For divers enormous sins, the kingdom of Juda is threatened with severe judgment.
For certaine enormious sinnes, the captiuitie of the two tribes, is threatned, with admonition to repent, otherwise it shal be most terrible.
1The word of the Lord that came to Sophonias the son of Chusi, the son of Godolias, the son of Amarias, the son of Ezechias, in the days of Josias, the son of Amon king of Juda.Parola del Signore rivelata a Sofonia figliuolo di Chusi, figliuolo di Godolia, figliuolo di Amaria, figliuolo di Ezechia a' tempi di Giosia figliuolo di Amon, re di Giuda.THE word of our Lord that was made to Sophonie the sonne of Chusi, the sonne of Godolias, the sonne of Amarias, the sonne of Ezechias, in the dayes of Iosias the sonne of Amon king of Iuda.Verbum Domini quod factum est ad Sophoniam, filium Chusi, filii Godoliæ, filii Amariæ, filii Ezeciæ, in diebus Josiæ, filii Amon, regis Judæ. 2Gathering, I will gather together all things from off the face of the land, saith the Lord:Io sgombrerò di ogni cosa la terra, dice il Signore.Gathering I wil gather together al thinges from the face of the earth, sayth our Lord:Congregans congregabo omnia a facie terræ, dicit Dominus: 3I will gather man, and beast, I will gather the birds of the air, and the fishes of the sea: and the ungodly shall meet with ruin: and I will destroy men from off the face of the land, saith the Lord.Ne sgombrerò gli uomini, e i bestiami; ne sgombrerò gli uccelli dell'aria, e i pesci del mare, e andranno in rovina gli empj, e dispergerò dalla faccia della terra gli uomini, dice il Signore.gathering man, and beast, gathering the foules of the heauen, and fishes of the sea: and there shal be ruines of the impious: and I wil destroy men from the face of the earth, sayth our Lord.congregans hominem et pecus, / congregans volatilia cæli et pisces maris: / et ruinæ impiorum erunt, / et disperdam homines a facie terræ, dicit Dominus. 4And I will stretch out my hand upon Juda, and upon all the inhabitants of Jerusalem: and I will destroy out of this place the remnant of Baal, and the names of the wardens of the temples with the priests:E stenderò la mia mano sopra Giuda, e sopra tutti gli abitanti di Gerusalemme, e sperderò da questo luogo gli avanzi di Baal e i nomi de' portinaj, e de' sacerdoti.And I wil stretch forth my hand vpon Iuda, and vpon al the inhabitantes of Ierusalem: and I wil destroy out of this place the remnant of Baal, and the names of the templewardens with the priests:Et extendam manum meam super Judam / et super omnes habitantes Jerusalem: / et disperdam de loco hoc reliquias Baal, / et nomina ædituorum cum sacerdotibus;
5And them that worship the host of heaven upon the tops of houses, and them that adore, and swear by the Lord, and swear by Melchom.E quelli, che adorano sui solai la milizia del cielo, e quelli, che adorano, e giurano pel Signore, e giurano per Melchom.and them that adore vpon the toppes of houses the host of heauen, and adore, and sweare c by our Lord, and sweare by Melchom.et eos qui adorant super tecta militiam cæli, / et adorant et jurant in Domino, / et jurant in Melchom; 6And them that turn away from following after the Lord, and that have not sought the Lord, nor searched after him.E que', che hanno lasciato di andar dietro al Signore, e que', che non cercano il Signore, e non vanno in traccia di lui.And them that turne away from after the backe of our Lord, and that haue not sought our Lord, nor searched after him.et qui avertuntur de post tergum Domini, / et qui non quæsierunt Dominum, / nec investigaverunt eum. 7Be silent before the face of the Lord God: for the day of the Lord is near, for the Lord hath prepared a victim, he hath sanctified his guests.State in silenzio dinanzi al Signore Dio, perchè il giorno del Signore è vicino, il Signore ha preparata la vittima, ha preparati i suoi convitati.Be silent before the face of our Lord God: because the day of our Lord is nere, because our Lord hath prepared an host, he hath sanctified his called.Silete a facie Domini Dei, / quia juxta est dies Domini: / quia præparavit Dominus hostiam; / sanctificavit vocatos suos. 8And it shall come to pass in the day of the victim of the Lord, that I will visit upon the princes, and upon the king’s sons, and upon all such as are clothed with strange apparel:E in quel giorno della vittima del Signore io visiterò i principi, e i figliuoli del re, e tutti quelli, che sono vestiti di abito straniero.And it shal be: in the day of the host of our Lord I wil visite vpon the princes, and vpon the kinges sonnes, and vpon al that are clothed with strange clothing:Et erit: in die hostiæ Domini, / visitabo super principes, / et super filios regis, / et super omnes qui induti sunt veste peregrina; 9And I will visit in that day upon every one that entereth arrogantly over the threshold: them that fill the house of the Lord their God with iniquity and deceit.E visiterò in quel giorno tutti quelli, che entrano con fasto nel liminare, e la casa del Signore Dio loro riempiono d'ingiustizia, e di fraude.and I wil visite vpon euerie one, that arrogantly entereth vpon the threshold in that day, them that fil the house of our Lord their God with iniquitie, & guile.et visitabo super omnem qui arroganter ingreditur super limen in die illa, / qui complent domum Domini Dei sui iniquitate et dolo.
10And there shall be in that day, saith the Lord, the noise of a cry from the fish gate, and a howling from the Second, and a great destruction from the hills.In quel giorno, dice il Signore, saranno voci, e strida dalla porta dei pesci, e urla dalla seconda, e grande afflizione sulle colline.And it shal be in that day, sayth our Lord, the voice of clamor from the gate of fishes, and howling from the second, and great destruction from the hilles.Et erit in die illa, dicit Dominus, / vox clamoris a porta piscium, / et ululatus a Secunda, / et contritio magna a collibus. 11Howl, ye inhabitants of the Morter. All the people of Chanaan is hush, all are cut off that were wrapped up in silver.Gettate urli, o abitatori di Pila; tutto il popolo di Chanaan è ammutolito; sono periti tutti que', che erano rinvolti nell'argento.Howle ye inhabitants of the Morter. Al the people of Chanaan is hush, al are perished that were wrapped in siluer.Ululate, habitatores Pilæ: / conticuit omnis populus Chanaan, / disperierunt omnes involuti argento. 12And it shall come to pass at that time, that I will search Jerusalem with lamps, and will visit upon the men that are settled on their lees: that say in their hearts: The Lord will not do good, nor will he do evil.Sarà allora, che io anderò ricercando Gerusalemme colla lucerna alla mano, e anderò a cercare gli uomini fitti nelle loro immondezze, i quali dicono in cuor loro: il Signore non farà del bene, e non farà del male.& it shal be in that time: I wil search Ierusalem with lampes, and wil visite vpon the men that are fixed in their dregges: that say in their hartes: The Lord wil not doe good, and he wil not doe euil.Et erit in tempore illo: / scrutabor Jerusalem in lucernis, / et visitabo super viros defixos in fæcibus suis, / qui dicunt in cordibus suis: / Non faciet bene Dominus, et non faciet male. 13And their strength shall become a booty, and their houses as a desert: and they shall build houses, and shall not dwell in them: and they shall plant vineyards, and shall not drink the wine of them.E le loro sostanze saranno saccheggiate, e le loro case un deserto; e faran dei palazzi, ma non gli abiteranno; e pianteranno vigne, e non ne beranno il vino.And their strength shal be into spoile, and their houses as a desert: and they shal build houses, and shal not inhabite them: and shal plant vineyards, & shal not drinke the wine of them.Et erit fortitudo eorum in direptionem, / et domus eorum in desertum: / et ædificabunt domos, et non habitabunt; / et plantabunt vineas, et non bibent vinum earum.
14The great day of the Lord is near, it is near and exceeding swift: the voice of the day of the Lord is bitter, the mighty man shall there meet with tribulation.E vicino il giorno grande del Signore, egli è vicino, e si avanza con grande celerità; amaro è il suono del dì del Signore; allora i potenti saranno in affanni.The great day of our Lord is neere, it is neere and exceding swift: the voice of the day of our Lord is bitter, the strong shal there haue tribulation.Juxta est dies Domini magnus: / juxta est, et velox nimis. / Vox diei Domini amara: / tribulabitur ibi fortis. 15That day is a day of wrath, a day of tribulation and distress, a day of calamity and misery, a day of darkness and obscurity, a day of clouds and whirlwinds,Giorno d'ira egli è quello, giorno di tribolazione, e di angustia, giorno di calamità, e di miseria, giorno di tenebre, di caligine, giorno di nebbia, e di bufera,That day g a day of wrath, a day of tribulation and distresse, a day of calamitie and miserie, a day of darknes and mist, a day of clowde & whirlewind:Dies iræ dies illa, / dies tribulationis et angustiæ, / dies calamitatis et miseriæ, / dies tenebrarum et caliginis, / dies nebulæ et turbinis, 16A day of the trumpet and alarm against the fenced cities, and against the high bulwarks.Giorno della tromba strepitante contro le città forti, e contro le eccelse e torri.a day of the trumpet and sound vpon the fensed cities, & vpon the high corners.dies tubæ et clangoris super civitates munitas, / et super angulos excelsos. 17And I will distress men, and they shall walk like blind men, because they have sinned against the Lord: and their blood shall be poured out as earth, and their bodies as dung.Io tribolerò gli uomini, e cammineranno come ciechi, perchè han peccato contro il Signore, e il loro sangue si spargerà come polvere, e i loro corpi saran gettati come sozzura.And I wil afflict men, and they shal walke as blindmen, because they haue sinned to our Lord: and their bloud shal be powred out as dust, and their bodies as dung.Et tribulabo homines, et ambulabunt ut cæci, / quia Domino peccaverunt; / et effundetur sanguis eorum sicut humus, / et corpora eorum sicut stercora. 18Neither shall their silver and their gold be able to deliver them in the day of the wrath of the Lord: all the land shall be devoured by the fire of his jealousy: for he shall make even a speedy destruction of all them that dwell in the land.Ma né il loro argento, né l'oro non potrà liberarli nel di dell'ira del Signore; dal fuoco dello zelo di lui sarà divorata tutta la terra, perchè egli farà prontamente sterminio di tutti quelli, che l'abitano.Yea and their siluer, and their gold shal not be able to deliuer them in the day of the wrath of our Lord: in the fire of his ielousie shal al the earth be deuoured, because he wil make consummation with speede to al that inhabit the earth.Sed et argentum eorum et aurum eorum non poterit liberare eos / in die iræ Domini: / in igne zeli ejus devorabitur omnis terra, / quia consummationem cum festinatione faciet / cunctis habitantibus terram.
1:1
Year of the World about 3404, Year before Christ 600.
Worthington
Lord. Thus the prophets insinuate that they are not the authors but the ministers of God's word. (Worthington)
1:2
Challoner
Gather, etc. That is, I will assuredly take away and wholly consume, either by captivity or death, both men and beasts out of this land. (Challoner)
Worthington
To gather commonly implies a benefit, but the sequel shews that the contrary is here meant. (Worthington)
1:3
Haydock
Sea: the waters and air shall be pestilential. (Haydock)
St. Jerome frequently observes that when a country is depopulated, as the Roman empire was in his days, the most fertile regions were soon abandoned even by beasts and birds.
Symmachus
Meet. Septuagint, "be weak." Hebrew, "I will gather (Calmet; Protestants, "consume;" Haydock) scandals (or idols) with the wicked." (Symmachus)
1:4
Haydock
At least he had not brought it to perfection, though from his infancy he had encouraged religion. (Haydock)
Challoner
Wardens of the temples of the idols. Aedituos, in Hebrew, the Cemarim, that is such as kindle the fires or burn incense. (Challoner)
Literally, "the blacks, (Haydock) or those in black," whether it alludes to their clothes or to the colour of their bodies, in consequence of their going almost naked. Camilli, which may be derived from this root, (Calmet) cemarim, (Haydock) in Tuscan, signifies priests, or rather (Calmet) children who went naked before them. (Macrob. 3:8.)
Calmet
The priests of Baal appeared in this manner, and cut themselves, (3 Kings 18:28.) committing great indecencies, while God ordered his ministers to be clothed in white with the utmost gravity. (Calmet)
Haydock
The very remembrance of such idols and priests shall be abolished, Osee 2:16. They were designed for the worship of fire. Baal was the sun. (Haydock)
1:5
Calmet
Houses. The roofs were flat. Josias afterwards reformed this abuse, 4 Kings 23:5. (Calmet)
Strabo xvii
It continued among the Arabs. (Strabo xvii.)
Challoner
Melchom. The idol of the Ammonites. (Challoner)
Worthington
Those who join idols with God do not worship Him indeed. (Worthington)
Calmet
Swearing was an act of religion, Matthew 5:33. God will not allow his glory to be given to another. Such lame worship or divided hearts he rejects, 3 Kings 18:21. (Calmet)
1:7
Haydock
Silent. Hebrew has, (Haydock) an interjection, (St. Jerome) like our hush. (Haydock)
This denotes the importance of what he is going to say.
Calmet
Guests. The blood of the wicked is his victim, Jeremias 46:10., and Ezechiel 39:17. (Calmet)
Worthington
The day of punishment is commonly styled the day of the Lord, Isaias ii., and 1 Corinthians 3:(Worthington)
1:8
Kennicott
Victim. Hebrew, "sacrifice." But Manuscript 1. Camb. has, "in that day, says the Lord," eeva nam being substituted for zebach, (Haydock) which is "a very remarkable variation." In ver. 7, it has Jehovah Elohim printed Adonai Jehovah. (Kennicott)
Calmet
Princes. After the death of Josias all fell to ruin. His sons were deposed, and led into captivity with the chief nobility and priests, who were richly adorned, and imitated the manners of idolaters, or kept the garments of the poor, Exodus 22:26., and Deuteronomy 22:5, 11, etc. (Calmet)
1:9
Calmet
Entereth the temple, as if to shew themselves, Amos 6:1. Hebrew, "jumpeth over," etc., denoting the Philistines. (Chaldean) (1 Kings 5:5.) (Calmet)
St. Jerome
Septuagint, "I will take vengeance on all openly before the gate in that day," (Haydock) on all who have cast themselves out of the Church. (St. Jerome)
Haydock
Lord. Hebrew, of their masters with," etc. This may relate to the Philistines, (Calmet) or to those who made the house of God a place of traffic, (Matthew 21:13.) and offered victims unjustly acquired. (Haydock)
1:10
St. Jerome
Gate, looking towards Joppe. (St. Jerome)
Calmet
The news of the defeat at Mageddo came this way, or the cries of the Philistines were heard. (Calmet)
Calmet
Second. A part of the city so called, (Challoner) built by Manasses on the same side of the city, 2 Paralipomenon 33:14. (Calmet)
1:11
Challoner
The Morter: (Maktesh) a valley in or near Jerusalem. (Challoner)
Tirinus
All the people shall suffer in the city. (Sanctius) (Tirinus)
Calmet
Mactes was rendered famous by Samson, (Judges 15:19.) and was in or near the country of the Philistines, who seem to be designated. The original is variously interpreted. (Calmet)
Challoner
Septuagint, "of the city cut in pieces, because all the people resemble Chanaan." (Haydock) Chanaan. So he calls the Jews, from their following the wicked ways of the Chanaanites. (Challoner)
Calmet
The merchants (Grotius) are confounded, or (Haydock) the Philistines are still meant. (Calmet)
1:12
Calmet
Lamps, with the utmost diligence, (Luke 15:8.) so that none shall escape even in the most filthy places. (Calmet)
Josephus
The Romans found many Jews in the common sewers. (Josephus, Jewish Wars 7:16, 20, and 26.)
Challoner
Lees. That is, the wealthy, and such as live at their ease, resting upon their riches, like wine upon the lees. (Challoner)
Calmet
Evil, denying Providence. (Calmet)
1:13
Haydock
Strength. Children or riches. (Haydock)
1:14
Calmet
Near. When all these miseries shall overtake the wicked, (Worthington) after the death of Josias, 4 Kings 21:14. (Calmet)
The mighty. Septuagint, "and dreadful, powerful is the day of," etc.
Haydock
Meet. Protestants, "cry bitterly." (Haydock)
1:15
Worthington
Day, is a day. The repetition elegantly describes the great danger. (Worthington)
1:16
Trumpet, when Nachao came and deposed Joachas.
1:17
Calmet
Blind. Not knowing what course to take, Deuteronomy 28:29., and Isaias 59:10. (Calmet)
Haydock
Such will be the horror preceding judgment. (Haydock)
1:18
Calmet
Gold. Ezechiel 7:19. Thus the Medes despised riches, Isaias 13:17. (Calmet)
Menochius
Jealousy. God regarded the synagogue as his spouse. (Menochius)
Haydock
"If he loved not the soul of man, he would not be jealous of it." (St. Jerome) (Haydock)
1:2
Gathering, I will gather, etc.... That is, I will assuredly take away, and wholly consume, either by captivity, or death, both men and beasts out of this land.
1:4
The wardens, etc.... Viz., of the temples of the idols. AEdituos, in Hebrew, the Chemarims, that is, such as kindle the fires, or burn incense.
1:5
Melchom.... The idol of the Ammonites.
1:10
The Second.... A part of the city so called.
1:11
The Morter.... Maktesh. A valley in or near Jerusalem. Ibid. The people of Chanaan.... So he calls the Jews, from their following the wicked ways of the Chanaanites.
1:12
Settled on their lees.... That is, the wealthy, and such as live at their ease, resting upon their riches, like wine upon the lees.
1:1
In saying the vvord of our Lord, the prophets signifie that they are not the principal auctors of that vvhich they preach or vvrite, but the ministers by vvhom God speaketh.
1:2
Gathering more cōmonly signifieth a benefite, but by that vvhich folovveth, from the face of the earth, it is manifest, that God here threatneth to destroy sinners, the kingdom of Iuda.
1:7
The day of punishment is commonly called the day of our Lord. Isa. 2. Ioel. 2. 1. Cor. 3. 2. Thess. 2.
1:8
Ioachaz vvas depriued of his kingdom and died in Aegypt. 4. Reg. 23 Ioakim vvas continually vered by the Babylonians & other nations, 4. Reg. 24. at last slaine and his bodie cast out of the citie Iere. 22. Sedecias taken, his eyes put out, so ca••ed into Babylon. and al his sonnes slaine, Iechonias otherwise called Ioachin was kept long prisoner in Babylon, & al the issue of Iosias afflicted.
VVhosoeuer ioyneth false goddes vvith God Almightie, in dede serueth not God.
1:11
the valley nere Ierusalem
1:13
Amos •.
1:14
Al these afflictions are nere. g Repeting and inculcating the same termes, doth •legantly describe the greatnes of the future calamities.
1:15
Concordance Iere. 3•. Ioel. 2. Amos. •.
1:18
Ezech •.
1:2
St Cyprian of Carthage † AD 258 Three Books of Testimonies Against the Jews 3.48
… They trust in vanity, and speak emptiness, who conceive sorrow, and bring forth wickedness.” Also in Zephaniah: “In failing, let it fail from the face of the earth, saith the Lord. Let man fail, and cattle; let the birds of heaven fail, and the fishes of the sea; and I will take away the unrighteous from the face of the earth.”
1:7
St Cyprian of Carthage † AD 258 Three Books of Testimonies Against the Jews 2.21
… “Pierce my flesh with nails through fear of Thee.” Also in the cxlth Psalm: “The lifting up of my hands is an evening sacrifice.” Of which sacrifice Sophonias said: “Fear from the presence of the Lord God, since His day is near, because the Lord hath prepared His sacrifice, He hath sanctified His elect.”
1:10
St Jerome † AD 420 The Letters of St. Jerome 53.8
… And his brightness was as the light; he had horns coming out of his hand: and there was the hiding of his power.” Zephaniah, that is the bodyguard and knower of the secrets of the Lord, hears “a cry from the fishgate, and an howling from the second, and a great crashing from the hills.”
1:11
St Jerome † AD 420 The Letters of St. Jerome 53.8
… for all the people of Canaan are undone; all they that were laden with silver are cut off.”
1:12
St John Chrysostom † AD 407 Homilies on First Corinthians 15
… The believer must be freed from all iniquity. For as among them he perishes with whomsoever is found old leaven, so also with us wheresoever is found iniquity: since of course the punishment being so great in that which is a shadow, in our case it cannot choose but be much greater. For if they so carefully clear their houses of leaven
John Cassian † AD 435 The Conferences of John Cassian 6.2
… and so we should deserve to fall under the condemnation of those whom the prophet Zephaniah rebukes, saying “who say in their hearts the Lord will not do good, nor will He do evil:”
1:13
St Cyprian of Carthage † AD 258 Three Books of Testimonies Against the Jews 3.62
… “Woe unto them who join house to house, and lay field to field, that they may take away something from their neighbour. Will ye dwell alone upon the earth?” Also in Zephaniah: “They shall build houses, and shall not dwell in them; and they shall appoint vineyards, and shall not drink the wine of them, because the day of the Lord is near.”
1:1
1. To Sophonias the son of Chusi. — "The Hebrews hand down, says St. Jerome, that whenever the father or grandfather of any Prophet is placed in the title, they themselves were also Prophets. Whence also Amos, one of the twelve Prophets, who said: I am not a prophet, nor am I the son of a prophet, but I am a herdsman, plucking sycomores, does not have his father's name in the title. If this is true, Sophonias was born of the glorious stock of his ancestors." Then explaining the names of each symbolically: "Sophonias, he says, who was in the watchtower and established in the heights, and knew the heights of the Lord, was the son of Chusi, which is interpreted humility. He also had a grandfather Godolias, who is said to mean the greatness of the Lord: and a great-grandfather Amariah, who is also turned into the word of the Lord: and a great-great-grandfather Ezekias, which sounds the strength of the Lord. From the strength therefore of the Lord was born the word of the Lord, and from the word of the Lord was born the greatness of the Lord, and from the greatness was born humility (for the wiser and holier men are, the more they are illuminated by God and lifted on high, the more they know that God is all things, and they themselves nothing, and therefore the more they humble and abase themselves under Him) so that, when someone has arrived at perfection, he may say: For I am not worthy to be called an apostle. And that in the Psalms: O Lord, my heart is not exalted, nor are my eyes lifted up." This tradition of the Hebrews is followed by Albert, Haymo, Remigius, Lyra, Hugh, Vatablus, Dionysius and others throughout: because then with the propagation of the race was made the propagation of religion, says St. Augustine, and from this Albert. But whether this tradition is in all respects true and certain, I have discussed in the Proem. It suffices in this place to say that these fathers and grandfathers of Sophonias were illustrious and distinguished, however that came about, and therefore are named here. Thus Vatablus. Ezekias. — The Rabbis think this to be Ezekias king of Juda, so that Sophonias was his great-great-grandson. But this is impugned by Ribera, Castro and others: for Sophonias would not have passed over this, since he gains authority for himself from his lineage here. Add: Scripture, IV Kings XX, 21, and Josephus, book X of Antiquities III, assign no other son to king Ezekias than Manasses.
1:2
2. Gathering I will gather all things from the face of the earth, — that is to say, I will certainly and utterly heap together and collect into captivity and destruction, handing over to the Chaldeans all the inhabitants and all the possessions of this land, namely of Juda. For he speaks of the slaughter and captivity of Juda, not of other nations; "all things" therefore, namely men, beasts, fowls and fishes of the sea, as he explains by adding. Whence the Zurich Bible translates: Consuming I will consume all things; Vatablus: Destroying I will destroy; the Complutensian: Consuming I will consume; others properly: I will gather that I may destroy, I will congregate that I may cause to fail. Wherefore the Septuagint translates: By defection man and beasts shall fail. Where note: Defection, death, destruction in Scripture is called gathering. Our Pineda gives the reason in chapter XXXIV of Job, 14, number 5: Because, he says, since all life of living things is derived from God, that which in that most simple life of God is united and gathered, this by going forth to creatures appears to be divided and dispersed among many living things. Again, when life is taken away from the living, that which was divided in the living and dispersed appears to be united and gathered in its principle, and that participated life recalled to the first life and fountain of living. Whence to gather is the same as to scatter or perish, in that when life is taken away from the living, and they perish, that very life appears to be gathered and again collected in God, so that "the spirit may return to God, who gave it," Ecclesiastes chapter XII, verse 7. Again, all things and animals, except man, when they perish, are gathered and return into their abyss of nothingness, from which God brought them forth by creating them for a time.
1:3
3. The birds of the air and the fishes. — Because, as St. Jerome says, "when cities are laid waste and men are slain, a desolation and scarcity of beasts and also of birds and fishes comes about; witness Illyricum, witness Thrace, witness the land of my birth, where besides heaven and earth, and growing thorns and dense forests, all things have perished." Sanchez adds that these are said to perish whose use is no longer available, that is to say: To you, O Jews, captive in Babylon, the birds and fishes of Judaea will perish, because you will no longer be able to capture them by fowling and fishing. Symbolically, Albertus understands by men citizens, by cattle rustics, by birds princes and the arrogant, by fishes those given to gluttony and lust; for fishes abound in seed and offspring. And the ruins of the impious shall be. — For ruins the Hebrew is מכשלות machscheloth, that is ruins, falls, stumbling-blocks, scandals: which first, the Chaldean takes actively as idolatry and crimes, into which the Jews fell and gave scandal to other nations. Whence he translates: I will consume the bird of the heavens and the fish of the sea, because the stumbling-block of the impious has been multiplied. Hence also Vatablus translates, stumbling-blocks shall find the wicked, that is, the wicked idolaters on account of their impiety shall suffer the gravest punishments. Others say, I will gather the scandals, that is the idols, of the impious, and I will drag them with the impious into Babylon. Second, others take these passively. Whence our version translates, the ruins of the impious shall be; and the Septuagint, the impious shall be weakened; others, the impious shall fall.
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4. I will destroy — utterly. For in Hebrew it is הכרתי hichratti, that is I will cut off; the Septuagint, I will take away; the Chaldean, I will blot out; Pagninus, I will cut down men from the face of the earth. I will destroy the remnants of Baal. — namely the remnants of temples, altars, idols, priests, worshippers and worship of Baal. The names of the keepers with the priests, — that is to say: I will destroy the keepers and priests of Baal, so that henceforth they shall not even be named, nor shall any memory, name or fame of them remain. Thus the Poet says: Do not / Look back to the smoke and empty names of Catos. Second, "the names of the keepers" are the keepers themselves, named by their name, so that it is a metonymy. A keeper is called the minister of the temple of Baal, so called, not as if burning incense, as some wish, but as if a guardian of the sacred building, that is one having care of it, says Festus. For ædituor is the same as ædem tueor. The same was called Æditumus, as if intimate to the building, says Festus: although Cicero in the Topics, in finitimo, legitimo, æditimo, holds that there is no more timus than in meditullio tullium, namely that each is merely a lengthening of the name. See Gellius book XII, chapter X. Lucretius, book VI, calls these Ædituentes, as if guarding the building. Thus now at Rome each temple has its own keepers, whose office it is to guard the temple and its furnishings, vestments and vessels, to clean, adorn them; to provide victims, wine, attendants, and other things necessary for sacrifice, to receive strangers, to show the relics and monuments of martyrs, etc. In Hebrew they are called כמרים kemarim, that is Kindlers of fire and incense, incense-burners, from the root כמר kamar, that is he kindled, burned, blazed. Their office therefore seems to have been to burn incense, and as it were to serve as deacons to the priest slaying the victims. Whence in IV Kings XXIII, 5, it is said: "He destroyed (Josias) the kemarim, whom the kings of Juda had appointed to sacrifice," Hebrew לקטר lecatter, that is to fumigate, or to burn incense, "on the high places." Others, such as Vatablus and Mariana, wish them to be called kemarim, as if burned, that is dark, from dark and dusky clothing. Whence Pagninus translates: Who wear black garments. For the priests of the Hebrews were clothed in white: for they sacrificed clothed in a linen tunic, Exodus XXVIII, 40, just as the Egyptians, who from this are called linen-wearers, as I said on Jeremiah XIII. Thus also in the sacred rites of the Eleusinian goddess the priests are clothed in white, as Tertullian teaches in the book On the Pallium. Thus Sanchez. Others, because they were shut up like monks in monasteries. Thus Marinus in the Lexicon, who holds that kemarim is a Chaldean word. Others, from the marks which they bore burned into their face and body. Others, from the ardor of devotion by which they were inflamed in performing their sacred rites. But the first which I said seems more true. Similar to these were among the Gentiles at Rome the Vestal virgins, and more so in Cappadocia the magi, called Pyrethi, from pyra, that is fire, because they kept and tended the sacred fire, lest it should ever be extinguished, with certain prayers and ceremonies, as Strabo teaches in book XV. Wherefore the kemarim appear to have been imitators and rivals of the keepers of the temple, whom God had commanded to keep and tend night and day the sacred fire, by which the victims were to be burned, Leviticus VI, 12; by which same fire also daily, both morning and evening, incense was to be burned and offered to God, Exodus XXX, 7. Therefore the office of the kemarim was, first, to keep the sacred fire perpetually alight and to nourish it: and hence again they are called by the Prophets in mockery kemarim, that is, burned, sooty and dark, as if to say Charcoal-makers, who, blackened by fire and coals, have the color and form of Ethiopians or demons. Second, to burn incense to idols, as is evident from IV Kings XXIII, 5. Third, to serve the priests in sacrifices. Whence they are here distinguished and separated from the priests, as it were their ministers and deacons. For he says: "And the names of the keepers of the temple with the priests," namely not of God, but of Baal, says Remigius, Albertus, Ribera and others; although St. Jerome with his followers takes the priests here to be true priests of the true God, but only those who at the same time with God worshipped idols, whom Ezekiel pursues in chapter VIII, 3 and following, concerning whom IV Kings XVII, 31, 33. I confess, however, that some of these kemarim were priests; for thus the Septuagint translates here. Add that to burn incense, which was the office of the kemarim, is a kind of sacrificing. For the first sacrifice of the ancients was the offering and burning of incense. Whence also incense to the true God, as it were a sacrifice, was burned twice daily on the altar of incense; indeed in every fleshly sacrifice, namely of sheep, goat and ox, the Hebrews by God's command placed and burned incense, and by this signified that this victim was given and sacrificed to God, as is evident from Leviticus II, 4. These kemarim therefore appear to have been among the Gentiles what the keepers of the temple are among Christians, especially Romans, who have charge of the temple, altars and sacred things: among whom some are priests, others clerics, over whom preside canons, whose head is a dean, provost, or bishop. The duties therefore of the kemarim were to guard the temple, to open it, to close it, to cleanse it, to adorn it, to teach strangers the ceremonies and worship of Baal, or their idol and god, to receive oblations, to adorn the feast days, to arrange choirs of singers and dances of dancers, indeed to lead them after the manner of those raging and reveling. Whence St. Jerome translates kemarim as fanatics, as if moved by enthusiasm and afflicted by the spirit of a demon. Hence Hosea chapter X, 5, says: And the kemarim of it who exulted over it; as the Hebrew has it. For the word כמר kamar, whence kemarim, alludes to חמר chamar, which signifies to be troubled like a drunkard and madman, or like turbid and mixed wine, and thence to revel and to rage.
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5. And those who adore upon the roofs,—which in Judæa and Syria are even now flat, like platforms under the open sky, upon which the inhabitants walk, dine, sup, and indeed in summer sleep at night, as grave men and eyewitnesses told me at Rome. These roofs therefore the Jews, who were star-worshippers, would ascend, so that from them they might freely and plainly contemplate and adore the "host of heaven," namely the sun, moon, the morning star, and other stars and celestial bodies: which because they are many, and ordered like an army, and proceed by their motion, place and fixed order like a drawn-up battle line; hence they are called the host of heaven, whose king is the sun, queen the moon, standard-bearer Venus, or the morning star. Hence the Jews say to Jeremiah (who was contemporary and coeval with Sophonias), cap. XLIV, 25: "Let us fulfil our vows, which we have vowed, that we may sacrifice to the queen of heaven (that is, the moon) and pour out libations to her." And cap. VII, 18: "The children gather wood, and the fathers kindle the fire, and the women knead dough, to make cakes to the queen of heaven," to whom he himself denounces cap. X, 2: "Be not afraid of the signs of heaven, which the Gentiles fear," as if to say, Do not worship the stars of heaven, which the Gentiles worship. For to fear in Scripture is to worship, to revere, to adore. See what I have noted in those places. Thus among the Gentiles many were heaven-worshippers and sun-worshippers, esteeming heaven, the sun and the stars on account of their beauty, loftiness, magnitude, influence, order and splendor to be animate, and to be divine powers, which Job detesting says cap. XXXI, 26: "If I beheld the sun when it shined, and the moon going in brightness: and my heart in secret hath rejoiced, and I have kissed (that is, adored them, by kissing) my hand with my mouth. Which is a very great iniquity, and a denial against God most high." And the Wise Man cap. XIII, 2 and 3: "The sun and moon, rulers of the world, they thought to be gods. Whose beauty if they were delighted with, let them know how much more beautiful is the Lord of them; for the author of beauty made all these things." And they adore, and swear by the Lord, and swear by Melchom.—They swear both by Melchom and by the true God: because they worship and adore each as a divine power. For an oath is an act of latria: for when we swear by someone, by this very fact we confess and protest that he is the first and uncreated (for this alone is infallible) truth, and therefore is God. He censures the Jews, because while they worshipped the true God they also worshipped the gods of neighboring Gentiles, namely Melchom the god of the Ammonites. Thus Theodoret, Remigius, Albert, Hugh and Lyran. Note that τὸ in the Lord, insofar as it refers to swear, is the same as by the Lord: insofar as it refers to adore, is the same as the Lord. For the Hebrews construct verbs of contact, whether bodily or spiritual, such as adoration, with beth, that is in, so that to believe in God is to believe God, or God, to invoke in the name of the Lord is to invoke the name of the Lord, etc. In Hebrew it is, they swear by Melchom, that is their king; thus the Septuagint, the Zurich Bible, Vatablus and Pagninus, that is, they swear by their idol, which they hold as their god and king, and therefore call it Melech, Meloch, Melchom, Malcam, that is their king. For all these are one and the same. Therefore Arias expounds it wrongly, as if to say, Who in order to flatter their king, swear equally by him as by God. For to swear by a king is lawful; for he who swears by a king swears by God, who made him king; as Christ teaches in a similar case Matt. XXIII, 20. Thus Joseph swears by the life of Pharaoh, Gen. XLII, 15, and the Tekoites by the life of David, II Kings XIV, 19.
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6. Who turn away from behind the Lord, — namely, who turn their back on the Lord, that is, who are unwilling to follow the Lord, but turn their back to him, that is, they depart from him, while they turn away from him and despise him. Thus the Septuagint; whence the Chaldean: Who turn back from the worship of the Lord; Pagninus: Who retreat so as not to go after the Lord; Tigurinus: Who are withdrawn from the Lord. Who have not sought the Lord, neither have they investigated him. — Morally, they seek and investigate God: first, the unfaithful and ignorant, who inquire who and what sort God is; second, sinners, who through sin have lost God and the grace of God: these by repenting seek him again, begging that he return to them and be reconciled with them; third, the needy and afflicted, who ask help from God, namely light, counsel, aid, strength, direction. Whence Vatablus translates: Neither do they implore the help of the Lord, nor do they consult him. Thus also the Chaldean. The Psalmist wisely admonishes: "Seek," he says, "the Lord, and be strengthened: seek his face always."
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7. Be silent before the face of the Lord. — That is, as the Septuagint has it, εὐλαβεῖσθε, that is, be silent and fear and revere the Lord; it is a metalepsis, or catachresis: for silence is an indication of reverence, fear, admiration and amazement, and therefore it is put here for those things. Thus Theodoret. See what is said on Habacuc chapter II, last verse. Whence the Syriac and Arabic versions both translate: Fear before the sight of the Lord. Otherwise Albert and Hugh, as if to say, Be mute before God the avenger; because the day of the Lord is at hand, when He Himself will cut you off and destroy you. And Clarius, as if to say, Be silent, that is, wait silently, and soon you will see the wrath and desolation of the Lord. And the Chaldean: Perish, he says, utterly all the impious from before the sight of the Lord, as if being silent were the same as perishing and passing away. For the dead are silent: whence the place of the dead in Hebrew is called דומה, duma, that is, silence. Because the day of the Lord is at hand. — The Arabic: Because the day of judgment is now near, namely the day of justice and vengeance of the Lord to be exercised upon the Jews through the Chaldeans. Thus the day of judgment is called the day of the Lord, the rest are days of men, in which they do what they please: just as the days of the week are days of disciples, but the sabbath is the day of the schoolmaster, on which he exacts from the disciples the work of the whole week, and rewards the diligent, and punishes and scourges the negligent or unruly. Because the Lord hath prepared a victim: He hath sanctified His called ones. — It is a continuous metaphor, or allegory: for the slaughter of the Jews, as impious, he calls a sacrifice, and that a public and solemn one, in which the victims are Jews to be slain: the day of sacrifice is the day of the destruction of Jerusalem and the temple: the priests are the Chaldeans, who offer this victim to God and to divine justice. Whence they are said to be called and sanctified by God: because God called them forth from Chaldea, and authorized and consecrated them as it were as soldiers, nay as ministers and priests, when He chose them and destined them as butchers of the Jews, that they might offer and slay them as it were as a holy victim to His vengeance. Thus St. Jerome, Theodoret, Haymo, Lyran and others everywhere, except that the Chaldean, Vatable and Clarius, by the called ones understand not priests, but guests, namely birds and beasts, whom God calls to this solemn feast, that they might devour the bodies of the Jews slain by the Chaldeans. Whence the Antiochene Arabic translates, the Lord hath prepared victims, and made known to those who are His guests; but the Alexandrian Arabic more clearly, the Lord hath prepared slaughter (that is, slain victims for a feast) and sanctified the called ones; and the Syriac, the Lord hath prepared a victim, or a feast; and invited His called ones. It alludes to the vow חרם cherem, or anathema, by which a thing, whether pious or impious, was to be wholly slain and consecrated to God by death, either civil or natural, concerning which I have said more on Leviticus chapter last, verse 28, and Romans IX, 9. Morally, learn here how hateful injustice and crimes are to God, and how on the other hand justice and the vengeance of crimes is dear to Him, a care, an honor, a pleasure; namely just as a solemn sacrifice, or holocaust, which is offered to Him as the supreme Lord of all things, and is received by Him in the odor of sweetness: so much so that He calls kings and tyrants, even though infidels and impious, who carry out this vengeance, His soldiers, His sanctified ones, His priests. Hence to these same ones through Jeremiah chapter VI, 4, He commands and decrees: "Sanctify against her (against Jerusalem) war." And Isaiah XIII, 3, concerning Cyrus and the Persians who will lay waste the impious Babylon, He says: "I have commanded My sanctified ones, and have called My strong ones in My wrath." Nay, and Jeremiah XLVIII, 10, this vengeance of the impious Moabites, He enjoins and decrees upon the Chaldeans under the threat of a curse: "Cursed be he that doth the work of the Lord deceitfully." What is this work? Hear: "Cursed be he that withholdeth his sword from blood." On the other hand, Wisdom chapter XIV, 7: "Blessed is the wood," he says, "by which justice is done."
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8. On the day of the sacrifice of the Lord (the destruction of Jerusalem, when it itself shall be a sacrifice, to be slain by the Chaldeans to the Lord) I will visit upon the princes, and upon the sons of the king — of Sedecias. For Nabuchodonosor, having captured Jerusalem, "slew the sons of Sedecias before his eyes: but also all the princes of Juda he killed," as is said in IV Kings XXV, 7. Thus Lyra, Arias, Vatablus and others. Otherwise St. Jerome, Theodoretus, Remigius, and their followers, who by the sons of the king understand the sons of Josias, of whom Joachaz was led into captivity by the Pharaoh, Joakim was killed by the Chaldeans, Sedecias was blinded, Joachin was led into Babylon. But truly he calls the day of sacrifice the day of destruction, in which there was no other king of Jerusalem than Sedecias, whose sons Nabuchodonosor slew as sacrifices: but of the sons of Josias he made none a sacrifice, that is, he killed none. For Joakim was not killed by him, but by robbers, or bands of Chaldeans. And upon all who are clothed in strange apparel. — First, some understand here the garment which idolaters used in the worship of idols. Whence the Jews, putting on this garment, professed by the very habit that they were worshippers of idols, just as he who puts on a yellow hat in Rome professes himself a Jew, and he who wears a turban, a Turk. Wherefore the Chaldean translator renders it: Who make a noise at the worship of idols. Second, some Hebrews think that satellites and ministers of princes and nobles are censured here: for these are accustomed to use varied and diverse garments different from the common people, in which they bear the insignia of their prince. Third, Theodoretus explains strange apparel as that received from strangers by theft or robbery, as if he censures here the thefts and robberies of the Jews, by which they despoiled strangers and foreigners of garments, and clothed themselves with them. Fourth, others take strange apparel to be that which is of the other sex, namely if a man puts on a woman's garment, or a woman a man's: which is against propriety, modesty and chastity, and therefore is forbidden by God in Deut. XXII, 5, and by the Council of Gangra under pain of anathema, as is found in dist. XXX, cap. Si qua mulier. Fifth, properly and genuinely, he calls strange apparel that which was not Jewish, but gentile, namely Egyptian, Philistine, Ammonite, Tyrian, etc. He censures therefore here the ambition, levity, curiosity of the Jews, in that they assumed new, strange and gentile clothing, and that with the garments they put on the customs and idolatry of the Gentiles. Thus St. Jerome. The same is nearly censured by Ezechiel cap. XXIII, vers. 12 and 15, and by the author of II Maccabees cap. IV, 13. Morally, let Christians learn here how much God hates the newness and luxury of garments, and how he avenges and punishes it; for it savors of softness, pride, levity, inconstancy and lack of judgment. Whence you may rightly say to such persons that saying of Stilpo to Crater: "You seem to me to need a new cloak": or a cloak and mind: for "new" joined together signifies new; but separated "and mind" signifies and mind. Thus Laertius lib. II, cap. XII. Q. Curtius in the last book, and Plutarch in Alexander, blame him, because after conquering the Persians he changed his habit, and put on Persian garments. Strato, or, as others wish, Plato said to Aristippus: "To you alone both the cloak and the cloth have been given." The cloak is the garment of satraps, the cloth of beggars: for he himself danced in purple at Dionysius, sometimes used a vile cloak. Thus Laertius lib. II, cap. VIII; whence Horace: "Every color suited Aristippus." Thus today there are chameleons, who conform themselves to all nations, places, sects, both in habit and in faith and morals: but while they wish to become of one color with each, they become of a different and deformed color with all. They are Phrygians, who paint both morals and colors, of whom Prudentius in Hamartigenia: "Art is added, so that threads saturated with herbs recooked, deceive with various forms distinct by the thread." And Martial: "The needle of Babylon is now conquered by the Niliac comb." Diogenes said to a certain man boasting that he walked clothed in a lion's skin: "Do you not cease to disgrace the trappings of virtue?" judging it unworthy that a soft man should claim for himself the garment of Hercules. Thus Laertius in book VI. The same man, when he saw a young man adorning himself too carefully: "If for men," he said, "ἀτυχεῖς, that is, you do so in vain: if for women, ἀδικεῖς, you act unjustly." For a male adorns himself in vain for males, since there cannot be marriage between them: but he acts unjustly if he lies in wait for a woman through his seduction. The same man called a certain rich but uneducated man, but splendidly clothed, χρυσόμηλον, that is, a sheep clothed in a golden fleece. Dæmonax said to a certain man displaying his purple: "Hey you, a sheep wore this before, and it was a sheep," signifying that he was as stupid as a sheep, even if he wore purple. Teribazo, the king Artaxerxes had given his garment on the condition that he not wear it: yet he did wear it, even marked with gifts which he had received from the king for women. Then the king, bursting into laughter: "To you, as to a woman, we grant the right and power to wear gold, as to a madman, royal garments." Augustus Caesar, when he saw many in the assembly wearing the pallium, indignant: "Behold," he said, "Romans, masters of things, and a toga-wearing people." He grieved indeed that Romans were changing their dress and assuming the Greek pallium. This was his maxim: Distinctive and soft clothing is the standard of pride, and the nest of luxury. Thus Suetonius in his Life. Claudian censured foreign dress in Rufinus, the Franks in Charles the Bald. The Germans, once most constant, began to change their dress along with their faith. "Shameful," says the Poet, "is the Belgian color for a Roman mouth." If these things are unbecoming to laymen, much more so to clerics and religious, in whom St. Bernard sharply censures the luxury of garments in sermon 23 on the Canticles, and in the Apology to Abbot William. Tropologically, foreign dress is heresy, which those who innovate assume, "who have withdrawn from the protection and garment of God, and are covered by their own error," says St. Jerome. Mystically the same: "Dress," he says, "is Christ, the garment of the king's sons and princes," which we assume in baptism, according to that passage Ephesians IV, 24: "Put on the new man, who is created according to God in justice and holiness of truth." And Colossians III, 12: "Put on therefore, as the elect of God, holy and beloved, the bowels of mercy, benignity, humility, modesty, patience." Therefore we are clothed in the foreign garment of the devil, when instead of mercy we put on cruelty, instead of benignity harshness, instead of humility pride, instead of modesty arrogance, instead of patience impatience. Hence again the Apostle admonishes in Romans XIII, 14: "Put on the Lord Jesus Christ;" for he who, scorning virtues, assumes vices, puts on Antichrist instead of Christ. But particularly foreign dress is hypocrisy. "For what is more foreign than that ravenous wolves wear the garments of sheep? what is more foreign than that he who within is full of iniquity, should appear just to men without?" says Rupertus.
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9. He that arrogantly enters upon the threshold. — The Hebrews: He that leaps upon the threshold, that is, he who enters with such pride and arrogance that he appears to leap and move with bounds, especially when he ascends the steps of the temple, which Amos reproves, saying in chapter VI, 1: "Woe to you that are wealthy in Sion, entering pompously the house of Israel!" See the remarks there. He reproves the arrogance of princes, nobles and the rich in their entrance, even into the temple, especially since all in the temple ought to humble themselves before God, and ought to profess humility in dress, in gait, and in prayer. For those who approach the temple do so in order to invoke God humbly and to seek His aid and grace: wherefore it is unworthy to display arrogance there, where supplication for pardon in sins and assistance in necessity is begged from God. Moreover, he reproves the pride of priests and pontiffs, who with their phylacteries widened walked arrogantly in the temple, as if they were its prefects and rulers. Whence the Septuagint translates: I will punish upon all manifestly, those who are in the vestibules. For the priests dwelt in their own court, near the temple, as if in its vestibule. Thus Christ reproves the same, but on account of the honor of the priesthood by another name, namely that of the Scribes and Pharisees, their superciliousness and pride, Matthew XXIII, 5. This sense is given by St. Jerome, Haymo, Albert, Hugh and others, who in a second way also explain it thus, as if the Prophet reproved the superstition of the Jews received from the Philistines, who, when their idol Dagon was cut off at the threshold of the temple, afterwards did not dare to tread upon it out of reverence, but leaped over it, I Kings V, 8; whence the Chaldean translates: I will punish all who walk in the laws of the Palestinians. But we read that only the Azotians did this, whose god was Dagon, from whom, as from enemies, the Jews abhorred: whence we nowhere find that they worshipped Dagon. And indeed if they had done so, surely this Prophet would not have been silent about it. For it is a small fault, or rather no fault at all, to leap over the threshold of the temple out of reverence, because one considers himself unworthy to tread upon the threshold of the house of God; but it is a far greater fault to do this in honor of Dagon, or of another idol, and thus to venerate and worship it. Thirdly, the Chaldean, Arias, Pagninus, the Zurich Bible and Vatablus from the Hebrew thus translate: I will visit all those leaping over the threshold in that day, who fill the house of their lords with plunder: as if he here reproved the Jews, especially the followers or servants of princes and the powerful, for theft, namely that they leap over the threshold, both of neighbors, so as to steal their goods; and of their lords, so as to hide their thefts there, and be safe, and divide the plunder with them. But both the Septuagint and our version, for "of their lords," translate "of the Lord their God." He reproves therefore not only the arrogance of princes, but also their injustice, namely plunders, usuries and frauds, and that they impudently and as it were sacrilegiously consecrate them to God: but he reproves the priests, in that they accept the same, nay even extort them, and that they themselves plunder and despoil the goods of the poor under the appearance of religion, as if those were to be offered to God, deceitfully and impiously, persuading, for example, their sons: If your parents in need ask anything of you, say that it is corban, that is a gift dedicated to God and to the priests, as Christ reproaches them Matthew XV, 6, and Matthew XXIII, 14: "Woe," He says, "to you, Scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! because you devour the houses of widows, praying long prayers," that is to say, Woe to you, Scribes, who drain the purses of widows by selling them, with a pretense of sanctity, your long prayers! For in Greek it reads, προφάσει μακρᾷ προσευχόμενοι, that is, on the occasion of a long prayer, or under the pretext that they pray much for them. So St. Chrysostom on that passage.
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10. A voice of crying from the Fish Gate, — Namely it shall be heard: because, as Ribera and Vilalpando teach in part I of the Apparatus of the City, book II, chapter XIII, through the Fish Gate, first, the Chaldeans appear to have broken into the city of Jerusalem, and either killed or captured all the inhabitants, just as a fisherman is accustomed to prey upon all the fish of the sea with impunity. Whence Habacuc chapter I, 14, says: "And thou shalt make men (the Jews) as the fishes of the sea," so that they may be captured by the fisherman Nabuchodonosor. And verse 15: "He hath lifted up all of them with his hook, he hath drawn them in his net." This gate was called the Fish Gate, because it looked toward the sea, and through it fish were imported from there. Hear from St. Jerome, Saligniacus and Borchardus, Adrichomius: The gate, he says, of the Fish Gate near the tower of David, between mount Sion and the lower city, situated in the valley of Mello toward the west. It was called the Fish Gate, because through it from Joppe and other maritime places (and especially from the sea of Galilee situated there opposite, as Vilalpando says in part I, book III, chapter IX) fish were daily brought into the city. This gate is also inscribed by other names as the gate of David and the gate of Merchants: David indeed, because it was near the tower of David; Merchants truly, because through it various merchandise of merchants from Bethlehem, Hebron, Gaza, Egypt and Ethiopia were brought in. Through this gate western pilgrims are accustomed to enter the city. Thus also Vilalpando in part I, book III, chapter IX. Where however he disagrees with Adrichomius in this, that he thinks the Fish Gate was not to the west of Jerusalem, as Adrichomius wishes, but to the north: because, he says, the Chaldeans had their camp to the north; and through the Fish Gate they broke into the city, and soon occupied the second gate, which namely was in the second wall, and is called by Jeremiah the Middle Gate. Which reasoning concludes well, if it is true that the Chaldeans entered through the Fish Gate into the city, and into the Second Gate, as Sophonias insinuates here. He therefore thinks the Fish Gate was to the north of the city, between the Ephraim Gate and the tower of Hananeel, near Bezeth; and the Chaldeans entered through it, because they coveted the riches of the temple which was near to them; yet St. Jerome agrees with Adrichomius, and it is favored by II Paralipomenon XXXIII, 14, where it is said: "And he built a wall without the city of David on the west side of Gihon, in the valley, from the entrance of the Fish Gate even to Ophel." And to the argument of Vilalpando it could be answered, that the Chaldeans broke in to Jerusalem by both ways, namely having broken through the northern wall of the city they penetrated into the Second, and having broken through the western Fish Gate, they broke into the valley of Mello, as much as into the lower city, which was called the daughter of Sion: for this gate was near to both, and opened an approach to both; and therefore Sophonias signifies that there shall be a howling in both places, namely both in the Fish Gate and in the Second. And a howling from the second. — The Second Gate was called, which was in the second wall: for Jerusalem toward the north, near the temple, was divided into three regions, each of which had its own wall extending lengthwise. The first wall was near Sion: the second was in the middle, conspicuous with most splendid gates, and divided into fourteen towers, which king Ezechias repaired and made stronger and higher, II Paralipomenon XXXII, 5. The third was the outermost, which king Agrippa did not first build, as Ribera wishes, but already built he fortified at public expense, and made it wider and higher. This was entirely solid, and twenty-five cubits high, and had ninety square strong and lofty towers. Thus Josephus, book VI of the War, chapter VI, and book XIX of the Antiquities VII. There was therefore a howling in the Second or Middle Gate: because the Chaldeans, having broken the third and outermost wall, broke into the second, and its gate, which was called the Second or Middle, and captured it and occupied it, as Jeremiah narrates in chapter XXXIX, 3. The Hebrews add, Pagninus, Vatablus, Arias and Clarius, that in the Second there was an academy: whence there dwelt Holda the prophetess, IV Kings XXII, 14. Wherefore for משנה misne, that is second, they themselves translate, academy: a great wailing, they say, from the academy. For academics are accustomed, not with swords, but with pens, to be struck with fear of war more than others and to tremble, and when the enemy rushes in to cry out: assuredly the quiet and silent Muses do not well accord with fierce Mars, and with trumpets, drums and guns resounding. For the outermost wall of Jerusalem contained the third region of the city, in which dwelt craftsmen, merchants and the common people. The second contained the second region, in which, as being safer and more tranquil, dwelt nobles, scholars, doctors, Rechabites and the like. The third and innermost contained the citadel of Sion and the temple, and the lower city subject to them, which for this reason was called the daughter of Sion. See these things graphically expressed in the description and map of Jerusalem, which Adrichomius exhibits after page 144. Read also our Vilalpandus in the Apparatus of the City, part I, book II, chapter III, and book III, chapter IX. And a great breaking in pieces from the hills, — namely of Sion and the temple, and other similar places, to which, as being more fortified, after the city was taken by the Chaldeans, the Jews fled from the second and outermost region, but were pursued by the Chaldeans and seized there, broken in pieces and slaughtered. Thus St. Jerome and Theodoret. Tropologically, in the hour of death and in the day of judgment there will be lamentation, on account of sins which through the gates, that is the eyes or ears; and in the hills, that is in reason, mind and will, we have committed. For death ascends through the windows, Jeremiah IX, 21. See the things said there. Therefore the Gate of the Fish is the gate of the eyes, concerning which Song of Songs VII, 4: "Thy eyes are like the pools in Hesebon, which are in the gate of the daughter of the multitude." For the eyes on account of the aqueous and crystalline humor appear to be pools and gates of Fish, through which namely the species of earthly things and of pleasures rolling about in the sea of this world, like fish creep into the soul, and infect it and assimilate it to themselves. Hear St. Jerome: "The first gate of the eyes will be, by which the sins will be exhibited before our eyes, and all the pomp and image of ancient crimes and vices, and of luxury will be brought forth into the open. Therefore conscience will torment him, and after he has cried out in compunction from the first gate of the eyes, he will also wail from the Second, which we can also understand as the ears. For through these senses especially, by which vices had crept in, their punishment will be felt, when we shall see what we have done, and hearing the word and the whole order of sins, we are compelled into wailing, and whatever was lofty in us is broken in pieces, and on account of blindness and deaf ears was unknown in us." Secondly, the same a little further below: "Or certainly, he says, at the end of the world, and in the consummation they will mourn from the Gate of the Fish first, who have not kept their baptism: they will mourn from the Second, who have not done worthy penance for their sins. And there will be great breaking in pieces upon the hills, who have not even bent themselves for their sins, so that they might submit their neck, and bewail their crimes. For through these two gates of Baptism and Penance, into Jerusalem, that is into the Church of God, there is either entrance, or return."
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11. Wail, inhabitants of the Mortar. — Mortar, that is a vessel in which we pound pepper, ginger and spices; or, if larger, rice and grains. Hear St. Jerome: "The mortar, which in Hebrew is called מכתש machtes, and was translated by Aquila thus τοῦ ὕλμου, is not to be read with a short first syllable (so that it be a ball for play), lest we think of σφαῖρας, but with a long one, so that we may know it is spoken of a mortar in which grains are pounded: a hollow vessel and suited to the use of physicians, in which properly barley-water is usually beaten." Whence mortar is called from pinso, pinsis; in which they pounded and crushed dried grains with a pestle, as Cato says in chapter XIV, book On Agriculture. Moreover, Mortar here is the proper name of a city or place. Whence Pagninus retained the Hebrew Machtes as it were a proper place name. You will ask, what place or city is this? First, Rabbi Solomon thinks the city called Mortar is Tiberias, because it is situated in a hollow valley: but the Fish Gate to be Ptolemais, which adjoins the fish-filled sea: Misne, which Our Author translates as Second, to be Luz, a city near Jerusalem: the hills to be Sepphoris. But he himself invents this in his usual manner, he does not prove it. Certainly the discourse cannot be about Tiberias, since it had long before been laid waste by Salmanasar together with all Galilee and Samaria, in the sixth year of Hezekiah king of Judah, who was the ancestor of Josiah, under whom Zephaniah prophesies this, as he himself says in verse 1. Second, Lyra more rightly understands by mortar Jerusalem. For this entire prophecy is against Judah and Jerusalem, to which he threatens destruction through the Chaldeans. Moreover, Jerusalem is called a mortar, because it was in the midst of Judea, and its center, to which forum and markets the Jews flowed from all sides. By a similar metaphor Ezekiel, chapter XXIV, 2, calls Jerusalem a pot, in which flesh is cooked, that is the Jews. Whence also Syriac dictionaries, Machtes, or Machtose, explain Jerusalem, from the root chtase, which signifies to disturb, shake, vex, or even to assail, and to wage war; all of which are fitting for Jerusalem. But since in verse 4 the Prophet expressly named Jerusalem, why would he here obscurely call it by the same name mortar? Add that immediately before he named the particular places of Jerusalem, namely the Fish Gate, the Second, and the hills: therefore machtes also, or mortar, was a particular place of the same city. Whence Third, by mortar can be understood the lower city of Jerusalem, which, situated in a hollow valley, was as it were a mortar or pestle, with respect to Zion and the other hills. For this city was near the Fish Gate and the Second Gate. It is called mortar, both on account of the humble situation already mentioned; and because in it was the forum of spice-merchants, bakers, cooks, etc., who in a mortar pound spices, grains, flesh and herbs. Thus Arias, Vatable and Clarius. Fourth, by mortar can be understood the chasm of Millo, which is also called Tyropæon. For, as Josephus teaches in book VI of the War, chapter VI, Jerusalem was built upon two hills, facing each other with opposite fronts, separated by an intervening valley, into which very many houses descended. And further down: But the valley which is called Tyropæon, by which we said the hill of the upper city is divided from the lower, extends to Siloam: for thus we called the spring, which is sweet and abundant. This valley is called here a mortar, both on account of its depth, and because in it the Jews were to be pounded. St. Jerome calls it the valley of Siloam; the Chaldean, the valley, or torrent of Cedron; because it ran as far as Siloam and Cedron through the Water Gate. The sense therefore is, as if to say, "Just as grains are pounded in a mortar by a pestle striking from above, so from the Fish Gate, and from the Second Gate, and from the hills pouring down upon you the army will rush," and will pound and crush you, says St. Jerome, and from him Remigius, Ribera, Emmanuel and Mariana. Fifth, Adrichomius in his description of Jerusalem holds that machtes, or a mortar properly speaking, is the valley of Cedron. Cedron is a torrent between Jerusalem and the Mount of Olives, which runs through the valley of Josaphat in length. Therefore the valley of Josaphat is the valley of Cedron, which in its latter part, where the torrent of Cedron flows past the fountain and pool of Siloe, is called from it the valley of Siloe. Hear Adrichomius: The valley of Cedron, he says, wide, deep and dark (whence also Cedron is named, from the root קדר cadar, that is black, dark, obscure, gloomy) which surrounded the temple in the manner of a ditch; and because it was arranged in the likeness of a mortar, in Hebrew it was called Machtes, in Latin however Pila. It was of such depth that those looking down from the roof of the temple to its bottom would have their eyes grow dim with dizziness of the head. In this valley merchants and traders of every kind dwelt. Into this valley, when James the brother of the Lord, the first bishop of Jerusalem, professed Jesus the Son of God on the very feast of Passover from the pinnacle of the temple before all the people, he was cast down by the command of Anani the Sadducean high priest, and with his legs broken he was also stoned from above by the Scribes and Pharisees, and finally struck in the brain by a fuller's club he died. Thus far Adrichomius. This opinion is probable, and St. Jerome favors it, who calls the pila the valley of Siloe; and the Chaldean, who for pila renders the torrent of Cedron. Yet it seems to be opposed by the fact that the torrent of Cedron and the valley of Siloe were outside the city: but the pila, as also the gate of the Fishes and the Second gate, appear to have been within Jerusalem. Wherefore the fourth opinion reviewed a little before seems more probable, which reconciles all the interpretations. It is added that the gate of the Fishes, through which the Chaldeans broke into the city, is marked by Adrichomius directly at the entrance of the valley of Mello, or Tyropaeus, so that the Prophet rightly says there was a great wailing in that place, inasmuch as the Chaldeans first exercised their fury there. For this valley was very wide and most frequent with human habitations, inasmuch as Solomon leveled it and adorned it with buildings, which when collapsed Hezekiah restored, as is evident from III Kings IX, 15, and II Paralipomenon XXXII, 5. Moreover through one part of the city, the Prophet signifies the wailing and lamentation of the whole city. For all Jerusalem, as Lyra said, just as it was a mortar crushing and killing the Prophets, so likewise was a mortar in which the Chaldeans crushed and killed these impious citizens and prophet-slayers: just as the same afterwards was a mortar crushing Christ and the Apostles, and therefore became a mortar in which Titus and the Romans crushed and destroyed those Christ-killers, as Christ foretold to it in Luke cap. XIX, 41 and following. Whence the Septuagint translates: Mourn ye that dwell in the hewn. For the Hebrew machtes and pila also signifies the jaw of teeth: because just as aromatics are ground and hewn in a mortar, so foods are hewn and ground by teeth. Machtes therefore generally is a vessel or instrument by which hewing or crushing is done, such as a mortar and a jaw. Whence the Jews in Jerusalem as in a mortar crushed, and in the same as in a jaw with teeth, that is with swords and arms of the Chaldeans, were hewn and torn. Symbolically, let Constantinople wail, let Buda wail, let Trebizond wail, let any city captured by the Turk or by a heretical prince wail; in which as in a mortar he himself crushes Catholics. Tropologically, a mortar is tribulation, in which God strikes sinners, so that he may extract from them the groans and tears of penance; but in many it is true what the Wise man says in Proverbs XXVII, 22: "If thou beatest a fool in a mortar, his folly shall not depart from him." But the just and martyrs in it say what Anaxarchus said when crushed in a mortar to the tyrant: "Strike, strike; thou strikest a skin, thou strikest not Anaxarchus," as Philo relates in the book That every good man is free. And Ovid in the Ibis: Or that like Anaxarchus thou be ground in the high mortar, And thy bones cast forth sound like the usual grain. Anagogically, the mortar is the pot of Vulcan, namely Gehenna, in which devils with as many pestles beat the reprobate as there are illicit pleasures which they have felt or committed here; and especially the pestles are the pricks of conscience, which, crying out to the damned and reproaching him, continually beats and torments him, saying: Why, unhappy one, have you cast yourself into this mortar? Why have you brought upon yourself so many pestles of sorrows and anguishes for a small pleasure? It is beaten in eternity, but shall never be beaten through: you are beaten and bruised even to the bones, even to the soul; but no blow shall beat it through, but shall keep it always living and immortal, for eternal beatings and torments. The poets feign as a symbol of this thing the heart of Prometheus bound to a rock on Mount Caucasus, perpetually beaten and gnawed by an eagle, yet never gnawed away or beaten through, and that as a punishment for the theft by which he stole fire from heaven and brought it down to the earth, concerning which Ovid in the first book of the Metamorphoses. But why are they beaten so horribly in this mortar? Because in this life they were mortars of gluttony, of the belly, of lust and of mammon, in which flesh, the world and the devil heaped together, pressed down, beat and ground their delights, their feasts, their spices, their wines, their filth, their riches: because they lived idly, allowing themselves to be trampled and beaten by temptations, passions and vices. For such is a mortar, which idleness allows to be continually beaten. Whence Timon the misanthrope called Cleanthes on account of the slowness of his wit δῖμον ἄτολμον, that is, a blunt pestle, an idle mortar. Hence the proverb: "More blunt than a pestle, more naked, more bald:" for the lower part of the pestle is so blunt and smooth that it seems to resemble the skull of a bald man. The mortar therefore denotes the idleness of the wicked in resisting sins and in doing good works, having cast them into the mortar and pot of Vulcan. All the people of Chanaan were silent. — In Hebrew the particle כי ki is added, that is, because, as if here the reason is given why the inhabitants of the mortar should wail, namely because all the people of Chanaan were silent. Chanaan, that is, merchant, who is occupied in buying and selling merchandise, as the inhabitants of Chanaan, or the Chanaanites, did. Whence that passage in Osee XII, 7: "Chanaan, in his hand is a deceitful balance." See the things said there; indeed the Chaldean interpreter understands by Chanaan the Chanaanites, as if to say: Wail, citizens of Jerusalem, because the Chanaanites and other merchants shall cease to bring to your forum, to your mortar aromatics, grain and other merchandise. Secondly and better, that is, because, here, as also often elsewhere, is not causal, but enclitic, and is added merely for ornament. Wherefore by Chanaan understand not the Chanaanites, but the Jews. For these are called Chanaanites by the Prophets, not Hebrews, nor Abrahams; because they imitated not the customs of Abraham, but of Cham, Chanaan and his descendants. For whoever is said to be the son of him whom he imitates and resembles. Whence that passage in Daniel XIII, 56: "Seed of Chanaan, and not of Juda." And Ezekiel XVI, 3: "Your root, and your generation is of the land of Chanaan: your father was an Amorrhite, and your mother a Cethite." Hence also Christ to the Jews: "You," He says, "are of your father the devil," John VIII, 44. Wherefore the Chaldean translator renders it: The people perished, whose works are like the works of the people of the land of Chanaan. Thus St. Jerome, Theodoret, Haymo and Lyra. Moreover in the word was silent there is emphasis. For was silent, that is, was utterly cut off and perished, as the Chaldean translator renders it, so that no voice, groan or hiss is heard in it: because all were either captured or slain by the Chaldeans; or if any remain, they are so struck, afflicted and stunned that by the vehemence of sorrow and by stupor their voice is cut off, nor can they utter any voice, indeed nor even open their mouths. They all perished wrapped in silver,—namely merchants and the avaricious, who deal in nothing but gold and silver, and the rich surrounded and hemmed in on all sides by riches, and trusting in them and growing proud, as though by means of them they were impregnable to the Chaldeans. Thus St. Jerome. Whence the Septuagint translates, exalted with silver. Secondly, "wrapped in silver:" because they gave their heart and all their affection to silver, and fixed and wrapped it so firmly in it, says Ribera, that they seem not so much to possess and rule silver as to be possessed and ruled by silver. For which reason others translate, bearers of silver; others, burdens of silver. For silver is an idol which the avaricious man worships, which he consults, which he pursues by fair means and foul, to which he obeys in all things and enslaves himself as it were a servant. Whence he is driven by it to usuries, frauds, deceits and all crimes. For this reason avarice is called by the Apostle the service of idols, in Greek idolatry, Ephesians V, 5. It is said of Aristotle, when he wished to investigate more curiously the seven daily flows and refluxes of the Euripus, he was absorbed by it: "Aristotle does not have the Euripus, but the Euripus has Aristotle." The same you might more truly say of the avaricious man: The avaricious man does not have the Euripus of money, but it has and possesses the avaricious man. Truly Cicero, in the fifth oration against Verres: "There is nothing so sacred that it cannot be violated; nothing so fortified that it cannot be conquered by money." And Cato in Gellius: "Thieves of private property spend their time in the stocks and in chains: but thieves of public property in gold and in purple." Finally the avaricious are wrapped in silver: because they have their heart in brass, not in the ether. An example of this exists literally in the Life of St. Anthony of Padua. For when he himself had a funeral oration at the obsequies of a certain rich avaricious man, he said: Christ says: "Where thy treasure is, there is thy heart also." Thus this rich man has his heart in his treasure, and left it there. Go to his house, and you will find it in his gold. They went, and found his heart in his gold, as the holy man had affirmed. More similar examples exist in the lives of the Saints. Delrio adds in adage 1003: Just as infants who delight in vile things, such as nuts, are wrapped in swaddling clothes; so the rich, who delight in vile red and white earth, that is gold and silver, wrap themselves in it: "wrapped in the same wrapping so grossly, says Rupertus, that it is very difficult for them to enter the kingdom of God," according to that saying of Christ: "It is easier for a camel to pass through the eye of a needle than for a rich man to enter the kingdom of God," Mark chapter X, 25. Mystically, St. Gregory in book XVIII of the Morals, XI: "Because, he says, some desire to have the words of God not inwardly through nourishment, but outwardly through display, therefore it is said through the Prophet: They all perished wrapped in silver. These indeed are they who do not fill themselves with the word of God through inner nourishment, but clothe themselves with it through outer display." Thus literally, clergy and religious who outwardly display the habit of piety, if inwardly they have their heart wrapped in silver, fall from their station and perish. For this reason we have seen and see many Churches, monasteries and Orders fall from their original splendor of sanctity, and therefore either perish, or lie in contempt, or have been overthrown by heretics and infidels. Truly said the wise man: "The mother gave birth to a daughter, but the daughter suffocated the mother," namely, "the daughter of ample endowment suffocated the mother of devoted religion."
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12. I will search Jerusalem with lamps, — that is to say, I will cause the Chaldeans, having captured Jerusalem, to search all its corners and hiding places exactly, so that no one of the Jews hiding himself may escape their hands. Thus likewise the Romans under Titus searched out the Jews in sewers, caves and tombs, and drew them out from thence unto death, as Josephus relates in book VII of the Wars, chapters XVII, XXVI and XXX, and in book III, chapter XIV. Where he narrates that he himself was extracted from the same places, or rather went out willingly, when Vespasian promised him life and liberty, and surrendered himself to him. It is a proverb. For we apply a lamp when we wish to search something exactly and to see through it thoroughly. Whence that ancient saying which Plutarch cites in his Precepts on Marriage: "With the lamp removed there is no difference between women," signifying that most are unchaste, or inclined to it, if the opportunity of darkness and secrecy be given, where sin may be committed without a witness. Indeed, Diogenes, having brought a lamp in the daytime, when asked what he was doing, replied: "I am seeking a man," as Laertius testifies in his Life. Seneca, in the book On the Happy Life, indicates that this same thing was wont to be done through superstition, whenever the wrath of the Deity was announced: "When," he says, "an old man, clothed in linen, bearing a lamp in the middle of the day, cries out that some god is angry, you run together and listen." Allegorically, this will be more truly in the day of judgment, when God will search the secrets of places and minds, and will reveal the hidden things of darkness, and will make manifest the counsels of hearts, I Corinthians IV; for then indeed even concerning the least idle word, and concerning the most subtle thoughts, he will demand an account from anyone, as St. Jerome says. Hear St. Bernard, sermon 55 on the Canticles, explaining that passage of the Canticles II: My beloved is like the roe, which has keen sight: "Fear," he says, "the scrutiny of the judge, fear the eyes of the roe, fear him who through the Prophet says: And it shall be in that day, and I will search Jerusalem with lamps. He has keen sight, he leaves nothing unsearched: his eye will search the reins and hearts, and the very thought of man will confess to him. What is safe in Babylon, if scrutiny remains in Jerusalem? For I think that in this place the Prophet has designated by the name Jerusalem those who lead a religious life in this age, imitating the customs of that heavenly Jerusalem with honest and ordered conversation as far as they are able; and not like those who are of Babylon, wasting their life in the perturbation of vices and the confusion of crimes. Finally, their sins are manifest, preceding unto judgment, and have no need of scrutiny, but of punishment. But my sins (who seem to be a monk and a Jerusalemite) are certainly hidden, shadowed by the name and habit of a monk: and therefore it will be necessary that they be investigated with subtle discussion, and as it were brought to light with lamps applied, according to that of Psalm LXXIV: When I shall receive the time, I will judge justices (that is, the ways of the just). It is to be greatly feared, when this shall have come to pass, lest under so subtle an examination many of our justices (as they are thought to be) appear to be sins." He adds the remedy: "There is one thing, however, if we ourselves have judged ourselves, we shall certainly not be judged. I will cure evils with better acts, wash them away with tears, punish them with fastings and other labors of holy discipline, etc. I will search my ways and my studies, so that he who is about to search Jerusalem with lamps may find nothing unsearched in me, or undiscussed. For neither will he judge twice concerning the same thing. Who will give me thus to pursue and prosecute all my offenses to the bottom, so that in nothing I ought to fear the eyes of the roe, in nothing at the light ought I to blush at the lamps? And now I see, but I do not see. The eye is at hand to whom all things are open, although he himself is not open. There will be a time when I shall know, as I am also known." You will ask, what are the lamps of God, by which all things and all persons will be searched in the day of judgment? I answer: The uncreated lamp of God is His very mind, intellect, perspicacity, knowledge, by which He penetrates all things and sees them most clearly. For, as the Apostle says, "The word of God is living and effectual, and more piercing than any two-edged sword, etc., a discerner of the thoughts and intents of the heart. And there is no creature invisible in His sight: but all things are naked and open to His eyes," Hebrews IV, 12. Hence the Egyptians depicted God hieroglyphically, as it were an eye resting upon a scepter, signifying by the eye His vision, knowledge, providence; by the scepter, His power, kingdom, vengeance and chastisement. "For God," says Pliny in book II, chapter VII, "is wholly sense, wholly sight, wholly hearing, wholly soul, wholly mind, wholly Himself." And, as Tertullian says in his book On the Trinity: "God is wholly an eye." Hence Ecclesiasticus XXIII, 27: "His eye sees all things." And verse 28: "The eyes of the Lord are much brighter than the sun, looking round about all the ways of men, and the depths of the abyss, and beholding the hearts of men in the hidden parts." Wherefore think, O sinner, that you cannot escape this eye, even if you hide yourself in a chamber, in caves, in caverns: for everywhere this eye sees you. If you know and think this, how do you dare to sin in the sight of this divine and avenging eye, and to provoke it? The created lamps of God are various. First are the angels and demons, who by their nature are spirits that are bright and ever-watchful, penetrating all things, searching and seeing through all, concerning whom the Psalmist speaks in Psalm CIII, and the Apostle in Hebrews I, 7: "Who makes His angels spirits, and His ministers a flame of fire." These in the judgment will accuse the sinner, and will reveal and lay bare all his crimes, even the most hidden and minute, at the tribunal of Christ. The second lamp of God is the reason and conscience of each one, concerning which Psalm IV, 7: "The light of Thy countenance, O Lord, is signed upon us." And Matthew VI, 22: "The light of thy body is thy eye." This keeps the fault in memory, and will acknowledge it and confess it before the judge and the whole world. This will say to the sinner himself: I warned you, I cried out to you: do not commit this crime, God sees you, God will punish you, but you would not hear me; with me protesting, shamelessly in the sight of God, impudently, you committed these and those particular crimes: you know it, I testify, you cannot deny it. The third lamp is the law and word of God, concerning which the Psalmist speaks in Psalm CXVIII, 105: "Thy word is a lamp to my feet, and a light to my paths." And the Wise Man in Proverbs VI, 23: "The commandment is a lamp, and the law is light." And II Peter I, 19: "Attending as to a lamp shining in a dark place." For the law of God will uncover the iniquities of men, which they have committed contrary and repugnant to this law, and will show how unjustly, impiously, and alienated from reason and law they have acted and how abhorrent. Hear St. Ambrose on Psalm CXVIII, octenary 18, on that passage: Thy word is kindled: "In three ways," he says, "describe to yourself the kindled word of God, either because it cleanses, or because it inflames, or because it illuminates those who hear. Therefore the Lord says: I searched Jerusalem with a lamp. But He found in it no one either who was cleansed, or who was inflamed, or illuminated: therefore He left it in darkness." The fourth lamp is the sun, moon, and stars, which shone upon the sinner while he was sinning and provided him light; these will testify to the crime which they saw, to which they provided light. Whence Isaiah says concerning them in chapter XXIV, 23: "The moon shall blush, and the sun shall be confounded, when the Lord of hosts shall reign in mount Sion, and in Jerusalem, and shall be glorified in the sight of His ancients." And Joel chapter II, 31: "The sun shall be turned into darkness, and the moon into blood." The fifth lamp is the life of Christ and the saints. Hence Christ says of John the Baptist: "He was a burning and shining lamp," John V, 35. And Philippians II, 15: "Among whom you shine as lights in the world." And of Elijah and Enoch St. John says: "These are the two olive trees, and the two candlesticks standing before the God of the earth," Apocalypse XI, 4. Therefore there are as many lamps of God as there are saints, indeed as many as there are virtues and examples of saints; these reveal and prove the wickedness of sinners. Wherefore Christ the judge will say to every reprobate: Behold, I gave you these examples of the pious as torches, which you should follow: but you preferred darkness and the works of darkness to follow rather than light. See how your works, how your life is unlike the life of St. Paul, St. Francis, St. Dominic, etc. If you answer: Lord, I could not keep chastity, because by nature and habit I was too inclined to lust; the judge will argue: You lie. For St. Augustine, most inclined to lust, overcame it through my grace; Magdalene overcame it, Pelagia overcame it, countless others overcame it: therefore you too could have overcome your inclination through the same grace, which I either offered you, or prepared for you, and would have truly given, if you had humbly and earnestly asked for it, and had strenuously cooperated with it. Who would not fear this scrutiny of God? Anagogically, the lamp of the heavenly Jerusalem is the most splendid and glorious humanity of Christ, which will not only scrutinize it, lest anything unclean enter into it, but will also irradiate it with wonderful and eternal splendors, gladden and beatify it: concerning which Apocalypse XXI, 23: "And the city hath no need of the sun, nor of the moon, to shine in it. For the glory of God hath enlightened it, and the Lamb is the lamp thereof." And I will visit upon the men fixed (that is, wholly immersed, glued, and, as it is in Hebrew קופאים kopheim, that is, coagulated, or congealed) in the dregs (that is, in sordid and foul pleasures, namely delights and riches) of their own. — Whence the Chaldean renders: I will take notice of men who enjoy the greatest tranquility in their riches. It is a metaphor from harsh wine lying upon its dregs, which while it remains unmoved in them, preserves its harshness and defect: whence in order that it may lose this, and become sweeter, it is usually removed from them by wine-merchants, and transferred into another vessel. Thus indeed God transferred the Jews, diffusing in Jerusalem in idleness and wealth, in order to correct their corrupted morals, from it into Babylon. Zephaniah alludes to his contemporary Jeremiah, chapter XLVIII, 11, where he says of Moab: "Moab hath been at ease from his youth, and hath settled on his lees: and hath not been poured out from vessel to vessel, neither hath he gone into captivity: therefore his taste remained in him, and his scent is not changed." See the remarks there. Thus a change of place and office often tears men away from their desires, habits and loves. Wherefore wisely in Religious communities it has been established that religious are sometimes transferred from one monastery or college to another, from one province to another, so that they may remember that they have not here a lasting city, but are strangers and pilgrims, citizens indeed of the saints and members of the household of God, and may fix their mind and love therein. Who say in their hearts: The Lord will not do well, nor will he do ill, — that is, Who think and judge that God does not have providence over the good and the wicked, so as to punish these, reward those; but all things happen by chance or fate. It is fortune, they say, or fate, which rules all things, which brings good to these, evil to those. It is the voice of politicians and atheists: for those who are fixed in the dregs of their sins continually adhere, finally become atheists. For the love of pleasures, and the habit of sinning which they are unwilling to abandon, impels them and blinds them, so that they say: There is no providence; so that, with the fear of the Godhead removed, they may sin more freely, and enjoy their paramours or desires, according to that Psalm XIII, 1: "The fool hath said in his heart: There is no God."
1:13
13. And their strength shall be turned to spoil. — For strength in Hebrew is חיל chel, which signifies strength, forces, wealth, army. Whence the Chaldean renders: Their riches shall be for spoil; Pagninus: Their substance shall be turned to spoil; the Zurich Bible: Their riches shall be plundered. Hence also follows, and their houses (shall be) a desert; the Chaldean, their houses for prey; Pagninus, their houses for desolation; the Zurich Bible, their houses shall be laid waste. For the rich place all their strength in houses and wealth, according to that Proverbs XVIII, 11: "The substance of the rich man is the city of his strength, and as a high wall in his own conceit." St. Jerome, however, Remigius and Haymo understand by strength an army. Hear St. Jerome: "In the day of death and judgment all their strength shall be turned to spoil, so that what was strong and rose up against the Lord may be turned weak and broken to better purpose; as if someone should plunder the strength of a robber, and pirate, and thief, and render them weak, their weakness profits them; for weakened limbs, which they previously used not well, will cease from evil work."
1:14
14. Near is the great day of the Lord, — namely the day of vengeance and destruction of Jerusalem, and of the Babylonian captivity. Allegorically, aptly St. Jerome, Remigius, Vatablus, indeed the Church in the Office for the Dead, adapts all these things to the day of judgment. See the sayings of Joel cap. II. Near, says St. Jerome, is the day of death and judgment, "either on account of eternity, because nothing is long to it; or on account of the magnitude of punishment, because to one suffering the torment which is to be inflicted never seems far off; or, since we shall have departed from the world, and each one's death shall have made an end of the world, it will not only be near, but also exceedingly swift." The voice of the day of the Lord is bitter, — because on that day there will be a clanging, noise, tumult and lamentation both of the Chaldeans slaying and of the Jews either slain or captive, bitter and horrible. Allegorically, St. Jerome continually felt the voice of the last trumpet resounding in himself: "Whether," he says, "I drink, or eat, or sleep, always that trumpet resounds in my ears: Arise, ye dead, come to judgment." The wise, who hear and ponder this voice continually. The strong shall be troubled there. — The Chaldean, there the mighty shall be slain; Pagninus, the strong cries out there; Zurich, there the strong shall wail shamefully. Others with changed punctuation thus explain it: The voice of the day of the Lord is near, there the strong shall cry out bitterly, that is, there shall be heard the harsh and horrible voice of the Chaldeans assaulting Jerusalem and slaughtering its inhabitants; and allegorically, of the angels' trumpet sounding, and bringing destruction and an end to the world on the day of judgment.
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15. Day of wrath... — He speaks literally of the day of the destruction of Jerusalem by the Chaldeans; allegorically, of the day of judgment. The Septuagint: Day of wrath that day, day of tribulation and necessity, day of misery and perdition, day of darkness and gloom, day of cloud and mist, day of trumpet and clamor; the Chaldean: Day of affliction and anguish, day of tumult and commotion, day of darkness and gloom, day of cloudiness and obscurity, day of trumpet and jubilation; Pagninus: Day of wrath that day, day of anguish and affliction, day of tumult and desolation, day of darkness and gloom, day of cloud and gloom, day of trumpet and tarantantara. These exaggerations signify and represent the bitterness, horror and atrocity of that day. Zurich: Day of burning anger that day, day of anguish and constriction, day of desolation and devastation, day of darkness and gloom, day of cloud and mist, day of trumpet and blast. See what is said in Joel, chapter II, 2. Let the meditator and preacher ruminate upon, weigh, ponder and press home each of these epithets of that day, for example: The day of this life is a day of grace; that of future life and judgment will be a day of wrath; because on that day God will pour out upon the impious all His wrath, collected through six thousand years (during which sinners have continually offended and provoked Him in this world), all at once in one rush like a torrent. Secondly, that day will be a day of tribulation, because God will drive the harrow of all afflictions over the impious, and will say: "As much as she hath glorified herself, and lived in delicacies, so much torment and mourning give ye to her," Apocalypse, chapter XVIII, 7. Thirdly, it will be a day of anguish, because the reprobate will be straitened on every side. For if they look upward, they will see an angry judge, breathing forth smoke. If downward, they will see the flames of hell prepared for them. If backward, they will see the pleasures that have passed away now abandoning and tormenting them. If forward, they will see an endless eternity, and a most miserable one. If to the sides, they will see angels abandoning them and demons invading them. If within, they will see their conscience accusing and scourging them. Fourthly, it will be a day of calamity, that is, most calamitous, so that they will say to the mountains: "Cover us;" and to the hills: "Fall upon us," Osee, chapter X, 8; Apocalypse, chapter VI, verse 16. For from every side punishments will rush upon them like enemies. Fifthly, it will be a day of necessity, as the Septuagint translates it, because they will undergo a necessary and unavoidable sentence and condemnation, from which neither men, nor angels, nor the Blessed Virgin will be willing or able to free them. Sixthly, it will be a day of perdition, because they will lose forever their reputation, their life, their joy, their soul, and every good. Seventhly, it will be a day of tumult, as the Chaldean translates it, because in so great and almost infinite a number of the damned, and in a crowd so dense and packed both in the valley of Josaphat and in hell, there will be a horrible noise, clamor, wailing; horrible insults, curses and blasphemies, with which the damned will curse their companions, their parents, demons, angels, and God; for they will gnash against one another like dogs from the utmost pain and desperation. Eighthly, it will be a day of darkness, because they will go into outer darkness, where they will never see the sun, moon, or any light. Ninthly, it will be a day of whirlwind, because they will be driven about as if out of their minds by vertigo, and fire hissing like a whirlwind will drive them in circles and snatch them into the abyss. Tenthly, it will be a day of the trumpet of tarantantara, as Pagninus translates it, that is, of battle, by which God will rout and destroy them. Again it will be a day of trumpet, because with the trumpet proclaiming they will be led before the whole world to the place of punishment, that they may be tormented in hell. Eleventhly, it will be a day of desolation and devastation, as Pagninus and Zurich translate it, because they will be deprived of all consolation and joy, and will be filled with all sorrow and sadness. Twelfthly, it will be a day of jubilation, as the Chaldean translates it, because the saints will jubilate and applaud the justice and vengeance of God, and will insult the damned themselves, and will celebrate a triumph over them as over enemies routed. 15. Day of cloud and whirlwind. — Then properly; for God fights against the impious, and especially on the day of judgment will fight, driving and hurling against them clouds, whirlwinds, lightning, thunder, storms and hail. For these are reckoned as soldiers in the camps of God, Psalm X, 7; Wisdom V, 22. Thus fighting for Theodosius against Eugenius the tyrant, He sent winds against him: And turned back the missiles, Hurled them back upon their senders, and with a whirlwind repelled the spears, Then symbolically; for cloud, tempest and whirlwind are a symbol and image of a horrible battle, conflict, slaughter, punishment and vengeance, thundering and raining down from on high by God upon the impious, and hailing upon them. Thus Homer in the Iliad IV depicts the Greek forces, as if rushing storms, falling upon the Trojans: What kind of cloud the shepherd often sees over the waters from the lofty peak of a high cliff, contracted by the breath of Zephyr, and with mist densifying the storm-clouds in dark pine-color, and threatening a savage tempest. And Virgil, imitating Homer in his usual manner, in Aeneid XII: Like when a storm rushes over the sea to the lands from a star fallen headlong, the hearts of wretched farmers, alas! shudder far off with foreknowledge; it will bring ruin to the trees and widespread destruction, everything will fall far and wide. The winds fly before it and carry the sound to the shores. In such manner the Raetian leader drives his column against the hostile enemy. And again he describes Aeneas in the midst of conflict like a whirlwind in this way: And as when clouds suddenly pour down hail and precipitate it, every ploughman flees from the fields, etc. Thus Aeneas, overwhelmed on all sides by missiles, while the cloud of war thunders down.
1:16
16. Upon the high corners. — The Chaldean version: upon the exalted hills; the Zurich version: upon the lofty towers; for these are accustomed to be built at the corners of palaces, as if to say: The Chaldeans will very swiftly scale the highest towers, will occupy and lay waste. Thus Theodoret, Lyra, Arias and Vatablus.
1:17
17. They shall walk as the blind, — on account of fear, anguish, horror and stupor. For fear and anxiety seem to rob the timid, anxious and perplexed of light, mind and eyes, so that they know not where to flee; as if to say: The Jews will be so astounded that they will seem to be blinded, and to walk as the blind, especially because He will take from them counselors and wise men, who are as it were the mind and eyes of the city and its citizens, as Isaiah foretold in chapter III, 3. Their blood shall be poured out as dust. — The Zurich version: as powder, namely despised and of no value, which is trampled under the feet of all. Bodies. — The corpses of the Jews, unburied, will be cast out like dung, that is, they will be buried with the burial of an ass, as Jeremiah threatened the king Joakim at this same time in chapter XXII, 19.
1:18
18. Their gold shall not be able to deliver them, — because the fierce Chaldeans will seek the lives of the Jews, not their gold. In the fire of His zeal all the earth shall be devoured, — namely Judea; for it is of this that he speaks. He calls the fire of zeal the wrath of vengeance, or the wrathful vengeance. For wrath is called fire, because in wrath, with blood boiling and seething, we become inflamed, so that we seem to vomit flames from our eyes, mouth and nostrils. Whence that saying: "He breathes forth fires or wraths from his nostrils." Whence the Arabic version of Antioch translates it: in the fire of His fervor; the Arabic version of Alexandria: in the flame of His fire. Again, vengeance is called zeal, because in God this is born from great love. For he alludes to the zeal of husbands who, because they love their wives ardently, if they commit adultery and betray their faith and love, punish them most severely, and often kill them. Thus God, because He loved His people, namely the Jews, ardently, as it were His brides; hence, when they betrayed their faith and committed adultery with idols, turning His love into indignation, He punished them most gravely, laid them waste and consumed them even to consummation, that is, fully, utterly and completely. Thus St. Jerome. He speaks, as I have said, literally of the day of the destruction of Jerusalem by the Chaldeans, and by parity or similarity, of the day of its destruction by Titus and the Romans, concerning which St. Jerome says: "Even to the present day, he says, you may see the Jews forbidden to enter Jerusalem except to weep; and so that it may be permitted them to weep the ruin of their city, they redeem it with a price, so that they who once bought the blood of Christ, may buy their own tears. You may see on the day when Jerusalem was captured and destroyed by the Romans, a mournful people coming, decrepit old women and aged men covered with rags and years gathering, showing in their bodies and in their appearance the wrath of the Lord. A crowd of wretches gathers, and with the gallows of the Lord gleaming and shining with the resurrection of Him, and also from the Mount of Olives with the cross's bright standard, the wretched people weep the ruins of their temple, and yet are not to be pitied, etc., and does anyone doubt, when he sees these things, concerning the day of tribulation and anguish."
Machine translation from the Latin, not reviewed.
1:2
v. 2 « Congregans congregabo omnia a facie terrae, dicit Dominus » ; —1. e. omnia auferentur!, delebuntur, consumentur interitu, ut iam S. Hier. et reliqui explicant. Verbi eiusdem repetitione vel exagzeratio vel vehementior significatio exprimi solet (Rib.); accedit hoc loco explicita assertio, talia a Domino esse decreta, fieri a Yahve, cuius nomen ipsum .rei in effectum deducendae sponsio est maxima. Unde S. Hier. quoque notat : « quod autem in prophetis crebro dicitur haec dicit Dominus, proptereasemper infertur, ne contemnantur quasi verba prophetarum, sed admoneantur iugiter Dei esse sermones, quos loquantur » (cf. in Ier. 23, 23 et in Zach. 1, 2. Rib.). « Quod autem primum dixerat generaliter : defectione deficiat a facie terrae (ita scil. ex LXX), postea in partes divisit Scriptura divina » (Hier.)
1:3
v. 3 « congregans hominem el pecus, congregans volatilia coeli et pisces maris, et. ruinae impiorum erunt; et disperdam homines a facie terrae, dicit Dominus » ; — hebr. auferam hominem et tumentum, auferam... i. e. uti in diluvio olim vastitas et interitus omnia occupavit propter hominis scelera, ita altero Dei iudicio omnia afflizentur ; « iram quippe Dei etiam bruta sentiunt animalia et vastatis urbibus ho- 4. Hebr. FIZN hiph. a F|'D rapere, finem facere, tollere ; ei apponitur infinitivus a verbo minibusque interfectis solitudinem et raritatem bestiarum quoque fieri et volatilium pisciumque, testis Illyricum est, testis Thracia, testis in quo ortus sum, solum, ubi praeter coelum et terram et crescentes vepres et condensa silvarum cuncta perierunt » (Hzer.). Nam, prout Theod. advertit, quemadmodum in hominis gratiam volatilia et aquatilia et iumenta facta sunt et in eius usum procreata, ita etiam propter impietatem hominum et iniquitatem maledicto subiiciuntur (cf. Rib.). Adest enim nexus quidam a Deo creatore inductus inter hominem et rerum universitatem, quem fatali modo iam Gen. 3, 1'] pronuntiatum cernimus (cf. Os. 9, 91; 4, 8. Am. 9, 13) et qui per totam sacram historiam et prophetiam in hominis punitione aeque ac redemptione expressus deprehenditur. Quare istum loquendi modum neque cum S. Cyr. ! et Theod. M.? ad meram hyperbolen referemus, neque cum Sanct. animalia illa iam nullum usum esse homini allatura explicabimus, neque cum aliis homines vocabulis animalium designari interpretabimur, sed, uti novos coelos novamque terram exspectamus, ita Dei iudicium in res quoque creatas animadversurum esse credimus ; id enim in novi quoque foederis revelatione clare proponitur (cf. 2 Petr. 3, 40). Divinum iudicium in hominum scelera esse devolvendum, statim aperte declaratur, cum dicitur et (auferam) offendicula cum impiis et exscindam hominem... (hebr.) i. e. scandala, abominationes, idola, omnemque impietatis et idololatriae apparatum et cuncta iniquitatis monumenta, quae improbi tanto cum studio erexerant, funditus Deus evertet et delebit(cf. Calm. Retnke). Tali imagine ad terrorem facta propheta et divinae maiestatis potentiam delineat et iudicio particulari quod iam est expositurus maiorem conciliat fidem maioremque horrorem audientium animis incutit. Quis enim tali Deo resistet, qui uno impetu universa abripit? quis eum non verebitur eiusque ultionem non gravissime sentiet, qui cuncta uno ictu disperdet? Quare post talem praefationem maiore iam pondere animos percellit iudicii illius denuntiatio, quod ipsos qui audiunt, immediate et proxime tangit et iam nominum verborumque familiaritate efficacius auribus insinuatur :
1:4
v. & « etertendam manum meam super Iudam et super omnes habitantes Ierusalem ; et disperdam de loco hoc reliquias Baal et nomina aed:ituorum cum sacerdotibus » ; — Dominus eztendere manum dicitur, si de magnalibus vel tremendis agitur Dei facinoribus (cf. Ex. 3, 90 ; 1, 45 de plagis aegzyptiacis ; Deut. &, 34; 5, 15; '1, 19; 9, 29; 11, 2 de miraculis in egressu ex Aegypto etc.); quare grave iudicium indicatur, quo graviter percutiantur; « extensio quippe manus gestum percutientis ostendit » (S. Hier.). Quod nunc mentio fit Iudae et Ierusalem, ipso sermonis nexu et progressu ad particularia descendente ostenditur, in antecedentibus sermonem institui de iudicio quodam gencrali neque ferram v. 9 esse nihil aliud nisi regionem iudaicam, quamvis : interpretum veterum plerique in ea fucrint sententia (cf. Cyr. Theod. M. Darh. Rib. Sanct. Sa, Mar. Tir. Gord. Lap. — de finitimis saltem gentibus explicat Calin. de orbe terrarum Sc/iegg, Reinke). Habitatores lerusalem nominatim cfferuntur, quamvis in Iuda iam sint inclusi, « quoniam illis magis Deus irascebatur, quod ipsi maxime detestari deberent omnem idolorum cultum, ut, qui in urbe sua templum et sacerdotes ct legisperitos haberent » (Rib.), ibi enim Deus oculos suos et cor se positurum spoponderat (cf. 3 Reg. 9, 3. 2 Par. "1, 16) ; quare res est omnium maxime indigna, ibi idola coli. Unde minatur, non solum cultum, verum omne quoque eius vestigium funditus iri deletum (cf. Rib. Sanct. Lap. Calm.). Fuerunt, qui ex reliquiis Baal quae delendae sint concluserint sermonem habitum esse instauratione a Iosia iam feliciter fere peracta ; sed v 5 videmus aliam rerum conditionem, vigentem scil. et maxime etiam florentem idololatriam ; quare ne prophetam secum ipso committamus, explicemus oportet illam loquendi rationem emphatice : cultum etc. Baal ita iri deletum, ut ne minimum eius supersit vel relinquatur vestigium ; quo dicendi genere animus iure indignabundus et consilium omnino firmum et determinatum exprimi solet. Idem dic de nominibus aedituorum ; tanto enim odio se habere cultum illum Deus profitetur, ut ipsa vocabula quasi stirpitus se deleturum minetur (cf. Theod.); omnem scil. sacrificulorum memoriam esse auferendam. Sunt aeditui (ita quoque Os. 10, 8 — haruspices vertit vocem S. Hier. 4 Reg. 93, 5) 2122 sacerdotes, « quos posuerant reges Iuda ad sacrificandum in excelsis per civitates Iuda et in circuitu Ierusalem » (4 Reg. 23, 5$), quibus in impio cultu sacerdotes quoque aaronitici se socios adiunxerunt (cf. 3, 4. Ier. 9, 8).
1:5
v. 8 « eL eos qui adorant super tecta militiam coeli et adorant et iurant in Domino et iurant in. Melchom » ; — i. e. qui astra colunt; « coeli militiam astra vocamus, quia eo modo in coelo videntur esse disposita, quo ih acie milites eleganter instructa » (Sanct. Lap.) ; tecta Iudaeorum plana erant, vel ut verbis utar S. Hier. : « in Palaestina... non habent in tectis culmina, sed domata, quae Romae vel solaria vel Maeniana vocant, i.e. plana tecta, quae transversis trabibus sustentantur » (ep. 100) ; in tecto isto plano saepe aderat üxzepóov conclave superius, in quod sese recipere solebant ad animum colligendum, vel recreandum, aut luctus vel orationis vel secretae collocutionis gratia (cf. Iud. 3, 20. 2 Reg. 19, 1; 4 Reg. 23, 12. Iudith 8, 15. Dan. 6, 11. Tob. 3, 12 etc.). Cultum ita exercitum etiam Ieremias perstringit 19, 13 ; altaria in tectis erigebant ibique sacrificabant. Solis, lunae astrorumque cultus iam ab antiquis* temporibus apud Israelitas quandoque exercebatur ; cf. Deut. 4, 19 ; 4*1, 3. 4 Reg. 11, 16; praeprimis florebat sub Manasse 4 Reg. 21, 3 — cf. ler. 8, 2. Vide P. Scholz, Goetzendienst p. 419 seq. Alia impietatis species in iis cernitur, qui cultum veri Dei et abominandam superstionem foeda societate iungebant, qui scil. Domino sacrificia offerebant et adoratione coram illo se prosterncbant cique fidem ac devotionem suam spondebant (cf. hebr. "5 p'2U23 !) ei simul cultui Moloch addicti per idoli invocationem turamerti fidem obligare solebant. Unum enim venerationis genus propheta effert. Melchom idem est ac Moloch ; erat Melchom (Mi!kom) idolum Ammonitarum (cf. 4 neg. 11, 5. 33 hebr. 4 Reg. 25, 13. ler. 49, j. Am. 4, 15) — unde ipsa nominuin varietate apparet, quam multiplex idololatria in Iuda viguerit ex gentibus vicinis undique corrasa. Textus mas. h.]. et saepius (cf. ler. 40, 4. Am. 4, 43 legit 2252 rer. eorum, quam lectionem aliqui, ut Keil, defendentes Daal ita dici volunt. Verum quidem est Baal regem quoque fuisse vocatum ; sed h. 1. Melchom pracferri debet, quia cultus Melchom revera erat in Iuda et propheta, qui ea enumeraticne multiplex idololatriae vitium perstringere voluit, certe non censendus est altere idolc omisso alterum bis nominasse. Consentit Syrus. LXX ex plerisque editionibus habent xxt toU BacU.éoc abro ; aliae edd. ferunt so. MeXyóy ; hanceque lectionem. sequuntur Theod. Theod. M. eique hie quidem in alteram lectionem multis invchitur eosque temeritatis et impietatis arguit qui in Scripturam graecam h. 1. regem inferre ausi sint ; id ad errorem Syri interpretis (?) refert eaque occasione utitur ad LYX versionem multis commendandam. — Ex recentioribus llitz. quoque lectioni vulg. adstipulatur. Praeter idololatras sacerdotes et laicos, quorum varios ordines modo descripsit vates, etiam oos dicit iudicio ir abreptum, qui a Dornini obedienta et cultu recesserunt vel divinum obsequium plane non curant :
1:6
v. 6 « et qui avertuntur de post tergum Domim et qui non quacsierunt Dominum nec investigaverunt eum » ; — « auferet Dominus sive disperdet &rà xowc? subauditur » (Hier.); «averti de post tergum, quod hebraicum redolet idioma, nihil est aliud quam Deum praecedentem aut viam ostendentem non sequi » (Sanct.) et ab ipsius se obsequio omnino subtrahere. Ceterum homines describuntur, qui toti rebus fluxis immersi nulla divinorum cura, religionis studio nullo tanguntur, quos indiffcrentes vocitamus. Nil novi sub sole! Tali comminatione audita terror omnium animos occupet necesse est quia iuxta est dies Domini, quia praeparavit Dominus hostiam, sanclificavit vocatos suos» ; — silete cf. Hab. 2, 905; «in hebraeo interiectio est imperantis silentium »(Hier.) ; quo silentio, timor, stupefactio, reverentia intelligitur et tumultui idololatriae scelerumque silentium et cessatio indicitur, quia iam instat dies Domni, qui « maxime apud prophetas ille dicitur, in quo Deus sumpto de peccatoribus supplicio suam potentiam et maiestatem ostendit et nomini suo illam conciliat gloriam, quam blasphema peccatorum lingua detraxerat » (Sanct.); dies igitur iudicii est i. e. dies excidii regni iudaici, dies captivitatis (cf. Cyr. Rib. .lans. Lap.). Ad terrorem incutiendum apta est mentio hostiae caedendae; impios enim et malos Deus ultioni suae ac iustitiae mactaturus est tamquam hostiam furori suo iam dudum paratam (Calm. cf. Cyr. Theod.). Nam impiorum caedes dicitur Domini sacrificium — vide Is. 34, 6. Ier. 46, 10. Ez. 39, 1'1 — quia illorum mactatione iusta quaedam satisfactio divinae iustitiae quodammodo offertur et, ut Jans. advertit, quasi publico sacrificio terra expiatur. Ad hanc victimam caedendam Deus sanctificaviti. e. sibi a reliquis separavit et elerit et ad tale munus et servitium sibi praestandum assumpsit vocatos suos i. e. eos quos speciali modo ut suae vindictae exsecutores invitavit et advocavit, scil. Chaldaeos !, « quos et sanctificatos dicit, non quasi sanctitatis compotes sed decretos potius et accersitos a Deo ad Iudaeam incendio miscendam et ad eius incolas citra ullam misericordiam perdendos funditus... quamobrem sanctificatus.hoc loco non improbitatis depositionem nee Spiritus sancti communionem, sed ad confectionem talis negotii velut destinatos quosdam ac dispertitos significat » (Cyr. — sim. Hier. Theod. Ians. Rib. Sanct. Lap. etc.). Et iure quidem ; nam id generatim sanctum dicitur, quod aliqua ratione a profano separatur et ad Dei cultum et servitium seponitur et dedicatur, cf. Is. 13, 3. Ier. 22, "1; 25, 9. Iam singulos ordines recenset vates qui in hac populi caede poenas dabunt ; incipit a primoribus, qui ut dignitate, ita scelere quoque aliis praeibant v 8 «et ertt, in die hostiae Domini visitabo super principes et super filios regis et super omnes qui induti sunt veste peregrina » ; — i. e. super magistratus et nobiles eosque etiam qui sunt de regia stirpe (S. Hier.) et familia, ita ut filii regis sensu latiore dicantur ! ; in ipsa domo regia pernicies igitur longe lateque serpsit, id quod ex iniquitate Amon regis facile declaratur. losiae filii tempore oraculi editi vel nondum nati vel aetate minores erant (— post losiae mortem, qui per annos 341 regnaverat, Ioachaz erat 23, Ioakim 95 annos natus 8 Reg. 23, 31. 36 —). Vaticinium vero in iis quoque impletum est : uterque enim malum fecit coram Domino ; Ioachaz vinctus est a Pharaone Nechao regnoque privatus ; regnum Ioakim variis calamitatibus est turbatum (cf. 4 Reg. 23, 32 ; 94, 2) ; Iosiae nepos, Ioachin, in captivitatem babylonicam est abductus (l. c. v. 15) ; ultimus vero rex Sedecias postquam filios suos occidi viderat, oculis effossis et catenis onustus Babylonem est transportatus. Vestis peregrina eos indicare videtur, qui spreto more patrio gentium luxum, mollitiem, consuetudinem aemulabantur et pro vario partium studio modo Babyloniorum modo Aegyptiorum, quibus sese addixerant vel a quibus auxilium et opem sperabant, vestes et cultum assumebant, ut ipso vestimenti genere studia sua profana, antitheocratica, impia declararent (cf. Theod. Theod. M. Barh. lans. Sa, Lap. Men. Tir. Schegg). Apte Sanct. comparationis gratia affert 4 Mach. 4, 12 - 46 ; adde Is. 3, 16 - 24. Variae sunt interpretum de veste peregrina sententiae. Iam Theod. varia commemorat ; esse seeundum aliquos vestes latrocinio vel rapinis partas; secundum alios libidinem illam perstringi, qua viri mulieribus, mulieres virilibus induerentur vestimentis. S. Hier. eos intelligit, qui pro cultu Dei venerati sunt idola ; S. Cyr. eos sacerdotes, qui ornatum sacerdotalem aspernati sacra peregerint in vestitu communi et profano; alii vestes contra legem (Lev. 19, 19. Deut. 22, 11) ex lana linoque confectas cerni volunt (cf. Theod. Sanct.). Demum Mar. advenas exponit et peregrinos in lerusalem degentes, qui utique vestitum gerant peregrinum et urbis ruinae sint involvendi. [dolorum cultores Chald. quoque h. 1. explicat : « qui perstrepunt ad colenda idola ». Eidem iudicio subiacebunt superbi, oppressores
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v. 9 « et visitabo super omnem qui arroganter ingreditur super limen in die tlla, qui complent domum Domini Dei sui iniquitate et dolo » ; —i. e. qui in ipsum templum superbo apparatu et animo irreverenti et arroganti ingrediuntur et sacrificia offerunt ex rebus oppressione et fraude acquisitis (cf. fans. Rib. Lap. Men. Tir. Calm. Schegg) ; qui igitur ut in Deum arrogantia et fastu peccant, ita alios iniustitia et dolo opprimunt. Ita ex textu lat. Eodem modo textum hebr. intelligi posse, certum est. lam S. Hier. adnotat : «in eo ubi nos interpretati sumus qui arroganter ingrediuntur super limen, potest intelligi seeundum hebraicum qui transsiliunt. limen », et scite advertit Schegg, hebr. 351 ubique adhiberi ita, ut saltum dicat laetum uon sine fiducia et superbia (cf. Is. 35, 6. Cant. 9, 8. 9 Sam. 22, 30); quare cum S. Hier. explicari potest : « adversum superbos, qui cum quodam fastu et jignitatis supercilio gradus templi et sanctuarii limen ascendunt». Alterum membrum etiam a LXX ad domum Dei refertur, et Gi'21N ad Deum, qui sit iure praecipuo Dominus eorum, forma plurali pertinere dubio prorsus caret; raro enim D'Y plurali numero de pluribus dicitur, saepissime vero de uno (cf. Gen. 42, 30. 33), immo *ZT& vicibus 134 de Deo adhiberi Masorethae tradiderunt (cf. Fürst L.). — At non desunt et veteres, quos vide apud Rib. Sanct. Lap. Sa, Mar. Men. , et recentiores, qui hoc membrum de servis regis vel generatim de servis dominorum accipiunt, qui rapinis et fraude domum regis vel domum herorum suorum implent. Prius membrum intelligitur vel de violenta in alienas domus irruptione ad agendam praedam (Keil, Ieinke, Trochon) — quae interpretatio saltem cum membro subsequente bene cohaeret — vel de imitatione superstitionis Philisthaeorum, qua templi limen calcare nefas censetur eo quod duae palmae manuum Dagon idoli olim inventae sunt iacentes abscissae super limen (cf. 4 Reg. 8, 4. $ — ita apud SS. Hier. Alb. Rib. Sanct.). IIoc etiam Chald. amplexus est, sed ad plura extendit scribens : « et animadvertam in eos qui ambulant in legibus Philisthaeorum ». Verum difficillime tibi persuaseris de rebus duabus adeo inter se diversis, de superstitionis Philisthaeorum imitatione et oppressione doloque, uno in versiculo ita texi sermonem, ut alterum adiungatur ad alterum sine coniunctionis particula ; sed implentes doinum eos potius clarius designare voluisse vates est censendus, qui limen transsiliant. Quare vel in priore S. Hier. interpretatione sistendum erit, vel membrum utrumque ad iniustos oppressores, qui in subditorum aedes irruant et domum regiam rapinis locupletent, referatur necesse erit. De oppressoribus etiam Syrus versum interpretatur. Transsilire explicat Reínke etiam de festinatione qua cum rapina in palatium regium properant ; id quod certe melius est quam quod Ilitz. vult, morem Persarum, quibus limen regium sacrosanctum fuerit ideoque minime pedibus calcandum, ab istis Iudaeis fuisse imitatione expressum; de qua re ne minimum quidem indicium apud Iudaeos adest. Quando primores ac principes poenas dabunt, etiam vulgus iri af(lic- tum et totam urbem lamentationibus ac gemitibus redundaturam esse per se patet. Quare sua sponte sequitur
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v. 10 « et erit in. die 1lla, dicit Dominus, voz clamoris a porta piscium et ululatus a secunda et contritio magna a collibus » ; — erat porta piscium ex S. Hier. illa, quae Diospolin ducit et Ioppen et vicinior mari inter cunctas vias Hierosolymoram. Utrum is fuerit eius situs necne, in dubium vocant. Ceterum portam in septemtrionali parte urbis orientem * versus collocatam esse cerum apud plerosque est (cf. 2 Par. 33, 14. Neh. 3, 8; 12, 39. Schentel, Bibellexicon s. v. lerusalem III p. 227. 246). Ex ea parte Chaldaeos urbem esse ingressos, aliqui censent; neque id improbabile est, cum Sedecias cum suis per partem urbis meridionalem i. e. per viam horti regis fugam capesseret (cf. Ier. 39, 4). Quodsi ita est, aptissime describitur clamor et eiulatus ab illa parte oriturus. Sed simul ex variis partibus urbem eos occupasse (cf. Ier. 1, 13) etiam probabile est ; unde pariter a secunda urbis parte ululatus auditur ; vel saltem, cum in lali delineatione prophetica rei eventus ad amussim non sit exquirendus, vates calamitatem et eiulatum longe lateque per urbem serpere et undique perstrepere indicat. Erat secunda, uti videtur, pars quaedam urbis secundaria, urbs inferior quae vocatur, in colle Acra sita (cf. 4 Reg. 99, 14. Neh. 14, 9. Josephus, Ant. 185, 11, 5? Schegg, Keil, Reinke). Tumultus bellicus, fragor ruinarum et strepitus clamoresque caedis, quae omnia contritionem magnam iam urbi inferri manifestant, audiuntur a collibus, in quibus magna pars urbis aedificata est et praecipua urbis decora et ornamenta constiterunt, uti in Sion et Moria aliisque. Cum aedificiorum corruentium fragore, qui in altioribus collibus editus longe lateque perstrepit, ex inferiore urbis parte in valle depressa sita eiulatus permiscetur incolarum et mercatorum
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v. 44 «wululate, habitatores Pilae ; conticuit omnis populus Chanaan, disperierunt omnes involuti argento » ; — vallem, quae Tyropoion vocatur et quae inter collem Acram in parte occidentali situm et inter Dezetham et Moriam in orientali parte usque ad fontem Siloe protenditur, hoc loco nomine mortari? designari, et veteres (cf. Rib. Lap. Men. Tir.) et recentiores aliqui (cf. Schegg, Hitz. Keil) sentiunt. Chald. vallem Kidron explicat ; parum apte, quia ea vallis non ad ipsam urbem pertinebat. Ceterum incertum est, utrum hoc nomen in usu fucrit, an a propheta e loci recione et incolarum sorte sit formatum. Advertit enim S. Hier. : « pulchre Scriptura non dixit : qui habitatis in valle, qui habitatis in gurguslio, sed qui habitatis in pila, quod scil. quomodo frumenta feriente desuper vecte contunduntur, ita de porta piscium et de porta secunda et de collibus proruens in vos decurret exercitus » ; vel quia urbs per exercitum chaldaicum erat destruenda, conculcanda, in rudera convertenda (cf. lans. Rib. Lap.) ; quare LXX secundum sensum verterunt c3» xataxexcygérmy. Ea in valle fuisse forum rerum venalium et mercatorum domus amplas, non omnino inanis esse videtur coniectura, cum propheta statim subiungat : quia exscinditur omnis populus Chanaan (hebr.) i. e. mercatores Iudaei, qui mores Phoenicum aemulantur (cf. Os. 12, 8); «populum Chanaan appellavit populum Iudaeorum, iuxta illud : semen Chanaan et non Iuda» (Dan. 13, 56. S. Hier. Barh. Alb. Rib. Lap. Calm.). Vastitatem et excisionem etiam voce conticuit ! interpres lat. designat ; « cum dicitur conticuit, ttiste quoddam et horrendum silentium intelligitur, quod vel misericordiam vel admirationem maximam excitat, cum e celebri et frequenti civitate ne unus quidem reliquus est, cuius vox audiatur » (Rib.). Gravius est vituperium, si ipsos Iudaeos Chanaanitas vocat propheta, quia eorum mores exprimunt (cf. CAald.), neque id est a more Scripturae alienum (vide praeter allegata Ez. 16, 3) ; quare audiendi non sunt, qui Phoenices in urbe habitantes h. 1l. intelligunt. Parum enim ad Iudaeorum animos timore salutari percellendos ef(iceret vates, si Phoenices esse destruendos vaticinaretur. Ad quem vitae ordinem accensendi sint isti Chanaanitae, altero quoque membro indicatur : delentur omnes onusti argento (hebr. cf. Rib.), qui pecuniam et. divitias ita concesserunt, ut sub eorum onere premantur quási et gemant ; tales certo designantur, qui toti pecuniae et lucro inhiabant, neque id frustra. Eos intelligit S. Hier. involutos ?, qui sibi in divitiis confisi tantas habebant opes, ut se quasi involutos et septos suis divitiis aestimarent. Auque in tam atroci iudicio neminem vindictam divinam esse evasurum, sed Dominum ipsum omni cura et studio sceleratos et vitiis inveteratos esse ad condignas poenas: revocaturum, declaratur
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v. 12 «et erit, in. tempore illo scrutabor Ierusalem in. lucernis, et visitabo super viros defixos in faecibus suis, qui dicunt in cordibus suis : non faciet bene Dominus et non faciet male » ; — sicut qui diligentissime aliquid quaerunt, Deus facibus et luminibus remotissima quaeque et maximc abscondita perlustrabit, ne quis reus eflugiat vel absconsus maneat e: inultus abeat. Quod losephus de altera expugnatione urbis narrat, de cloacis quoque et sepulcris et antris et speluncis extractos principes 4. Hebr. ma cf. Os. 10, 7. Is. 6, 855 15, 45 ceterum 5923. eiluit, quievit Ter, 14, 11; eiusdem significationis est D'37, QYT ; et cum qm-3 similem esse quoquo significet, etiain ver-ioó LXX (poto x3; 6 )xó; Xayxiv facile declaratur. *. Cogitasso videtur S. liic. de verbo 553 obtegere (cf. Schegg, Reinke). et potentes et sacerdotes, plerique duce S. IJier. ad hunc locum illu- Sstrandum commemorant (cf. Cyr. fans. Rib. Sanct. Lap. Tir. Calm. Schegg, Keil). Ad lucernae imaginem cf. Luc. 13, 8. Accuratissima haec disquisitio et visitatio i. e. animadversio et punitio erit in eos, qui congelantur super faeces suas i. e. immoti atque imperturbati quiescunt ac diu iam in vitiis suis defixi haerent ; quemadmodum scil. vinum, quod est in dolio imperturbatum et super faeces suas residens, purum ac perspicuum manet et suave efficitur et genercsum, ita illiin magna tranquillitate et affluentia viventes nullaque adversitate agitati, impiam et iniquam suam indolem magis magisque excoluerunt (cf. Rib.) et tandem ad talem in malo perpetrando fiduciam et securitatem pervenerunt, ut omnem numinis de rebus humanis curam perfracte negarent; « hoc loco eos damnat, qui providentiam tollunt et casu res ferri dicere audent Deumque universorum affirmant neque beneficio neque pcena afficere quemquam » (T^eod.), vel qui tali subsannatione vaticinia prophetarum irrident et traducunt ; cum enim sacri vates nomine Dei minas et castigationes intentarent, pronum erat illusores cum risu eis ogzerere, Dominum nec bene agere nec male, quippe cum vaticinia plerumque non tempus proxime instans sed remotum spectarent. Idque impii longa mora securi eo facilius blasphemabant, quia iam a priscis prophetis dies Domini annuntiatos erat (cf. Ioel 2, 4). Residere super faeces suas vitam dicere imperturbatam ideoque in malis perseverantem vitiisque inhaerentem, vide apud Ier. 48, 114. Verum Deus divites illos iis ipsis puniet rebus, quibus peccarunt :
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v. 43 eet erit fortitudo eorum in direptionem et domus eorum in desertum ; et acdificabunt domos et non habitabunt, et. plantabunt. vineas et non bibent vinum earum » ; — fortitudo i. e, opes et divitiae, quibus valent, ab hostibus auferentur ac diripientur, « destruéntur cunctae domus eorum ;'neque aedificiis fruentur quae sedula cura exstruxerunt neque de arvis suis fructum carpent » (Theod. M.). Vates verbis minatur ex lege depromptis cf. Lev. 96, 31; Deut. 98, 30. 39 — vide Am. 5, 11. Mich. 6, 45. Unde simul cum ruina urbis vastitas totius regionis praedicitur. Duo v. "1 proposuerat vates, cur cum timore coram Domino sit conticescenáum : altero jam expcsito scil. quaenam sit victima irae Domini (v. 8-43) ad alterum nunc revertitur, scil. diem Domini esse prope eumque summe tcrrificum esse multis ostendit. lta minis antecedentibus maius additur pondus;
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v. 14 «luxta est dies Domini magnus, tux- (a est et veloz nimis; vox dieci Domini amara ; tribulabitur ibi fortis» ; — in hebr. iungitur : amare clamat ibi fortis. Iudicium iam instat ; nam dies ille Domini, qui demum ruinam urbi et populo attulit, iam cum losiae morte incepisse cum Calm. dici iure potest. Iam eius voz insonare auditur ; « ita loqui solent prophetae, ut significent captivitatem aut calamitatem, de qua loquuntur, iam esse proximam, sumpta a venientibus metaphora, cum ita propinqui sunt, ut eorum vox aut sonus audiatur » (Rib.). Fragore et tonitru dies Domini et terror eius indicatur; idque vehementem in modum, ut fortissimi quique et viribus pollentes a magnis eiulatibus et acerbis clamoribus non possint abstinere. Si ita ipsi heroes timore et dolore concutiuntur, quid de reliquis erit? Quod iam clamore fortium insinuatur — diem Domini esse terrificum — praeclara amplificatione illustratur;
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v. 45 « dies irae dies illa, ' dies tribulationis et anqustiae, dies calamitatis et miseriae, dies tenebravum et caliginis, dies nebulae et turbinis » ; — « geminatione nominum ostendit magnitudinem futurae calamitatis » (Rib. Men.). Ceterum dies illeprimum summatim dicitur d?es furoris, excandescentiae, qua scil. furor Dei in impios redundat abundanter (cf. ^2 redundantia irae) : in hoc autem furore Domini includuntur pro hominibus angores, angustiae, quibus constringuntur et opprimuntur; pro regionibus, quae simul cum incolis affliguntur : devastatio (tumultus) et vastitas (hebr.) ; summus vero horum malorum gradus quadruplici tenebrarum densissimarum mentione effertur (cf. Ioel 2, 2). Optime enim illi qui lucem Domini spreverunt et respuerunt, in tenebris et caligine versari et densa obscuritate affligi dicuntur (cf. S. Ifier.) ; nam ut Theod. notat : «tenebras et caliginem et nubem et nebulam malorum appellavit impetum ; quae cum advenerint, nec sol lucidus est videntibus, neque dies clarus, sed omnia caliginis plena videntur » (sim. Theod. M. lans.). Ex tanto malorum acervo unam in medium affert vates calamitatem, qua falsa impiorum securitas prosternitur
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v. 16 « dies tubae et clangoris super civitates munilas et super angulos excelsos » ; — i. e. civitates arte et natura munitissimae, arces, turres, castra cum bellico tumultu et fragore, dum tubae hostium clangentium et perstrepentium undique exaudiuntur, ab hostibus expugnabuntur. Angulos de turribus explicant, quippe quae in angulis murorum aedificari solent ad urbis e& murorum defensionem (Rib. Lap. Mar. Sa, Men. Tir. Reinke, Trochon) vel ut 5anct. habet : « cum angulus sit ea pars domus, quae duos parietes e diverso coeuntes adstringit et continet, necesse est ut pars sit omnium omnino firmissima... quare in regia sliqua et nobili structura angulos omnes muniunt et continent turres » ; neque aliter explicat angulos Ros. : « non solebant veteres ambitum muri directuro ducere, ne ad ictum arietis esset dispositus, sed sinuosis anfractibus clausere urbes crebrioresque turres in ipsis angulis ediderunt, ut si quis ad murum ita constructum vel scalas vel machinas admovere vellet, non solum a fronte, sed etiam a lateribus et prope a tergo velut in sinum conclusus opprimi posset »; sed an ea quae Vegetius (de re mil. 4, 2) disserit ad Iudaeos transferri tuto liceat, merito dubitaveris. Alii n'o2interpretantur pinnas vel ramos eminentes murorum (cf. Ges. Thes. p. 1113. Keil, Schegg). In hac urbium et arcium expugnatione et triumphis hostium angustiae illae et tenebrae, de quibus v. 15, homines occupabunt v. 1'l « et tribulabo homines et ambulabunt ut caeci, quia Domino peccaverunt. Et effundetur sanguis eorum sicut humus et corpora eorum sicut stercora » ; — hebr. in angustias agam homines, arctum faciam hominibus (cf. Deut. 28, 52). Erunt ut caecii. e. nescientes scil. prae metu, anxietate, stupore, quo fugiant aut se vertant, et in omne periculum impingentes ; « videtur enim timor et anxietas timidis, anxiis et perplexis cripere lumen, mentem et oculos, ut nesciant, quo fugiant ; q. d. Iudaei - erunt attoniti, ut caecutire videantur et ambulare tamquam caeci, praesertim quia adimet eis consiliarios et viros sapientes, qui civitatis et civium sunt quasi oculi et mens, ut praedixit Isaias 3, 3 » (Lap. sim. Tib. Sanct.). Talem caecitatis poenam iam minatus erat Moyses (Deut. 98, 29), ad cuius verba hic quoque Sophonias alludit. Demum frequentissima caede prosternentur, victima scil. furoris Domini (v.
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7. 8); et effundetur sanguis eorum ut pulvis (hebr.) ; pulveris vel arenae nomine copiam ac multitudinem exprimi aliqui censent (cf. Sanct. Sa, Mar. Men.) ; sed alterum membrum potius contemptum innuit, qui in pulvere quoque utpote re nullius momenti quae omnium pedibus conculcatur, egregie exprimitur (cf. Lap.). Tali cum contemptu hostes agent, ut qui superbia elati Dominum spreverint (cf. v. 8. 9. 12) iam ipsi maxima ignominia et despectu summo abiiciantur ; sicut stercora simul indicatur aliud opprobrii genus, corpora illorum caritura esse honore sepulcrorum, sed fore ut foede putrescentia in agros proiiciantur (cf. Ier. 9, 29. 2 Par. 36, 1"). Hostium impetum et furorem nulla auri vel argenti oblati copia frangere poterunt neque sibi impunitatem vel vitam mercari;
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v. 18 « sed et argentum eorum et aurum eorum non poterit. liberare eos in. die irae Domini »; — ne igitur ditissimi illi vana spe sibi blandiantur ; nulla erit opum utilitas ; nullo auri pondere vitam rediment (cf. Is. 13, 4l. Ez. "1, 9); est enim dies maximi furoris, excandescentiae (cf. hebr. et v. 15) Domini. Ad confirmationem talis iudicii addit vates illud, a quo sermonem inceperat 4, 2, iudicium scil. universale : « in igne zeli eius devorabitur omnis terra, quia consummationem cum festinatione faciet cunctis habitantibus terram » ; — est enim Dominus ignis consumens (Deut. 4, 24), ignis devorans atque consumens (Deut. 9, 3. cf. 32, 22), qui igne zeli, aemulationis, vindictae inimicos suos persequitur ; e zelus varia significat, sed praecipue affectum illum igneum, quo sponsus excandescit in sponsam adulteram » (Sanct.) ; tali aestu poenas repetet a populo infideli, adultero, foedifrago. Sed iudicii particularis terrorem horrore auget et confirmat universalis : consummationem faciet (cf. Nah. 1, 8) et quidem subitam (hebr.) i. e. subito, inexspectato ingruet iudicium et impia securitate sopitos egregie percellet (cf. Luc. 1'1, 26. 2']). Concinne aeque et apte redit sermo ad id, unde exorsus erat : iudicium universale. Quantopere haec ira Domini terram palaestinensem vastitate et ruinis percusserit et quem in modum igitur vatis verba ipso demum eventu probata sint, multis S. Hier. exsequitur ad hunc locum, ex quibus pauca accipe : « de civitatibus munitis et excelsis angulis Iudaeae, qui ad solum usque sunt diruti, puto oculorum magis esse quam aurium iudicium, nobis praesertim qui nunc in ista sumus provincia licet videre, licet probare quae scripta sunt. Vix ruinarum parva vestigia in magnis quondam urbibus cernimus. Silo, ubi tabernaculum et arca Testamenti Domini fuit, vix altaris fundamenta monstrantur. Gabaa illa civitas Saulis usque ad fundamenta diruta est. Rama et Bethoron et reliquae urbes nobiles a Salomone constructae parvi viculi demonstrantur. Legamus Iosephum et prophetiam Sophoniae illius cernemus historiam » etc. Anc. — Comminationi iudicii seria subiungitur adhortatio, ut omnes in suos inquirant mores, antequam iudicium devolvatur, praesertim ut pii omni studio Deum exquirant, quo divinam sibi promereantur protectionem (2, 1-3). Quam adhortationem quo melius animis recondant, iam varia iudicia Dei mox futura recenset propheta. Et primo quidem in Philisthaeos ; urbes eorum iri destructum, populum interemptum, regionem vastationi traditum, quae cessura sit in possessionem Iudaeorum (2, 4-'1). Deinde eandem sortem annuntiat Moabitis et Ammonitis, quorum superbiam Deus sit puniturus et idololatriam deiecturus, ut undique veri adoratores eum colant (2, 8-11). Tertio similem vastitatem Deus inferet Aethiopibus et Assyriis et praeprimis Ninive, superba civitas, in extremam redigetur solitudinem (2, 19-15). Verum si Deus gentium scelera punit, eo magis persequetur ultione sui populi contumaciam et principum prophetarumque iniquitatem, qui coram facie Domini pessima perpetrant (3, 1-3). Talia autem iudicia et castigationes proponuntur, ut Deum discant timere ; verum cum Domini spem fefellerint, eius experientur furorem (3, 6-8).
1:1
… (Deut. 18, 15-22; Jer. 23, 16; 20, 7-9, 15, 19; 14, 14; Ezek. 13, 3-17; Mic. 3, 5-8; Zech. 7, 12; cf. II Sam. 7, 1 ff.), declares divine (Hos. 4, 1; Joel 1, 1; Am. 1, 6, 9, 11, 13; 2, 1 etc.; Obad. 1; Jon. 1, 1; 3, 1; Mic. 1, 1; 3, 5; 6, 1; Nah. 1, 12; Zeph. 1, 1; Hag. 1, 1; 2, 1, 11, 21; Zech. 1, 1; 7, 1 ff.) what he has written; reports visions, revelations or supernatural dreams (Num. 12, 6 ff.; Is. 6, 20; Jer. 1, 11-16; Ezek. 4, 1-5, 4; …
1:2
… (12, 4), the announcement of the universal judgment becomes increasingly precise in the vivid descriptions of the prophets (Is. 13, 9; 66, 15; Joel 2, 1; Zeph. 1, 2; Dan. 7, 8) and of Wis. (5, 1-13). The whole New Testament is dominated by this great prospect. …
Sophonias (Heb. Şēphanjāh "Yahweh Protects")
In the first part, which occupies almost the whole book (Soph. 1:2 - 3:8), one feels the realistic touch and there expresses itself a soul most highly endowed with the "prophetic" spirit. …
1:3
Sophonias (Heb. Şēphanjāh "Yahweh Protects")
… It is an era of great political and spiritual renewals; Assyrian hegemony prevails, cultural as well (astral cults of Mesopotamian origin are widespread, Soph. 1:3-5; foreign fashions, ibid. 1:8; impiety, ibid. 3:3-4). The forces of Yahwistic nationalism devote themselves to the salutary work of reform, with the unanimous consent, unfortunately …
1:4
Sophonias (Heb. Şēphanjāh "Yahweh Protects")
SOPHONIAS (Heb. Şēphanjāh "Yahweh Protects"). - One of the "minor prophets," ninth in the series, who carried on his activity in the time of Josiah (ca. 638-609 B.C.), probably already before the reform (622), since he laments the existence of idolatrous practices (Soph. 1:4-6, 12). He was therefore a contemporary of Jeremiah ("called" to the prophetic office in the 13th year of Josiah, ca. 627-26) and with him inaugurated the new life of prophecy, which for …
1:8
Sophonias (Heb. Şēphanjāh "Yahweh Protects")
… It is an era of great political and spiritual renewals; Assyrian hegemony prevails, cultural as well (astral cults of Mesopotamian origin are widespread, Soph. 1:3-5; foreign fashions, ibid. 1:8; impiety, ibid. 3:3-4). The forces of Yahwistic nationalism devote themselves to the salutary work of reform, with the unanimous consent, unfortunately ephemeral, of government, priesthood …
1:14
… bears in mind the biblical passage: «Dies irae dies illa, dies tribulationis et angustiae, dies calamitatis et miseriae, dies tenebrarum et caliginis, dies nebulae et turbinis, dies tubae et clangoris super civitates munitas et super angulos excelsos» (Soph. 1:14-16). Moreover, the whole Middle Ages is extraordinarily rich in liturgical sequences whose subject is penance and the universal Judgment (Ermini himself counts no fewer than about eighty …
1:15
The expressions used by the prophets to announce the "day of Yahweh," that is, the various manifestations of Yahweh's justice against the nations ("the sun will be darkened," "the stars will fall," etc.; Isa. 13:10; 24; 34; Ezek. 32:7 f.; Joel 2:10; 3:15; Zeph. 1:15; etc.) are merely grandiose metaphors (J.-M. …
Sophonias (Heb. Şēphanjāh "Yahweh Protects")
… The book begins by announcing a "judgment of Judah" (ibid. 1:2 - 2:3) as a "day of Yahweh," which is among the darkest of all those announced by the prophets of every age ("a day of wrath and anguish, of tumult and crash"; ibid. 1:15; the beginning of the Dies irae is inspired by it); there emerges the motif of an enemy invasion, in which is perhaps portrayed the permanent fear of the Assyrian colossus. …
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.