hebraeo, Chaldaeo sermone scriptum est: pereant, idest cultus eorum cesset Ps. 18: caeli enarrant gloriam Dei, et opera manuum ejus annuntiat firmamentum.
10:12
Secundo ostendit in Deo esse divinam operationem: et primo quantum ad creationem essentialium partium mundi: qui facit terram, quantum ad infima, praeparat orbem, quantum ad summa. Prov. 3: dominus sapientia fundavit terram, stabilivit caelos prudentia. Ps. 103: extendens caelum sicut pellem, qui tegis aquis superiora ejus. Secundo quantum ad passiones aeris, ut non solum priora a primis esse credantur, sicut quidam philosophi dicunt; sed etiam omnium auctor, quasi operans in omnibus. Et primo quantum ad ea quae fiunt ex materia humida, sicut nubes, et pluviae: ad vocem, ad praeceptum, ab extremitatibus, propter abundantiam aquarum in circuitu terrae. Secundo quantum ad ea quae fiunt ex materia humida et sicca, fulgura: immutat ordinem, quia post fulgura frequenter sequitur pluvia. Tertio quantum ad ea quae fiunt ex sicca materia: et educit de thesauris, de occultis causis, et locus in quibus generantur. Psal. 134: educens nubes ab extremis terrae, fulgura in pluviam fecit.
10:14
Hic concludit destructionem cultorum: et primo ponit idolatrarum ignominiam quantum ad stultitiam: stultus factus est, apparuit, a scientia sua, qua idolum finxit. 1 Cor. 1: stultam fecit Deus sapientiam hujus mundi. Et quantum ad confusionis poenam, confusus est. Ps. 96: confundantur omnes qui adorant sculptilia, et qui gloriantur in simulacris suis. Et assignat causam ex idolorum falsitate: quoniam falsum est, vanitate, vana, et finitione.
10:15
In tempore visitationis suae peribunt. Sap. 14: quod factum est, cum illo qui fecit, tormenta patietur.
10:16
Secundo excludit Judaeorum gloriam: non est his similis pars Jacob. Psalm. 15: dominus pars hereditatis meae, et calicis mei, tu es qui restitues hereditatem meam mihi: quia felicitas cujuslibet est sua pars. Thren. 3: pars mea dominus, dixit anima mea, propterea expectabo eum. Virga hereditatis, quasi sceptrum ipsius, quia hereditarium regnum ipsius est. Vel virga, quasi sors. Deut. 32: pars autem domini populus ejus, Jacob funiculus hereditatis ejus.
10:18
Hic comminatur eis poenam, quia hanc dignitatem non servaverunt: et primo comminatur poenam; secundo propheta petit misericordiam ibi, scio, domine, quia non est hominis via ejus. Circa primum tria. Primo comminatur poenam; secundo, poenae causam, ibi, quia stulte egerunt pastores; tertio, poenae ordinem, ibi, vox auditionis ecce venit. Circa primum duo. Primo dominus praesignat poenam obsidionis: congrega, in urbe, de terra, de agris, confusionem, idest fructus tuos, qui sunt confusione digni. Supra 8: congregans congregabo eos, ait dominus. Et poenam captivitatis: quia haec dicit dominus: ecce ego longe projiciam habitatores terrae in hac vice, quasi dicat: ulterius non parcam: ita ut non inveniantur, in urbe: vel quia major pars mortua est. Thren. ult.: projiciens repulisti nos. Secundo populus ex hoc territus plangit futuram poenam: et primo in generali, plangens poenam, vae mihi. Infra 30: insanabilis fractura tua, quia pro peccatis.
10:19
Et promittit patientiam: ego autem dixi: plane haec infirmitas mea est, quasi pro peccatis mihi debita, et portabo illam, patienter. Mich. 7: iram domini portabo, quoniam peccavi ei. Secundo in speciali quantum ad destructionem domorum: tabernaculum, quia domus ita facile sicut tentoria destructa sunt, funiculi, quibus tentoria extenduntur. Supra 4: repente vastata sunt tabernacula mea subito pelles meae. Et quantum ad afflictionem habitatorum, filii mei, Baruch. 5: exierunt abs te pedibus ducti ab inimicis. Non est qui extendat, quasi qui reaedificet.
Hic assignat communem poenam per ordinem, quia peccata praelatorum sunt causa caecitatis ipsorum. Sap. 2: excaecavit eos malitia eorum. Et haec causa destructionis populi. Matth. 15: si caecus caeco ducatum praestet, ambo in foveam cadunt. Ezech. 34: dispersae sunt oves meae, eo quod non esset pastor et factae sunt in devorationem omnium bestiarum agri, et dispersae sunt.
Hic determinat ordinem poenae, praesignans hostem ab Aquilone venientem. Supra 1: ab Aquilone pandetur omne malum super omnes cognationes terrae.
10:23
Hic petit misericordiam: et primo ostendit petendi necessitatem: non est hominis via, quantum ad electionem, ut ambulet, quantum ad executionem, dirigat, quantum ad ordinationem in finem; et ita nec in potestate nostra resistere, nec Chaldaei impugnare; sed totum dependet ex tua dispositione. Psal. 36: a domino gressus hominis dirigentur, et viam ejus volet. Prov. 16: cor hominis disponit viam suam; sed domini est dirigere gressus ejus.
10:24
Secundo ponit petitionem qua petit populus misericordiam: corripe me in judicio, consuetae misericordiae, non condemnationis, de quo in Psalm. 142: non intres in judicium cum servo tuo domine, quia non justificabitur in conspectu tuo omnis vivens: et non in furore, secundum debitae vindictae mensuram, ne forte ad nihilum redigas me: justum enim esset ut peccans in Deum ab ipso relinqueretur, et sic in nihilum tenderet. Et sic non facit contra praeceptum domini supra 14: tu ergo noli orare pro populo isto quia non petit ut non puniantur, sed ne omnino deleantur. Psalm. 37: domine ne in furore tuo arguas me, neque in ira tua corripias me. Et petit hostibus iram.
10:25
Effunde indignationem: et assignat causam, quia comederunt. Psalm. 78: effunde iram tuam in gentes quae te non noverunt, et in regna quae nomen tuum non invocaverunt: quia comederunt Jacob, et locum ejus desolaverunt. Nota, quod stultus est homo a scientia Dei: propter cordis elationem. Rom. 1: dicentes se esse sapientes stulti facti sunt. Propter inquirendi curiositatem. Act. 26: multae litterae ad insaniam te deduxerunt. Propter scientiae incertitudinem. Isa. 47: haec scientia tua, et sapientia tua decepit te. Propter operis perversitatem. Sap. 2: excaecavit enim eos malitia eorum. Item nota, quod debet portari divina percussio patienter: propter affectum percutientis. Prov. 1: disciplinam domini, fili mi, ne abjicias, nec deficias, cum ab eo corriperis. Propter conscientiam criminis. Mich. 7: iram domini portabo, quoniam peccavi ei. Propter expectationem muneris. Jac. 5: beatus vir qui suffert tentationem, quoniam cum probatus fuerit, accipiet coronam vitae, quam repromisit Deus diligentibus se. Propter inutilitatem murmuris. Thren. 3: quid murmuravit homo vivens, vir pro peccatis suis?
10:2
… Sacred Scripture: "Do not turn to mediums or consult fortune-tellers, lest you be defiled by their contact: I am the Lord your God" (Lev. 19:31). "Do not be afraid of the signs of the sky, which the Gentiles fear, for the rites of the peoples are vain" (Jer. 10:2; cf. also Is. 47:13).
10:3
… often polemic against pagan idolatry, especially in the more recent books (Wis. 14:13 ff.), but also in more ancient texts, particularly in the Letter of Jeremiah and in frequent very energetic affirmations of the great prophets (Is. 40:19, 20; 44:13-19; Jer. 10:3 ff.; Ez. 6:4, 5; 14:6 ff.; Dan. 3:12 ff.). …
10:9
The Hebrew Tartīš is identified with Ταρτήσσος, the Ταρσήβον of Polybius (III, 24, 2), in Spain: Tartessus on the Baetis or Guadalquivir (Herodotus, I, 163; IV, 152). It was a wealthy colony of Tyre (Is. 23; Ez. 27, 12), famous for its commerce (ibid. 38, 13); silver was extracted there (Ier. 10, 9). Often in the Old Testament there is mention of "ships of T.", large ships used for long voyages (I Reg. 10, 22; 22, 49; Is. 2, 16; Ez. 27, 25; Ps. 48, 8). In the table of nations, …
10:11
of an inscription have come to light from the excavations of Arslan Tash, which seem to represent the oldest document in Aramaic so far possessed and which is dated back to the 9th century B.C. - b) Some biblical texts: Gen. 31:47 (two words); Jer. 10:11; Ezra 4:8-6:18; 7:22-26; Dan. 2:4-7:28. - c) The papyri, inscriptions and ostraca of Egypt (5th and 4th centuries B.C.), especially from Elephantine (v.). - d) The Aramaic words of …
Sometimes the Bible deals in a practical manner with the problem of God's existence and resolves it with the principle of causality (Heb. 11:3; Rom. 1:20; Wis. 13:1-15:19; Ps. 18:2; Job 12:7 ff.; Jer. 10:11; Is. 37:16; 40:7). Usually the demonstration is based on the cosmological argument. …
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.