The Israelites by their crying injustices provoke God to punish them. He shall at last restore Jacob.
By their great iniustice, 7. notwithstanding their vaine presumption of Gods mercie; wherto he is in dede most prone, 8. the Israelites through their excessiue rapine, prouoke God to punish them. 12. yet when Christ shal come some Iewes wil serue him; and manie more in the end of the world.
1Woe to you that devise that which is unprofitable, and work evil in your beds: in the morning light they execute it, because their hand is against God.Guai a voi, che pensate alle inutilità, e ne' vostri letti divisate cose malvagie: e le eseguiscono costoro alla luce del mattino, perchè si son fatti contro Dio.VVO TO you which thinke that is vnpofitable, and worke euil in your beds: in the morning light they doe it, because their hand is against God.Væ qui cogitatis inutile, / et operamini malum in cubilibus vestris ! / In luce matutina faciunt illud, / quoniam contra Deum est manus eorum. 2And they have coveted fields, and taken them by violence, and houses they have forcibly taken away: and oppressed a man and his house, a man and his inheritance.E desiderarono i poderi, e se gli usurparono con violenza, e invasero le case; e calunniarono questo per aver la sua casa, e quell'altro per le sue possessioni.And they haue couered fildes, and violently taken, and houses forcibly taken away: and oppressed the man and his house, the man and his inheritance.Et concupierunt agros, et violenter tulerunt: / et rapuerunt domos, / et calumniabantur virum, et domum ejus: / virum, et hæreditatem ejus. 3Therefore thus saith the Lord: Behold I devise an evil against this family: from which you shall not withdraw your necks, and you shall not walk haughtily, for this is a very evil time.Per questo così dice il Signore: Ecco, che io penso a mandare sciagure sopra questa famiglia, dalle quali voi non potrete sottrarvi, e non camminerete più altieri, perchè quel tempo è cattivissimo.Therfore thus saith our Lord: Behold I purpose euil vpon this familie: whence you shal not take away your neckes, and you shal not walke prowd, because it is a very euil time.Idcirco hæc dicit Dominus: / Ecce ego cogito super familiam istam malum, / unde non auferetis colla vestra, / et non ambulabitis superbi: / quoniam tempus pessimum est. 4In that day a parable shall be taken up upon you, and a song shall be sung with melody by them that say: We are laid waste and spoiled: the portion of my people is changed: how shall he depart from me, whereas he is returning that will divide our land?In quel giorno sarà composta sopra di voi una parabola, e si canterà questa flebile canzona, e dirassi; Noi siamo stati saccheggiati, e desolati: il retaggio del popol mio ha cangiato di (padrone): come si ritirerà colui da me, mentre ritorna, che dividerà i nostri terreni?In that day a parable shal be taken vp vpon you, and a songue shal be sung with sweetnes, of them that say: With depopulation we are wasted: part of my people is changed: how shal he depart from me, wheras he returneth, that wil diuide our regions?In die illa sumetur super vos parabola, / et cantabitur canticum cum suavitate, dicentium: / Depopulatione vastati sumus; / pars populi mei commutata est: / quomodo recedet a me, cum revertatur, / qui regiones nostras dividat ?
5Therefore thou shalt have none that shall cast the cord of a lot in the assembly of the Lord.Per questo tu non avrai chi misuri colla corda le porzioni alla adunanza del Signore.For this cause thou shalt haue none casting the cord of lot in the assemblie of our Lord.Propter hoc non erit tibi mittens funiculum sortis in cœtu Domini. 6Speak ye not, saying: It shall not drop upon these, confusion shall not take them.Non istate a far tante parole: elle non cadranno sopra costoro, né vergogna li prenderà.Speake ye not speaking: It shal not droppe vpon these, confusion shal not apprehend them.Ne loquamini loquentes; / non stillabit super istos, non comprehendet confusio. 7The house of Jacob saith: Is the Spirit of the Lord straitened or are these his thoughts? Are not my words good to him that walketh uprightly?La casa di Giacobbe va' dicendo: È egli forse abbreviato lo spirito del Signore, o son eglino tali i suoi pensieri? Ma non parlo io con benignità a quelli, che camminano nella rettitudine?The house of Iacob saith: Way is the spirit of our Lord abridged, or are his cogitations such? Are not my wordes good with him that walketh rightly?Dicit domus Jacob: / Numquid abbreviatus est spiritus Domini, / aut tales sunt cogitationes ejus ? / nonne verba mea bona sunt cum eo qui recte graditur ? 8But my people, on the contrary, are risen up as an enemy: you have taken away the cloak off from the coat: and them that passed harmless you have turned to war.Ma per il contrario il mio popolo ha alzata bandiera di nemico: voi avete rubato e tonaca, e mantello; e quelli, che passavano senza far male, gli avete costretti a far guerra.And on the contrarie my people is risen vp as an aduersarie: from aboue the cote you haue taken away the cloke: & them that passed simply, you turned into battel.et e contrario populus meus in adversarium consurrexit. / Desuper tunica pallium sustulistis: / et eos qui transibant simpliciter convertistis in bellum. 9You have cast out the women of my people from their houses, in which they took delight: you have taken my praise forever from their children.Le donne del popol mio discacciaste dalle case, dove viveano contente: e a' loro pargoletti chiudeste la bocca perchè non mi lodasser mai più.The wemen of my people you haue cast out of the house of their delicacies: from their litle ones you haue taken my praise for euer.Mulieres populi mei ejecistis de domo deliciarum suarum; / a parvulis earum tulistis laudem meam in perpetuum. 10Arise ye, and depart, for there is no rest here for you. For that uncleanness of the land, it shall be corrupted with a grievous corruption.Alzatevi, e partite; perocché non è qui vostra requie: perchè questa terra è renduta immonda, e corrotta da orrenda putredine.Arise, and goe, because you haue no rest here. For the vncleannes therof it shal be corrupted with a sore putrefaction.Surgite, et ite, quia non habetis hic requiem: / propter immunditiam ejus corrumpetur putredine pessima.
11Would God I were not a man that hath the spirit, and that I rather spoke a lie: I will let drop to thee of wine, and of drunkenness: and it shall be this people upon whom it shall drop.Fossi io un uomo, che non avessi lo spirito, e piuttosto dicessi io la bugia. Io verserò a te vino, ed ebbrezza: e questo vino su questo stesso popolo si verserà.Would God I were not a man hauing the spirit, and that I did rather speake a lie: I wil distil to thee into wine, and into drunkennes: and it shal be this people vpon whom it is distilled.Utinam non essem vir habens spiritum, / et mendacium potius loquerer ! / Stillabo tibi in vinum et in ebrietatem; / et erit super quem stillatur populus iste. 12I will assemble and gather together all of thee, O Jacob: I will bring together the remnant of Israel, I will put them together as a flock in the fold, as sheep in the midst of the sheepcotes, they shall make a tumult by reason of the multitude of men.Io ti ragunerò tutto insieme, o Giacobbe; rimetterò insieme le reliquie d'Israele, lo porrò come in un ovile, come un branco di pecore, nell'ovile la moltitudine della gente cagionerà del tumulto;Gathering I wil gather thee wholly together ô Iacob: I wil bring together the remnant of Israel into one, I wil put them together as a flocke in the fold, as cattel in the middes of sheepcotes, they shal make a tumult by reason of the multitude of men.Congregatione congregabo, Jacob, totum te; / in unum conducam reliquias Israël: / pariter ponam illum quasi gregem in ovili, / quasi pecus in medio caularum: / tumultuabuntur a multitudine hominum. 13For he shall go up that shall open the way before them: they shall divide and pass through the gate, and shall come in by it: and their king shall pass before them, and the Lord at the head of them.Imperocché anderà innanzi a loro colui, che apre la strada, sforzeranno la porta, e le passeranno, ed entreranno dentro; e il loro re passerà davanti a loro, e il Signore alla testa di essi.For he shal ascend opening the way before them: they shal diuide, and passe through the gate, and shal enter by it: and their king shal passe before them, and our Lord in the head of them.Ascendet enim pandens iter ante eos: / divident, et transibunt portam, / et ingredientur per eam: / et transibit rex eorum coram eis, / et Dominus in capite eorum.
2:1
Haydock
Evil. Septuagint, "labours." Hebrew, "vanity, or an idol." (Haydock)
Worthington
That is called unprofitable, which is very detrimental. (Worthington)
Calmet
Morning, suddenly and with zeal. (Calmet)
Is. Hebrew, "has power," (Chaldean) "they have not raised their hands to God." (Septuagint; Arabic)
2:2
Oppressed. Literally, "calumniated," (Haydock) as Jezabel did Naboth, 3 Kings 21:13.
2:3
Time. It was very near. Micheas saw the ruin of Samaria, under Theglathphalassar and Salmanasar.
2:4
Calmet
Say. The Israelites sing this mournful canticle to ver. 7., which the prophet composes for them, to shew the certainty of the event. It is very difficult. (Calmet)
Menochius
The whole synagogue speaks. (Menochius)
Challoner
Depart. How do you pretend to say that the Assyrian is departing, when indeed he is coming to divide our lands amongst his subjects? (Challoner)
Calmet
The Cutheans were sent into the country, 4 Kings 17:24. (Calmet)
Haydock
Septuagint, "and there was none to hinder him from returning, our lands were divided." (Haydock)
2:5
Challoner
None. Thou shalt have no longer any lot or inheritance in the land of the people of the Lord. (Challoner)
Calmet
Strangers had taken possession. (Calmet)
Haydock
Virgil has the like affecting thoughts. (Ec. i.) Impius haec tam culta novalia miles habebit? (Haydock)
2:6
Challoner
Drop. That is, the prophecy shall not come upon these. Such were the sentiments of the people that were unwilling to believe the threats of the prophets. (Challoner)
Worthington
The princes order the prophets not to inculcate so many miseries. (Worthington)
Calmet
Hebrew, "Make it not rain: they will make it rain: they will cause no rain like this: confusion shall not cease." The people beg that the prophets would not announce such judgments: but, (Calmet) correcting themselves, they bid them to say what they please, (Haydock) as nothing can befall them more terrible. Here the canticle ends. (Calmet)
Haydock
Septuagint, "shed no tears, nor let them weep for these things, for she will not cast away reproaches, who says the house of Jacob has provoked the spirit," etc. (Haydock)
2:7
Calmet
Straitened. Is he inclined to danger? The prophet replies, if God punishes, it is because the people will not repent. (Calmet)
Worthington
His mercy is extended to penitents, as well as to the just. (Worthington)
2:8
Challoner
Away. You have often stripped people of their necessary garments; and have treated such as were innocently passing on the way, as if they were at war with you. (Challoner)
Calmet
He alludes to Israel attacking Juda without cause, and killing 120,000 at once, while they took 200,000 women and children (ver. 9.) captives, whom Oded indeed persuaded them to release, 2 Paralipomenon 28:6. Septuagint are very obscure in this chapter. (Calmet)
2:9
Challoner
Cast out, etc. Either by depriving them of their houses; or, by your crimes, giving occasion to their being carried away captives, and their children, by that means, never learning to praise the Lord. (Challoner)
The Jews accustomed them to sing God's praises early, while they were still innocent, Psalm 8:2. Misery might cause them to complain of Providence. Perhaps the prophet alludes to the custom of divorces, Malachias 2:15.
2:10
Calmet
Corruption. Your sins will not permit you to remain any longer, and strangers shall defile this land. (Calmet)
2:11
Challoner
Would God, etc. The prophet could have wished, out of his love to his people, that he might be deceived in denouncing to them these evils that were to fall upon them: but by conforming himself to the will of God, he declares to them that he is sent to prophesy, literally to let drop upon them, the wine of God's indignation, with which they should be made drunk; that is, stupified and cast down. (Challoner)
Haydock
Protestants, "If a man, walking in the spirit of falsehood, do lie, saying, I will prophesy unto thee of wine and strong drink, he shall even be a prophet of this people." But I cannot thus deceive you. (Haydock)
2:12
Worthington
Assemble. God shews his mercy, in gathering his Church out of all nations. (Worthington)
Sanct
At least the Jews shall be converted, (Romans 11:25.; St. Jerome; Eusebius, Dem. 2:50.) or they shall be butchered by the Assyrians. (Sanct.)
Calmet
Men. The country was very populous when the Romans destroyed the Jews. They had returned by degrees. (Calmet)
2:13
Haydock
Open. Hebrew, "break down." (Haydock)
Calmet
Divide. Hebrew, "make a breach." They shall return boldly, and in triumph. (Calmet)
2:4
How shall he depart, etc.... How do you pretend to say that the Assyrian is departing; when indeed he is coming to divide our lands amongst his subjects?
2:5
Thou shalt have none, etc.... Thou shalt have no longer any lot or inheritance in the land of the people of the Lord.
2:6
It shall not drop, etc.... That is, the prophecy shall not come upon these. Such were the sentiments of the people that were unwilling to believe the threats of the prophets.
2:8
You have taken away, etc.... You have even stripped people of their necessary garments: and have treated such as were innocently passing on the way, as if they were at war with you.
2:9
You have cast out, etc.... either by depriving them of their houses: or, by your crimes, given occasion to their being carried away captives, and their children, by that means, never learning to praise the Lord.
2:11
Would God, etc.... The prophet could have wished, out of his love to his people, that he might be deceived in denouncing to them these evils that were to fall upon them: but by conforming himself to the will of God, he declares to them, that he is sent to prophesy, literally to let drop upon them, the wine of God’s indignation, with which they should be made drunk; that is, stupified and cast down.
2:1
By the figure Liptote, that is here called vnprofitable, vvhich is indede extreme hurtful, & hath nothing profitable in it.
2:6
The princes of the people command the prophets not to speake and inculcate so much of future afflictions.
2:7
God ansvvereth, that his threates procede from his mercie. For he vvould saue al and those that either vvalke rightly, or repent shal feele the effect of his mercie, but except they be admonished, neither the good vvil perseuere in goodnes, nor the euil returne into the right vvay.
2:12
In further proofe of Gods mercie he promiseth to gather his Church of al nations by Christ.
2:3
St Gregory of Nazianzus † AD 389 Select Orations of Saint Gregory Nazianzen 2.90
90. For I own that I am too weak for this warfare, and therefore turned my back, hiding my face in the rout, and sat solitary, because I was filled with bitterness and sought to be silent, understanding that it is an evil time,
2:7
St Hippolytus † AD 235 Against the Heresy of One Noetus 15
… For thus speaks the blessed Micah: “The house of Jacob provoked the Spirit of the Lord to anger. These are their pursuits. Are not His words good with them, and do they walk rightly? And they have risen up in enmity against His countenance of peace, and they have stripped off His glory.”
John Cassian † AD 435 The Conferences of John Cassian 17.20
… just as also we remember that Samson most injuriously betrayed to his wicked wife the truth which he had hidden for a long time by a lie, and therefore the truth so inconsiderately disclosed was the cause of his own deception, because he had neglected to keep the command of the prophet: “Keep the doors of thy mouth from her that sleepeth in thy bosom.”
John Cassian † AD 435 The Conferences of John Cassian 24.24
… “For the ways of the Lord are right, and the just shall walk in them; but the transgressors shall fall in them.”
2:11
John Cassian † AD 435 The Conferences of John Cassian 9.18
… “Would that I were not a man that hath the Spirit, and that I rather spoke a lie;”
2:1
1. WOE TO YOU WHO THINK UPON VANITY! — In Hebrew אוז aven, that is, vanity or iniquity. Thus Pagninus and Vatablus. The Chaldean renders it rapine; the Syriac, fraud; the Arabic, ignorance, foolishness. For he is dealing with injuries inflicted upon one's neighbor. For just as in chapter I he described the sins of Israel against God, so here he recounts the same crimes committed against one's neighbor. It is a litotes or diminution, a rhetorical figure by which, for the sake of modesty, less is said and more is understood: as when the Poet says: "Whom not lacking in virtue (that is, whom abounding and rich in virtue) dark day carried off." Thus idols in Scripture are called vain, because they are in themselves vain and false deities; yet they bring not vain but true harm: namely, guilt and punishment. The Septuagint, for הוי hoi, that is, woe, with different pointing and by metathesis of the letter vau with iod, read איח haiu, that is, they became thinking labors, that is, sins and crimes: for sin begets labor and sorrow both present and future. AND YOU WORK EVIL IN YOUR BEDS (that is, at night in your beds you devise and plot crimes, namely frauds and oppressions of the poor, which you eagerly and hastily carry out at early dawn. This is what follows): IN THE LIGHT OF THE MORNING THEY DO IT. — "They do it," that is, you do it. It is an enallage of person: but he says "they do it," as if, turning his face and speech away from them on account of the indignity of the matter: hence he speaks of them as if they were strangers and enemies, in the third person. BECAUSE THEIR HAND IS AGAINST GOD. — "Hand," that is, counsel, plot, operation, and execution which is done by hand. Note: The Hebrew אל el signifies strength, and from this God, because he himself is the strongest. Whence from the Hebrew it can thus be rendered: Because their hand is against strength, that is, because their hands are strong, or because they are mighty in power, as the Zurich Bible renders it, and because they have the faculty in their hands to oppress, as Pagninus renders it. Thus also the Chaldean, Clarius and Arias, that is, they plot injuries against their neighbors and actually inflict them, because they are powerful, and no one is able to resist them. Whence St. Jerome: "Do you not consider," he says, "that your hand is strong against the Lord?" Thirdly, the Septuagint translates this entire passage thus: They became thinking labors, and working evils in their beds, and as soon as day came they accomplished them, because they did not lift up their hands to the Lord. Where note how great is the power of prayer, and how many evils follow from its omission and neglect. For these Israelites devised and accomplished all frauds and rapines because they did not lift up their hands to the Lord, as the Septuagint renders it. For if they had lifted them up, partly being deterred by the remembrance of God and his judgments, they would have ceased from the plotting of crimes; partly God, being invoked by them, would have prevented them with his grace, by which he would have turned them away from evil and incited them to good. We actually experience the same thing in great sinners; namely, that they forget prayer and God, as is said of those elders of Susanna lying in wait for her chastity in Daniel XIII, 9: "They perverted their sense, and turned away their eyes, that they might not see heaven, nor remember the judgments of justice." And the Psalmist, Psalm XIII, when in verse 1 he had said of the wicked: "They are corrupted, and become abominable in their devices, etc. All have gone aside, together become unprofitable: there is none that doth good, etc. Destruction and unhappiness in their ways," etc.; he adds the cause of these evils and crimes in verse 5, saying: "They have not called upon the Lord." On the other hand, the Psalmist himself continually prays to God, that he may be directed by him in his thoughts and works, lest he fall into any sin. "Make perfect my steps," he says, "that my footsteps be not moved," Psalm XVI, 5. "Show me thy ways, O Lord: and teach me thy paths. Direct me in thy truth, and teach me: for thou art God my saviour," Psalm XXIV, 4. "Set before me, O Lord, a law in thy way: and guide me in the right path because of my enemies," Psalm XXVI, 11. He does the same often elsewhere, and throughout the whole Psalm CXVIII, which is concerning the keeping of God's law. And St. Paul, II Corinthians XIII, 7: "We pray," he says, "God that you do no evil." Cassian writes in Collation X, chapter IX, that the servants of God at the beginning of each work are accustomed to implore the help of God, that they may perform it rightly, without sin, and with virtue, and to say: "God, incline unto my aid; O Lord, make haste to help me," as the Church prays at the beginning of each Hour; and at Prime at the beginning of the day she thus prays: "O Lord, almighty God, who hast brought us to the beginning of this day, save us today by thy power, that in this day to no sin do we turn aside, but always may our words proceed to the doing of thy justice, may our thoughts and works be directed. " Experience has taught confessors captured for the faith of Christ by tyrants that they persisted in it strong, and became martyrs, as many as dedicated themselves to constant prayer; but those fell away who neglected to pray and to invoke God's aid. The same we have seen and see in other temptations of any kind. The same we experience in ourselves. For a symbol of this thing it is read in the books of the Maccabees that Judas Maccabaeus, who obtained so many and so noble victories over Antiochus, always poured forth fervent prayers to God before each single battle, except the last one in which he fell pierced through, because then he is not read to have prayed. Let us therefore pray daily with St. Ambrose and St. Augustine in the hymn Te Deum laudamus: "Deign, O Lord, to keep us this day without sin."
2:2
2. THEY ROBBED HOUSES, — they coveted the houses equally as the fields of their neighbor, and robbed them by force or fraud, so that they might satisfy their covetousness. AND THEY CALUMNIATED A MAN. — By calumny they oppressed him, accusing him falsely, so that they might take away his goods, or even his life: for this is the Hebrew עשק asac. Whence the Zurich version translates, they do violence to each man; Pagninus, they oppressed a man; the Septuagint, they plundered a man.
2:3
3. AND YOU SHALL NOT WALK PROUDLY. — The Chaldean and the Septuagint, erect, that is to say, I will bring down their erect and proud neck, I will make them humble and cast down, so that they submit their swollen necks, bend their high heads. BECAUSE IT IS A TIME MOST EVIL (that is, most calamitous), — that is, it will be, that is to say, I will bring upon them the greatest disasters, which will strike down and break their proud necks. Thus it is said in Matthew VI, 34: "Sufficient for the day is the evil thereof," that is, the affliction and calamity, "of it." Thus on the other hand the Hebrews call good that which is prosperous and pleasant, as: "Behold how good and how pleasant it is for brethren to dwell together in unity!" Psalm CXXXII, 1. To this place of Micah the Apostle alluded in Ephesians V, 16, saying: "Redeeming the time, because the days are evil."
2:4
4. ON THAT DAY SHALL A PARABLE BE TAKEN UP AGAINST YOU, — namely a dirge, that is a funeral lamentation and mournful song, to be sung commonly and everywhere. Thus a parable or lamentation is called a dirge of the destruction of Babylon, Isaiah XIV, 4, and of Tyre, Ezekiel XXVII, 2, and of Egypt, Ezekiel XXXII, 2. The reason is, that just as parables, so also dirges are wont to employ similitudes, maxims, metaphors, and like figures and schemes, which are employed in verse. Moreover these are well-worn matters, which are commonly in the mouth of all; for these are called by the Hebrews parables, or proverbs. AND THERE SHALL BE SUNG A SONG WITH SWEETNESS. — The Hebrews: And there shall be lamented a lamentation of lamentation, that is a supreme lamentation, or most mournful. Thus Pagninus, Vatablus and others. You will say: Why then do Our translation and the Septuagint render it, a song with sweetness; and Arias, a lamentation with solace? I answer, because when the Hebrews repeat the same noun in the genitive, they signify something in that kind that is outstanding, most beautiful and supreme, as King of kings, that is the supreme King; Song of songs, that is the most beautiful song. Thus here lamentation of lamentation is an outstanding and most beautiful lamentation: especially because every song, even if mournful and lamentable, by the very fact that it is song, is sweet, and delights the ears and mind: nay more, not only melancholic men, but also men devoted to pious compunction, are more delighted by funeral song and music than by festive and exultant. For this reason the ancients employed mourners and mourning women at funerals, singing with pipes, so that by the sound of pipes and voice, though mournful, they might soothe the grief of parents and kinsmen, who accordingly thus broke and modulated their own voices, so that by their modulation they might ease their sorrow. Thus also by this notable lamentation the sorrow of devastated Jerusalem is eased, and to it, though grieving, the dirge imparts some sweetness, and soothes it with such consolation as is fitting for the place. Otherwise Ribera: The Hebrew, he says, נהיה nihia, that is of lamentation or lamenting, can be derived from the root naha, that is he lamented, from the root הוה hava, which signifies to break, to crush, as if to say: It shall be broken, that is broken, cut and with soft voice, that is with sweetness, this lamentation shall be sung. Better would you derive nihia from היה haia, that is it was: so that nihia is the same as made, completed, harmonious, elegant, and therefore soothing, delighting and sweet. Otherwise Remigius, Albert, Lyra and Hugh; for they think that this lamentation is to be taken up not by the Israelites themselves, but by their enemies the Assyrians, who imitating and repeating this lamentation of the Israelites, shall sing the same thing with sweetness in mockery, which the Israelites shall sing with mourning. But others more simply think that the Prophet assigns this lamentation not to the Assyrians, but to the Israelites themselves laid waste, namely to be sung by their mourning women and public mourners, who presided over lamentations, for the public solace of the citizens in such a calamity. For this is signified by the very words of the lamentation, which are in the first person: "We are laid waste by desolation." BY DESOLATION WE ARE LAID WASTE (in Hebrew, by laying waste we are laid waste, that is, as Pagninus says, we are utterly laid waste): THE PORTION OF MY PEOPLE IS CHANGED. — These are the words of the Synagogue, namely of Samaria and Jerusalem, as if to say: A part of the Israelite people has been transferred by Shalmaneser to Assyria, just as a part of the people of Judah has been transferred by Nebuchadnezzar to Babylon. Secondly, "portion," that is the lot and inheritance of my people, namely the fields of Samaria, have been transferred from the Israelites to the Cutheans and Assyrians, just as the fields of Judah have been occupied by the Chaldeans, IV Kings XVII and chapter XXV. HOW SHALL HE DEPART FROM ME, WHEN HE RETURNS WHO SHALL DIVIDE OUR LANDS? — as if to say: The false prophets and flatterers persuaded us, and we believed that, when Shalmaneser had laid waste the fields of Samaria with few taken away, and we promised him tribute, he would not return to us again, and there would be peace for us: but behold he returns and besieges Samaria, and takes it, and leads away all the Israelites, and in their place brings from Assyria into Samaria the Cutheans, who possess their fields, as if they were to be perpetual inhabitants, so that no hope remains for us to return to our own. The same the Jews say of Nebuchadnezzar: we hoped that after Joiakim was slain, and Jeconiah was taken, and tribute was imposed upon us, he would not return: but behold he returns, takes Jerusalem, blinds Zedekiah, slays his sons, leads away all the citizens, distributes our fields to foreigners; therefore no hope remains for us. To this is added the exposition of St. Jerome, Remigius, Haymo and others, who expound these things of Sennacherib, as if he said: When Sennacherib withdrew from the siege of Jerusalem, to meet Tirhakah, king of the Ethiopians, we Jews hoped he would not return again: but behold he returns, besieges Jerusalem, and divides our fields among his own. Pagninus translated it somewhat differently: How, he says, did he remove from us those whom we hoped would be restored to us? our fields the enemy divided for himself. And Vatablus: How did he take from me, when he seemed about to restore (to us) our fields? he divided, supply our fields to others, as if to say: We are deceived in our hope, we hoped our fields would be restored to us, and behold our enemies are brought in as possessors of them.
2:5
5. THEREFORE THOU SHALT NOT HAVE. — These are the words of the Prophet to Samaria, or rather to Samaria and Judah to itself. For thus those who mourn from pathos sometimes address themselves as if they were strangers, as if to say: Henceforth thy land, O Samaria and Judah, thou shalt not divide among thy citizens with a measuring line, as thou wast wont to do before, because namely thou shalt be deprived of all thy possession, that is, henceforth I, Samaria and Judah, shall not divide the land to my sons, because I shall be wholly deprived of it. Here ends the lamentation and dirge.
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6. DO NOT SPEAK, SPEAKING, etc. — In Hebrew: Do not drip, they shall drip, which Vatablus translates: Do not drip to those who are wont to drip, that is to the Prophets, therefore they shall not drip henceforth to these; and thus he expounds it: They are wont to say to the Prophets: Do not speak, that is do not prophesy and foretell to us, as if to say: You impose silence on true Prophets, and therefore you shall be deprived of Prophets and prophecy. But Our author, Symmachus and other ancients translate better: Do not drip dripping, or by dripping. For the Hebrews sometimes use the future for the participle, as in Hosea cap. XII, 11, in Hebrew it is: If Galaad is an idol, therefore they were in vain in Galgal, they sacrificed to oxen, that is sacrificing, as Our author and others translate it. And cap. XIII, 2: Sacrifice men, they shall adore calves, that is adoring, as the Septuagint, Our author and others translate it. Now by dripping the Septuagint understand weeping and shedding tears: for the drops of the eyes are tears. Whence they translate: Do not weep tears. But among the Hebrews, especially the Prophets, to drip is the same as to speak, to prophesy, to preach, as I have often noted. For, as St. Jerome says, "speech from that which flows, and reaches the ears of the hearers in the likeness of descending rain, he calls dripping, especially because it is grave, threatening and burdensome: for drops often fall with weight, force, storm and hail." St. Jerome, Remigius and others think these are the words of the Prophet to the people, as if to say: Do not say, O Jews, what you are wont to say; the Prophets preach and threaten us with evils, but we do not believe them: for it shall not drip, that is it shall not fall, upon us this calamity. But, because he does not say: "It shall not drip" upon us, but "upon these," hence others more probably think these are the words of another Prophet or wise man to Micah and similar Prophets, as if to say: Do not, O Micah, O Amos, O Joel, etc., prophesy to the Israelites, because they do not believe: hence your speech shall not drip upon these, that is shall not instil pious admonitions to them: for "confusion" shall not "comprehend" them, pain or repentance, as if to say: They are obstinate and incorrigible. Wherefore the Chaldean translates: Do not prophesy prophecy, nor teach this people; for they do not admit confusion, as if to say: You admonish them in vain; for they have hardened their brow, and in their crimes they are shameless. Whence it follows:
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7. SAYS THE HOUSE OF JACOB (for in Hebrew "says" is אמור heamur, that is, this is what was said by the house of Jacob: for he is a demonstrative meaning this. Thus Our [translation]. For when the Prophets threaten them with destruction, they clamor back and say): IS THE SPIRIT OF THE LORD STRAITENED? (that is, Is the spirit of God's mercy constrained and narrowed—for this is what the Hebrew קצר katsar signifies—so that He wishes to destroy us who are His people? is it that) SUCH ARE HIS THOUGHTS,—as the Prophets proclaim to us, namely sad and destructive ones, and not rather benign and peaceful? according to that which He Himself says through Jeremiah, chapter XXIX, 11: "I think thoughts over you, says the Lord, thoughts of peace, and not of affliction." Thus St. Jerome, Haymo, Remigius and others. Secondly, others take he in heamur not as a demonstrative, but as an interrogative or exclamatory particle. Whence they translate: O words of the house of Jacob! thus Pagninus; or: Was it not said by the house of Jacob? thus the Zurich [Bible], that is, Do you then, O Jacobites, that is Israelites, say to the Prophets: Do not drip, that is, do not prophesy to us evils, as has gone before? Is the spirit of the Lord not straitened? that is, Even if you close the mouths of those Prophets and impose silence upon them, can I not raise up and send others more severe in their place, who may announce harsher things? Are not these His works? that is, Are not these threatening oracles not from the Prophets, but from the spirit of the Lord Himself, who speaks through their mouth? that is, You contend and fight, O Israelites, not against the Prophets, but against God, you are instituting a new war of giants against God: see therefore lest like giants you be driven by God with a thunderbolt into the abyss; for it is hard for you to kick against the goad. Thus Vatablus. But the former sense is the genuine one; for the "says the house of Jacob" does not refer to what precedes, but to what follows. What therefore follows: "Is the spirit of the Lord straitened?" are words not of God, but of the people Israel, to which God responds saying: ARE NOT MY WORDS GOOD WITH HIM THAT WALKS UPRIGHTLY?—These are the words and response of God. Note "good," that is, benign, merciful, pleasant. Thus it is said in Psalm LXXVII, 1: "How good is God to Israel, to them that are of a right heart!" good, that is, sweet and beneficent; and in Micah VII, 4: "He that is best," (that is, most benign and most gentle), in them is, as it were a paliurus: and he that is right (that is pleasing, grateful, pleasant, peaceful), as a thorn from the hedge." The Israelites, when the Prophets threatened God's vengeance, clamored back and objected God's clemency and goodness toward His people. To these God here responds that He is good and clement, but to the good and upright; but evil and stern to the evil and impious, such as the Israelites were, that is, You demand from me and from the Prophets good words, that is, favorable and joyful oracles: but I respond that these are given by me to the good, and to those obedient to me; for these things are owed to them from my promise. But you are perverse and rebellious toward me; therefore expect from me nothing but oracles worthy of rebels, namely sad and threatening ones. Whence He adds:
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8. AND ON THE CONTRARY MY PEOPLE HATH RISEN UP AGAINST AN ENEMY. — For "on the contrary" in Hebrew is אתמול etmul, which first signifies yesterday, a little before. Whence the Septuagint, Symmachus, Pagninus, Vatablus, Clarius and others translate it, yesterday, or a day before, that is a little before, recently now, my people hath risen up against an enemy in the manner of a foe, both against me and my law, and against their neighbor. Whence Pagninus translates: As one enemy hath stood against another, namely stripping him of his tunic and cloak, as follows, as if to say, He who yesterday was my people, today is rebellious to me, against me equally as against his neighbor riseth up. Thus Vatablus. Secondly, etmul can be a compound made from et, that is from, and מול mul, that is against, as if to say, On the contrary, from the opposite side, so that the sense is, as if to say, I am good to the good and the upright, and to those who consent to me; but you, Israelites, are not such: but against me and your neighbors as enemies ye rise up. What wonder therefore if you wicked experience evil, that is harm, from me, not good and beneficent! Thus St. Jerome, Remigius, Hugo and others. For which reason the Septuagint translates: And before my people stood in enmity against their peace. For peace signifies and embraces all good. HATH RISEN UP AGAINST AN ENEMY. — St. Jerome: He hath taken up tyrannical arms against me. Therefore idolaters and sinners are tyrants and rebels who fight against God. YE HAVE TAKEN AWAY THE COAT WITH THE CLOAK. — First, the Chaldean takes these otherwise, namely so that they signify not the guilt, but the punishment of Israel. For thus he translates this whole passage: On account of their crimes they have been delivered to the enemy, peoples standing in their region possess them: they take away their precious money from them, passing through their land they turn against them confidently, as if broken in war. Secondly, Arias, as if to say, Yesterday my people, faithful and obedient to me, rose up mighty against their enemies and crushed them: but now, since it hath revolted from me to idols and crimes, destitute of my aid and strength, it hath become most cowardly, most fearful and most weak, so much so that, if it should perceive a garment on the opposite side, which some traveler carries suspended by a staff (as is the custom), thinking from vain fear of enemies that it is a military standard, it flees in alarm, even casting away its cloak, so that it may more quickly take to flight. But the plain sense is that which Our rendering gave, as if to say, You, O Israelites, have been so addicted to robbery, that ye would snatch away the cloak from a traveler you met, that is the outer garment, since ye could not snatch away the inner tunic so tightly bound to his body: and thus ye have forced him to walk about publicly half-naked, as an uncouth man indecorously. For this reason the Assyrians shall strip and bare you, both because ye have stripped others, and because your riches are not yours, but the plunder and robbery of the poor: from you therefore, as unjust possessors, they shall fly away to the Assyrians. Tropologically, St. Jerome refers these things to those who pervert the simple, and despoil them of the grace of God and virtues, enticing them into heresy, lust, theft, etc. AND THOSE WHO PASSED BY SIMPLY (innocently and consequently trusting, and fearing nothing evil, as the Hebrew hath: these, I say), YE HAVE TURNED INTO WAR, — that is with war and robbery ye have attacked, as enemies ye have invaded, with blows ye have beaten, with insults ye have vexed, ye have stripped them of their garments and goods, as robbers and highwaymen of public roads.
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9. WOMEN OF MY PEOPLE YOU HAVE CAST OUT FROM THE HOUSES OF THEIR DELIGHTS. — First, that is to say, You have killed, or driven out, or thrust into prison the husbands of my people, that is, of the common people and the poor: and not content with this, you have driven out their wives from their own houses, in which they lived with their husbands in love, peace and conjugal sweetness, as it were in a house of delights, so that you might occupy their houses and lands. Thus Lyra, Arias and Vatablus. Moreover he calls the poor his people, because, as the Psalmist says in Psalm 10:14: "To thee is the poor man left: thou wilt be a helper to the orphan." And Christ in Matthew 25:40: "As long as you did it to one of these my least brethren, you did it to me." Thus Ahab, having killed Naboth, seized the vineyard of Naboth, and from it drove out his wife, now a widow, in III Kings 21:16. Otherwise St. Jerome, that is to say, By your crimes you have been the cause that honest and rich matrons, driven from their houses in which they lived delicately, were led away by the Assyrians into captivity. Otherwise also Vatablus, that is to say, By soliciting wives to adultery, or by slandering them concerning it, or by making them suspect, you have stirred up husbands to drive them out of their homes as adulterers, and thus you have taken away praise from their little ones, that is, their honor and glory; because you made it so that their sons were vile and abject, or bastards and spurious: for you forced those wives expelled from their husbands to go to other houses and men; that is, to speak plainly, you forced them into adultery. Note: For "you have taken away my praise forever," St. Gregory of Nazianzus, in oration 7, from the Septuagint (who for הדרי hadarai read הרי hare, that is, mountains) reads, "Draw near to the eternal mountains," and thus explains it: He commands, he says, that shepherds drive the flock to mountains and high places, so that they might show the faithful the way of arduous virtue and perfection. Whence the Syriac renders: "And from their little ones you shall receive glory forever"; the Arabic, "they shall be clothed with glory forever." FROM THEIR LITTLE ONES YOU HAVE TAKEN AWAY MY PRAISE FOREVER. — For the little ones would have praised me, if they had been educated by their parents in honest conjugal love, and had become their heirs. But orphaned by you and their parents, and despoiled of their goods, they groan, rage, curse you, and cry out for vengeance to heaven. Thus Albertus and Arias. Secondly, you have taken away from them my praise, both because you separated them from their mothers, deprived them of honest and pious education, and educated them in your idolatry; and because you reduced them to poverty, on account of which you bent them to all crimes and to your will and lust. Thirdly, "praise," that is, glory; and the Zurich Bible, honor, that is to say, You have made them vile and inglorious to me and to themselves, by separating them from their parents, and mothers from fathers: for the goods of matrimony by which God is glorified were formerly two, namely offspring and conjugal fidelity; now in the new law they are three, namely offspring, fidelity and sacrament. You have overturned all these by this separation: you have therefore overturned all my glory in matrimony, especially because by despoiling the sons of paternal goods, you made it so that they themselves could not enter into matrimony and propagate their paternal line. For this would have been my praise equally as theirs and their glory; whence the Chaldean renders: "Taking the sons from them, their glory is taken away, which they said would remain forever."
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10. ARISE, AND DEPART (that is to say, On account of these robberies and crimes of yours, O Israelites, go into Assyrian captivity, and you, O Judeans, into Babylonian): FOR YOU HAVE NO REST HERE (that is to say, You restless and turbulent ones vex the inhabitants of this land, that is, the land; hence you shall likewise have no peace in it, but the Assyrian shall vex you and lead you away): BECAUSE OF THE UNCLEANNESS THEREOF (namely of the land, which you have polluted it with) IT SHALL BE CORRUPTED WITH A MOST GRIEVOUS CORRUPTION, — that is, it shall be infected with the blood and decay of your corpses, and shall be laid waste with extreme desolation, that is to say, Because you have defiled this land with your filth and crimes, hence it shall vomit you out, and shall deliver you to be slaughtered by the Assyrians, so that, stained with your blood, by just vengeance it may as it were wash away the filth with which you have contaminated it, and as it were do violence to it. For this holy land cannot bear you so polluted and unpunished. Whence Pagninus renders: "Arise and depart, for this is not a city of rest; and because it is unclean, it shall corrupt it and with a very strong corruption"; and the Chaldean: "Arise and migrate, since this land is not a house of rest for the impious, that you may pollute it; you act destructively, so that you may make it unclean, you band together against it." For the Hebrew חבל chabal means both to be corrupted and to be bound together, and thence to band together. Whence also the Zurich Bible for "very strong corruption" renders "and a rope very tightly drawn": for חבל chebel is a rope by which we bind and join things together.
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11. WOULD THAT I WERE NOT A MAN HAVING THE SPIRIT, AND WOULD RATHER SPEAK A LIE! — From the Hebrew it can be translated in various ways. First, the Zurich Bible: If I were a man following the spirit (wind, vanity), and fabricating a lie, and prophesied to you concerning wine and strong drink, I would be a Prophet for this people, that is to say, If I were to speak pleasing and voluptuous things about indulging the appetite, belly and lust, as Luther and his followers did, I would be a Prophet acceptable to this people. To this the Chaldean Paraphrase adds: Because they have gone astray after false prophets, who prophesied to them with a lying spirit, and who accustomed them to wine and drunkenness, it will surely come to pass that as they have learned to go astray after false prophets, so the people of this generation will exult in a land of lies. This refers back to verse 6, that is to say, This people, accustomed to delights, hates true Prophets who speak harsh things: it loves false ones, who prophesy epicurean things. Because therefore it loves liars and lies, let it go into Assyria, which is a land of lies, that is of idols and false prophets, and there let it feed itself on its lies, as a chameleon on the wind. Second, Pagninus: If there be anyone who walks in the way of the wind, and has lied a lie, saying: I will drop for you wine and strong drink, that is to say, If any false prophet arises, who seeks not the people's good but his own gain, dropping, that is teaching, so that he may acquire wine and strong drink as payment for his teaching, he will surely be accepted and honored by this foolish people as a Prophet. Third and genuinely, our Douay renders: "Would that I were not a man having the spirit," etc.! that is to say, Would that I did not have the prophetic spirit! would that what I prophesy concerning the calamity and destruction of Israel were not prophecies revealed by God; but lies suggested to me by a vain spirit of fear and pusillanimity and dread! Thus we commonly say: Would that I were deceived: would that I were a false seer! Thus Lucan says: May the gods prosper the deed, And there be no faith in the entrails; but let the creator of the art Have fashioned these things, Tages. Note: Micah does not formally wish to lie; for to wish this is a sin; but materially only, that is, he wishes merely that the lie, that is the falsehood, should be, or that what he predicts should not actually come to pass; and consequently that what he predicts, he does not predict from the spirit of God, but from his own spirit, namely a human spirit of vain fear. He says this from love, because he wishes his fellow citizens to endure, and not to be cut off, nor destroyed by the Assyrians; which nevertheless he himself was threatening them with from God. Thus St. Jerome, Remigius, Haymo, Hugo and Lyra. Note: For "a man having the spirit" in Hebrew it is "a man going in spirit," that is one who is driven by vertigo, who does not have a stable and certain spirit, but a vague, mobile, uncertain, inconstant one, so that now he sees the true, now the false, even concerning one and the same thing: whence it comes to pass that what he asserted, he immediately revokes and denies, that is to say, Would that in this matter, driven by a vague and erratic spirit, I wandered, was deceived and erred, and it were permitted me to revoke the oracle of the destruction of Israel which I have uttered! It could be rendered: Would that I were a man going in the wind! or, as Pagninus and the Zurich Bible, walking in the way of the wind, that is impelled by the wind of vanity and vain fear, error and falsehood (thus the Flemish of a boastful and lying man say: He is windy, he breathes wind), so that driven by vain fear I might fear, augur and announce the destruction of Israel, which will not actually come to pass. For thus melancholic, pusillanimous and timid men suspect and forebode all sad things concerning themselves and others. For such sad thoughts, suspicions and fears are produced by the melancholic humor, cold and dark; just as conversely the sanguine complexion, hot and spirited, produces good, joyful, courageous thoughts and omens, as may be seen in those who are sanguine and jovial. I WILL DISTIL TO THEE INTO WINE AND INTO DRUNKENNESS,—that is, into intoxicating wine. It is a hendiadys. The sense is, as if to say, I would wish not to have the spirit of prophecy toward thee, O Israel, threatening and sad: but nevertheless by it, even unwillingly, I am impelled, and forced to distil the truth, that is to utter it; namely, the many evils impending upon thee, and the most bitter disasters, which like wine shall inebriate thee and fill thee even to the throat. He alludes to the symposiarch, or master of the feast, who measured out to each guest his own portion and mixed the cup, distilling into it so much wine and so much water as seemed fitting to his age, constitution and stomach, as if to say, I Micah am to thee, O Israel, as it were a symposiarch, or rather the minister and cupbearer of the symposiarch, that is of God. I prepare therefore for thee a cup of wrath and fury, and into it I distil sharp and unmixed wine, namely slaughter and death, so that I may offer it to thee to be drunk and quaffed by command of God. Behold the Prophet comprehends all these things in a single word, because he is concise and full of emotion. Therefore he expresses the pathos of his mind and its alternating affections concisely and disjointedly; as those are wont to do who grieve, love, or rage vehemently, who now hope, now despair; now flatter, now threaten; now mourn, now laugh; now break off their words, now suppress them; now leap from this to that without order and connection. AND IT SHALL BE UPON WHOM THIS PEOPLE IS DISTILLED,—as if to say, Upon this people of Israel shall fall these drops of mine and of God; namely these threatening prophecies. Israel is he to whom this wine of fury is distilled and poured in; he is the one who shall drain this cup of these drops, that is of punishments, of God, and shall be inebriate with it, even unto stupor and madness.
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12. IN GATHERING I WILL GATHER ALL JACOB TOGETHER. — There are various interpretations of this passage. First, Theodoret and Vatablus, in order to connect these words with the preceding ones, say that here the chalice and wine of God's wrath are explained, which he said would be poured out upon the Israelites: for this chalice is the siege and destruction of Samaria and Jerusalem, as if to say, I will cause you, compelled by the Assyrian and Chaldean enemy, to be gathered together like birds in your fortified cities, which he will besiege: there, on account of the multitude, fear and anguish, you will be in tumult. The Assyrians will capture Samaria, the Chaldeans Jerusalem: the first king Zedekiah will flee, breaking through the wall of the royal garden, his followers will pursue him, but the Lord will hang over their heads to deliver them to the Chaldeans. See the history in IV Kings XXV. Therefore he compares the weak Israel to sheep, the besieged cities to sheepfolds, the noise of the besiegers to the noise of sheep shut in; the enemies are set against the shepherds, the enemies shut Israel in the besieged cities. But it is an obstacle that the words of the Prophet are not sad, but joyful, and promise the liberation, gathering and restoration of Israel from captivity. Second, others more rightly refer these things to Hezekiah besieged in Jerusalem by Sennacherib. For then all the Jews fled into the city, and were gathered together like sheep with great fear and tumult; but the angel, striking the camp of Sennacherib, went before them opening the way: for soon, with the gates opened, the Jews went out, and before them Hezekiah, God as their guide, so that they might see the slaughter of the Assyrians, plunder their spoils, and celebrate God with thanksgiving and praises. Third, you would most rightly understand these things of the return of the Jews from Babylon. For a little before he predicted their destruction and captivity, now, as is customary, adding joyful things to sad ones, he says he will free them from there, as if to say, After seventy years, I will lead back the Jews, gathered together like sheep in one flock, into their own fold, namely into Judea, with great concourse of them, and consequently with tumult. Their shepherd, leader, and as it were king Zerubbabel will open the way before them, and will lead them through the gate of Babylon into Jerusalem: and the Lord as a leader will go before all in the head. But because then only Jews, not Israelites, except very few; again not all Jews were gathered, nor did they return, but many remained in Babylon, and others wandered dispersed through various regions; moreover, because Zerubbabel was not a king, hence this liberation and gathering of Israel was only begun and imperfect. Fourth, therefore we are compelled to say that these things are plainly and fully to be referred to Christ. For although it alludes to Zerubbabel and the Jews of that age, and touches upon them in passing as it were, yet the mind and purpose of the Prophet extends further, rises higher, and is directed toward Christ, through whom this prophecy is perfectly fulfilled: for the Prophets are accustomed to direct their oracles toward Christ. The sense therefore is, as if to say, Do not be too cast down by so many threats and disasters which I intend for you, O Israelites, act, hope for better things sometime. For God after his vengeance will promise his mercy, and will lead you back from Babylon and gather you through Zerubbabel; and much more you, namely the true Israelites not only in flesh, but also in faith and spirit, as the Apostle says in Rom. IX, 8, will he gather through Christ, who, preaching the Gospel, will convert many of you, and will gather them like sheep into his Church; and at the end of the world will convert all Israel, and all Jews with great concourse, noise and tumult; then from Jews and all gentiles there will be one flock, and one shepherd; namely one Church under one shepherd Christ. Thus St. Jerome, Remigius, Rupertus, Haymo, Hugo, Lyra, Clarius, Arias, Ribera and others. For Christ as a leader and king ascends, opening the way before them, and opening the gates both of the prison and of the city; for he leads us out of prison, and brings us into the city, namely the Church, through baptism and his grace; and God himself going before in the head of all was both the leader and guide of both Christ and this whole army. Anagogically, Lyra and the ancient Hebrews cited by Galatinus, lib. VIII De Arcan. fidei, cap. XXIII, refer these things to the return of Christ from limbo. For Christ rising led out with him the souls of the Fathers, like a chosen flock, which in limbo were held like sheep in a fold. He therefore opens the way for them, and opened the gates of death and hell, when he led them to life both of nature and of glory, into the land, and thence into Christ, as it were into the house of tribulation and the cross. Better the Chaldean and Our translation render, in the fold: for the Hebrew צרה tsara signifies a narrow and tight enclosure, in which flocks of sheep are crowded and pressed together. Whence, explaining, he adds: "Like cattle in the midst of folds." Note, he calls folds the particular Churches, in which, on account of the multitude, that is on account of the excessive multitude and crowd of the faithful, he says there will be noise and tumult. For in multitude, from abundance, this is accustomed to be born.
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13. FOR HE SHALL ASCEND OPENING A WAY BEFORE THEM (because, as follows: "Their king shall pass before them," namely as it were a standard-bearer and leader. For opening in Hebrew is פרץ porets, that is breaker, thus Pagninus, and breaker-through, thus the Zurich Bible; who namely breaks through the gates and bars of the prison, shatters and opens them, and thus opens a way for the imprisoned to exit, who following this porets of theirs, that is the first breaker-through of the prison, likewise) SHALL BREAK THROUGH (in Hebrew פרצו poretsu, that is shall break through and shatter, and thus) AND SHALL PASS THROUGH THE GATE (of the prison), AND SHALL ENTER BY IT,—into Sion; namely into the common city and liberty of the faithful. Whence in Hebrew it is those going out through it, and thus the Latin Royal Bible reads it; for it alludes to the captivity and Babylonian prison, as if to say: Zerubbabel shall break through the Babylonian prison, and you following him shall likewise break through it, and from it shall joyfully go out into Sion; much more truly the antitype Zerubbabel, that is Christ, freeing you from the captivity and prison of the devil, infidelity and sin by the force and merit of his cross, shall break through it, and you strengthened and called forth by his grace shall likewise break through it, and shall go out rejoicing into spiritual Sion, that is into the Church, which is the free, holy and blessed city of the living God. Most truly indeed and most fully Christ shall first ascend from earth into heaven, and thence shall send the Holy Spirit who calls the faithful into heaven, directs and leads them: stirred up by this calling and hope many shall turn to him, as has been shown: hence consequently the faithful Patriarchs in limbo, as if shut up and detained in a prison, visited and called forth by Christ, breaking through the wall and gate of limbo and the underworld with him going before, shall escape into Jerusalem, and then into heaven. Finally all the faithful and saints, in death and resurrection with Christ as leader breaking through the prison of this body and mortality, on the day of judgment with Christ and after Christ shall ascend into heaven. For he himself as it were a king shall pass and go before them, and the Lord God shall be at their head, that is shall be the first, leader and prince of all, and shall help, strengthen and lift up all, so that with him they may climb to the stars in the empyrean heaven. Morally, the word porets, that is breaker-through, signifies that the way into the Church and heaven is closed and blocked by many bars and obstacles, and that these must be broken through by one ascending, according to that saying of Christ: "The kingdom of heaven suffereth violence, and the violent bear it away," Matt. XI, 12. And: "I came not to send peace, but the sword. For I came to set a man at variance against his father, and a daughter against her mother," etc. Matt. X, 34. And: "If any man hate not his father, and mother, and wife, and children, and brethren, and sisters, yea and his own life also, he cannot be my disciple," Luke XIV, 26. But Christ first as a breaker-through goes before opening the way, breaks the bars, and opens the path, and furnishes his followers with the same strength to break through, to penetrate and to escape; so that no one ought to lose heart, but should rise to certain hope of liberty and salvation, provided he wishes to follow Christ. This is what Habacuc sings rejoicing and exulting, cap. III, 19: "God the Lord is my strength: and he will make my feet like the feet of harts. And he will set me upon high places, a conqueror, singing in psalms." And Isaias, cap. XLIX, 8: "I have given thee to be a covenant of the people, etc., that thou mayest say to them that are bound: Go forth; and to them that are in darkness: Come ye into the light." And the Psalmist, Psalm. CXV, 16: "Thou hast broken my bonds: I will sacrifice to thee the sacrifice of praise." Therefore, if you wish to go forth from the prison of sin and the devil into the liberty of the sons of God, the locks of the flesh and the world must be broken, the chains and ropes of evil passions and habits must be shattered, by which sinners are bound and constrained as by fetters. Love of the law of his country and Judaism bound St. Paul, but when Christ shone forth, he broke this bond as though it were straw and blew it away. Love of the world bound St. Mary Magdalene, but struck by love of Christ, she scattered it like flax. Love of his mistress bound St. Augustine, but with Christ inspiring him, he broke this chain as though it were a spider's web. Hear him, book IX of the Confessions, chapter 1: "How sweet it suddenly became to me," he says, "to be without the sweetness of trifles! and those things which I had feared to lose, now it was a joy to lose. For thou wast casting them out from me, thou true and supreme sweetness, casting them out, and entering in their stead, sweeter to me than all pleasure, but not to flesh and blood: brighter than all light, but more inward than all secrecy: more exalted than all honour, but not exalted in the eyes of the proud. Now was my mind free from the gnawing cares of seeking, and getting, and wallowing, and scratching the itch of lusts, and I poured forth to thee my brightness, and my riches, and my salvation, O Lord my God." Whoever therefore feels himself bound by evil habits, by friends, by companions, by the flesh, be a breaker, be a smasher of bonds, fear not difficulties; Christ will break the locks, will level the way, will open the path: just as the angel opening the doors to St. Peter shut up in prison by Herod, and breaking the locks, opens the way to the exit, so that nothing else was left for Peter to do but to follow the angel, Acts XII, 9; so too for you nothing else is left to do but to invoke Christ unceasingly and courageously follow him as your guide. For if God be for us, who is against us? Let it be said to you by God what He says to Cyrus, Isaiah XLV, 1: "I will go before thee, and will humble the great ones of the earth: I will break in pieces the gates of brass, and will burst the bars of iron. And I will give thee hidden treasures, and the riches of secret places." Such a breaker of bonds was St. Paul, who everywhere forcefully scattered the obstacles to the Gospel, and as the standard-bearer of all the gentiles, opened the way to the Church for them. Whence he himself glories, II Corinthians X, 4: "For the weapons of our warfare," he says, "are not carnal, but mighty to God unto the pulling down of fortifications, destroying counsels, and every height that exalteth itself against the knowledge of God, and bringing into captivity every understanding unto the obedience of Christ." Such breakers of bonds were all the apostles, all the ancient monks and anchorites, whose whole study was to tame the passions of the soul and to accustom the body to fasting, cold, heat, and every labour and penance: whence they are called ascetes, that is, exercisers. Such were the founders of Orders, St. Antony, St. Benedict, St. Bernard, St. Dominic, St. Francis, St. Dominic Loricatus, and from our own, St. Ignatius and St. Francis Xavier, who with marvellous power of spirit set the world on fire with divine flame, and thereby levelled all obstacles, so that they might open and lead the way to heaven for their followers and all others.
Machine translation from the Latin, not reviewed.
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v. 1 « Vete qui coqitatis inutile et operamini malum in cubilibus vestris ! In luce natutina faciunt illud, quoniam contra. Deum est manus eorum » ; — hebr. vec cogitantibus iniquitatem... ;. ciusmodi consilia volventes iam operentur, l. e. faciunt, committunt. malum i. e. peccatum. (quare illud. operanti? neque ercogitare explicandum est neque cum S. /Iier. ad adulteria. et stupra referendum, quibus cubilia polluant). Noctis quietem, quae ad animos recreandos viresque restaurandas concessa est et. quae ipsa sua sollemni tranquillitate ad pios sensus homines suaviter allicit (cf. Ps. 4, 5), isti nimia peccandi aviditate profanant impia consilia et fraudulenta animis concipientes. Quam primum dein dies illucescit, ea opere exsequuntur : «quasi differre non liceat, statim ut dies claruerit, festinatis. implere » (Hier.) ; mane ct luc matutina magnam. peccandi sedulitatem et ardens studium indicat. (cf. Sanct.). Haec autem peccandi aviditas augetur, quia sibi conscii sunt se pollere viribus et potentia ad peccandum ; ita in hobr. quia, valida est manus eorum ; vi et violentia praestant. et ista praesuniptionc elati alacriter ad peccandum se accingunt. Locutio hebr. 2* p pmi *5 quia est ad fortitudinem manus eorum, quia valent, : aliis in locisa S. Hier. rite vertitur : Gen. 31, 29 valet manus mea ; Deut. 28, 32 et non sil fortitudo in manu tua ; Prov. 3, 21 si vales ; Neh. 5, 5 non habemus, unde possint. (redimi) ; hoc vero loco ^w. significatione Dei accipiens vertit. Sensus utique aptus efficitur. Verum non est, cur a locutione proverbiali hoc loco recedatur. Quare improbanda est etiam versio alia, quae de se quidem verbis aptatur:quia manus corum est iis in Deum * — de hac 5 significatione vide exempla Ex. 6, 7. 1 Sam. &, 9. Iob 17, 12 etc. ; sed ctiam in significatione contra 5 aliquoties indubie adhibetur cf. Ps. 37, 12; 51, 6; quamvis iste sensus communiler aliis particulis bw, oy, 2 etc. reddatur. Chald. rite expressit: est potestas in manibus eorum ; LXX alium sensum explicant ó:ótt o9x Apxv rpóq tóv Otóv 1Xq 7sípa; atv; sequitur eos Syrus, sed suppressa particula negativa: attollunt manus versus Deum (vel etiam contra Deum ; cf. svr. Dno Act. 25, 19). « Et ut. doceret Scriptura, quid esset quod in nocte cogitarent et in die facerent, exponit in partibus » (Hier.)
Cur autem calamitas adeo luctuosa instet, declarat
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v. 2 « et concupierunt agros et violenter tulerunt et. rapuerunt domos et. calumniabantur virum et domum eius, virum el hereditatem eius » ; — hebr. et domos (subauditur concupierunt, ut S. Hier. in comm. habet) et tulerunt et oppresserunt... habet in usu vulg. calumniari significationem opprimendi (cf. Aib. Rib. Lap. Sa, Mar.). Primum quod reprehendit vates, sunt ea, quae contra iustitiam committuntur. Quae enim ad virtutem spectant, quae totius vitae socialis est radix et fundamentum, ceteris clarius firmiusque animis hominum inhaerent ; unde frequens et publica huius virtutis violatio magnam impietatem morumque perversitatem arguit. — Concupiscentia etiam hoc loco radix et origo peccatorum cernitur. In homines et bona divites illi grassantur : opprimunt hereditatem, quia ipsa bona temporalia, agri, horti, vineae graviter quasi ferunt et cum dolore sentiunt, si iniuste possidentur vel legitimis dominis vi auferuntur; invita enim et coacta servit creatura peccatorum libidini (cf. Rom. 8, 20). Domum intelligit Alb. familiam eius, «ut non tantum subiicerent patremfamilias, sed etiam filios et filias eius acciperent in servos et ancillas ». Sed uti illi cogitant iniquitatem, ita Dominus cogitat iustam poenam :
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v. 9 « idcirco haec dicit Dominus : ecce ego cogito super familiam istam malum, unde non auferetis colla vestra et non ambulabitis superbi, quoniam tempus pessimum est » ; — calamitatem poenamque meditatur Dominus, quam declinare, cuius iugum excutere nullo modo valebunt et qua animorum elatio efficacissime deprimatur ; « inducam eis maximas clades, quae cervices eorum superbas contundant et frangant » (Lap.) ; nunc enim vi et potentia sua exsultant (v. 1), idque externo habitu produnt ingredientes erecte (cf. hebr.), zp60ct (LXX), in erecta statura (Syrus, Chald.). | ' Iam tempus pessimum delineat :
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v. 4 « in die illa sumetur super vos parabola et cantabitur canticum cum suavitate, dicentium : depopulatione vastati sumus, pars populi mei commutata est! (Quomodo recedet a me, cum revertatur qui regiones nostras dividat » ? —i. e. canticum lugubre cum modulatione vel inflexione lugubri (Men.) tale canetis et canticum illud quasi in proverbium abibit et adagii loco ad vestram sortem delineandam usurpabitur. Tria in carmine efferuntur : conditio populi florens et regno potens diruta est atque vastata: pars i. e. hereditas populi, terra scil. pignus divinae amicitiae iis promissum atque . concessum, iam est amota ab eis et subtracta (commutata), immo hostibus eorum tradita atque divisa. Ita conditio populi religiosa et civilis non solum est deiecta, veruin ipsa electio in populum Dei, pro cuius pignore terram possidebant, poterat videri retractata et abolita ; quomodo recedet a me... exclamatio est dolentium : quomodo haec sors recedet, cum adversarius regiones nostras dividens revertatur i. e. iterum iterumque nostras possessiones occupet, vel permanenter eas teneat? In textu hebr. dubium moveri potest de voce 112 ; sunt qui explicent femin. praecedentis *33 lamentatio, carmen lugubre (cf. ler. 9, 9. 17. 31, 15. Am. 5, 16), unde vertunt : lamentantur lamentationem lamenti i. e. maximam lamentationem (ita iam Vatablus ; cf. Rib. Sanct. Lap. Mar.) ; neque adeo est improbabilis haec. explicatio, cum in casu simili formae n, "5, m" revera exsistant et generatim formationes "n, nn (Os. 2, 15) ; *ay, mmzy (2 Reg. 12, 2) non ab indole linguae abhorreant et saepius ex verbis in 3 substantiva deriventur in 5 cf. *3y, mj ete. — Simili modo LXX videntur intellexisse, cum vertant iv uéet, id quod secutus est Syrus et certe etiam S. Hier. versio cum suavitate exprimit. Chald. aliud quid ob oculos habuisse videtur ; praebet enim post lamentum : et in afflictione sua dicet. — Alii mo acct piunt tamquam niphal a àv (cf. Rib. Lap. Calm.) idque recentiores quoque sequuntur ; actum est, a qua exclamatione desperationis carmen lugubre incipiat (cf. Calm.) ; quae explicatio apta est et priore simplicior. Cetera ita verte : partem (hereditatem) populi mei transfert Deus ad alios ; quomodo mihi subtrahit ? adversario agros nostros dividit ; de 333v cf. ler. 31, 22; 49, 4 1333 gen. fem. et. est certe eiusdem significationis ut 333 apostata. Gentes quoque apostatas vocari, eolem modo expliea, Magis nervose canticum effertur in hebr. : actum est (dicent), penitus vastali sumus ; portionem populi mei transfert ; quomodo subtrahit mihi ? apostatae agros nostros dividit ! Triste vaticinium confirmat! vates v.5$ « propter hoc nonerittibi mittens funiculum sortis in coetu Domini » ; — respicit ad v. 3, « propterea, o familia Israel, super quam ego malum cogito, non habebis partem in hereditate iustorum » (5. Hier.) ; a coetu et. ecclesia Dei, a populo Dei, qui sit Dei peculium, abscindentur et id exinde patebit, quia in terra Domini iam non partem sortis sibi olim attributae possidebunt; cf. 1, 16; 92, 10 ; 4, 9. 10. In hebr. mittere funiculum in sortem i. e. unicuique tribui sorte pars regionis attribuebatur et singulis ex hac sorte agri dividebantur ope funiculorum, quibus ut mensuris utebantur ; cf. Ios. 17, 9. 14 : 19, 9 etc.
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v. 6 « Ve loquamini loquen- (es » ! — ita scil. pseudoprophetae' veris oggerunt et magna praesumptione calamitatem venturam esse negant : « non stillabit super istos, non comprehendet * confusio » ; — i. e. tristia hisce minime annuntianda sunt, non eos capiet et obruet opprobrium ; « eloquium ab eo quod fluat Fortasse in textu hebr. legi. debet 3:5* Nb non removebit, scil. Deus, opprobria. LXX et ad aures perveniat audientium, in similitudinem pluviae descendentis stillationem vocat » (Hier.) ; cf. Deut. 32, 2. Iob 29, 22. Versiculus iste varie tentatur ab interpretibus : ne concionentur de liis rebus ; non est finis conviciorum (Hitz.) ; sed Nb non est 5x; et rnbND. ex v. 41 verti non potest de his rebus, sed illos dicit, quibus fit vaticinium. Aliter Schegg : non veniet. super eos calamitas, non tanget eos opprobrium ; at displicet, verbum ren in eodem versu alia et alia accipi significatione. Houbig. pro more suo textum mutat : non auferentur regni limites. Etiam vulg. textum varie explanant : Iudaei prophetas increpant et dicunt : ne loquamini.. semper nobis praedicitis noctem et captivitatem... nihil tale patietur populus (Rib. Sa, Mar.): velesse verba Dei, qui populum reprehendat et admoneat, ne contemnant propheticas minas quasi nugae forent et vacui sine mente sonitus (Sanct.), vel esse verba alterius prophetae ad Michaeam aliosque vates: nolite prophetare illis, quia non credent ; unde vestrum eloquium non stillabit super istos i. e. non instillabit eis pia monita; non enim comprehendet illos dolor aut pudor poenitentiae (Lap. Men. Tir.) ; vel non dicant amplius Israelitae : non evenient nobis mala, quae minantur prophetae (Gord.). Pseudoprophetis, qui malorum comminationes prohibent, populus pleno ore, uti patet, adstipulatur seseque rationibus fucatis consolatur v. "1 « dicit domus lacob : numquid. abbreviatus est spiritus Domini ? aut tales sunt cogitationes eius » ? — haec scil. minis prophetarum obiiciunt : num Deus ita irascitur ? bene sensum evolvit S. Hier. : « nolite vos decipere, o domus Iacob, et in consolationem mutuam dicere : Deus bonusest ; non veniet captivitas quam timemus. Num larga eius misericordia et clementissimus spiritus, qui late et abundanter ortus est omnibus, tantum in nobis abbreviabitur et severus erit? aut huiuscemodi sunt cogitationes eius, quales in hominibus cernimus, ut antiquam tencat iracundiam et ad vindictam furore subito concitetur» ? Brevis spiritus i. e... spiritus iracundus, impatiens; ei opponitur longanimitas (cf. Prov. 14, 29); quare rite explicant : num arctatus est spiritus misericordiae (Rib. Men. Tir.);atqui de Dei potentia non imminuta exponunt (cf. Is. 50, 2: « numquid abbreviata est manus mea » ?), ab huius locutionis proprietate recedunt. | Rationibus istis, quae falso praetenduntur, ne minae Dei valere videantur, Deus respondet ex norma aeternae iustitiae et sanctitatis :: e 07 verba mea bona sunt cum eoqui recte graditur » ? — i. e. bonussum et verba mea sonant clementiam, sed ad eos qui recto itinere gradiuntur (Hier.) ; cf. Ps. 47, 26. 21 :«cum sancto sanctus eris ; .. cum perverso perverteris» ; Dei enim benignitas, qua verba bona 1. c. promissiones faustas hominibus communicat, talis necessario est, ut iustitiam et sanctitatem comitem habeat. In hebr. *"N7difficultate non caret ; alii vertunt : 0 dicta (nominata) domus lacob (Vat. Pagninus, Keil, Reinke, Trochon); alii num dici debet (Hitz. Schegg); at valde dubium est, an àY2N esse possit dicendum. (Quare simplicius verte : nonne dicitur, domus Iacob? i. e. nonne talia in modum axiomatis et proverbii iactare soletis? Sensum igitur versio vulg. bene assecuta est. Prius : o quae vocaris domus Iacob, hoc loco satis frigidum est ; at cum rationes falsae afferantur, aptum omnino est, ut qui eas proponat antea clare designetur. Hoc autem fit in nostra translatione, a qua LXX 6 Aérov et sim. Chald. minime absunt. Syrus id refert ad antecedentia : ne assequatur vos opprobrium, quod dictum est de domo lacob. | Sed quantopere populus dissimilis est ei, qui recte graditur ? quare igitur de bonis Dei verbis sibi vane blandiuntur ?
Quae propheta annuntiat, ingrata sunt. Unde non desunt pseudoprophetae (cf. 3, 6. 1), qui pacem ac prospera promittentes veros prophetas insectentur. Simile tempore leremiae cernitur ; praedixerat servitutem babylonicam ; at surgit Hananias et in nomine Domini pacem promittens vaticinatur : « contrivi iugum regis Babylonis » (Ier. 28, 1. 2) ; item tempore Ezechielis (13, 10. 16) deceperunt populum dicentes : pax et videntes ei visiones pacis, et non erat pax. Tales pseudoprophetas Michaeas etiam 2, 11 ob oculos habet. Nunc eos inducit prohibentes ct impedientes veros Dei legatos ; ita enim v. 6 in hebr. ne stilletis, stillant i. e, ne vaticinemini, vaticinantur ("25 cf. Ez. 91, 9. "1. Am. 71, 16 et adhibetur de comminatoriis et gravibus ; cf. Rib.) ; proin dicunt : ne gravia annuntietis, sed dum hoc dicunt, ipsi tristia praedicunt, ipsi stillant, quia fatale est veros Dei prophetas opprimere. Sola enim castigatio quae fit per veros prophetas, posset, dummodo ea populus erudiretur, excidium imminens avertere;id declaratur verbis sequentibus : non stillabunt istis, non recedet opprobrium 1. e. quia vaticinia malorum non uti decet suscipiunt, non effugient exitium. Secundum ea etiam vulg. verba intellige:
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v. 8 « et e contrario ! populus meus tn adversarium consurrezit : desuper tunica pallium sustulistis et eos qui transibant simpliciter, convertistis in bellum » ; — i. e. populus quasi adversarius et rebellis surrexit contra Deum; et quantopere se probet adversarium et inimicum rebellem ostendit propheta ex rapinis commissis, quibus opprimunt homines paci studentes et nihil violentiae suspicantes; eos qui pacifice rebus suis occupantur hostili modo aggressi bellis ac litibus implicare satagunt. Hebr. verte : detrahitis a transeuntibus secure, qui aversi sunt a bello ?i. e. quilitigationes, tumultus, violentias abhorrent. Cum vero Dominus sit Deus pacis, qui rapinas prohibet, populus talia committens quasi rebellis et hostis in Deum assurgit. Idque eo magis, quia Dominum, qui sit Deus viduarum ac pupillorum, speciali ratione offendunt et ad vindictam provocant
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v. 9 « mulieres populi mei eiecistis de domo deliciarum suarum, a parvulis eorum tulistis laudem meam in perpetuum » ; —i. e. de aedibus carissimis, quas propter longam inhabitandi et possidendi consuetudinem amant et quo magis instet periculum eas amittendi, eo magis diligunt, uti fert natura humana. Mulieres i. e. uxores, viduae varia ratione expelli possunt v. g. si uxores traducuntur apud maritos ita ut repudientur ; vel si vi aperta, et certe etiam nostro loco : populi rebellionem iam iuveterasab ex longo vom pore dicere vult. Siguificatio e contrario potius inest Y37oN. 2. Cf. Is. 59, 20. Legisso videtur S. Hier. "v pro "wj. Ceterum in hoc membro vervel dolo, vel iniusto iudicio forensi spoliantur etc.:1ta parvulos quoque summae miseriae tradiderunt et omnia illa, quibus Deus iis provisum esse voluit ad salutem et prosperitatem tum corporis tum animi, crudeliter iis eripiunt ; haec enim sunt, quae h. l. nomine laudis, *13 gloriae, decoris a Deo dati comprehenduntur. Deus enim magna gloriatione se vocat Deum et protectorem pupillorum iisque consultum esse voluit specialibus praeceptis (cf. Ex. 22, 229. Deut. 10, 18; 14, 29 ; 16, 41; 94, 171-91 etc.) ; unde qui eam protectionem auferunt, iuremerito ornatum a Deo pupillis concessum abripere dicuntur. — Eadem reprehendit Is. 1, 23; 10, 2. Ier. 5, 28; 1, 6. Ez. 22, 7T. Hac generali acceptione etiam includuntur particularia ea, quae alia ab aliis afferuntur : oppressi et seducti idololatria impediuntur a laude divina (Sa, Men.) ; vel bona hereditatis, quibus si eos gaudere permisisselis, me perpetuo laudarent (Tib. Tir.) ; vel : in miseriis constituti contra Deum eiusque providentiam murmurant (Alb.) ; vel : fecistis eos sibi et mihi viles et inglorios (Lap.). Frigidum atque ieiunum est, quod Keil vult : intelligi vestimentum, quod pauperi loco pignoris auferatur (Ex. 22, 25) ; melius Hitz. decus illud explicat, quo « populus lahve » vocentur, super quos invocatum sit nomen Domini. — Alia Enumeratione scelerum iniustitiae et. crudelitatis in inopes propheta sancta quadam indignatione incaluit ; quare vindictam divinam approbans scelestos illos e terra sancta eiiciendos esse sollemniter protestatur :
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v. 10 « surgite et 1te, quia non habetis hic requiem. Propter immunditiam eius corrumpetur putredine pessima » ; — hebr. quia non erit haec terra requies ; tamquam requies terra palaestinensis lIsraelitis a Dco erat concessa (cf. ^mao Deut. 129, 9. 4 Reg. 8, 356); quare nune « docet non debere in terra sanctorum populum habitare impiorum » (Ephr.); terram enim sanctam vitiis suis macularunt et polluerunt et haec terrae sanctae profanatio extremum iis affert exitium : ita in. hebr. propter immunditiam (quae) perdet ! perditione maxima ; terram pollui sceleribus incolarum, frequenter affertur in sacris literis; cf. Lev. 18, 235. Num. 33, 33. ler. 2, 7. Ez. 36, 18; et haec commnaculatio terrae sanctae iram Dei et vindictam provocat. Textum vulg. plerumque intelligunt de vastatione et desolatione per hostes afferenda, qua ipsa terra sancta prosternetur (cf. Alb. Rib. Sanct. Lap. Men. Tir.) « captivitate videlicet vel babylonica vel romana » (S. Hier.). Ceterum idem S. Hier. explicat : « surgite' itaque et ite in captivitatem, quia in hac terra requiem non habetis, quae propter scelera vestra polluta est et mundari non poterit, nisi longum sabbatum ante celebraverit » ; quare « corrumpetur » merito ex mente S. JIier. tempore praesente explicatur, quasi putrescit terra putredine pessima et foetet propter immunditiem eorum ; unde non mirum, si terra eos evomat, sicut evomuit priscos illos foedosque peccatores (cf. Lev. 18, 28). Eiusmodi minae et vaticinia populo grata non sunt; quare veros prophetas, scelerum reprehensores, aversatur et illis cum approbatione adhaeret, qui vitiis blandientes vel ea dissimulantes pacem, securitatem, vitam genialem commendant et annuntiant. Hanc pessimam stultae plebis conditionem propheta acerbe perstringit, dicens ex textu hebr. v. 41 si essel vir ventum persequens et qui fraudem mentiretur ! :. « stillabo tibi in. vinum et siceram », is foret vates huius populi * ; ita textum hebr. iam rite intellexerunt Pagninus, Montanus, Isidorus Clarius, Vatablus, Paulus Burgensis (insuper cf. Rib. Sanct. Lap. Est.) ; ventum 1i. e. inane, fallax, vanum persequens, qui ad compotationes instituendas illos faustis suis oraculis ac blandimentis adhortaretur vel saltem luxuriem et falsam securitatem non perturbaret, talis esset vates gratus et acceptus populo huic. | Aliter S. Hier. textum hebr. intellexit;
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v. 44 « utinam nop essem vir habens spiritum et mendacium potius loquerer : stillabo tibi in vinum et in ebrietatem et erit super quem stillatur populus iste » ; — ipse sit suae versionis, quam ab Hebraeis se accepisse dicit, explanator: «ut non me putetis volentem loqui et praedicare gaudentem, quod venturum video : optarem et ipse anathema esse pro fratribus meis... utinam de meo sensu loquerer et sanctum Spiritum non haberem :.. verum quia prophetà sum et Dei spiritu loquor, praedico veritatem : propterea stillabo tibi sermonem meum in meracum vinum quod te inebriet et corruere faciat. Me autem stillante et futurae captivitatis malum canente, populus iste meas suscipiet pluvias, hoc est, vult, non vult, sustinere habet quae dico » ; sim. Rib. Sanct. Lap. Men. Tir. Gord. Calm., qui etiam stillare in vinum eodem modo explicant de vino furoris Domini, quo inebriandi sint, dum Mar. aliud praefert : utinam stillarem ex vino i. e. quasi ebrius sine sensu verba inania, ut solent vino madidi, proferrem. Ad huius textus sensum bene remittit Sanct. ad Ier. 28, 6, ubi Ieremias ad vaticinium faustum Hananiae respondet : « amen, sic faciat Dominus, suscitet Deus verba tua»... simili mente locutum esse ait Michaeam ; et Estius alterius Michaeae dictum allegat 3 Reg. 22, 15, qui prius per ironiam bona praedixit, sed serio adiuràtus tristia prophetavit et pro remuneratione in carcerem missus fuit. Textus hebr. planior est atque simplicior : vates ventosus et mendax, qui de corde suo prospera vaticinaretur, est is quem populus exoptat. Ita simul populi perniciem designat, qui caecus caecos duces et. falso sibi blandientes sequitur ; quare non mirum est, si in praecipitium ruunt. Graviter concludit ea protestatione comminationes suas, distinctissime efferens, quale discrimen intercedat inter prophetam Dei et prophetam « de corde suo » (cf. Ez. 13, 9. 11). Verus enim propheta scelera castigat poenamque denuntiat ; fausta vero non promittit nisi iis qui corde contrito resipuerint, et prosperrima quaeque demum tempore messianico fore ut. populo Dei contingant pollicetur. Id quod Michaeas quoque v. 12. 13 praestat. Facile explicatur, quomodo S. Hier. suam ex textu hebr. protulerit versionem. Áccepit enim *5 signilieatione utinam, qua haec partieula etiam praedita est — aliis in locis illam vertit si cf. Iud. 8, 19. Ez. 14, 15. 1 Reg. 1$, 30. 2 Heg. 18, 12 etc. — postquam autem eam adoptavit et simul spiritum bono sensu est interpretatus, debuit, ut sensus adesset, inserere 195 et in altero membro potius. IHlud in vinum stillare tantum coaete et interpretatione longius petita explanari potest : vatieinari. eam calamitatem, qua stupore et vertigine. sint corripiendi: quoties tale quid. prophetae diccre volunt, planius loquuntur ; cf. Is. 19, 14 ; 29, 9. fer. 25, 15 eic. Quare. interpretatio ex liebr. deprompta praeferenda est. Cum ea etiam aliqua ratione concordant Syrus c Chald. — De versione autem LXX hoc iudicium tulit. S. llier. : « interpretatio Septuaginta (si tamen Septuaginta est ; losephus enim seribit. et [Iudaei tradunt quinque tantum libros legis Moysi ab eis translatos et Ptolemaeo. regi traditos) tantum discordat in praesenti loco ab hebraica veritate, ut nec eapita possimus ex aequo ponere, nce eorum simul sententias explicare » ità ad v. 9. 10 ; et ad 11. 12: « et in hoe capite multum Septuazinta interpretes ab hebraico diserepant ».. Discrepant, neque lamen adeo ut LXX, etiam Syrus et Chald. ; at uterque in eo cum hebr. et LAN concordant, quod v. 11 de falsis prophetis. explicant. — Aceuratius de. diserepantiis disputatum invenies apud Jteinke (Beitraege, IX p. 22 seq.).
2:12
« Ne. arbitremini. malorum me esse tantum vatem ; nunc quidem ve- Diet praedicta captivitas, sed ecce in me sermo loquitur, qui ad omnes prophetas fit » (IIier.). Instare captivitatis et exsilii poenam iterato hucusque vaticinatus est. (cf. 4, 8. 9. 11. 16; 2, 4. 3. 10) ; subito ad laetiora transit, uti Os. 4, 10. Am. 9, 11. Finis enimcastigationis est, ut populus ad meliorem frugem rediens praeparetur ad bona Dei messianica suscipienda, quae multis iam promissis ei proposita sunt (cf. ad Os. 4, 10;29, 6. 8. Ier. 3, 93; 14, 90) ; sula enim, ut Isaias inquit (28, 19), vexatio dabit intellectum. Insuper iam Lev. 96, 41. Deut. 30, 2 seq. sicuti captivitas, ita et instauratio populi adumbrata est. Haec autem accuratius proponitur, ut ingruentibus calamitatibus sit consolationi et eruditioni est tessera tempore oppressionis : « ad legem et ad testimonium : exspectabo Dominum qui abscondit faciem suam a domo Iacob et praestolabor eum » (Is. 8, 1'1. 20. cf. Mich. 71, 9). Praedictio instaurationis accommodatur captivitati, abductioni, dispersioni inter gentes, quae instat ; unde v.12 « Congregatione congregabo lacob totum te, in unum conducam reliquias Israel ; pariter ponam illum quasi gregem in ovili, quasi pecus in medio caularum ; tumultuabuntur a multitudine hominum » ; — sollemniter et emphatice illa gloriosa populi dispersi collectio effertur : hebr. congregando congregabo... colligendo collig«n, est quasi triumphantis gloriatio et gratulabundi iubilus ; totum te i. c. nulla pars, tribus nulla, nulla familia dese excluditur, abiüicitur ; omnibus praesto est Dei voluntas benigna et gratia auxiliatrix ; verum reliquiae solae efficaciter invitanti Deo obsequentur (cf. Is. 10, 91. 22). Erzo ne nimium confidant quia sint stirps a patriarchis progenita; populus non abiicitur, at singuli caveant, ne sua culpa abscindantur! Contra vanam ae superbam fiduciam, qua neglectis prophetarum monitis sibi de salute blandiuntur, propheta opportune mentionem infert de reliquiis. Scd quamvis reliquiae sint, tamen Deus gregem numerosum sibi providebit, quem pascuis optimis abundantem sua protectione et cura cireumdabit ; « tunc te muro firmissimo sepiam... tumultus vox plurimorum est et nimiae multitudinis clamor pariter emissus » (Ilier.) cf. Os. 1, 10. 41. Usitatum est populum Dei sub gregis nomine et. schemate repraesentari, cuius curam agat Deus pastor bonus vel eius loco et nomine pastores theocratici!. Dv ovilietc. munimenta innuuntur, quibus grex Domini novus ab hostium incursibus securus erit ; 4n medio caularum curam designat et providentiam pastoris, qua bona omnia gregi praebet. Haec autem laeto strepitu concelebrant i. e. bonis fruunturet quam excellentia sint, magna ariimorum laetitia agnoscunt et profitentur. Hebr. ^Y23 recentiores nomen urbis Bosrae interpretantur : sicut oves Dosrae (ef. Alii demum urbem intelligunt. in. Auranitide. sitam, quam JBostram — Arabiae Romani voeabant et quae. Eusebio teste ab. Adrais. abfuit. 2$. milliaribus romanis. Verum. eousque. Edomitas suam — extendisse. ditionem, »cil. ultra regiones moabitieas et. ammonitieus, valde. incertiim. est; Accedit quod. Bostrae urbis. eerta mentio ante Traiani [Inperatoris. tempora. non fit; insuper Bostra iu. rezione plana et campestri sila. est, dum Ber. £9, 22 regionem montanam indiearb eertun. est. Aecuratiora vide v. g. apud ft. Jüiess, Bibl. Geogr. p. 12: Schenhel, Bibelles. 1 p. $22. Descripsit gregem Domini collectum, bonis fruentem ; iam. explicatius delineat, qua ratione instauratio illa et reditus ex captivitate effici. debeat
2:13
v. 43 « ascendet enim pandens iter ante eos ; divident et. transibunt portam et ingredientur por eam ; et (transibit rer eorum coram eis et Dominus. in capite eorum » ; — nervose hebr. ascendit perruptor. ente eos vel effraetor, qui repagula et obices perfringit, carceres diffringit et aperit, omnia obstacula potenter removet; eo auspice etiam Ipsi captivi perriimnpunt et transeunt per portam et ingrediuntur. in. ea. d. e. libere et non sine pompa quadam egrediuntur et. iter. arripiunt; itineris dux est rex eorum ; et uti in exitu ex Aegvpto Dominus in nube et columnaiguts ante agmina. Israelitarum praecessit, ita in hac. quoque liberatione sublimiore Dominus duetor est agminis ct quasiimperator parta victoria suo3 in patriam. reducit. Perriuinpunt i. e. opus est, ut simul cum Domino liberatore et victore cooperentur, ut etiam ipsi suas. agant partes fortiter et constanter; reditus erit. sollemnis, £ravis, securus; id quod verba transibunt, iugredientur depingunt ; cf. I5. 52, 12: «quoniam non in tumultu exibitis nec in fuga properabitis : praecedet enim vos Dominus » ; agmine optime composito. revertentur duce Domino cf. Os. 1, 115; 3, 3. Is. 40, 10. Ilisce lineamentis generalibus sacer vates futuram rerum instaurationem adumbrat. Quodsi de impletione vaticinit quaesieris, iis certe interpretibus palma danda est, qui in reditu duce Zorobabel facto tenuem quandam inchoationem, in redemptione vero per Messiam facta impletionem cernunt (cf. Lap. Mar. Calm.). Messias enim populum dispersum collizit in unum, ipse pastor bonus. suis abundantia praestat paseua et protector adstat; cum fines terrae sint. eius hereditas, gregem pascet. numerosissimum ; ipse demum vincula populi rupit, ipse tamquam dux viam aperuit et praecessit, quem sequi debent. quicumque salutem. adipisci volunt ; ipse est noster 327572; (Hebr. 12, 2 — cf. Mich. 5, 4 s6q. 1, 44. Is. 49, 6. 9. Ez. 34, 23 etc). Et cum verba generalia prorsus sint. ct sine ullo temporis discrimine normam Dei exhibeant, qua usurus sit in epocha instaurationis, etiain ultima illa populi israelitici collectio, de qua S. Paulus Rom. 41, 95, eo verborum ambitu iuremerito includitur (cf. Rup.). Mos etenim prophetarum est, ut rite adnotat Rib., multa praedicere, quae non simul, sed per longum spatium temporis implentur. Locum hunc messianicum esse, interpretes latini, si Sanct. et Tir. exceperis, consentiunt (cf. Hier. Haim. Alb. Sa, Gord. etc.) ; ex graecis Theoph. post alia messianicam quoque expositionem in medium profert. Verum alii interpretes, uti S. Ephr. Cyr. Theod. Theod. M. in hisce versibus obsidionem et cladem vel samaritanam (Cyr. Sanct.) vel hierosolymitanam sub Babyloniis (S. Ephr. Theod. Theod. M. — utramque Cyr. Tir.) cernunt ; ad quam expositionem potissimum inducti videntur versione illa : à; »po6ava iy 01 Vet. Ii v. 143 Dominum vident, qui Assyriis et Babyloniis viam pandat ad urbes exscindendas; in rege alludi censent alii ad Sedeciae fugam et fatum (cf. S. Ephr. Theod. Theoph. Tir.), alii ad Salmanassar (Sanct.). Sed totus contextus et ipsa verba non cladem [sraelitis annuntiant, verum laeta promissa explicant. Adde, quodsi textum comparaveris cum aliis locis indubie messianicis, maximam quandam similitudinem deprehendes : emblemata, ut ita dicam, et signa messianica hic collecta invenis : populi collectio, reliquiae salvatae, grex Domini numerosissimus, bonis abundans et laetitia gestiens, Dominus rex ac triumphator, quem victores sequuntur, totidem sunt argumenta, agi hic de instauratione messianica. — Ipsa argumenti sublimitate iam exploditur sententia ab Ewald proposita, v. 19. 13 ut interpolationem debere eiici. Praeterea attende, quam apte post minas subsequatur promissio instaurationis, quomodo idem in unaquaque Michaeae oratione cernatur ( cf. 4, 1 ; 7, 11 seq.) et a reliquis quoque prophetis sit observatum, et audaciain criticorum ridebis qui sine ulla ratione et contra veterum testium auctoritatem textum mutilare conantur. Anc. — Ordinibus singulis principum, pseudoprophetarum, sacerdotum sua denuntiat vates crimina suasque poenas : principes odio habent bonum et iustum, innocentes crudeliter opprimunt ; quare tempore angustiarum a Domino deserentur (3, 1 - 4) ; pseudoprophetae populum seducunt turpi lucro inhiantes ; quare maxima confusione et calamitate obruentur ; quam poenam vates intrepidus securis illis et vana fiducia elatis libere annuntiat (3, 5-8) ; principes et sacerdotes et pseudoprophetae perverse agunt, lucri cupiditate sancta profanant et nihilominus audaci praesumptione incolumitatem sibi promittunt; at propter omnium ordinum scelera et arx regia et urbs et templum evertetur (3, 9 - 12). Triplici huic eversioni triplicem subiungit instaurationem messianico tempore futuram. Et primo quidem montis templi exaltationem describit, ad quem omnes gentes properabunt legis sacrae discendae causa, regnumque Domino imperante constituent pace et felicitate abundans (4, 1 - 5); dein urbis populique, demum regiae potestatis instaurationem et splendorem sub Domini imperio aeterno vaticinatur (4, 6 - 8). Verum antequam ad tale fastigium perveniatur, acerbae castigationes et cala mitates subeundae sunt. Eas triplici quoque ratione proponit triplici liberatione et exaltatione subiuncta. Primo enim filiae Sion regni interitum, exsilium babylonicum, sed liberationem quoque praedicit (4, 9. 10). Secundo civitatis sanctae oppressionem et profanationem quam gentes inferre conabuntur, vaticinatur simul cum insigni victoria, qua earum spolia Domino consecrabuntur (4, 11 - 13). Tertio contumeliam et humiliationem designat, qua respublica prosternetur ; eam tollet. Dominator qui ex Dethlehem oriundus, ab aeterno exsistens populum Dei dispersum colliget (2, 1 - 3). Ipse enim dominationem gloria ct pace plenam instituet, hostes superabit et subiiciet, ita ut. populus Dei electus omnibus gentibus sit vel saluti vel terrori (5, 4 - 8). Quae omnia pestquam propheta fausta acclamatione ut flerent optavit, denuo viam paucis delineat, qua ad illa pertingendum sit: iri scil. destructum potentiam bellicam, idololatriam in Israel, foreque iudicium Dei contia gentes contumaces (3, 9 - 14). Quod vates 2, 1 et seq. generatim reprehenderat, iam in singulis ordinibus primorum prosequitur ; ostendit, quantopere capita lacob i. e. principes tribuum et cognationum et duces Israel i. e. iudices, gubernatores, qui civitatibus familiisque praefecti iuris administrandi curam habebant, a munere et officio defecerint in extremam perversitatem prolapsi :
2:1
… More frequent is the surname of B. "of Judah" (Judg. 17, 7, 9; 19, 1-18; Ruth 1, 1, 2; 1 Sam. 17, 12; Mic. 2, 1, 5, 6) to distinguish it from another B. in the tribe of Zebulun (Josh. 19, 15). The name of B. is missing from the list that the Masoretic text gives us of the cities of Judah in …
… warning for that of Judah (ibid. 1:5, 9b-16), to which M. henceforth reserves the term Israel, Jacob, as the sole heir of the covenant (ibid. 1:14 ff.; 3:1, 8b, 9a in close parallelism with Zion, Jerusalem, v. 10). The sins of Judah, rapacity and violence (ibid. 2:1-6), cannot remain unpunished, despite the assurances of the false prophets (ibid. 2:7-11). A remnant, however, will be saved and will be led back to its homeland by Yahweh (ibid. 2:11 ff.). …
2:4
… more properly so called (Ezek. 17, 2; 24, 3), the similitude and the example, the saying of popular use (more precisely proverb: I Kings 5, 12; Job 13, 12; Prov. 1, 1.6; 10, 1; 25, 1; 26, 7.9), the witty and sarcastic mot (Ezek. 12, 22 f.; 18, 2 f.; Mic. 2, 4; Hab. 2, 6), the words of mockery
2:7
… divinities; a reciprocal obligation: sacrifices on one side, an automatic commitment of salvation and protection on the other; the presence of the Temple and the ritual immolation of the victims, performed in it, sufficed to keep every threat far from Judah (Mic. 2:7; 3:11). M., like the other prophets, fought this deviation.
… without having received any mission from him. In struggle with the authentic prophets, they accommodated themselves to the king's whims, which they flattered, seconded the illusions of the crowd, in search of money and popularity (I Kings 22:6-28; Mic. 2:7-11; 3:5 ff.; Jer. 23:9-40; 28; 29:21-32; Ezek. 13). Ezekiel (ch. 13) gives the most accurate description of them. …
2:11
… Zion, Jerusalem, v. 10). The sins of Judah, rapacity and violence (ibid. 2:1-6), cannot remain unpunished, despite the assurances of the false prophets (ibid. 2:7-11). A remnant, however, will be saved and will be led back to its homeland by Yahweh (ibid. 2:11 ff.). …
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.