Jerome

(Verse 9, 10.) And it shall come to pass on that day, says the Lord (Vulgate adds God): The sun will be darkened at noon, and I will make the earth go dark in the midst of light. I will turn your feasts into mourning, and all your songs into lamentation. I will bring sackcloth upon every waist, and baldness upon every head. I will make it like the mourning for an only son, and the end of it like a bitter day. LXX: And it shall come to pass on that day, says the Lord God: the sun will be darkened at noon, and darkness will come over the earth in the midst of light. I will turn your festivals into mourning, and all your songs into lamentation. I will bring sackcloth upon every loins, and baldness upon every head. I will make it like the mourning for a beloved one, and those who are with him like a day of sorrow.


That day, which is called the day of captivity, signifies the day when both peoples will be led into Assyria and Chaldea, where the sun will set at noon due to the magnitude of sadness, and clear light will fill everything, while darkness will envelop all. On that day, their festivities and all their songs will be turned into mourning and lamentation. And they will wear sackcloth on their backs or loins, and according to the custom of ancient mourners, they will have baldness on their heads, which we also read that Job did for the deaths of his children (Job 1). And so great will be the magnitude of mourning and sadness, that it will overcome the grief of a mother and a most beloved only son dying: and all things will be filled with lamentation and bitterness. We can understand this place also in the Passion of the Lord, when the sun withdrew its rays at the sixth hour, and the one not daring to look at his hanging Lord on the cross. (Luke 23): when darkness filled all things, and their festivities and songs, surpassing Vespasian and Titus, were transformed into mourning and sorrow: when all things were filled with tears, penitence, and sackcloth, and they had bald heads, who previously adorned their hair in the Nazarene style, nourished for the Lord. Then the firstborn Son of God, the people of Israel, who had extended their hand to the Only Begotten and true Son of God, was handed over to eternal mourning: and his last moments, along with those who were with him, were filled with bitterness. Now, those who rejected the sun of justice are left in darkness: we, who were sitting in the shadow of death, have seen a great light (Isaiah 9), and all their festivities have been transferred to the mysteries of the Church, so that, while they weep, we may sing praises to the Lord. They are girded with ropes and cilices: for us it is said with the apostles: Let your loins be girded ((or girt)), and lamps burning in your hands (Luke 12:35). We are girded with the truth of Christ, fulfilling that which is written: Stand fast therefore in the truth, girding your loins with truth (Ephesians 6:14). But they, on the other hand, are surrounded by the lie of the devil for the sake of truth. Our head, of whom the Savior speaks: But the very hairs of your head are all numbered (Matthew 10:30), has perpetual hair, and in our head, which is Christ, we possess strength to slay the lion. But they slept in the concubine's synagogue, and their hair was cut off by the devil, losing the power of their heads, losing their eyes with their strength, about whom it is written in Ecclesiastes: The eyes of the wise are in their head; but the fool walks in darkness. Their companions are in mourning, our companions are clothed in garments of joy.

(Verse 11, 12) Behold, the days are coming, says the Lord, when I will send forth (Vulgate: send) a famine upon the land: not a famine of bread, nor a thirst for water, but of hearing the word of the Lord. And they shall wander from sea to sea, and from the north even to the east, they shall run to and fro to seek the word of the Lord, and shall not find it. In that day, the fair virgins and young men shall faint for thirst. Those who swear by the guilt of Samaria, and say, 'As your god, Dan, lives,' and, 'As the way of Beersheba lives,' they shall fall and never rise again. LXX: Behold, the days are coming, says the Lord God, when I will send a famine on the land: not a famine of bread, nor a thirst for water, but of hearing the words of the Lord. And the waters shall be stirred up from the sea to the sea, and from the north to the east they shall go to and fro, seeking the word of the Lord, but they shall not find it. In that day, the fair virgins and young men shall faint with thirst, those who swear by the sin of Samaria and say: As your god lives, O Dan, and as your god lives, O Bersabee. And they shall fall, and not rise again. In Hebrew, there are no waters, and 'propitiatio,' which we translate as forgiveness, and in Hebrew is called 'Asamath', signifies idol: which is the beginning of sins. The old story tells, both in Latin and Greek, and of all barbarian nations, nothing is harsher than hunger, which often compels the besieged to feed on human flesh, and to act according to their cruel nature: so that even parents do not spare their young children, and the marital affection tears apart the limbs of the beloved wife who was once loved. If hunger of bodies causes this, what should be said about the hunger of souls? which on the day of the resurrection of the Lord oppressed the people of the Jews, and joined with the most burning hunger, the thirst of those who do not have the bread that descends from heaven, and those waters that flowed from the belly of Jesus. The Law has been taken away from them, and the Prophets have fallen into eternal silence: they move from sea to sea, and from the British Ocean to the Atlantic Ocean, that is, from the West to the South, and from the North to the East, foreigners throughout the whole world, are unable to find the word of God. In what place shall we ask the Jews where they think that day signifies, in which they endure the hunger of hearing the word of God: especially when they read the Scriptures and follow the humility of the letters? To them we suggest that the predicted hunger is spiritual understanding, in which Christ is seen, the passion of the Lord is found and the resurrection is discovered. They go around the world and seek the word of the Lord, and do not find it: because they have denied the Word of the Lord, which was done in the hands of all the prophets, which was in the beginning with the Father, which was made flesh, and dwelt among us (John I). At that time, beautiful virgins and young men, both chosen and educated (for this is what 'Baurim' signifies), became scarce due to thirst. The beautiful virgins represent the synagogues, and the chosen ones represent the teachers of the people. When they became scarce, they taught that the curses of Deuteronomy were fulfilled among the Jewish people (Deut. XXVII, XXVIII, XXIX). These chosen ones and teachers swore by the idol of Samaria, namely the golden calves, and said: 'May your God, Dan, live in the borders of the land of Judah, where Paneas is now, and at that time the golden calf was worshipped there. And may your way, Bersabee, live, for they rarely traveled there due to its long and difficult journey, both the just and unjust kings of Judah.' And because they have done this, therefore they shall fall down, and shall not rise again, that is, they shall not regain the state which they had before. But the Lord sends famine into the land over those who are earthly-minded: and it is not a famine of bread, nor a thirst for water, but of hearing the word of the Lord, when because of the sins of the people the teaching fails in the Churches. And from sea to sea, that is, from the salty and most bitter waves to the sea they reach: not encountering rivers, not sweetest and various springs, but again flowing toward bitter things. And from the North to the East, desiring to abandon the North (which is the most harsh wind and is called the right one by the ignorant) and to reach the East, which they will not be able to find, because they do not travel in a straight path, but wander on winding paths, and not holding to the royal road, they are led astray by crooked windings. At that time the souls of virgins would fail, whom the Apostle calls incorrupt: and he desires them to possess eternal chastity, writing to the Corinthians: For I have espoused you to one man, that I may present you as a chaste virgin to Christ. But I fear lest as the serpent seduced Eve by his subtilty, so your minds should be corrupted, and fall from the simplicity that is in Christ (II Cor. X, 2, 3). And if all virgins were beautiful or good, he would never have said that good virgins would fail; but he placed good virgins in contrast to bad ones, who are holy in body and spirit. There are five foolish virgins who did not prepare oil for their lamps (Matthew 23). But those are good and beautiful virgins who had the light of virtues and entered the bridegroom's chamber. But the virgins will fail because they will not find the word of the Lord. From this we understand that when there is no teaching in the Churches, chastity will perish, purity will die, and all virtues will depart, because they have not eaten the word of the Lord. Whoever eats it will be satisfied, as Solomon says: The righteous person satisfies his soul, but the souls of the wicked will be hungry (Proverbs 13:2). And David, who reached old age, freely sang: I was young and now I am old, yet I have not seen the righteous forsaken, nor his descendants begging for bread (Psalm 37:25). How many martyrs perished of hunger in persecutions and lacked the sustenance of these bodies? Therefore, about the bread that comes down from heaven, it is said that whoever eats it will neither hunger nor thirst. With the virgins failing, the young men will also fail, those who had previously conquered the world. And they will fail because they swear by the idol of Samaria, which we always understand to be in the person of heretics, as the same prophet says: Woe to those who despise Zion and rely on the mountain of Samaria (Amos 6:1). For heretics despise the Church of God and rely on the falsehood of their teachings, raising themselves against the knowledge of God, dividing His people, and saying: We have no share in David, no inheritance in the son of Jesse (1 Kings 12:16). If anyone swears by the sin of Samaria and says, 'As the Lord lives, Dan, and as the way of Beersheba lives,' that person will fall and will not rise again. Dan could not find a possession in the last borders of Judah, as it is written in the book of Judges (Judges 18), and it is interpreted as judgement. And Beersheba, due to the variation of accents, is translated into our language as 'well of the oath' or 'well of satisfaction' or 'well of the seventh.' Therefore, heretics at the ends of the holy Scriptures thirst, despising the judgement of God and desiring the way of Beersheba, which was in the tribe of Judah. And desiring to imitate many sacraments of the Church, they claim to be satisfied and filled. To them, the Apostle Paul reproaches: Already you are satisfied, already you have become rich (1 Corinthians 4:8), and they swear in the name of the Lord, who once fell because they regarded their idols as their god and will not rise again. But those who want to repent and do not say, 'As the Lord lives, Dan, and as the way of Beersheba lives,' will hear through Jeremiah: Can one who falls not rise again? Or one who turns away not return? (Jeremiah 8:4).

(Chapter 9, Verse 1) I saw the Lord standing upon the altar, and he said: Strike the hinge, and let the thresholds tremble: for greed is at the head of all, and with the sword I will kill their last one. There will be no escape for them: they will flee, and no one who flees will be saved. LXX: I saw the Lord standing upon the altar, and he said: Strike upon the mercy seat, and the vestibules will be shaken: and scatter upon the heads of all, and with the sword I will kill the rest of them. He shall not flee from those who flee; and he shall not be saved from those who are saved. He who, with Ezekiel and John the Baptist, has seen the heavens opened (Ezek. I; Mat. III), and the veil that was placed before the face of Moses (Exod. XXXIV), has been taken away from his eyes, so that what is written may be fulfilled: The commandment of God is a clear light illuminating the eyes (Ps. XVIII, 9); this person will see the Lord standing upon the altar, and commanding the prophet, or, as many believe, the angel who is bound to administer the punishments for sins, to strike the hinges of the temple, or the mercy seat, and cause its lintels or vestibules to tremble. And when, he says, the temple has been dissolved and destroyed because of the wickedness of men, and my wrath has begun from my sanctuary, let everyone recognize that they cannot escape, with greed possessing all things, and that their final end is death, and no defenses can help them escape the judgment of God: and what we read according to the Septuagint, that he dispersed it among the heads of all, their heads are beautifully divided, who by their own choice have separated themselves from him who is the head of all, and have said: We have no king except Caesar (John 19:15), who with impious voice cried out: Crucify, crucify such a one. And: His blood be upon us, and upon our children. All of these things we can refer to the heretics, whose altar is struck, and all initiations and sacraments are profaned, who have greed in their heads, with the partridge crying out through them, and gathering those whom she did not bring forth, and making riches without judgment (Jer. XVII). Therefore, the Lord will also destroy his final remains or relics, so that the begun chapter may be completed, and his end will be foolish. But when the Lord strikes the hinges and wields his sword against them, there will be no one who can escape or deflect the impending sword of the Lord. And at the same time, it should be noted that, while the Lord is standing on the altar, the propitiatory or hinges of the temple are struck first, then the vestibules are shaken, thirdly the heads of all are divided, and fourthly those who remain are killed with the sword. For unless the Lord tramples the arrogance of heretics with his foot and strikes their perverse and wicked doctrine with the spiritual sword, and divides their masters, who are accepted as leaders, among themselves, and strikes them in a good way, the disciples cannot be brought to life, according to what is written: I will kill and give life: I will strike and heal (Deut. XXXII, 39). The teachers are killed and beaten so that the students may live: the heads are divided so that the other members may be healed.

(Vers. 2 seqq.) If they descend to the depths, my hand will bring them up from there. And if they ascend to heaven, I will bring them down from there. And if they hide themselves on the top of Carmel, I will search and take them from there. And if they hide from my sight at the bottom of the sea, I will command the serpent to bite them. And if they go into captivity before their enemies, I will command the sword to kill them. I will set my eyes upon them for evil and not for good. And the Lord, the God of hosts, who touches the earth and it withers, and all who dwell in it mourn, and it rises like the Nile, and sinks again, like the river of Egypt. Seventy: If they are buried in Sheol, from there my hand will pluck them up; and if they ascend to heaven, from there I will bring them down. If they hide themselves on the top of Carmel, from there I will search them out and take them; and if they hide from my sight at the bottom of the sea, from there I will command the serpent, and it shall bite them; and if they go into captivity before their enemies, from there I will command the sword, and it shall kill them; and I will fix my eyes upon them for evil and not for good. And the Lord God Almighty, who touches the earth and shakes it, and all its inhabitants will mourn, and their end will come like a flood, and their downfall like the river of Egypt. He who said before, there will be no escape for them, now cuts off their escape into separate parts, and hyperbolically testifies that even if they do this and that, they will not be able to escape. If they descend to the depths, he says, my hand will bring them out from there: not because anyone is able to be pulled back from the depths before the day of resurrection, but because even those in the depths are under His power. We learn that what was foretold about Dathan and Abiron has come to pass, whom the gaping earth swallowed up while they were still alive (Numbers 16). And if they were to ascend, it is said, even to the heavens, I will bring them down from there; for Enoch and Elijah, taken up with their bodies into heaven (Genesis 5; 2 Kings 4), are governed by the will of God. Consider the different realms: we descend to hell, we ascend to heaven; we are brought forth from hell, we are brought down from heaven. In the former, there is extreme despair; in the latter, there is the greatness of pride. If they should hide in the summit of Carmel, or near the borders of Phoenicia in the northern region, or towards the south due to the vastness of the desert, where Nabal the Carmelite used to live (1 Samuel 25), then, he says, I will search and take them away: and if they attempt to avoid the eyes of God in the depths of the sea (Jonah 1), or as I speak of the prophet, in Tarshish, there I will command the serpent, which here signifies Leviathan or a whale, to come against the enemies through the serpent and the whale. And he will bite them, that is, he will devour them with his jaws. And lest we feel any captivity from the enemies through the things he said above, Scripture opens up what he had previously said in riddles. And if they go into captivity before their enemies, there I will command the sword, and it will kill them, so that they may not think of the end of their evils as servitude; but let the hostile sword also pierce the captured ones: and those who are able to survive and escape death, may not escape the gaze of God, but he shall set his eyes upon them for evil, and not for good, so that he may always visit them and compel them to penance through torments. And the almighty God declares that He will do these things, at whose touch and command the foundations of the earth are shaken or decay, and all its inhabitants are filled with weeping and mourning. He speaks these words to show the magnitude of His divine power, not that He actually desires to do what He threatens; for His powers do not fulfill His will. But if the earth decays or trembles, even insensible nature perceives its Creator; how much more so does man, a fragile creature whose spiritual treasure is enclosed in earthen and corporeal vessels? And just as the river of Egypt flows into the sea and is sucked up, so too the land of Israel, of which it was said above: Whoever touches the land and decays, shall go into captivity and be devoured by enemies; in a metaphorical sense, what is possessed emerges from what is possessed, as indicated by divine speech. And we have interpreted these things in accordance with the order of the following history, as best we could, although our understanding may have failed in some instances. Furthermore, David explains the entire extent of this place, saying: Lord, you have tested me and you know me (Ps. 139:1). And immediately he adds: Where can I go from your spirit? Or where can I flee from your face? If I ascend to heaven, you are there; if I make my bed in Sheol, you are there. If I rise on the wings of the dawn and settle on the far side of the sea, even there your hand will guide me; your right hand will hold me fast (cf. Ps 139:7-10). In Deuteronomy, we read something similar: This commandment that I am commanding you today is not too hard for you, nor is it too far away. It is not in heaven, that you should say, 'Who will go up to heaven for us, and get it for us so that we may hear it and observe it?' (cf. Deut 30:11-12). Nor is it placed beyond the sea, so that you may say: Who will go across the sea for us and bring it to us, that we may hear it and do it, but the word is very near you, in your mouth and in your heart, that you may do it (Deuteronomy XXX, 11, 12). For when the soul, released from the bodily bonds, has the freedom to fly wherever it wishes or is compelled to go, due to its subtle substance, will it be led to the underworld (of which it is written: Let sinners be turned into hell, all the nations that forget God (Psalm IX, 18)). And, in hell, who will confess to you? (Psalm 6:6) And, your glory descended into hell. (Psalm 48:18) Certainly, he will be lifted up to heavenly things, where spiritual wickedness is in the heavens, and if he desires to claim the knowledge of true circumcision, for this is interpreted as Carmelus, and with contempt for humility, he will dwell in the mountains, and there he will not be able to escape the searching hand of God. But if, in despair of salvation, he attempts to avoid the eyes of the Lord and reaches the furthest boundaries of false waves, even there the Lord will command the twisted and ancient serpent (Revelation 20), who is the enemy and avenger, and he will bite her. Also, she will be punished by the sword of the Lord for her vices and sins, and He will set His eyes upon her for evil, not for good, so that through torture and punishment she may return to the Lord. And when Almighty God touches their land and shakes it, and causes all earthly things to wither, understanding their crimes, they will turn to mourning, and the Lord Himself will ascend and descend twofold. He will ascend over the saints like a river of consummation, that is, of the earth, in order to consume their earthly works. He will descend upon sinners like the river of Egypt, so that they may be cast into the bitterness of torment by the force of the Lord.

[Daniel 7:2-3] "And during the night I saw in my vision, and behold, the four winds of heaven strove upon the great sea, and four great beasts were coming up out of the sea, differing from one another." The four winds of heaven I suppose to have been angelic powers to whom the principalities have been committed, in accordance with what we read in Deuteronomy: "When the Most High divided the nations and when He separated the children of Adam, He established the bounds of the peoples according to the number of the angels. For the Lord's portion is His people; Jacob is the line of His inheritance (Deuteronomy 32:8). But the sea signifies this world and the present age, overwhelmed with salty and bitter waves, in accordance with the Lord's own interpretation of the dragnet cast into the sea (Matthew 13:47-50). Hence also the sovereign of all creatures that inhabit the waters is described as a dragon, and his heads, according to David, are smitten in the sea (Psalm 74:13). And in Amos we read: "If he descends to the very depth of the sea, there will I give him over to the dragon and he shall bite him" (Amos 9:3). But as for the four beasts who came up out of the sea and were differentiated from one another, we may identify them from the angel's discourse. "These four great beasts," he says, "are four kingdoms which shall rise up from the earth." And as for the four winds which strove in the great sea, they are called winds of heaven because each one of the angels does for his realm the duty entrusted to him. This too should be noted, that the fierceness and cruelty of the kingdoms concerned are indicated by the term "beasts."

(Verse 6.) He who builds his ascent in heaven and establishes his foundation on earth: he who calls the waters of the sea and pours them out upon the face of the earth: The Lord is his name. LXX: He who builds his ascent in heaven and establishes his promise on earth: he who calls the water of the sea and pours it out upon the face of the earth: The Lord Almighty is his name. The Lord God Almighty, who looks upon or touches the earth and moves it, is the one who daily builds his ascent in heaven and says in the Gospel: My Father is still working, and I am working as well (John 5:17). And not only did God build Eve from Adam's rib as a figure of the Church (Gen. II), but He daily builds believers and members of His body, and lifts them from the earth to heaven, so that He Himself may ascend in them. The Lord ascended into heaven with Enoch (Gen. V), ascended with Elijah (IV Kings II), ascended with Moses, whose burial place could not be found on earth because he had ascended to heaven (Deut. XXXIV). He ascended with Paul, who was a chosen vessel, and was transformed from a persecutor into an apostle (2 Cor. 12). He was caught up to the heights, so that he ascended to the third heaven, and through the Holy Spirit and the Son, he reached the Father, and heard unspeakable words, the mysteries of the Trinity, which are not lawful for humans to hear. Therefore, he who ascends daily in the holy ones, has established his bundle on the earth, of which it is said in the Gospel: Fear not, little flock, for it has pleased my Father to dwell in you (Luke 12:32). This bundle is bound together by the one religion of the Lord. From this, the religion itself received its name from being bound and united in the bundle of the Lord. Moreover, according to the Seventy, it founded its promise upon the earth so that all the promises that the holy prophets sang with their mouths may not be empty sounds and the mere names of tropology, but be poured out upon the earth. And when they have the foundations of history, then they may receive the summit of spiritual understanding: that truly Christ was born of the Virgin, truly raised Lazarus from the dead, truly healed the woman with a flow of blood at his touch, truly the blind saw upon the coming of the Lord, the lame ran, the contracted hands were extended, the leprosy was cleansed; even though according to tropology the divine word is born every day from the virginal soul, every day those dead to sin and bound by the cords of vices may be ordered to come forth from the tomb of their crimes, every day the works of blood may be restrained, the blind may see in the faith of Christ, the lame may run in the way of the Lord, and the withered hands of greed may be stretched out for almsgiving, and the leprosy of Mary, which contaminates whatever it touches, may receive its former purity (Num. 12). But this Lord also calls the most bitter waters of the sea, and pours them out upon those who have turned their faces to the Lord. He calls them bitter waters so that he may make them sweet and brings forth winds from his treasuries and commands the heavy waters to be suspended in the height with its saltiness, straining and boiling them with ethereal heat, and dispenses them as rain, and sends them down upon the face of the earth, so that dry things may be moistened by rains, and where sin has abounded, grace may superabound.

Are you not like the children of Ethiopia to me, O sons of Israel, says the Lord? Did I not bring up Israel from the land of Egypt, and the Philistines from Cappadocia, and the Syrians from Cyrene? Behold, the eyes of the Lord God are upon the sinful kingdom, and I will destroy it from the face of the earth: yet will I not utterly destroy the house of Jacob, says the Lord. LXX: Are you not like the children of Ethiopia to me, O sons of Israel, says the Lord? Did I not bring up Israel from the land of Egypt, and the Philistines from Caphtor and the Syrians from Kir? Behold, the eyes of the Lord God are on the sinful kingdom, and I will destroy it from the face of the earth. Yet I will not completely destroy the house of Jacob, says the Lord. As for Cyrene, Aquila and the fifth edition have put the Hebrew word itself, Cir (), and the Septuagint the pit, that is, βόθρον, Theodotion the wall, Symmachus Cyrene: whom we also followed in this place. I will conclude the understanding of this whole passage that I have proposed, and of all that is contained in this chapter, with a brief discourse, up to the point where it is written: Those who say, 'Evil will not come to us, and the sword will not come upon us,' so that we may know what is said: I am the Lord God Almighty, who cannot be hidden, who touches the earth and it quakes; who builds my ascension in heaven; who calls forth the waters of the sea and pours them out upon the face of the earth; whose name is the Lord, who am the creator of all things: I fashioned all peoples from the same clay and generated them by an equal lot. Finally, I have brought together the Ethiopians, Palestinians, Syrians, and Jews, who are distant in location and body, under the law of mortality. I also exchange and move my slaves here and there at my own discretion, and transfer them to all provinces. Do not become proud because I led you out of Egypt and did not allow you, as my chosen people, to serve Pharaoh: I have done the same with the Palestinians, whom the Seventy foreigners transported, who are called Caphthorim in Hebrew, in order to transfer them from Cappadocia and settle them in the regions of Palestine. I also transferred the Syrians, that is, the Aramaeans, from Cyrene. From this, those who have become equal in status will be punished by the judgment of my equal justice, and I will overthrow all impious kingdoms without discrimination of persons. But you, O sons of Israel, of whom I said: My firstborn son is Israel (Exod. IV, 22). And: Out of Egypt I called my son (Hosea XII, 1), I will strike with a rod, and I will visit your sins; but I will not destroy you forever, and I will not take away my mercy from you (Ps. LXXXVIII), and like those shaken and sifted in a sieve, I will cleanse and choose, so that whoever is a stone, and strengthened by repentance, will not fall from my sieve; but whoever falls like dust to the ground, let them be struck by the sword, so that they may die, the sinners of my people, not because they have sinned before, but because they have persevered in sins until death. But everyone in Israel, who sees God with their mind and is led out of Egypt, if they desire the vices of Egypt and the delights of the world, not only return to Egypt, but also to Ethiopia, in which, according to Jeremiah (Chap. 13), they cannot change their skin; they are saved by the coming of Christ, and what is written is fulfilled in him: Ethiopia will stretch out her hands to God (Psalm 68:31). And when they worship him, it will be said of them: The Ethiopians will fall before him (Psalm 72:9). Those who have fallen down and carried victims from Ethiopia across the rivers to the Lord, will be able to say: I am dark and beautiful, because the sun has made me pale (Song of Solomon 1:4). For bodies withering in shadows and idleness cannot endure the temptations and heat of the world; but those that are prepared for struggle and contests, having been dried by the sun, overcome the injustices of the world and obtain the blessing of the Holy Spirit, as it says to the just: The sun shall not scorch you by day, nor the moon by night (Psalm 121:6). Therefore, the Ethiopians are turned into the children of God, if they repent, and the children of God are turned into Ethiopians, if they have fallen into the depths of sins. For the Creator God Himself turns the Cappadocians into Palestinians, and those who were engaged in the coldness of faith, and were subjected to the harsh northerly wind, He made to fall, and having set aside their pride, they felt the judgment of the Lord. He also transferred the Syrians, that is, the lofty and sublime ones, who were called Aramaeans, from Cyrene to a weak wall, or that which threatened the most bitter sea, and was near the Syrtes, and was held in a pit next to seventy (others), into a good direction, so that He might make them lofty. For the eyes of the Lord are over all kingdoms of sin, which the devil shows to the Lord (Matthew 4), and about which the Apostle says: Sin does not reign in your mortal body, to obey its desires (Romans 6:12). However, when he visits sinners with his rod and crushes and strikes those who remain in sin, he does not allow those souls who are called the house of Jacob, who supplant sin and overcome in battle, and attack the heel of the bloody brother, to perish forever.

(Verses 9, 10.) Behold, I will give the command, and I will shake the house of Israel among all the nations, as grain is shaken in a sieve, and not a pebble will fall to the ground. All the sinners of my people will die by the sword, those who say: 'No disaster will come near or overtake us.' LXX: For behold, I will command and sift the house of Israel among all the nations, as one sifts with a sieve, and no fragment shall fall to the ground. All the sinners of my people shall die by the sword, who say: 'Evil shall not come near, nor shall any good come upon us.' God, who measures the waters with the palm of his hand, and the heavens with his span, and closes up the whole earth with his fist (Isaiah 40), he himself, by his greatness, will shake the edges of the earth to and fro like a sieve: so that the chaff and the filth of sinners falling to the ground, may leave behind pure wheat, which will be stored in the barns; or as the Septuagint translated, he will hold a fan in his hand and will cleanse his threshing floor and gather the wheat into his barns, but he will burn the chaff with unquenchable fire; concerning which the Lord speaks through Jeremiah: 'What has straw to do with the wheat?' (Jeremiah 23:28). Of this same thing, under the figure of another parable, that fishing-net shows, which is cast into the sea of this world, and draws forth fishes of every kind; and when the bad have been cast away, only the good are kept (Matthew 13). In the same way, the Lord has dispersed the wretched house of Israel throughout the whole world, and has shaken it in a sieve and fanned it with a winnowing fork; and the stones and pebbles not falling to the ground, those who are called sinners on account of the filth and dust shall die by the sword. And they endure this because they do not believe the prophecies of the prophets, nor do they think that the things which the Lord threatens through them will come to pass. And when they promise themselves prosperity, they will suffer evil afterwards, opposite to the saints who fear and do not sin, and therefore do not die by the sword, because they said: Evils will come near us, and punishments will come upon us, which our sins have deserved, about which God speaks more fully in Jeremiah: I will take up and speak against that nation and kingdom, to pluck up and to break down; if that nation turns from its evil, I will relent of the disaster that I intended to do to it (Jer. XVIII, 7, 8). Therefore God is not changed, who is always unchangeable; but we change him by our conversion. He rages, he gets angry, he threatens, and he says that he will inflict punishment: if we repent, he too will repent of his sentence. Again, next to the same Jeremiah (Chapter XVII), he promises prosperity: if we are dissolved in negligence, he will repent of his promise and change it. We can see an example of this in Nineveh and Jerusalem, some of whom were freed from impending punishments, while others lost what had been promised to their fathers.

(Vers. 11 seqq.) In that day I will raise up the fallen tent of David, and rebuild its broken walls, and restore what has collapsed, and rebuild it as it was in ancient times, that they may possess the remnant of Edom and all the nations who are called by my name, declares the Lord who is doing these things. LXX: In that day I will raise up the fallen tent of David, and rebuild its broken parts, and raise up what has been buried, and restore it as in the ancient days, that they may seek me, the remnant of humanity, and all the nations over whom my name has been called, declares the Lord who is doing all these things. Where the authority of the apostles prevails, especially that of Peter and James, whom the vessel of election calls the pillars of the Church (Galatians 2), there all suspicion of various explanations is to be removed, and what is expounded by such great men is to be followed. In the book of Acts, a question arose among the apostles as to why Paul and Barnabas had received men from the Gentiles without circumcision and observance of the Sabbath. Peter answered, as he should: and James, approving his opinion, spoke these words: Men, brothers, listen to me: Simon has related how God first visited the Gentiles to take from them a people for his name, and the words of the prophets agree with this, as it is written: After this, I will return and rebuild the fallen tent of David. I will rebuild its ruins and set it up again, so that the rest of mankind may seek the Lord, even all the Gentiles who are called by my name, says the Lord, who does these things, known from of old (Acts 15:13 and following). Therefore this tabernacle of David, which had fallen (had fallen, however, among those who say, it will not come near, and no evil will come upon us: those whom the Lord had shaken and tested with His sieve, and whose threshing floor of His majesty He had purged with His winnowing fan, and all sinners He had killed with the sword), now according to the custom of the Scriptures, after tortures, after punishments, promising prosperity and joy, declares that He will raise it up, and in the resurrection of the Lord restore all things, so that what had fallen in the synagogues may rise in the Churches, and believers may possess the remnants of Edom, and all nations, so that whatever remains of the bloody and earthly kingdom may be transformed into heavenly kingdoms, and all peoples who have forgotten the Lord may be converted and return to Him. But if we want to read according to the LXX, those who are left of mankind, and all the nations upon whom my name has been invoked, we should accept as those who have believed from the Jewish people, and as those who have not fallen like a small stone from the sieve, nor have been thrown out with the dust and chaff. For the remnants will be saved at the beginning of faith, and at the end of the world, so that when the fullness of the Gentiles comes in, then all Israel will be saved (Romans 11). But the name of the Lord which is invoked above the rest and above all nations, that is what the Savior says: Father, I have revealed your name to men (John 17:6). And so that I do not delay the rule of covenants with a long discourse, and in this prophet, and in the other things whatsoever are preached about the building of Jerusalem (the walls of Jerusalem) and the temple, and the blessedness of all things, the Jews in the last time promise themselves in vain expectation, and they mention things to be fulfilled carnally. But we who do not follow the letter that kills, but the life-giving Spirit, now in the Church we are convinced of fulfillment, and every day it is fulfilled in individuals who, falling through sin, are rebuilt through repentance.

(Verse 14, 15.) Behold, the days are coming, says the Lord, when the plowman shall overtake the reaper and the treader of grapes him who sows the seed; the mountains shall drip with sweet wine, and all the hills shall flow with it. I will bring back the captives of My people Israel; they shall build the waste cities and inhabit them; they shall plant vineyards and drink wine from them; they shall also make gardens and eat fruit from them. I will plant them in their land, and no longer shall they be pulled up from the land I have given them, says the Lord your God. LXX: Behold, the days are coming, says the Lord, when the plowman shall overtake the reaper, and the treader of grapes him who sows seed; the mountains shall drip with sweet wine, and all the hills shall flow with it. I will bring back the captives of My people Israel; they shall build the waste cities and inhabit them; they shall plant vineyards and drink wine from them; they shall also make gardens and eat fruit from them. I will plant them in their land, and no longer shall they be pulled up from the land I have given them, says the Lord your God Almighty. The raising up of the tent of David, which had fallen, and the rebuilding of what had been destroyed and overturned, is described as the abundance of all things, how those who previously went, went and wept, carrying their seeds, and those who come will come with joy, carrying their bundles; so that the threshing of the bundles may yield a harvest, whether the plowman is reaping and the grape is being gathered, and bring forth color in the time of sowing; or, more truly, that the wine presser may grasp the seed of the grape, and so all things may succeed one another, that no day may be without wheat, wine, and joy. At that time, grapes will be crushed in full winepresses, and must flowing with the blood of Christ and the martyrs will be poured out. And the one who crushes the grapes in this way will be the seedbed of the Word of God, so that their blood may cry out in the world more than the blood of Abel the just cried out. But whoever has rightfully ascended to the mountains of virtue will sweat with honey, indeed, will drip with the sweetness of the Word of God, of which it is written: 'Taste and see how good the Lord is' (Psalm 33:9), and 'How sweet are your words to my taste, sweeter than honey to my mouth' (Psalm 119:103). And those who are below the mountains, or rather, second from the mountains, which the bridegroom leaps over in the Canticle of Canticles (Song of Songs), and calls hills, they will be planted and will imitate the paradise of God: so that all the fruit of doctrine may hang on them. Then if anyone is held captive by unbelief, and has not yet believed in the name of the Lord, and is from the remnants of his people, the former Israel, he will return to the faith of Christ, so that he may hold in the Gospel what he heard in the Prophets. But the mountains shall drop sweetness, and the hills shall be planted with vineyards: after the conversion of the Lord, they shall build cities which were desolate before, and shall dwell in them: and they shall plant vineyards, and shall drink the wine of them: they shall make gardens, and eat the fruits of them. And I will plant them upon their own land: and I will no more pluck them out of their land which I have given them, saith the Lord thy God. (Amos 9:14-15) And in the Psalms it is said: The impetus of the river gladdens the city of God (Ps. XLV, 4). They will also plant a vineyard of Noah (Gen. IX), and they will drink its wine, and they will become intoxicated, and they will hear from the Lord Savior: Drink, my friends, and become intoxicated (Cant. V, 1). But they will drink the wine, which he promised to drink anew with his apostles in the kingdom of the Father (Mark XIV). This is the vineyard of Sorec, whose wine we drink daily in the mysteries. Not content with the happiness of these things, they will make delightful gardens and water them, so that no kinds of virtues are lacking in them, and they will eat their fruits. For whoever plants and waters, he himself also will eat. And when all these things are done by mountains and hills, giving forth sweetness, and by building cities, and by dwelling in them, planting vineyards, and drinking their wine, making gardens, and eating their fruits, then the Lord will plant these planters upon his land, of which it is said: I believe that I will see the goodness of the Lord in the land of the living (Psalm 26:13). And in the Gospel: Blessed are the meek, for they shall inherit the earth (Matt. 5:4). But after he has planted them and their roots have grown deep, they will no longer be uprooted from the earth he has given them. From this we understand that the Church, even though it is shaken by persecutions, can never be destroyed; it may be tested, but it will not be overcome. And this will happen because the Lord God Almighty, or the Lord God of the Church, has promised to make it so, and his promise is the law of nature.