The prophet describes the judgments that shall fall upon the people, and invites them to fasting and prayer.
The Chaldees shal miserably waste the kingdom of Iuda: 9. take away sacrifice by destroying the temple: 10. and so make the land barren spiritually, and temporally.
1The word of the Lord, that came to Joel, the son of Phatuel.Parola di Dio rivelata a Joele figliuolo di Phatuel.THE word of our Lord, that was made to Ioel the sonne of Phatuel.Verbum Domini, quod factum est ad Joël, filium Phatuel. 2Hear this, ye old men, and give ear, all ye inhabitants of the land: did this ever happen in your days, or in the days of your fathers?Ascoltate, o vecchj, e voi abitatori della terra quanti siete, ponete mente. E ella mai avvenuta tal cosa a' vostri giorni, od a' tempi de' vostri padri?Heare this ye ancients, and harken with your eares al ye inhabitants of the land: if this hath bene done in your dayes, or in the dayes of your fathers?Audite hoc, senes, / et auribus percipite, omnes habitatores terræ: / si factum est istud in diebus vestris, / aut in diebus patrum vestrorum ? 3Tell ye of this to your children, and let your children tell their children, and their children to another generation.Discorretene voi co' vostri figliuoli, e i vostri figliuoli co' loro figliuoli, e i figliuoli di questi colla generazione, che verrà dopo.Vpon this tel you to your children, and your children to their children, and their childred to an other generation.Super hoc filiis vestris narrate, / et filii vestri filiis suis, / et filii eorum generationi alteræ. 4That which the palmerworm hath left, the locust hath eaten: and that which the locust hath left, the bruchus hath eaten: and that which the bruchus hath left, the mildew hath destroyed.Quel, che era avanzato all'eruca, lo mangiò la cavalletta, e quello, che era avanzato alla cavalletta, lo mangiò il bruco, e quello, che avanzò ai bruchi, lo divoro la ruggine.The residue of the eruke hath the locust eaten, & the residue of the locust hath the bruke eaten, and the residue of the bruke hath the blast eaten.Residuum erucæ comedit locusta, / et residuum locustæ comedit bruchus, / et residuum bruchi comedit rubigo. 5Awake, ye that are drunk, and weep, and mourn all ye that take delight; in drinking sweet wine: for it is cut off from your mouth.Risvegliatevi voi, ubbriachi, piangete; e alzate le strida voi tutti, che allegramente bevete il vino; perocché vi sarà levato dalla bocca;Awake you that be drunke, and weepe, and how le al ye, that drinke wine in sweetnes: because it is perished from your mouth.Expergiscimini, ebrii, / et flete et ululate, omnes qui bibitis vinum in dulcedine, / quoniam periit ab ore vestro. 6For a nation is come up upon my land, strong, and without number: his teeth are like the teeth of a lion: and his cheek teeth as of a lion’s whelp.Perocché si avanza sopra la mia terra una forte nazione, e senza numero; i suoi denti sono denti come di lione, e come i denti di giovane lioncello.For a nation is ascended vpon my land, strong & innumerable: his teeth as the teeth of a lion: and his checkteeth as of a lions whelpe.Gens enim ascendit super terram meam, / fortis et innumerabilis: / dentes ejus ut dentes leonis, / et molares ejus ut catuli leonis.
7He hath laid my vineyard waste, and hath pilled off the bark of my fig tree: he hath stripped it bare, and cast it away; the branches thereof are made white.Ella ha desolata la mia vigna, ha rosa la corteccia delle mie ficaie, le ha lasciate ignude, e spogliate, e sfrondate, e i loro rami biancheggiano.He hath layd my vineyard into a desert, and hath pilled of the barke of my figtree: stripping he hath spoiled it, and cast it forth: the boughes therof are made white.Posuit vineam meam in desertum, / et ficum meam decorticavit; / nudans spoliavit eam, et projecit: / albi facti sunt rami ejus. 8Lament like a virgin girded with sackcloth for the husband of her youth.Mena duolo, come una giovine sposa vestita di sacco piange il marito di sua prima età.Mourne as a virgin girded with sackcloth vpon the husband of her youth.Plange quasi virgo accincta sacco super virum pubertatis suæ. 9Sacrifice and libation is cut off from the house of the Lord: the priests, the Lord’s ministers, have mourned:Sono sbanditi i sagrifizi, e le libagioni dalla casa del Signore; i sacerdoti ministri del Signore sono nel pianto.Sacrifice and libation is perished out of the house of our Lord: the priests our Lords ministers mourned.Periit sacrificium et libatio de domo Domini; / luxerunt sacerdotes, ministri Domini. 10The country is destroyed, the ground hath mourned: for the corn is wasted, the wine is confounded, the oil hath languished.Il paese è devastato, la terra è squallida, perchè è stato dato il guasto a' seminati, la vigna fa orrore, e l'ulivo languisce.The region is destroyed, the ground hath mourned: because the wheate is wasted, the wine is confounded, the oyle hath languished.Depopulata est regio, / luxit humus, / quoniam devastatum est triticum, / confusum est vinum, / elanguit oleum. 11The husbandmen are ashamed, the vinedressers have howled for the wheat, and for the barley, because the harvest of the field is perished.I lavoratori della campagna sono mesti, i vignaiuoli gettan le strida, perchè è mancata la raccolta delle campagne, e il grano, e l'orzo.The husbandmen are confounded, the dressers of vines haue howled vpon the wheate, and the barley, because the haruest of the filde is perished.Confusi sunt agricolæ, / ululaverunt vinitores / super frumento et hordeo, / quia periit messis agri. 12The vineyard is confounded, and the fig tree hath languished: the pomegranate tree, and the palm tree, and the apple tree, and all the trees of the field are withered: because joy is withdrawn from the children of men.La vigna fa orrore, le ficaie sono languenti; il melogranato, e la palma, e il melo, e tutte le piante de' campi son secche: e lungi è ito il gaudio da figliuoli degli uomini.The vineyard is confounded, and the figtree hath languished: the pomegranet, & the palmetree, and the appletree, and al the trees of the filde are withered: because ioy is confounded from the children of men.Vinea confusa est, / et ficus elanguit; / malogranatum, et palma, et malum, / et omnia ligna agri aruerunt, / quia confusum est gaudium a filiis hominum.
13Gird yourselves, and lament, O ye priests, howl, ye ministers of the altars: go in, lie in sackcloth, ye ministers of my God: because sacrifice and libation is cut off from the house of your God.Vestitevi di sacco voi, sacerdoti, e menate duolo; gettate strida, o ministri dell'altare; venite a giacer nel cilizio, o ministri del mio Dio; perocché è sbandito dalla casa del vostro Dio il sacrifizio, e le libagioni.Gird yourselues, and mourne ye priests, howle ye ministers of the altar: goe in, lie in sacke clothe ye ministers of my God: because sacrifice & libation is perished out of the house of your God.Accingite vos, et plangite, sacerdotes: / ululate, ministri altaris; / ingredimini, cubate in sacco, ministri Dei mei, / quoniam interiit de domo Dei vestri sacrificium et libatio. 14Sanctify ye a fast, call an assembly, gather together the ancients, all the inhabitants of the land into the house of your God: and cry ye to the Lord:Intimate il digiuno santo, chiamate il popolo, adunate i seniori, e tutti gli abitanti del paese, nella casa del vostro Dio, e alzate le grida al Signore.Sanctifie ye a fast, cal an assemblie, gather together the ancients, al the inhabitants of the land into the house of your God: and crie ye to our Lord:Sanctificate jejunium, vocate cœtum, / congregate senes, omnes habitatores terræ / in domum Dei vestri, / et clamate ad Dominum: 15Ah, ah, ah, for the day: because the day of the Lord is at hand, and it shall come like destruction from the mighty.Ahi, ahi, ahi, che giorno! Il giorno del Signore è vicino, e verrà come tempesta spedita dall'Onnipotente.A a a, for the day: because the day of our Lord is at hand, and as destruction from the mightie it shal come.A, a, a, diei ! / quia prope est dies Domini, / et quasi vastitas a potente veniet. 16Is not your food cut off before your eyes, joy and gladness from the house of our God?Non avete veduto cogli occhi vostri venir meno nella casa del vostro Dio tutti gli alimenti, e la letizia, ed il gaudio?Why, are not the victuals perished before your eyes, ioy and exultation out of the house of our God?Numquid non coram oculis vestris alimenta perierunt / de domo Dei nostri, lætitia et exsultatio ? 17The beasts have rotted in their dung, the barns are destroyed, the storehouses are broken down: because the corn is confounded.I giumenti marciscono sul loro letame, son distrutti i granaj, le dispense son vuote, perchè il grano è mancato.The beastes are rotted in their dung, the barnes are destroyed, the storehouses are dissipated: because the wheate is confounded.Computruerunt jumenta in stercore suo, / demolita sunt horrea, / dissipatæ sunt apothecæ, / quoniam confusum est triticum.
18Why did the beasts groan, why did the herds of cattle low? because there is no pasture for them: yea, and the flocks of sheep are perished.Per qual motivo gemon le bestie, e muggiscono gli armenti? perchè non hanno pastura: e i greggi ancor delle pecore vengon meno.Why groned the beast, why lowed the flockes of the heard? because there is no pasture for them: yea and the flockes of the cattel are perished.Quid ingemuit animal, / mugierunt greges armenti ? / quia non est pascua eis; / sed et greges pecorum disperierunt. 19To thee, O Lord, will I cry: because fire hath devoured the beautiful places of the wilderness: and the flame hath burnt all the trees of the country.Signore, io alzerò a te le strida, perchè il fuoco ha divorato tutta la bellezza delle disabitate campagne, e le fiamme hanno abbruciate tutte le piante del paese.To thee ô Lord wil I crie: because fire hath eaten the beautiful thinges of the desert, and the flame hath burnt al the trees of the region.Ad te, Domine, clamabo, / quia ignis comedit speciosa deserti, / et flamma succendit omnia ligna regionis. 20Yea, and the beasts of the field have looked up to thee, as a garden bed that thirsteth after rain, for the springs of waters are dried up, and fire hath devoured the beautiful places of the wilderness.E le bestie stesse de' campi alzano gli occhi a te, come la terra, che ha sete di pioggia; perchè secche son le fontane, e il fuoco ha divorato, tutta la bellezza delle campagne.Yea and the beastes of the filde, as a garden bed thirsting for a shower, haue looked vp to thee, because the fountaines of waters are dried vp, & fire hath deuoured the beautiful thinges of the desert.Sed et bestiæ agri, quasi area sitiens imbrem, suspexerunt ad te, / quoniam exsiccati sunt fontes aquarum, / et ignis devoravit speciosa deserti.
1:1
Year of the World about 3204, Year before Christ 800.
Calmet
Planted. Septuagint, "Bathuel." He was born in the tribe of Gad, at Bethaven, the town which Herod styles Livias, Josue 13:27. (Calmet)
1:2
Calmet
Men. Magistrates, and all who have children. (Haydock) He speaks to Juda, as the kingdom of Israel was ruined, Joel 3:2. His principal object is to describe the ravages of locusts, and to exhort the people to repent, promising them better times after the captivity, and under the Messias, Joel 2:28., and 3:20. (Calmet)
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Haydock
Generation. Prophecies relate to all future times, that people may see their accomplishment, (Worthington) and believe. (Haydock)
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Challoner
Left, etc. Some understand this literally of the desolation of the land by these insects: others understand it of the different invasions of the Chaldeans, or other enemies. (Challoner)
Worthington
Jerusalem was four times plundered by the Babylonians, and every time worse than before, as these four sorts of destructive things shew. But we shall not enlarge upon these points, nor pursue the mystical sense of the prophets, which may be found in the fathers and Ribera. (Worthington)
Calmet
Others suppose that the Assyrians, Chaldeans, Greeks, (particularly Epiphanes) and Romans, are meant. We explain it simply of the devastation by insects. (Calmet)
Bochart
Four different species of locusts are denoted. (Bochart, p. 2. b. 4:1.)
Calmet
Mildew. Hebrew chasil, (Haydock) is often rendered "a locust," by [the] Septuagint, (chap. 2:25., etc.) and most suppose this is here the sense. The mildew destroys corn chiefly in low damp situations. (Calmet)
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Sweet. Hebrew, "wine, because of the sweet wine," (Haydock) or liquors extracted from fruit. The things which you have abused, are now taken away.
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Nations. Some understand the Assyrians or Chaldeans. But locusts are here styled a nation, Proverbs 30:25.
Calmet
Lion. Such locusts are described, Apocalypse 9:8. (Calmet)
Pliny
"In India they are said to be three feet long, and their legs and thighs are used for saws when dried." (Pliny, [Natural History?] 11:29.)
Pliny
They were attacked by regular troops in Syria. (Pliny, [Natural History?] 11:29.)
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Calmet
Youth, whom she espoused first. Such are more tenderly loved, particularly where polygamy prevails. (Calmet)
So Dido speaks of Sichaeus, Virgil, Aeneid iv.: Ille meos primus qui se mihi junxit amores Abstulit, ille habeat secum servetque sepulchro.
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Calmet
Lord. No harvest being reaped, the fruits could not be paid. Yet it is thought that what was requisite for sacrifice, would be procured from other countries. (Calmet)
Worthington
When Jerusalem was destroyed, sacrifices ceased. (Worthington)
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Withered. The bite of the locust corrupts the juice of plants.
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Calmet
Go in to the temple, or sleep on sackcloth, Judith 4:9. (Calmet)
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Worthington
Sanctify. Appoint (Haydock) or proclaim a general fast, as was usual in such emergencies, 3 Kings 21:9., and 2 Paralipomenon 20:3. Fasting and other good works are calculated to appease God's wrath. (Worthington)
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Day. Hebrew ahah layom: (Haydock) "Ah, what a day!"
Mighty. Septuagint, "destruction." They have read in a different manner. God is about to give sentence, (Calmet) and to send Nabuchodonosor, (St. Jerome) or to destroy by famine, ver. 17.
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God. None can bring the first-fruits. All appear in mourning.
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Dung. Horse-dung dried for bedding, was used in the East instead of straw, (Busb. 3.) as it is still by the Arabs. (Darvieux 11.)
Calmet
Hebrew, "the seeds are rotten under their clods," (Haydock) finding no moisture. Septuagint, "the cows have stamped in their stalls;" or Syriac, "remain without food in their cribs." Chaldean, "the pitchers of wine have been corrupted under their covers," as there was no new wine. (Calmet)
St. Jerome pref. Amos
Houses. Hebrew mammeguroth. Protestants, "barns, (Haydock) or country houses;" which means cabins erected for the season, (Ruth 2:7.) the Magaria (Calmet) or Mopalia of the Africans. (St. Jerome pref. Amos.)
Septuagint, "the wine presses." Wine and corn were preserved in pits carefully covered over, Aggeus 2:20. These fell to decay, as there was no use for them.
1:19
Places. Hebrew, "dwellings," or shepherds' huts.
Wilderness, denoting all pasture land unploughed.
1:20
Calmet
Up, as if to pray for rain, Jeremias 14:6. (Calmet)
Hebrew, "cry," (Haydock) or "pant."
Calmet
As....rain is not in Hebrew or Septuagint. (Calmet)
1:4
That which the palmerworm hath left, etc.... Some understand this literally of the desolation of the land by these insects: others understand it of the different invasions of the Chaldeans, or other enemies.
1:3
Prophecies perteyne not only to those that then liue, when they are vttered, but also to al poste ritie, euen to the end of the vvorld, that it may appeare vvhat is fulfilled, and vvhat yet resteth to come in due time.
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4. The residue of the eruke, loeust, bruke, blast.] Eruca a vvorme that destroyeth The captiuitie described by the harme of most noysome thinges. Ierusalem foure times spoyled by the Babylonians. herbes and fruictes, Locusta, a fleing beast vvith long hinder legges, destroying corne, and fruite; Bruchus, an other fleeing litle beast, that deuoureth not only fruite, but also the leaues of trees; and Rubigo, the blast, or burning myst, that consumeth the eares of corne euen to dust; do metaphorically signifie the Chaldees, and other souldiars of sundrie nations, in the armie of Nabuchodonosor, inuading & wasting the kingdom of Iuda. And that at foure seueral times euer worse & worse. First when Nabuchodonosor beseeging Ierusalē subdued king Ioakim and his kingdom, taking hostages for assurance of subiection (amongst Dan. I. vvhich vvere Daniel, and the other three children) and caried avvay part of the 1. holie vessel of the Temple. 4. Reg 24 v. 1. The second, vvhen eight yeares after 2. Nabuchodonosor returned, and killed king Ioakim for rebelling, and caried his sonne king Ioachin (othervvise called Iechonias) into Babylon, with his mother, and Ieremie the Prophet, also manie other principal persons, and much riches (ibidem. v. 10.) The third vvhen eleuen yeares after he tooke and spoyled 3. Ierusalem, destroyed the Temple, killed al king Sedecias sonnes in his sight, then put out his eyes, and caried him blinde into Babylon, vvith much more people and spoyle. 4. Reg 25. Fourthly when shortly after he sent Nabuzardan general 4. of his armie, and caried avvay more men and vvealth, leauing only the basest people to til the land. ibidem v. 8. Al vvhich shevveth clerly the fulfilling of this Prophecie according to the historical letter, In like sorte vve might explicate VVhy vve make not more Annotations. the rest of this, and other prophetes, but it is not our purpose to be so large. Much lesse to prosecute the Mystical sense vvhich is manifold, as appeareth in the vvorkes of the ancient Fathers. VVherof see F. Francis Ribera.
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VVhen Ierusalem vvas taken and the Temple destroyed by the Babylonians, the sacrifice necessarily ceased according to this and other prophecies.
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Fasting, praying and other good vvorkes of manie assembling together. are an especial meanes to appeaze Gods vvrath, prouoked by former sinnes.
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Theodoret of Cyrus † AD 458 The Ecclesiastical History of Theodoret 4.19
… But why recount woes which seem small when compared with greater? Why linger over these and not hurry on to events more urgent? When you hear them I know that you will wonder and will stand with us long dumb, amazed at the kindness of the Lord in not bringing all things utterly to an end. At the very altar the impious perpetrated what, as it is written,
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St John Chrysostom † AD 407 The Homilies on the Statues to the People of Antioch 21.20
… and let us acknowledge his abundant goodness! for by both these has He adorned our city. Now all these things according to the prophetic saying, “Declare ye to your children; and let your children tell their children; and their children again another generation.”
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St Gregory of Nazianzus † AD 389 Select Orations of Saint Gregory Nazianzen 42.3
… Alas! how rich we were in misfortunes, for the fire consumed the beauties of the world. That which the palmerworm left did the locust eat, and that which the locust left did the caterpillar eat: then came the cankerworm,
St Jerome † AD 420 The Letters of St. Jerome 53.8
… Joel the son of Pethuel describes the land of the twelve tribes as spoiled and devastated by the palmerworm, the canker-worm, the locust, and the blight,
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John Cassian † AD 435 The Conferences of John Cassian 9.5
… “Awake, ye that are drunk but not with wine;”
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St John Chrysostom † AD 407 The Homilies of St. John Chrysostom 4
… And unless we first kill them here, they will be sure to kill us in the other life; or rather before that death they will exact of us, even here, the utmost penalty. Yes, for every such passion is both cruel and tyrannical and insatiable, and never ceases to devour us every day. For “their teeth are the teeth of a lion,”
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St Gregory of Nazianzus † AD 389 Select Orations of Saint Gregory Nazianzen 16.6
… Wretched indeed is the sight of the ground devastated, cleared, and shorn of its ornaments, over which the blessed Joel wails in his most tragic picture of the desolation of the land, and the scourge of famine;
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St Gregory of Nazianzus † AD 389 Select Orations of Saint Gregory Nazianzen 2.59
59. Joel again summons us to wailing, and will have the ministers of the altar lament under the presence of famine: so far is he from allowing us to revel in the misfortunes of others: and, after sanctifying a fast, calling a solemn assembly, and gathering the old men, the children, and those of tender age,
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St Jerome † AD 420 Against Jovinianus 2.10
… Strange that the lion which left the ass safe and sound should not spare the prophet just risen from his meal! He who, while he was fasting, had wrought miracles, no sooner ate a meal than he paid the penalty for the gratification. Joel also cries aloud:
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St John Chrysostom † AD 407 The Homilies on the Statues to the People of Antioch 3.9
… the herds of oxen wept, because there was no pasture; all the cattle of the field looked upward to Thee, because the streams of waters were dried up.”
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St Gregory of Nazianzus † AD 389 Select Orations of Saint Gregory Nazianzen 42.3
… Alas! how rich we were in misfortunes, for the fire consumed the beauties of the world.
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2. HEAR THIS, YOU ELDERS. — At the beginning the Prophet secures attention for himself with these words, because the matter (namely a calamity) is grave, new, and unheard of by the memory of men, however aged, which he is about to speak of, and yet it touches the Jews greatly, so that it is plainly their concern to know these things and hand them down to posterity, so that they themselves, warned by these scourges of their fathers, may come to their senses, and each one serve God with all their heart, whose providence and vengeance they behold in their parents, and thus may they escape the same, and gain for themselves his grace and beneficence. IF THIS HAS BEEN DONE, — what follows, which I shall soon explain.
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3. Tell your children of this (concerning this), — according to the precept of Moses, Exodus X, 2: "That thou mayest tell in the ears of thy son and thy grandson, how I have dealt with the Egyptians, and what signs I have done among them: and you may know that I am the Lord;" and the Psalmist, Psalm LXXVII, 5: "How great things he commanded our fathers to be made known to their children: that another generation might know them. The children that should be born, and should rise up, and declare them to their children: that they may put their hope in God, and may not forget the works of God, and may seek his commandments."
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4. THE LOCUST ATE THE RESIDUE OF THE CATERPILLAR. — Here he recounts and threatens four pests and plagues. The second is the locust, which surpasses the caterpillar in acrimony, flight and number. Whence in Hebrew it is called ארבה arbe, that is, very many, from the root רבה raba, that is, it was many: thus Arias and Pagninus; for so great is the abundance of locusts that flying they cover the sun and the world, and lying down they cover entire provinces, so that you see nothing but locusts; indeed they even cover the seas flying and cross them, so that having devoured one region, they invade another and then another, devouring each in turn. Whence the plague of locusts was one of the gravest plagues of Egypt, Exodus X, 4. See what is said there. Wherefore locust is said to be as it were loca urens, or burning places, as the grammarians say: although Isidore and Lyra wish it to be so called because it has long feet; but Albert the Great says: "Locust," he says, "is called as it were 'standing in a place.' " Thus Aldrovandus in Locusta. THE CATERPILLAR ATE THE RESIDUE OF THE LOCUST. — The third is this plague, namely the bruchus, for which in Hebrew is ילק ielec: which is found seven times in Scripture, and everywhere our translator renders it as bruchus. Psalm CV, 34: "He said, and there came locusts (in Hebrew arbe) and bruchus" (in Hebrew ielec). Jeremiah LI, 14: "I will fill thee with men as with a bruchus." And verse 27: "Bring horses as a bruchus." He translates in the same way here, and in chapter II, 25, and Nahum III, 25: "He shall devour thee as a bruchus: gather together as a bruchus, multiply as a locust;" and verse 16: "The bruchus is spread out, and hath flown away." You will ask, what is ielec and bruchus? First, Suidas and Scaliger, exercise XXXVI: Bruchus, they say, is bruyère, that is, a caterpillar, which the Lombards call bruch, the French call bruyère; but Joel here distinguishes the caterpillar from the bruchus. Second, Ambrosius Calepinus from Sipontinus, and certain Latin and Greek Lexica: Bruchus, they say, is a small worm similar to a locust, eating herbs, without wings. But Nahum, chapter III, gives wings to the bruchus. Third, R. David here thinks the bruchus to be a winged creature like a hornet, but of smaller size, which devours the leaves of trees, and lays waste in great multitude: whence some think the bruchus to be that insect clothed in a red coat (which in certain damper years is born in swarms) which when it expands shows its wings, by which it flies into trees and feeds on their leaves: country folk are accustomed to gather it and, having made a ditch, to bury it, as Isaiah says of the bruchus in chapter XXXIII, 4. But this insect is a kind of beetle, not a bruchus, nor is it called bruchus by any classical author, even if children in Gaul call it a bruchus, or bruyant from the buzzing sound which it makes flying, from which the Flemish also call it a preacher. I say therefore that the bruchus is a small locust, or the young of a locust; for there are various stages of locusts, and, so to speak, species, distinguished according to their ages and growth. First, the locust leaves seed: from this is born a small locust like a worm, which is called bruchus, which, as it grows and increases, and is clothed with small wings, is called attacus or attelabus. This again, as it increases in body and wings, is called ophiomachus, which, as it is perfected in the mass of body and wings, is called locust. Whence the Prophet aptly says: "The bruchus ate the residue of the locust." For locusts, since they are larger, devour only larger things, but leave behind them small young, which devour the residue and every small sprout even to the roots of the plants. That this is so is evident first, because the Septuagint, Jeremiah LI, 14, and elsewhere, for ielec, that is bruchus, renders ἀκρίδας, that is locusts. Second, because all natural philosophers and classical writers teach that the bruchus is a species of locust, or an inchoate and imperfect locust. Whence in Scripture everywhere bruchus is joined with locust, as offspring with mother. And Aristotle, book V of the History of Animals, chapter XXIX, connects and subordinates the bruchus to the locust. Thus also St. Jerome in Nahum chapter III: "The bruchus," he says, "is an animal able to fly nothing, attending only to its belly: the attelabus leaping rather than flying with small wings: the locust already having perfect wings." Albert the Great, book XXVI On Animals: "The bruchus," he says, "is the first offspring of the locust, and when it becomes larger, it is called attelabus; and when it is perfected, it is a locust. But the bruchus, because it is immobile, devours everything even to the roots, leaving nothing of greenness." Lyra writes that bruchus and locust differ, as the perfect and imperfect in the same species. "The bruchus," says the Gloss, "is called the offspring of the locust before it has wings: then when it begins to fly a little, it is called attelabus: but when it flies fully, it is called locust; and the bruchus is much more serious than the locust, or attelabus, because lying in one place, it eats the fruits from the roots." St. Chrysostom in that passage of Psalm 104, 34: "There came locusts and bruchuses:" Locusts, he says, and bruchuses do not usually exist at the same time; for either the preceding locust produces the bruchus, or the bruchus when grown finally becomes a locust. Bruchus, says Varro, is a kind of locust, from the word meaning to devour or to eat: the same thing is also called mastax, from the word meaning to chew: and bruchus is the newly-born caterpillar, and a wingless locust: "Bruchus, he says, is a species of locust, so called from devouring, which is also called mastax, from chewing. Likewise, bruchus is a caterpillar first born, and a locust lacking wings." Thus also Hesychius in the Lexicon says bruchus is a species of locusts, and that the Cypriots call a green locust bruchus, the Tarentines attelabum. You will say: If bruchus is the young of a locust like a worm lacking wings, how then does Jeremiah chapter 51, verse 14, give it a sting, and call it stinging, and Nahum chapter 3, 16, give it wings, and call it winged? AND THE RESIDUE OF THE BRUCHUS HATH EATEN THE RUST. — Fourth is this plague and scourge of the crops and sprouts, namely rust. In Hebrew it is חסיל chasil, that is, a destroyer, a devourer, a consumer, from the root חסל chasal, that is, it consumed, because it lays waste and destroys all things, and leaves nothing remaining. The more recent scholars, Pagninus, Arias and others, think it to be a third species of locust, and a most voracious one: for Joel called the first bruchus, the second locust, the third chasil: and so for chasil the Septuagint and our Vulgate translate locust, in Isaiah 33, 4, and 2 Paralipomenon 6, 28. Whence some understand by rust here an animal: rust, they say, is a worm which especially follows dew. Hence Aldrovandus in his work on the Locust, citing St. Jerome: Rust, he says, follows the dew of night, which when it falls upon the leaves, is animated and lives when the sun comes, and harms plants in various ways. The Syriac version supports this, which for chasil translates sarsur, concerning which the Most Illustrious Lord Sergius Risi, Archbishop of Damascus, a Syrian by nation, asserted to me at Rome these things: Sarsur, he says, is an animal in Syria small like a locust, indeed of the genus of locusts; but it differs from common locusts in that locusts sometimes, and in certain years according to the condition of the sky and air, come forth; but this is continuous and perpetual. And it is twofold: for one kind of it is domestic, another wild. It has four feet just like a locust, and two other small ones with which it draws food to itself and eats. It has a black color and a flat back. It also differs from locusts in that the wild kind greatly harms grain and herbs, but not trees as locusts do, which gnaw away the bark of fig trees and other trees entirely. Moreover it is troublesome on account of the sound and noise, which it makes very great especially at night, particularly near waters in Egypt, where after the inundation of the Nile it is produced together with frogs and remains; so that there the abundance of these animals was such that men could not dwell there on account of their noise and the damage which they inflict. Another kind of it is domestic, dwelling with men, which is said to feed on the beams of houses and their dust and droppings, troublesome also on account of the sound and noise. But for the Hebrew chasil, here the Septuagint, the Chaldean, Vatablus and others translate rust, not locust, equally as in Psalm 78, 4, and elsewhere; for Hebrew names, especially of animals, trees, gems, stones, etc., are broad and of varied signification, and now signify one thing, now another. Wherefore chasil they translate now as locust, now as bruchus, now as rust: for rust no less than locusts consumes the crops. Moreover rust, or robigo in Latin, signifies a blight of crops, not a locust. For rust, or aurugo or ærugo, is a blight of crops from corrupted air, as it were a royal disease of them, by which namely the stalks grow pale in the manner of gold or bronze, and thus gradually dry up and vanish. "Rust, says Albert here, is dew inflamed by air flowing down, first turning to the color of vermilion, then converting the withered crops into soot, and turning them into powder form and friable." Farmers call it mist. Rust is said to be named from redness: because it makes the crops red, as also metals, when they contract rust. Hence Apuleius, book III of the Florid: "Truly," he says, "a sword grows bright with use, becomes rusty with disuse, so too a voice, shut up in the sheath of silence, is dulled by prolonged torpor." And Pliny, book XVIII, XVII: "Rust is the greatest plague of crops; by laurel branches fixed in the field, it passes into their leaves from the fields." From rust were named the Rubiginalia, that is, festival days and sacred rites instituted by the pagans to ward off rust, such as the amburbial supplications on the days of Rogations among Christians, which are performed for the same reason. Hence Pliny, book XVIII, XIX: "Numa," he says, "instituted the Rubiginalia, which are now celebrated on the seventh day before the Kalends of May: because at that time rust generally seizes the crops." This concerning the letter. It is asked, what these four plagues, namely the caterpillar, the locust, the bruchus, and the rust, signify; and whether they are to be taken literally as they sound, or symbolically? Most excellently St. Chrysostom, in the homily "That no one is harmed except by himself": "Everything," he says, "that exists in things has something by which it can be corrupted and harmed: the moth corrupts wool, the wolf corrupts flocks of sheep, the change to vinegar corrupts wine, bitterness corrupts the sweetness of honey: darnel harms crops, hail injures the vineyard; swarms of locusts and bruchus devastate shrubs and various plants, and inflict various species of diseases and corruption upon individual bodies." Pliny, book XI, XXIX, after showing with what enormous abundance locusts lifted by the wind cross seas in flocks flying together: "As if," he says, "it were not enough to have crossed the seas, they traverse immense tracts, and cover the fields with a dire cloud, burning many by contact, and devouring all by biting, and even the doors of houses." How great the damages which locusts have inflicted on various provinces, Aldrovandus teaches with many examples and histories in Locusta, page 422 and following. There exists an emblem of Alciati with the lemma: "Nothing left," explained by these verses: Yet although these plagues can be taken literally as they sound, nevertheless through them are signified symbolically and rather the enemies who will devastate Judea. For thus Joel himself explains them, verse 6: "For a nation is come up upon my land, strong and innumerable: his teeth are as the teeth of a lion." And verse 15: "Alas, alas, alas for the day, because the day of the Lord is nigh, and as a desolation from the Almighty shall it come!" And chapter II, 1 and 2: "The day of the Lord cometh, a day of darkness, etc., as the morning spread upon the mountains, a great people and a strong." And verse 4: "As the appearance of horses so shall they run," etc. Thus St. Jerome, Theodoret, Lyra, Hugh, Ribera, Emmanuel, Sanchez and Mariana, who says: Both, namely famine and war, are signified here. It is therefore here an enigma, or a continuous allegory and parable, signifying one enemy succeeding another enemy, one calamity succeeding another calamity even unto the destruction and utter ruin of the Jews. Similar is Isaiah XXIV, verse 17: "Fear, and the pit, and the snare upon thee, O inhabitant of the earth. And it shall be: He that fleeth from the face of fear shall fall into the pit: and he that shall come up out of the pit shall be taken by the snare." And Jeremiah XLVIII, 43: "Fear, and the pit, and the snare upon thee, O inhabitant of Moab. He that fleeth from the face of fear shall fall into the pit; and he that shall climb out of the pit shall be caught in the snare." And chapter XV, 2: "Such as are for death," namely those destined by God, "to death," supply shall go: "and such as are for famine, to famine; and such as are for captivity, to captivity. And I will visit upon them four kinds, saith the Lord: the sword to slay, and the dogs to tear, and the fowls of the air and the beasts of the earth to devour and destroy: and I will give them up to be a terror to all the kingdoms of the earth, because of Manasses the son of Ezechias king of Juda, for all that he did in Jerusalem." To which perhaps Joel here alludes. Similar is that passage from Homer's Odyssey ε: The reason for this saying is that locusts often succeed caterpillars, bruchuses succeed locusts, rust succeeds bruchuses, and these bring about great calamities, and do so in armies like a military force and hostile battle line. Hence the camps of Midian, which Gedeon overthrew, are compared to locusts, Judges VI, 5, as also in the Apocalypse IX, 1, the army of the demon, which will afflict the impious at the end of the world, is likened to swarms of locusts. Add that locusts, bruchuses and caterpillars not rarely precede and foretell the coming of enemies, and the devastations of wars, as is clear from histories. From this locusts are called by Hesychius, Nicander, Suidas, Theocritus, idyll. 10, and others μάντις, that is a prophet, or prophetess and foreteller, because it always foretells and brings famine, and often also the incursions and defeats of enemies, although Cælius gives another reason in book XXX, XXII: "Mantis," he says, "is a kind of locust, which is born in stubble, green in color, with a very long body, and likewise very long feet, which it moves constantly. Aristarchus in his commentary on Lycurgus writes that this locust, if it has observed any animal, immediately predicts something evil for it: whence it is called mantis, which is of harmful and troublesome appearance: or mantis is said because it is a sign to locusts arriving of impending scarcity." Accept a few examples, but rare ones from many, which Aldrovandus recounts on page 425: In the year, he says, of the Lord 1534, those locusts which from the East through Illyricum flew in wonderful armies into Italy, and caused very great damage everywhere, seemed to portend the coming of the Turks. For the Turk also occupied Rhegium, and Rome was in fear, while he had encamped at Hostia; he took Nicæa, and led away many thousands of Christians into servitude. Tamerlane, as Crantius reports, had determined to capture Jerusalem, but when bruchuses harassed his army, interpreting himself as admonished by God, he refrained from that undertaking. The first sacred expedition (as Sigonius testifies) to Jerusalem instituted in the year of the Lord 1096 at Claramont, was preceded by a suddenly born force of locusts so great that like clouds they took away the light of the sun. It is remarkable what Gregory of Tours writes, that two armies of locusts passing through Auvergne and Limousin entered the Romaniac field, and there clashed with each other in battle, and inflicted a great slaughter, when Clotarius was about to fight with his son Chramnus: whom he then ordered to be burned along with his wife and children after being defeated. But who were these enemies and devastators of Judæa, whom the Prophet denotes and represents through caterpillars, locusts, bruchuses and rust? The Hebrews and those who followed them, St. Jerome, Rupertus, Haymo, Hugo, Lyranus and Dionysius, hold that the four monarchies of the world succeeding one another are signified here, which afflicted the Jews: namely, by caterpillars are signified the Assyrians and Babylonians; by locusts, the Medes and Persians; by bruchuses, the Greeks, and especially Antiochus Epiphanes, against whom the Machabees fought; by rust, the Romans. For Daniel recounts and depicts these four monarchies in a similar manner in chapter II and chapter VII, through four beasts, and Zacharias in chapter I and chapter VI, through four chariots. But the Persians and Medes, such as Cyrus and Darius, did not afflict the Jews, but rather liberated them from Babylon: nevertheless Cambyses did afflict them, hindering the building of the temple, I Esdras II. But that by rust are not understood Titus and the Romans, who destroyed Jerusalem, is clear from the fact that the Prophet says that a remedy is to be brought to these plagues by Christ, chapter II, 18: but Christ did not repair the destruction of Jerusalem brought about by Titus, indeed he preceded and foretold it. Secondly, Theodoret understands by these four plagues only the Assyrians and Babylonians, who devastated the Israelites: namely, by the caterpillar he understands Teglathphalasar, by the locust Salmanasar, by the bruchuses Sennacherib, by rust Nabuchodonosor. But the first two only devastated the ten tribes, not the two, of which the matter here is concerned. For Joel prophesies only of Judah and Jerusalem and threatens destruction, as I showed in the Proem, and, as I said there, he seems to have done this under Manasses; when the ten tribes had already been destroyed. Thirdly therefore, more aptly and truly St. Jerome, by these four plagues understood Nebuchadnezzar, who in his camps had various peoples like caterpillars, locusts and palmerworms, which devastated Judea so that what one left behind, another seized or laid waste. Or rather, more particularly, fittingly and genuinely, by these four plagues understand four expeditions of Nebuchadnezzar, by which he gradually and increasingly ravaged Judea and Jerusalem, until he destroyed it, namely the first was in the 1st year of his reign (which was the 3rd year of Joakim king of Judah), in which he himself, like a caterpillar creeping over the land, only lightly scraped and grazed Judea; for he merely carried off King Joakim with Daniel and his companions to Babylon, Daniel I, 1. The second was in the 8th year of the same (which was the 11th and last year of Joakim), in which he sent his troops like winged and strong locusts into Judea, and consumed the chief sprouts. For he captured and killed the rebellious King Joakim, and substituted his son Jeconiah in his place, whom after three months he carried off to Babylon, putting his uncle Zedekiah in his stead. The third was in the 18th year of the same, which was the 11th of Zedekiah, in which like a palmerworm he consumed the remaining sprouts, even the smallest. For he either killed or captured the whole people, destroyed the city, blinded King Zedekiah, killed his sons, and overthrew the kingdom of the Jews. The fourth was, when after four months he sent Nebuzaradan, who like rust set fire to the temple, as well as the palace, and the houses of the princes, and converted everything into ashes and cinders. To this is added, or rather in almost the same matter is the exposition of Christopher a Castro, who adapts these four plagues to four sons of Josiah, namely Jehoahaz, Joakim, Jeconiah and Zedekiah, who on account of the crimes of Manasseh were devastated and killed, or led into captivity: namely, as a caterpillar, which lightly touches the earth, signifies Pharaoh Necho, who carried off Jehoahaz into Egypt, leaving Judea untouched, indeed placing over it Joakim, the brother of Jehoahaz; locusts signify the robbers of the Chaldeans, Syrians, Moab and Ammon, who like locusts in swarms invaded Judea, and killed Joakim: a palmerworm signifies Nebuchadnezzar, who after them, like a young locust, namely a palmerworm, captured Jerusalem, and carried off Jeconiah, the young one, that is the son of Joakim, into Babylon; rust is the same Nebuchadnezzar, who after eleven years again captured Jerusalem with King Zedekiah, and burned the temple and palaces, and reduced them to ashes like rust, and utterly overthrew the kingdom and commonwealth of the Jews. Allegorically Hugh of St. Victor, writing on this passage of Joel, by these four plagues understands four persecutions of the Church, of which the first was that of the pagan emperors, Nero, Domitian, Decius, Diocletian, etc. The second of Arius and heretics, who, puffed up, leap into high things like locusts, which, the former ceasing through the empire of Constantine, soon succeeded. The third of wicked Christians, who are carnal and bellies, like palmerworms. The fourth of Saracens and Antichrist, which like rust with iron and flame devastates and will devastate all things. Whence St. John in the Apocalypse VI, 2 and following represents almost the same four by four horses, namely the first white, the second red, the third black, the fourth pale, as I said there. Symbolically, or physically, St. Jerome by these four understands four passions and infirmities of the soul, namely joy, sadness, hope and fear, which make as it were a chariot of the course and changeableness of our life: for soon joy is succeeded by sadness, sadness by hope, hope by fear, and by these four affections in continual succession the soul of man is agitated and tossed about, especially of the worldly and the sinner. Hear St. Paulinus, epistle 30, which is the second to Aprus: "See," he says, "how these monsters of vices agree with one another in our hearts, such as the vices of monsters occur in fruits. For (for example) if I desire something forbidden, and soon cast away the thought, it is a caterpillar sitting on a leaf, which if shaken off, if I shall have cast it away indeed, but the thought returns again, and begins to be cast away, and to return frequently, it is a locust flying away and returning. But if it begins to linger, and to have a greater space in eating than in flying, it is called a palmerworm. But if the palmerworm itself, which does not fly enough, but rather sits, shall not have been cast away, it turns into rust: which now clinging fast, as from stubble, so from the soul is never, or with difficulty expelled." Whoever therefore desires the quiet and sublimity of mind, let him suppress and tame these passions continually conflicting with one another: thus he will be untroubled, quiet, exalted, happy: see what is said Apocalypse III, 21, at the end.
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5. Awake, you drunkards (properly from wine, as the Septuagint has it), AND WEEP, YOU WHO DRINK WINE IN SWEETNESS (the Chaldean: pure wine; Pagninus and Vatablus: must already pressed out: for this is עסיס asis, from the root עסס asas, that is, he pressed, he expressed): BECAUSE IT HAS PERISHED (in Hebrew, it is cut off, that is, it will shortly be cut down) FROM YOUR MOUTH, — through caterpillars, locusts, bruchos and blight, that is through the bands of the Chaldeans, their incursions and devastations, which God will send upon your vineyards and fields. Thus the Chaldean, Lyra and Arias. Tropologically, all pleasures, equally as passions and disturbances of mind, intoxicate the mind, that is, they madden it, deprive it of right judgment, lull it, blind it, and render it insensible and powerless over itself, just as this drunkenness is wont to cause the same things in the body and head. Thus St. Jerome, Remigius, Theodoret, Albert, Hugh. Hear St. Jerome: "Nothing so intoxicates as a disturbance of the soul. There is anger which does not work the justice of God, and is akin to fury, rendering a man powerless over his own mind, to such a degree that his lips tremble, his teeth chatter, his face is changed by pallor; and rightly is that saying of Archytas of Tarentum praised, who when he was angry with his steward said: I would now kill you, if I were not angry. Why should I speak of joy and pleasure, and especially of love, which blinds the eyes of the heart, and permits the lover to think of nothing except that which he loves? Is it not to be called drunkenness, when on account of a vile harlot, and the shameful part of the body, the freedom of the soul is inclined to servile blandishments? when he makes his labor the delights of another? when by theft, crime and perjuries he prepares future riches for pleasure, and though he is seen by all, he esteems himself not to be seen, so long as he may possess that which he desires."
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6. FOR A NATION. — St. Jerome takes 'nation' metaphorically as locusts. For the Wise Man spoke of them in a similar trope, Prov. XXX, 25: "The ants, a people weak: the little hare, a people feeble." And verse 27: "The locust hath no king, and goeth out all by troops." And Apoc. IX, 1 and seq., the myriads of the army of the demon to be sent upon the wicked at the end of the world are called locusts. Thus also Theodoret, Rufinus, a Castro, Mariana, Emmanuel and others. Whence in cap. II, 4, Joel compares these locusts to horses, horsemen and chariots: "As the appearance, he says, of horses, so is the appearance of them: and as horsemen so shall they run," etc. "Like a strong people prepared for battle." There is therefore here a continuous metaphor, or allegory. For throughout this chapter and the following he speaks of the army of the Chaldeans laying waste Judea, under the allegory of locusts, which are wont to lay waste fields and all things in their way, wherever they go; "so that, when you read of locusts, you may think of enemies; when you have thought of enemies, you may return to locusts," says St. Jerome. HIS TEETH (of the nation, namely of the locusts, that is of the Chaldeans) AS THE TEETH OF A LION, — that is to say: The Chaldeans, numberless in multitude, most mighty in strength, with their swords as with teeth will tear and cut down all things, and as if they were lions, and with leonine teeth would eagerly, swiftly, boldly and cruelly rend their prey. Thus St. John gives to the locusts, that is to the army of the demon at the end of the world, which will lay waste all things, the teeth of lions, Apoc. IX, 8, certainly alluding to these locusts of Joel, as it were their forerunners and antitypes.
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7. AND IT HAS STRIPPED MY FIG TREE. — Locusts are wont to gnaw the bark of trees, which, like garments, nourish and contain the sap and heat of trees. Whence when these are gnawed away or removed, the branches, as if stripped of their garments, losing their greenness, become white and sapless, and dry up, and as if cast upon the ground will fall. Thus St. Jerome. The fig tree signifies the priests and princes, who were eminent in the Jewish people, as the fig tree in the vineyard, and who fed and refreshed the people with the divine flavor of Holy Scripture, and the sweetness of holy laws, as it were with figs, whom the Chaldeans despoiled either of life, or liberty, or riches, as it were of their bark. Thus Ribera.
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8. WEEP AS A VIRGIN GIRDED WITH SACKCLOTH, — that is to say, O Jerusalem, weep and lament bitterly, because you have been abandoned by God your spouse, to whom in your youth and virginity (namely when you first were born in Egypt) you were married, and have been delivered to the enemies the Chaldeans: just as a virgin who has recently been married is accustomed to weep most bitterly, when she loses her husband, to whom she had been married as soon as she reached puberty, and whom therefore she loved most intimately and tenderly. Whence the Septuagint translates, over a virginal husband, that is over a husband to whom namely she had delivered herself as a virgin as a wife. Weep, they say, over the virgin (that is, more than a virgin weeps) girded with sackcloth, who weeps over her virginal husband, whom death has taken from her. Where note that the Hebrew sac, that is sack, the Septuagint translates as sackcloth. For sack was a rough and mournful garment of those mourning and doing penance, which they used at the funeral of their own dead for mourning, or in public calamity for the sake of penance, to appease God, so that he might avert the disaster. In a similar manner Ezekiel cap. XVI, 8, he exhorts the Synagogue to shame and sorrow, because she abandoned God her spouse, who espoused her as a young girl, miserable and cast out in Egypt, to himself, clothing her as a queen in fine garments, bracelets, necklaces, and crowning her with a crown upon her head. Thus also Jeremiah II, 2: "I remember, he says, you, taking pity on your youth and the love of your espousals — when you followed me in the desert, in a land that is not sown." And cap. III, 4: "At least from now on call me: My Father, you are the guide of my virginity." Moreover they lay in sackcloth not only at night, but also by day in grave calamity, when they made supplications to God, so that they might move him to compassion by this garb. See Sanchez here. Tropologically, let the soul weep which through sin abandoned God, to whom in baptism she had espoused herself, according to that word of the Apostle, II Corinthians XI, 2: "I have espoused you to one husband, to present you as a chaste virgin to Christ." For this soul, abandoned in turn by God, stripped of all the sweetness and beauty of grace and virtues, as a vineyard and fig tree eaten by locusts, is enslaved and prostituted to the demon, who abuses her as a most vile harlot for his lust and tyranny unto all malice, injury, reproach and misery. "For the soul, says Hugh of St. Victor, is a virgin by the condition of nature, a virgin by the privilege of grace, a virgin also by the reward of glory. For disordered concupiscence makes the soul a harlot: manly penance restores chastity to it: wise innocence virginity. The soul therefore is a harlot in a brothel: married in a courtyard: continent in a house: a virgin in a bridal chamber. In the first it is exposed to concupiscence: in the second it performs works of penance: in the third weeping for her husband, it is affected with desire for justice; in the fourth it rejoices in the virginal embraces and kisses of wisdom. A harlot therefore is the soul (1) Concerning the incredible voracity of locusts thus says Ludolf, History of Ethiopia, lib. I, cap. XIII, § 16: "No herbs, no shrubs, no trees remain untouched; whatever is herbaceous or leafy is dried up, as if it had been scorched by fire. They even gnaw the bark of trees with their teeth." Moreover, all who have seen the plagues of locusts have handed down that locusts are most harmful to vines. through the iniquity of concupiscence: chaste through the humility of continence: continent through the purity of justice: a virgin through the sublimity of contemplation. Her husband of puberty is Christ the espouser of virginity." Indeed St. Paula after her conversion migrating to Bethlehem, so mortified and wept for the delights of her former life, that she almost consumed herself with fastings, tears and other penances. "She did not have, says St. Jerome in her Life, soft bedding even in the gravest fever, but rested upon the hardest ground with rough sackcloth; if indeed that can be called rest, which she joined together with almost continuous prayers day and night, fulfilling that from the Psalter: I will wash my bed every night, and water my couch with my tears: in which you would believe were fountains of tears: so bitterly did she weep for light sins, that you would believe her guilty of the gravest crimes. And when we frequently warned her to spare her eyes, to preserve them for the reading of the Gospel, she said: The face must be disfigured, which against God's commandment I often painted with purple and antimony; the body must be afflicted, which was devoted to many delights: long laughter must be compensated for by weeping: soft linens must be exchanged for the roughness of sackcloth: I who pleased a husband and the world, now desire to please Christ."
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9. THE SACRIFICE AND LIBATION HAVE PERISHED FROM THE HOUSE OF THE LORD. — For sacrifice in Hebrew is מנחה mincha, that is a sacrifice of flour or bread, concerning which Leviticus II. A libation was an offering of a libation, namely of wine and oil, by which both flour sacrifices and flesh sacrifices were seasoned, as if to say: Because the locusts, namely the Chaldeans, have laid waste the fields, vineyards and olive groves of the Jews, hence the wheat, wine and oil have perished, which were wont to be sacrificed and poured out to the Lord. Wherefore "the priests mourned," both because the worship and oblation of God in the temple have perished; and because with the oblations failing by which they live (for they have no other inheritance) they have no means to sustain themselves. Thus St. Jerome, Theodoret, Ribera, de Castro and others.
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10. THE WINE IS CONFOUNDED. — It is a personification — as if to say: The wine has blushed and as it were been suffused with shame, seeing that it does not answer the wishes and labors of the vine-dressers, nor the hope given by itself. Whence the Septuagint translates: The wine has withered, the vines have withered. For the Hebrew הוביש hobise is properly the past tense hiphil, from the root יבש iabase, that is it withered: but because the orders of imperfect verbs among the Hebrews are often interchanged, hence hobise can be derived from בוש bose, that is it was confounded, it was put to shame. Add, if you read with other points הובש hubase, it will properly signify: Joy has been confounded, that is it has perished, it has failed, as I have already said. Bochartus notes from Muffet's Theatre of Insects, that locusts harm not only by biting the crops, pastures, gardens and orchards, but also by their black, green, biting, heavy dung, and especially by their acrid and bilious saliva, which they pour out abundantly from their mouth while gnawing. Secondly, St. Jerome, Haymo, Hugh and Lyra: "Sanctify," they say, that is make holy, and establish a fast through almsdeeds, prayers and other pious works, as for example what you subtract from your belly by fasting, give to the poor. Whence St. Gregory, homily 16 in the Gospel: "To sanctify a fast," he says, "is to show abstinence of the flesh worthy of God when joined with other goods. Let anger cease, let quarrels be quieted. For in vain is the flesh worn down, if the mind is not restrained from wicked desires, since through the Prophet the Lord says: Behold in the day of your fast your will is found." And above: "That fast therefore God approves, which lifts up the hand of almsdeeds to his eyes, which is done with love of neighbor, which is seasoned with piety. Therefore what you subtract from yourself, give to another, so that from where your flesh is afflicted, there the flesh of your needy neighbor may be restored." Call an assembly. — Symmachus, a synod; Aquila, a day of gathering, namely of the people, which was done on a feast day, as on the eighth day of Easter and the feast of Tabernacles. Whence this eighth day was called in Hebrew עצרה atsara, that is an assembly, or a gathering of the people. The Septuagint, κηρύξατε θεραπείαν, that is proclaim healing, that is a fast by which sins are healed, says St. Jerome; or rather healing, that is public prayer and supplication, by which the worship of God, his invocation and propitiation are healed: for θεραπεία signifies service, obedience, worship. Whence St. Dionysius, Ecclesiastical Hierarchy cap. X, calls monks θεραπευτάς, that is worshippers and servants, who constantly stand by and serve God. Wherefore Tertullian, lib. On Fasts, cap. XVI, translates: Proclaim offices that heal God, and adds: "Hence also those who in the adornment of idols, and in this matter (others read better, in altars) adorning them, and saluting them at each hour flatter, are said to perform healing." Healing therefore is the same as worship, and healer the same as worshipper. Thus Parsons are called by the common people Curates, or Curators, because they care for the worship of God and have charge of the Church and Parishioners. Thus from Plato Leo Castrius here, and Pamelius in Tertullian. Thus among the Gentiles, says Tertullian: "When the sky is amazed, and the year is dry, barefoot processions are announced: magistrates lay down their purple, turn back their fasces, invite prayers, restore sacrifices."
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15. AAA WOE! — that is to say, Woe for the day when Jerusalem will be devastated by the Chaldeans! Woe for Jerusalem, woe for the Jews on that day! In Hebrew it is a single disyllabic word אהה ahah, which is an interjection of one grieving and despairing. Our translator rendered it with a single word, but trisyllabic, A a a, both because this among the Latins and Europeans is the voice and sigh of one most afflicted; and because the Hebrew aspiration h is often turned into a, as St. Jerome teaches in his Tradition of the Hebrews in Genesis: for thus for the Hebrew Aharon they translate Aaron, for Habel Abel, for Halleluia Alleluia. that is to say, O sorrowful day of destruction which threatens us! Hence Hugo of St. Victor through the three a a a thinks is signified a threefold calamity and ruin inflicted upon the Jews by God through the Chaldeans: "For indeed, he says, there were three misfortunes of the Babylonian captivity: namely the overthrow of the temple, the destruction of the city, the migration of the people, that is to say, A the city shall be destroyed, but have mercy on the city of thy sanctification; A the temple shall be overthrown; but hear, O Lord, the prayer which thy servants pray before thee this day, that thine eyes may be open upon this house day and night; A thy people shall be led into captivity; but have mercy, O Lord, upon thy people upon whom thy name is called." Allegorically, the same author relates these things pathetically and elegantly to the ruin of the Jews in the time of Christ, and to their destruction by Titus and the Romans, on account of Christ repudiated, nay slain by them, that is to say, "A he shall come who shall turn away iniquity from Jacob, and shall take away the yoke from Israel. A and there is no beauty in him, nor comeliness, and we have seen him, and there was no sightliness in him. A and as it were hidden his face and despised: wherefore we esteemed him not, and we thought him as it were a leper, and smitten by God and humiliated. A because we have seen, and have not known. A because we have heard, and have despised. A because working good things we have received, and praying for us we have slain. We have heard words, we have received benefits, we have seen miracles, but A we have despised the words; A we have been ungrateful for the benefits; A we have detracted from the miracles. We have heard him teaching on the mount; but A we have passed by with deaf ear: hence sorrow. We have seen him feeding the crowds; but A we have cared not: hence sadness. We have seen him hanging on the cross; but A we have despised: and hence terror. We have heard doctrine, we have received life, we have seen death. His doctrine illuminated our blindness: A to which we have not obeyed. His life formed us: A which we have not received. His death captivated our death: A which we have despised, nay which we have wrought." The same preacher may easily accommodate this to the soul which is to be damned in judgment, both particular and universal. Symbolically and tropologically the same: "A a a, because there are also three evils" of the Jews, equally as of any sinners: "Ignorance, concupiscence and misery. The transgression of the natural law brought ignorance; the transgression of the written law propagated disordered concupiscence; the contempt of prophecy ministered misery. A the natural law has been transgressed: hence sorrow; but it was avenged in the Egyptian captivity. A the written law has been transgressed: hence sadness; but it was avenged in the Assyrian captivity. A prophecy is despised: hence terror; but thou disposest to avenge this also by the Babylonian captivity. A we have fallen into the misery which thou hast avenged; A we have fallen into the concupiscence which thou hast punished; A we have fallen into the horrible misery which thou hast disposed." Whence explaining the cause of sorrow more fully, Joel adds, and says that the Synagogue, equally as the soul, by sinning has lost all her riches and delights: "It has perished, he says, the sacrifice, that is the mortification of the flesh; and the libation, that is the tears of compunction; and the region, that is the serenity of conscience: the soil, humility of self-knowledge: the wheat, the love of justice: the wine, the fervor of wisdom: the oil, the odor of mercy: the fig, the sweetness of contemplation, and the sweetness of eternal things: the barley, the abjection of penance: the farmers, both efficacious preachers and pastors, and the groans and movements of confession: the vintners, the desires of compunction and the sighs of contemplation: the palm, the contempt of earthly things: the pomegranate, both the charity of fraternal union, and the ardor and thirst for rewards: the simple apple; good affections: other trees, the desires of the remaining virtues: or rather the works and progress. These being lost, joy is confounded; which being possessed, an ordered and glorious reward is disposed." BECAUSE THE DAY OF THE LORD IS NEAR (namely the day of judgment, and the vengeance of the Lord, which He will execute in Jerusalem through the Chaldeans), AND AS A DESOLATION FROM THE MIGHTY SHALL COME. — In Hebrew there is a beautiful and forceful paronomasia כשוד משדי keschod misschadai, that is, as a desolation mighty from a mighty desolator shall come; for Shadai is a name of God, and signifies God either merciful, or mighty and desolating, as I said on Genesis cap. XVII, 1. 16. Before your eyes (Thus also the Septuagint, although the Hebrew and Chaldean have: Before our eyes; but the sense comes to the same thing, as if to say: With you and us beholding, Judea shall be laid waste, and therefore) FOOD (namely of the priests, that is sacrifices and oblations) HAS PERISHED (that is shall perish) FROM THE HOUSE (temple) OF OUR GOD (and consequently there shall perish) JOY AND EXULTATION, — by which in feasts and sacrifices they were wont to exult, and to worship God festively with psalms, hymns, organs, tympans, etc.
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17. THE CATTLE HAVE ROTTED IN THEIR DUNG, — as if to say: This slaughter of the Chaldeans will afflict not only men, but also cattle. For these, on account of fear of the enemy besieging Jerusalem, will not be able to be led out to pasture, but in stalls and their own dung, with grass and hay failing, they will die of hunger, waste away and rot. Thus Remigius, Lyra, Albert, Ribera and a Castro. For rotted, in Hebrew it is עבשו abeseu, which word is found here alone. The Septuagint translates: The calves have leaped in their mangers, not from wantonness, but from hunger wasting away, and striking their feet to the ground, says Theodoret. The Arabic of Antioch: The voice of animals over the mangers, and the animals do not leap, and herds of oxen weep for lack of fodder; the Arabic of Alexandria: The animals do not taste, and herds of oxen bellow for want of pastures; the Syriac: The calves have slept fasting (unfed) in their mangers. Better our own, R. Jonathan, R. David and Aben-Ezra translate, rotted, that is corrupted by putrefaction. For cattle, in Hebrew it is פרדות perudot, or rather with other pointing פירדות pirdot, that is mules, from the root פרד parad, that is divided, separated; for mules are distinguished in species from father and mother, namely from a horse and an ass, nor are they horses, nor asses, but a third species, namely mules. Under mules, which were frequent among the Jews (so much so that the sons of kings used them, as appears II Kings XIII, 29), understand horses, asses, oxen and other cattle by synecdoche. The Septuagint translates, calves; the Chaldean translates, vessels. Rotted, he says, vessels of wine under their covers. The Zurich version translates, seeds scattered and sown in the field. Rotted, he says, seeds dispersed under their clods, and therefore from such seed no harvest could be hoped for. Tropologically, in the dung and stench of their own lust the luxurious rot, says Remigius, Albert and Hugh, and St. Gregory, lib. XXIV Moral. cap. VI, or according to another edition, cap. VIII: "Cattle, he says, to rot in their dung, is for carnal men to end their life in the stench of lust. For they are declared to be not men, but cattle, of whom it is said through the Prophet (Jeremiah, cap. V): Every one neighed after his neighbor's wife. And of whom another Prophet (Ezekiel, cap. XXIII) says: Their flesh was as the flesh of asses, and their issue was like the issue of horses." The same word for word Rupertus has, and he reckons it fulfilled in Jason and other apostates, II Maccabees IV, as much as in this age we have seen it completed in Luther, Calvin, Peter Martyr, Bucer, and others flying from the Order to marriage. And St. Bernard, serm. 10 in Psalm. XC: "How, he says, do carnal men say to us: Your life is cruel, you do not spare your flesh? Granted we do not spare the seed, in which we could spare it more? Is it not better for it to be renewed and multiplied in the field, than to rot in the barn? Alas, cattle have rotted in their dung, do you thus spare your flesh? Let us be cruel meanwhile by not sparing, but you by sparing are plainly crueler. For even now our flesh rests in hope; see you yourselves what shame your flesh meanwhile sustains, what misery awaits it in the future." Finally St. Jerome: "He rots, he says, in dung whose god is his belly, and who says: Let us eat and drink, for tomorrow we shall die." For as the luxurious man rots in the French disease; so the glutton in inflammations, vomiting and his own filth, and thus the version of the Chaldean can be understood: Vessels of wine have rotted, that is the drunken and gluttonous belly-servers, as those whose belly is a vessel. Thus Belrio, adage 679.
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18. BECAUSE THERE IS NO PASTURE FOR THEM. — The ancient Latins used pascuum in the neuter gender, and in the plural pascua as a substantive; but they called a forest or region pascua adjectively, just as they did ager pascuus and rura pascua. Hence the adjective word pascua, namely region or land, passed over into a substantive. For Scripture uses both pascua pascæ in the singular, as pascua pascuorum in the plural, as in Psalm XXII, 2: "In the place of pasture there he hath made me to dwell." Job XXXIX, 8: "The mountains of his pasture." I Paralipomenon IV, 40: "And they found fat pastures." Psalm LXXVIII, 13: "The sheep of thy pasture." Isaiah XXXVII, 27: "The grass of the pasture." Ezekiel XXXIV, 18: "The remnants of the pastures." Finally, Antonius Nebrissensis in his Dictionary notes that both pascua pascæ and pascua pascuorum are said. Let those therefore who innovate cease to censure our Interpreter as if he were unlatinate, and to impute barbarism to him. The cause of sorrow and lamentation, says Hugh of St. Victor, "he adds great losses. Now the losses are these: the foul putrefaction of beasts of burden, the anxiety of animals, the death of cattle, the demolition of barns, the scattering of storehouses, the emptiness of pastures, the cause of which is the burning of beautiful things, the kindling of wood, the drying up of fountains."
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19. TO YOU, O LORD, I WILL CRY. — In such great and incurable evils, one refuge remains, namely that I implore your aid, O Lord; for you alone are able and accustomed to remedy extreme evils, when you are invoked with all the heart from your own. Again Hugh of St. Victor: "Beasts of burden," he says, "are the luxurious: herds are the curious: flocks are the gluttonous: animals are the wanton and covetous: beasts are the simple and ignorant: barns are authentic utterances: storehouses are the volumes of expositors: pastures are the passions of saints and their deeds: dung are vices and sins: fountains of waters are the teachers of peoples: fire is covetousness: flame is lust."
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20. But also the beasts of the field, — that is to say: Not only I, nor men alone, but also beasts hungering and thirsting, as a dry threshing floor is wont to thirst for rain, for example sheep with their bleating, oxen and cows with their lowing, asses with their braying, etc., look up to you, O Lord, and cry out, with different, as Rufinus says, sounds of the throat, as it were a discordant harmony, and with musical concord, and silently implore your aid, asking from you in such great hunger and thirst fodder and drink; for the fountains "are dried up" by the Chaldeans, who either stopped them up, or cut off and diverted their streams, so that they would not flow into the city. Thus St. Jerome, Theodoret and Lyra. (1) The utmost dryness is described, which was itself also a cause why locusts came forth more abundantly. Concerning them Pliny thus speaks, Natural History, book XI, chapter XXIX: "In the spring rains the eggs perish; in a dry spring there is greater production." That dryness favors the production of locusts, Ignatius of Asso teaches also with many examples in his book On Locusts.
Machine translation from the Latin, not reviewed.
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v. 2 « audite hoc, senes, et auribus percipite, habitatores terrae ! si factum est. istud in diebus vestris aul in. diebus patrum vestrorum »? — i. e. ut haud ineleganter Ps. Ruf. exponit : « omnes ergo iam ad audiendum incolae convenite ; vel vos, qui senio vitae istius plurima pericula collegistis !, vel vos qui minus licet habeatis annorum, tamen vigenti memoria potestis continere, si quid simile a parentibus accepistis, quale in praesentem confluxit aetatem. Immo quid dicam? solos consulamus annales, quasi exemplorum solatia requirentes, cum in eum cumulum miserias gentis nostrae ascendisse perpendam, ut. nihil tale vel apud futuros possit exsistere'». Unde sicut nulla aetas tale tulerit, ita dignum esse, quod longa generationum serie cum admiratione narretur, ad rei magnitudinem animis imprimendam ait
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v. 3 « super hoc filiis vestris narrate, et. filii vestri filiis suis, et filii eorum generationi alterae » ? ; —cf. Ps. 1,6 (Theod..) distincta enumeratione res efficacius proponitur. Uti alias liberationem ex Aegypto, maximum Dei beneficium, filiis narrare iubebantur (Ex. 10, 9; 13,8; Lap.), sic iam eius calamitatis enormitatem ne committant e memoria elabi, ? verum filiis praecipiant, ut eam quasi per manus filiis suis tradant ( Theod.). « Atque ita excitatis ad audiendum senioribus et aliis universis totam deinceps calamitatum seriem enarrat » (Theod.)
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v. 4 « residuum erucae comedit locusta, et residuum locustae comedit bruchus, et residuum bruchi comedit rubigo ». — Frugum et graminum vastationem quam maximam designat, quae per quattuor causarum genera serie non interrupta - inter se excipientia effecta sit. Textus latinus et. graecus praeter duo locustarum vel genera vel agmina et erucas (Raupe) et rubiginem (Mehlthau) effert, quibus virentia omnia stirpitus sint enecata. Mala arcte inter se subsequentia modus loquendi residuum erucae... indicat i. e. si qua priore calamitate intacta relicta fuerint, insequente certo certius absumpta et deleta sunt ; cf. Is. 24, 1'1. ler. 15, 2; 48, 43; id quod Ps. Ruf. innuit: « enuntio non vos uni videlicet 'alterisque subiacuisse verberibus, (verum) excitatas calamitates spumantium instar undarum novis semper praecedentes miserias depulisse ». Neque enim de quattuor annorum penuria sermo esse potest, quia quae subsequente anno nascuntur, non residua dicuntur anni praeteriti. In textu hebr. quattuor nomina locustas significant. Sunt qui censeant designari quattuor species vel varias illas formas quas animalcula illa pro vitae tempore diverso induunt; ita, ut. 2*4 primum ex ovis exclusum foetum dicat, et reliqua nomina ceteras locustarum metamorphoses indicent. At vana est coniectura, cui iam 2, 25 obstat et ex Lev. 11, 22 '33*N nomen est generale. Probabilius est ex nominum ratione, varia nocendi et plantas devorandi genera exprimi, ita ut locustarum agmina plura nominum etiam varietate distinguantur. D7A cf. 2, 25. Am. 4, 9 proprie abscindentem ampulantem. dicit eL aptum est ad dentes praeacutos. LXX et Hier. erucam (xáyxr,y) dixerunt; cui significationi Nbr quod Chald. habet, repens scil. congruit. Ex. 10, 12 Moyses na"N iubetur advocare ; in Ps. 78, 46 (hebr.) mentio est in eodem eventu 'n et 39N, dum Ps. 105, 3& praeter na"N etiam p nominatur. Si nomina consideraveris, po linctorem * dicit, qui scil. herbas et plantas lingendo devoret ; n consumplorem, eresorem significat ; unde tria haec nomina haud immerito dixeris synonyma poetica pro naN in sermone communi usitato. Ceterum p» S. Hier. ubique bruchum interpretatur ; LXX dicunt gpovzov hic et 2, 25. Nah. 3, 16. Ps. 104, 34 ; dum &xpí&« vertunt Nah. 3, 15. Ier. 51, 14. 27. — Nomen 5*ben S. Hier. reddit rubiginem (3 Reg. 8, 31), sed in loco parallelo 2 Par. 6, 28 bruchum; eadem ratione LXX ibi £pucíQzv hic 8povzov ; Is. 33, & bruchum, LXX &xpióa ; Ps. 11, 46 aeruginem, LXX £pvcígnv. Explicat vocem Chald. NOU decerpens. Vastationem universalem per quattuor illa nomina expressam iam per singula accuratius ob oculos ponere incipit, sed ita, ut ex calamitate ad Dei vindictam agnoscendam et ad doloris poenitentiaeque sensus concipiendos moveantur. Quare primo eos alloquitur, qui sensuum voluptatibus immersi rerum penuria iam premuntur
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v. 5 « ezpergiscimini, ebrii, et flete et ululate, omnes qui bibitis vinum in dulcedine, quoniam periit ab ore vestro » ; — hebr. ululate omnes potatores vini super mustum, ! quia. abscissum est ab ore vestro i. e. hortatur, ut e temulentia et ebrietate emergant, serio recogitent, luctum, fletum, dolorem induant. Hic quasi primus est ad rcsipiscentiam gressus : malis afflictum dolere. « Quos ergo nihil docuit disciplina iustitiae, incipiat saltem timoris stimulus experiri, quique nunquam doluistis sauciatam innocentiam, flete demum temulentiam destitutam » (Ps. Ruf.) ; « assumite tristitiam, quae ducit ad vitam » (/ier.). Carentes igitur consueta vitae suavitate ?, ad eum qui mala inflixit oculos advertant. Cur mustum sit excisum ab ore eorum, i. e. cur subito spes omnis uvarum et musti, qua iam delectabantur, sit ablata, declarat
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v. 6 « gens enim ascendit super terram meam, fortis et innumerabilis : dentes eius ut dentes leonis et molares eius ut catuli leonis » ; — hebr. et molares leaenae ei. Apta et efficax locustarum descriptio ! gens (cf. Prov. 30, 25. 26. Soph. 2, 14) propter turbam innumerabilem vocatur et quia tamquam ezercitus a longinquo veniens ascendere contra terram describitur ; fortitudine et numero exercitus iste excellit, arma gerit horrenda ; quis enim leonis dentibus obsistet ? « huius enim si. efficientiam potius quam membra ? consideres, videbis dentes eius praedandi peritis leonibus conferendos » (Ps. Ruf.). Et revera subdit efficientiam eius : v. "l « posuit vineam meam n desertum et ficum meam decorticavit ; nudans spoliavit eam et proiecit, albi facti sunt rami eius » ; — uti Os. 2, 12, vites et ficus tamquam praecipua regionis emolumenta commemorantur ; hebr. e( ficum meam in confractionem (LXX eig cvyxXasuóx).... albuerunt palmites eius; vites scil. cortice arroso et detracto interierunt ; flagella palmitum confracta sunt vel penitus aruerunt. Porro miseriam deplorat totum populum ad luctum provocans
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v. 8 « plange quasi virgo accincta sacco super virum pubertatis suae » ; — i. e. virgo et sponsa, quae primos amores eosque ferventissimos iuveni ! sponso consecravit, etiam sponso subito sublato acerrimis doloris stimulis exagitatur, dum laetam vitae spem et amoenitatem omnem, quam sibi mente iam finxerat, ruina irreparabili prostratam cernit ; quare luctus magnitudinem habitu squalido prae se fert ; est enim saccus cilicium, pannus crassus e pilis potissimum textus, dein lugentium vestis e tali panno confecta et lugubri asperitate corpus tegens, non ornans. Talis vero luctus maximi ratio habetur
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v. 9 « periit sacrificium et libatio de domo Domini, luxerunt sacerdotes ministri Domini » ; — cum enim in veteri testamento terrae fertilitas rerumque abundantia populi pietatem consequi soleret et Dei propitii esset documentum, maius numinis irati argumentum vix excogitari potest, quam si tanta vastatione hereditatem suam prosternat, ut ipsae oblationes sacrae cessare debeant ; proiectis autem et abolitis sacrificiis, quibus sacrum illud inter Deum et populum commercium constituitur, ipsum populum iam abiecisse et a sua gratia quasi resecuisse videri poterat. Ad sacrificia incruenta (cf. hebr. nr122) frumentum (simila, panes absque fermento, — Lev. 2, 4), oleum, vinum adhibebatur ; unde vastatis omnibus atque consumptis oblationes quaea privatis fieri consueverunt vel omnino cessarunt, vel raro saltem fiebant ?. Licet sane dubitare, num sacrificia etiam publica lege praescripta intermissa sint; nam lugentium et plorantium verba, qualia certe vates hic usurpat, nimis premenda non sunt et verum est, quod Calm. adnotat : « hyperbolicum aliquid in his verbis esse videtur; aegre enim crediderim, gravem adeo saeviisse famem, ut vel quotidianis sacrificiis nihil reliquerit ; tametsi enim omnes praesentis anni fructus defecerint, vel superioris anni esse poterant, vel a finitimis emi ». Sacrificiorum cessatio etiam sacerdotes a functione sacra et oblationum perceptione cohibuit et regionis vastitas decimis spoliavit, unde ampla luctus materia iis aderat et sacra et profana. Atra vero illa tristitia, qua populus est afflictus, etiam in ipso regionis agrorumque habitu cernitur impressa : nulla camporum amoenitas, prata virentia et ridentia iam non sunt :
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v. 10 « depopulata est regio, luxit humus ; quoniam. devastatum est. triticum, confusum est vinum, elanguit oleum » ; — ea scil. quibus regio palaestinensis celebris erat (cf. Ez. 91, 1'i), defecerunt ; dicuntur poetice erubescere, pudore suffundi, quia a pristina gloria deiecta sunt et exterorum opinionem et exspectationem fefellerunt. Ex tali autem regionum desolatione etiam incolae irrisionem et ludibria aliorum incurrunt praeter dolorem et gemitum domesticum :
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v. 41 « confusi sunt agricolae !, ululaverunt vinitores super frumento et hordeo, quia periit messis agri ;
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v. 12 vinea confusa est et ficus elanguit ; malogranatum et palma et malum et omnia ligna agri aruerunt, quia confusum est gaudium a [iliis hominum ». — Notat S. Hier. : « non solum frumentum, sed hordeum quoque, quod vilius fertiliusque est, aruit. Et legumina, quae ego puto significari in eo quod ait periit messis agri i. e. cuncta, quae solet humus gignere. Quid loquar de frumento, vino, oleoque et hordeo, cum ,etiam arborum ponia siccata sint, ficus elanguerit, et malogranatum et palma et malum «t omnia ligna vel infructuosa vel frugifera locusta vastante consumpta sint » ? ? quia confusum est gaudium ad sententiam primariam ululaverunt refertur ; confundi, erubescere gaudium Züb. ita explicat : « sicut qui incipit exhilarare alios, si explodatur aut tacere iubeatur, confunditur, ita gaudium sese ostentare coeperat, et repente succisum est ». Universalis lamentationis coronidem adiungit sacerdotum luctum :terato, quia cessatio sacrificiorum miseriae est culmen et gravissimae punitionis vel abiectionis quam Deus iamiam est inflicturus augurium ; deinde quia sacerdotum est exemplo praeire et luctum communem poenitentia et placatione divina consecrare. lta v. 13 et allocutio ad sacerdotes optime praeparat transitum ad poenitentiae exhortationem ;
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v. 18 « accingite vos et plangite ! sacerdotes, ululate ministri altaris, ingredimini, cubate in sacco, ministri Dei mei, quoniam interiit de domo Dei vestri sacrificium et libatio » ; — accingitei. e. saccis, habitu lugubri ; hebr. pernoctate in. sacco i. e. diu noctuque lugete et lamenta coram Deo effundite in templo (cf. 4 Reg. 19, 1. Ps. 871, 2 ; 133, 2). Sacrificiorum cessatio sacerdotes, quorum officium praecipuum et honorificentissimum est offerre, eosque Dei ministros, quorum est cultum Dei et adorationem exhibere et promovere, moerore afficere et de divina indignatione edocere debet. — Inceperat vates luctus descriptionem a profanis (v. 5), concludit ordine sacro, ut exhibeat, quomodo per omnes ordines eadem valeat lamentatio. Explicavimus et explicandum esse cum Trochon, Vigourouz aliisque omnino censemus de locustarum plaga, cuius malis homines et regiones terrae Iudaeae tunc affligebantur. Hanc explanationem verba ipsa plane necessario exigunt. Nam adsunt nomina locustarum, describuntur vastationes, quales locustae inferunt v. "1. 10-12 : vites et ficus, viridia, gramina, arbores, omnia depasta sunt; dein eadem claritate haec calamitas proponitur non «t futura sed ut praesens?, quae nunc vastatione facta multiplici effectu sentiatur. Id indicat verborum forma temporis praeteriti, qua utitur vates ; id nexusipse et exhortationis ratio : nam effert v. g. v. 6cur vinum perierit, vel ab ore et desiderio potatorum sit excisum : quia gens ascendit, quia vineam posuit in vastationem ; vel v. 10 cur luxerit humus, causam affert, quia devastatum est triticum. Ipsa etiam ad luctum provocatio et inde consequens exhortatio ad poenitentiam omnino exigit calamitatem, quae iam adsit et sentiatur. Praeterea prima verba, quibus Ioel orditur, idem necessario supponunt. Nam quomodo senes de f«tura calamitate testari. possunt, nunquam exstitisse adeo gravem et horrendam ? id testari possunt tum tandem, si per aliquod tempus illam experti sunt. Eadem explicatio demum v. 16 - 20 necessario subest ; nam calamitatem praesentem ibi enarrari verbis tam propriis, quibus aptiora inveniri non possint, sola lectione manifestum fit. Praeterea perpende id quod 2, 23 dicitur ; promittit enim Deus, se redditurum esse annos quos comederit locusta, fortitudo mea magna quam misi in vos ; idque promittit, postquam zelatus est terram suam ct pepercit populo suo 2, 18. Iam fieri nequit, ut talia. dicantur, si ipsa locustarum plaga tamquam tempore futuro superveniens consideratur ; cur enim Deus promitteret id se redditurum esse quod poenitentia peracta nunquam erit auferendum ? Qui enim hoc iam caput de futura plaga explicant, fateri debent, eam nunquam accidisse vel saltem non evenisse, antequam propheta verba illa 2, 23 diceret. Sed tunc quis iam esse potest verborum illorum sensus congruus? Insuper adverte, Ioelem hoc capite, quando de futura calamitate loqui velit, vel de tali quae mox consequi et imminere possit, studiose et diligenter verba et verbi formam grammaticalem futuram seligere; ita in v. 13, quo calamitatem praesentem indicium esse ait maioris venturae : quia PnopE est dies Domini, quia vastitas a. potente VENIET N32?, Ruf., quorum uterque propriam explicationem vindicat. Et ille quidem ita : « exi stimo autem etiam ut dicta sunt contigisse. Nam beatus Ámos meminit etiam locustae et bruchiet combustionis et aeruginis; fieuum item, olearum et vinearum ab erucis consumptarum, squaloris practerea et pluviarum inopiac. Pars enimuna, inquit irrirabitur, et pars super quam non pluero, arefict'. Huius vero etiam divinus leremias mentionem facit *. Non igitur figurate solum haec accipienda sunt, cum sacri prophetae ad unum omnes nos docuerint, supra dicta sieut. narrantur accidisse ». Potest addi, Deum revera eiusmodi plazas rebellibus minatum esse cf. Lev. 26, 22. Deut. 28, 38 : sementem multam iacies in terram et. modicum congregabis, quia locustae devorabunt omnia et seq. Et hoc argumento iam utitur Ps. Ruf. : « quae sane incommoda illis non semel sed. plerisque. accidisse temporibus vel ipso quem disserimus propheta vel Deuteronomio denuntiante colligimus. Unde et illorum opinionem qui haee omnia de hostibus dicta aestimant, refutamus », quam sententiam allusione faeta ad. S. . Hier. expositionem in subsequentibus reiicit. Verum iure miraberis, etiam Theod. non de calamitate iam facta, sed de futura explicare et Ps. Ruf. quoque censere « impendentem magis calamitatem quam illatam » significari. In eadem opinione etiam sunt Schegg, Loch, Merr, kaulen, Zschokke (Hist. s. p. 262) et quicumque de futuris hostium incursibus interpretantur. Sed certe textui violentia insignis ea aeceptione infertur. li omnes non attenderunt, v. 13 ex calamitate praesente concludi [ore maiorem Dei vindictam in rebelles devolvendam, nisi resipuerint. Praeterea veram describi a propheta vastitatem a locustis invectam etiam agnoscit Lyranus, ita scribens ad h. l. : «in. proposito secundum rem gestam fuerunt quattuor destruetiones terrae nascentium. et. per laee. sipgnifieabantur vastationes maiores futurae per quattuor rezna » ; aznoseunt Clarius, Vatablus, Liveleus (cf. in opere Critici sacri), Calm. Eius sententiae alios patronos reeeuset Lap. et alii recensentur in Synopsi Criticorum a Matth. Polo edita ( Ultraiceti 1685 : vol 3 p. 1780); ea etiam. explicatio propagznatur in opere biblico Parisiis 1739 edito (cf. praef. in Ioel. Hie et in Nynopsi Criticorum simul exponitur, hanc vastationem per locustas inveetam. ita. exhiberi, ut signum sit longe maioris futurae. Et eodem modo rem. proponit. Vigourour (Manuel. bibl. H. p. 625).
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Verum id vult propheta, ut calamitas et niiseria animos ad. veram poenitentiam et pietatem praeparet. Quare sacerdotes ? monet, « ut non
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… 2, 2; Dan. 8, 26; 12, 4; Ezek. 24, 2; in a special way Jer. 36) and to set forth only what God wills (Deut. 18, 15-22; Jer. 23, 16; 20, 7-9, 15, 19; 14, 14; Ezek. 13, 3-17; Mic. 3, 5-8; Zech. 7, 12; cf. II Sam. 7, 1 ff.), declares divine (Hos. 4, 1; Joel 1, 1; Am. 1, 6, 9, 11, 13; 2, 1 etc.; Obad. 1; Jon. 1, 1; 3, 1; Mic. 1, 1; 3, 5; 6, 1; Nah. 1, 12; Zeph. 1, 1; Hag. 1, 1; 2, 1, 11, 21; Zech. 1, 1; 7, 1 ff.) what he has written; reports …
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Joel (Heb. Yôʾēl "Yahweh Is God")
… Test., Paris 1923, pp. 309-22; L. Dennefeld, Les problèmes du livre de Joel, ibid. 1926; \ O. R. Sellers, Stages of locust in Joel, in American journal of semitic Languages and literatures, 52 (1935-36), pp. 81-95; \ A. S. Kapebrud, Joel 1, 17. Et oversettelses problem, in Norsk theologisk tidsskrift, 45 (1944), pp. 285-93.
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.