Jerome

(Vers. 14, 15.) Seek good, and not evil, so that you may live, and the Lord God of hosts will be with you as you said: Hate evil, and love good, and establish justice in the gates, perhaps the Lord God of hosts will have mercy on the remnant of Joseph. LXX: Seek good, and not evil, so that you may live, and the Lord God almighty will be with you, as you said: We have hated evil and loved good, and establish justice in the gates, so that the Lord God may have mercy on those who remain from Joseph. You say that God is with you because you are children of Abraham; listen to what follows: If you are Abraham's children, do the works of your father. What are the works of your father Abraham? Love what is good, and not what is evil. It is a great sin, not only to do evil, but also to love it. Many sin, and when the heat of desire is fulfilled, their conscience bites them, and they regret their sin. But there are those who not only do not feel sorry for doing what is evil, but they also boast in their wickedness, fulfilling what is written: When a sinner comes into the depths of impiety, he despises it. Seek good, therefore, and not evil. For if you seek good, in seeking good, you immediately repel evil. However, you would never seek good unless you had first repelled evil, fulfilling the words of the Psalmist saying: Turn away from evil, and do good (Ps. XXXVI, 27). And when you seek good and avoid evil, then you will live in him who says: I am the life (John XIV, 6). He seeks good who believes in him who speaks in the Gospel: I am the good shepherd (Ibid., X, 11). He who flees from evil repels it, of whom it is written: The world is placed in wickedness (1 John 5:16). And in the Lord's Prayer he says: Deliver us from evil (Matthew 6:13). And when you seek good and not evil, and live, then the Lord God of hosts will be with you, as you have said, because you are descendants of Abraham. It is not enough to seek good and not seek evil, unless you have ἐπιείκησιν in both, so that you first hate evil, then love good. He hates evil, who is not overcome by pleasure alone, but he hates the works of pleasure: and he loves good, who does what is good not unwillingly, or out of necessity, or out of fear of the laws; but rather because it is good, so that he may have the reward of good work in his own conscience, and the love that he possesses for good. Therefore the Apostle says: 'God loves a cheerful giver' (2 Corinthians 9). For not every act of charity pleases God, unless it is offered with cheerfulness. And when you hate evil and love good, establish justice at the gates, of which it is said above, so that, with iniquity expelled, truth may return. And if you do this, perhaps the Lord God Almighty will have mercy on the remnants of Joseph from the tribe of Ephraim and the ten tribes, and they will be able to escape captivity. All these things can be applied to heretics, so that, leaving behind the error they have fabricated, they may return to the Church and hate their former doctrines, and love in the Church of the Lord the truth, and exercise true judgement at the gates of vices and virtues, leaving those behind and passing to these, and may hope for mercy those who have been able to escape from the jaws of the devil. By changing the order according to the LXX, the reading of this chapter can be made clearer: Just as you said, we have hated evil and loved good, so seek good and not evil, that you may live, and may the Lord God Almighty be with you, and bring justice in the gates, so that the Lord God Almighty may have mercy on the remnant of Joseph.

(Verse 16, 17.) Therefore, thus says the Lord God of hosts, the ruler: In all the streets there will be lamentation, and in all the public squares people will say, ‘Alas! Alas!’ They will summon the farmer to mourning and those skilled in lamentation to lament. And in all the vineyards there will be lamentation, for I will pass through your midst, says the Lord. LXX: Therefore, thus says the Lord God Almighty: In all the streets there will be lamentation, and in all the roads people will say, ‘Alas! Alas!’ The farmer will be called to mourning, and those who know lamentation to lament, and in all the streets there will be lamentation: for I will pass through the midst of you, says the Lord. I have commanded you to seek good, and not evil, so that you may live, and the Lord God of hosts will be with you. And again I say (lest you say you were only warned once): Hate evil, and love good, and restore justice in the gates; those who hated the one who rebuked in the gate, let the Lord have mercy on the rest of Joseph; and because you refused to do so, trampling on my commandments and turning against me, a turning away shoulder: therefore the Lord God Almighty, who is the Lord of hosts, says this: everywhere there is lamentation, everywhere there is mourning. The farmers will be called to mourn, and those who know the customs of the province will be called to incite tears, so that there will be mourning and lamentation not in all the streets, as was said above, but in the vineyards; where once there was material for joy, let it be the origin of tears. And all these things will happen, because I will pass through, says the Lord. The Hebrew word, 'I will pass through', which in their language is called Evor (), whenever it is used in the Holy Scriptures in the person of God, is to be understood as punishment, so that it may not remain among them; but let it pass through and leave. And in other places according to the interpretation of Aquila, when God is angry, He calls His fury and wrath 'ἀνυπερθεσία', which can all be applied to heretics, because they have refused to do both what is right and what is just, so there will be mourning in all their streets. For the wide and spacious road leads to destruction (Matthew 7); and each heretic and gentile has their own streets in their sand and fantasies, to which it is subsequently added: 'Woe, woe' will be said about everything that is outside. For those who are in the Church do not listen, which is the ultimate punishment; but if perhaps they have sinned, lamentation will be taken upon them. Therefore, however, it will be said outside or in all ways, woe, woe: because they do not have one way that leads to life, and which is the royal way, but crooked and perverse, and deviating to the right and to the left, while they do not hear the Lord saying: Do not be too righteous. And: The ways that are on the left are perverse. And they encounter a twofold woe, of the flesh and of the spirit, of the present age and of the future. When, on the other hand, ecclesiastics hear: Rejoice, I say again, rejoice (Philip. IV, 4). But even the farmer is called to mourning (for heretics indeed have their farmers, in whose fields thistles and thorns grow), and those who know how to lament are called to mourn, either for their own sins or for the sins of others; although we can take these things in a good sense, so that the man of the Church, powerful to provoke penance, may imitate his Lord saying: We have lamented, and you have not mourned (Luc. VII, 32), and let him mourn for the heretics, as King Saul of Israel once mourned for Samuel (I Reg. XV). And the Apostle says that he mourns over those who have not repented (II Cor. XII). And in all vineyards there will be lamentation, because the vineyards of Sodom are their vineyards. And for the wine of joy, which gladdens the heart of man, they have brought the wine of dragons and the incurable rage of asps. And all these things they will suffer; for the Lord will pass through their midst, so that he does not dwell among them, nor say: I will dwell in them, and walk among them. And behold, I am with you all days even to the consummation of the age. (Matthew 28:20)

(Verse 18-20.) Woe to those who long for the day of the Lord! Why do you long for it? That day will be darkness, not light. It will be as though a man fled from a lion only to meet a bear, as though he entered his house and rested his hand on the wall only to have a snake bite him. Will not the day of the Lord be darkness, not light— pitch-dark, without a ray of brightness? Woe to those who long for the day of the Lord! Why do you long for the day of the Lord? And this is darkness, and not light. As if a man should flee from the face of a lion, and a bear should meet him: or enter into the house, and lean with his hand upon the wall, and a serpent should bite him. Shall not the day of the Lord be darkness, and not light? and obscurity, and no brightness in it? Lest the tribe of Juda be thought to neglect men of his own stock, and to confer the speech of prophecy upon the ten tribes: Thou also shalt go to the king against Babylon, and shalt speak to him: There are gathered together all the kings of the earth against Jerusalem: how art thou fallen, thou virgin, daughter of Babylon, to be destroyed? Shall not day overtake thee suddenly, and thou perish with the sword? For there is not so much evil in the injury of captivity, as there is good in the things which the Lord promises after captivity: to which the prophet replied that it is in vain for them to wait for what will happen a long time after, in the coming of the Son of God after seventy years of captivity in Babylon, which will be followed by devastation, poverty, and countless miseries. For, he says, when those fleeing from the face of Nebuchadnezzar meet Assuerus, under whom the story of Esther is narrated, or when the empire of the Assyrians and Chaldeans is destroyed, the Medes and Persians will rise up. And when, during the reign of Cyrus, you returned, and at the command of Darius began to build the house of the Lord, and you placed all your trust in the temple, so that you may find rest in it and weary hands may rest upon its walls, then Alexander, the king of the Macedonians, also known as Antiochus Epiphanes, will come and dwell in the temple and will bite you like a snake, not outside in Babylon and Susa, but within the borders of the holy land (or yours). By these things it is proven that the day which you desire is not one of light and joy, but of darkness and sorrow. We have briefly stated these things according to history, so as not to completely leave the opinion of the Jews untouched. However, there is no doubt that all of our people understand the day of darkness, the day of judgment, about which Sophonias also writes: The great day of the Lord is near, it is also very swift: the voice of the day of the Lord is bitter and harsh (Sophon. I, 14). And Isaiah says: Behold, the day of the Lord comes, a day of incurable rage and wrath, to make the earth a desolation and to destroy sinners from it (Is. XIII, 9). At the same time, the confidence of the proud is shaken, who, in order to appear just in the eyes of men, usually wait for the day of judgment and say: Would that the Lord would come, that we may be allowed to be dissolved and be with Christ (Phil. I), imitating the Pharisee who spoke in the Gospel (Lk. XVIII, 11, 12): God, I give thanks to you, because I am not like other men, robbers, unjust, adulterers, and like this tax collector. They fast twice on the Sabbath: they give tithes of all that they possess. For from this very thing, because they long for the day of the Lord and do not fear it, they are judged worthy of punishment, because there is no one without sin among men, and the stars are unclean before him (Job 25). And he concluded all things under sin, so that he might have mercy on all (Galatians 3). Therefore, since no one can judge the judgment of God, and we will also have to give an account of every idle word (Matthew 12): and Job offered sacrifices daily for his children, lest perhaps they might think anything perverse against the Lord (Job 1), what audacity is it to hear among the Corinthians: You reign without us (I Corinthians 4, 8): and I wish you did reign, that we also might reign with you. Certainly, if their own conscience did not prick them, they ought to imitate Paul saying: 'Who is scandalized, and I am not on fire?' (2 Cor. 2:29) and to be concerned for all, so that, as lovers of themselves, they may not desire the torments of others, as if they themselves were the rulers, just as someone would want their homeland and city to be destroyed so that they alone may enjoy the friendship of the victors. We often say in times of distress and tribulation: 'Oh, if only it were allowed for me to depart from this body and be liberated from the miseries of this world', not knowing that as long as we are in this flesh, we have a place for repentance; but if we depart, we will hear that of the Prophet: 'But who will confess to you in hell?' (Ps. 6:6). This is the sadness of the world, which leads to death, as the Apostle does not want to perish the one who has fornicated with his father's wife (I Cor. V), as Judas perished unfortunate, who connected betrayal and murder with even greater sadness (Matth. XXVII), and murder worse than all other murders: so that where he thought to find a remedy, and death to be an end to his troubles, there he would find a lion and a bear and a snake. By these names it seems to me that either different punishments are being signified, or the devil himself, who is rightly called lion and bear and snake. And when we think that Isaiah says: Go, my people, into your chambers; shut the door, hide yourself for a little while, until the wrath of the Lord passes (Isa. XXVI, 20), and be as if in our house, as if resting in hell: then the snake will bite us, which in this place is called Nahas, and in Job is called Leviathan. We learn more fully about its nature and terror in the very volume itself. However, in the darkness and shadows that are contrary to light and splendor, the diversity of torments is explained.

(Verses 21, 22.) I hated and rejected your feasts, and I will not take the smell of your heavens. But if you bring me burnt offerings and your gifts, I will not accept them, and I will not look at the fat of your animals. LXX: I have hated and rejected your feasts, and I will not be pleased with your assemblies. And if you bring me burnt offerings and sacrifices, I will not receive them, and I will not look upon the pleasantness of your presence: This is specifically said against the tribe of Judah, and those who had migrated from Israel for the ceremonies of God, and yet did not depart from the high places, and worshipped idols, and defiled the sacrifices of God with the magnitude of their sins. For I never said concerning the oblations of the calves, which they offered in Dan and Bethel: If you offer to me holocausts and your offerings, I will not accept them. But God hates and not only hates, but also has cast away their festivals, those who flee from the lion and fall into the bear, and enter the house and are bitten by the serpent, because they do not celebrate the festivals of God, but their own festivals, says the Lord: I hate and have cast away your festivals. And it does not receive the assembly of such men, nor does it have a fragrance of good scent, and it abhors all their gifts, and it does not regard the richest offerings. Indeed, this happens not only to the people of that time, but also to us, if we commit similar offenses, and think that we can offer to God the gains from robberies and perjuries and wicked deeds, and redeem our sins, when we have read that Zacchaeus restored fourfold whatever he had stolen and offered half of his well-acquired possessions (Luke 19). For one could not offer what was wrongfully acquired in the gifts of God, unless one first returned it to its rightful owners, and afterwards fulfilled what is written: Honor the Lord with your just labors (Prov. III, 9); and: The redemption of a man's soul is his own riches (Prov. XIII, 8): for God does not accept the vows of a prostitute's earnings (Deut. XXIII). On the contrary, the just one can say: Let my prayer be directed as incense in your sight (Psal. CXL, 2). The speech of Judas, the traitor, was turned into sin: for it did not have a good odor; but it spoke through actions: 'My wounds have become foul and corrupt, because of my foolishness' (Psalm 38:6). All of this can also be said about heretics, who while fleeing from a lion, run into a bear, and upon entering a house which they think is the Church of God, they lean on walls which they themselves made, and they are bitten by a serpent. Darkness and gloom take away their light and day, so that tangible darkness surrounds them, and their beginnings are destroyed. God hates their sacrifices, and distances himself from them, and whenever they are gathered in the name of the Lord, he detests their stench and closes his nostrils. To hate, to distance oneself, and to not smell, is spoken in the likeness of human language, so that we may understand the attitude of God through our words. And if they offer burnt offerings, or appear to fast, or give alms, or promise chastity, which are true sacrifices, the Lord does not accept those, nor does he deem worthy to look at their fattest offerings. For God judges not the greatness of sacrifices, but the merits and reasons of those who offer them. Hence, the widow who in the Gospel (Luke 21) gave two small coins as an offering is preferred by the Savior over those who believed they were offering the fattest vows and the choicest sacrifices, when in reality they were giving very little, since she had given everything she had. These things are said more clearly and truly after the coming of the Lord to the Jewish people, who, with the temple and altar destroyed, believe they are offering sacrifices, which God abhors and rejects their festivals, and does not accept the aroma of their assembly when they gather and say, 'Crucify him, crucify him' (John 19:6) and 'His blood be on us and on our children' (Matthew 27:25). And if they offer holocausts in synagogues, and gifts in the councils of Satan, and the richest vows, the Lord does not regard them, just as He did not regard the gifts of Cain (Genesis IV). Those who worship the one true God and offer rightly, yet they are not regarded because they do not acknowledge the confession of the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. But our offerings, that is, the Church, which we offer from our first fruits, are regarded by God, just as He once regarded the sacrifices of Abel.

(Verse 24) And judgment will be revealed like water, and justice like a strong torrent. LXX: And it will roll like water, and justice like an impassable torrent. Just as water, when it flows downhill, uncovers what it previously covered and exposes it to the eyes of all, so will the judgment and justice of God, which once judged His own people, be revealed to all, and it will be carried like the strongest torrent. Whatever it seizes, it drags along with it, and it does not allow anything to stand in its way. But the judgment of the wicked is tossed like water according to the Septuagint; for it does not stand in one opinion, but is carried about by every wind of doctrine, condemning what it had once approved, and considering what it had formerly praised as worthless. Their justifications are compared not to pure and clear springs and rivers, but to turbid and muddy torrents, which do not have their own waters, but collect them from rocks, cliffs, and brambles. Whoever wishes to cross them will immediately be seized and thrown headlong, and with his feet overthrown, will not be able to say: He established my feet upon a rock (Ps. 123:5). For he will walk upon the sands, which do not have a foundation, and when he will be in danger, he will speak according to the Hebrews: A torrent has passed over my soul (Ps. 39:3). On the contrary, the judgments of the just are firm and unchanging, not flowing like water, and justice does not rush like an impassable torrent: The thoughts of the just are judgments (Prov. XII, 5).

(Verse 25 and following) Did you offer to Me sacrifices and offerings in the wilderness for forty years, O house of Israel? You also took along the tabernacle of Moloch and the star of your god Rephan, the images which you made for yourselves. Therefore I will exile you beyond Damascus, says the Lord, whose name is the God of hosts. LXX: Did you offer to Me sacrifices and victims in the desert for forty years, O house of Israel, and take up the tabernacle of Melchom and the star of your god Repham, the figures of them which you made for yourselves. And I will transfer you beyond Damascus, says the Lord: God almighty is his name. From this place we learn that all the sacrifices and offerings that Israel made in the desert were not offered to God, but to their king Moloch, whose tabernacles they carried and worshiped the image of their idols and statues. And in the following statement, it shows what this image or idol is: The star of your God, which is called Chocab in Hebrew, that is, Lucifer, whom the Saracens have been worshiping until now. For what reason did the Lord make them migrate across Damascus, that is, to the Assyrians and Chaldeans: his omnipotence is demonstrated by the fact that he is the Lord God of hosts. We ask why they did not offer sacrifices and offerings to God in the desert; but to their king, whom they call Lucifer? From the time they transformed gold into the head of a calf, saying: These are your gods, Israel, who brought you out of the land of Egypt (Exod. III, 24), it is shown that everything they did was not for God, but for idols. And what we read afterwards that they offered certain things to the Lord, they did not do so willingly but out of fear of punishment, and by the killing of those who fell because of idols. But the Lord does not look at what is offered, but at the will of the one offering. Finally, wherever the opportunity arose, they always turned back in their hearts to Egypt, desiring garlic and onions, and cucumbers and Egyptian meat, and despising the manna that was given from heaven (Numbers 11). To understand this, let us turn to the story told by the first martyr of the Gospel, Stephen, worthy of his name, in the Acts of the Apostles: 'And they made a calf in those days, and offered a sacrifice to the idol, and rejoiced in the works of their hands. But God turned and delivered them up to serve the host of heaven, as it is written in the book of the Prophets: Did you offer victims and sacrifices to me for forty years in the desert, O house of Israel?' And you took up the tent of Moloch and the star of your god Rephan, the figures that you made to worship; and I will send you into exile beyond Babylon. It should not be thought that the first martyr erred, who, because it is written in the prophet: 'Beyond Damascus,' said 'beyond Babylon.' For he placed more emphasis on understanding than on the exact word, because they were led from Damascus to Babylon, or beyond Babylon. But in that place where Luke put Μολὸχ, and it is written in Hebrew as Melchechem (): Aquila and LXX translated Μολχὸμ: Symmachus and Theodotio, for your kings. Also, for what is read in the Septuagint as Rephan; Aquila and Symmachus translating the Hebrew itself, they put Chion (), Theodotio 'amaŭrōsin', that is, darkness. Again, for Sochoth (), Aquila 'syskiasmoùs', that is, tabernacles: Symmachus and Septuagint, tabernacle: Theodotio translated it as vision. And this is to be observed in all holy Scriptures, that the apostles and apostolic men, in laying down testimonies from the Old Testament, do not consider the words but the meaning: nor do they follow the same paths of words, as long as they do not depart from the intended sense. But whatever is said literally against the Jewish people, all of this is to be referred to those who worship idols under the name of Christ, and who fabricate corrupt doctrines for themselves, carrying the tabernacle of their king, the devil, and the image of their statues and idols. For they do not worship one idol; but for the variety of teaching, they worship different gods, and the star of their god (2 Corinthians XI). He, being the angel of Satan, transforms himself into an angel of light, and falls from heaven like lightning (Luke X), and Antichrist imitates Christ. And he beautifully introduced what you have made for yourselves. For they have not received these things from God, but have imagined them in their own minds. Therefore, the Lord will cause them to migrate across Damascus, so that they do not drink the blood of the Lord, but go to Babylon, and listen to the prophet: A golden cup Babylon, intoxicating all nations (Jeremiah LI, 7). For Damascus, as we have often said, signifies drinking blood, or the blood of Cilicia, so that through penance we may be moved to drink the blood of the Lord.

(Chapter 6, Verse 1) Woe to those who are rich in Zion, and trust in the mountain of Samaria, the notable men of the nations, who enter pompously into the house of Israel. The Septuagint version says: Woe to those who despise Zion, and trust in the mountain of Samaria, they have gathered the first fruits of the nations for themselves. The prophet's words are directed primarily to those who are the nobles and rulers in both peoples, and who indulge in the luxuries as an example of the rich man dressed in purple, who delighted in feasting and was so filled with pride that he disdained to even look at Lazarus, covered with sores at his gate, and would not give him even the scraps from his table (Luke 16). These are the heads of the people who trust in riches, and are wealthy in Zion, and have confidence in the mountain of Samaria, and enter triumphantly into the house of Israel, to show the swelling of their hearts and appear to be like the pompous feasts. According to the laws of tropology and the Septuagint interpreters, Zion refers to the Church, of which we read: He who lifts me up from the gate of death, that I may declare all your praises in the gates of the daughter of Zion (Psalm 9:15). But Mount Samaria, because of the pride and arrogance of the custodians of God's commandments, is understood to be about heretics who despise the Church; for God chose the weak of the world to confound the strong, and the foolish to destroy the wisdom of the wise and the understanding of the prudent (1 Corinthians 1). These have harvested the first fruits of the nations, to introduce them under the Christian name into their winepresses, where grapes are not crushed, but lost; where must is not expressed, but venom is. And they entered for themselves. Beautifully, he said to himself: for they did not enter for God, but they entered for themselves. Otherwise, they would have left for God, as they depart from the Church. And what follows, the House of Israel, according to the Septuagint, should be read at the beginning of the next chapter; according to the Hebrews, at the end of this chapter, which we have explained.

(Vers. 2 seqq.) Go through Chalane, and see: and from there go to great Emath, and descend to Geth of the Philistines: to the best of their kingdoms, if their boundary is wider than your boundary. You who are separated on the day of evil, and approach the throne of wickedness. You who sleep on ivory beds, and indulge in your own beds: you who eat lambs from the flock, and calves from the middle of the herd: you who sing to the sound of the harp. Just as David thought he had the vessels of a song, drinking wine in cups, and they were anointed with the finest oil, and they did not suffer from the sorrow of Joseph. LXX: House of Israel, all of you pass over and see in Chalane, and pass through there to Emath Rabba, and descend to the best of the foreign Geth in all these kingdoms, if their boundaries are greater than your boundaries, you who come on an evil day, who approach and touch the lies of the Sabbath. You who sleep on ivory beds, and overflow with delights in your couches, and eat young goats from the flocks, and suckle calves from the midst of the herds, who make noise at the sound of the organ: as if they considered themselves stable, and not fleeting; you who drink refined wine, and anoint yourselves with the finest ointments, and do not grieve over the ruin of Joseph. Pass over all of you to Chalane, which is now called Ctesiphon, and pass over all. Who are these people? Both of those mentioned above: the nobles, the leaders of the people, and those of you who are wealthy in Zion, and trust in the mountain of Samaria. Therefore, go to the city of Persis, and pay close attention, and from there, go to the great city of Emath, which is now called Antioch. It is called great, to distinguish it from the smaller Emath, which is called Epiphania. And to this day, for those traveling to Mesopotamia, the first stop is called Emmas, although the name has been corrupted; but it retains traces of its original name, whose region is called Reblatha, in which, in the presence of Nebuchadnezzar, the king of Judah (or Judea), the sons were killed, and his eyes were blinded. And descend, he says, into Gath of the Philistines (2 Kings 25). You who dwell on Mount Zion and Mount Samaria, descend to the Philistines who dwell in the plains, and to the best of their kingdoms, which are subject to different cities: Gaza and Ashkelon, Ashdod, Ekron, and Gath. And see if their territory is wider than yours, whether you or they possess the larger provinces. You, I say, you from the people of Israel, who are separated for the day of evil, namely the day of captivity, and approaching the throne of wickedness, going to the unjust judge, the king of Babylon. For those who are about to suffer these things, you now sleep on ivory beds and indulge in soft cushions, so that you may unite desire with sleep. For you do not eat to drive away hunger and sustain the human body, but for pleasure and luxury, so that whatever is tender and fat in herds and flocks may serve your gluttonous appetites. Your desires are not satisfied with the pleasures of sex, throat, and drink, but you must also soothe your ears with the songs of flutes, harps, and lyres, imitating what David did in the worship of God (1 Chronicles 23-26), finding the variations of the Levitical orders and instruments, you indulge in pleasure and luxury. And you drink wine from goblets, not to quench your thirst, but to intoxicate your mind. And you anoint yourselves, not to soothe the fatigue of the body, with pure oil, but with precious ointments. And when you are filled with these things, if you see any of the people perishing, you have no mercy on their suffering, but you treat them like dumb animals, and you allow them to perish in their own blood. This same sentiment is also expressed by the prophet Ezekiel in the example of the shepherds: They consume the milk of the sheep and clothe themselves with their wool, and they devour whatever is best, and they do not heal the wounded, nor mend the broken, nor seek out those who are perishing. Let us transfer all the things we have said according to the history, according to the Septuagint interpreters, to the allegory of the clouds. O house of Israel, you who have departed from me, who trust in the mountain of Samaria, who have harvested the firstfruits of the nations, go beyond and see, and proceed to many walls. For this is the interpretation of Emath Rabba: and then descend gently into the presses of those who fall while drinking. For Geth and the Philistines resound with this. And consider all things, especially the best (or all) kingdoms, or the best cities among all kingdoms; and consider if their boundaries are more numerous than yours. For if we wish to ponder with our mind, and to explore the wisdom of all nations, we will find that the boundaries of the Egyptians, Indians, and Persians are narrower than the holy boundaries of the Scriptures: Their sound has gone out into all the earth, and their words to the ends of the world. To those whom he had previously said: House of Israel, all of you pass through and see, from what vices they are commanded to pass over to better things, the following discourse describes: Those who come into an evil day, preparing for themselves their evil day according to their own vice: not that any day is inherently evil; but rather, each person prepares for themselves their own evil, according to what we read in Ecclesiastes: Do not say, 'The former days were better for me than these,' for it is not in wisdom that you ask about this (Ecclesiastes 7:11); for it is foolish to compare times, when it is within our power to either make a good day for ourselves or an evil one. These are those who approach and touch the sabbaths of falsehood. For just as the circumcision of the flesh is called, and the circumcision of the heart, and they are manifestly Jews, and in secret, one of which is rejected, and the other is approved: thus the sabbaths of the Lord are holy, and supported by truth, and the others are not holy and are falsehoods, which follow the idleness of the western letters. That which follows: those who sleep on ivory beds, we can interpret it as follows: He who is an athlete of the Lord, and exercises for the struggle, and prepares himself against opposing powers, sleeps on bare earth imitating Jacob (Gen. XXVIII); and he places a stone at his head, which the builders rejected, and it became the head cornerstone (Ps. CXVII, and Act. IV). But those who indulge in pleasures and luxury, and do everything for the sake of their stomach, sleep on ivory beds made from dead animals and cling to unclean bones; and because vices appear beautiful and delight in their present splendor, they rest on their beds and are weighed down by deep sleep. They do not eat solid and nourishing food, which strengthens the powers of those who wrestle, but rather soft and delicate food, such as young goats from the flocks and fattened calves, and tender ones, in fact still nourished by milk. For this is what μοσχάρια γαλαθηνὰ signifies. Moreover, they clap their hands to the sound of the organ and the noise, as if all their works expect pleasure: and they do nothing but provide for the belly and lust. Nor does the wise reader immediately oppose us with this, and how it is written: Let the rivers clap their hands (Ps. XCVII, 8). And: All you nations, clap your hands (Ps XLVI, 1). And: Rejoice in God our helper (Ps. LXXX, 1). For there, they are not said to clap their hands to the sound of the organ; but to have one consent in praising God. He introduced the voice of the organs: they thought it was standing still, and not fleeing. For according to Epicurus, things of the world and all bodies flow and pass away in moments, and nothing remains in its own state, but everything either grows or diminishes, and they flow down like rushing waters. Hence we read also in secular literature (Virgil, Georgics III):

But meanwhile it flies, irretrievable time flies. And in another place (Horace, Odes II, 14).

Alas, fleeting, Posthumus, Posthumus, the years slip away. For nothing is more fleeting than the century and the things of the century. While we hold onto them, we lose them, through infancy, childhood, youth, and the growing and maturing age, and the final years of old age, which Philo describes as the seven stages of human life, we are changed, and we run, and unknowingly we reach the boundaries of death. And what follows: Those who drink clarified wine can properly be referred to heretics, who approve some scriptures and reject others, desiring to drink clarified wines: since in the Holy Scriptures there is nothing turbid and muddy, but everything is most pure in the divine stream. Those who do not have the art of anointing, without any knowledge of the Scriptures, traditions, and teachings of the apostles, claim the dignity of priesthood and say that they are anointed by the Lord; and they contaminate the purest oil of their own understanding with the dregs. And when they do these things to the destruction of those whom they have deceived, they are not tormented by any pain; but they rejoice in the deaths of others and delight in the blood of the wretched. This beautiful sense in which it is said 'they thought as if things were standing, and not as if they were fleeing' is not found in Hebrew; but instead it is written: as David thought he had vessels of song. Therefore, it seems to me that the interpreters added it, who, in describing luxury, expressed a sentiment against vices and pleasures of this kind, so that they would not translate what was written, but would add or even change it, according to what seemed to them.

(Vers. 7 seqq.) Therefore now they will migrate to the head of the transmigrants, and the faction of the revelers will be removed. The Lord God has sworn by his own soul, says the Lord God of hosts: I detest the pride of Jacob, and I hate his houses, and I will deliver the city with its inhabitants: and if there are ten men left in one house, they shall die; and their close relative shall take them, and burn them, to carry out the bones from the house; and he who is in the innermost chambers of the house shall say: Is there still anyone with you? And he will answer: It is the end; and he will say to him: Be silent, and do not remember the name of the Lord. LXX: Therefore now the strong ones will be captives from the beginning, and the noise of horses will be taken away from Ephraim; because the Lord has sworn by himself, says the Lord God of hosts: because I will abhor all the reproach of Jacob, and I will hate his regions, and I will take away the city with all its inhabitants. And it shall come to pass, if ten men remain in one house, and they die; and the household members shall take them, and they shall make an effort to remove their bones from the house; and those who are in charge of the house shall say: Are there still any with you? And he shall say, by no means; and he shall say, Be silent, and do not mention the name of the Lord. Because of the higher causes that the prophetic discourse describes (of those who sleep on ivory beds, and revel on couches, and eat lambs from the flock, and calves from the midst of the herd, and sing to the sound of the harp and drink from bowls, and are anointed with the finest ointment, and yet suffer nothing in the destruction of their people, who are descended from Joseph), now the Lord threatens, and says: Because they have done these things and these things, now they shall migrate at the head of the exiles. And the meaning is this: Punishment is never delayed for the future, nor is it prophesied for long centuries to come. What is now imminent, is now coming, my words predict, that they will go in the beginning of the transmigration, namely the rulers and the powerful, of whom he said above: Hear this word, you fat cows, who are in the mountain of Samaria (Above, IV, 1). And again: Woe to you who are wealthy in Zion, and trust in the mountain of Samaria: you nobles, heads of the people, who enter pompously into the house of Israel. You who are the first in wealth, will be the first to endure the yoke of captivity, according to what is written in Ezekiel: 'Begin from my sanctuary' (Ezek. IX, 6). Not from the saints, as many think; but from the destruction of the temple, which was holy. For the powerful will endure torments powerfully (Wisdom VI), and to whom much is entrusted, much will be demanded from him (Luke XII). And as it is said, the faction of the indulgent will be taken away, those who had one consent in taking pleasure and engaging in feasts and revelry: they will be taken away together, so that for those whose unity was in luxury, their punishment will also be united. As for why the LXX translated it, the neighing of the horse of Ephraim shall be taken away: which is not found in the Hebrew, and will be discussed by us as unnecessary when we begin to weave the tropology. The Lord has sworn by himself, or as we read in Hebrew, by his soul, according to what is written in Isaiah: My soul hates your new moons and your Sabbaths and your feast days (Isa. I, 13): not that God has a soul, but in order to speak in human terms. It is not surprising if it is said to have a soul, since even the other parts, which are less valuable than the soul, such as the feet, hands, stomach, and other organs, attest to having themselves. But if those who deny that Christ had a human soul oppose us, saying that God was in the human body instead of a soul, let them hear that in Christ the substance of the soul is demonstrated: just as the members of his body had substance. In God the Father, however, the head, feet, and other things that are said to be, are not members, but the diversity of efficient acts is indicated by the words used to describe them: similarly, the soul is not substantial, but the seat of the inner mind and the place where thoughts reside, through which God reveals His will. Therefore the Lord, the God of hosts, that is, Sabaoth (which the Seventy translated as powers), swore that he detests the pride of Jacob and hates his dwellings. This is Jacob according to the previous chapter, where it is written: And they allowed nothing to prevail over the affliction of Joseph, or the ten tribes, or certainly the entire house of the twelve tribes. And he will deliver the city with its inhabitants; either Samaria, or certainly Jerusalem, or both in common. As for the time of the Lord Savior, after whose coming and passion God detested all the pride and injury of Jacob, because they cried out against him, the son of a carpenter and a Samaritan and possessed by a demon (Matthew 13; John 8): therefore Jerusalem was handed over to the Roman armies with its inhabitants. And to such an extent did the wrath of God rage against them, that even if ten men were to remain in one house, they would also die, and the neighbor or neighbor would burn the corpses of the dead to remove the bones from his house, because they are not able to remove the whole bodies due to the crowds of the dying. And when he has become tired from carrying [the body], let him ask the person who is in the innermost part of the house if there are any bodies left for him to hand over, and let that person respond: It is over, I no longer have anyone to give to you for burial; and before he swears that he does not have [any bodies], let that person, who asked the question and was outside, and did not know [that there were no bodies], order him and say: Be silent, and do not remember the name of the Lord. But he mentions this in order to show that even those who are not compelled by the weight and necessity of evil do not want to confess the name of the Lord, and that the name of God has come into such great oblivion among the people of Israel that it does not even deign to be heard in a simple oath. We have drawn fine lines of history, now let us imprint the hand of allegory. The leaders of heretics, who devoured my people because of their pleasures, and allowed nothing to stand in the way of Joseph's torment, will be led first to punishment, and the neighing of the horse will be taken away from Ephraim: which is understood in holy scriptures in two ways, either in the pride and power of those who neigh, or in the magnitude of lust. In the pride and consent of evil people, as it is written: Some trust in chariots and some in horses (Psalm 20:7). And: A deceitful horse for salvation (Ps. XXXII, 17). And to the kings of Israel, it is commanded that they not multiply horses for themselves (Deut. XVII). And in the book of Job, the voice of the horse is compared to the sound of the trumpet (Job. XXXIX). In Zachariah also we read, which is confirmed by the testimony of the Gospel, and it is referred to the presence of the Savior: Rejoice greatly, O daughter of Zion: proclaim, O daughter of Jerusalem. Behold, your King comes to you righteous and Savior: He is gentle, and riding on a donkey and the foal of a donkey: and he will destroy the chariots from Ephraim, and the horses from Jerusalem (Zach. IX, 9). But the magnitude of lust and unrestrained desire for sexual intercourse, as Jeremiah, describing the luxurious adulterers, declared: Each one neighs over the wife of his neighbor (Jer. V, 8). The coming of Christ subdues such horses, as does the wrath of God. And the Lord swears by Himself (since He has no one greater to swear by) that He abhors all heretical blasphemies and hates all their regions (Heb. VI). For whatever they speak is injustice, and worthy of God's hatred. And He will take away their city and their assemblies with those who dwell in it, and the people indeed, and the leaders, even if there were ten men left (for if they had been in Sodom and Gomorrah, no fire would have come down upon them), they will all die the same death that leads to Tartarus, of which Ezekiel writes: The soul that sins, it shall die. Their relatives and domestics bury the bones of these people, of whom it is said: Let the dead bury their own dead (Luke 9:60). And the one who is outside and does not enter the house of the dead; but rather casts out the dead outside, the one who burns the dead gives orders, and reduces them to ashes, and breaks their bones, so that he may remain silent; and the most pure name of God not be defiled by the mouth of the dead. For to the sinner, God says: Why do you declare my righteousness, and take my covenant in your mouth? (Psalm 50). Wherefore, we also must provide, that we may not bury the dead dead, but rather, that as living, we may bring forth to life those who are dead. And if we do not do this, it is commanded to us and it is said: Be silent, for we are judged unworthy of the name of God.

(Verse 12 onwards) For behold, the Lord will command and strike down the great house with ruins, and the small house with breaches. Can horses run on rocks, or can it be plowed with oxen? For you have turned justice into bitterness, and the fruit of righteousness into wormwood. You who rejoice in nothingness, who say: Have we not taken horns for ourselves in our strength? Behold, I will raise up against you, O house of Israel, declares the Lord God of hosts, a nation, and they will oppress you from the entrance of Hamath to the brook of the wilderness. LXX: Therefore, behold, the Lord will command and will strike the great house with ruins and the small house with breaches. Will horses run on rocks? Will men be silent at women? For you have turned justice into bitterness and the fruit of righteousness into wormwood. You who rejoice in nothing good, who say, 'Have we not relied on our own strength?' For behold, I will raise up against you, O house of Israel, declares the Lord God of hosts, a nation, and they shall oppress you from Lebo-hamath to the brook of Egypt. Because you have sprung into such rage that, even in the time of death and impending evils, you were unwilling to utter the name of the Lord, therefore the Lord will command and strike the greater house with ruins, and the lesser house with divisions. If He commands, how does He strike? If He strikes, how does He command? But in that which He commands and orders to His ministers, He Himself seems to strike. Just as in commanding the Father and acting through the Son, He Himself who commanded does the work, the verse being fulfilled: He spoke, and they were made; He commanded, and they were created (Ps. 148:5). For all things were made through him, and without him was made nothing that was made (John 1). And in Egypt, where the firstborn who were killed by the destroyer are reported to be referred to, the Lord testifies that he himself killed them (Exodus 12). So also in the present place the Lord commands, and he himself strikes through his ministers the greater house with ruins, that is, the ten tribes, who were called Israel, and the lesser house with divisions, the two tribes, who were governed by the lineage of the house of David. And note the properties of each. Israel, because it had sinned more, is struck by ruins and is handed over to eternal captivity. But the house of Judah, in which the temple exists, and which had sinned in part, is held in captivity for seventy years and is not struck by ruins but by divisions. For a divided house can be repaired: ruins require not so much restoration as rebuilding. He compares the ruins and divisions of both houses to horses and oxen, of which the former cannot run on rocks, and the latter are so untamed that they do not accept the yoke on their necks, and since they are wild oxen, they are unwilling to plow the earth due to their fierceness. But you, though horses and buffalo cannot change their nature, have changed the nature of God, turning the sweet into the bitter and the fruit of his justice into wormwood, which is a very bitter herb. You who take delight in things that are nothing, like golden calves and idols, which are nothing, as Esther said to the Lord: Do not give your scepter to those who are not (Esther 14:11), or in nothing and falsehood. You who think you have taken horns and kingship and power by your own strength, with which you can scatter your enemies. Therefore, because you have done these things, behold, I will raise up against you, O great house and O lesser house, that will be struck by ruin and division, that is, O house of Israel and all twelve tribes, the most savage nation of Assyrians and Chaldeans, who will crush and overthrow you from beginning to end, from head to tail, from the borders of your land, which face the sun, to the desert river, or the West, as the LXX translated, that is, from Emath to Rhinocorura, between which the river Nile, or the stream coming from the desert, enters the sea. We have mentioned Emath above Epiphaniam, which got its name from Antiochus who was called Epiphanes. However, those who think that this refers to the house of Israel and the ten tribes, cannot explain how it is said in the threat against the ten tribes that they should be crushed from Epiphania to the borders of Egypt. These borders do not include only the ten tribes, but all twelve, including Judah and Benjamin. Some people, according to the allegory, believe that the large house and the smaller house symbolize the Jewish people and the Church gathered from the Gentiles. They are called 'great' because of their ancestors, the law, and the prophets. We are called 'lesser' because we were without the Testament and the commandments of God, of which we also read in the Song of Songs: 'My sister is little and has no breasts' (Song of Songs 8:8). If the great and small house, gathered into one family of God, does not have discipline and does not follow God's commandments, it will be struck by ruins and divisions. Whenever, therefore, the house of God, which is the Church, collapses and is torn apart, either in persecutions or in heresies and schisms, it shows the hand of God striking: which if we want to avoid, let us listen to and follow the comparison and example. They are not able to pursue on the rocks of the horse. Christ is the rock (I Cor. X), who gave to his apostles that they also be called rock: You are Peter, and upon this rock I will build my Church (Mat. XVI, 18). Those who are in these stones, called horses, about which we have spoken above, will not be able to pursue him, their courses hindered and falling down through each stone. Let us come to another comparison, according to our custom, discussing the edition of the Seventy Interpreters, lest if we adhere too much to the Hebrew, we seem to have deceived the reader's diligence, and by not mentioning the Vulgate edition, we appear to have proposed it in vain. But they will certainly be silent in women, he said, no doubt meaning horses, about which he had spoken above. If they pursue horses on rocks. These horses, that is, contrary strengths, who go mad for women when they see a masculine spirit, and having been strengthened by the power of God, are not bold enough to approach. But when they see a effeminate mind, weakened by ointments and pleasures, and turned towards feminine softness, they immediately go mad and cannot hold themselves back; and they long for lust. It follows: Because you have turned judgment into fury. Judgment turns into fury for the one who judges in anger, and the Lord says: You shall not show partiality in judgment (Deut. XVI, 19). And in another place: You shall not pity the poor in judgment; for it is God's judgment (Exod. XXIII, 3): with an angry mind he descends to judge, indeed, without knowing the cause, nor does he know the truth of the judgment, he prejudges what sentence he should pass: he also turns the fruit of justice, which is most sweet, into bitterness. What we have said about one virtue, let us understand about the others as well: prudence, courage, temperance. Whoever is angry cannot enjoy their fruits, and when they do, they will be bitter. Hence it is said in Isaiah: Woe to those who call sweet bitter, and bitter sweet (Is. 5:20). This is what those say who do not consider the causes in judging, but rather the individuals, and they turn the fruit of Christ's righteousness, which is most sweet, into bitterness. Therefore, whoever is guided in judgment by either blood ties or friendship, on the other hand, is led by hostile hatred or enmities, perverts the judgment of Christ, who is justice, and turns its fruit into bitterness. Those who do this rejoice in no good word, or, as Symmachus translated, irrationally, and proudly say: Have we not had horns in our strength? But let the righteous glory in the Lord and say: In you we will scatter our enemies with horns. And in another place (Al. in the same place): For I will not hope in my bow, and my sword will not save me (Ps. 43, 6, 7). Hence, in Exodus according to the Hebrew and the Aquila edition, we read: And Moses did not know that the appearance (Al. face) of his face was horned (Exod. 34, 29), which truly could be said: In you I blow away my enemies with a horn. We also read in another place: And he will exalt the horn of his people; And: He will exalt the horn of his Christ (Ps. 148, 14, and 1 Sam. 2, 10), and the horn of the altar, and clean horned animals, which are offered only to God, whose interpretation is not of this time. Because of these great sins and extreme pride, which speaks unrighteousness against God and exalts its mouth, the Almighty Lord God declares that he will raise up the most savage nation, which will crush and afflict them, indeed, even prevent them from entering into Emath, and as far as the Western torrent. Emath is interpreted as a wall or fortified town. Therefore, they will be forbidden from seeking refuge in the most savage nation, to whom punishments have been assigned, to flee to the fortified city, which is the celestial Jerusalem, lest they enter and be saved, similar to that chapter which we read in Genesis, where God placed Cherubim and a flaming sword (Gen. II), which turned to guard the way to the tree of life, so that the one who had been expelled from paradise would by no means enter there unworthy. And what follows: We will interpret the 67th Psalm, in which it is written: Sing to the Lord, sing a psalm to his name: make a way for him who ascends upon the west: the Lord is his name (Psalm 67:5). For unless evil works have died in us, Christ will not ascend upon us. And when they have died, and we have Christ as our charioteer: then as we make progress and advance to better things, it will be commanded in the same psalm: Sing to God, sing psalms to the Lord who ascends upon the heaven of heavens towards the east (Psalm 67:33, 34). And in the mysteries, first we renounce him who is in the West, and who dies for our sins, and thus turned towards the East, we make a covenant with the sun of righteousness, and we promise to serve him. Regarding the stream of the West, Symmachus interpreted it as a valley plain: Theodotio, a stream in Arabia: Aquila, a stream that is in the plain. With these words, it is shown that those who are not excluded from the walled city cannot die to sin, nor can they reach the plain and level stream of the desert, which is called the stream of pleasure, according to what we read: You shall make them drink from the stream of your pleasure (Psalm 36:9).

(Chapter 7, verses 1-3) The Lord God showed me these things: And behold, a swarming locust at the beginning of the late crops, after the king's mowings. And it came to pass, when it had finished consuming the grass of the land, that I said: Lord God, please be merciful, I beseech You: who will raise up Jacob, for he is small? The Lord had pity on this: it shall not be, said the Lord. LXX: Thus the Lord showed me: And behold, a swarm of locusts was coming in the morning, and behold, one Gog, the king, was a bruchus. And it shall come to pass, when it is accomplished, that it shall consume the grass of the earth. And I said: Lord God, be merciful, who shall raise up Jacob, for he is little. Be sorry for us, O Lord, upon this: and upon this let it not be, saith the Lord. The prophetic word not only predicts things that will happen in the distant future, but also those that are near and will immediately follow the prophecy. For we humans often think more about ourselves than about future generations, as Ezechias says: Let there be peace in my days (2 Kings 20). So that those who have witnessed the fulfilled events that were previously announced, may turn to the worship of God, in whom the truth of prophecy resides. Therefore, the Lord revealed that Sennacherib, the king of the Assyrians, would come with an infinite army, like a swarm of locusts, to annihilate everything, just as a locust devours all when it begins to rain late in the season, when the people of Israel needed the extreme mercy of Almighty God. However, the one who commands and creates this swarm of locusts is the Lord. The locust comes at the beginning of the late rain, when everything is green and the whole field is giving birth, and the flowers of different trees burst into their own kind of fruit. And to summarize in one word what I want to convey, they promise abundance of all things, flowers of trees, and the crops of the fields. But these locusts, which fly in early spring, are followed by countless beetles, which come after the late rain, and are called the barber or the king's barber because they devastate everything and leave nothing of the green grass on the earth. This barber, or haircut, Isaiah calls a sharp razor (Isa. VII), which will shave all the hair and the beard of the body of the children of Israel. And when, he says, I doubted what this razor was, he immediately brought in the king of Assyria. Therefore, the razor and barber of the king is the army of the Chaldeans, which has devastated everything like a locust, not only crops, but also wood, hay, and straw. And it came to pass, when the locust had finished eating the grass of the earth, and the prophet understood what he saw, he turned to prayer and said: Lord God, be merciful, I beseech you. I do not want my words to be fulfilled in the subversion of my people. I do not want to be chosen from the number of shepherds to announce the ruin of the ten tribes. For who can raise up Jacob, except for you alone? When everything collapses, there is no one who can restore it. Jacob is weak and is frequently destroyed by attacks from the enemy. But when he prays and sheds tears from his inner self, the Lord takes pity on him and responds: I will not destroy all of the people of Israel, there will be saved remnants. Certainly, it must be understood in this way: he saw two things that would happen at the same time. First, a locust, then a caterpillar. He prayed to the Lord for both, and only one was heard, so that the caterpillar would not devour everything to the point of annihilation. However, the flying locust would devour some things and leave others untouched. It seems to me that the 70 interpreters understood the Hebrew word Gozi (), which is interpreted as a barber or tonsure, as Gog, considering the letter Zai as Vau, and compared the countless multitude of caterpillars to the most savage Gog nation, which is described as devastating the land of Judea. But what Aquila wanted to say, I do not quite understand, unless perhaps he placed the word 'Gozi' instead of 'Gaza,' and gradually 'Gaza' was corrupted by error. Let us also say spiritually: those who have committed serious sins after the works of justice (as it is said in the prophet: 'Sow for yourselves righteousness, reap the fruit of unfailing love, and break up your unplowed ground; for it is time to seek the LORD, until he comes and showers his righteousness on you' - Hosea 10, and Jeremiah 4), are brought forth with offspring or a generation of morning locusts when the darkness of night passes, and they begin to recognize their own sins, because they did not repent. And because they did not repent, the bruchus is brought forth, which is called King Gog. But 'Gog' is translated into our language as 'roof,' a certain proud and arrogant strength. And when the hay and stubble of our land are consumed, whoever have been holy for the people will pray for forgiveness and say: Lord God, be merciful. For who else can raise up Jacob (Isa. X)? Who can heal the woman with an issue of blood, except you alone, at whose touch her health is immediately restored (Luke VIII)? For Jacob is small, or of small number, because there remain no or few traces of virtues in them. May you feel remorse, Lord, regarding this, for which you have threatened to do to your people. However, we must understand God's repentance in the Scriptures as we do sleep and anger: not that God feels remorse or changes his mind, as he speaks through the prophet: I am God, and I do not change (Mal. III, 6). And to whom we say: But you are the same, and your years will not fail (Ps. CI, 28); but rather that, when we turn to better things, it is he himself who repents of his decision, so that he does not give rewards to the righteous that he promised, if they turn to wickedness, nor does he inflict punishment on the sinner that he has threatened, if he turns to salvation. He is said to those who are going to repent: Do not give sleep to your eyes, nor slumber to your eyelids, so that you may be freed like a gazelle from the traps, and like a bird from the snare (Prov. VI, 4, 5). If he who despises the Lord's commandments first, and then, when he is in distress, begins to wake up, he awakens the Lord who is sleeping to him, and says: Arise, why do you sleep, Lord (Ps. XLIII, 23)? On the other hand, he who treasures up wrath for himself on the day of wrath, will feel God's anger (Rom. II). But if he repents, anger will turn into mercy, and the Lord will change with our troubles and virtues into both punishment and mercy.

(Vers. 4 seqq.) This the Lord God showed me, and behold, the Lord God called for judgment by fire, and it devoured the great deep and will consume it together with a portion. And I said: O Lord God, please cease; who will raise up Jacob since he is small? The Lord had mercy on this also, but even this shall not be, said the Lord God. LXX: Thus the Lord God showed me, and behold, He called for judgment by fire, and it devoured the great deep and consumed a portion. And I said: O Lord God, stop, who will raise up Jacob, since he is small? Let it repent thee, O Lord, upon this: and let it not be, saith the Lord, God of hosts. First the Lord shewed the prophet the workman of the locust in the beginning of the germination of the late crop, and after the late crop, the cutting off of the king or kingdom, and to express the word from word, the cutting off of the king Sennacherib, by which he sheared and laid waste all the ten tribes. Now the same Lord sheweth Nebuchadnezzar, yea, he calleth and commandeth him to come against Judah and Jerusalem. However, he calls upon the fire to set ablaze the temple and Jerusalem, and to carry out judgment in the fire against those who were once his people. And when the fire came for judgment, to fulfill the command of the Lord, it consumed a great abyss, and it also consumed a part, all the cities of Judah, and a part of the Lord's which was called his temple. And when the prophet saw this, he said to the Lord, not as before, be propitious, I beseech you, but be still, or cease; so that he may obtain by his prayers the person whom he had already seen begin to cease: especially since there is no other who can raise up the lying down and little and humiliated Jacob, except the Lord who is able to bring back the captive and those transported into Chaldea into the land of Judah. Because once, according to the prophet Hosea and the Psalmist saying: The sons of Ephraim, bending and shooting with the bow, turned back in the day of battle (Psalm 77, 9), we have attributed the ten tribes to the person of the heretics, who were called Israel, and the two, over which Judas presided, to the Church and the sinners of the Church, who indeed confess the right faith, but are in need of purging themselves from the filth of vices with flames: for this reason now the Lord shows that he calls himself to the fire of judgment, so that the fire may prove the quality of each one's work (1 Corinthians 3), and that which is written may be fulfilled: Walk in the light of your fire, and in the flame you have kindled (Isaiah 50, 11). And it is said to Babylon: You have coals of fire, you shall sit upon them; they shall be to you for help (Isai. XLVII, 14, sec. LXX) . And in the psalm, The deceitful tongue, full of lies, is said to be purified by the fire of coals: What shall be given to you, or what shall be added to you, for a deceitful tongue? The sharp arrows of the mighty with coals of desolation (Ps. CXIX, 3, 4) . About these coals of the altar, the coal of the desolating coals of the two Testaments is taken with a pair of tongs, and the unclean lips of Isaiah are purified, so that he may be able to prophesy the word of the Lord (Isai. VI). But the fire, summoned for judgment, first devours the abyss, that is, all kinds of sins, wood, hay, straw, and then it consumes at the same time the part, that is, it reaches the saints, who are considered as the possession of the Lord and as part of him; for it is the time for judgment to begin from the house of the Lord. And in Ezekiel it is commanded to those who will suffer punishment: Begin from my own sanctified ones (Ezek. IX). And in the Apostle Paul we read: If anyone's work is burned up, he will suffer loss, though he himself will be saved, but only as through fire (I Cor. III). And when we all have been in sin, and we have lied in the truth of judgment, our Lord will have mercy on us, and because we are children, He will raise us up at the time of resurrection, or He will raise us up through the virtues in which we lay in vices, with the Lord promising this and saying: But even this will not be. He said well, but He also said: because He had already said above: this will not be. For He will not be angry forever, nor will He threaten eternally (Ps. 102). He has not dealt with us according to our sins, nor rewarded us according to our iniquities. As far as the east is from the west, so far has he removed our transgressions from us. As a father has compassion on his children, so the Lord has compassion on those who fear him.

(Verse 7 and following) This is what was shown to me: And behold, the Lord stood (in the Latin Vulgate, 'standing') on a wall made of stones, and in his hand was a trowel of a mason. And the Lord said to me, 'What do you see, Amos?' And I said, 'A trowel of a mason.' And the Lord said, 'Behold, I will set a trowel in the midst of my people Israel. I will not add to pass over him anymore, and the high places of idols will be demolished, and the sanctuaries of Israel will be deserted, and I will rise up against the house of Jeroboam with the sword.' LXX: Thus the Lord showed me: And behold, a man standing on a adamantine wall, and in his hand a diamond. And the Lord said to me: What do you see, Amos? And I said: A diamond. And the Lord said to me: Behold, I will cast a diamond in the midst of my people Israel. I will no longer pass by him, and the altars of laughter will be scattered, and the sacrifices of Israel will be desolate, and I will rise up against the house of Jeroboam with the sword. Before we discuss adamante, which Symmachus and the Septuagint translated as Enach in Hebrew, it should be briefly stated that this word was translated by Aquila as γάνωσιν and by Theodotion as τηκόμενον: the former meaning tinning, the latter meaning rotting; like that frying pan (which we read about in Ezekiel 4) where the siege of the people is symbolized, is also referred to as frixura (or signetur), both in the ten tribes and in the kingdom of Jeroboam (who was the grandson of Jehu, under whom this prophecy is seen) in 2 Kings 1, by the term stannaturae. Therefore the Lord is seen standing on the top of a wall made of tin or lead, and in his hand is a trowel or a mason's tray, with which walls are usually covered, and not only to receive beauty, but also strength against the damage of rain and frequent storms. We read in Ezekiel (Chapter XIII) that the Lord threatens that when a storm and hail arise, it will by no means harm or cover the wall of Israel, but will let it be scattered by the rain. And now the one of whom it is written says: He will be called the Builder of the wall, the cornerstone, the builder of the house, who will place a measuring line in the midst of his people Israel, and will make them cease and be dormant, so that he will no longer bring upon them the burden and will clothe and protect them with his help. And when the Lord withdraws his protection, and, so to speak, removes the covering of the wall, then the high places of the idols, which are called Bamoth in Hebrew, will be demolished, and the holy places of the ten tribes will be desolated, so that Dan and Bethel will be destroyed, where the golden calves were worshiped. We have said that as much as we were able, we shall tell what has been handed down to us from the Hebrews according to history. Let us move on to the anagoge, from Xenocrates, who writes a few words about the nature of stones and precious gems: 'The diamond is a stone of its own name, which we can call indomitable in Latin: because it yields to no material, not even to iron. For if it is placed on an anvil and struck with a strong blow of a hammer, the anvil and hammer receive a wound before the diamond is crushed.' And when fire consumes everything and consumes all metals, it makes adamant harder, so that not even the excessive force can dull a small corner of it. I have seen a diamond in gold the size of a thousand millia: and while gold nearby is consumed by long use and excessive age, the diamond alone is not worn down, and no file can diminish it: on the contrary, it wears down the file, and whatever it touches, it leaves a mark. This stone is the hardest and most untameable, yet it is dissolved by the blood of goats alone, and when placed in warm blood, it loses its strength. But he is small and unseemly, having a rusty color and the brilliance of crystal. Four kinds of diamonds are described. The first is Indian; the second is Arabic; the third is Macedonian; the fourth is Cyprian, possessing varying degrees of hardness depending on the quality of the regions. It is also said to detect poisons and resist the evil arts, similar to amber. Such is our Lord and Savior: who, being in the form of God, did not consider equality with God something to be grasped, but emptied himself, taking the form of a servant, being made in human likeness, and being found in human form: he humbled himself, becoming obedient to death, even death on a cross (Philippians 2). Of whom Isaiah writes: He has no beauty or majesty to attract us to him, nothing in his appearance that we should desire him. He was despised and rejected by mankind, a man of suffering, and familiar with pain. Like one from whom people hide their faces he was despised, and we held him in low esteem. (Isaiah 53:2). This refers to Christ standing on the adamant wall, that is, on his holy apostles, whom he enabled to be called adamant and to say that they were not overcome by anyone, asking, 'Who shall separate us from the love of Christ?' tribulation, or distress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or peril, or sword? And again: I am convinced that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor principalities, nor powers, nor things present, nor things to come, nor height, nor depth, nor any other creature, shall be able to separate us from the love of God, which is in Christ Jesus our Lord (Rom. VIII, 35 seqq.). And even Peter, who was the strongest diamond, the gates of hell did not prevail against him (Matt. XVI). Here is a man and Lord, who stands upon an adamant wall, holding in his hand an adamant, which unless held by the hand of God and aided by his help, loses all strength, as the Lord says in the Gospel: No one can snatch them out of my Father's hand (John 10:29). And he is so strong that it can be said to him: If you pass through fire, the flame will not burn you (Isaiah 43:2). And the more he is beaten by temptations, the stronger he becomes, and he delights in the name of the Savior amidst the lashes. And since it cannot be overcome by anyone, it is dissolved by the heat of deadly lust alone. For this is said to be the nature of the blood of goats and of the goat itself, that it is very hot for lust, and what fire cannot tame, only its blood dissolves. Therefore, the Lord places such a diamond in the midst of his people Israel, and it does not pass beyond it, nor does he allow the altars, which are worthy of ridicule and mockery, to be destroyed, and he may strike down with the sword all the mysteries of the heretics and the household of Jeroboam, who first separated the people of God, and overthrow them.

(Verses 10 onwards) And Amaziah the priest of Bethel sent a message to Jeroboam king of Israel, saying, 'Amos has rebelled against you in the midst of the house of Israel. The land is not able to bear all his words. For thus Amos says: 'Jeroboam shall die by the sword, and Israel shall surely be led away captive from their own land.'' Then Amaziah said to Amos 'You seer, go, flee away to the land of Judah. There eat bread, and prophesy there. But never again prophesy at Bethel, for it is the king's sanctuary, and it is the royal residence.'' LXX: And Amasias sent priests from Bethel to Jeroboam, the king of Israel, saying: Amos is gathering groups against you in the midst of the house of Israel; the land cannot endure all his words. For Amos says: Jeroboam will die by the sword, and Israel will be led captive out of its own land. And Amasias said to Amos: You see, go forth and depart (or go) to the land of Judah, and there live and prophesy there; but do not continue to prophesy in Bethel, for it is the king's sanctuary and the house of the kingdom. The proverb of Solomon, or rather the commandment, is: Do not argue with the bad, lest they hate you (Prov. IX, 8): And on the contrary, he has commanded about the good: Argue with the wise, and they will love you. In another place also: Whoever rebukes, he says, the ways of a person, will have more favor than the one who speaks what is pleasing (Prov. XXVIII, 23). Therefore, even Amos spoke to the people with the desire for correction, and he threatened terrible things from the words of God, so that those who repent would return to God and forsake idols. Then the priest of Bethel, where the golden calf was, whom Jeroboam the son of Nebat had made (3 Kings 12), and others who had succeeded him in power, sent to Jeroboam the grandson of Jehu, to inform him, saying: Amos has rebelled against you, and he is making assemblies and gatherings in the midst of your kingdom, Israel, and he speaks so boldly that the land of your kingdom cannot bear his words. Yet he dares to send to the king of Israel as if he were a high priest, fearing that if the people turn to the worship of God, he will lose his priesthood glory. And when he has heard the two, the high places will be demolished with idols, whether it is the laughter of altars or the sanctifications, or the ceremonies of Israel will be desolated, and I will rise up against the house of Jeroboam with the sword, because the idols are completely destroyed, over which Amaziah the priest presided, and may God rise up against Jeroboam with the sword, unless he repents: for he does not command harm from his own, but rather he seems to grieve only at the insult to the king. For, Amos says, these things are spoken. You are mistaken, slanderer. In all his words, he does not speak as if he were a prophet himself, but always prefaces them with: Thus says the Lord. Therefore, he recalls that Amos the prophet has spoken, in order to provoke the king to seek vengeance. What did Amos say? Jeroboam will die by the sword. And in this, you are lying: for he did not say, 'he will die'; for if he had said this, it seemed that he did not take repentance upon himself; rather, the Lord will rise up against the house of Jeroboam with the sword: threatening punishment, not imposing it. He said not, In the sword shall Jeroboam die, but, I will arise in the sword over the house of Jeroboam. For Jeroboam indeed is not dead by the sword, but his house, that is, the son of Zacharias, was destroyed by God's striking. And Israel, he said, shall be carried away captive out of his own land: add also the rest, if he does not repent. Moreover, Jeroboam, despising the empty commands of Amos, did not want to respond to what he had commanded: hence he assumes for himself the authority of the priestly office, and speaks to Amos: Thou seest, go: flee into the land of Judah. The prophets, as we have often said, were formerly called seers, because they saw with the eyes of their heart the things that were going to happen. Let the wise reader ask why he calls the seer a prophet and forces him to come out of the land of Israel? To this, one must respond: either he says it in mockery, suggesting that he lies about everything; or because he saw that there were many people who gladly listened to him. This is why he reported to the king, 'Amos is conspiring against you.' He does not dare to openly commit an injustice, lest he appear to harm those who listen to him. Go, he said, to the land of Judah, where you were born, where the insane are gladly heard: and eat your bread there, or live there, or certainly practice your craft by which you can find food for yourself, and prophesy there, for you have many whom you are accustomed to deceive. But in Bethel, where I am the priest, you shall no longer add to prophesy, for it is the sanctification of the king and the house of the kingdom. And this false priest speaks as if flattering the royal authority, so as not to say: the sanctification is of our God and the house of the idol; but of the king and the house of the kingdom: all those who worship false gods have this custom, that they attribute their pride to kings, and what they themselves do, seems to have been done by the king. All that we have interpreted about Amasias, Jeroboam, Israel, and Amos must be referred to heretics in a rhetorical manner: of whom the priest Amasias sometimes sends to the heretical king Jeroboam, and accuses the heretical patron and holy men and preachers of faith before him, and orders the teachers not to preach in Israel or go against the will of the king; because Bethel, that is, the house of God, and the false Church, is the sanctification of the king and the house of the kingdom. For they are wont to say: 'The Emperor communicates to us, and if anyone resists them, they immediately accuse them: so are you acting against the Emperor? Do you despise the commands of Augustus?' And yet, let us consider that many Christian kings, who persecuted the Church of God, and endeavored to establish Arian impiety throughout the whole world, surpass in wickedness Jeroboam, the king of Israel. For he despised the commands of the false priest and did not want to respond to his suggestion. But they, along with many of their fellow Amasian priests, killed the prophet Amos and the priests of the Lord with hunger and shortage, imprisonments and exiles.

(v. 14 onwards) And Amos answered and said to Amaziah, 'I am not a prophet, nor am I the son of a prophet, but I am a herdsman and a gatherer of sycamore fruit. And the Lord took me from following the flock, and the Lord said to me (the Vulgate adds 'the Lord'): Go, prophesy to my people Israel. Now hear the word of the Lord: You say, 'Do not prophesy against Israel, and do not preach against the house of idolatry.' Therefore thus says the Lord: 'Your wife shall be a prostitute in the city, and your sons and daughters shall fall by the sword, and your land shall be divided by a measuring line; and you yourself shall die in an unclean land, and Israel shall surely go into exile away from its land.' LXX: And Amos answered, and said to Amasiah: I was not a prophet, nor the son of a prophet, but I was a shepherd, and I gathered sycamore fruit ((or: a kind of wild fruit)), and the Lord took me from among the flock, and the Lord said to me: Go, and prophesy to my people Israel, and now hear the word of the Lord: you say, Do not prophesy against Israel, and do not preach against the house of Jacob. Therefore, thus says the Lord: Your wife will commit adultery in the city, and your sons and your daughters will fall by the sword, and your land will be divided by a measuring line, and you will die in an unclean land; but Israel will be led captive from their own land. The Scripture recounts this which the blessed apostles did when the Scribes and Pharisees forbade them to teach in the name of Jesus; and they responded, saying: It is necessary to obey God rather than men. (Acts 4:16) We also know that the prophet Amos did this, who, being forbidden by the high priest of idols, prophesied in Bethel; he not only prophesied, but also showed that he feared God more by sending him, than by prohibiting him; and boldly and freely he himself denounced the punishment that he had tried to forbid and hinder the word of God. Not only, he said, am I not a prophet, or was not (one of whom is of humility, the other of truth) nor the son of a prophet, nor descended from the prophetic lineage; but when I was a shepherd and was pasturing the herds in the meadows, the Lord took me following the flocks. For the term 'shepherd,' which is called 'Bocer' in Hebrew, Aquila and Symmachus and Theodotion, and the fifth edition translated it as 'herdsman,' who pastures herds; not sheep. The Seventy alone have called him 'shepherd' (αἰπόλον), who is properly the shepherd of goats, from the αἰπολία (the high country), which of course means a flock that grazes in high places, showing that herds of goats always climb steep rocks and lofty heights. But since he continues: 'And the Lord hath brought me forth from the sheep' (ἐκ τῶν προβάτων), he seems to suggest sheep more than goats, although in the beginning we read in Leviticus that sheep and goats are designated by the name of cattle. For thus the Lord speaks. If someone offers from the sheep, that is, from the flock, to the Lord a lamb or a kid, and a sheep or a goat (Leviticus 1:10). Furthermore, what he says, 'plucking mulberries', which Aquila interpreted as 'inspecting sycomores', and Symmachus, having sycomores, some have explained it in such a way that 'mulberries' are understood to be a type of tree that grows in the plains of Palestine, and they bring forth wild figs if they are not plucked, which become extremely bitter and are infected by mosquitoes. But for us, since the solitude in which Amos stayed does not produce any such tree, it seems more fitting to say brambles, which cause delay and provide consolation for the hunger and scarcity of the shepherds. However the reader wishes to understand it, it must be said that the Lord took on a humble and rustic shepherd, and sent him to his people Israel, and commanded him to go out from his land and journey to Samaria, and there prophesy about what is to come. Therefore, as the Lord said, you tell me, Amos: Do not prophesy against Israel, and do not drop dew upon the house of idols. Listen to what the Lord threatens against you. Concerning the house of idols, it is written in Hebrew as Beth Isaac, that is, the house of laughter (for Isaac is interpreted as laughter), which the Septuagint translated as the house of Jacob, substituting one name for another and not understanding the meaning. Again, where it says, 'Do not drop dew,' Symmachus interpreted it as 'Do not rebuke.' But to drip prophets, the language of the Scriptures is: that they do not pour out all of God's wrath at once, but rather proclaim it in small drops. Therefore, because you have said to me, 'You will not prophesy; your wife will fornicate in the city,' which Symmachus has interpreted better as 'she will be prostituted,' not that she will commit fornication herself, but that she will endure prostitution inflicted by others in a passive manner. However, it is a great pain and an incredible disgrace when a husband, in the midst of the city and in the presence of everyone, cannot prevent harm to his wife. Your sons and your daughters, he says, will also fall by the sword. There is not as much pain in a raped daughter as there is in a polluted wife, nor is there as much pain in a wife who is killed as there is in slaughtered sons. For a husband would rather hear of his wife being killed than being defiled. And this is not enough for him to feel wronged, unless his land is also divided by enemies with a rope and receives new cultivators. Even Amaziah himself, who now boasts in the power of the priesthood, will not die in his own land, but will be led captive and die in a land polluted by idols, and he will not die until he sees the people he deceived serving and captive. According to allegory, Amasias the priest is interpreted as strong and rigid ((or cold)), because he forbids the rebellious and fierce ecclesiastical man and true prophet from speaking the words and teaching of God and correcting the erring people. His wife, the false Church, will openly engage in fornication with everyone. And his sons and daughters, whom he has generated badly in error, will be struck by the sword of the Lord. His land and all his possessions will also be a portion of demons, and he himself will die in a defiled land that does not have the indwelling of God, but is contaminated by the errors of a corrupt religion, and every people who assumes a false name for itself, Israel, will migrate as captives from their land, so that they do not serve God, but submit their necks to the yoke of heretics and demons.

(Chapter 8, verses 1 and following) This is what the Lord God showed me: Behold, a basket of summer fruit. And he said, 'Amos, what do you see?' And I said, 'A basket of summer fruit.' Then the Lord said to me, 'The end has come upon my people Israel; I will not pass by them anymore. The songs of the temple shall become wailings in that day,' declares the Lord God. 'Many shall be the dead bodies, cast out in every place. Silence!' LXX: This is what the Lord God showed me: Behold, a basket of summer fruit. And he said, What do you see, Amos? And I said, A bird trap. And the Lord said to me: The end is coming upon my people Israel; I will no longer pass by them. The ceilings of the temple will wail on that day, says the Lord God. Many will fall; I will bring silence to every place. Just as Jeremiah sees with the staff of the watchmen, or the nut, because he watched over the sins of his people, so now Amos looks upon Judah and Israel together under the guise of a hook, which in Hebrew is called Chelub and is translated as a bird trap by the Septuagint; since the bird catcher is properly called Moces, as we read earlier in this same prophet: If a bird falls to the ground without a bird catcher. And the sense is this: Just as the branches of trees are drawn towards the apples to be picked, so I have drawn near the time of captivity. And so that we may know that this is what we say, God himself interprets what the vision, which the prophets had shown, signifies. The end has come upon my people Israel. And what follows: I will not pass through him anymore, signifies that he will no longer pass through the iniquities of his people, nor neglect them, nor allow their crimes to go unpunished. And not only does it seem to be said about the ten tribes, it also says: The hinges of the temple will creak, or the rafters on that day, says the Lord. But this must be understood with great excess, because such a heavy burden of evils is looming: that even the hinges of the doors themselves and the lofty rafters will howl, and they will feel an incredible devastation: when many will die, and with the inhabitants captured or killed, silence will be thrown everywhere. But if we want to read the vase of the bird-catcher instead of the hook of the apples, it must be said that just as bird-catchers attract flying birds through the air with birdlime or nets, and when they are soaring higher they pull them down to the ground, so God through Sennacherib or Nebuchadnezzar, whom we now understand as bird-catchers, first captured, bound, transferred, and killed his own free people, whom he had previously elevated through obedience to the Law. For nets are not unjustly stretched out for birds. And this is not only to be referred to the time of the captivity of Babylon, but also to the coming of the Lord Savior, when they said: Take away such a one from the earth: crucify him, crucify him (John 19:15), and they destroyed the wings of the dove. And the end came upon them, and the final captivity, and the Lord did not spare them. And the hinges of the temple wailed, or the ceilings of the temple, falling upon the slain people. And in every place there was silence, with the Jews having Moses and the Prophets, and those without the Word of God: reading the letter, and losing the spirit, when their table became a snare, and a retribution, and a ruin, and their eyes were blinded so that they could not see, and their ears were stopped so that they could not hear; and their backs were bent so that they could not look up to heaven, but rather always lay on the ground like that woman in the Gospel who had a spirit of infirmity (Mark 7), and their ears were stopped so that they could not hear; and their backs were bent so that they could not look up to heaven, but rather always lay on the ground like that woman in the Gospel who had a spirit of infirmity. And the anger of God was poured out upon them, and the fury of his wrath caught hold of them, so that their habitation became deserted, and in their tents there was no inhabitant: for when the time was fulfilled, Behold, the days come, saith the Lord, and I will send a famine upon the land: not a famine of bread, nor a thirst of water, but of hearing the word of the Lord (Hosea, ch. 4, v. 11) : of which, if we shall have arrived at the end, more fully is to be explained. Therefore, seeing this, that God spared not the natural branches, let us fear that the same may happen to us, and let us avoid the snares of the fowler; and let us say to the Lord: Be not silent, neither be thou still, O God, and depart not from me; lest being like unto them that go down into the pit (Psalm 27:1). In the whole world there has fallen a stupor of the Jewish people: wherever they are, they are the mute and dumb images of what they used to be. Blaspheming against Christ, they invoke a malediction in their synagogues and in their prayers. That their interpretation of the Scriptures may find no entrance anywhere, what new thing is said by them that have no faith? For they bore witness to what they understood not; and like human beings, they rendered judgment as diviners.

(V. 4, seqq.) Listen to this, you who crush the poor and make the needy of the earth fail, saying: When the month passes, we will sell our goods, and on the Sabbath, we will open the granary to decrease the measure and increase the weight; we will use deceitful scales to possess the poor in silver and sell the refuse of wheat. LXX: Listen to this, you who crush the poor in the morning and oppress the needy from the land, saying: When the month passes, we will trade and on the Sabbath, we will open the granary to make the measure smaller and the weight greater; we will use dishonest scales to possess the poor in money and the needy for shoes, and we will engage in every sale. Let the hook of the apples not appear in vain, and let the vessel of the bird catcher be shown, and through these things, the impending captivity is briefly described as the cause of offense to God. Oh, you Juda, oh you Israel, hear the crimes you have committed, rising in the night, for prayer and hymns to God: you have the zeal to oppress or crush the poor, so that they, consumed by hunger and poverty, may be taken from the land. You who wait for the new moon to engage in business, and increase interest on loans, and open your storehouses on the Sabbath, and give more grain in return, and turn the sacred festivals of God into sordid profits for your own gain: you who make the measure smaller when selling goods, and use heavier weights when receiving, and use unfair scales in order to possess the money of the poor, and hold people in such low regard that you fulfill what was said above about you: Because you sold the just for silver, and the poor for shoes: you have leaped into such greed for profit that you sell to the poor not the grain which sustains human bodies, but the refuse and chaff of the grain, mixing dust and bran. Indeed, we sometimes see even perverse teachers and rulers, who dominate the clergy without the fear of God, of whom Jeremiah speaks: Their shepherds have not benefited them (Jer. XII, 13, LXX), making a profit out of piety. They sit in the temple like moneychangers, not in cages but in seats as if they were masters, selling the gifts of the Holy Spirit. They give a smaller and larger measure to the poor, either too little or nothing at all, but to the rich and those from whom they seek profit, they speak with lengthy sermons like preachers. And for the sake of money, they crush the heads of the poor and trample on them, not offering them the Lord's grain that strengthens the heart of man, but rather feeding them scraps and the cheapest dust with eager mouths. They even sell things that are worthless, despite the fact that the Lord commanded his apostles, 'Freely you have received, freely give' (Matt. X, 8).

(Verse 7, 8.) The Lord has sworn by the pride of Jacob: Surely I will never forget any of their works. Shall not the land tremble concerning this, and every inhabitant mourn? And it shall rise up wholly like the River, and it shall be driven out and fall like the River of Egypt. Septuagint: The Lord has sworn by the pride of Jacob: Surely I will not forget all your works forever. And the land shall not be shaken because of this, and every inhabitant shall mourn, and it shall rise up like a consuming River, and it shall fall like the River of Egypt. The Scripture describes God swearing repeatedly. First in Genesis: the Angel of the Lord called to Abraham from heaven, saying: 'By myself I have sworn, declares the Lord: because you have done this and have not withheld your son, your only son, I will surely bless you, and I will surely multiply your offspring as the stars of heaven and as the sand that is on the seashore' (Genesis 22:16-17). And in the 109th Psalm: The Lord has sworn and will not change his mind: 'You are a priest forever after the order of Melchizedek' (Psalm 110:4). Now, whoever it is that wrote the letter to the Hebrews, discussing it says: Since he had no one greater by whom to swear, he swore by himself (Heb. 6:13). And in this same prophet above we read: The Lord swore in his sanctuary, or by his sanctuary: because behold days shall come upon you and they will take you away in arms, or spears, and the rest. Therefore, he who had sworn previously in his sanctuary, or by his sanctuary, now swears against the pride of Jacob: so that if they do not believe the one threatening, they may believe the one swearing in human likeness: who assumes an oath at that time when trust is not placed in their simple words. It is not surprising, therefore, if God is said to swear, when he sleeps with those who sleep, and watches over those who are awake: and it is said that he is angry with those who have stored up wrath for themselves on the day of wrath (Rom. II) . He swears that he will not forget their works until the end; for God resists the proud, but gives grace to the humble (Jacob. IV) ; but let them remember all the sins they have committed, and bring them to the end and the time of judgment. Hence, those who repent ((or endure patiently)) pray: Do not remember our old iniquities (Psal. LXXVIII, 8) , especially when the earth itself is moved and disturbed against the proud, not the tenant or stranger, but its inhabitant: and let the completion rise like a river, and let it descend like the river of Egypt: so that those who repent may ascend with the rising river: but those who persist in their sins may descend like the river of Egypt, and be swallowed up by the sea. And by this, it is shown that the pride of Jacob, against which the Lord swears, is to be devoured by eternal punishments.