Jerome

(Vers. 8, 9.) Therefore thus says the Lord God: Because you have spoken idle words and have seen falsehood, behold, I am against you, declares the Lord God. And my hand will be against the prophets who see false visions and utter lying divinations. They shall not be in the council of my people, nor be enrolled in the register of the house of Israel, nor shall they enter the land of Israel. And you shall know that I am the Lord God. LXX: Therefore say: Thus says the Lord God. Because your words are lies and your divinations are empty, therefore behold, I am against you, says the Lord God, and I will stretch out my hand against the prophets who see falsehood and speak empty words. They will not be in the discipline of my people, nor will they be written in the scroll of the house of Israel, nor will they enter the land of Israel. And they will know that I am the Lord. Under the guise of prophets, this speech is against heretics, who speak empty words and see falsehood, and they persist in establishing their own doctrine. May the Lord Himself come against them and rise up, and may He stretch out His hand against them to strike, and may He not hold back in sparing them. And He threatens that they will not be among the assembly of the people of the Lord in the future, nor in His Church, but in the synagogue of the devil, nor will they be written in the house of Israel. About which it is said in another place: They will be written above the earth (Jeremiah 17:13): not in the land of Israel which is the land of the living, about which it is now said, nor will they enter the land of Israel, but in the land of the dead and the shadow of death, so that after they have endured these things, separated from the assembly of the people of God, they may understand that He is the Lord. Instead of 'for what we render, they will not be in the council of my people,' the Seventy translated, 'they will not be in the discipline or correction of my people.' For there is one kind of correction for enemies, another for sons. Hence Jeremiah says: Correct us, O Lord, but with judgment, not with anger, lest you make us few. Pour out your anger on the nations that have not known you, and on the kingdoms that have not invoked your name. (Ibid. X, 24, 25).

(Verse 10 and following) Because they have deceived my people, saying: peace, and there is no peace. And he was building a wall: but they were plastering it with mud without straw. Say to those who plaster without mortar, that it will fall. For there will be a overflowing rain: and I will give great stones falling from above, and a stormy wind blowing. Indeed, behold, the wall has fallen. Will it not be said to you, where is the whitewash that you plastered? Therefore, this is what the Lord God says: I will unleash the spirit of storms in my anger; and there will be a torrential rain in my fury, and great stones of wrath will be poured out, and I will destroy the wall that you have whitewashed without mortar, and I will level it to the ground; its foundation will be exposed, and it will fall and be consumed in its midst; and you will know that I am the Lord. And I will fulfill my anger against the wall and against those who whitewashed it without mortar; and I will say to you: The wall is no more, and there are no longer any who whitewash it. The prophets of Israel who prophesy to Jerusalem see a vision of peace, but there is no peace, says the Lord God. LXX: For they have deceived my people, saying, 'Peace, peace,' when there is no peace. And this one builds a wall, and these ones plaster it with folly. Say to those who plaster with folly, it will fall. There will be a flooding rain, and I will give great stones for their joints and they will fall. And a wind will come and tear it apart. And behold, the wall has fallen, and they will not say to you, 'Where is the whitewash that you whitewashed with?' Therefore, thus says the Lord Adonai: I will break the spirit of fury that carries away, and rainwill overflow in my anger, and I will bring great stones in fury to a consummation, and I will dig up the wall that you have plastered, and it will fall. And I will put it on the ground, and its foundations will be exposed, and it will fall. And you will be consumed with reproach, and you will know that I am the Lord. And I will complete my fury on the wall, and on those who plaster it, it will fall. And I said to you: There is no wall, nor those who plaster it, the prophets of Israel who prophesy concerning Jerusalem and see peace for her: there is no peace for them, says the Lord God. The prophets of Israel, who will not be in the assembly of the people of God, nor be written in the scriptures of the house of Israel, nor enter the promised land, therefore suffer these things because they have deceived my people, proclaiming peace and prosperity by the severity of repentance and the wrongfulness of conversion, according to what is said elsewhere: Peace, peace, where is peace? (Jeremiah 8:11) Therefore, God figuratively built a wall for them through the commands of the law and the words and warnings of the holy prophets. For this Hebrew word signifies 'His', that is, it would repel every incursion of wild beasts and hostile attack from them, while they turned to God, they would be surrounded by this like a very strong wall and fortress. But the false prophets, not once but often, promised them peace, for this repeated talk of peace signifies this. And they were building the very wall which is called 'Cir' in the following, the false prophets were coating it without any restraint, as Symmachus interpreted, that is, with pure mud, and that it did not have straw, so that it could not provide any strength. But indeed, both the Septuagint and Theodotion interpret it as folly: but the eagle has interpreted the Hebrew word Thaphel as ἀνάλῳ, which means without salt, passing from one translation to another, just as food without salt has no flavor: so too clay, without straw to strengthen and bind it, can offer no strength to a wall. Say, he says, to those who make empty promises and pledge useless help, that this wall and this structure will fall, and I will send a very violent rain, namely the most fierce enemies. But it refers to the Babylonians and the Chaldeans; and it signifies the same hails stones falling from above, everything through a metaphor, by which a sudden whirlwind overturns and destroys an unstable wall; and afterwards it is said to them, that is, to the false prophets, Where is the plaster with which you plastered it, and where is the help that you promised? But whatever we have said about false prophets can also be applied to heretics, for all their God-inspired inventions will be dissolved by God's wrath; and the structure of false teachings, which the Holy Spirit does not support, shall fall and crumble down to its foundations and turn to dust, and become equal to the wall of the earth, and fall, and the prophets who made promises and the people to whom the promises were made shall be consumed in its midst; so that once He has completed His wrath and says to them: this is not a wall, that is, this is not your defense; and there are none who plaster it, but all are empty and amount to nothing: then you shall come to know by these actions that I am the Lord. But in order to know who these individuals are who daub the wall, it follows, the prophets of Israel, that is, the false prophets, who prophesy to Jerusalem and see for her a vision of peace, these are the cause of sin and ruin, and foolish security. For there will be no peace, says the Lord, because the Lord did not send them, nor did he speak to them. This which the Septuagint translated as 'and on their joints' is not found in the Hebrew. However, it signifies the joints of the stones in the wall, or the supports of wood, by which the walls are strengthened. And also that which we read above: he himself was building the wall; most people report that Israel, who promised himself either the empty help of the Egyptians or of peace, was referring to the people.

(Verse 17 and following) And you, son of man, set your face against the daughters of your people who prophesy out of their own heart, and prophesy against them, and say, 'Thus says the Lord God: Woe to those who sew cushions for all armholes and make veils for the heads of people of every height, to hunt souls! Will you hunt the souls of My people, and keep yourselves alive? And will you profane Me among My people for handfuls of barley and for pieces of bread, killing people who should not die, and keeping people alive who should not live, by your lying to My people who listen to lies.' Therefore, thus says the Lord God: Behold, I am against your cushions, with which you hunt the flying souls, and I will tear them from your arms, and I will release the souls whom you hunt, souls to fly. And I will tear off your necklaces, and I will free my people from your hand, and they shall no longer be in your hands for plunder. And you shall know that I am the Lord. Because you have made the heart of the righteous sad, whom I have not made sad, and you have encouraged the hands of the wicked, so that he does not turn away from his evil way and live, therefore you shall no longer see false visions nor practice divination. And I will deliver my people from your hand, and you shall know that I am the Lord. LXX: And you, son of man, set your face against the daughters of your people, who prophesy out of their own heart; prophesy against them, and say, 'Thus says the Lord God: Woe to the women who sew magic charms on their sleeves and make veils for the heads of people of every height, to hunt souls! Will you hunt down the souls of My people, and keep yourselves alive? And will you profane Me among My people for handfuls of barley and for pieces of bread, killing people who should not die, and keeping people alive who should not live, by your lying to My people who listen to lies?' Therefore, thus says the Lord God: Behold, I am against your cushions, on which you gather souls, and I will tear them from your arms, and I will release the souls that you have perverted, their souls into dispersion. And I will tear off your veils and deliver my people from your hands, and they shall no longer be in your hands for a gathering. And you shall know that I am the Lord. Because you have perverted the soul of the righteous unjustly, and I did not pervert him, and you strengthened the hand of the wicked, so that he would not turn from his evil way and live. Therefore, you will no longer see your lies, and you will not be able to divine any divinations from now on. And I will free my people from your hand, and you will know that I am the Lord. A divine word was directed above the prophets, who were lining the wall with clay, which had no straw, and could not give any strength to the wall or the mortar. Now, they are commanded to put their faces or direct them against the prophetesses of the people, and, as the Septuagint translated, to harden. But just as some false prophets were inspired by a diabolical spirit to subvert the commands of God, so too against prophetesses, such as Deborah (Judges 5) and Huldah (2 Kings 22), and in the Acts of the Apostles, the four daughters of Philip the evangelist prophesying were inspired by a demonic spirit (Acts 21), there were also others of the same sex, among whom were Prisca and Maximilla, who by their false prophecy subverted the faith of truth. However, the Hebrews are said to be skilled in the evil arts through necromancy and the Pythian spirit, such as the one who was seen to have raised the soul of Samuel (1 Samuel 28); and in the Acts of the Apostles, there was a fortune-telling woman who gained much wealth for her masters through divination, from whom an unclean spirit was cast out by the command of the apostle Paul (Acts 16). But we will say that other heretics preach power through the falsehood of their doctrines. Pythagoras and Zeno were among them, from whom the Stoics originated: the Indian Brachmans and the Ethiopian Gymnosophists, who, due to their self-control in food, are considered a marvel by their nations (or, unbelievers). And rightly they are said to whitewash the wall and promise some strength; but because they do not have the seasoning of Christ, their labor is in vain, and their building will perish. For unless the Lord builds the house, those who build it labor in vain (Psalm 127:1). But other doctors of pleasures and desires, such as the Epicureans, the Pyrrhonians, Jovinianus, and Eunomius, say: Let us eat and drink, for tomorrow we die. Therefore, the prophet is commanded to set or harden his face against the daughters of his people. First, it must be explained what it means for the face to be set or hardened. Indeed, it is that which is written about the Lord: 'The face of the Lord is against those who do evil, to cut off the memory of them from the earth' (Psalm 34:16). For just as wax melts before fire, so sinners perish before God's presence. In the same sense, the prophet says: Son of man, set your face against Theman, Darom, and Nageb. And again: The word of the Lord came to me, saying: Son of man, set your face against the children of Jerusalem. And a little later: The word of the Lord came to me, saying: Son of man, set your face against the children of Ammon. And again: Firmly set your face against Pharaoh, king of Egypt (Infra, XXIX, 2). And again: Son of man, set your face against Gog and Magog. And in another place: I will set my face against that man, and I will make him a desolation and a byword, and I will remove him from the midst of my people, and you shall know that I am the Lord (Infra, XIV, 8). Woe, therefore, to these heresies and doctrines which, promising rest, deceive people of every age and sex, in order to capture the souls of the wretched and lead me away from my people, while I am believed to love pleasure. And this not because of their barley, or the barley of the half-farsang, as we read in Hosea (Hosea V), but because of a handful of barley, by which animals are intoxicated, and a fragment of bread. Not whole bread or solid testimonies of the Scriptures, but those which have been broken, cut, and diminished by heretical depravity; so that they deceive and lead astray even the holy ones, and drag them to death; and they claim to give life to sinners with empty promises. Therefore, the merciful and compassionate God does not kill the prophetesses themselves, but he breaks their spindles, which like nets capture flying souls, so that once they are broken, they have the freedom to fly. And they would tear the veils or kerchiefs, in which the principal soul would recline, and with which the heads of the deceivers would be covered. Since the Apostle teaches that the heads of men should not be covered, but should have the glory of the Lord revealed (II Cor. III). For, he says, you were breaking the spirits of those who serve God with false terrors, and you were holding the impious captive with fraudulent promises, so that, while they were repenting, they would not regain the life they had lost. Therefore, you shall by no means see empty visions, nor shall I call your lies prophecies; but rather divinations, of which it is written: There is no omen in Jacob, nor divination in Israel (Num. XXIII, 23): so that I may deliver my people from your hands, and you may know that I am the Lord who has rescued the lost.

(Chapter 14, Verse 1 onwards) And the elders of Israel came to me and sat before me. And the word of the Lord came to me, saying: Son of man, these men have set up their idols in their hearts and have put the stumbling block of their iniquity before their faces. Should I be consulted by them? Therefore speak to them and say to them: Thus says the Lord God: Every man of the house of Israel who sets up his idols in his heart and puts the stumbling block of his iniquity before his face and comes to the prophet, I the Lord will answer him with the multitude of his idols, that I may lay hold of the hearts of the house of Israel, who have turned away from me through all their idols. Therefore say to the house of Israel: Thus says the Lord God: Turn away and withdraw from your idols, and turn your faces away from all your abominations. For any man of the house of Israel, or of the aliens who immigrate to Israel, if he has estranged himself from me in Israel and has set up his idols in his heart, and has placed the stumbling block of his iniquity before his face, and has come to the prophet to inquire of me through him: I, the Lord, will answer him in person. And I will set my face against that man and make him a sign and a proverb, and I will cut him off from the midst of my people. Then you will know that I am the Lord. And if the prophet is deceived and speaks a word, I am the Lord who has deceived that prophet. I will stretch out my hand against him and destroy him from the midst of my people Israel. And they shall bear their punishment—the punishment of the inquirer shall be the same as the punishment of the prophet—so that the house of Israel may no longer go astray from me, nor defile themselves anymore with all their transgressions, but that they may be my people and I may be their God, declares the Lord of hosts. LXX: And the men of the elders of Israel came to me and sat before me. And the word of the Lord came to me, saying: Son of man, these men have set their thoughts in their hearts and have set the torment of their iniquities before their face: If I answer them when they ask? Therefore, speak to them and say to them: Thus says the Lord God: Every man of the house of Israel who sets his thoughts in his heart and sets the torment of his iniquity before his face, and comes to the prophet to inquire of him concerning me: I, the Lord, will answer him with the matters that are on his mind, in order to turn the house of Israel away according to their hearts, which have turned away from me in their thoughts. Therefore say to the house of Israel: Thus says the Lord God: Repent and turn away from your idols, and turn your faces towards me. For all the people of Israel, both those who belong to the nation and those who are foreigners in the land, are accountable to me. Those who have turned away from me and have set their hearts on evil will face punishment for their sins. If they come to a prophet to seek guidance from me, I, the Lord, will answer them according to their own wickedness and I will show my displeasure towards them. I will banish them into a desolate place and remove them from the midst of my people. Then you will know that I am the Lord. And if a prophet should wander astray and speak a word, I, the Lord, have caused that prophet to wander astray. And I will stretch out my hand against him and remove him from the midst of my people Israel. And they shall bear their iniquity according to the iniquity of the inquirer, and the guilt of the prophet shall be the same, so that the house of Israel shall not stray from me and they shall not yet be defiled by all their sins. And they shall be to me a people, and I will be to them a God, says the Lord God. After he spoke to the prophets who prophesied in their hearts, and they plastered the wall without tempering it; and to the prophetesses who used necklaces and placed their hands under every elbow, and made veils and covered the heads of all ages (through which the doctrine of perverse teachings is shown), they came to the prophet, not all of the elders, lest they all seem to be mistaken; but some of the elders of Israel, and they sat before the prophet: for what reason they had come, they were waiting in silence; and immediately the word of God came to the prophet, indicating why they were present. For it is not within the nature of man, no matter how holy, to know the secrets of the heart. Hence it is said of the Savior alone: 'And Jesus knowing their thoughts, said: Why do you think evil in your hearts?' (Matthew 9). The meaning is: Son of man, these men who sit before you have placed their impurities or thoughts in their hearts; and, according to Symmachus and Theodotion, idols and scandal, that is, the destruction and torment of their wickedness, they have set against their own face and thus they came to seek the word of the Lord. Should I respond to people of this kind, who come to me with their previous thoughts, not even abandoning their impiety in this time, but believing in idols and fraudulent divinations; holding on to the ruin of wickedness against their own face and torment, while despairing of better things and being prepared for punishment, and thus desiring to know my words through you? Therefore, since they have come to you with a corrupt heart, respond to them not in your own person, so that the authority of the one responding is not slight; but by my command, and say to them: Thus says the Lord God. But the summary of the whole passage, in a brief explanation, is this: Man is not like other nations, which may receive pardon for their errors, but the house of Israel, who, coming to the prophet to inquire about their former vices, mentioned above, I will answer them according to their heart, and their impurities, so that they may hear according to what they desire and believe. For he does not deserve correction, who asks not with the intention of learning, but of testing. For they have departed from me, and have followed idols. And this is a brief warning, that they may depart from idols and perverse thoughts, and turn to me, leaving behind their former sins. For he who deceitfully asks does not deserve to hear the truth, but he must be captured by his own heart, just as the scribes and Pharisees, questioning the Lord, or rather testing Him, hear: Why do you test me? And again: Nor will I tell you by what authority I do these things (Matthew 21:27). But whoever is such a person, and thus asks, God sets His face upon him, or confirms; as by the severity of His countenance, the hardness of His forehead is softened, and becomes an example, and a proverb, or solitude, and destruction, so that by the destruction of him from the people of God, others may know that He is the Lord who knows the secrets of the heart, and understands the perverseness of the mind; and He does not consider the words of those who speak, but their hearts. And what follows seems to raise the question: When a prophet errs and speaks a word, I, the Lord, have deceived that prophet, we cannot say that he is a true prophet, but rather a false prophet, who is called a prophet in a derivative sense. And this can be understood from the Scripture passage when King Ahab of Israel goes to battle, he does not want to listen to the prophet Micaiah, but rather he complies with the advice of the false prophets (1 Kings 22). And Michael says that he saw the Lord sitting on a throne, and that the spirit of error offered itself willingly to deceive the king. The Devil is also said to go about the earth in the book of Job, and it is said that he can receive power from the Lord over Job's substance and then his body (Job. 1 and 2). And Balaam the diviner is sent by the Lord to deceive Balak son of Beor (Num. 22). But all of this is said so that the strength of false prophets is not regarded, that the people are deceived, and that they prefer to hear lies rather than accommodate their ears to the truth. But it is said that it is to the wrath of God, that the perverse and unbelieving people would rather listen to false prophets than true prophets. Finally, he extends his hand over him, understood, the prophet, and he is erased from the midst of his people, to bear his iniquity, so that there may be a similar error and a similar punishment: so that both the one who asks and the one who is asked may bear their iniquity, and not at all shall the house of Israel be deceived by the perverse prophecies of those who have wanted to hear the words of God; but may they be the people of God and may they deserve to have the Lord. In what he said: 'I, the Lord, have deceived him,' the words of Solomon agree, who, in speaking about God, says: 'He will mock the mockers' (Prov. III, 34), and this testimony: 'If the wicked walk contrary to me, I will also walk contrary to them in fury' (Lev. XXVI, 27, 28). And what is said secondly, 'a man of the sons of Israel and of the strangers who join themselves to them,' shows in us, according to the Apostle, a twofold man, outward and inward (I Cor. XV). For they have the outward appearance of a human being, but assume the images of various animals, which the prophet, wishing to disperse them, implores: Lord, in your city you will disperse their image (Psalm 73:20). Those of whom it is written: Though a person is in honor, they do not understand; they are compared to senseless animals and become like them (Psalm 49:21). They are not true human beings, but rather human beings are like animals. Again, those who hear in the Gospel, 'You brood of vipers! Who warned you to flee from the coming wrath?' (Matthew 23:33) are not humans, but humans snakes. And about whom it is written, 'Foxes have dens, and birds have nests in the sky.' (Matthew 8:20) and about Herod, 'Go and tell that fox.' (Luke 13:32) They are not humans, but humans foxes. But those who possess both terms of human, if they stray, are corrected through punishments, so that they understand that He Himself is the Lord. And also what we have set forth according to the Septuagint: It is fitting that the person who has been estranged from me, and has placed his thoughts in his heart, and the torment or punishment of his wickedness before his face, should receive witness that it is written in Isaiah: Walk in the light of your fire, and in the flame that you have kindled (Isaiah 50:11). For each person kindles the ardor of flames for himself, and prepares punishments, while he does not want to correct the errors of his mistaken heart with repentance, but remains in errors, deserving the burning of flames.

(Verse 12, 13 and following) And the word of the Lord came to me, saying: Son of man, when a land sins against me by acting treacherously, I will stretch out my hand (some versions add 'upon it') and break its staff of bread, and send famine upon it, and cut off from it man and beast. And if these three men, Noah, Daniel, and Job, were in it, they would deliver their own souls by their righteousness, declares the Lord of hosts. If I also bring the most harmful beasts upon the land to devastate it, and it becomes impassable because of the beasts, and these three men are in it, as I live, says the Lord (Vulgate adds 'God'), they shall not deliver sons or daughters, but they alone shall be delivered; but the land shall be desolate. Or if I bring a sword upon that land, and say to the sword, Pass through the land, and I cut off from it man and beast, and these three men are in the midst of it, as I live, says the Lord God, they shall not deliver sons or daughters, but they alone shall be delivered. But if I bring a deadly disease upon that land and pour out my fury upon it in blood, to remove from it man and beast, and even if Noah, Daniel, and Job were in it, as I live, says the Lord God, they would save neither son nor daughter. They would deliver only themselves by their righteousness. For thus says the Lord God: Even if I bring four deadly judgments upon Jerusalem – sword, famine, evil beasts, and disease – to kill off its inhabitants and its livestock, yet there will be survivors who will bring out sons and daughters. Behold, they themselves will come out to you, and you will see their path and their inventions, and you will be comforted concerning the evil which I have brought upon Jerusalem with everything that I have brought upon it. And you will be comforted when you see their path and their inventions, and you will know that I have not done all that I have done in vain, says the Lord God. Four plagues are brought upon the earth, the transgressing and sinful earth, as the Seventy have translated it: famine, beast, sword, pestilence. If each one of these plagues were brought in separate parts to each region, and these three men, Noah and Daniel and Job, whose righteousness is proclaimed by the voices of the Scriptures, would pray for the sinful earth, they would not only be unable to save it, but not even their own sons and daughters, if they were to perpetrate the works of the sinful earth; but they would only be able to save themselves. The question is why mention only Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, Moses, and the other righteous patriarchs and prophets. This is easily solved: Noah, because of the impending flood that would cleanse the earth, could not prevent or delay it as the whole earth had corrupted the ways of the Lord (Genesis 6:7). However, he had preserved his sons who might have possessed the same virtue, as a seed for the human race. Daniel also mitigated the imminent captivity of the people of Judah with no tears (Dan. 1). But Job, not because of sins, but because of testing, did not save neither his house nor his children (Job 1). Others, however, say that these three men alone witnessed both prosperity and adversity, and then prosperity again: therefore, they are named together; and this is secretly meant to signify that just as they saw both good and bad, and then joy again, so too the people of Israel, who first enjoyed good things and later endured the yoke of captivity, if they repent, will return to their former happiness. And if Noah and Daniel and Job were gathered together in one place, they would not be able to avert the wrath of God from the sinful earth, that is, those who dwell on the earth. What can be said then about those who believe that through the merits of their parents and their own virtues, they can free their sinful children from the fires of hell? Therefore, neither a sinful father can save his sinful son, nor can a righteous mother, from a chaste conversation, give rewards for chastity to her unchaste daughter. And on the other hand, the vices of parents will not harm their children; but the soul that sins, it shall die (Ezekiel, XVII, 4). Lot, dwelling in Sodom, not only in spirit but also in flesh, did not save his wife when she looked back, but only his daughters, who perhaps had not sinned (Genesis XIX). And the holy man Josiah, not only did he not save the sinful people with his virtues, but he himself died in their sins (2 Kings XIII). But if sometimes the Lord promises his mercy to their descendants on account of Abraham and David, it must be noted that he does not spare those who persist in wickedness; but he helps the conduct of those who repent, so that the merits of the fathers may benefit the conversation of the sons. When, he says, these things are so, and prayer does not save the sinful land from the individual punishments of such great men: thus says the Lord God, because Jerusalem has committed abominable sins, I will bring four plagues upon her at once: the sword, by which she is slain by enemies; and famine, which she endures in siege; and wild beasts, by which she is devoured while fleeing in the deserts and mountains; and pestilence, which always follows hunger and scarcity. He transferred death over her, but this, he says, I will bring upon her, so that neither men remain in her, nor animals. And yet, by my mercy, I will leave some in her, who will raise their sons and daughters; and let the captives come here, that is, to Babylon, and to Chaldea, so that when you see them and observe their works, then you will understand that they were justly captured, and my judgment was just, and may your captivity have consolation; while you understand that I have freed them from the sword, famine, beasts, and pestilence, so that by their perversity you may learn the reason why Jerusalem was overthrown, the temple set on fire, and the people led into captivity, except for those whom the sword, famine, beasts, and pestilence have consumed. These words are spoken about that Jerusalem, to which the captivity was approaching while Ezekiel was prophesying among the Chaldeans. Moreover, it is also spoken about our land, which is called: You are dust, and to dust you shall return (Gen. III, 19); and it is spoken about our Jerusalem and each of the believers, that if they have despised God's commandments and have earned the title of transgressors, famine will be induced; not a famine of bread, nor a thirst for water, but a famine of hearing the word of God. And a sword shall be brought, of which we read: They shall be delivered into the hands of the sword: the parts of foxes were (or will be) (Psalm 62:11). And to Mary: And thy own soul a sword shall pierce (Luke 2:35). And beasts shall be brought, to whom the just man shall not be delivered, it is demanded: Do not deliver the soul of the one who confesses to you to beasts (Psalm 73:19). And pestilence shall be brought (for which 70 interpreted death), of which it is written: The worst death for sinners (Psalm 33:22). And: The soul that sins, it shall die. And, if bitter death separates thus (Infra XVIII, 4)? Concerning all these, neither the teaching of spiritual parents, whom we understand as masters (I Reg. XV), nor the rulers will be able to free them, unless there is agreement of the sons, and their petitions have aided their efforts. For the justice of the just person will be upon him, and the iniquity of the wicked person will dwell in him: Each person will die for their own sin, and their righteousness will save them (Deut. XXIV, 16). And the Jews say in vain: Abraham is our father (John 8), when they do not have the works of Abraham. But if there is any confidence, let us trust in the Lord alone. For cursed is every man who has hope in another man (Jeremiah 17), even if they are holy, even if they are prophets. We read: Do not trust in men (Psalm 146). And again: It is better to trust in the Lord than to trust in princes (Psalm 118). Not only in secular rulers, but also in the rulers of the churches, those who are just will only save their own souls. However, they will not be able to save their sons and daughters, whom they have borne in the church, if they are negligent. And yet the Apostle says: If someone's work is burned up, he himself will be saved, but only as through fire. (1 Corinthians 3:15) However, the hand is extended over the rebellious earth, so that the rod or the strength of the bread may be crushed. She extends and threatens with blows, unwillingly those who extend her and lifts up sinners to strike, but terrifies with extension and preserves the frightened.

(Chapter 15, verse 1 onwards) And the word of the Lord came to me, saying: Son of man, what will be done with the vine wood among all the trees of the forest which are among the trees of the woods? Will its wood be taken to make something, or will a peg be made from it to hang any vessel on? Behold, it is given to the fire for fuel: both ends of it have been consumed by the fire, and the middle part has turned into ashes. Will it be useful for any work? Even though it was intact, it was not suitable for work: how much more so when that fire devoured it and consumed it, will nothing come from it as a work? Therefore, thus says the Lord God: Just as the vine tree among the trees of the forest, which I have given to the fire for devouring, so I will give the inhabitants of Jerusalem; and I will set my face against them. They will come out of the fire, and the fire will consume them. And you will know that I am the Lord, when I set my face against them and make the land a waste and desolate, because they have been transgressors, says the Lord God. For this is what we have interpreted: both parts of it have been consumed by fire, and half of it has been reduced to ashes. The Seventy have translated it as: The annual purgation consumes it by fire, and sends it to an end. Again, when we said: When I set my face against them, they turned, when I hardened. They have interpreted it as a transgression and a sin. Moreover, through various similes, which the Greeks call parables, the destruction of the city of Jerusalem is foretold. And as above (Chapter IV), in the pan in which the meats of the people were fried, and on the side on which the fortifications and the mounds of battering rams and siege machines were painted, the siege of the same city and the famine are described, and afterwards we will read about it here in the same passage: in Jeremiah also it is written (Jeremiah I, 13), the pot which is kindled from the face of the north indicates the city of Jerusalem; and the forests of Negev, and Teman, and Darom being cut down, signify this very thing: so in the present place, the same Jerusalem is compared to fruitful vineyards and vines. Concerning which it is written elsewhere: I have planted you a fruitful vineyard, the whole truth: how have you turned into the bitterness of a strange vine? (Jeremiah II, 21.) And in Isaiah: I have planted, he says, a choicest vine (Isaiah V, 2), which sounds beautiful and chosen. And in the Psalms we read: You have transferred a vineyard from Egypt: you have cast out the nations, and have planted it: you were the leader of its journey in its sight (Psalm LXXIX, 9). And we learn more clearly, as the Scripture says: But the vineyard of the Lord of hosts is the house of Israel (Isaiah V, 7). As long as this vineyard produces fruit, there is nothing more valuable than it in all the trees of the forest; but if it ceases to bear grapes, it will be of no use at all, unless it is given over to fire with its roots and branches. Other trees of the forest (not to mention fruit-bearing trees, of which the Scripture makes no mention at present) when they do not bear fruit, provide much usefulness when cut down, both in agriculture and in the use of weapons: when they are made into shields, they are shaved into spears, they form gates, they enclose armories, fridges, and chests; and they provide all the furniture for a house. But if a vine once ceases to produce grapes, it is so useless that not even a peg can be made from it, on which something can hang. And when you cut off the little branches, fire first seizes both parts of them, then the flame consumes them: and it is so useless when reduced to ashes that even when it is whole, it provides no benefit without fruits. However, there is ambiguity in the Hebrew word Sene (), which is written with three letters, Sin, Nun, and Yod; if it is read as Sene, it means two; if as Sane, it means years. And it came to pass, that for its two extremities, which we have interpreted as each part of it, the Seventy interpreted its annual purification: when Aquila said, its two last things; Symmachus Theodotion, its two extremities. And there is an order: As a fruitless vine is given to the fire, for no advantage: so also Jerusalem, nay its inhabitants, shall be given to burnings, so that they may come forth from the fire, and the fire may consume them, that is, even if they have escaped from the city, they shall be consumed by the hostile sword outside; and those who remain, pressed down by the weight of their own miseries, shall recognize me as the Lord: when I have set my face against them, and given them over to eternal desolation. For sinners have not arisen like the rest of the nations, but rather transgressors. For it is one thing to neglect what you are ignorant of, and another to despise what you have cherished. We can understand the vineyard and Jerusalem according to spiritual intelligence, understanding the multitude of believers. But if it is negligent, and loses the cultivation of the former religion, and brings neither the fruits of virtues, nor makes the wine that gladdens the heart of man, it will be handed over to eternal flames, and considered as nothing. For the servant who knows his master's will and does not do it, he will be beaten with many blows (Luke XII, 47). Such a thing the Lord also speaks in the Gospel according to John: I am the true vine, and my Father is the vinedresser. Every branch in me that does not bear fruit, he will take it away. And everyone who bears fruit, he will prune it so that it may bear more fruit (John XV, 2, 2). Indeed, the Savior is the vine, and we are the branches, and God (also called) the Father is the vinedresser, as long as we keep God's commandments, we are constantly cultivated, and our cultivation is purification: For it is not of him who wills, nor of him who runs, but of God who shows mercy (Romans IX, 16). But if we bear fruit, we are pruned by the Father, so that we may bear even more fruit. It is shown that all of our effort, with the help of God, leads to the end and produces the fruit of fullness. But those who do not produce fruit will be taken away by the Father. And when they are taken away, Scripture does not say what the Father will do with them, except that perhaps separation from the body of Christ is a perpetual punishment and destruction. What we have understood in the vineyard and the vine, the Savior teaches in the Gospel under a different figure: Salt is good, but if salt loses its flavor, it is no longer useful, except to be thrown out and trampled on by men (Mark 9:49). And the eye that illuminates the whole body, if it is blind, hears from the Lord: If the light that is in you is darkness: how great will the darkness be? For indeed, the punishment of the transgressor, and of the one who has denied God when choked, is lighter than that of those who have never had knowledge of God. But the trees of the meadows or forests, according to the variety of believers, have some usefulness in a great house; in which not only are there vessels of gold and silver, but also of wood and earthenware; some for honor, others for dishonor.

(Chapter 16, Verses 1, 2.) And the word of the Lord came to me, saying: Son of man, make known the abominations of Jerusalem and say: Thus says the Lord God to Jerusalem. LXX: And the word of the Lord came to me, saying: Son of man, testify against Jerusalem for her iniquities, and say to her: Thus says the Lord God. In which the brief summary of each prophecy was, we have included the entire chapter, immediately following as it seemed to us. However, because this discourse is directed to Jerusalem, testifying and teaching about the sins it has committed; and it extends nearly to the number of two hundred verses, to that place where it is written: 'When I am appeased by you for all that you have done,' says the Lord God, we must divide every prophecy into parts; and we must adapt proper explanations to those things which we have proposed. Under the person of a prostitute woman who was first joined to the company of men, Jerusalem is intertwined with birth, and upbringing, and puberty, and marriage, and adultery, and divorce, and again reinstatement; so that the mercy and judgement of the husband, and the crimes of the adulteress and prostitute may be known, while after all punishments, he raises for her an eternal covenant: that she may remember her iniquity, and be confounded, and may no longer have the courage to speak because of her shame, when he has been appeased by her for all that she has done. For it is very beneficial for sinners to know what they have done. Thus, the repentant one speaks: For I know my iniquity, and my sin is always before me (Psalm 50:4). However, Jerusalem can be understood in four ways: Either as that which was burned with the fire of the Babylonians and Romans; or as the celestial city of the first ones; or as the Church, which is interpreted as the vision of peace; or as the souls of individuals who, through faith, see God. And that which many think should be interpreted as the celestial Jerusalem, the Church does not accept, lest we be compelled to include in it all the ruins and torments of the heavenly powers, as well as the restoration to their original state, that are woven into the present prophecy.

(Verse 3) Your ancestors and your lineage are from the land of Canaan (Vulgate: Canaan). Your father is Amorite, and your mother is Hittite. Great faith and immense boldness of the prophets, to accuse one man and the whole city of ignobility. Marvelous is Daniel, who dared to say to the delinquent elder, committing adultery and murder: The seed of Canaan, not Judah, has deceived you (Dan. 13:56). Great is also Isaiah, who cries out to the princes and the people of Judah: Hear the word of the Lord, you princes of Sodom, listen with your ears to the words of the Lord, people of Gomorrah (Isa. 1:10). But not less so Ezechiel, who speaks confidently to the whole city: Your root, and your generation from the land of Chanaan: Your father Amorrhite, and your mother Chethite, Although even Stephen, the first martyr of the Gospel, spoke to the insane people (Acts 7:51): You have always resisted the Holy Spirit with stubborn necks and uncircumcised hearts (Al. you resist). And although we may understand that Jerusalem is the root and its generation the land of Chanaan, according to what is said, that the people was called in Egypt and dwelled there for a long time (for Cham, father of Chanaan, was the head of the Egyptian nation), nevertheless, according to the similarity of their crimes, we will say that the root of Jerusalem is the land of Egypt: Hence its father is also called Amorrhite, which means 'being talked about,' that is, being much celebrated in speech. And your mother Chethaea, that is, one who is possessed; who either herself is insane, or who sends others into madness. For everyone who commits sin is born of the devil (John 8:54). Therefore, in the whole world, the famous name of this ancient father is, and he turns many into madness. And it is commanded to Jerusalem, either according to the letter or according to the spirit, to leave the ancient father; and it is said to her: Hear, daughter, and see, and incline your ear; and forget your people, and your father's house: and the king will desire your beauty (Psalm 45:11). And it is promised to him that if he desires to return to the true father after sin: I will restore you as you were when you were born. What great nobility, that the city of Jerusalem, which descended from the lineage of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, had God as its father? And yet because he sinned and abandoned the true parent, he deserves to hear: Your root and your generation are from the land of Canaan: Your father is Amorite, and your mother is Hittite. If she heard this: what will happen to us who were called from the filth of the nations, who have lost every stain in the baptism of the Savior, if we defile the garment of Christ and do not have the wedding garment at the banquet? Certainly, it is necessary that we are handed over with bound hands and feet to eternal flames, in which there is weeping of eyes and gnashing of teeth (Matthew 22).

(Verse 4, 5.) And when you were born, on the day of your birth your umbilical cord was not cut, and you were not washed in water for your own health, nor were you sprinkled with salt, nor wrapped in swaddling clothes. No eye had pity on you, to do any of these things out of compassion for you: but you were thrown out into the open field, in the abjection of your soul, on the day you were born. LXX: And on the day you were born, they did not bind your breasts, and your umbilical cord was not cut, and you were not washed in water for your own health, nor were you sprinkled with salt, and you were not wrapped in swaddling clothes; no eye had pity on you, to do any of these things for you, and allow anything to happen to you, and you were thrown out into the open field, in the corruption of your soul, on the day you were born. Let us discuss each point in the order of the reading. When Jerusalem was born from her father Amorite and her mother Hittite, and was poured out from the womb, her umbilicus was not cut, with which fetuses are nourished in the womb like trees and plants, which are nourished by the hidden moisture of the earth through their roots. And just as the seed of men is signified in the loins, so the genitalia of women are called umbilicus in honorable speech according to the custom of the Scriptures, as witnessed by Job, who speaks figuratively of the devil as a dragon: His strength is in his loins, and his power is in the navel of his belly (Job 40:11). For this ancient dragon serpent, who is called the devil and Satan, deceives the world; he has power over men in their loins, and over women in their navels. But this refers to Jerusalem: that it did not immediately receive the law, and that the beginnings of its shameful birth were not cut off; but it first lived a Gentile life; for this reason the Seventy translated: 'On the day you were born, they did not bind your breasts' (Ezek. 7:8), having this holy Scripture custom, that it might use the words heart, bosom, or breast, and breasts according to each appropriate context. Priests in whom there should be doctrine, and they seek the law from their mouth, receive a small breast. John reclines upon the Lord's breast, so that he may draw from the most abundant fountain the flows of wisdom (John 13). In the Song of Songs, the Virgin has two breasts, like two twin young goats that feed among lilies until the day breathes and the shadows flee away (Song of Songs 4). A loving mother, as soon as her little child is born, binds her breasts so that they may cease from tender swelling and preserve her virgin beauty. But when she reaches the age of puberty, it will be said of her: Will the bride forget her adornment, or the virgin her breastband? (Jeremiah II, 32) It follows: And you were not washed in water for salvation. The bodies of babies, as soon as they are born from the womb, are usually washed with water: so too does the spiritual generation require the saving washing. For no one is clean from filth, not even if his life were of only one day (Job XXVI, 14, 15). And in the Psalms we read: In iniquities I was conceived, and in sins my mother conceived me (Psalm 50:6). The second birth dissolves the first birth. For it is written: Unless one is born of water and the Holy Spirit, he cannot enter the kingdom of God (John 3:5). Many are the baptisms that the Pagans have in their mysteries, and the heretics promise: they all cleanse; but they do not cleanse for salvation. Therefore, it is added: and in which you have not been cleansed for salvation. This can be understood not only about heretics, but also about ecclesiastics who do not receive baptism with full faith. It must be said about them that they receive water, but they do not receive the spirit, just like Simon Magus who wanted to buy the grace of God with money. He was indeed baptized in water, but he was by no means baptized unto salvation (Acts 8). Thirdly, it is said: 'not seasoned with salt.' When the tender bodies of infants still hold the warmth of the womb, and they announce the beginnings of laborious life with their first cries, they are usually touched with salt by the midwives to make them drier and more constricted. Furthermore, Jerusalem, which was born of wicked parents, has achieved nothing of taste, nothing of diligence. But those who are reborn in Christ are said to: 'You are the salt of the earth' (Matthew 5); and it is commanded to them by the Apostle: 'Let your speech always be seasoned with grace' (Colossians 4). Hence, both the wise are commonly called salty, and the foolish are called tasteless. And in the book of Leviticus it is established by law: 'All your sacrifices shall be seasoned with salt.' The salt of the Testament of the Lord will not cease from your sacrifices: you shall offer salt with all your offerings (Leviticus 2:13). He who is seasoned with this salt, and has dried up every harmful decay and moisture by its mixture, will no longer say: My wounds have festered and become rotten because of my foolishness (Psalm 37:6). I know that I have read in a certain volume about the Lord Savior, that he himself is the heavenly salt; and not only the earthly and infernal, but also the celestial things are seasoned by its flavor: so that what is written may be fulfilled: Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace to men of good will (Luke 2:14). The fourth thing is: not wrapped in swaddling clothes. And the Savior was wrapped in swaddling clothes as an infant, and everyone who is born needs God's protection through the swaddling clothes. It is natural, however, that where the diligence of parents is not lacking, the infants' umbilical cords are first cut after birth: then they are washed with water to cleanse the blood. Thirdly, the moisture of the infants' bodies is dried with the addition of salt. Fourthly, so that the tender bodies of infants are wrapped in swaddling clothes, for two reasons: so that the body is dried with salt, and so that it is kept and tightened with the clothes so that it does not flow away; and so that the most delicate limbs are not easily deformed. And even the bodies of the barbarians are more upright than Roman bodies. Until the second and third year, they are always wrapped in cloths. But not such is Jerusalem, whose navel is not cut off, nor are her breasts bound, nor is she washed with water for health, nor seasoned with salt, nor wrapped and bound with infancy cloths. But why she deserved none of these, the following Scripture testifies. The eye has not spared you: to do one of these things, being moved with compassion for you. For which reason, the Seventy determined: 'Your eye spared not over you: that it might make you one of all these.' And it is necessary, that a double edition have a double understanding. The prior signifies this: 'Your eye spared not over you, that it might make one of these things be merciful to you.' And the sense is: No one had mercy on you, having offended God; no one's bowels were moved for you, that out of the four higher Tensions at least one might be made for you; because you did not deserve to receive all things at once. In the second it is said: Your eye did not spare you, so that I may do this one thing for you out of pity for you. And this has the meaning: You have acted in this way, and thus you were born in sin and conceived in guilt by your mother, so that even she does not have pity on you. And when you acted in this way, so that you emerged as cruel against yourself through evil deeds: what could I have done for you, who did not even deserve to receive one thing from your superiors? Therefore, since none of the things that are commonly done for infants was done for you; and this not without cause or without judgement, but due to your fault and sin, for which even you have no pity on yourself: therefore you are cast down upon the face of the earth, or the wayside; and cast down because of the wickedness of your soul on the day you were born. Let us not be thrown down into the face of the field by the wickedness of the soul, in which there is a wide and spacious road that leads to death; in which the cavalry of the Chaldeans revels. It must also be considered that no one can commit any evil on the day of their birth, except at the time of the bath, when the wise generation of the faithful is assumed.

(Verse 6, 7.) But passing by you, I saw you trampled in your own blood. And I said to you when you were in your own blood, live: I said to you, indeed, in your own blood, live. I made you multiply like the growth of the field, and you entered and came to womanhood. Your breasts swelled, and your hair grew: and you were naked and full of confusion. LXX: And I passed by you, and saw you mixed in your own blood, and I said to you, multiply your life from your blood, as I gave you growth like the plants of the field, and you multiplied, and you were magnified, and you entered into cities of cities. Your breasts were erect, and your hair was grown; but you were naked and full of shame. After you were cast down on the face of the field, or on the face of the earth, because of the wickedness of your soul, I no longer deserved to help you. Nevertheless, passing by, I saw you trampled upon, or mixed in your own blood, that is, guilty of mortal crimes. And I provoked you, granting you repentance, and said to you: Though you are in blood, nevertheless live in conversion; and there was such an abundance of all things in you, that you had the likeness of the most fertile land, and the blessing of Jacob, with which his father blessed him, saying: Behold the smell of my son is like the smell of a full field, which the Lord has blessed (Gen. XXVII, 27); and you would enter the inner chambers of the Lord, and say with the bride: The king brought me into his chamber (Cant. I, 3); and you would go to the world of women, for which the Seventy translated: and you entered into the cities of cities; so that just as the Song of Songs is called the world of worlds; so let cities be called the cities of cities. Concerning which it is said in the Gospel: You have authority over ten, or over five cities (Luke 19:17, 18): so that you may be called not only a city, but a metropolis city, according to what is read in Isaiah: Faithful mother of cities, Zion (Isaiah 1:26, 27). Moreover, what Symmachus interpreted, and you have reached the adornment of women, or as Theodotio, and you have entered the adornment of adornments, for which we have stated the Hebrew sense: and you have reached the world of women, it shows the time of puberty, when young girls are called marriageable, and can be united with the embrace of husbands. Finally it follows: your breasts have swelled, and your hair has grown. The maturity of young women is indicated by the swelling or raising of the breasts, and the growth of hair. And when she was prepared for marriage, and had the beauty of the body, she did not have the coverings of clothing, nor was she protected by the help of God. If anyone does not have the clothing of Christ, they are naked. If anyone is not clothed with the bowels of mercy, goodness, humility, modesty, meekness, patience, they lie face down on the ground: and their beauty is marred by shame and nakedness.