Other benefits of wisdom to the people of God.
Other benefites of wisdom, protecting the Israelites in the desert; 3. ouerthrowing their enimies; 4. geuing them water out of a rocke; 8. plaguing the Aegyptians, 21. yet not al sudenly, but by often admonitions, that they might haue repented if they would.
1She prospered their works in the hands of the holy prophet.Ella diresse i loro passi sotto il governo del santo Profeta.SHE directed their workes in the handes of a holy prophet.Direxit opera eorum in manibus prophetæ sancti. 2They went through wildernesses that were not inhabited, and in desert places they pitched their tents.Viaggiarono per deserti disabitati, e alzaron capanne in luoghi deserti.They made a iourney through the deserts, that were not inhabited: and in desert places they pitched cottages.Iter fecerunt per deserta quæ non habitabantur, / et in locis desertis fixerunt casas. 3They stood against their enemies, and revenged themselves of their adversaries.Si affrontarono co' lor nemici, e di vendicarci de' loro avversari.They stood against the aduersaries, and reuenged themselues of the enemies.Steterunt contra hostes, / et de inimicis se vindicaverunt. 4They were thirsty, and they called upon thee, and water was given them out of the high rock, and a refreshment of their thirst out of the hard stone.Erano assetati, e ti invocarono, e sgorgò acqua per essi da altissimo masso, e il ristoro alla sete da dura pietra.They thirsted, and inuocated thee, and water was geuen them out of a most high rorcke, and quenching of their thirst out of the hard stone.Sitierunt, et invocaverunt te, / et data est illis aqua de petra altissima, / et requies sitis de lapide duro. 5For by what things their enemies were punished, when their drink failed them, while the children of Israel abounded therewith, and rejoiced:Perocché in quella guisa, che furon puniti i lor nimici rimasi senza acqua da bere, mentre i figliuoli di Israele godevano per averne abbondanza;For by the thinges wherby their enemies suffered punishment, for defect of their drinke, and therein, when the children of Israel abunded, they did reioyce;Per quæ enim pœnas passi sunt inimici illorum / a defectione potus sui, / et in eis cum abundarent filii Israël lætati sunt: 6By the same things they in their need were benefited.Così quando questi ne mancavano, ricevettero insigne favore.by these thinges, when others lacked the same, it went wel with them.per hæc, cum illis deessent, bene cum illis actum est. 7For instead of a fountain of an ever running river, thou gavest human blood to the unjust.Conciossiachè in vece delle acque del fiume perenne tu desti agli ingiusti il sangue umano.For in steede of the fountaine of an euerlasting riuer, thou gauest mans bloud to the vniust.Nam pro fonte quidem sempiterni fluminis, / humanum sanguinem dedisti injustis.
8And whilst they were diminished for a manifest reproof of their murdering the infants, thou gavest to thine abundant water unlooked for:E laddove quelli perivano in pena dell'uccisione de' bambini, tu desti a' tuoi inaspettatamente acqua copiosa,Who when they were diminished in the destruction of the murdered infants, thou gauest them abundant vnlooked for:Qui cum minuerentur in traductione infantium occisorum, / dedisti illis abundantem aquam insperate, 9Shewing by the thirst that was then, how thou didst exalt thine, and didst kill their adversaries.E colla sete, che fu allora, tu facesti conoscere in qual modo li tuoi tu esaltassi, e facessi scempio de' loro nemici.shewing by the thirst, that then was, how thou didst exalt thine, & didst kil their aduersaries.ostendens per sitim quæ tunc fuit, / quemadmodum tuos exaltares, / et adversarios illorum necares. 10For when they were tried, and chastised with mercy, they knew how the wicked were judged with wrath, and tormented.Conciossiachè quando essi furon tentati, e afflitti, benché con misericordia, vennero ad intendere quai tormenti patissero gli empj puniti con ira.For when they were tempted, and in deede with mercie taking discipline, they knew how the impious being iudged with wrath did suffer torments.Cum enim tentati sunt, / et quidem cum misericordia disciplinam accipientes, / scierunt quemadmodum cum ira judicati impii tormenta paterentur. 11For thou didst admonish and try them as a father: but the others, as a severe king, thou didst examine and condemn.E gli uni tu li provasti qual padre per ammonirli, gli altri poi qual re inesorabile li mettesti alla tortura per condannarli.These certes admonishing as a father thou didst proue: but them examining as a hard king thou didst condemne.Hos quidem tamquam pater monens probasti; / illos autem tamquam durus rex interrogans condemnasti. 12For whether absent or present, they were tormented alike.Or eglino e in assenza, e in presenza erano tormentati egualmente.For the absent and the present were tormented alike.Absentes enim, et præsentes, similiter torquebantur. 13For a double affliction came upon them, and a groaning for the remembrance of things past.Imperocché erano punti da doppia tristezza, e crepacuore colla memoria delle cose passate.For duble tediousnes had taken them, and sighing with the memorie of good thinges past.Duplex enim illos acceperat tædium et gemitus, / cum memoria præteritorum. 14For when they heard that by their punishments the others were benefited, they remembered the Lord, wondering at the end of what was come to pass.Mentre udendo come i loro tormenti divenivano argomento di felicità per quelli, conobber la man del Signore, stupefatti dell'esito delle cose;For when they vnderstood by their punishement that it went wel with them, they remembred our Lord, merueling at the end of the euent.Cum enim audirent per sua tormenta bene secum agi, / commemorati sunt Dominum, admirantes in finem exitus.
15For whom they scorned before, when he was thrown out at the time of his being wickedly exposed to perish, him they admired in the end, when they saw the event: their thirsting being unlike to that of the just.Imperocché alla fine de' fatti ammiraron colui, del quale si burlavano come di uomo gettato a perire in quella crudele esposizione, mentre non come i giusti avean essi patita la sete.For whom before they derided, being cast forth in that wicked laying out to perish, him they merueled at in the end of the euent: not thirsting in like maner to the iust:Quem enim in expositione prava projectum deriserunt, / in finem eventus mirati sunt, / non similiter justis sitientes. 16But for the foolish devices of their iniquity, because some being deceived worshipped dumb serpents and worthless beasts, thou didst send upon them a multitude of dumb beasts for vengeance:E in pena degli stolti, ed iniqui lor pensamenti, secondo i quali eglino adoravano muti serpenti, e bestie vili, tu mandasti contro di loro una turba di muti animali a farne scempio:but for senseles cogitations of their iniquitie, for that some erring did worshippe dumme serpents, and superfluous beasts, thou didst send vpon them a multitude of dumme beasts for reuenge:Pro cogitationibus autem insensatis iniquitatis illorum, / quod quidam errantes colebant mutos serpentes / et bestias supervacuas, / immisisti illis multitudinem mutorum animalium in vindictam; 17That they might know that by what things a man sinneth, by the same also he is tormented.Affinchè conoscessero come per quelle cose, pelle quali uno pecca, per le medesime è tormentato;that they might know that by what thinges a man sinneth, by the same also he is tormented.ut scirent quia per quæ peccat quis, per hæc et torquetur. 18For thy almighty hand, which made the world of matter without form, was not unable to send upon them a multitude of bears, or fierce lions,Imperocché alla onnipotente tua mano, la quale da informe materia avea creato il mondo, non era difficile il mandar contro di loro una moltitudine di orsi, o de' feroci lioni;For thine omnipotent hand, which made the world of inuisible matter, was not vnable to send vpon them a multitude of beares, or fierce lyons,Non enim impossibilis erat omnipotens manus tua, / quæ creavit orbem terrarum ex materia invisa, / immittere illis multitudinem ursorum, aut audaces leones, 19Or unknown beasts of a new kind, full of rage; either breathing out a fiery vapour, or sending forth a stinking smoke, or shooting horrible sparks out of their eyes:O fiere di nuova specie, ed ignote, piene di furore, o spiranti fiato di fuoco, o che spandessero odor di fumo, o vibrasser dagli occhi scintille orrende:or vnknowen beasts ful of anger of a new kind; or breathing the vapour of fires, or casting forth the sauour of smoke, or shooting horrible sparkes from their eies:aut novi generis ira plenas ignotas bestias, / aut vaporem ignium spirantes, / aut fumi odorem proferentes, / aut horrendas ab oculis scintillas emittentes;
20Whereof not only the hurt might be able to destroy them, but also the very sight might kill them through fear.Delle quali non solo i morsi avrebbon potuto sterminarli, ma anche la sola vista farli morir di paura.of which not onlie their hurt was able to destroy them, but also their sight to kil them for feare.quarum non solum læsura poterat illos exterminare, / sed et aspectus per timorem occidere. 21Yea, and without these, they might have been slain with one blast, persecuted by their own deeds, and scattered by the breath of thy power: but thou hast ordered all things in measure, and number, and weight.Ma anche senza nulla di questo potevano essere uccisi in un fiato, per seguitati dalle proprie loro azioni, e dispersi ad un soffio di tua possanza: ma tu le cose tutte disponi con misura numero, e peso.Yea and without these with one spirit, they might haue beene slaine suffering persecution of their owne factes, and dispersed by the spirit of thy powre: but thou hast disposed al thinges in measure, and number, and weight.Sed et sine his uno spiritu poterant occidi, / persecutionem passi ab ipsis factis suis, / et dispersi per spiritum virtutis tuæ: / sed omnia in mensura, et numero et pondere disposuisti. 22For great power always belonged to thee alone: and who shall resist the strength of thy arm?Perocché tu solo hai sempre potere d'avanzo, e chi può resistere al robusto tuo braccio?For, to be of great force rested alwaies in thee onlie: & who shal resist the powre of thyne arme?Multum enim valere, tibi soli supererat semper: / et virtuti brachii tui quis resistet ? 23For the whole world before thee is as the least grain of the balance, and as a drop of the morning dew, that falleth down upon the earth.Perocché il mondo tutto dinanzi a te è come il tratto della bilancia, e come una goccia di rugiada, che cade sulla terra al mattino.Because as the least weight of the balance, so is the round world before thee, and as a droppe of the dewe before day, that falleth vpon the earth.Quoniam tamquam momentum stateræ, / sic est ante te orbis terrarum, / et tamquam gutta roris antelucani quæ descendit in terram. 24But thou hast mercy upon all, because thou canst do all things, and overlookest the sins of men for the sake of repentance.Ma tu hai misericordia di tutti, perché tutto puoi, e dissimuli i peccati degli uomini per amore della penitenza;But thou hast mercie on al, because thou canst do al thinges, and dissemblest the sinnes of men for repentance.Sed misereris omnium, quia omnia potes; / et dissimulas peccata hominum, propter pœnitentiam.
25For thou lovest all things that are, and hatest none of the things which thou hast made: for thou didst not appoint, or make any thing hating it.Perocché tu ami tutte le cose, che esistono, e non ne odj veruna di quelle, che da te furon fatte; conciossiachè se tu odiata l'avessi, noll'avresti ordinata, né fatta.For thou louest al thinges that are, and hatest nothing of those which thou hast made: for thou didst not ordaine, or make any thing hating it.Diligis enim omnia quæ sunt, / et nihil odisti eorum quæ fecisti; / nec enim odiens aliquid constituisti aut fecisti. 26And how could any thing endure, if thou wouldst not? or be preserved, if not called by thee?E come durar potrebbe una cosa se tu noi volessi, o conservarsi quello, che non fosse stato voluto da te?And how could any thing continew, vnles thou wouldest? or be preserued which was not called of thee?Quomodo autem posset aliquid permanere, nisi tu voluisses ? / aut quod a te vocatum non esset conservaretur ? 27But thou sparest all: because they are thine, O Lord, who lovest souls.Ma tu se' buono verso tutte le cose, perché sono tue, o amatore dell'anime.But thou sparest al: because they are thine ô Lord, which louest soules.Parcis autem omnibus, quoniam tua sunt, Domine, / qui amas animas.
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Their enemies. The Amalecites, (Challoner) and all others, who durst attack Moses, Deuteronomy 3:1.
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Challoner
By what things, etc. The meaning is, that God, who wrought a miracle to punish the Egyptians by thirst, when he turned all their waters into blood, (at which time the Israelites, who were exempt from those plagues, had plenty of water) wrought another miracle in favour of his own people in their thirst, by giving them water out of the rock. (Challoner)
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Calmet
River. The Nile, to which the Egyptians gave divine honours. (Calmet)
Thou. Septuagint, "disturbed with corrupted blood, in punishment of the infanticide decree, thou gavest," etc.
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Challoner
By their punishments, etc. That is, that the Israelites had been benefited and miraculously favoured in the same kind, in which they had been punished. (Challoner)
Worthington
Benefited. After war, peace is more agreeable. (Worthington)
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Serpents. The Egyptians adored asps, and fed them at their tables, without receiving any harm. (Aelian. Hist. 17:5.)
Challoner
Dumb beasts. Viz., frogs, sciniphs, flies, and locusts. (Challoner)
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Repentance. If people neglect to reform their conduct in this world, they must expect to be treated with all severity in the other.
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Calmet
It. Sin and disorder is the work of man, deserving hatred. (Calmet)
Worthington
God created nothing evil, nor is there any but one God, as the Manichees pretended. (Worthington)
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Called. Into existence, or into its proper place, Romans 4:17.
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Calmet
All. Awaiting their amendment, and unwilling to destroy thy creatures, Wisdom 12:10. Hence thou didst not exterminate the Egyptians at once. (Calmet)
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The holy prophet.... Moses.
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Their enemies.... The Amalecites.
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By what things, etc.... The meaning is, that God, who wrought a miracle to punish the Egyptians by thirst, when he turned all their waters into blood, (at which time the Israelites, who were exempt from those plagues, had plenty of water,) wrought another miracle in favour of his own people in their thirst, by giving them water out of the rock.
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By their punishments, etc.... That is, that the Israelites had been benefited and miraculously favoured in the same kind, in which they had been punished.
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Dumb beasts.... Viz., frogs, sciniphs, flies, and locusts.
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Moyses.
Concordance Exo. 16.
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Concordance Exo. 27.
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The Amalachites. Exo. 17.
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Concordance Num 20.
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VVhen the Israelites wanted water God gaue them abundance out of rockes.
But turned the Aegyptians waters into blood.
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After affliction the benefite of peace is more gratful.
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Moyses was reiected when he iudged betwen his bretheren Exo. 2.
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14. but was afterwards the deliuer of the whole people Act. 7. v. 45.
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Concordance Leuit. 26. v. 22.
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Concordance Iere. 8. v. 17.
• Aegyptians seruing beasts for goddes, were plaged by frogges, stuiphes, flees, and locustes.
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God made no creature euil as the Manichees foolishly imagined, neither is. there any God but one who alone created al thinges.
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Origen † AD 254 Origen De Principiis iv.section24
… In that book, however, we find written as follows: “For thy almighty hand, that made the world out of shapeless matter, wanted not means to send among them a multitude of bears and fierce lions.”
St Augustine of Hippo † AD 430 A Treatise on Faith and the Creed 2
… for the earth from which the clay comes He had made out of nothing. And even if He had made out of some material the heavens and the earth themselves, that is to say, the universe and all things which are in it, according as it is written, “Thou who didst make the world out of matter unseen,”
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St Augustine of Hippo † AD 430 Expositions on the Book of Psalms 119.11
… But God knoweth what He doth and when, for He “hath ordered all things in measure and number and weight.”
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Origen † AD 254 Origen De Principiis 2.9.1
… Now if this were the case, then certainly created things could neither be restrained nor administered by God. For, naturally, whatever is infinite will also be incomprehensible. Moreover, as Scripture says, “God has arranged all things in number and measure;”
St Anatolius of Alexandria † AD 283 Fragments of the Books on Arithmetic 1
That Pythagoras was not the only one who duly honoured arithmetic, but that his best known disciples did so too, being wont to say that “all things fit number.”
St Basil the Great † AD 379 De Spiritu Sancto 17
… Nay, without exception, what thing ever lost its own nature by being numbered? Is it not the fact that things when numbered remain what they naturally and originally were, while number is adopted among us as a sign indicative of the plurality of subjects? For some bodies we count, some we measure, and some we weigh;
St Basil the Great † AD 379 The Letters 219
The Lord ordereth “all things in measure and weight,”
St Augustine of Hippo † AD 430 The Confessions 5.4
… things by cleaving unto Thee, to whom all things are subservient, though he know not even the circles of the Great Bear, yet it is foolish to doubt but that he may verily be better than he who can measure the heavens, and number the stars, and weigh the elements, but is forgetful of Thee, “who hast set in order all things in number, weight, and measure.”
St Augustine of Hippo † AD 430 City of God 11.30
… and in this number of days God finished His work. And, therefore, we must not despise the science of numbers, which, in many passages of holy Scripture, is found to be of eminent service to the careful interpreter. Neither has it been without reason numbered among God’s praises, “Thou hast ordered all things in number, and measure, and weight.”
St Augustine of Hippo † AD 430 City of God 12.18
… Yet they can hardly pretend to put numbers out of the question, or maintain that they have nothing to do with the knowledge of God; for Plato, their great authority, represents God as framing the world on numerical principles: and in our books also it is said to God, “Thou hast ordered all things in number, and measure, and weight.”
St Augustine of Hippo † AD 430 On the Holy Trinity 3.9
… yet are to be applied according to nature, in order that those things which are contained and hidden in the secret bosom of nature may break forth and be outwardly created in some way by the unfolding of the proper measures and numbers and weights which they have received in secret from Him “who has ordered all things in measure and number and weight:”
St Augustine of Hippo † AD 430 The Enchiridion 29
… But the number of the citizens, whether as it now is or as it shall be, is present to the thoughts of the great Creator, who calls those things which are not as though they were, and ordereth all things in measure, and number, and weight.
St Augustine of Hippo † AD 430 The Enchiridion 118
… Of these four different stages the first is before the law, the second is under the law, the third is under grace, and the fourth is in full and perfect peace. Thus, too, has the history of God’s people been ordered according to His pleasure who disposeth all things in number, and measure, and weight.
St Augustine of Hippo † AD 430 Expositions on the Book of Psalms 147.9
… too little is it to say, to God: even by the angels it is numbered. His understanding surpasses all calculators; it cannot be counted by us. Numbers themselves who numbereth? What than is there with God? wherewith made He all things, and where made He all things, to whom it is said, “Thou hast arrayed all things in measure, number, and weight”?
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St Augustine of Hippo † AD 430 On the Holy Trinity 11.11
… And here we hope to be able to find an image of God according to the Trinity, He Himself helping our efforts, who as things themselves show, and as Holy Scripture also witnesses, has regulated all things in measure, and number, and weight.
St Augustine of Hippo † AD 430 Reply to Faustus the Manichæan 19.28
… or been preserved, if not called by Thee? But Thou sparest all; for they are Thine, O Lord, Thou lover of souls. For Thy good Spirit is in all things; therefore chastenest Thou them by little and little that offend, and warnest them by putting them in remembrance wherein they have offended, that learning their wickedness, they may believe in Thee, O Lord."
St Augustine of Hippo † AD 430 Reply to Faustus the Manichæan 21.6
… do we not see in the adjustment of measures, in the proportion of numbers, in the order of weights, the handiwork of the true God, of whom it is truly said, "Thou hast ordered all things in measure, and number, and weight"?
St Augustine of Hippo † AD 430 Concerning the Nature of Good, Against the Manichæans 21
… But those things that by reason of too much progress are called immoderate, are blamed for very excessiveness; but yet it is necessary that those things themselves be restrained in some manner under God who has disposed all things in extension, number, and weight.
St Augustine of Hippo † AD 430 Lectures or Tractates on the Gospel According to St. John 1.13
… by Him were made things above and things beneath; spiritual and corporeal, by Him were they made. For no form, no structure, no agreement of parts, no substance whatever that can have weight, number, measure, exists but by that Word, and by that Creator Word, to whom it is said, “Thou hast ordered all things in measure, and in number, and in weight.”
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Pope St Clement I † AD 99 The First Epistle of Clement to the Corinthians 27
… for nothing is impossible with God, except to lie. Let His faith therefore be stirred up again within us, and let us consider that all things are nigh unto Him. By the word of His might He established all things, and by His word He can overthrow them. “Who shall say unto Him, What hast thou done? or, Who shall resist the power of His strength?”
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St John Chrysostom † AD 407 Homilies on Philippians 4
… and they further learnt, that rulers should have a greater share of mercy. It showed that the Spirit is to come to men through mercy, since God pities and is kind to man. For, “Thou hast mercy upon all,” it is written, “for Thou canst do all things.” (
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St Augustine of Hippo † AD 430 Lectures or Tractates on the Gospel According to St. John 110.6
… and because our own iniquity had not in every part consumed His work, He knew at once both how, in each of us, to hate what we had done, and to love what He had done. And this, indeed, may be understood in the case of all regarding Him to whom it is truly said, “Thou hatest nothing that Thou hast made.”
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Origen † AD 254 Origen Against Celsus 4.28
… We have, moreover, read the declaration: “And Thou sparest all things, because they are Thine, O lover of souls. For Thine incorruptible Spirit is in all. And therefore those also who have fallen away for a little time Thou rebukest, and admonishest, reminding them of their sins.”
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Thus in I Maccabees III, 6, in the hand of Judas Maccabaeus "salvation was directed," that is, through the works and leadership of Judas victory was obtained for the Hebrews: for the salvation of a people depends upon a leader, king, prince who is good and wise. Thus the salvation of the Hebrews consisted in Moses, as being a prophet, and a holy one. Happy are the republics and kingdoms which have holy and wise kings, of which we have many in this age, through whom God providently blesses the peoples subject to them, crushes heresies, restores the orthodox faith, extends the rights and boundaries of the Church: to him be praise and glory. Furthermore, how wisdom directed the works of the Hebrews, he explains when he adds: 2. They made a journey through deserts that were not inhabited, and in desert places they fixed (many wrongly read, made) houses. — In Greek, ἐν ἀβάτῳ ἔπηξαν σκηνάς, that is, in impassable places they fixed tents, namely in the Arabian desert, whose inhabitants, for this reason, because they dwell not in houses but in tents, were called Scenites, as Pliny testifies in book VI, chapter xviii, and Noma- 2. AND THEREFORE THOU CORRECTEST THOSE WHO GO ASTRAY BY PARTS (Hugo wrongly reads, by fathers, as if to say, those who wander from the teaching of the fathers) AND ADMONISHEST AND SPEAKEST TO THEM OF THOSE THINGS IN WHICH THEY SIN (Lucifer for St. Athanasius, admonishing thou speakest, thou chastenest gently, so that thou seemest not so much to chastise as to admonish them and speak to them gently, that is, to console them) THAT LEAVING MALICE, THEY MAY BELIEVE IN THEE, O LORD. — May believe, that is, may acknowledge thee, worship thee, love thee, revere thee, and obey thee in all things: for he who truly believes God to be God, and apprehends him and esteems him according to his dignity, as is fitting, he certainly reveres him, loves him and worships him: thus St. Bonaventure, Lyra, Hugo and others: moreover otherwise Dionysius: "Those who go astray, he says, thou correctest by parts," that is, by degrees, while thou dost not remove all at once from the midst, but only some part of them, so that it may be set as an example to the rest. Vatable for διὸ, that is, therefore, by diaeresis reads δι' οὗ, that is, through whom, namely the spirit, as if to say, Through thy spirit thou gently correctest and admonishest those who go astray and sin: thy spirit is the gentle cause and minister of moderate punishment, by which thou gradually chastenest the impious. The word speakest denotes the internal inspiration and speech of God, by which he himself speaks in the souls of sinners, and brings to their memory how great and how grave are the sins they have committed, of which they themselves are not mindful, and therefore that he is able, and by justice ought, to punish them sharply and destroy them according to their deserts; but from clemency he prefers to chastise them moderately, so that they may come to their senses and be saved: and if they neglect to do this, greater, indeed eternal, punishments await them, and other things similar to these he salutarily inspires, which may move them to repentance, such as a friend would suggest to a friend, so as to consult his good.
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THREATENED, — that is to say, You sent wasps and hornets against the Canaanites before the coming of Joshua and the Hebrews, both so that You might give the Canaanites time for repentance, and so that, if they were unwilling to repent, You might so wear them down that they could be easily conquered and killed by the succeeding Joshua and Hebrews. God had promised Moses that He would send these wasps before them, Exodus XXIII, 28: see the remarks made there. Oleaster notes there that the Hebrew צרעה tsira, that is, wasp or hornet, is derived from צרע tsara, that is, he was leprous, because these wasps had some kinship with leprosy, either in color, or in smell, or rather because they were troublesome to lepers: and that they are flies of great and long body inhabiting deserts, of varied color, similar to lepers, troublesome to beasts of burden, and differing little from bees. Or rather, as others say, because they fix a sharp sting, and with it so prick the flesh that they make it similar to that of a leper. Hence also in Latin they are called hornets, or cabrones, from caballo, that is, horse, as Isidore says in book XII of the Etymologies, last chapter, because they are born from the putrid flesh of a horse, just as bees are born from bulls and oxen, drones from mules, wasps from asses; whence also wasps and hornets feed on flesh, as Aristotle and Pliny testify. Scaliger, however, in his Commentary on Varro, and from him Aldrovandus, prefer that from κράζω, that is, I am slender, it is said by Ennius craber and crabro, just as gracile things are called opniodels among the old comic poets; hence hornets are called in Greek σφῆκες, because they are slender in body, and around the belly as if contracted into a wedge. Furthermore, this same peace and tranquility must be employed not only in punishment alone, but in all actions, especially where many occupations distract and disturb the mind of man: for then wise and spiritual men, fixing all their hope in God, perform all things in an orderly, quiet and tranquil manner: hear St. Gregory in the Morals, book XVIII, chapter XXV, or according to another edition, chapter XXIX, for in explaining that passage from Job XXVIII: And the sea is not with me: "When occupations, he says, make a noise from without, within there is held a most peaceful quiet in love; and the occupation of the tumult resounding outwardly is arranged by the judge presiding within, reason, and with tranquil moderation, it disposes those things which are around it less tranquilly: for just as the vigor of the mind presides over the restraining of the motions of the flesh, so often over the tumults imposed by occupation, the love of quiet rules well, because external cares, if they are not sought after with perverse love, can be administered not with confused, but with orderly mind."
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To attention, the Greek Vatican manuscripts add supplication, that is, entreaty, and as some Latin codices read it, adjuration, likewise parsimony and want, as if God from excessive clemency lacked and were in want of punishments by which He might afflict them: by which it is figuratively signified that God avenged Himself upon the Canaanites with such attention as we have said, and with such adjuration, beseeching them, and adjuring them, unless they should consult their own interest, they would finally perish; and with such parsimony, moderation, want, as if God lacked them, and therefore did not wish to destroy them: which shows the supreme forbearance and clemency of our God. It is catachresis and charientism; hence that saying of the Apostle, II Corinthians V, 10: "For we are ambassadors therefore for Christ, God as it were exhorting by us, we beseech you for Christ, be reconciled to God." See and marvel at the condescension, humility and clemency of our God, who, as if He had suffered injury and had not received satisfaction, beseeches sinners that they should wish to return to Him and to their salvation. 22. WHEN THEREFORE THOU GIVEST US DISCIPLINE, THOU SMITEST OUR ENEMIES MANIFOLD WITH STRIPES, THAT WE MAY THINK ON THY GOODNESS IN JUDGING: AND WHEN WE ARE JUDGED OF THEE, WE MAY HOPE FOR THY MERCY,—that is to say, When Thou, O Lord, smitest sinners as Thy children (for this is what παιδίον means) with the rod of discipline, that Thou mayest correct them, then Thou smitest our enemies, such as the Canaanites were, and other idolatrous nations, with many and great punishments, that we may think and discerning judge how great is Thy goodness toward us, and Thy severity toward our idolatrous enemies; and for that reason when we again sinning are judged by Thee, that is, are rebuked and chastised, we may hope for like clemency and mercy from Thee, and therefore we humbly submit ourselves to Thee with contrite heart, and cleave steadfastly to Thee, nor turn aside to the idols and gods of the nations: for if we should do that, we shall be scourged by Thee far more grievously together with them. For these things tend to this end, that the worship of God, and hatred of idols and of the idolatrous nations, may be established in the Hebrews, who were prone to idols, as is evident from what follows. MANIFOLD;—in Greek, εἰς μυριάδας, that is, in many thousands, in myriads: for μυρία are ten thousand; whence myrias signifies an innumerable and as it were infinite multitude. You will say, how then did he above praise the clemency of God, in that He chastised the Canaanites with few and slight plagues? I answer, at the beginning those were few and slight that He might invite them to repentance; but when they, impenitent, hardened themselves in their wickedness, God added plague to plague without end until He destroyed them. THAT WE MAY THINK OF THY GOODNESS IN JUDGING. — First, for "we may think," in Greek it is μεριμνῶμεν, that is, we may be solicitous, lest namely we offend thy goodness more gravely and fall away from it; and so instead of goodness we may incur thy wrath and severity with the impious Canaanites; but judging with just reasoning and the judgment of truth, weighing and estimating, we may cleave firmly to the same, so that, when again for certain faults we shall have been judged by thee, that is, punished, we may "hope;" (in Greek, we may await,) thy former mercy toward us," and trusting in it we may have recourse to it, so that imploring it we may obtain pardon of sins and grace: here is the most genuine and simplest sense. To this pertains the exposition of Cantacuzenus, as if to say, And we may think in judging, that is, meditating assiduously on the goodness of God we may judge ourselves, and prudently estimate how many and how great are the good things we have received from God; and Dionysius, as if to say, That we may prudently discern our correction from the perdition of the reprobate; wherefore the scourges of God in the pious generate hope, in the impious desperation. Second, however, aptly Nannius, Jansenius, Vatablus, a Castro and others thus expound, as if to say, Therefore thou judgest us lightly as children with the rod of discipline, that is, thou punishest and chastisest us, so that we likewise judging, that is, when we exercise judgment, and judge and chastise others, we may be mindful of this thy gentleness and goodness, and may imitate it; and may temper severity with gentleness, and not be rigid censors and judges of the guilty, but benign correctors: for thus in turn being judged by thee or by others, that is, esteemed, reproved, punished, we shall be able to hope for thy moderation and mercy, according to that saying of Christ, Matt. chapter VII, 7: "Judge not (severely and rigidly), and you shall not be judged: for with what judgment you judge, you shall be judged, and with what measure you mete, it shall be measured to you again." To this are added St. Bonaventure, Lyra and Hugh, who hold that we are here admonished and taught, so that, when we judge and punish others, we may do this modestly, as God has modestly punished us, and punishes us, according to that saying of the Apostle, Ephes. IV, 32: "Be ye kind to one another, merciful, forgiving one another, as God also in Christ hath forgiven you," that is, hath remitted your sins through the merits and grace of Christ. IT BEHOOVETH A JUST MAN TO BE ALSO HUMANE. — The "and" does not merely couple, but augments, and is equivalent also to "also": for in Greek it is δεῖ τὸν δίκαιον εἶναι καὶ φιλάνθρωπον, that is, it behooves him who is just to be also humane, nay philanthropic: for justice is humane; but that which is inhumane and savage is rather cruelty and savagery than justice; hence the highest right is the highest wrong. "Be not overmuch just," saith Ecclesiastes, chapter VII, verse 17. "The Lord is merciful and pitiful and just," Psalm CXI, 4. "Mercy and truth have met each other: justice and peace have kissed," Psalm LXXXIV, 11. Justice therefore ought to be mingled with kindness, so that it neither exacerbate subjects by excessive severity, nor dissolve discipline by excessive gentleness and laxity, as St. Gregory teaches, book XX of the Morals, chapter VIII. THOU HAST MADE THY CHILDREN OF GOOD HOPE; — in Greek, ἐλπίδας ἐνέπλησας, that is, thou hast made them well-hoping, because thou givest repentance in sins; Vatablus, thou hast imbued thy children with good hope, in that thou allowest place for the repentance of sinners: he calls them children because they are faithful and true worshippers of God, and called to God's inheritance, namely to his grace and glory: "because in judging," that is, punishing, "thou givest place for repentance in sins," as if to say, Thus thou punishest, nay therefore thou punishest, that thou mayest move sinners to repentance: by which thing thou givest us great hope of pardon, so that, if we sin, we may not despair of it, but may repent, and confidently implore thy forgiveness, thus St. Bonaventure; or more simply, as if to say, When thou judgest, that is, thou pronouncest sentence upon someone, and condemnest him to merited punishment for his sins, thou dost not immediately commit it to execution and inflict upon him the punishment decreed, but art long-suffering and defer it, so that the guilty one, nay even the condemned, may repent, and the punishment may be escaped by him repenting and supplicating: thus a Castro.
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and gradually inflicted upon them punishments which would not so much harm as provoke them to repentance, and thus justify them in mercy and beneficence; likewise you gave them hope of pardon, so that when they sinned, if they truly repented of their sins, you would again receive them into your favor: for as you offered this to the Canaanites, so much more do you offer it to your servants and children, because you, O Lord, are the Father of mercies and the God of all consolation, II Corinthians I, 3. 23. WHEREFORE ALSO TO THOSE WHO IN THEIR LIFE LIVED FOOLISHLY AND UNJUSTLY, THROUGH THESE THINGS WHICH THEY WORSHIPPED, YOU GAVE THE GREATEST TORMENTS; — in Greek, wherefore you tormented or twisted those who lived unjustly in the foolishness of life through their own abominations, that is through things to be abhorred, which they themselves worshipped as gods; Vatablus, therefore you cruelly tormented the unjust men living in foolish life through their own impurities, as if to say, you tormented the impious Canaanites severely through vile little beasts, namely wasps and hornets, which they or similar creatures themselves worshipped as gods, and thus you turned their deities into punishments and scourges for them. It is known in the Scriptures that abominations are called idols and idolatry, as things most to be abhorred and execrated: for it returns to showing the atrocious punishments by which God afflicts idolaters on account of the wickedness of idolatry, which therefore he exaggerates in the following chapter and attacks in many ways: thus in chapter II, verse 16, he said that the Egyptians were punished through serpents, which they worshipped as gods, or so that they might know that "by those things by which a man sins, by these also he is tormented."
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Note, in Greek it is, τῆς πλάνης ὁδῶν μακρότερον ἐπλανήθησαν, that is, they wandered longer than were the ways of error, that is, they wandered further, having even gone beyond the very ways of error, than it seemed possible for a man to wander. It is a hyperbole: thus Virgil says in the sixth Aeneid: Beyond the paths of year and sun, where the heaven-bearing Atlas / Turns the axis on his shoulder, fitted with burning stars. Thus we call one very foolish more foolish than foolishness itself, one very wise, wiser than wisdom itself, by hyperbole: thus Jansenius, a Castro and others. But our author, equally as Nannius, Vatablus and others, by understanding the preposition κατά or ἐπί, more simply translate, in the way of error they wandered longer.
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THOU HAST GIVEN JUDGMENT IN DERISION. — In Greek, for this reason, as to children lacking reason, thou hast sent judgment, or punishment, into mockery. In the Greek there is a beautiful paronomasia: παῖς indeed, that is, child, is said as if παίζων, that is, playing: ἐμπαίζω is to mock, to deride; ἐμπαιγμός (which word is here in the Greek), mockery; ἐμπαίγμα, a mockery by which we deride someone, as if to say: Because the Canaanites, like children, worshipped childish things and little beasts as gods, therefore thou didst chastise these same ones as if they were children through these same things, namely through wasps and hornets, as if with childish and ridiculous punishments, but severe ones, and as if thou didst mock them. 26. BUT THEY WHO WERE NOT CORRECTED BY MOCKERIES AND REPROOFS (that is, by mockeries of reproof, as the Greek texts have it: it is a hendiadys) EXPERIENCED A JUDGMENT WORTHY OF GOD. — In Greek, they shall experience, that is, they experienced: for he speaks of the Canaanites of old, as if to say: The Canaanites, who were not corrected by the ridiculous punishments of wasps, these underwent a harsh judgment, that is, punishment, when they were utterly destroyed by Joshua and the Hebrews, and deleted to utter destruction. For mockeries, in Greek it is παιγνίοις: παίγνιον indeed is a plaything, a game, a mockery, such as are little birds, bees, flies, frogs, with which children play: with these same things, as if with ridiculous and childish trifles, God chastised the Egyptians and Canaanites. To these he opposes a judgment worthy of God, that is, a serious and grave punishment of death and the extermination of the whole nation of Canaanites, by which God showed to the whole world his omnipotence in punishing, equally as his just wrath and vengeance. 27. FOR IN THOSE THINGS BY WHICH THEY SUFFERED, BEING INDIGNANT AGAINST THOSE WHOM THEY THOUGHT TO BE GODS, IN THOSE SAME THINGS WHEN THEY WERE BEING DESTROYED, SEEING HIM WHOM THEY HAD FORMERLY DENIED THAT THEY KNEW, THEY ACKNOWLEDGED THE TRUE GOD: FOR WHICH REASON ALSO THE END OF THEIR CONDEMNATION CAME UPON THEM, — as if to say: The Canaanites, while they suffered the sharp bites of wasps and vile little beasts, were indignant that through those, which or whose like they had worshipped as gods, they were being destroyed: wherefore, seeing and feeling, that is, perceiving, the God of the Hebrews, whom they had formerly denied that they knew, inflicting these plagues upon them, they were forced to acknowledge him as the true God, as is evident from Judith V, 20; Joshua II, 9. But late, and unwillingly and by force: wherefore it was fitting that they be punished with extreme disaster, wherefore "the end of their condemnation (that is, extreme damnation, destruction and extermination) came upon them," when namely they were utterly abolished by Joshua and the Hebrews through wars. Others refer these things to the Egyptians, who were drowned by Moses in the Red Sea; but he dealt with the Egyptians in chapter XI, but in this chapter XII he deals with the Canaanites: thus St. Bonaventure, Dionysius and others. For suffering, the Complutensian and Royal editions read, impatient: both are true, for they were indeed patient in body but impatient in mind; hence from the Complutensian texts Jansenius thus translates clearly, for when in those things in which they suffered with impatience, in those namely which they thought to be gods, when they were punished through them, they perceived him whom they had formerly denied that they knew, then they acknowledged the true God: he wishes to signify Pharaoh with his people, who previously said: "I know not the Lord, and I will not let Israel go," before God had afflicted them with frogs and flies, which they worshipped as gods, not without great indignation on their part, who bore it ill to be afflicted by their gods, and by things so trivial, then at last they acknowledged the Lord, so that he said: "I have sinned: the Lord is just, and I and my people are wicked. Pray ye to the Lord," etc. But I have already said that here it is properly about the Canaanites; if anyone, however, by combination with Cantacuzenus, should prefer these things to be understood both of the Egyptians and of the Canaanites, I shall not object: for in what follows he speaks of both mixed together.
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CHAPTER THIRTEEN. SYNOPSIS OF THE CHAPTER. On the occasion of the Egyptians and Canaanites, whom God destroyed on account of their crimes, especially idolatry, he begins to treat of idolatry: for this is opposed to the first truth and principle of wisdom, which is to know, fear and worship the true God, as it were diametrically. Moreover he assigns a threefold species of idolatry: the first, by which they worshipped living animals as gods; the second, by which they worshipped elements and heavenly bodies; the third, by which they worshipped images and idols, and he treats of all these things mixed together through four chapters. Therefore this chapter attacks those who from creatures did not know the Creator, but worshipped the creature as if it were the Creator, from verse 1 to verse 10; thence to the end of the chapter he rebukes more severely those who worship wooden, stone, and earthen idols formed by a craftsman as gods, invoke them, consult them about future things, and implore their aid. 1. But all men are vain, in whom there is not the knowledge of God, and who by the good things that are seen could not understand him that is, neither by attending to the works have acknowledged who was the workman: 2. But have imagined either the fire, or the wind, or the swift air, or the circle of the stars, or the great water, or the sun and moon, to be the gods that rule the world. 3. With whose beauty, if they being delighted took them to be gods: let them know how much the Lord of them is more beautiful than they: for the first author of beauty made all these things. 4. Or if they admired their power and effects, let them understand by them, that he that made them is mightier than they: 5. For by the greatness of the beauty, and of the creature, the creator of them may be seen, so as to be known thereby. 6. But yet as to this they are less to be blamed. For they perhaps err, seeking God, and desirous to find him. 7. For they search among his works, that they may seek God: and they are willing to give credit to their works. 8. But again neither are these to be pardoned. 9. For if they were able to know so much as to make a judgment of the world: how much more easily shall they find the Lord thereof? 10. But unhappy are they, and their hope is among the dead, who have called gods the works of the hands of men, gold and silver, the inventions of art, and the likenesses of beasts, or an unprofitable stone, the work of an ancient hand. 11. Or if a carpenter of wood hath cut down a timber fit for that purpose, and skillfully hath scraped off all the bark thereof, and with his art, working diligently, hath made a vessel fit for the uses of life: 12. And the shavings of his work he hath burned in the fire: and of the residue he maketh a god, and adoreth it. 13. And the residue thereof, which is unprofitable for any use, being a crooked piece of wood, and full of knots, he carveth diligently, when he hath nothing else to do, and by the skill of his art fashioneth it, and maketh it like the image of a man: 14. Or he maketh it like some beast, laying it over with vermilion, and painting it red, and covering all the spots that are in it: 15. And he maketh a convenient habitation for it, and setteth it in a wall, and fasteneth it with iron: 16. And provideth for it, lest it should fall, knowing that it cannot help itself: for it is an image, and hath need of help. 17. And then maketh prayer to it, concerning his goods, and his children, and his marriage. And he is not ashamed to speak to that which hath no life: 18. And for health calleth upon the weak: and for life, prayeth to the dead: and for help, calleth upon the unprofitable: 19. And for a good journey, he petiteth him that cannot walk: and for getting, and for working, and for the event of all things, he asketh him that is unable to do any thing. 1. BUT ALL MEN ARE VAIN, IN WHOM THERE IS NOT THE KNOWLEDGE OF GOD: AND WHO BY THE GOOD THINGS THAT ARE SEEN COULD NOT UNDERSTAND HIM THAT IS, NEITHER BY ATTENDING TO THE WORKS HAVE ACKNOWLEDGED WHO WAS THE WORKMAN. — This is the theme of the whole chapter and the three following, namely to show, both the vanity of idolaters, philosophers and other men who enjoy creatures; and the opposite— But this general principle holds true not only in punishments and rewards, but in absolutely everything whatsoever, and is most true; but in what manner and sense? First, St. Augustine, book IV On Genesis according to the letter, chapters iii, iv, v, applies these three things to God Himself, and through them understands the divine ideas according to which He made and disposed all things justly and fittingly: for God is the first and uncreated measure measuring all things, and the number numbering all things, and the weight weighing all things; whence all creatures derive and draw their measure, number and weight from Him; for the measure, number and weight of any thing whatsoever is that which corresponds to the idea of it in the mind of God, which God by His wisdom and providence determined to allot to it. Hear St. Augustine, in the Dialogue, Questions to Orosius, question xxxix: "Number, and measure, and weight is God Himself: He is number without number, from whom is all number: He is measure without measure, from whom is all measure: He is weight without weight, from whom is all weight; therefore He disposed all things in number, and measure and weight, as if to say: He disposed all things in Himself." The same St. Augustine (or whoever is the author) in the book of Sentences of twenty-one, chapter xviii, attributes measure to the Father, number to the Son (who is the second person in number), weight to the Holy Spirit, who is also called love; St. Bonaventure takes by measure the clemency of the Holy Spirit conserving all things: by number the wisdom of the Son ordering all things: by weight the power of the Father working all things. To this St. Bernard adds, sermon I On the Septuagesima, where he asserts that God in this life disposed all things in measure, number, weight: but in the future life, namely in heavenly beatitude, without measure, number and weight: because there all our good will be God, who is immense in every direction; and although He is the same, there too He will communicate Himself and His glory to each of the blessed in just and certain measure, proportioned to the merits of each: wherefore St. Bernard, ibid., addressing the heavenly Father, says: "In Thee there is indeed neither weight nor measure, but satiety and supreme abundance; but Thou hast not number," namely such as earthly things have, but another heavenly number worthy of God and the blessed. Secondly, the same St. Bernard, sermon 51, among the small ones, attributes measure to place and time, to each thing assigned and measured; number to the parts of a corporeal thing, or to the variety and mutability of an incorporeal thing; weight to the dignity of a thing. Thirdly, the author of the Hypognosticon (in St. Augustine vol. VII), book VI, chapter iv, takes by measure the quality of a thing, by number the quantity, by weight the reason made equal. Fourthly, more aptly St. Augustine, book IV On Genesis according to the letter, chapter iii: "Measure," he says, "prescribes to every thing its mode, and number gives to every thing its form, and weight draws every thing to rest and stability;"; therefore God disposed all things in measure, number and weight, that is in mode, form and order: the same Augustine, in the book On the Nature of Good, chapter iii: "These three," he says, "mode, form and order, are as it were general goods in things made by God, and so these three where they are great, are great goods; where small, small goods; where none, there is no good." St. Thomas follows St. Augustine, I part. Question v, article 5, where he teaches that every thing or every good has measure, which prescribes and provides to each thing a certain mode from the determination of its principles, whether efficient or material causes: has number, which gives to each thing its form and species: has weight, that is inclination to its acts and its end, and therefore this weight draws the thing itself to its rest and stability. The same, Question xlv, article 7: Measure, he says, is referred to the substance of a thing limited by its principles; number to the form, and weight to the order; and from these he proves that in every thing there is secondly, just as the inclination of the balance is unstable and transient, so also the world passes away and perishes before God; thirdly, just as the pan suspended from the yoke or beam can be agitated by the slightest motion and almost by an atom of the one holding it, and inclined to the opposite side, so also the whole world is in the hand of God in all things, so that wherever God wills, thither the world immediately inclines, turns and leans. Just as therefore the balance-keeper rules and directs the pans, so God balances, rules and governs the world, and all men, angels, and all other things that are in the world. There is a similar comparison with a drop of dew, which descends before dawn, and is immediately dried up at the rising of the sun, for it is absorbed either by the earth or by the sun and vanishes: such plainly is the orb before God, for if God were to withdraw from the orb His concurrence, by which He sustains it, immediately the orb would relapse into its nothingness: see what is said in Isaiah xl, 12, 15, 17, where he says: "Behold the nations as a drop of a bucket, and as the smallest grain of a balance are they counted." St. Ambrose adds in Psalm i, that this balance signifies that God created all things with justice, and that in us there is only a moment of divine justice. Thirdly, because true power is magnanimous and generous; but the magnanimous are equitable and merciful, wherefore the highest power is supremely equitable and merciful, indeed it is supreme equity and mercy. This is what he adds: "And for this reason that thou art Lord of all, thou makest thyself merciful to all." That is to say, Thy power, and the supreme dominion of all, impels thee to spare all, and to be beneficent and merciful to all, because, as the Interlinear Gloss says, "he who presides over power becomes mild in nature;" so that the greater he is, the more merciful he may be; which is the virtue of a good ruler, namely that he be both lord of his subjects and father, just as Christ said in Matthew XI, 25: "I confess to thee, O Father, Lord of heaven and earth:" for the power of a lord can freely oppress, but the affection of a father restrains and tempers it; whence St. Augustine praises the ancient Romans as it were leonine, both in strength and in mercy, in book V of the City of God, chapter XII, whose axiom was, as Virgil testifies in the VI Aeneid: To spare the conquered, and to subdue the proud. See Seneca in the book On Clemency, where he extols the voice of Nero at the beginning of his reign, when he subscribed to the sentence of a man to be punished by death, he exclaimed: "Would that I knew not letters." True power therefore ought to be supported by justice, that it may endure, according to that in Proverbs XVI, 12: "Justice firmeth the throne." Power therefore lacking justice is impotence and quickly perishes, as is evident in tyrants: see what is said in the preceding chapter, verse 24, to those words: "Thou hast mercy on all, because thou canst do all things." Morally, let quarrelsome men and duellists learn from God, who, because they are strong in strength and the art of fighting, provoke any who come their way to duel, to measure their strength by equity and justice, lest they appear to be lions and tigers rather than men: for tigers measure their right by strength. Wherefore by the just judgment of God, those who provoke to duel often succumb and are conquered in duel by the weaker. But those provoked to duel should answer as Augustus Caesar answered to Anthony when he provoked him to it: "If Anthony wishes to perish, there are enough ways to death:" thus Plutarch in Anthony. 17. THOU SHOWEST FORTH STRENGTH (ἰσχύν, that is, might, power), WHO ART NOT BELIEVED TO BE CONSUMMATED IN STRENGTH (δυνάμεως, that is, power), AND THOU BRINGEST TO NOUGHT THE BOLDNESS OF THOSE WHO KNOW THEE NOT,— that is to say, Thy strength and might, O Lord, thou showest forth and exertest against those who do not believe thee to be consummated in power, and to be almighty, such as were the faithless and impious Sodomites, Egyptians, Canaanites, who dared to provoke thy arm, and as it were to challenge thee to duel; whence thou bringest to nought their bold temerity, punishest and chastisest it: for, as I said a little before, true fortitude is "to spare the conquered, and to subdue the proud," so that they namely, being forced, may acknowledge, worship and revere thy strength and almighty hand. Whence the Syriac and Arabic versions translate, and thou ruler of all, hast shown forth thy powers, and they believed not: only with the powers of consummation thou mightily refutest those whom thou knowest. AND OF THESE, WHO KNOW THEE NOT, THOU REBUKEST THEIR BOLDNESS. — The Complutensian, Royal and other codices have, and these who know thee not, thou rebukest in boldness, in Greek, ἐξελέγχεις, that is, thou reprovest, punishest, chastisest; Lyra, Hugo and others read, thou rebukest in boldness, as if to say, Infidels, who know thee not, thou allowest to become bolder, and in boldness thou confirmest them, so that boldly they fall from one crime into another. But rebukest is the same as reprovest and scourgeth, as I have already said. The Greek texts on the contrary have, and in those who know, thou rebukest boldness; whence also St. Augustine, in book LXXXIII of Questions, Question LIII, reads, but in those who know, thou rebukest boldness; Vatable, and thou rebukest those endowed with contumacy; the Syriac and Arabic, those whom thou knowest, thou rebukest mightily. But in the Greek it appears that the negation μή, that is, not, has been omitted, which Our Author reads, and therefore translated, who know thee not, that is, know thee not. Yet both readings can be reconciled: for the impious know God and God's power speculatively, but not practically, because they have not sufficiently experienced it, and therefore do not fear, nor revere it: wherefore God rebuketh this boldness of theirs, that is, sharply reproveth and punisheth it, so that they may learn to fear it, as the Apostle teacheth concerning philosophers, "who when they had known God, glorified him not as God," Rom. I, 21, where note that God is wont especially to rage against the bold and insolent, such as were Pharao, the Egyptians and the Chanaanites, so that he may break and crush their pride, insolence and boldness, and make them humble, modest and reverently subject to himself; whence some expound what is in the Greek, those who are bold, as thou rebukest and punishest those who are bold. 18. BUT THOU, MASTER OF POWER, JUDGEST WITH TRANQUILITY, AND WITH GREAT CLEMENCY DISPOSEST US: FOR THE POWER TO DO IT IS PRESENT WITH THEE WHENSOEVER THOU WILT. — God is called master of power, that is, first, he who ruleth his own power, as Vatable translated it, equally as his mind, and is the most wise moderator of his wrath and zeal; whence in Greek it is, δεσπόζων ἰσχύος, that is, ruling over strength or power. Secondly, by Hebraism, as if to say, Master most powerful and mighty. St. Augustine in the place cited reads, but thou Lord of virtues, that is, of armies, who namely rulest over angels, heavens, elements, and all creatures, and leadest them forth in array against thy enemies when thou wilt: for thou containest under thy power all the power of others, restrainest it lest it exceed its limits, and releasest and remittest it at thy pleasure. The sense is, as if to say, Although sometimes thou exertest thy power against those who believe it not, so that thou mayest show thyself master of power, that is, most mighty, yet thou doest this not from the passion of wrath, but with tranquility of mind zealous for justice, and therefore with great clemency, that is, moderation, as if reverencing us, thou disposest and governest us, so that all may understand that thou punishest sinners not according to power and wrath, but according to equity and mercy, for if thou shouldest punish them according to power, thou wouldest immediately destroy and annihilate all: "the power to do it (πάρεστι, that is, is present) is with thee, when thou wilt," so that whatsoever thou willest, thou canst and bringest to completion in deed, for thy power is equal to thy will; whence it is as great as thy will is. THOU JUDGEST WITH TRANQUILITY (the Arabic, with simplicity). — In Greek, ἐν ἐπιεικείᾳ, that is, in equity; with gentleness and fairness, not according to power, or wrath; with moderation and temperance, not according to the rigor of justice, because while thou punishest sinners, thou dost not exert all thy forces, nor indulgest thy wrath, nor punishest crimes according to their gravity and desert; but thou temperest justice with mercy, and punishest short of what is deserved, and therefore "thou judgest with tranquility," as Our Author aptly translated it. Although therefore God be a zealot of justice, yet this zeal, which in us bringeth perturbation, in God hath the highest peace and tranquility on account of his eminent sanctity and omnipotence: "for the power to do it is present with thee, when thou wilt." AND WITH GREAT REVERENCE THOU DISPOSEST US. — First, Dionysius understands reverence not of men, but of God, that is to say, God governs magnificently, as befits His majesty worthy of all reverence; secondly, Salvianus, book II On Providence, understands reverence of men, that is to say, God regards the height of human dignity, and pursues it with honor and as it were with reverence. But truly, in Greek it is μετὰ πολλῆς φειδοῦς, that is, with much sparing, with the study of sparing, with sparingness, indulgence, pardon, mercy thou governest us, sparing fault and punishment, if not entirely, certainly in great part, just as if thou wert revering us. It is a catachresis: thus a parent when he chastises a beloved son does it reverently and under compulsion; hence his hands tremble, and after the blows he withdraws and restrains them: thus a tutor, who scourges the king's son, heir of the kingdom, does it with tranquility and reverence, that he may satisfy the duty enjoined upon him by the father the king: thus also thou, O Lord, as it were reverently punishest us, because thou regardest us as thy sons, and "in the rod of men" (in Hebrew בשבט אנשים, that is, of the infirm, the weak, that is, with weak and languishing chastisement) thou reprovest, and in the stripes of the children of men," II Kings VII, 14; and as one who washes and cleanses glass does it carefully, lest he dash the glass against something and break it, and as a potter delicately handles and cleanses earthen vessels, lest he break them: thus also God carefully rubs us with the salt of tribulation, that he may rub away the filth, not that he may break the earthen body, thus Cantacuzenus. Hence the Syriac translates, and with all piety or kindness thou governest us; the Arabic, thou moderatest us with much piety. Reverence therefore, as Our translator renders it, is piety, kindness, moderation, indulgence, as the Romans note in their notes on the Greek version. Morally, let princes, judges, superiors learn here from God the manner of ruling, judging, punishing: for if God judges with tranquility, and disposes us with great reverence, with how much more ought men, who are of the same nature and condition as their subjects and defendants, to do the same? as the Wise Man adds: wherefore they err greatly, who, elevated from the lowest to the highest degree of honor, become insolent, and proudly and insolently abuse their power to the ruin of others, whence it comes to pass that they bring upon themselves the hatred of all, and not rarely ruin, nay even death. Let them hear Ausonius, Exhortation to Modesty: Regard Fortune reverently, whosoever suddenly / From a lowly place hast advanced to wealth. Most excellently St. Augustine, book I of the Confessions, chapter IV, thus depicts God as prince, judge and avenger: "Thou lovest, and art not disturbed; thou art jealous, and art secure; thou repenteth, and art not sorrowful; thou art angry, and art tranquil." Man therefore, since he is the image of God, ought to be also an imitator of God, that he may imitate His holiness, beneficence and perfection, according to that saying in Matthew V, 48: "Be ye therefore perfect, as also your heavenly Father is perfect;" and that saying ibid. XVIII, 33: "Wicked servant, etc., ought not thou also to have had compassion on thy fellow servant, as I had compassion on thee?" St. Augustine in Psalm CII introduces God speaking thus: "Sins do not please me, but with long-suffering I seek right deeds. If I were to punish sinners, I would not find confessors." This was understood by the Emperor Theodosius the Younger, who when asked why he did not inflict capital punishment on those by whom he was harmed, said: "Would that it were permitted me to recall even the dead to life." The Emperor Rudolph, when after a change of character he had become more merciful to his subjects than at the beginning of his reign, was rebuked for this: "That I was once severe and harsh, I have repented," he said, "but that I was mild and placable, never:" thus Aeneas Sylvius, book II of the Commentary on the Deeds of Alfonso. Alfonso, King of Aragon, when he was sometimes reproached for being too mild and gentle toward his subjects, in that he would sometimes even forgive those who had gravely offended him, said: "I prefer by my clemency to save many rather than by my severity to destroy few: for clemency is indeed of a man, but ferocity is of beasts: wherefore it is fitting that a prince be easy to forgive in private injuries; but in those things which harm the commonwealth, he should be severe, yet in such a way that he seems to pursue and punish not the man, but the crime itself;" thus the Panormitanus, book II of the Deeds of Alfonso, who also in book III records these heavenly words of his: "By justice I am pleasing to the good, by clemency to the wicked: for nothing so bends the minds of adversaries as the name of gentleness and placability." Blessed Francis Borgia, Duke of Gandia and Viceroy of Catalonia, when by his office he was forced to punish the guilty, wept, and strove that they might die piously; and for the souls of the punished he caused thirty sacrifices of the Mass to be offered for each head: the same man, when made General of the Society of Jesus, received in great part upon himself the punishments of the delinquent, and bore them in the torture of his own body. Philosophers learned the same from Solomon, whose maxims are related by Antonius in the Melissa, by Plutarch in the Apophthegms and by others, such as Demonax: "One should not be angry at men, but at vices: for it is of man to sin, but of God or of a man near to God to correct the sins of men;" of King Antigonus of Macedon: "Clemency is more powerful than violence." Cato the Elder admonished those who were powerful to use their power sparingly, so that they might always be able to use it, feeling that clemency and courtesy make power lasting, but ferocity brief. When Caesar, having gained power, had honorably restored the statues of Pompey that had been thrown down: "Caesar," said Cicero, "while he restores the statues of Pompey, establishes his own," feeling that he did this not for the sake of Pompey, but so that by a simulation of clemency he might gain favor with the citizens, and thus establish his own kingdom. Plutarch in the Roman Apophthegms: The Emperor Trajan, he says, when he was reproached by his men for excessive gentleness, replied: "I am such an emperor to private citizens as I would wish the emperor to be to me as a private citizen:" his successor Hadrian: "It should be enough for emperors in private offenses," he said, "to have been able to take vengeance." The Emperor Alexander Severus, when his mother Mammaea and his wife Memmia, disapproving of his humanity and clemency, often said: "You have made your power softer and more contemptible in the empire," replied: "But more secure and more lasting:" thus in the Life of the Caesars. A certain bronze-worker killed Thyrrhaeus, the son of Pittacus, at Cumae with an axe; the Cumaeans sent the murderer bound to Pittacus, so that he might take vengeance on him; but he, having learned the cause, released the man, saying: "Forgiveness is more powerful than punishment," feeling it more useful to pardon than to remember the injury and take vengeance. There are some who report that the murderer was released by Alcaeus with this inscription, "It is better to forgive than to punish:" thus Laertius, book I.
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Secondly, that power in our God, coinciding in no way with us, arises from divinity itself, which is most perfect and most holy, and supremely conformed to right reason, virtue and eternal law: wherefore such power of His must also be, and therefore best, most ample and most equitable, and the beginning and foundation of all justice. Add to this, that in God power is supreme and immense, so that nothing can be added to it, except that He show it forth and communicate it to creatures through equity and beneficence: wherefore He is its source, principle and origin; God therefore is supremely beneficent, because supremely full, and supremely powerful, just as a river overflows and makes the fields fertile, because it is supremely full and strong. The Wise Man gives this reason in the following verse. Alas now, kings and princes, to this moment's weight; go and in your sceptres if you please be proud, add kingdoms to kingdoms, seek the empire of Asia and Europe. Alas! what are you doing! you wage war for a moment, you play for a point, you thirst for a drop with immense cupidity. Go mortals, gape after the earth and earthly things like moles, covet broad estates, fix palaces for eternity, heap riches upon riches, honours upon honours. Why do you labour with such great expenditures of your whole life, so that you divide this point of earth into thousands of thousands of points, so that you occupy the hundred-thousandth part of a point: why do you not rather seek the favour and grace of God? He with His finger closes and balances this whole globe of earth and heaven; He can create a thousand worlds, nay millions of worlds far more perfect than this in an instant; He contains within Himself riches, honours, pleasures infinitely greater than this whole world displays; He makes those who hope in Him almighty, as St. Bernard says; He makes those who love Him happy, and blessed with eternal glory; He promises you the vast expanse of the empyrean heaven, nay the dominion of the whole world: why therefore do you prefer a moment to immensity, a drop to the sea, an instant to eternity? O how great art Thou, O Lord, in whose sight the whole world is as a moment and a drop? "O Lord, our Lord, how admirable is Thy name in the whole earth! For Thy magnificence is elevated above the heavens," Psalm viii, 2. "The heavens declare the glory of God, and the firmament showeth forth the works of His hands," Psalm xviii, 2. "Great is the Lord, and greatly to be praised, and of His greatness there is no end," Psalm cxliv, 3. "He is great, and hath no end, He is high and immense," Baruch iii, 25. For, as St. Gregory Nazianzen says, in his oration on the Nativity, speaking of God: "He contains within Himself the whole of being, never begun, never to cease, as it were an infinite and boundless ocean of essence"; and in his Verses: "In Thee all things remain, to Thee all things hasten together"; and St. Dionysius, On the Divine Names, chapter v: "God," he says, "is not being in any manner, but simply and without circumscription contains and anticipates all being in Himself equally"; and St. Cyprian, in the book That Idols are not Gods: "The world has one ruler, who commands all things that are by His word, disposes them by reason, perfects them by virtue. Hence He cannot be seen, He is clearer than sight; He cannot be grasped, He is purer than touch; He cannot be estimated, He is greater than sense: and therefore we estimate Him worthily thus, when we call Him inestimable." Plato saw this, nay learned it from Solomon, and from him Seneca, who in the Preface to Book I of his Natural Questions says: "When you have lifted yourself up into that truly great realm, as often as you see armies going with raised standards, and as if some great thing were being done, a horseman now exploring further ahead, now spread out from the flanks, you will be pleased to say: A dark column goes across the fields: that is the running about of ants labouring in a narrow space. What difference is there between them and us, except the measure of a small body? That point is what you navigate, what you wage war in, what you arrange kingdoms in, even the smallest, when the ocean meets you on both sides. Above are vast spaces, into whose possession the mind is admitted: but thus if it brings with it the smallest thing from the body, if it wipes away all that is sordid, and having escaped light and content with little, breaks forth." And after some intervening remarks: "What is God? The mind of the universe. What is God? all that you see, and all that you do not see. If finally His greatness is restored to Him, than which nothing greater can be conceived. If He alone is all things, He holds His work both without and within."
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trum) because thou art almighty, and thou overlookest the sins of men on account of repentance. — that is to say, Although thou couldst destroy the Egyptians and other sinners, from the fact that thou holdest the whole world as it were the moment of a balance in thy hand, yet thou hast spared them and sparest them, because thou art merciful, and thou hast mercy on all: for thy mercy is equal to thy almightiness, nay it is clothed and armed with it, wherefore by it it is immense and almighty; wherefore by it thou overlookest the sins of men, to this end, that they themselves may do penance, and thus thou mayest receive them into favour, and pour out the bowels of thy mercy upon them. Note the inference; he does not say thou hast mercy on all because thou art merciful; but because thou art almighty, that is because thou art omnipotent: the reason is first, because God from the fact that he is almighty, esteems all things as nothing, and therefore unworthy of his wrath and indignation, according to that saying of the Poet: The wrath of Caesar will make No honour worthy. Thus a lion esteems not the barking of a dog worthy of his wrath. Secondly, because to be able to restrain wrath, and to be able to spare sinners, is of a lofty and generous mind, and of one who is not powerless over himself, but most powerful to command himself, whatever may happen: whence it comes to pass that this excellent nature in God declareth the greatness of his mind and his omnipotence; whence St. Fulgentius, epistle 7 to Venantius, chapter iv: "God," saith he, "is great in forgiving: in this greatness nothing is lacking, wherein is omnipotent mercy, and merciful omnipotence: so great is the benignity of omnipotence, and the omnipotence of benignity in God, that there is nothing which he is unwilling or unable to forgive to the penitent;" finally the same Church singeth when she saith: "O God, who dost manifest thy almightiness chiefly by sparing and having mercy:" see also Seneca in the book On Anger, and in Wisdom: "The wise man," saith he, "is superior to injury." Note, the Greek codices here vary wonderfully: for first Jansenius readeth, μύστας ἐκμύσου θειχομέδ σου, that is, the mystics and priests of thy execrable worship, by which namely the Canaanites worshipped thee with human sacrifice and blood; or ἐκμύσου, μύστας τε θείας σου (as the Aldine edition hath it), so that ἐκμύσου is referred to αἵματος, that is to say, they were devourers of execrable blood; then let there be added μύστας τε θείας σου, that is, and they were also mystics, that is, concealers and suppressors of thy true worship, which they themselves had received from Noah, Abraham, and the other patriarchs, who in former times had worshipped the true God with true religion in that place. Secondly, Peter Nannius readeth, καὶ σπλαγχνοφάγειν ἀνθρωπίνων σαρκῶν θοίναν, that is, and they were wont to devour entrails, namely feasts of human flesh; then, καὶ αἵματος ἐκμύσουν, that is, and they licked up blood; soon after, μύστας τε θιάσου, that is, and priests or flamens of the thiasus: now thiasus properly is a chorus of bacchants, or Maenads, called thiasus, from θεῖα ᾄδειν, that is, to sing divine things; or from θεῖν, that is, from running, for they ran about as if possessed; hence θιάζειν and θορεύειν, that is, to lead choruses, to dance, to caper; whence Virgil, eclogue V on Bacchus: Daphnis instituted thiasoi to lead for Bacchus. Therefore thiasus was a dance, a chorus and a procession, which was exhibited to Bacchus in sacrifice; likewise a sacred banquet and an assembly of those banqueting; whence Clement of Alexandria, in the Protrepticus oration, calls the thiasus mad, namely the Bacchic thyrsus; hence also the Romans in the Greek edition, in the Notes, annotate that some read here, ἐκ μέσου μύστας θιάσου, that is, mystics from the midst initiated into the thiasus, that is, into the chorus of bacchants, and thus Cantacuzenus readeth. Thirdly, others for θιάσου read θειασμοῦν, that is, divine frenzy, by which fanatics are driven, which Plato calleth ἐνθουσιασμόν; whence Vatable readeth, μύστας τε θειασμών, and translateth, and priests of divine frenzy, or fanatical priests: for θειάζω is to be inspired by divinity, and not to be master of oneself; whence θειασμός is inspiration, divination, a banquet. Fourthly, the Vatican codex corrected, ἐκ μέσου μυσταθείας σου, that is to say, From the midst of thy sacrament, or of thy divine mystery, so that the word μυσταθείας, newly formed (for it is not found elsewhere, and the author of this book innovates many other things) and compounded, is made from μύστας and θείας, that is to say, divine mystery: thus the Vulgate interpreter seems to have read it, unless thou preferest I have read, ἐκ μέσου μυστοθιιασμοῦ σου, that is, from the midst of thy mystical worship, that is, from thy sacrament, or thy sacrifice. Wherefore it seems foreign and forced, what Lyran, Hugo, a Castro and certain others think, that by sacrament is understood the Holy Land, and that it is called the midst, because it was situated in the midst of the habitable climate of the earth, as if to say: Thou didst wish to destroy all these idolaters from the midst of thy sacrament, that is, from the midst of the land in which thou didst establish thy sacraments, thy mysteries, or thy worship, namely from the midst of thy worshippers: for it was not fitting that the pious people should dwell in the midst of so many impious, or that the true worship of God should be exercised among so many accursed sacred rites; whence the Complutensian and Royal editions transpose the words, and thus read, and the devourers of blood, and the authors parents of unhelped souls thou didst wish to destroy from the midst of thy sacrament, that is, from the midst of the Holy Land. Likewise it satisfies the purpose less, what our Lorinus suspects, that μύστας elsewhere placed seems to be read for μυστάδας: μυστάδες moreover is called by Phavorinus a college, society or a certain vow, and this is called by our author a sacrament, as if these sacrilegious Canaanites had been from the midst of the sacrament, that is, of the holy sodality of God, that is, of the priests, who once had worshipped God rightly, but had defected from him to idols, and the gods of the gentiles, and their sacred rites, priesthoods and profane temples. AND THE AUTHORS PARENTS OF UNHELPED SOULS THOU DIDST WISH TO DESTROY. — Authors, namely of the slaughter and death of children: for he called them a little before, slayers of his children, and this is signified by the Greek αὐθέντας, which Gaza, Budaeus, and others translate αὐτόχειρα, that is, one who inflicts hands upon himself or his own, and brings about death: for thus Euripides, Aeschylus and other ancient writers use this word, but in a later age the word αὐθέντης was used for author, indeed from it the name author is derived, although Servius in that passage of book XII of the Aeneid: "I am the author of daring," derives author from augeo; whence authority is power, authority; and αὐθεντικός, that is, authentically, is the same as with authority, or with a certain author. For γονεῖς, that is, parents, Vatable reads φονεῖς, that is, slayers; but all manuscripts have γονεῖς; yet it is true that among the Canaanites γονεῖς were φονεῖς, that is, parents were slayers of children, and therefore not so much parents as destroyers. Again, for ἀβοηθήτων Cantacuzenus reads, ἀπολύτους, that is, loosed, namely those who, he says, broke the bonds of nature, so that they seemed to cease to be parents, whose murderers they were. The sense is, as if to say: Among the Canaanites the very parents themselves, who their own children unhelped, that is, to whom no one else was helping (for who would help children whom the parents themselves were sacrificing, who had the highest right and power over them), by the law of nature, indeed by paternal law, ought especially to protect and vindicate from death, since even bears, leopards, and other beasts fight even unto death for the protection of their young; these, I say, slew and immolated their own children with their own hands: thus the Romans in their Notes, Jansenius and Nannius, who for ἀβοηθήτων, that is, unhelped, reads, βουθυτέντων, that is, slaughtered like oxen or bulls. They call children souls synecdochically and metonymically, because small children are loved by parents tenderly, as if they were their own little souls; and therefore barbarians more than wild beasts are those who slay them, especially unhelped and destitute of all aid. There was one St. Francis Xavier, who in Japan snatched from death a certain Bernard, the son of his poor host, because the father could not support him, nourished him, instructed him, and admitted him into the Society of Jesus, and sent him to Rome to St. Ignatius: thus indeed Bernard's father gave life both of body and soul. But who will give us more Xaviers? I am a goddess, who exact punishment for both deed and non-deed. That thou mayest repent, thus am I called Metanoia. Pliny adds in book XI, chapter LIII, that hornets eat serpents and vipers, and therefore their bites are venomous. Add, that they burn with anger and fury, and signify this by a swelling buzz and murmur, as if indignant and raging, and therefore are especially bold, agile, swift, persistent, and fix a most pestilential sting: hence the adage: "Do not stir up hornets," for nine hornets are sufficient to kill a horse with their stings: hear Pliny, book XI, chapter XXI: "Their sting is scarcely without fever. Authors say that a man is killed by nine times nine punctures." Finally, hornets are similar to wasps, but larger, winged, and armed with spicules: the Gauls call them frelons, the Belgians horselen, the Italians calauroni, the Spanish tavarros, the Germans hornitz.
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In like manner St. James of Nisibis drove away Sapor, king of the Persians, from the siege of Nisibis, by a multitude of gnats and small flies divinely sent into his army, which flying into the eyes, ears, nostrils and mouths of horses and men, drove them almost to madness, and thus compelled them to flee, as Theodoret relates in the Philothea, or in the History of the Fathers, cap. 1. See here again how God brings low the pride and ferocity of men through vile and contemptible wasps and hornets. In Italy and other places, certain mountains are uncultivated and uninhabitable on account of the abundance and attacks of wasps. When Amurates, king of the Turks, attacked Alba Graeca, the townspeople, according to Bonfini lib. IV, dec. 3, besides other things, also sent swarms of bees against the Turks, so that struck by their stings they were grievously tormented: indeed, a duke of the Emperor Henry, besieged by Giselbert, king (I read duke) of Lorraine, stopped the rushing cavalry by placing beehives in their way, whose stings drove the horses to fury, so that the riders, as Witichindus says in lib. I Gest. Sax., either threw them off or rendered them useless for fighting. In the year of salvation 1512, under the auspices of Emmanuel, king of Portugal, Lupus Barriga made an assault on the town of Ximaticense in Mauritania, which they call Tornii, as Osorio relates in lib. VIII Rerum Emman.; when the enemies saw themselves brought to the last extremity, they threw beehives of bees into-
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10 and 11. BUT JUDGING BY PARTS THOU GAVEST PLACE TO REPENTANCE, NOT BEING IGNORANT THAT THEIR NATION WAS WICKED, AND THEIR NATURAL MALICE, AND THAT THEIR THOUGHT COULD NOT BE CHANGED FOR EVER. FOR THEIR SEED WAS ACCURSED FROM THE BEGINNING: AND THOU, FEARING NONE, GAVEST PARDON TO THEIR SINS. — As if to say, God could have destroyed all the wicked Canaanites at once, but He would not, so that judging them by parts, that is gradually by degrees (for this is the Greek κατὰ βραχύ), that is punishing and chastising them by wasps, He might give them place, occasion and time for repentance. Moreover, so great was God's clemency that He would not permit Himself to be overcome by the wickedness of the Canaanites, so that, although He knew them to be so depraved by their inborn perversity and wicked nature, and to have sucked impious errors from their very origin as it were with their mother's milk, and to have been nourished by domestic evil examples and institutions, and moreover on account of the long habit of sinning to have this disease so confirmed in their souls that it could in no way be healed on account of such contumacy; finally to be bound by so dire a curse that they would reject all discipline: yet, I say, so great was God's kindness toward them that He would not wish to destroy them immediately, but to chastise them by wasps, and to inflict deserved punishments upon them by degrees, not that He gave them pardon fearing someone or respecting anyone's person; but that He might show His immense clemency toward them, and on His part do whatever was necessary that could draw them to repentance. THEIR NATION WAS WICKED. — In Greek, πονηρὰ γένεσις, that is generation, origin, lineage, birth, parents and ancestors, and similar generation, education and instruction: for the Canaanites were descendants of Ham and his son Canaan, like raven chicks of ravens, and wicked sons of impious parents; or generation or nation signifies the whole stock and people of the Canaanites, which was corrupted in Ham and Canaan their progenitors, and in this corruption was continually propagated.
Machine translation from the Latin, not reviewed.
11:14
… There are ten of them, and they followed one another in the order described in Ex. 7:14-12:26. In Ps. 78:44-52; 105:27-36, the order is somewhat different and the list incomplete; a commentary and poetic amplification, for the didactic purposes of the book, is found in Wis. 11:14-20; 16:1-18:25, with fuller reference to the ninth and tenth plagues.
11:18
sense, as in Wis. 11:18, since it presupposes as its subject the earth first created. …
11:24
I. THE DOCUMENTS OF REVELATION. - In the Old Testament it is said that God has mercy on all, because he loves all (Wis. 11:24-26; 12:18-20). He wills the conversion of the sinner (Sir. 33:11). The promise of redemption is without restrictions. …
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.