Ephrem the Syrian — Commentary on Scripture

Let the vine give thanks to our Lord, the true vineyard.

HYMNS ON THE NATIVITY 18:21-22

Today was born the child, and his name was called Wonderful! For a wonder it is that God should reveal himself as a baby.

HYMNS ON THE NATIVITY 1

Isaiah 9:18

Mary said to him, “How can this be, since no man has known me?” He said to her, “The Holy Spirit will come, and the power of the Most High will overshadow you.” Why did he not mention the Father’s name but instead the name of his Power and the name of the Holy Spirit? Because it was fitting that the Architect of the works [of creation] should come and raise up the house that had fallen and that the hovering Spirit should sanctify the buildings that were unclean. Thus, if the Progenitor entrusted the judgment that is to come to his [Son], it is clear that he accomplished the creation of humanity and its restoration through him as well. He was the live coal that had come to kindle the briars and thorns. He dwelt in the womb and cleansed it and sanctified the place of the birth pangs and the curses.

COMMENTARY ON TATIAN’S DIATESSARON 25

Isaiah 10:34

[God spoke] of the branches (thickets), not the root. When the measure of the people’s sins was complete, John came and took up the roots of their trees. “For the ax is laid to the roots of the trees,” [the roots] which Isaiah had left [untouched]. When will this be, if not at the rising forth of the true One, who was designated by the [image of] the staff and the shoot, and upon whom rests the Spirit, who is referred to as being sevenfold.

COMMENTARY ON TATIAN’S DIATESSARON 3:15

Isaiah 11:1

He is the son of Mary, however, and not the son of Joseph. He did not appear in the body from any other lineage, except from David.

COMMENTARY ON TATIAN’S DIATESSARON 26

Isaiah 11:1

By the fruit of the root he will graft us onto his tree.

HYMNS ON THE NATIVITY 3:17

Isaiah 39:1-2

You juxtaposed [events] so that you might not grieve us and that you might save them. Those who had seized our silver brought gold. Those who had wounded our bodies brought myrrh. Those who had burned our sanctuary offered frankincense to your divinity.The myrrh [of the Magi] intercedes for their swords with which they killed us. Their gold intercedes for our treasures, for they plundered the treasuries of the house of Hezekiah. Their frankincense appeases your divinity, for they had angered your Father.…
The Babylonians, too, came up [and] afflicted the children in Judah. By you the children have found peace, for by you the vicious have become worshipers. Those who despised old men honor a Child who is older than all.
Babylon, too, sent offerings to Hezekiah; the envoys who saw his treasures were amazed. What did you show to the Magi? You showed a wonder, for they rendered you homage although you were poor. However great was the ivory palace of the kings of our people, greater and more beautiful is the little cave in which I bore you.

HYMNS ON THE NATIVITY 19:3-4, 10-12

Isaiah 40:1

Hezekiah offered prayers to God because he had been told that death was imminent, but he failed to pray that evil should be averted from his descendants. Hence Isaiah says, “Comfort, comfort my people, you priests.”

COMMENTARY ON ISAIAH 40:1

Isaiah 40:4

It is said that the valleys are filled, because the Lord has entered the world, and has redeemed all the peoples from the bondage of the devil, and brought them back to the faith and adoration of their Creator and has taught them to hope in eternal salvation. This is also said, because he has filled the deep valleys and the horrible and inhospitable caves with ascetics, who, after abandoning the cares of this world, exclusively devote themselves to honor and praise God.

COMMENTARY ON ISAIAH 40:4

Isaiah 40:12

Let the great sea praise the hands of the Son that measured it, and was astonished.… Blessed be his noble act!

HYMNS ON THE NATIVITY 13:15

Isaiah 41:14

Therefore, you will subdue kings and kingdoms with your frailty and will overturn their schemes and proud designs. So [Isaiah] calls the Jews, about whom he is speaking here, “worm,” in order that they may understand that they cannot rely on their strength; nonetheless, their weakness will not hinder them, since worms are able to consume hard wood, so that, in the future, they will destroy the pride and power of very strong kingdoms.

COMMENTARY ON ISAIAH 41:14

Isaiah 41:14

The Spirit described his generation as a worm that was without meaning. The type that the Holy Spirit shaped attains its meaning.

HYMNS ON THE NATIVITY 1:10

Isaiah 42:10

Here [Isaiah] speaks again about the Gentiles and invites them to sing a new song to the Lord. Indeed, if the Jews, redeemed from captivity after seventy years, had to sing a new hymn to the Lord, their liberator, why should not the Gentiles do the same? And should they not burst out into a new song with much more good reason, since they have been delivered from a bondage of many centuries?“His praise from the end of the earth,” that is, it happens in a wonderful way that the salvation given by Christ to humankind is celebrated by the remotest nations with hymns and songs.
“The coastland and their inhabitants”: those nations who submit to the waves of the sea with their ships will praise the Lord. Those who have considered the sea as a divinity and sacrifice to it will recognize, after being enlightened by faith, their true God, and they will consider and preach him as the Lord of the sea.

COMMENTARY ON ISAIAH 42:10

Isaiah 43:28

“Your princes profaned the sanctuary.” Those who were from the house of Manasseh profaned the sanctuary with the four-faced idol, which they placed inside the sanctuary. Because of those crimes, and in particular because of Manasseh’s crime, “I have given Jacob to the curse, and Israel to reviling.”

COMMENTARY ON ISAIAH 43:28

Isaiah 44:27

“I will dry up your rivers,” that is, he will extend his hand over the Euphrates. In a different way, we may intend that the Lord will destroy the devil and his frauds, into which he plunges people as into a sea. And the rivers, which he dries up, are the armies of his iniquity.

COMMENTARY ON ISAIAH 44:27

Isaiah 45:8

“Rejoice, O heavens, from above,” that is, rejoice over the salvation of the nations. The angels are delighted at the repentance of a single sinner. “And the clouds will rain down righteousness.” The clouds, which rain down righteousness, are the apostles and the priests who justify through the absolution, which they give by means of baptism. “Let the earth open, that salvation may be multiplied.” Justice, symbolized through the earth, is poured on the mind of the nations, and salvation shall multiply in every region. “And let it cause righteousness to spring up also.” In the salvation of the nations also their justice is multiplied, and salvation and justice spring up and grow at the same time.

COMMENTARY ON ISAIAH 45:8

Isaiah 46:11

“I call a bird of prey from the east.” [Isaiah] either calls the Medes a “bird,” who will destroy the Babylonians, or the Israelites, who, in the course of their return, destroyed the Arameans, the Greeks and the house of Gog.

COMMENTARY ON ISAIAH 46:11

Isaiah 47:9

“Two plagues shall come to you in one day,” because you were deceived by the art of the Chaldeans and ignored your doom. “The loss of children and widowhood shall come on you,” that is, sterility. The loss of children indicates the destruction of the city; the widowhood, the privation of the kingdom.

COMMENTARY ON ISAIAH 47:9

Isaiah 48:16

“From the time this plague came to be” in all my people, “I have been there.” In order that the words he had spoken may not be despised by the sorcerers, the text shows that they do not belong to the prophet as such, but to the Lord and his Spirit, who sent the prophet to preach to them. Indeed, the prophet clearly said as if from the person of the Lord, “I am in all my people, and my right hand extends to the heavens.”

COMMENTARY ON ISAIAH 48:16

Isaiah 49:24

“Can the prey be taken from the giant?” These words refer to Christ, who took the imprisoned nations away from the demon, a mighty giant. Therefore the prey shall be snatched away from the mighty demon.

COMMENTARY ON ISAIAH 49:24