God expostulates with the Jews for their ingratitude and infidelity.
God expostulateth with the Iewes, 6. that they regard not his great benefites 8. Some priestes, and (pretended) prophetes seruing false goddes, 23. and denying their fault, 25. are obstinate in idolatrie: 36. for which they shal be confounded.
1And the word of the Lord came to me, saying:E il Signore parlommi, dicendo:AND the word of our Lord was made to me, saying: Goe,Et factum est verbum Domini ad me, dicens: 2Go, and cry in the ears of Jerusalem, saying: Thus saith the Lord: I have remembered thee, pitying thy youth, and the love of thy espousals, when thou followedst me in the desert, in a land that is not sown.Va, e grida alle orecchie di Gerusalemme, dicendo: Queste cose dice il Signore: Io mi son ricordato di te, avendo pietà di tua adolescenza, dell'amore del tuo sposalizio, allorché seguitasti me nel deserto, in quella terra, che non si semina.and crie in the eares of Ierusalem, saying: Thus saith our Lord: I haue remembred thee, pitying thy youth, and the charitie of thy despousing, when thou didest folow me in the desert, in a land that is not sowen.Vade, et clama in auribus Jerusalem, dicens: / Hæc dicit Dominus: / Recordatus sum tui, miserans adolescentiam tuam, / et caritatem desponsationis tuæ, / quando secuta es me in deserto, / in terra quæ non seminatur. 3Israel is holy to the Lord, the firstfruits of his increase: all they that devour him offend: evils shall come upon them, saith the Lord.Israele è consagrato al Signore; egli è suo frutto primaticcio. Quei che lo divorano, son rei di peccato: le sciagure tutte verran sopra di essi, dice il Signore.Israel is holie to our Lord, the first fruites of his fruites: al they that doe deuoure it doe sinne: euil shal come vpon them, saith our Lord.Sanctus Israël Domino, / primitiæ frugum ejus: / omnes qui devorant eum delinquunt: / mala venient super eos, / dicit Dominus. 4Hear ye the word of the Lord, O house of Jacob, and all ye families of the house of Israel:Udite la Parola del Signore, casa di Giacobbe, e voi tutte, o famiglie della stirpe d'Israele:Heare ye the word of our Lord ô house of Iacob, and al ye kinredes of the house of Israel:Audite verbum Domini, domus Jacob, / et omnes cognationes domus Israël. 5Thus saith the Lord: What iniquity have your fathers found in me, that they are gone far from me, and have walked after vanity, and are become vain?Queste cose dice il Signore: Qual ingiustizia trovarono in me i padri vostri quando si allontanaron da me, e andarono dietro alla vanità, e diventarono vani?thus saith our Lord: What iniquitie haue your fathers found in me, that they haue made themselues far from me, and haue walked after vanitie, and are become vaine?Hæc dicit Dominus: / Quid invenerunt patres vestri in me iniquitatis, / quia elongaverunt a me, / et ambulaverunt post vanitatem, / et vani facti sunt ? 6And they have not said: Where is the Lord, that made us come up out of the land of Egypt? that led us through the desert, through a land uninhabited and unpassable, through a land of drought, and the image of death, through a land wherein no man walked, nor any man dwelt?E non dissero: Dov'è il Signore, che ci fece uscire dalla terra d'Egitto; che ci condusse per mezzo al deserto, per una terra disabitata, e impraticabile, per una terra assetata, immagine della morte, per una terra, dove non passò uomo, né uomo alcuno vi pose stanza?And they haue not said: Where is our Lord, that made vs come vp out of the land of Aegypt: that led vs through the defert, through a land inhabitable and without way, through a land of thirst, & the image of death, through a land, wherein no man walked, nor anie man dwelt?Et non dixerunt: Ubi est Dominus / qui ascendere nos fecit de terra Ægypti; / qui traduxit nos per desertum, / per terram inhabitabilem et inviam, / per terram sitis, et imaginem mortis, / per terram in qua non ambulavit vir, / neque habitavit homo ?
7And I brought you into the land of Carmel, to eat the fruit thereof, and the best things thereof: and when ye entered in, you defiled my land and made my inheritance an abomination.Ed io vi feci entrare in una fertilissima terra, affinchè mangiaste i frutti di essa, e le sue delizie: e voi entrati vi, profanaste la terra mia, e della mia eredità ne faceste una abbominazione.And I brought you into the land of Carmel, that you might eate the fruite thereof, and the best thinges therof: and being entered in, you haue contaminated my land, and made mine inheritance an abomination.Et induxi vos in terram Carmeli, / ut comederetis fructum ejus et optima illius: / et ingressi contaminastis terram meam, / et hæreditatem meam posuistis in abominationem. 8The priests did not say: Where is the Lord? and they that held the law knew me not, and the pastors transgressed against me: and the prophets prophesied in Baal, and followed idols.I sacerdoti non hanno detto: Dov'è il Signore? e i custodi della legge non mi han conosciuto, e i pastori hanno prevaricato contro di me: e i profeti hanno profetato nel nome di Baal, e son' andati dietro agl'idoli.The priestes haue not said: Where is our Lord? and they that held the law knew me not, and the pastours haue transgressed against me, and the prophets haue prophecied in Baal, and haue folowed idoles.Sacerdotes non dixerunt: Ubi est Dominus ? / et tenentes legem nescierunt me, / et pastores prævaricati sunt in me, / et prophetæ prophetaverunt in Baal, / et idola secuti sunt. 9Therefore will I yet contend in judgment with you, saith the Lord, and I will plead with your children.Per questo io contenderò in giudizio con voi, dice il Signore, e disputerò co' vostri figliuoli.Therefore wil I yet contend in iudgement with you, saith our Lord, and I wil plead with your children.Propterea adhuc judicio contendam vobiscum, ait Dominus, / et cum filiis vestris disceptabo. 10Pass over to the isles of Cethim, and see: and send into Cedar, and consider diligently: and see if there hath been done any thing like this.Trasportatevi alle isole di Cethim, ed informatevi; mandate a Cedar, ed esaminate diligentemente, e notate se cosa tale è avvenuta.Passe ye to the iles of Cethim, and see: and send into Cedar, and consider earnestly: and see if there hath the like thing bene done.Transite ad insulas Cethim, et videte: / et in Cedar mittite, et considerate vehementer: / et videte si factum est hujuscemodi: 11If a nation hath changed their gods, and indeed they are not gods: but my people have changed their glory into an idol.Se alcuna di quelle genti cambiò suoi dei, e certamente ei non son dei: E il popol mio ha cambiato la sua gloria in un idolo.If a nation hath changed their goddes, and surely they are not goddes: but my people hath changed their glorie into an idol.si mutavit gens deos suos, / et certe ipsi non sunt dii: / populus vero meus mutavit gloriam suam in idolum.
12Be astonished, O ye heavens, at this, and ye gates thereof, be very desolate, saith the Lord.Stupite, o cieli, e inorridiscano fuor di modo le porte del cielo sopra tal fatto, dice il Signore.Be astoined ô heauens vpon this, and ô gates thereof be ye desolate exceedingly, saith our Lord.Obstupescite, cæli, super hoc, / et portæ ejus, desolamini vehementer, dicit Dominus. 13For my people have done two evils. They have forsaken me, the fountain of living water, and have digged to themselves cisterns, broken cisterns, that can hold no water.Imperocché due mali ha fatti il popol mio: hanno abbandonato me fontana di acqua viva, e sono andati a scavarsi delle cisterne, delle cisterne, che gemono, e contener non possono le acque.For two euils hath my people done, Me they haue forsaken the fountaine of liuing water, & haue digged to them selues cesternes: broken cesternes, that are not able to holde waters.Duo enim mala fecit populus meus: / me dereliquerunt fontem aquæ vivæ, / et foderunt sibi cisternas, cisternas dissipatas, / quia continere non valent aquas. 14Is Israel a bondman, or a homeborn slave? why then is he become a prey?Israele è egli forse uno schiavo, o figliuol di una schiava? Per qual motivo adunque è egli messo a saccomanno?Why, is Israel a bondman, or a seruant borne in the house? why then is he become a praye?Numquid servus est Israël, aut vernaculus ? / quare ergo factus est in prædam ? 15The lions have roared upon him, and have made a noise, they have made his land a wilderness: his cities are burnt down, and there is none to dwell in them.I lioni ruggirono contro di lui, alzarono la loro voce: la terra di lui è ridotta un deserto: le sue città sono incendiate, e prive di abitatori.The lions haue roared vpon him, and haue geuen their voice, they haue made his land a wildernes: his cities are burnt vp, & there is none to dwel in them.Super eum rugierunt leones, / et dederunt vocem suam: / posuerunt terram ejus in solitudinem. / Civitates ejus exustæ sunt, / et non est qui habitet in eis. 16The children also of Memphis, and of Taphnes have defloured thee, even to the crown of the head.I figliuoli stessi di Memphi, e di Taphnes ti hanno coperta di obbrobrio fino alla cima del capo.The children also of Memphis, and Taphnes haue defloured thee, euen to the crowne of the head.Filii quoque Mempheos et Taphnes / constupraverunt te usque ad verticem. 17Hath not this been done to thee, because thou hast forsaken the Lord thy God at that time, when he led thee by the way?E non è egli ciò avvenuto a te, perchè hai abbandonato il Signor Dio tuo nel tempo, che egli era tua guida nel tuo viaggio?Is not this done to thee, because thou didest forsake the Lord thy God at that time, when he led thee by the way?Numquid non istud factum est tibi, / quia dereliquisti Dominum Deum tuum / eo tempore quo ducebat te per viam ?
18And now what hast thou to do in the way of Egypt, to drink the troubled water? And what hast thou to do with the way of the Assyrians, to drink the water of the river?E adesso, che pretendi tu coll'andare verso l'Egitto a bere acqua torbida? E che hai tu a fare coll'andare verso gli Assirj a bere l'acqua dell'Eufrate?And now what wilt thou in the way of Aegypt, to drinke the trubled water? And what hast thou to doe with the way of the Assyrians, to drinke the waters of the riuer?Et nunc quid tibi vis in via Ægypti, / ut bibas aquam turbidam ? / et quid tibi cum via Assyriorum, / ut bibas aquam fluminis ? 19Thy own wickedness shall reprove thee, and thy apostasy shall rebuke thee. Know thou, and see that it is an evil and a bitter thing for thee, to have left the Lord thy God, and that my fear is not with thee, saith the Lord the God of hosts.Tua condannazione sarà la tua malvagità, e la tua ribellione griderà contro di te. Riconosci alla prova, come mala cosa, e dolorosa ella è, che tu abbi abbandonato il Signore Dio tuo, e che il mio timore non sia in te, dice il Signore Dio degli eserciti.Thy malice shal reproue thee, and thine apostacie shal rebuke thee. Know thou, & see that it is an euil and a bitter thing for thee, to haue left the Lord thy God, and that my feare is not with thee, saith our Lord the God of hostes.Arguet te malitia tua, / et aversio tua increpabit te. / Scito et vide quia malum et amarum est / reliquisse te Dominum Deum tuum, / et non esse timorem mei apud te, / dicit Dominus Deus exercituum. 20Of old time thou hast broken my yoke, thou hast burst my bands, and thou saidst: I will not serve. For on every high hill, and under every green tree thou didst prostitute thyself.Già da gran tempo tu spezzasti il mio giogo, rompesti i miei legami, e dicesti: Non servirò. Imperocché in ogni alto colle, e sotto ogni ombrosa pianta sfacciata donna peccasti.From the beginning thou hast broken my yoke, thou hast burst my bonds, and thou saidst: I wil not serue. For on euerie litle high hil, and vnder euerie greene thicke tree thou wast laied downe as an harlot.A sæculo confregisti jugum meum: / rupisti vincula mea, / et dixisti: Non serviam. / In omni enim colle sublimi, / et sub omni ligno frondoso, / tu prosternebaris meretrix. 21Yet, I planted thee a chosen vineyard, all true seed: how then art thou turned unto me into that which is good for nothing, O strange vineyard?Ma io ti piantai vigna eletta di magliuoli tutti di buona natura: come adunque hai tu dato in cattivo, o vigna bastarda?But I planted thee an elect vineyard, al true seede: how then art thou turned vnto me into that which is depraued, ô strange vineyard?Ego autem plantavi te vineam electam, / omne semen verum: / quomodo ergo conversa es mihi in pravum, / vinea aliena ?
22Though thou wash thyself with nitre, and multiply to thyself the herb borith, thou art stained in thy iniquity before me, saith the Lord God.Quando tu ti lavassi col nitro, e facessi uso continuo dell'erba borith, dinanzi a me tu se' sordida per la tua iniquità, dice il Signore Dio.If thou shalt wash thyself with nitre, and multiplie to thy self the herbe borith, thou art spotted in thine iniquitie before me, saith our Lord God.Si laveris te nitro, / et multiplicaveris tibi herbam borith, / maculata es in iniquitate tua coram me, / dicit Dominus Deus. 23How canst thou say: I am not polluted, I have not walked after Baalim? see thy ways in the valley, know what thou hast done: as a swift runner pursuing his course.E come dici tu: Io non sono contaminata, non sono andata dietro a Baal? Mira le tue vestigia là in quella valle, rifletti a quello, che hai fatto, agile barbero, che va girando per le sue strade.How sayst thou: I am not polluted, I haue not walked after Baalim? see thy wayes in the valley, know what thou hast done: a swift courser that rideth his wayes.Quomodo dicis: Non sum polluta; / post Baalim non ambulavi ? / Vide vias tuas in convalle; / scito quid feceris: / cursor levis explicans vias suas. 24A wild ass accustomed to the wilderness in the desire of his heart, snuffed up the wind of his love: none shall turn her away: all that seek her shall not fail: in her monthly filth they shall find her.Asina selvaggia avvezza al deserto, la quale accesa dalle sue brame va dietro all'odore di quello, che ama. Niuno può rattenerla. Tutti quegli, che vanno in cerca di lei non avran gran fatica, la troveranno a segni di sue sordidezze.The wild Asse accustomed to the wildernes in the desire of his soule, hath drawen the winde of his loue: none shal turne her away: al that seeke her shal not faile: in her monethlie flowres they shal finde her.Onager assuetus in solitudine, / in desiderio animæ suæ attraxit ventum amoris sui: / nullus avertet eam: / omnes qui quærunt eam non deficient: / in menstruis ejus invenient eam. 25Keep thy foot from being bare, and thy throat from thirst. But thou saidst: I have lost all hope, I will not do it: for I have loved strangers, and I will walk after them.Tieni guardato il tuo piede dalla nudità, e la tua gola dalla sete. Ma tu hai detto: Non ho più speranza: io nol farò; imperocché io ho amato gli stranieri, e anderò dietro a loro.Stay thy foote from nakednes, and thy throate from thirst. And thou saidest: I haue despayred, no, I wil not doe it: for I haue loued strangers, and I wil walke after them.Prohibe pedem tuum a nuditate, / et guttur tuum a siti. / Et dixisti: Desperavi: nequaquam faciam: / adamavi quippe alienos, / et post eos ambulabo.
26As the thief is confounded when he is taken, so is the house of Israel confounded, they and their kings, their princes and their priests, and their prophets.Come rimane confuso un ladro quand'è colto nel furto; così son rimasti confusi i figliuoli d'Israele, egli no, e i loro regi, principi, e i sacerdoti, e i loro profeti,As the theefe is confounded when he is taken, so is the house of Israel confounded, they and their kinges, the princes and priestes, and their prophetes,Quomodo confunditur fur quando deprehenditur, / sic confusi sunt domus Israël, / ipsi et reges eorum, / principes, et sacerdotes, et prophetæ eorum, 27Saying to a stock: Thou art my father: and to a stone: Thou hast begotten me: they have turned their back to me, and not their face: and in the time of their affliction they will say: Arise, and deliver us.I quali dicevano al legno: Tu se' il padre mio: e alla pietra: Tu mi hai generato. Voltarono a me le spalle, e non la faccia; e al tempo della loro afflizione diranno: Levati su, e salvaci.saying to wood: Thou art my father: and to stone: Thou hast begotten me: they haue turned the backe to me, & not the face: and in the time of their affliction they wil say: Arise, and deliuer vs.dicentes ligno: Pater meus es tu: / et lapidi: Tu me genuisti. / Verterunt ad me tergum et non faciem, / et in tempore afflictionis suæ dicent: / Surge, et libera nos. 28Where are the gods, whom thou hast made thee? let them arise and deliver thee in the time of thy affliction: for according to the number of thy cities were thy gods, O Juda.Dove sono i tuoi dei, che tu ti facesti? Sorgano, e ti salvino al tempo di tua afflizione. Imperocché i tuoi dei, o Giuda, erano tanti, quante le tue città.Where are the goddes, whom thou hast made to thee? let them arise and deliuer thee in the time of thine affliction: for according to the number of thy cities were thy goddes ô Iuda.Ubi sunt dii tui quos fecisti tibi ? / surgant, et liberent te in tempore afflictionis tuæ: / secundum numerum quippe civitatum tuarum erant dii tui, Juda. 29Why will you contend with me in judgment? you have all forsaken me, saith the Lord.Perchè mai volete voi disputarla meco in giudizio? Tutti voi avete abbandonato me, dice il Signore.What wil you contend with me in iudgement? you haue al forsaken me, saith our Lord.Quid vultis mecum judicio contendere ? / omnes dereliquistis me, dicit Dominus. 30In vain have I struck your children, they have not received correction: your sword hath devoured your prophets, your generation is like a ravaging lion.Senza frutto io gastigai i vostri figliuoli, non dieder luogo alla correzione. La vostra spada divorò i vostri profeti: fu, come lion che devasta, la vostra stirpe.In vaine haue I striken your children, they haue not receiued discipline: your sworde hath deuoured your prophetes, as a wasting lion is your generation.Frustra percussi filios vestros: / disciplinam non receperunt. / Devoravit gladius vester prophetas vestros: / quasi leo vastator
31See ye the word of the Lord: Am I become a wilderness to Israel, or a lateward springing land? why then have my people said: We are revolted, we will come to thee no more?Ponete mente a quello, che dice il Signore: Son'io stato forse per Israele un deserto, o una terra a bacio? Per qual motivo adunque ha egli detto il mio popolo: Noi ci ritiriamo: noi non verrem più da te?See yee the word of our Lord: why, am I become a wildernes to Israel, or a lateward springing land? why then hath my people said: We haue reuolted, we wil no more come to thee?generatio vestra. / Videte verbum Domini: / numquid solitudo factus sum Israëli, / aut terra serotina ? / quare ergo dixit populus meus: Recessimus; / non veniemus ultra ad te ? 32Will a virgin forget her ornament, or a bride her stomacher? but my people hath forgotten me days without number.Si scorderà ella una fanciulla de' suoi ornamenti, od una sposa della fascia, che stringe il suo petto? Ma il mio popolo si è scordato di me per in numerabili giorni.Wil a virgin forget her ornament, or a bride the stomacher of her brest? but my people hath forgotten me innumerable daies.Numquid obliviscetur virgo ornamenti sui, / aut sponsa fasciæ pectoralis suæ ? / populus vero meus oblitus est mei diebus innumeris. 33Why dost thou endeavour to shew thy way good to seek my love, thou who hast also taught thy malices to be thy ways,Per qual motivo ti sforzi tu di far vedere, che i tuoi andamenti son retti per guadagnarti amore, mentre tu hai eziandio insegnato altrui i tuoi costumi malvagi?Why dost thou endeuour to shew thy way good to seeke loue, which moreouer also hast taught thy malices to be thy wayes.Quid niteris bonam ostendere viam tuam / ad quærendam dilectionem, / quæ insuper et malitias tuas docuisti vias tuas, 34And in thy skirts is found the blood of the souls of the poor and innocent? not in ditches have I found them, but in all places, which I mentioned before.E nelle falde della tua veste si è trovato il sangue delle anime poverelle, e innocenti. Li trovai (uccisi) non nelle fosse, ma per tutte le cose, che ho già dette.And in thy winges is found the bloud of the soules of the poore and innocentes? Not in diches haue I found them, but in al places, which before I haue mentioned.et in alis tuis inventus est sanguis animarum pauperum et innocentum ? / non in fossis inveni eos, / sed in omnibus quæ supra memoravi. 35And thou hast said: I am without sin and am innocent: and therefore let thy anger be turned away from me. Behold, I will contend with thee in judgment, because thou hast said: I have not sinned.Ed hai detto: Senza peccato son io, e innocente; e perciò si allontani il tuo furore da me. Ecco che io disputerò teco in giudizio, perchè tu hai detto: Non ho peccato.And thou hast said: I am without sinne and innocent: and therfore let thy furie be turned away from me. Beholde, I wil contend with thee in iudgement, because thou hast said: I haue not sinned.Et dixisti: Absque peccato et innocens ego sum, / et propterea avertatur furor tuus a me. / Ecce ego judicio contendam tecum, / eo quod dixeris: Non peccavi.
36How exceeding base art thou become, going the same ways over again! and thou shalt be ashamed of Egypt, as thou wast ashamed of Assyria.Quanto vile tu se' diventata tornando a calcar le tue vie! Tu sarai burlata dall'Egitto, come fosti burlata da Assur;How vile art thou become exceedingly, iterating thy wayes! and thou shalt be confounded of Aegypt, as thou art confounded of Assur.Quam vilis facta es nimis, iterans vias tuas ! / et ab Ægypto confunderis, / sicut confusa es ab Assur. 37For from thence thou shalt go, and thy hand shall be upon thy head: for the Lord hath destroyed thy trust, and thou shalt have nothing prosperous therein.Imperocché dall'Egitto ancor tornerai colle mani giunte sopra la testa: perchè il Signore ha distrutta la tua fidanza, e nulla ivi ti succederà felicemente.For from hence also thou shalt goe, and thy handes shal be vpon thy head: because the Lord hath destroyed thy confidence, and thou shalt haue nothing prosperous therein.Nam et ab ista egredieris, / et manus tuæ erunt super caput tuum: / quoniam obtrivit Dominus confidentiam tuam, / et nihil habebis prosperum in ea.
2:2
Theodoret
Espousals. He speaks ironically. (Theodoret)
Calmet
Yet the Israelites at first shewed greater proofs of love than they did afterwards. It is true they often prevaricated, in the wilderness, Exodus 32:1., and Amos 5:25., and Psalm lxxvii., etc. (Calmet)
Haydock
The Lord declares his gratuitous love, and then upbraids his people. (Haydock)
Worthington
He had caused them to multiply in Egypt, and gratuitously made choice of them. (Worthington)
2:3
Increase; most desirable, Osee 9:10. God punished those who attempted to injure his people: yet they abandoned his service.
2:5
Calmet
Vanity; idols, whom he will not mention, to spare their shame. (Calmet)
2:7
Worthington
Carmel. That is, a fruitful, plentiful land. (Challoner) (Worthington)
Menochius
All Palestine is thus designated. (Menochius)
2:8
Priests were silent, or abandoned themselves.
Pastors; "princes." (Chaldean) Manasses, Amon, etc.
Haydock
In Baal, promoting his worship. (Haydock)
The land was full of false prophets, and none stood up for the Lord.
2:9
Children; the Israelites, under Moses, and their posterity transgressed.
2:10
2:11
Glory; the true God and his ark, Psalm 3:4., and 1 Kings 4:21.
2:12
Gates; angels, or the temple.
2:13
Calmet
Water. The idols and nations, to which they have had recourse, injure them. (Calmet)
Worthington
The Jews did just the reverse to what God commanded. (Worthington)
2:14
2:15
Lions; kings of Assyria, etc. The decree for the devastation of Juda had already passed, though it was not put in execution.
2:16
2:18
Strabo xvii
Troubled. Hebrew shichor, or Nile water, (Josue 13:3.) which was thought as good as wine, and grew better for keeping. (Strabo xvii.)
Vitruvius viii
Hence the people adored it. (Vitruvius viii.)
Calmet
God often reproached the Jews for distrusting in his protection, and seeking aid from the Egyptians, who deceived them. We know not that Josias did so. (Calmet)
Haydock
He even opposed them, and lost his life in defending the country, 4 Kings 23:29. (Haydock)
He was probably obliged to pay tribute to the Assyrians, whom Achaz had called in, 2 Paralipomenon 28:23. These alliances the Lord condemned.
2:20
Thou. Septuagint. Yet Hebrew and Chaldean have, "I have permissively broken," or foretold this infidelity.
2:21
Worthington
God created all things good, planted his Church in justice, and no evil proceeds from Him. (Worthington)
2:22
Langius
Borith. An herb used to clean clothes, and take out spots and dirt, (Challoner) like kali, soda, (Calmet) or soap. (Langius.)
Haydock
Protestants, "and take thee much soap." (Haydock)
2:23
Calmet
Valley of Hinnom, under the very walls of Jerusalem. (Calmet)
Haydock
Runner. Hebrew, "dromedary," which takes its name from its swiftness. (Haydock)
Aristotle
The female camel continues all day with the male, and cannot be approached. (Aristotle; Pliny, [Natural History?] 10:63.)
Calmet
Juda is represented as no less libidinous. (Calmet)
2:24
Georg. iii
Away. The female may easily be found by the poisonous hippo-manes. (Georg. iii.)
Haydock
Thus Jerusalem is an impudent prostitute. (Haydock)
2:25
Calmet
Foot, and the parts which modesty covers. My exhortations are slighted. (Calmet)
2:26
Taken. Juda affected still to be very pious, ver. 23.
2:28
2:30
Calmet
Prophets; Zacharias, (2 Paralipomenon 24:21.) Isaias, etc., Matthew 23:34. (Calmet)
Worthington
Punishment is designed by God to cause people to repent. (Worthington)
2:31
Calmet
See, or hear. The sword seems to be animated. (Calmet)
Lateward. Hebrew, "darksome land." Have I not heaped blessings on my people?
Haydock
Revolted. Protestants, "Lords." (Haydock)
2:33
Calmet
Thou who. Hebrew, "Therefore have I." (Calmet)
Haydock
Protestants, "hast thou also taught the wicked ones thy ways." (Haydock)
Thou hast opened a school of vice.
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Innocent children, immolated to Moloc, or people murdered, whose blood thou hast not concealed, 4 Kings 21:16.
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Carmel.... That is, a fruitful, plentiful land.
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Borith.... An herb used to clean clothes, and take out spots and dirt.
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God multiplied Israel in Aegypt, & deliuered, them from seruitude.
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Not of anie desert, but of Gods mere grace Israel was preferred before other nations.
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Concordance Mich. 6. • •.
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Into a fruitful land.
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God commanding two thinges to flee from euil & to do good: the Iewes contrariwise left God and serued idols.
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Isa. •.
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Concordance Mat. 21. v. 33.
God created al thinges good, planted his Church in iustice and sancti•ie & no euil proceded from him.
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Concordance Iere. 32. v. 33.
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Concordance Iere. 11. •. 13.
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Gods intention when he punisheth, is to moue sinners to repentance: afflicting them in this life, that they may escape eternal damnation.
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St Athanasius of Alexandria † AD 373 Against the Arians. (Orationes contra Arianos IV.) 2.18
… one of whom writes, ‘Who being the Brightness of His glory and the Expression of His subsistence,’ and ‘Christ the power of God and the Wisdom of God ;’ and another says in the Psalm, ‘With Thee is the well of life, and in Thy Light shall we see light,’ and ‘Thou madest all things in Wisdom ;’ and the Prophets say, ‘And the Word of the Lord came to me
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St John Chrysostom † AD 407 The Homilies of St. John Chrysostom 65
Now the Prophet Isaiah saith, that He blames the vineyard, but here He accuses in particular the rulers of the people. And there indeed He saith, “What ought I to have done to my vineyard, that I did not;” and elsewhere again, “What transgression have your fathers found in me?”
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St John Chrysostom † AD 407 Homilies on Ephesians 23
… So have we too our encampment ( Rev. xx. 9 .), and we dwell in the desert even now; for a desert indeed without virtue, is the earth even now, even more desolate than that wilderness. Why was that desert so terrible? Was it not because it had scorpions in it, and adders? ( Deut. viii. 15 .) “A land,” it is said, “which none passed through.” (
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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.
Pope St Gregory I the Great † AD 604 The Book of Pastoral Rule 1.1
… 27 ). The unskilfulness of shepherds is rebuked by the voice of the Truth, when it is said through the prophet, The shepherds themselves have not known understanding ( Isai. lvi. 11 ); whom again the Lord denounces, saying, And they that handle the law knew Me not (
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Early Popes (Pseudo-Isidorian Decretals) The Epistles of Pope Pontianus 2
… And of them the Lord, speaking by the prophet Jeremiah, says: “I will utter my judgments against them touching all their wickedness.” “Wherefore I will yet plead with you, saith the Lord; and with your children’s children will I plead.”
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Tertullian † AD 220 An Answer to the Jews 13
… But My People hath changed their glory: whence no profit shall accrue to them: the heaven turned pale thereat” (and when did it turn pale? undoubtedly when Christ suffered), “and shuddered,” he says, “most exceedingly;”
Aphrahat † AD 346 Aphrahat: Select Demonstrations 21.7
… And again He said:— I have cut off the Prophets, and slain them by the word of My mouth. And to Jerusalem He said:— By afflictions and scourges be instructed, O Jerusalem, lest thy life depart from thee . But they forsook Him, and worshipped idols, as Jeremiah said concerning them:
St Basil the Great † AD 379 The Letters 46.3
… You have taken the members of Christ and made them the members of a harlot. This is an evil with which no other can be matched. This outrage in life is new. “For pass over the Isles of Chittim and see; and send unto Chedar and consider diligently, and see if there be such a thing. Hath a nation changed their gods which are yet no gods.”
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, and many shepherds destroyed My vineyard, and defiled my pleasant portion,
St John Chrysostom † AD 407 The Homilies of St. John Chrysostom 17
For since you are not persuaded out of the Scriptures, I am compelled to shame you by them that are without. This God also did unto the Jews, when He said, “Go ye forth unto the Isles of Chittim, and send unto Kedar, and know if nations will change their gods; which yet are no gods.”
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St John Chrysostom † AD 407 Homilies on Titus 3
… And if a father considers not his own dignity, but talks lispingly with his children, and calls their meat and drink not by their Greek names, but by some childish and barbarous words, much more doth God. Even in reproving He condescends, as when He speaks by the prophet, “Hath a nation changed their gods?” (
John Cassian † AD 435 The Conferences of John Cassian 10.5
… And against this mistake of theirs this text may be used: “And they changed the glory of the incorruptible God into the likeness of the image of corruptible man.” Jeremiah also says: “My people have changed their glory for an idol.
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St Barnabas † AD 61 The Epistle of Barnabas 11
… The prophet therefore declares, “Be astonished, O heaven, and let the earth tremble at this, because this people hath committed two great evils: they have forsaken Me, a living fountain, and have hewn out for themselves broken cisterns.
St Athanasius of Alexandria † AD 373 Against the Arians. (Orationes contra Arianos IV.) 1.2
… who, on reading what follows in his work, but must discern in his irreligious doctrine that error, into which by his sophistries the serpent in the sequel seduced the woman? who at such blasphemies is not transported? ‘The heaven,’ as the Prophet says, ‘was astonished, and the earth shuddered
St Basil the Great † AD 379 De Spiritu Sancto 13
… “The heaven was astonished at this, and was horribly afraid, because my people committed two evils.”
St Basil the Great † AD 379 The Letters 46.3
… and send unto Chedar and consider diligently, and see if there be such a thing. Hath a nation changed their gods which are yet no gods.” But the virgin has changed her glory, and her glory is in her shame. The heavens are astonished at this, and the earth is horribly afraid, saith the Lord, for the virgin has committed two evils; she has forsaken
St John Chrysostom † AD 407 The Homilies of St. John Chrysostom 58
But none of these things do they consider. Wherefore now it were seasonable to bring forward the prophet and say, “Be astonished, O Heaven, and be horribly afraid, O earth,”
St John Chrysostom † AD 407 The Homilies of St. John Chrysostom on Paul's Epistle to the Romans 5
… But not even for this did He spew us out of His mouth, but like those slighted lovers that be very earnest, He went round beseeching all, the heaven, the earth, Jeremiah, Micah, and that not that He might weigh us down, but that He might speak in behalf of His own ways ( Is. i. 2 ;
Theodoret of Cyrus † AD 458 The Ecclesiastical History of Theodoret 4.19
… Strange and almost incredible to relate, the sea was all afoam; grieved, I think, and unwilling, if I may so say, to receive the good men upon its surface, and so have part or lot in an unrighteous sentence. Now even to the ignorant was made manifest the savage purpose of the judge and it may truly be said “at this, the heavens stood astonished.”
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St Justin Martyr † AD 165 Dialogue with Trypho 114
… For Jeremiah thus cries: ‘Woe unto you! because you have forsaken the living fountain, and have digged for yourselves broken cisterns that can hold no water. Shall there be a wilderness where Mount Zion is, because I gave Jerusalem a bill of divorce in your sight?’
St Justin Martyr † AD 165 Dialogue with Trypho 140
… And we are such; but you cannot comprehend this, because you cannot drink of the living fountain of God, but of broken cisterns which can hold no water, as the Scripture says.
St Irenaeus of Lyons † AD 202 Against Heresies 3.24
… and where the Spirit of God is, there is the Church, and every kind of grace; but the Spirit is truth. Those, therefore, who do not partake of Him, are neither nourished into life from the mother’s breasts, nor do they enjoy that most limpid fountain which issues from the body of Christ; but they dig for themselves broken cisterns
Tertullian † AD 220 Five Books in Reply to Marcion 3
The waters of the living fount, and drinks—
Origen † AD 254 Origen's Commentary on Matthew 12.9
… The saying of Peter to the Saviour, “Thou art the Christ,” when the Jews did not know that He was Christ, was indeed a great thing, but greater that he knew Him not only to be Christ, but also “the Son of the living God,” who had also said through the prophets, “I live,” and “They have forsaken Me the spring of living water;”
St Cyprian of Carthage † AD 258 The Epistles of Cyprian 69.1
… And it is written in the words of the Lord, “They have forsaken me, the fountain of living waters, and hewed them out broken cisterns, which can hold no water.”
St Cyprian of Carthage † AD 258 On the Unity of the Church 11
… If they had stood on my foundation ( substantia , ὑποστάσει ), and had heard my words, and taught my people, I would have turned them from their evil thoughts.” Again, the Lord points out and designates these same, saying, “They have forsaken me, the fountain of living waters, and have hewed them out broken cisterns which can hold no water.”
St Cyprian of Carthage † AD 258 Three Books of Testimonies Against the Jews 1.4
… “They have forsaken me, the fountain of living water, and have dug for themselves worn-out cisterns, which could not hold water.”
St Athanasius of Alexandria † AD 373 De Decretis. (Defence of the Nicene Definition.) 3
… things visible, saying, ‘Who is the brightness of His glory, and the Expression of His Person ;’ and again, ‘For with Thee is the well of life, and in Thy light shall we see light ;’ and when the Word chides Israel, He says, ‘Thou hast forsaken the Fountain of wisdom ;’ and this Fountain it is which says, ‘They have forsaken Me the Fountain of living waters
St Athanasius of Alexandria † AD 373 Against the Arians. (Orationes contra Arianos IV.) 1.6
19. If God be, and be called, the Fountain of wisdom and life—as He says by Jeremiah, ‘They have forsaken Me the Fountain of living waters
St Basil the Great † AD 379 The Letters 8.2
… that the Holy Ghost is not eternal? He bewitches our Patriarch’s sheep that they may not drink “of the well of water springing up into everlasting life,” but may rather bring upon themselves the words of the prophet, “They have forsaken me, the fountain of living waters, and hewed them out cisterns, broken cisterns, that can hold no water;”
St Ambrose of Milan † AD 397 On the Duties of the Clergy 3.18
… And though it is changed into the appearance of water, yet it preserves its nature as fire so as to consume the sacrifice. Do not wonder when thou readest that God the Father said: “I am a consuming fire.” And again: “They have forsaken Me, the fountain of living water.”
St Ambrose of Milan † AD 397 On the Holy Spirit 1.pref.7
7. So when the whole world was parched with the drought of Gentile superstition, then came that dew of the heavenly visits on the fleece. But after that the lost sheep of the house of Israel (whom I think that the figure of the Jewish fleece shadowed forth), after that those sheep, I say,
St John Chrysostom † AD 407 The Homilies of St. John Chrysostom on Paul's Epistle to the Romans 3
This is the one greatest charge; and the second after it is their also worshipping idols, as Jeremy too in accusing them said, “This people hath committed two evils: they have forsaken me the fountain of living water, and have dug for themselves broken cisterns.” (
St Jerome † AD 420 The Letters of St. Jerome 108.22
… She follows the Lamb whithersoever he goes. She is filled now because once she was hungry. With joy does she sing: “as we have heard, so have we seen in the city of the Lord of hosts, in the city of our God.” O blessed change! Once she wept but now laughs for evermore. Once she despised the broken cisterns of which the prophet speaks;
St Jerome † AD 420 The Letters of St. Jerome 128.3
… “Is any called in uncircumcision,”—that is, having a wife and enveloped in the skin of matrimony? let him not seek the nakedness of virginity and of that eternal chastity which he has lost once for all. No, let him “possess his vessel in sanctification and honour,” let him drink of his own wells not out of the dissolute cisterns
St Augustine of Hippo † AD 430 The Confessions 13.21
… so that wild beasts may be tamed, the cattle subdued, and serpents harmless. For these are the motions of the mind in allegory; that is to say, the haughtiness of pride, the delight of lust, and the poison of curiosity are the motions of the dead soul; for the soul dies not so as to lose all motion, because it dies by forsaking the fountain of life,
Theodoret of Cyrus † AD 458 The Ecclesiastical History of Theodoret 2.18
… and at the present time these synods, one after another, they are themselves openly denouncing. They are now suffering the fate undergone of old by the traitors of the Jews. For as is written in the Book of the Prophet Jeremiah “ they have forsaken me the fountain of living waters and hewed them out cisterns, broken cisterns that can hold no water, ”
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Origen † AD 254 Origen's Commentary on the Gospel of John 6.28
… Therefore it is said of the rivers of Babylon, “There we sat down,” clearly because they were unable to stand, “and wept.” And Jeremiah rebukes those who wish to drink the waters of Egypt, and desert the water which comes down from heaven, and is named from its so coming down—namely, the Jordan. He says,
St Athanasius of Alexandria † AD 373 Festal and Personal Letters of Athanasius 7
… For the fool knoweth not that those who depart far from God shall perish. And besides, there is the restraint of the prophetic admonition which says, ‘What hast thou to do in the way of Egypt, to drink the waters of Gihon? And what hast thou to do in the way of Asshur, to drink the waters of the rivers
St Jerome † AD 420 The Letters of St. Jerome 51.5
… The name of the first is Pison…and the name of the second is Gihon.” I myself have seen the waters of Gihon, have seen them with my bodily eyes. It is this Gihon to which Jeremiah points when he says, “What hast thou to do in the way of Egypt to drink the muddy water of Gihon?”
St Jerome † AD 420 The Letters of St. Jerome 108.14
… in old days famed for the tomb of the prophet Micah, and now for its church. Then skirting the country of the Horites and Gittites, Mareshah, Edom, and Lachish, and traversing the lonely wastes of the desert where the tracks of the traveller are lost in the yielding sand, I will come to the river of Egypt called Sihor,
John Cassian † AD 435 The Conferences of John Cassian 24.24
… And what hast thou to do with the way of the Assyrians, to drink the water of the river? Thy own wickedness shall reprove thee, and thy apostasy shall rebuke thee. Know thou and see that it is an evil and a bitter thing for thee to have left the Lord thy God, and that My fear is not with thee, saith the Lord.”
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St Justin Martyr † AD 165 Other Fragments from the Lost Writings of Justin, XIII 1
… “It is a bitter thing for thee, that thou hast forsaken me, saith the Lord thy God, that of old thou hast broken thy yoke, and torn asunder thy bands, and said, I will not serve Thee, but will go to every high hill, and underneath every tree, and there shall I become dissolute in my fornication.”
St Irenaeus of Lyons † AD 202 Against Heresies 4.37.7
… for God has displayed long-suffering in the case of man’s apostasy; while man has been instructed by means of it, as also the prophet says, “Thine own apostasy shall heal thee;”
John Cassian † AD 435 The Conferences of John Cassian 23.16
This then is that body of death from which we cannot escape, pent in which those who are perfect, who have tasted “how gracious the Lord is,” daily feel with the prophet “how bad for himself and bitter it is for a man to depart from the Lord his God.”
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St Cyril of Jerusalem † AD 386 The Catechetical Lectures of S. Cyril 2.1
… an evil of a man’s own choosing, an offspring of the will. For that we sin of our own free will the Prophet says plainly in a certain place: Yet I planted thee a fruitful vine, wholly true: how art thou turned to bitterness, (and become) the strange vine
St Cyril of Jerusalem † AD 386 The Catechetical Lectures of S. Cyril 4.19
… and, That which may be known of God is mani festin them ; and again, their eyes they have closed . Also remember how God again accuseth them, and saith, Yet I planted thee a fruitful vine, wholly true: how art thou turned to bitterness, thou the strange vine
St Gregory of Nazianzus † AD 389 Select Orations of Saint Gregory Nazianzen 2.90
… that I am too weak for this warfare, and therefore turned my back, hiding my face in the rout, and sat solitary, because I was filled with bitterness and sought to be silent, understanding that it is an evil time, that the beloved had kicked, that we were become backsliding children, who are the luxuriant vine, the true vine, all fruitful, all beautiful,
St Ambrose of Milan † AD 397 Exposition of the Christian Faith 4.12
… “I have planted thee as a fruitful vine—how art Thou become bitter, and a wild vine?”
St Jerome † AD 420 The Letters of St. Jerome 122.1
… “rejoice with them that do rejoice and weep with them that weep,” and by your tears you will melt the hard hearts of sinners till they too weep; whereas, if they persist in evil doing they will find these words applied to them, “I…planted thee a noble vine, wholly a right seed: how then art thou turned into the degenerate plant of a strange vine unto me?”
St Augustine of Hippo † AD 430 On Baptism, Against the Donatists 6.29
… no longer as strangers, but of the household of the faith of the Lord, for to the unrighteous it is said, "How then art thou turned into the degenerate plant of a strange vine unto me?"
St Augustine of Hippo † AD 430 Lectures or Tractates on the Gospel According to St. John 80.1
… But when He says, “I am the true vine,” it is to distinguish Himself, doubtless, from that [vine] to which the words are addressed: “How art thou turned into sourness, as a strange vine?”
St Augustine of Hippo † AD 430 Expositions on the Book of Psalms 56.3
… Geth was a certain city of the Allophyli, that is, of strangers , to wit, of people afar from holy men. All they that refuse Christ for King become strangers. Wherefore strangers are they made? Because even that vine, though by Him planted, when it had become sour what heard it? “Wherefore hast thou been turned into sourness, O alien vine?”
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St John Chrysostom † AD 407 The Homilies of St. John Chrysostom on Paul's Epistle to the Romans 14
… And that you may see that it was not through a wish to turn him from it, but to shame them that He said this, hear what it says. “Seest thou not what these are doing?” ( Ez. viii. 6 , not verbally from LXX.) And when He says to the city “Though thou wash thee with nitre, and take thee much soap (Gr. herb), yet thou art stained before Me” (
St Jerome † AD 420 The Letters of St. Jerome 66.8
… He is the peerless gem which is bought by selling many pearls. But if you love a captive woman, that is, worldly wisdom, and if no beauty but hers attracts you, make her bald and cut off her alluring hair, that is to say, the graces of style, and pare away her dead nails. Wash her with the nitre of which the prophet speaks,
St Jerome † AD 420 The Letters of St. Jerome 117.9
… for if you remain under one roof with him slanderers will say that you share with him your bed. You may thus easily get help from him when you feel you need it, and yet to a considerable degree escape public discredit. Yet you must take care not to contract the stain of which Jeremiah tells us that no nitre or fuller’s soap can wash it out.
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St Jerome † AD 420 The Letters of St. Jerome 122.1
… and indeed this despair in itself is a sign of unbelief. One who despairs of salvation can have no expectation of a judgment to come. For if he dreaded such, he would by doing good works prepare to meet his Judge. Let us hear what God says through Jeremiah, “withhold thy foot from a rough way and thy throat from thirst”
Pseudo-Cyprian Exhortation to Repentance 1
Also in Jeremiah: “Withdraw thy foot from a rough way, and thy face from thirst. But she said, I will be comforted, I am willing; for she loved strangers, and went after them.”
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St Cyril of Jerusalem † AD 386 The Catechetical Lectures of S. Cyril 7.12
… Yet man forsook his heavenly Father, and said to the stock, Thou art my father, and to the stone, Thou hast begotten me
St Ambrose of Milan † AD 397 On the Duties of the Clergy 1.25
117. Prudence held the first place in holy Abraham. For of him the Scriptures say: “Abraham believed God, and that was counted to him for righteousness;” for no one is prudent who knows not God. Again: “The fool hath said, There is no God;” for a wise man would not say so. How is he wise who looks not for his Maker, but says to a stone: “Thou art my father”?
St Jerome † AD 420 The Letters of St. Jerome 122.1
… how then art thou turned into the degenerate plant of a strange vine unto me?” and again “saying to a stock, Thou art my father; and to a stone, Thou hast brought me forth: for they have turned their back unto me, and not their face.”
St Augustine of Hippo † AD 430 The Confessions 2.3
… She then started up with a pious fear and trembling; and, although I had not yet been baptized, she feared those crooked ways in which they walk who turn their back to Thee, and not their face.
St Augustine of Hippo † AD 430 Expositions on the Book of Psalms 66.19
… now the image of God hath been turned to the Creator thereof. I that was “saying to a stock, My father thou art; and to a stone, Thou hast begotten me:”
St Augustine of Hippo † AD 430 Expositions on the Book of Psalms 114.7
7. But I would not that ye should seek without yourselves, how the Jordan was turned back, I would not ye should augur anything evil. For the Lord chideth those who have “turned” their “back” unto Him, “and not their face.”
St Augustine of Hippo † AD 430 Expositions on the Book of Psalms 115.4
… For it is said in another passage of Scripture concerning the worshippers of images, “Saying to a stock, Thou art my father; and to a stone, Thou hast brought me forth.”
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St Augustine of Hippo † AD 430 A Treatise on the Merits and Forgiveness of Sins, and on the Baptism of Infants 2.14
… Accordingly [the Lord] rebukes certain men, saying, “Why will ye contend with me in judgment?”
St Augustine of Hippo † AD 430 Expositions on the Book of Psalms 143.3
… I will give to thee to receive what I have promised: I have given thee that thou shouldest do that whereby thou mayest receive. Finally, to such proud ones the Prophet speaketh; “Wherefore will ye plead with Me? ye have all transgressed against Me, saith the Lord.”
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St Cyprian of Carthage † AD 258 An Address to Demetrianus 7
… For that these things occur either for the discipline of the obstinate or for the punishment of the evil, the same God declares in the Holy Scriptures, saying, “In vain have I smitten your children; they have not received correction.”
Aphrahat † AD 346 Aphrahat: Select Demonstrations 21.7
… the Edomites in the days of Ahab; the Assyrians in the days of Hezekiah. The king of Babylon uprooted them from their place and dispersed them; and after he had tried and persecuted them much, they did not amend, as He said to them:— In vain have I smitten your sons, for they did not accept chastisement .
St Augustine of Hippo † AD 430 Letters of St. Augustin 93.3
3. You will say that to some these remedies are of no service. Is the art of healing, therefore, to be abandoned, because the malady of some is incurable? You look only to the case of those who are so obdurate that they refuse even such correction. Of such it is written, “In vain have I smitten your children: they received no correction:”
John Cassian † AD 435 The Conferences of John Cassian 6.11
… “I will send the teeth of beasts upon them, with the fury of creatures that trail upon the ground:” and “In vain have I struck your children: they have not received correction.”
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Tertullian † AD 220 The Five Books Against Marcion 4.31
… Then He was moved (He did well to be moved; for, as Marcion denies emotion to his god, He must be therefore my God), and commanded them to invite out of “the streets and lanes of the city.” Let us see whether this is not the same in purport as His words by Jeremiah: “Have I been a wilderness to the house of Israel, or a land left uncultivated?”
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St Methodius † AD 311 The Banquet of the Ten Virgins; or Concerning Chastity 4.6
… for one will not easily find anything else a greater help to men than this possession, pleasing and grateful to God. Therefore, I say, that we should all exercise and honour chastity, and always cultivate and commend it.
St Jerome † AD 420 Against Jovinianus 1.32
… This is the virgin daughter whom elsewhere he thus addresses: “Sing, O barren, thou that dost not bear; break forth into singing, and cry aloud, thou that didst not travail with child: for more are the children of the desolate, than the children of the married wife, saith the Lord.” This is she of whom God by the mouth of Jeremiah speaks, saying:
Pseudo-Cyprian Exhortation to Repentance 1
Also in Jeremiah: “Shall a bride forget her adornment, or a virgin the girdle of her breast? But my people has forgotten my days, whereof there is no number.”
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3. HOLY TO THE LORD ("holy" by grace and charity, say Theodoret and Hugh. Secondly and better, in Hebrew holiness was Israel to the Lord, that is Israel was as it were a holy thing and dedicated to the Lord, which ought not to be defiled, Exodus XIX. Thus St. Jerome, St. Thomas, Lyra, Vatablus. Again Israel was as it were) THE FIRSTFRUITS OF HIS FRUITS, — namely of God: that is the Israelites were as it were firstfruits from all nations, dedicated to the worship of God, just as the firstfruits of fruits were offered and dedicated to God; whence a layman who ate them sinned and was guilty of death, Leviticus XXII, 3. Thus also the enemies of Israel, "who him," as it were a thing sacred to God, plunder and "devour," even if they do this by God's will, "sin," and "evils," God avenging, "shall come upon them." Thus the Chaldean and St. Jerome. Moreover Israel began to be holy and as it were firstfruits of fruits to God, already from the beginning, when through Moses in the desert he received God's law and worship, and as a sign of this thing he was commanded to pay and offer the firstfruits of fruits to God. The Arabic version clearly signifies this, which thus has it: Where (in the desert) I sanctified Israel, and claimed (vindicated) him for myself, and commanded him that he should separate before me the beginning (firstfruits) of his fruits. And I said, upon those who wish to eat his goods, I will bring evil. The sense therefore is, as if to say Israel is not a profane people like the rest, but consecrated to God; wherefore whoever harms him or reduces him to servitude, shall be guilty of sacrilege, and as a sacrilegist shall be punished by God. Thus God punished the Assyrians who devastated the ten tribes through the Medes, and the Chaldeans who devastated the two tribes, he punished and overthrew through Cyrus. Hence David prays for Israel saying Psalm LXXIII, 2: "Remember thy congregation, which thou hast possessed from the beginning."
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4. HEAR, — as if to say You, O Israelites, I constitute judges, that you may judge whether the fault of this divorce is in me, or in you. Thus St. Chrysostom, sermon 4 On Providence.
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5. INIQUITY, — that is first, infidelity; secondly, cruelty, as if to say In what have I treated my spouse badly, namely you, O Jews? WALKED AFTER VANITY, — that is after idols, which because they are vain and false gods, whom you have set up against the true God, hence likewise made you vain and false worshippers of them, as much as your worship and religion, nay superstition. Thus St. Jerome, the Chaldean, Theodoret, Hugh, St. Thomas, Lyra. Yet secondly, all other vanity which is in any sin can be understood here: for every sin is love of a vain thing. BECAME VAIN, — that is became like their idols, without reason, without sense, just as David imprecates upon them Psalm CXIII, 8: "Let them that make them become like unto them, and all such as trust in them:" thus likewise any sinner becomes vain and brutish, while he pursues vain and brutish pleasures. Sin, says St. Thomas here, is called vanity, first, because it is phantastical in choosing, Psalm XXXIX, 5: Blessed is the man whose hope is in the name of the Lord, and who hath not had regard to vanities and false madnesses; secondly, because it is transitory in remaining, Psalm LXXVII, 33: Their days were consumed in vanity; thirdly, because it is deceitful in expecting, Ecclesiasticus XXXIV, 1: Vain hope, and lying to a man without sense: and dreams lift up the imprudent; fourthly, because it is unfruitful in obtaining, as they rightly use that of Isaiah XLIX, 4: I have laboured in vain, without cause, and spent my strength vainly. Thus far St. Thomas.
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6. THEY DID NOT SAY, — that is, They did not remember God their leader through the desert into Chanaan, by whom they were snatched from so many evils and heaped with so many goods. THROUGH A LAND OF THIRST, — through a dry land, parched, and which causes men to thirst: whence the Septuagint translates, through a land without water. AND THE IMAGE OF DEATH. — Theodoret, Vatablus and Pagninus translate, the shadow of death, both because in the desert there was no seed, no fruit, nothing vital, whence the Septuagint translates, unfruitful; and because the solitude was horrible, and full of dangers of death, namely from venomous animals, that is scorpions and serpents, as is evident from Deuteronomy IV, 15. Thus St. Jerome, Rabanus, Hugo, St. Thomas, Lyran. Add, thirdly, enemies who met Israel in this desert, to destroy and annihilate him: on account of these the desert was to the Hebrews fearful, as it were the shadow of death. 7. I BROUGHT YOU INTO THE LAND OF CARMEL. — Note that the Hebrew Carmel is sometimes a proper name, signifying a mountain of the holy land most fertile, and most productive of wine, Joshua cap. XIX, 26, where Elias frequently dwelt, III Kings XVIII, 19, hence sometimes transferred to similar things, and is a common name for any fertile and pleasant field; hence Carmelus signifies fertility, and abundance of all things, or a most fertile land, such as Judaea was. Thus it is taken in Isaiah XXIX, 17: "It shall be converted," he says, "Lebanon into Carmel." Thus St. Jerome and Vatablus. Carmelus therefore, equally as Tempe and the gardens of the Hesperides among the Poets, is a symbol of fruitfulness and delights. In either way this Carmel can be taken here: for it signifies Judaea most fertile, either by a common name, or a proper one; namely, understanding from the fertile mountain the whole of Judaea equally fertile, by synecdoche from the part signifying the whole. Thirdly, the Chaldean, understanding as it were, translates: I brought you into the land of Israel, which was planted as Carmel. Note: In Judaea there were two mountains of Carmel, one barren in the lot of Ephraim, where Nabal dwelt; the other in the tribe of Aser, near Ptolemais, fertile, of which this is spoken. AND MY INHERITANCE (the land, which I gave you, namely Judaea, which was mine as it were an inheritance; because I chose it that I might be worshipped in it, and have my temple) YOU HAVE SET IN ABOMINATION, — namely in an idol, that is, in the house and temple of idols. Thus the Chaldean.
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8. THE PRIESTS (not only the unlearned people, whom ignorance could in some way excuse, but the priests also and the learned in the law, nay even) THE PASTORS (that is the kings and princes, say the Chaldean, Theodoret, Hugo, St. Thomas, Lyran) HAVE TRANSGRESSED AGAINST ME. — Thus they lived as if they had not known me. THE PROPHETS PROPHESIED IN BAAL, — from Baal, that is, They sought oracles and future things, not from me, but from the idol and demon Baal, and sold them as true prophecies. 9. I WILL CONTEND WITH YOU IN JUDGMENT, — and in it will convince you of transgression, says Theodoret. It is evident from what follows.
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10. PASS OVER TO THE ISLES OF CETHIM. — Cethim was a city in Cyprus; whence Zeno, the prince of the Stoics, originating from there, was called Citicus, hence Cyprus, and other islands, Italy also, as is evident from Numbers XXIV, 24, and Greece, I Maccabees I, 1, were called Cethim. For the Hebrews called peoples separated from them by the Mediterranean sea, Islanders, because they approached them living on the continent by ships, just as Italians call all those dwelling beyond the Alps, Transmontanes. Thus St. Jerome, Theodoret and Josephus, lib. I Antiq. XI. Theodoret adds in XXVII Ezekiel and Josephus, lib. I Antiq. VI, that Cethim the son of Javan, the son of Japhet, the son of Noe, first occupied Cyprus, and hence Cyprus was called Cethim. CEDAR — is a region of Arabia, named from Cedar the second son of Ishmael, Genesis XXV, 13. Thus St. Jerome, Rabanus, Hugo and Vatablus. But Theodoret by Cedar understands all the Orientals, as by Cethim the Occidentals, that is, You treat me more harshly and unjustly than any nations whatsoever, although barbarous, treat their idols.
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11. SURELY THEY ARE NOT GODS, — that is, All nations were more zealous in retaining and worshipping false gods, than you in the true God. HAS CHANGED HIS GLORY INTO AN IDOL. — He calls "glory" the worship of the true God, by which Israel was glorious: this he himself transferred into an idol. Thus the Chaldean. Secondly and more aptly, he calls "glory" God the glorious: for he himself is the glory of Israel, nay of the whole world, and in him alone is to be gloried with David Psalm III, 4: "Thou, O Lord, art my protector, my glory, and the lifter up of my head." Hence also the Apostle alluding to this says Romans I, 23: "They changed the glory of the incorruptible God, into the likeness of the image of a corruptible man," because namely they took away from the true God his glorious majesty, titles and honours of divinity, and transferred them into an idol. Thus Hugo, Lyran, Dionysius and Vatablus.
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12. BE ASTONISHED, O YE HEAVENS, AT THIS — at the portent of malice which I am about to describe. ITS GATES. — The Hebrew now has שערו saaru, that is, be horrified. Thus the Septuagint and our translation read through shin שערו saaru; that is, its gates, that is of them, namely of the heavens, of which mention was made before. For we now call heaven in the singular, now in the plural: and the heavens are the same as heaven. BE DESOLATE, — that is, after the manner of the desolate indicate sadness, before the stupor and horror of such great impiety of Israel, stir up rains, as it were tears; excite lightnings and tempests, as it were signs of sorrow, and avengers of the injury to your Creator. Thus St. Jerome, Vatablus, Lyran and Maldonatus, who adds: Be desolate, he says, that is, be shattered by lightnings, as a sign of God's wrath. It is a prosopopoeia for pathos; it is similar to Isaiah I, 2, and Deut. IV, 26. Note: For desolamini the Hebrew is חרבו charabu, that is, be dried up, as Leo the Hebrew translated it. This desolation therefore is not that which directly opposes consolation, and signifies sadness and sorrow; but is that which opposes abundance and multitude. For to be desolate is the same as to be left alone, to be reduced to solitude, to be destroyed, to be laid waste. Thus we say fields, cities, kingdoms are desolated when they are laid waste by an enemy. Thus Pliny, lib. XVII, cap. XII, concerning the bubo says: "It inhabits deserts, and not only desolate, but also dreadful and inaccessible." To desolate therefore is not the same as to level with the ground; for it is not derived from solum taken substantively, which signifies earth, thus solum would have the first syllable short, whereas in desolor it is long: but it is derived from solum taken adjectively, and is the same as to be made alone, to be destitute, to be deprived of one's abundance and glory: from this however it follows that desolation is opposed to consolation, that is sorrow and mourning; from which in turn follow tears, groans, etc. It is therefore a metalepsis: for from desolation and dryness he understands sadness, from sadness tears, as if to say: You, O heavens, and gates of the heavens, that is hinges, or the outermost surface, through which as through gates, the power and influence of the heavens goes forth into the lands! be astonished and be horrified at such great malice and ingratitude of the earth-born, so that before the stupor you may seem as it were thunderstruck to tremble, and to be torn from your hinges and shaken. Again mourn and weep, stir up rains, lightnings and thunders, so that before sorrow and grief you may seem to be desolate, that is to waste away, to be dried up and to vanish: they themselves have desolated me, that is left me alone, when I am to them a fountain of living water, going to broken cisterns. Wherefore it was justly repaid to them that lions should make their land a solitude: whence cities were burned, and there is none to dwell in them, as follows in verse 15. This desolation therefore both of mine and of the earth, represent by your desolation, and cast it in the face and countenance of the hard earth-born, if perhaps they may open their eyes, be broken and come to their senses. Hence for desolamini, the Syrian translates, tremble; the Arabic, be dissolved in fear. Otherwise Sanchez: he himself judges that to be desolate is the same as to be leveled with the ground; and by the gates of heaven, the rising and setting are understood; or the sun, moon and stars. To these it is said, "be desolate," that is withdraw your splendor and appearance, so that you may not appear, and may seem to have perished. Otherwise also Theodoret, Hugo, St. Thomas, Lyran. The heavens, they say, that is the Angels, be astonished in the heavens; and the gates, that is the Angels princes, and as it were judges of others, says St. Thomas, be desolate.
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13. FOR MY PEOPLE HAVE COMMITTED TWO EVILS (contrary to the two goods which I had commanded them, that they should decline from evil and do good, Psalm XXXVI, 27). First: THEY HAVE FORSAKEN ME, THE FOUNTAIN OF LIVING WATER. — "Living," that is, perpetually flowing, vital, giving life. The Arabic translator renders it, I was to them a fountain of sweet water and praiseworthy, lacking all vice. This perennial fountain of water, that is, of grace and all goods, is God, Psalm XXXV, 10: "For with thee is the fountain of life." The Gentiles themselves saw this; whence Trismegistus, Dialog. 7: "Behold, he says, O mortals, and come to your senses, and have recourse to the fountain of life." And Alcinous, lib. De Doctrina Platonis: "Our good, he says, if anyone shall have read Plato's books carefully, he will find that he placed in the very contemplation of the first good: which indeed first good, both God and the first mind, it is permitted to call." The Prophet illustrates this adage with beautiful similar parables, St. Ephrem, tract. De Divina gratia, tom. 1: "He who, he says, has a fountain, does not need a drop. Those who pasture a flock do not lack milk. Those who break bread do not need crumbs. Those who make honey do not need to explore the taste of honey. Those who have a pearl do not labor to acquire it with an obol." Second: THEY HAVE DIGGED TO THEMSELVES CISTERNS, BROKEN CISTERNS. The Syriac translator renders it, shattered; the Arabic, split, in which water is gathered, and deathly pleasures, cannot be without fear of pain. And those who do not at all feel the evil of their own desolation by a greater swelling of pride, to others who know how to discern this, how great the misery is, appears." Because therefore in God alone is all true delight, hence the sinner depriving himself of it, feels all bitterness: because having left the fountain of life, whether he will or not, he adheres to the fountain of death and of all evils. endures, that is, remains. These cisterns, say St. Jerome and Theodoret, are idols; first, because they have no divinity or power, except what is brought to them by human ignorance. Second, just as a cistern is filled with turbid waters; so what idols, what demons give, is turbid. Third, idols are broken cisterns, cracked, badly glued together, which do not hold water, because from them nothing is to be expected that would quench the thirst of the soul. Again, broken cisterns are the idolatrous nations, namely the Egyptians and Assyrians, from whom the Jews, pressed alternately by wars, sought help. This is evident from verse 18. Tropologically, every sinner, having left the fountain, seeks cisterns, because in every sin, there is first, an aversion from God, the uncreated and immense good; and a conversion to a perishable, fragile, vile, turbid good; second, there is contempt of God, in preference to the honor and love of the creature; third, the sinner sinning, as it were takes away from God the title and being of ultimate end, and transfers all his hopes as it were into the creature. Is not this the supreme insult to God? the supreme stupidity and madness of the sinner? for he says both in words and deeds that which the foolish rich man said in Nazianzen, tract. De Fortuna et prudentia: "A drop of good fortune is more precious to me than a bushel of prudence." Which the prudent man aptly refutes and turns back, saying: "A drop of good prudence is more precious to me than a bushel of good fortune." For the sinner foolishly prefers and sets before a clod of earth the whole heaven, the creature the Creator, a moment eternity. The prudent and the Saints do the contrary. Hence, first, this adage is rightly adapted to heretics: for these abandon the pure fountain of the doctrine of faith in the Church, and dig for themselves confused cisterns of false dogmas. Thus St. Irenaeus, lib. III, cap. XL, St. Cyprian, epist. 70, and St. Athanasius, serm. Contra omnes hæreses. Second, Blessed Peter Damian cited in the Allegories of Tilmann adapts the same thing to talkative Monks, who, having left the praises of God and pious discourse, as a vital fountain, make their mouths cisterns, from which they bring forth not new, but old man's futile words, and broken ones: because their lips know not how to restrain themselves with measured discretion. Third, Hugh: The miser, he says, is an old and cracked cistern, which can never be filled with waters, that is, riches. Second, he is a cleric, who, having left the study of sacred Scripture, gives himself to vain sciences. Third, he is a Religious, who in temptation seeks futile human consolations, and does not ask from God true and solid ones. "But this happens, he says, when in temptations prayer is loathed, and in place of mitigating them, one is occupied with jocose and useless words." Finally St. Augustine, in Sententiis, Sententia 339: "How great, he says, and what kind of good God is, is now evidently shown from this, that it is well with no one who recedes from God, because even those who rejoice in deathly pleasures, cannot be without fear of pain."
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14. IS NOT A SERVANT. — These are words not of Jerusalem inquiring about her lot, as Vatablus wishes, but of God, that is to say, Israel is the firstborn of Abraham and the son of God, Exodus IV, 22, not a servant, that is a purchased slave or a house-born slave, that is a servant born of a slave in the house: why therefore has he been given as prey to lions, that is to Sennacherib, the Assyrians and Egyptians, and tropologically to devils? that is to say, This does not proceed from his servile condition, not from the cruelty of his master, but from sin, because he offended God, as is answered in verse 17: "Is not this the thing that has been done to thee, because thou hast left the Lord thy God?" And verse 19: "Thy own wickedness shall reprove thee." HAS BEEN MADE A PREY? — St. Jerome, the Chaldean, Rabanus, Hugo, explain these things concerning the future devastation by the Chaldeans and Egyptians, who afflicted the remnants of the Jews. Secondly and more plainly, Theodoret, Hugo, Lyran, Dionysius, understand these things of the past slaughter of the Jews, received from Sennacherib, the Assyrians and Egyptians, that is to say, Do not, O Israel! having abandoned thy God, hope and flee, as thou art accustomed, to the Assyrians and Egyptians, because these like lions have torn thee and laid thee waste.
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15. UPON HIM (AGAINST HIM) THE LIONS HAVE ROARED. — That is, the Assyrians and Egyptians have thirsted for him, like roaring lions for his prey and tearing.
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16. THE CHILDREN ALSO OF MEMPHIS AND TAPHNES (that is, the Egyptians; for Memphis is a city of Egypt, which is now called Cairo; thus Taphnes or Tanis was the royal city of the Pharaohs), HAVE BROKEN THEE IN PIECES EVEN TO THE TOP OF THY HEAD, — that is they have wholly imbued thee with the worship of idols, which is spiritual fornication and harlotry, and thus it is called by the Prophets; so that from the sole of the foot even to the top of the head, there is no soundness in thee. Thus in verse 20 he calls idolaters harlots. Thus St. Jerome and Rabanus. These things are to be referred to verse 13. Otherwise St. Thomas: for he takes fornication properly, that is to say, the Assyrians and Egyptians, as masters and conquerors, have shamefully abused the Jews both boys and girls. Otherwise Hugo, Dionysius, Maldonatus and Sanchez: by fornication they understand servitude, oppression, and every calamity which the Assyrians and Egyptians inflicted upon the subjugated Jews. This sense follows from the first, and perfects and fulfills it: because the Jews willingly succumbed to the guilt of the Assyrians and Egyptians, hence also to their punishment and vexation, but unwillingly. Whence for "have broken thee in pieces," in Hebrew it is ירעוך iiruch, that is, have pastured thee, that is, have ruled thee, have commanded thee. For in verse 8 he called kings "shepherds." But Our text, the Septuagint, the Chaldean and others read with different points ierouch, that is, have done evil to thee, that is, have broken thee in pieces: for he speaks of Israel as of a virgin, whose greatest evil is fornication: whence the Septuagint translates, have mocked thee. Perhaps also for iod they read caph, namely for ierouch, כרעוך careuch, that is, have bent thee, have cast thee down, namely to break thee in pieces. Finally others translate prophetically, will do evil, that is, will crush, will break, will shatter thy head and the top thereof, that is, will slay thy king Josiah with thy people. Thus Hugo, Lyran, Dionysius. Whence the Chaldean translates, will slay thy mighty ones, and will plunder thy possessions. See here what a vile thing a harlot makes herself, and a woman adorned for others: namely outwardly she is splendid, inwardly filthy and putrid with fornication: outwardly Helen, inwardly Hecuba: outwardly pomp and show, inwardly cloud, empty and chaos: outwardly a goddess, inwardly a hag. Tropologically the soul makes itself such while it sins, and having abandoned the Creator fornicates with creatures, namely it makes itself a whited sepulchre. Here the old saying is apt: "Where there is a breast, there is a tumor: where there is honey, there is gall: where there are mountains, there are valleys: where there is gold, there is rust and dross."
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17. THOU HAST FORSAKEN THE LORD THY GOD AT THAT TIME WHEN HE LED THEE BY THE WAY, — namely of the desert, by the pillar of fire and cloud. "Thou hast forsaken," because in Sinai thou didst make and worship the golden calf. Thus Theodoret, Hugo, Lyran, that is to say, Because thou wouldst not follow God, while he led thee by a plain and safe way, he permitted thee to go astray by difficult ways: because thou wouldst not use prosperous things following God, he permitted thee to experience adverse things following idols, says Maldonatus. Secondly, St. Jerome, the Chaldean, Rabanus, Hugo, Vatablus, by way they understand the way of the commandments of the Lord, namely a holy life, which Jeremiah showed thee by his preachings and prophecies, that is to say, Thou hast forsaken the right way to heaven, which God showed thee by his law, and by the preachings of Jeremiah.
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18. WHAT WILT THOU DO IN THE WAY OF EGYPT (whither art thou going into Egypt)? AND WHAT HAST THOU TO DO WITH THE WAY OF THE ASSYRIANS? (whither art thou going into Assyria?) For the Jews, says St. Jerome, being oppressed by the Egyptians, were wont to flee to the Assyrians; and being pressed by the Assyrians, to flee to the Egyptians. TO DRINK THE TROUBLED WATER — of the Nile, which because it is muddy and covers Egypt with mud, hence in Hebrew שחור sichor, in Greek, that is, black is said: hence it is called turbid. The Septuagint translates it Geon: for the Nile is called Geon, in Hebrew גיחון gichon, from the root גוח goach, that is, breast, which as it were with its belly and breast lies upon Egypt when it overflows, and thus makes it fertile. So the water of the river of the Assyrians is the Euphrates, as if to say: Why dost thou go in vain, to seek help from the Egyptians and Assyrians, that, abandoning the perennial fountain which thou hast at home, thou mayest beg their turbid and failing waters, that is, the aid of the Egyptians and Assyrians, who cannot help thee, but will involve thee in a thousand troubles and calamities? Thus the Interpreters everywhere. Again, in the Nile there are deadly crocodiles, which are a symbol of shamelessness, concerning which Clement of Alexandria, book V of the Stromata, says: "In Diospolis, which is a city of Egypt, a boy is depicted as a sign of generation; but an old man, of destruction: and again the hawk is received as a symbol of God, as the fish is a symbol of hatred, the crocodile of shamelessness. It seems therefore that this whole symbol placed together signifies this: O ye who are born and die, God hates shamelessness!" which God here reproaches Israel fleeing to the Egyptians and their gods, verses 16 and 20. Only Hugo explains it thus, as if to say: Why dost thou commit sins, which compel thee to be led captive into Egypt, or to the Assyrians? Thus almost the Chaldean.
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19. THY WICKEDNESS SHALL REPROVE THEE. — In Hebrew תיסרך teiasserech, shall chastise thee, that is, shall be the cause that thou art chastised: from which thou shalt learn how evil and bitter a thing it is to have forsaken thy God. THY TURNING AWAY (from God) SHALL REBUKE THEE. — He says the same thing in other words, after the manner of the Hebrews.
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20. FROM OF OLD (from ancient times) THOU HAST BROKEN MY YOKE — of my law. The Septuagint translates, thy yoke, thy bonds: because the law, as it was a yoke of God, imposing it upon the necks of the people: so also was it of the people bearing it. Secondly and more aptly, by yoke understand marriage, that is to say, Thou hast violated the conjugal covenant, by which thou wast joined to me: for God speaks of Israel as of his spouse, as is evident from verse 2. Thus Maldonatus. For a husband, and especially God, is the lord of his wife, and can bind her with whatever laws and bonds he wishes, by his authority: hence the Synagogue was so a wife, that yet she was also a handmaid of God. In Hebrew it is, from of old I broke thy yoke, I burst thy bonds; as if they were the words of God, that is to say, I God burst the bonds of Egyptian servitude from thy neck, O Israel! But our Interpreter takes these words by mimesis, as if they were the words of the people, from which follows: "And thou saidst: I will not serve." that is to say, As thou saidst: I will not serve, namely the Lord and my husband, namely God, says St. Jerome, so likewise boasting and vaunting thou saidst: I broke thy yoke, and thy bonds, by which thou hadst bound me to thee, O Lord! namely the yoke of marriage, and consequently the yoke of thy law. For God made a covenant with Israel on this condition and pact, that Israel should keep the law of God, God in turn would nourish and protect Israel. Truly St. Augustine, Sentence 381: "What is so worthy of mercy as the miserable? What is so unworthy of mercy as the proud miserable?" THOU HAST BURST MY BONDS, — as an unbroken heifer or ox, which, made wanton by feeding, kicks back, or rather as a cow mad with love for a bull, which shakes the yoke from its neck with broken bonds, and runs to her lover: so also thou, with the bonds of my marriage and my law broken, to idols, as to adulterers, hast run madly. FOR ON EVERY HIGH HILL. — She calls idolatry harlotry: for idolaters were accustomed to sacrifice to their idols on hills and in forests under trees. Fifthly, they themselves held the very high mountains as gods and worshipped them, as the Macedonians did, as Maximus of Tyre testifies, sermon 58. And today in Peru there are Indians who think any mountain, if it be somewhat higher and more beautiful, to be God. Hear Virgil concerning the mountain on which was the Capitol, book VIII of the Aeneid: This grove, he says, this hill with leafy summit (what god, uncertain) a god inhabits, the Arcadians believe they have seen Jupiter himself. Indeed they also wished trees to be sacred to the gods. Hence Virgil, eclogue VII: The poplar most pleasing to Alcides, the vine to Bacchus, the fair myrtle to Venus, its laurel to Phoebus. So also springs and rivers they worshipped as gods. See the sayings on Isaiah XLII, verse 15. And hence by Virgil and the Poets they are called "sacred springs." THOU DIDST SPREAD THYSELF. — In Hebrew it is צעה tsoa, that is thou didst wander; Pagninus, thou didst run about; the Septuagint, thou didst spread thyself, that is to say, Thou didst run from one tree to another, from one idol to another, as harlots run from one lover to another. 21. I PLANTED THEE A CHOSEN VINEYARD. — The Hebrew שרק sorec signifies a kind of the best vine, concerning which Isaiah V, 2. ALL TRUE SEED. — In Hebrew, whose all seed was true. He calls "seed" the shoots, from which, as from a root and seed, vines and grapes grow: for vines are rarely planted from seed, more often from shoots: these shoots therefore are like seed, and are called true seed, that is genuine, not adulterate, that is to say, God planted thee, O Israel! as a chosen vineyard, that is as his Church, sowing in thee good and genuine seed of his, namely of true faith and religion, in the holy patriarchs Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, Moses, Joshua, etc. Psalm LXXIX, 9, say St. Thomas, Hugo, Lyran: "How then art thou turned to me into the degenerate branches?" that is, as Vatablus says, into degenerate shoots of a foreign vine, which namely from its nature, and native sap and goodness has degenerated, and produces not true, cultivated and sweet grapes; but false and adulterate ones, namely wild berries, bitter and harsh, of infidelity, apostasy and other crimes. In Hebrew there is a beautiful paronomasia: the vine sorec is turned into sure, that is into the degenerate; just as if in Flemish thou shouldst say: Ghy soete bijdruhe, hoe sijt ghy in eene suere berandert! Secondly and more aptly, "true seed," he calls perfect seed, that is the shoots of the best vines. For this was a chosen vineyard, as preceded. For rightly Alcazar observed in chapter III of the Apocalypse 7, in Scripture true is not opposed to false, but signifies perfect, as Ecclesiasticus chapter XXV, 12: "Blessed is he that findeth a true friend;" John chapter I, 9: "There was a true light;" and chapter IV, 23: "True worshippers;" chapter VI, 32: "The true bread from heaven;" chapter XV, 1: "I am the true vine;" I Timothy chapter VI, 19: "That they may lay hold on the true life;" I Peter V, 12: "This is the true grace of God;" I John chapter II, 8: "The true light now shineth." Thus we call a true Religious one who is perfect, as Christ, John chapter I, 47, said: "Behold a true Israelite."
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22. IF THOU WAST WASHED WITH NITRE. — Nitre, says Pliny in book XXXI, chapter X, differs not much from salt, it hates and cleanses filth: hence in Hebrew it is called נתר neter, because it lifts stains from garments and bodies. From this many believe nitre to be a species of salt, although others wish it to be alum. For just as on the seashore the heat of the sun accomplishes this, while it turns seawater into rock: so in Nitria (from which many contend nitre is named), where more abundant rains pour into the earth, excessive heat boils the waters into a rock similar to salt, but having nothing of cold rigour, nothing of salty taste; which nevertheless according to the nature of salt is accustomed to melt in heat and in cloudy air. Today we do not have nitre: but in its place our apothecaries use rock salt which they call nitre. Moreover, women most zealous for beauty are taught by Isidore, book XVI of the Etymologies, chapter II, and by Athanasius, in the book On Virginity, near the end, to have used it for this purpose, where he turns them away from these luxuries and commands them to wash themselves with pure water. Indeed Ovid teaches that tumours are removed with nitre, in the book On the Remedies of the Face; and pustules and moles, as Delrio teaches from Drogon of Hostia, in adage 819. ETC., BORITH. — Borith is the herb of fullers, by which namely they themselves wash away and cleanse the filth of cloth; for it has the same power as nitre, says St. Jerome; for Borith comes down from בור bur, that is, he purified; hence בר bar, that is, pure; clean; likewise bar, that is, far, grain purged from chaff. The Syrian and Arabic translate sulphur for borith, which powerfully cleanses filth: for it burns them together with the matter to which they adhere. THOU ART STAINED (in Hebrew נכתם nichtam, that is, thou art engraved, marked) IN THY INIQUITY, — that is to say, Thou art sprinkled with emblems and figures of thy crimes, the traces of sins remain impressed in thee, like the expressed images of some history; for, as it is said in chapter XVII, 1, "the sin of Judah is written with an iron pen, etc., upon the breadth of their heart," that is to say, Thus art thou stained in thy soul before God, thus hast thou drunk in stains, so that thou canst not be cleansed and purified by any nitre, soap, or borith. Wherefore from this place Theologians rightly teach that the act of sin, passing away, leaves behind it a habitual stain in the soul, which formally makes it sinful, and hateful and abominable to God, of which it is said in Joshua XXII, 17: "Ye have sinned against the Lord in Beelphegor, and unto this day the stain of that wickedness remaineth upon us;"; and of Solomon: "Thou hast given a stain to thy glory," Ecclesiasticus XLVII, 22; and of the Church: "That he might present it to himself a glorious church, not having spot, or wrinkle," Ephesians chapter V, 27. See St. Thomas and the Scholastics, I II, Question LXXXVI. Symbolically, by nitre and borith he denotes legal lustrations, baptisms and sacrifices, by which the Jews thought all sins could be expiated, but falsely; for those indeed purified the body, not the soul. Thus Theodoret, Hugh and Lyran. Maldonatus however takes nitre and borith for human excuses, that is to say, Whatever thou sayest, whatever thou excusest thyself by, saying in the following verse: "I am not defiled," thou wilt not be able to justify thyself before me. Tropologically, the spiritual nitre and herb of fullers of Christians is penance, which purifies not the body, but the soul. Thus St. Jerome. Again, the nitre of the soul is sickness, poverty, calumny, and any tribulation whatsoever. Wherefore in the Lives of the Fathers we read of that great Abbot St. John, that when a certain monk burning with a severe fever asked him to obtain health for himself from God, he answered: "Thou wishest to cast away something necessary for thee: for just as bodies are washed with nitre from filth, so souls are purified by languors and other such chastisements."
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23. BEHOLD THY WAYS IN THE VALLEY, — that is, Look upon hell, that is the valley of the sons of Ennom, say St. Jerome, Rabanus, Hugo, St. Thomas, Lyranus, which is irrigated by the fountains of Siloe, in which thou didst burn thy sons to the idol Moloch; there thou shalt see thy filthiness of idolatry as witnesses, and monuments of thy impiety. Whence the Septuagint for in the valley render, ἐν τῷ πολυανδρίῳ, that is in the sepulchre of a multitude, that is of many infants: thus hell is πολυάνδριον, that is the sepulchre of a multitude of men. KNOW WHAT THOU HAST DONE: A SWIFT RUNNER (In Hebrew נכרה bichra signifies a swift animal, running hither and thither (whence Aquila, Symmachus and Theodotion render, δρομὰς κούφη, by which the Chaldean here means a female camel or dromedary, which, as a brute, blind and mad beast, makes man, so that like a wild ass and horse he is carried away to his base allurements and mistresses. Vatablus, a giraffe; St. Jerome, a roe. A swift runner therefore is a roe, or rather a swift camel, as if to say: Just as a roe, or camel, swift is borne to pasture, or rather to males, while it rages with the heat of lust, and therefore runs hither and thither), EXPLAINING THY WAYS, — in Hebrew wandering about or going around "thy ways" just as, O Israel, thou hast wandered to various idols hither and thither, and with great impetuosity hast petulantly run about. He explains what in verse 20 he had said in Hebrew, thou didst wander as a harlot, and here depicts her manners; as Solomon, Proverbs chapter VII, verse 11: "Restless, and unable to abide in her house, now without, now in the streets, now lying in wait near the corners." Morally, learn here how swift is covetousness and pleasure, when driven by the heat of lust, it runs in every direction, until it finds male camels, with which it may satisfy its lust, it is understood; a brute, blind and mad beast makes man, so that like a wild ass and horse he is carried away to his base allurments and mistresses. Truly did Plutarch say: "Pleasure is the food of evils." And Cicero: "Most beguiling are mistresses pleasures," which namely most easily make man obedient to themselves. Cato in Cicero, book On Old Age: "Receive, said he, best young men, the ancient discourse of Archytas of Tarentum. No more capital plague, than the pleasure of the body, said he was given to men by nature, the desires of which pleasure, greedy and unbridled, are incited rashly and without restraint to obtain it. Hence betrayals of the fatherland, hence overthrows of republics, hence secret conferences with enemies are born; nor is there any crime or deed to the undertaking of which the lust of pleasure does not impel." Antisthenes in Laertius, book VI, chapter 1, said, "he would rather be mad than affected by pleasure. For madness is taken away by a physician: pleasure, when it snatches away the mind from man, is scarcely a curable evil." Socrates in Plato in the Phaedo says: "Pleasure as if holding a nail, joins and fixes the soul to the body, and makes it that infected with bodily form, it thinks those things true which the body suggests." Plato himself said that pleasure was separated from the nature of the gods. Democritus compared those devoted to pleasure to those seized with the falling sickness. Nyssenus, homily 2 on Ecclesiastes, shows that Solomon concerning pleasure, which he had studiously sought from various things, pronounces it to be vanity of vanities, and mere deception of men. Poets signified pleasures by Circe's cup and the Sirens' song, which beguiled men pleasantly, and soon destroyed them. Euripides in Hecuba says Venus is prefect of madness. Well known are the examples of Samson perishing for Delilah, Solomon's concubines, David's Bathsheba. This pleasure wrested from Hercules, son of Jupiter, exceeding all in virtue, and destined for the heavens, the club (which neither lion, nor hydra, nor Cerberus could wrest from him), and in its place fitted the distaff and spindle to his fingers, when he followed the custom of Iole. Pleasure made the Roman Hannibal victorious, because it enervated the strength and virtue of the Romans, says Livy, Decade III, book III. Claudius Caesar, as witness Suetonius in his Life, devoted to belly and pleasures, fell into such stupidity of mind and forgetfulness, that when Messalina was killed, shortly after sitting at table he asked why his mistress did not come; and he invited many of those whom he had condemned to death to a banquet the next day and to gaming. Aristotle gives a method of overcoming pleasures, in the second book of the Ethics, final chapter, that we should conduct ourselves regarding pleasures as the Trojan leaders did regarding Helen, who thought she should be abandoned lest they incur the damages and destruction of war. And Epictetus, chapter LVI: "If you have conceived in your mind the image of some pleasure," he says, "restrain yourself lest you be moved by it; but also examine the thing itself, and give yourself space for deliberation: then remember both times, both that in which you will enjoy the pleasure, and that in which, having received the pleasure, you will grieve, and you will reproach yourself. And compare these with that: if you abstain, it will be that you rejoice, and you will praise yourself. But if it seems to you that it is time to undertake the thing, beware lest you be overcome by its blandishments and the allurements of its sweetness; but oppose to it how much more excellent is the consciousness of such a victory." And Horace: Spurn pleasures; pleasure bought with pain harms. When Demosthenes begged a night with Lais, and she demanded a great fee, coming to himself, he said: "I do not buy such repentance at that price." The second method is, if you strengthen your mind to resist pleasure, by thinking that it is your deadly enemy, and the cause of all evils. Therefore command yourself severely, that you do not yield to your enemy inviting you blandly, but resist it constantly, so that reason may retain its dominion, and not submit itself as if enslaved to desire. Agesilaus, when asked "what the laws of Lycurgus had contributed to the fatherland?" answered: "To despise pleasures." Plutarch is witness in the Laconian Lives. Truly Virgil, book IX of the Aeneid: Each man's dire desire becomes his god. Ovid: Alas! what a sweet evil added to mortals, and love of sweet life! See the fable of the unicorn in Damascenus in the History of Barlaam, chapter XII. The third is, if you love the true pleasure of virtue, you despise the false pleasure of concupiscence. Cyrus, as Xenophon testifies, said that one should abstain from lesser pleasures so that greater and more lasting ones might be obtained: because he called labor the guide of a pleasant life: for from it both food, and drink, and sleep become most pleasant. Hence Hesiod said the path of virtue was rough; yet to him who reached its summit, all things were pleasant and most delightful. Socrates and Chrysippus, intent on their studies, were so filled with pleasure that they seemed to have flown away from the body. Archimedes, fixed in his mathematics, neither felt the destruction of his fatherland, nor the laments of his citizens, nor the rages and swords of his enemies, by which he himself was pierced. What pleasure, therefore, will Christians and Saints draw from the contemplation of God, from hope and love, from the fellowship of Angels, from the consolations of the Holy Spirit! St. Augustine, tract. 15 in John, concerning the water of which Christ said, John chapter IV: "Whosoever drinketh of this water shall thirst again," says it is worldly pleasure: "Suppose," he says, "the pitcher to be desire and the water from the deep to be pleasure. When anyone has come to the pleasure of this age, whether it is food, whether it is drink, whether it is a spectacle, etc., does he not thirst again? he thirsts again: but if he has received water from me, he shall not thirst forever. I shall be satisfied," says the Psalmist, "with the good things of thy house: because with thee is the fountain of life." 24. THE WILD ASS ACCUSTOMED IN THE WILDERNESS. — He compared Israel to a hind, now he compares her to a wild ass, that is a wild donkey, as if to say: Just as a male or female wild ass, a wild animal, is most lustful, wild and swift, as witnesses Pliny, Oppian, Aelian and others, which "in the desire of her soul," namely when she is in heat "draws the wind," and the breeze which she loves most; or rather when she is inflamed with lust, she climbs the highest mountains, as Oppian testifies, to smell and catch the breeze of the female whom she loves, and is wholly carried toward her, so that no one can turn her away, so much so that she is driven to madness and the destruction of her own offspring: so Israel smelled, wherever there was some idol, and with all force, so that she could not be turned away by any warnings or threats, was carried to the lust of idolatry. Thus St. Jerome. Note: For "wind of love" in Hebrew it is "spirit of occasion," or "impulse," or "constraint," that is of her lust: for the root אנה ana means to be affected or impelled by some grave cause. Second, in Hebrew פרה pere signifies a wild ass both male and female, and either can be taken here: whence in Hebrew the participle "accustomed" is masculine, and the wild ass rages more toward the she-ass than the she-ass toward the wild ass; yet all the affixed pronouns are feminine; and the following things, namely menstruation, belong to the female, not the male. Therefore he speaks of both the she-ass and the wild ass, as if to say: O adulterous wife! raging like a she-ass, and running to your lovers through leaps and groves, where are you hastening? where does he carry you? who drives you with such heat? you have torn your garment woven with gold among thorns and forests, you have worn out your hyacinthine shoes, you have bloodied your bare feet, and still you run breathless and thirsty? I your husband pursue you, return to me. ALL THEY THAT SEEK HER SHALL NOT FAIL,—in Hebrew, shall not be wearied; the Septuagint, shall not labor, as if to say: Just as she-asses and camels, although they are most swift, because they breathe most easily, are nevertheless captured when they are in heat, and when they are burdened by pregnancy or menstruation, so easily shall the lovers find, that is the idolatrous nations, this harlot, namely the people of Israel, who seek nothing but such lovers; they shall find her, I say, but in a brothel, that is in the temples and altars of idols committing fornication with them. IN HER MENSTRUATION,—that is in the filth of blood, bones and corpses of infants and victims offered by herself, whose pleasure never satisfies her, but just as a beetle lives on their dung and filth. For just as craftsmen in their workshops, drunkards in taverns, adulterers in dens of vice, so the impious Israelites were not found in the temple, not in the holy city, not in the houses of the good, but in Egypt and Assyria in the houses of idols. Second, the Septuagint for "in menstruation" render "in humility, abjection, poverty": for there the lustful are found, who squander their substance with harlots, just as the prodigal son was found among swine, Luke XV, 15. Third, R. Solomon, Symmachus and Vatablus render "in her month." For in Hebrew חדש chodes signifies both "month" and "new moon" and "menstruation": because, says R. Solomon, the wild ass sleeps one month of the year, then it is captured, while in the others it is awake, and on account of its swiftness cannot be captured: thus the daughter of Israel, when she slept in the worship of idols, forgetful of God, was captured by the Chaldeans in the fifth month. Thus the flood overwhelmed men sleeping in sins, Matthew XXIV, 38. But that the wild ass sleeps only one month, neither Pliny, nor Oppian, nor others mentioned by Gesner in the wild ass remember: wherefore it seems fabulous. Finally Vatablus also renders thus: the she-ass shall be captured when she is pregnant, that is Israel shall be captured when she has reached the height of sins. Tropologically St. Gregory, homily 29 on Ezekiel: "Malign spirits," he says, "find the soul in her menstruation, when placed in polluted thoughts they easily draw it to perverse action."
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25. RESTRAIN THY FOOT FROM NAKEDNESS, — that thou wear not out thy shoes, so that thou go barefoot, or that thou bare not thy feet so as to cross the Nile or Euphrates: and that thou torment not thyself with thirst, running into Egypt or Assyria, seeking the help of idols and idolaters, when they cannot help thee: therefore do not tire thyself with such vain labour, but return to me. The bride answers, that is the people of Israel: "I have despaired," namely of salvation and help and reconciliation, that is, after adultery with idols, I shall be received back into favour by my true spouse God; wherefore I will not return to him, therefore I will go to strangers whom I love. Thus the Chaldean, Vatablus and St. Jerome. Otherwise St. Thomas, Lyran, Dionysius explain it, as if to say: Beware, O Israel, of idolatry, lest thou be led captive with naked feet, and dried up by thirst into Babylon. But the former sense is more genuine, as is evident from what follows. Otherwise also our Pineda explains it in cap. XXXI of Job, 10, num. 8, as if to say: "Restrain thy foot from nakedness," that is, lest thou bare thy legs and thighs to the adulterer, and prostitute thyself to him: "and thy throat," that is thy member, "from thirst," that is from the intemperant heat of lust. For thus it is said, Proverbs cap. XXX, vers. 15: "Three things are never satisfied, etc., the mouth of the womb;" and Proverbs V, 15: "Drink water from thy own cistern, and the streams of thy own well," that is thou alone enjoy thy wife. Whence explaining this he adds: "Rejoice with the wife of thy youth; let her breasts inebriate thee at all times, be delighted continually in her love." The first sense, as it is the most chaste, so also is it the simplest and most genuine. For it was preceded by: "I have not walked after Baalim: see thy ways in the valley: thou art a swift runner explaining thy ways." And it follows: "After them (lovers) I will go." Therefore in the feet here is understood the walking to fornication, not however the very denudation and fornication itself. I HAVE DESPAIRED, — in Hebrew נואש noas, that is it is done with me, it is despaired of, namely I will by no means do what God the spouse counsels, that I return to him. It can, secondly, be turned thus by interrogation, is it despaired of? not at all because I love strangers (gods, as if lovers), and after them I will go: they will protect me. Whence eliminating this he adds, but thou shalt be confounded, harlot. Thirdly, Vatablus translates the Hebrew noas as, it is spat out, that is it is abhorred, and as if torn away, namely my heart from God my husband. See to what lengths impiety, and impious lust, progresses. On the contrary the spouse to the bride loving him, and faithful to him, says Canticles IV, 9: "Thou hast wounded my heart (Hebrew לבבתני libbittini, that is thou hast taken away my heart, thou hast disheartened me, thou hast ravished my heart), my sister spouse." For love so glues lovers together, that whoever wishes to separate one from the other, seems to take away half of his soul. Wherefore those accustomed to lust and concubines can scarcely leave them, and are almost incorrigible. This is what Hosea says cap. V, vers. 4: "They will not give their thoughts to return to their God; because the spirit of fornications is in the midst of them." Thus also this harlot says: "I have despaired, I will by no means do it;" the spouse answers, that is the people of Israel: "I have despaired," "for I have loved strangers:" for having been lustful continually, she thinks of nothing but lust.
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26. HOW IS THE THIEF CONFOUNDED WHEN HE IS CAUGHT (the Chaldean, as the confusion of a man, who when he had been held faithful, is found to be a thief), SO SHALL THEY BE CONFOUNDED, — so shall the Israelites be confounded, when they shall be taken by Nebuchadnezzar: then the crime of adultery, that is of idolatry, of theirs shall be laid bare, and that on account of it they are justly punished by God, and that they have sought help from idols in vain. Thus Theodoret, Hugo, St. Thomas, Lyran.
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30. YOUR SONS. — That is, your citizens: for he speaks to the congregation of the Jews in general, which was the mother both of those struck down, that is, destroyed under Sennacherib and Manasseh, and of those still living. HAVE NOT RECEIVED DISCIPLINE, — as if to say, Chastised by me, you have not become better; nay, you have killed the Prophets, through whom I admonished you; this indeed is what he adds: YOUR SWORD HAS DEVOURED YOUR PROPHETS, — namely of the true God. For Manasseh daily killed some prophet, says Josephus in Antiquities X, IV. Thus Hugo, Lyra, Dionysius. St. Jerome, however, Theodoret, Rabanus, St. Thomas, take vester passively, as if to say, The sword which will devour you will also devour your false prophets, who have seduced you: so that it is prophecy and a threat. AS A DEVOURING LION. 31. YOUR GENERATION. — Thus the Roman version. In Hebrew it is, as a devouring lion this generation, namely you yourselves, that is, as St. Jerome says, just as a devouring lion has raged against those passing by, so you have raged against the Prophets of God, for he confirms what he said a little before: "Your sword has devoured your prophets." The Hebrew, Chaldean, Vatablus, Pagninus and others divide and punctuate this way: your sword has devoured your prophets, as a lion, period; O generation, or O age! that is O men of this time, namely you yourselves who hear these things, see what the Lord says to you. Maldonatus explains this otherwise. IS IT A SOLITUDE, — as if to say, Was I useless to this people, as a solitude is useless, which bears no fruit; or am I so slow in helping, as is the late-bearing land, which retains everything within itself and produces nothing outside, or late? as if to say, No, because as long as Israel worshipped me, I never failed it, but gave it abundance of all things. Thus Theodoret. Note: For late-bearing, in Hebrew it is מאפליות mapeleia, that is, dark: for land which is not exposed to the sun, or under the open sky, produces nothing, or produces late: whence the Septuagint translates, γῆ κεχερσωμένη, that is, full of thorns. Others explain it thus, as if to say, Why do they abandon my temple and leave it solitary? Third, Tertullian, in book IV Against Marcion, XXXI, explains it thus, as if to say, This people thinks that when it abandons me, I will remain alone without worshippers, as a solitude without inhabitants: no, no; I have another world; nay, a thousand worlds if I wish, from which I may call forth my servants, my worshippers. WE HAVE WITHDRAWN. — The Chaldean: we have migrated, namely to the nations and gods. It can, second, be read with other punctuation רדנו radinu, and be translated with Pagninus, Vatablus, Isachi, we rule, or we have received dominion, that is we have other kings, namely of Egypt or of the Assyrians, we have no need of your dominion.
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32. DOES SHE FORGET — as if to say, A woman values her ornaments more than my people values me. BANDS — because it adorns the breast, and from it she hangs bulges, necklaces from the neck, and wears them on the breast. Jerome Prado in Ezekiel XVI, page 187, takes these bands to be those with which the breasts are bound: for those are a sign of the undefiled flower of virginity, just as slack breasts are a sign of fornication: therefore these bands given by the bridegroom to the bride admonish her of conjugal faith and bodily purity, so that namely the breasts, which are the diversions of the heart, that is her affections, she may restrain and keep herself pure for the bed of her bridegroom, and may say that word from the Canticle II: "My beloved is mine, and I am his;" chapter I: "A bundle of myrrh is my beloved to me, he shall rest between my breasts." Secondly, it can be translated from Hebrew as necklaces, torques, golden chains, which the bride receives from the bridegroom, so that he may bind her to himself, so that she always wears them on her breast. Pliny relates, book VII, XXIV, that a certain man fallen from the office of prefect began to lose memory of his mother and relatives and kinsmen: but that Messala Corvinus the orator forgot his own name. Aelian, book VIII, chapter XXII, relates that there is a kind of wolf so forgetful that, "although it has food in its teeth, if it looks away, forgetfulness of food is wont to creep in, and it departs and seeks something else." The Poets fable that there is a river below the infernal regions, named Lethe, whose waters if anyone tastes, he forgets all things of the past: therefore among Tullius letters, that is oblivion, has the name, concerning which Lucan book IX: "Beside which the silent stream of Lethe glides, Bringing (as fame reports) oblivion in its infernal veins." Ovid, book II On the Pontus, elegy IV: "Not I, if you drank the safe cups of Lethe, Believe this could be erased from your breast." Likewise Lucan, book III: "Not the oblivion of the Lethean shore, my spouse, Made me unmindful of you." And Pliny, book XXXI, chapter II, relates that in Boeotia there is a river which induces forgetfulness. Physicians write, and experience confirms, that lethargy is a disease arising from phlegm more humid and colder, wetting the brain and filling the ventricles of the brain, in which the seat of memory is, which induces λήθην, that is forgetfulness of all things. By far a greater lethargy does the sinner labor, who seems to have imbibed Lethe itself, that is oblivion, while he forgets not only his mother, not only his kinsmen, not only his own name, but God his Creator, Redeemer and Savior, in whom we live, move and have our being, who is more intimate to each one than his own essence and existence itself, indeed is the life of life, and the soul of the soul of each one. (1) By the appellation of feet are signified the legs and the shameful parts. Cf. Genesis XLIX, 40; Ruth III, 7; Exodus IV, 25. These are therefore the words of God recalling and by euphemism reproving wicked adulteries.
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33. WHAT — as if to say, Why do you strive to show yourself innocent by the gloss of words and external works, so as to win my favor, when you teach others impiety, and have shed innocent blood? Thus St. Jerome, Theodoret, Rabanus, Hugh, St. Thomas, Lyran. Others translate differently, the Chaldean, Vatablus, Isidore, as if to say, Why do you direct your ways toward the nations, so that you may seek their friendship? for by this very thing you have shown your ways to be evil, because you have bound yourself to their most wicked customs, and in turn have made manifest to them your most wicked ways. YOU HAVE TAUGHT YOUR WAYS YOUR MALICES — It is an apposition, that is you have taught others your ways, which are pure malice.
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34. IN THE WINGS — in the hems of garments. It is a metaphor from birds of prey, such as hawks, whose wings have the blood of captured birds adhering to them. For what feathers and wings are to a bird, clothes are to a man. The Septuagint translates, in the hands: for instead of בכנפיך becanuphecha, they read בכפיך beccaphecha, or certainly the hands of garments for wings, because hands to a man are what wings are to a bird, as if to say, Your garments and your hands are sprinkled with blood, both of the Prophets and of the innocent, whom you sacrificed to Moloch both in body and soul. Thus Theodoret and St. Jerome. NOT IN PITS — as if to say, I have not found your slain in pits, as if slain by the snares of robbers, but under the oak sacrificed to idols publicly. For the Hebrew מחתרת machtereth signifies not only perforation, but also a pit and a hole. Secondly, more aptly from the Hebrew you may explain thus, I have not found your slain in pits, that is in the perforation of houses, as if thieves or robbers, so that they could justly be killed; but in the groves and forests of idols, as victims, as I mentioned above; or, as St. Jerome, in "all things which I mentioned above," namely in all reproofs, that is because the Prophets reproached you concerning idolatry, therefore you killed them. Others explain thus: I have not found them sinning secretly in pits, but publicly in streets, valleys and forests committing idolatry. Thus Theodoret. Note: R. Solomon, Lyran, Vatablus, Pagninus translate: You have not found them, namely as if perfectors and robbers, so that you could justly kill them. But in Hebrew it is לא מצאתים lo metsatim, that is I have not found them, in the first person, not in the second. Secondly, for in all, which in Hebrew is אלה elle, that is to them, the Septuagint with other pointing read אלה ela, that is oak: whence they translate, in every oak, namely sacred to idols, I have found them committing idolatry.
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35. AND THOU SAIDST: I AM WITHOUT SIN AND INNOCENT. — God is indignant with Israel not so much on account of crimes, as because he is unwilling to confess them, and cries out that he is innocent. Wherefore he subjoins: "Behold, I will contend with thee in judgment (I will judge and convince thee guilty of many crimes through Jeremiah and other Prophets) because thou hast said: I have not sinned." "True innocence," says St. Augustine in Sent. num. 1, "is that which harms neither itself nor another. Since he who loves iniquity hates his own soul, and no one sins first in another before sinning in himself;"; and num. 117: "God approves that innocence by which a man becomes innocent not from fear of punishment, but from love of justice. For he who sins not from fear, although he does not harm whom he wishes to harm, yet harms himself greatly; and abstaining from an evil work, he is nevertheless guilty by his will alone."
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36. HOW VILE ART THOU BECOME! — The Interpreter translates rightly, because תזלי, teze'i, or rather תזלי tazuli (for thus it should be pointed), descends from the root זלל zul, that is, I become vile: the more recent translators render it: Why dost thou run about so much, wearing out thy ways? because they derive tezeli from אזל azal, that is, he went, he walked. But thus tezeli ought to be written with an aleph; here however it lacks an aleph. Note: Sin is the supreme spiritual filthiness and baseness of the soul, just as the supreme shame of a virgin is corruption, by which she loses her virginity. Most excellently St. Augustine, in Sent. num. 287: "How excellent," he says, "the good of human nature is, appears especially from this, that it has been given to it to be able to adhere to the nature of the highest and unchangeable good. But if it should be unwilling, it deprives itself of good, and this is an evil to it: whence by the justice of God it will also suffer torment. For what is so unjust as that it should be well with a deserter of good? Sometimes the evil of a lost superior good is not felt, while it has what is a loved inferior good. But it is divine justice, that he who by his will lost what he ought to have loved, should lose with sorrow what he loved." Because therefore the sinner does not feel the baseness of guilt, God therefore makes him feel the same through the baseness and torment of punishment. THOU SHALT BE CONFOUNDED BY EGYPT, — that is to say, Egypt will not be able to help thee, as the Assyrians could not. The Jews, when pressed by enemies, were wont to flee to the Egyptians or Assyrians, not to the Lord. Thus Achaz sought help from Teglatphalasar king of the Assyrians, IV Kings XVI, 7, who although he then helped him against the king of Syria, yet afterwards the Assyrians oppressed the Jews, especially when they took Manasses. Thus St. Thomas, Lyra, Dionysius, that is to say, Thou fleest, O Israel, now to the Egyptians, now to the Assyrians; but in vain: for as from Assyria, so from Egypt thou shalt return confounded, with hands clasped upon thy head, in sign of shame and sorrow. Thus St. Jerome and Theodoret. So it will happen to those who, trusting in friends, riches, strength, abandon God: for God will crush and confound their confidence and hope, so that they may have nothing prosperous in them. Learn therefore morally here that true friendship is with God, and with those who are joined to God; with others, loves are false and mercenary. To God alone and to divine men belongs that symbol and token of a true friend which the wise give. As Solomon, Proverbs XVII, 17: "He that is a friend loves at all times: and a brother is proved in the time of distress." And Ecclesiasticus cap. XII, 8: "A friend will not be known in the prosperity of a man, and an enemy will not be hidden in his adversity." And Augustine, lib. LXXXIII, Quæst. LXXI: "Nothing proves a friend so much as the bearing of a friend's burden." And Isidore, lib. III De Summo bono: "In prosperity friendship is uncertain, nor is it felt whether the person or happiness is loved." And Boethius lib. III De Consolat.: "Whom happiness makes a friend, misfortune makes an enemy." And Aristotle, VII Ethic.: "Time shows who is he that pursues a friend with true love." And Ovid lib. I Trist.: While thou art happy, thou shalt number many friends: If times become cloudy, thou shalt be alone. As swallows come in spring, but depart when winter arrives: so flatterers are present in prosperity, in adversity they flee. Such are riches, delights, honors, idols, and even men naturally friends: for all seek their own things, unless they put on the charity and friendship of God. This therefore with God alone is true and perfect friendship.
Machine translation from the Latin, not reviewed.
2:1
Hic incipit vaticinium ipsius Jeremiae jam in prophetali officio constituti; et dividitur in partes tres. In prima praedicit captivitatem futuram; in secunda plangit jam factam, in threnis; in tertia inducit jam captivatos ad poenam in libro Baruch. Prima in duas. In prima praedicit captivitatem per modum prophetiae; in secunda narrat eam per modum historiae, in cap. 53: filius viginti et unius anni. Prima in duas. In prima prophetat ad populum Judaeorum; in secunda ad diversos populos gentium, quia illis etiam propheta constitutus est, ut patet ex praecedenti parte; et hoc cap. 46, quod factum est verbum domini ad Jeremiam prophetam contra gentes. Prima in duas. In prima ponitur prophetia ad populum captivandum ante captivitatem; in secunda ad reliquias captivitatis post captivitatem, cap. 39: anno nono Sedeciae regis Juda. Prima in duas. In prima ponitur Jeremiae praedicatio; in secunda audientium contradictio, cap. 34: verbum quod factum est ad Jeremiam a domino. Prima in duas. Primo ponit comminationem; secundo consolationem, cap. 30: hoc verbum, quod factum est ad Jeremiam a domino, dicens et cetera. Prima in duas. In prima ponit veram comminationem; secundo excludit falsam consolationem, in c. 27. In principio regni Joakim filii Josiae regis Juda. Prima in duas. In prima ponitur comminatio ad populum universaliter; in secunda ad majores specialiter, 20 cap.: et audivit Phassur filius Emmer sacerdos, qui constitutus erat princeps in domo domini, Jeremiam prophetantem sermones istos. Prima in duas. In prima ponit comminationem; in secunda propheta quasi compatiens interponit suam orationem, cap. 14: quod factum est verbum domini ad Jeremiam de sermonibus siccitatis. Prima in duas. In prima per judicium convincit culpam; in secunda revocat ad poenitentiam, cap. 3: vulgo dicitur et cetera. Prima in duas. In prima assignat tantae dignationis rationem, eo scilicet quod non statim post culpam vindictam inferat, sed judicio contendat, ut revocet; in secunda prosequitur judicii ordinem, ibi, audite verbum domini, domus Jacob. Circa primum duo. Primo sumit rationem ex Dei pietate: clama, aperte pronuntia, Jerusalem, habitatorem ipsius. Et ponit tria quae movent ad pietatem. Primum est puritas aetatis, adolescentiam tuam, in qua sponsae vehementius amantur, quando secuta es quando egrediebantur de Aegypto. Oseae 2: et canet ibi juxta dies juventutis suae, et juxta dies ascensionis suae de terra Aegypti. Secundum est memoriam pristini amoris, et charitatis, qua scilicet desponsavi te mihi in legislatione. Infra 31: in caritate perpetua dilexi te, ideo attraxi te miserans.
2:2
Tertium est obedientia operis: quando secuta es me in deserto, in terra quae non seminatur; quae seri non potest. Unde nec difficultate itineris retrahebaris, quamvis quidam murmurantes dixerint, Numer. 20: adduxisti nos in locum istum pessimum, qui seri non potest, et cetera. Secundo sumit rationem ex populi dignitate: unde primo ponit dignitatem populi, sanctus, quasi dicatus ad cultum domini, et domino consecratus. Primitiae, quia te elegit dominus de cunctis populis, quasi primitias de frugibus. Deuter. 7 et 32: pars autem domini populus ejus, Jacob funiculus hereditatis ejus. Oseae 9: quasi prima poma ficulneae in cacumine ejus, vidi patres eorum. Secundo excludit comminationem hostis: omnes qui devorant eum: secundum legem quae habetur Levit. 7, quod primitias solis sacerdotibus comedere licebat. Ps. 13: qui devorant plebem meam sicut escam panis.
2:5
Hic prosequitur judicii ordinem: et primo ponit accusationem; secundo repellit excusationem, ibi, ego te plantavi vineam electam omne semen verum. Prima in tres. Primo exaggerat culpas eorum ex beneficiorum ingratitudine; secundo ex facti enormitate, ibi, propterea adhuc judicio contendam vobiscum; tertio ex mentis obstinatione, ibi, numquid servus est Israel, aut vernaculus? Circa primum tria. Primo purgat se a culpa, ne in ipso videatur ingratitudinis causa: quid invenerunt patres vestri in me? Mali scilicet, quia nihil. Elongaverunt, longo tempore recesserunt, vanitatem, idola, quae non prosunt cultoribus. Mich. 6: popule meus quid feci tibi, aut quid molestus fui tibi? Responde mihi. Secundo ponit beneficiorum abundantiam, praecipue tangens eductionem de Aegypto. Et tangit hoc beneficium tripliciter.
2:6
Quantum ad locum unde eduxit: et non dixerunt, ubi est dominus? Quaerentes me toto desiderio. Ascendere, propter situm terrae. Infra 26: eduxi eos de terra Aegypti. Quantum ad viam per quam duxit: qui transduxit per desertum (...) imaginem mortis, quia ipso aspectu mortem comminabatur. Deut. 8: ductor tuus fuit in solitudine.
2:7
Et quantum ad terram in quam induxit: et induxi vos in terram Carmeli, propter similitudinem fertilitatis, non quod mons iste sit in terra promissionis. Num. 14: terra quam circuivimus valde bona est. Tertio ponit ingratitudinis culpam; et primo quo ad omnes communiter: et ingressi contaminastis, idolis, Psalm. 105: infecta est terra in sanguinibus, et contaminata est in operibus eorum. Secundo quo ad praelatos specialiter.
2:8
Sacerdotes, quorum est ducere in Deum; tenentes legem, doctores; pastores, principes, quorum est ab idolatria revocare. Isa. 56: ipsi pastores ignoraverunt intelligentiam.
2:11
Hic exaggerat culpam eorum ex facti enormitate: et primo proponit quod intendit, scilicet judicium: adhuc contendam, super enormitate, sicut pro ingratitudine, cum filiis, qui malitiam patrum imitantur. Mich. 6: judicium domini cum populo suo, et cum Israel dijudicabitur. Secundo exequitur propositum, ostendens in judicio peccati enormitatem: et primo ex comparatione cultorum: transite, per considerationem, Cethim, Occidentales ultra Cyprum, vel civitas nominis Cedar, ubi habitant Ismaelitae. Si mutavit gens; quasi dicat, non mutavit. Unde constat quod comparatione aliorum damnati sunt. Ezech. 5: contempsit judicia mea, ut plus esset impia quam gentes, et praecepta mea ultra quam terrae quae in circuitu ejus sunt. Secundo ex comparatione deorum prorumpens in stuporem, obstupescite; quasi dicat: si esset possibile, caeli obstupescerent: vel Angeli, qui in caelis sunt, sicut civitas regis sui. Portate ejus, principaliores in Angelis, qui sunt quasi principes et judices aliorum. Simile Isa. 1: audite, caeli, et auribus percipe terra quoniam dominus locutus est. Secundo subjungit stuporis rationem. Duo enim, contra duas partes praecepti. Exod. 20: ego sum dominus Deus tuus, qui eduxi te de terra Aegypti. Non habebis deos alienos coram me, et cetera. Et iterum: non facietis deos argenteos, nec deos aureos facietis vobis.
2:13
Fontem aquae, qui veram consolationem eis dare possum. Psal. 35: apud te est fons vitae. Cisternas, idola, quae salvare non possunt, foderunt, quia ipsi ea fecerunt. Psal. 113: simulacra gentium, argentum et aurum opera manuum hominum.
2:14
Hic exaggerat culpam ex mentis obstinatione: et primo quia peccatum non recognoscebant; secundo quia multiplicabant, ibi, a saeculo confregisti jugum meum. Circa primum tria. Primo sumit ex poenis culpae argumentum, excludens servilem conditionem, ne propter hoc videatur juste in servitutem adducta. Vernaculus, qui nascitur in domo domini: quasi dicat, non. Joan. 8: semen Abrahae sumus, et nemini servivimus unquam. Proponens poenarum diversitatem quantum ad hominum captivitatem: quare ergo factus est in praedam? Leones, principes Chaldaeorum, vocem, praecepta vel bella. Quantum ad regionis vastationem, posuerunt. Isa. 1: terra vestra deserta, civitates vestrae destructae sunt.
2:16
Quantum ad mulierum violationem: filii quoque, civitates Aegypti, usque ad verticem, contra naturam abutentes, nulli parcentes membro. Vel spiritualiter per idolatriam usque ad firmos contaminantes. Thren. ult.: mulieres in Sion humiliaverunt, et virgines in civitatibus Juda.
2:17
Et concludens veram rationem: non istud factum est tibi, quia dereliquisti dominum Deum tuum? Ducebat, prospere. Non enim te dereliquit, sed tu ipsum. Dan. 9: quia recessimus a te, et non audivimus vocem domini Dei nostri, ut ambularemus in lege ejus quam posuit nobis per servos suos prophetas (...) stillavit super nos maledictio. Secundo ponitur inutile remedium, quod contra hujusmodi poenas adhibebant.
2:18
Ex quo patet quod peccatum non recognoscebant sperantes in auxilio gentium: unde ponit auxilii inquisitionem, et nunc quid tibi vis? Quasi dicat: non sic deberes poenas vitare, sed Deum placando, in via Aegypti, mittens pro auxilio, aquam, Nili, fluminis, Euphratis, qui est Assyriorum. Isa. 30: qui ambulatis ut descendatis in Aegyptum, et os meum non interrogastis. Contra praedictae culpae recognitionem, arguet, malitia, quando pro ea poenas sustinebis. Isa. 3: agnitio vultus eorum respondebit eis, et peccatum suum quasi Sodoma praedicaverunt. Tertio adhibet utile consilium, ut peccatum recognoscant: scito malum, inhonestum, amarum, poenosum. Sophon. 1: vox diei domini amari, tribulabitur ibi fortis.
Hic ostendit, quod peccatum obstinata mente multiplicabant: et primo quantum ad diuturnitatem temporis. A saeculo; quasi dicat, a principio legis datae. Isa. 48: transgressorem ex utero vocavi te. Job 21: quid est opus ut serviamus ei, et quid nobis proderit, si oraverimus illum? Secundo quantum ad multitudinem operis, in omni colle: in locis altis et amoenis, idolis immolabant. Isa. 65: sacrificaverunt super montes, et super colles exprobraverunt mihi. Amoena enim et excelsa semper idolis dedicantur.
2:23
Hic tollit excusationem: et primo quam possent habere, proponendo cultoris negligentiam: contra quod, ego te plantavi electam ex electis patribus. Isa. 5: vinea facta est dilecto meo in cornu filio olei et cetera. Secundo quam possent habere negando culpam, ibi, si laveris. Et primo convincit eos de culpa in Deum; secundo de culpa in proximum, ibi, quid niteris bonam ostendere viam tuam? Circa primum duo. Primo convincit de culpa, ostendens negandi impossibilitatem. Nitro, quod calore solis condensatum, sicut sal, sordes lavat: berith, quaedam herba ad lavandum sordes: et est modus loquendi: quasi dicat: tota aqua fluminis non faceret te mundam; idest nulla est tibi excusatio vel purgatio. Prov. 30: generatio, quae sibi munda videtur, et tamen non est lota a sordibus suis. Quomodo dicis: non sum polluta? Prov. 20: quis potest dicere: mundum est cor meum, purus sum a peccato? Et ponit culpae purgationem, proponens duas circumstantias. Primo locum: vide vias, opera, in convalle, filiorum Ennon, ubi idola colebant. Hic locus Siloe fontibus irrigatur, et ibi erat delubrum Baal, secundum Glossam. Infra 31: dirige cor tuum in viam rectam in qua ambulasti. Et proponit peccati modum quantum ad peccandi solicitudinem. Cursor levis, quasi expeditus ad peccandum. Prover. 1: pedes eorum ad malum currunt, et festinant ut effundant sanguinem. Quantum ad concupiscentiae fervorem: onager in desiderio, scilicet coitus, attraxit ventum, quo percipit odorem feminae suae, amoris rei amatae. Infra 14: onagri steterunt in rupibus, traxerunt ventum quasi dracones.
2:24
Quantum ad fortem adhaesionem, nullus avertet, amovendo. Et quantum ad peccandi promptitudinem, omnes qui quaerunt eam: quasi de meretrice loquitur, quae etiam tempore menstruorum amasiis se exhibet. Ezech. 16: divisisti pedes tuos omni transeunti, et multiplicasti omnes fornicationes tuas. Secundo convincit eos de mentis duritia: et primo quia non revocantur monitis; secundo quia non corriguntur flagellis, ibi, quid vultis mecum judicio contendere? Tertio quia non flectuntur beneficiis, ibi, videte verbum domini. Circa primum tria. Primo ponit admonitionem, prohibe: quasi dicat: cessa a peccatis, pro quibus nudis pedibus et sitiens duceris in captivitatem, sicut Isa. 20: sicut ambulavit servus meus Isaias nudus et discalceatus, sic minabitur rex Assyriorum captivitatem Aegypti, et transmigrationem Aethiopiae juvenum et senum, nudam et discalceatam discoopertis natibus, ad ignominiam Aegypti.
2:25
Secundo ostendit populi rebellionem: et dixisti: desperavi, nequaquam faciam. Alienos, idola. Infra 18: dixerunt: desperavimus, post cogitationes nostras ibimus, et unusquisque pravitatem cordis sui mali faciemus.
2:26
Tertio comminatur confusionem: et primo ponit confusionis similitudinem: quomodo confunditur fur quando deprehenditur; sic confusi sunt, deprehensi in poenis; ligno, idolo ligneo, pater, Deus. Psalm. 96: confundantur omnes qui adorant sculptilia, et qui gloriantur in simulacris suis. Isa. 1: confundentur ab idolis suis. Secundo exponit confusionis ordinem, primo ponens divini auxilii destitutionem, verterunt, quasi inobedientes. Zachar. 7: averterunt scapulam recedentes, et aures suas aggravaverunt, ne audirent legem.
2:27
In tempore afflictionis. Oseae 6: in tribulatione sua mane consurgent ad me. Venite, et revertamur ad dominum et cetera. Secundo ponit idolorum inutilitatem. Ubi sunt dii? Deut. 32: ubi sunt dii eorum, in quibus habent fiduciam?
2:28
Tertio idolorum multitudinem: secundum numerum quippe civitatum tuarum erant dii tui Juda. Isa. 2: repleta est terra ejus equis, et innumerabiles quadrigae ejus.
2:29
Hic ostendit duritiam, quia non corriguntur flagellis. Et primo miratur excusationem: quid vultis mecum judicio contendere? Job 9: si voluerit contendere cum eo, non poterit ei respondere unum pro mille.
2:30
Secundo ostendit eorum incorrigibilitatem quantum ad flagella minorum: frustra percussi filios vestros; et majorum: devoravit gladius vester, ab hostibus, vestris meritis, in occisionem missus, prophetas vestros, falsos, scilicet Baal, et ariolos: et quantum ad omnes communiter: quasi leo vastator, sic vastat; vel quasi leo vastator, sic vastatur: contra leonem enim omnes insurgunt; sic et contra lupum. Infra 6: frustra conflavit conflator, malitiae enim eorum non sunt consumptae. Argentum reprobum vocate eos, quia dominus projecit illos.
2:31
Hic ostendit duritiam, quia non flectuntur beneficiis. Et primo proponit beneficia quae pertinent ad vitae usum, videte, intelligite. Numquid solitudo factus sum Israel? Quinimmo sum vobis pro civitate, et terra uberrima: quia vos defendo, et fructus terrae tribuo. Oseae 6: veniet nobis quasi imber temporaneus, et serotinus terrae.
2:32
Secundo ea quae pertinent ad ornatum: numquid obliviscetur virgo ornamenti sui? Isa. 6: indumento justitiae circumdedit me.
2:33
Hic convincit eos de culpa in proximum: et primo probat culpam; secundo comminatur confusionis poenam, ibi, et ab Aegypto confunderis. Circa primum tria. Primo ponit proximorum occisionem, admirans excusationem: ad quaerendam dilectionem; quasi per haec me possis placare. Ponens occisionem spiritualem: quae insuper docuisti, malis exemplis. Infra 13: tu docuisti eos adversum te, et erudisti in caput tuum. Et pones occisionem corporalem, in alis, idest in avibus: loquitur ad similitudinem avis rapacis. Pauperum, quos idolis immolasti. Zach. 5: vidi, et ecce duae mulieres egredientes, et spiritus in alis earum, et habebant alas quasi alas milvi.
2:34
Secundo culpae manifestationem: non in fossis inveni eos, quasi occulte a latronibus occisos: in omnibus, scilicet collibus, et locis amoenis. Isai. 59: corruit in platea veritas, et aequitas non potuit ingredi. Et facta est veritas in oblivione, et qui recessit a malo, praedae patuit. Et miratur excusationem. Et dixisti. Job 11: dixisti: purus est sermo meus, et mundus sum in conspectu tuo. Tertio ostendit culpae iterationem, praemittens excusationis admirationem, ecce ego.
2:36
Quam vilis facta es nimis, iterans vias tuas. Peccata. Thren. 1: vide, domine, et considera, quoniam facta sum vilis.
Hic comminatur eis confusionis poenam: et ab Aegypto confunderis, de cujus auxilio speras, ab Assur, quorum auxilium contra decem tribus et Assyrios quaesisti, 4 Reg. 16.
2:37
Manus tuae erunt super caput tuum, in signum doloris. Isa. 30: erit vobis fortitudo Pharaonis in confusionem, et fiducia umbrae Aegypti in ignominiam. Notandum, quod peccatum dicitur vanitas, quia phantasticum in eligendo. Ps. 39: beatus vir cujus est nomen domini spes ejus, et non respexit in vanitates, et insanias falsas. Quia transitorium in permanendo. Psalm. 77: defecerunt in vanitate dies eorum, et anni eorum cum festinatione. Quia fallax in expectando. Eccli. 34: vana spes et mendacium viro insensato, et somnia extollunt imprudentes. Quia infructuosum in consequendo. Isa. 49: in vacuum laboravi, sine causa et vane fortitudinem meam consumpsi. Item notandum, quod est fons aquae sacramentalis munditiae. Ezech. 47: postquam venerint illuc aquae istae, sanabuntur et vivent omnia ad quae venerit torrens. Aquae reficientis doctrinae. Isa. 55: omnes sitientes venite ad aquas; et qui non habetis argentum properate, emite et comedite. Aquae refrigerantis gratiae Joan. 4: fiet in eo fons aquae salientis in vitam aeternam. Aquae nitentis gloriae. Apoc. ult. ostendit mihi fluvium aquae vivae splendidum tamquam crystallum, procedentem de sede Dei et agni.
2:1
… On God's part, every benefit and the greatest affection; on Israel's part, the infidelity that began with the first contacts with the Canaanites (Hos. 9:10; 10:1; 11:1 ff.; 13:5 ff.; cf. Jer. 2:1-3; Ezek. 20:28), and now in Samaria is at its height (Hos. 2:4-15; 4:12 and passim). …
2:2
… 11-22; 5, 14-15; Mich. 6, 8; Is. 66, 2; Jer. 4, 3-4 and 14, 7). They inculcated the relationship between the soul and God not only with the ancient concept of filial adoption, but also with the delicate image of spiritual marriage (Hos. 1-3; Jer. 2, 2; Ex. 16, 8; Canticle), of life-giving water, of light, of fire (cf. Psalms and Wisdom Books).
… The biblical passages, especially of the prophetic literature, that demonstrate such a custom, are very numerous (Hos. 2; Isa. 54; 62, passim; Jer. 2, 2 ff.; 3; 31, 3 ff.; Ezek. 16, 23; etc.); and in fact the custom is recognized by scholars of every tendency. …
2:3
In a figurative sense, Israel is called "first fruits of Jahweh" (Jer. 2:3). In the New Testament, the first converts are called first fruits (Rom. 16:5; I Cor. 16:15; Jas. 1:18); the virgins who follow the lamb (Rev. 14:4). Christ himself is "first fruits …
2:4
The name J. (in the manuscripts of 'Ajn Feshah discovered in 1947, in which the "plena" spelling Ja'āqābh is constant) indicates, especially in the prophetic and poetic literature, the entire people (Gen. 49, 7), in parallelism with "Israel" (cf. Num. 23, 10, 21; 24, 5; Is. 2, 5; 40, 27; Jer. 2, 4, etc.). …
2:5
Baal (Ba'al = 'Lord, Master, Owner')
… abolished it (II Kings 11:18; II Chron. 23:17). Restored to honor by Ahaz and Manasseh, it was fought by Hezekiah and Josiah (II Kings 18:4; 21:3; 23:4-5). However, the priests of B. operated until the exile, after which the cult of B. disappears (Jer. 2:8, 2:5; 7:9; 9:14 ff.). …
2:8
Baal (Ba'al = 'Lord, Master, Owner')
… Joash abolished it (II Kings 11:18; II Chron. 23:17). Restored to honor by Ahaz and Manasseh, it was fought by Hezekiah and Josiah (II Kings 18:4; 21:3; 23:4-5). However, the priests of B. operated until the exile, after which the cult of B. disappears (Jer. 2:8, 2:5; 7:9; 9:14 ff.). …
… of ritual observance (the various sacrifices and their modes, the conditions of purity, the criteria of leprosy, etc.), to those who consulted them; cf. Hag. 2, 11; Mal. 2, 6-9. The depositaries and dispensers of the t. were the priests: Mic. 3, 11; Jer. 2, 8; 18, 18; Zeph. 3, 4; Ez. 7, 26; 22, 16; 44, 23 (cf. Lev. 14, 57); cf. Hab. 1, 2-4 and Lam. 2, 9. Entrusted to the priesthood (cf. II Kings 17, 27-28; II Chron. 15, 3), the t. demanded …
2:10
Cedar (Hebrew Qēdhār = "Bronzed by the Sun")
The region inhabited by them (Assyr. māt-Qidri) was east of the Jordan (Jer. 2:10) between Gilead and the desert; more precisely it occupied the present territory of the great tribe of the Seràrát, between the Wādi Sirhān and el-Feger to the northwest of Teima.
… The Greeks gave the island the name of Κύπρος, which already appears in Homer, while the Phoenicians called it Kittim (= Citium), a name adopted by the Bible (Gen. 10, 4; Num. 24, 24 [and Dan. 11, 30]; Is. 23, 1. 12; Jer. 2, 10; Ez. 27, 6).
Kittim (Kittijīm, in Jer. 2, 10)
KITTIM (Kittijīm, in Jer. 2, 10). - Gentilic name of the inhabitants of Cyprus ([v.], cf. Is. 23:1, 12; Ex. 27:6 and probably Jer. 2:10), so called from the important city of Kition or Kitton (Lat. Citium), …
2:11
… The gate opposite, gilded together with the wall, led into the "holy place" (lâkhâll); it had golden doors, and above them golden vines (symbol of Israel: Is. 3:14; Jer. 2:11; Ex. 19:40), from which hung clusters the size of a man. Before the gate hung a curtain woven of violet, fine linen, scarlet and purple, wonderfully worked. …
2:13
… of the gift of life in the resurrection of Lazarus (ibid. 11, 1-44), make one see in J. ever more resplendent the revelation and the self-giving to men of the God of the Old Testament, who had revealed and promised himself as a source of living water (Jer. 2, 13; Ps. 35 [36], 10); as light (Is. 60, 20; Ps. 26 [27], 1); as Shepherd of the people (Is. 40, 11; Ps. 22 [23], 1-4).
2:15
In the Old Testament there is the clearest distinction between the people of God (ὁ λαός) and "the nations" (τὰ ἐθνή), with the prohibition of marriage relations and treaties of friendship (Ex. 34:16; Esd. 9-10; Is. 7:17; 30; 31; Jer. 2:15; Ez. 16:28, etc.) and with exclusion from worship and from the Temple, because of the grave danger of idolatrous influence.
2:18
… Sometimes it symbolizes Babylonian power (cf. Jer. 2, 18; 13, 4 ff.; Is. 8, 7; 27, 12). Often the E. is recalled in boundary delimitations. …
2:27
… fathers" (Eccli. 44, 1), frequent in the prayers of the Jews (cf. Berachoth, IX, 1), is equivalent to "Israel." 2) Progenitor of a people (Gen. 10, 21; 17, 5; 19, 37; 36, 9, 43), originator of a craft or art (Gen. 4, 20 ff.). 3) Creator (Iob 38, 28; cf. Jer. 2, 27), hence God (Deut. 32, 6; Is. 63, 16; Eccli. 51, 10). 4) Benefactor (Iob 29, 16), one who takes care of others (Is. 9, 5; 22, 21). 5) Teacher ('a. is an honorary title, given to priests …
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.