Jerome

(Verse 23 and following) And it came to pass after all your wickedness: woe, woe to you, says the Lord God. And you built yourself a brothel, and made for yourself a prostitute in all the streets. At every head of the road you built a sign of your prostitution, and you made your abominable beauty, and you spread your feet to everyone passing by, and multiplied your fornications. And you fornicated with the sons of Egypt, your neighbors with great flesh, and you multiplied your fornication to provoke me. LXX: And it came to pass after all your evils, woe, woe to you, says the Lord God. And you built for yourself a dwelling of prostitution, and you made for yourself prostitution in every street. And in the beginning of every way you built your prostitution: and you corrupted your beauty, and spread your legs to every passerby, and multiplied your prostitution: and you committed adultery with the sons of Egypt your neighbors, who are of great flesh, and you committed adultery in many ways, to provoke me to anger. What is said second, woe to you, the Vulgate edition does not have, but it has been added from the edition of Theodotion. And again, where we said: And you built for yourself a brothel, which the Seventy translated as: And you built for yourself a dwelling place of fornication, Symmachus and Theodotion interpreted as πορνεῖον; Aquila, wishing to express the etymology of the Hebrew word Gob (), put βάθυνον, which we can say means pit: to indicate a foul and deep den where the lust of prostitutes dwells. And what follows: And you have made for yourself a brothel in every street, for which Seventy translated ἔκθεμα, in Hebrew it is called Rama: and both Aquila and Symmachus and Theodotio have interpreted it as high or lofty. Finally, in the following passages, where it is written: To every head of the road you have erected a sign of your prostitution, as a sign and fornication, again in Hebrew it is called Rama (), which we have interpreted as either brothel or sign, since among the Hebrews it is one word. However, this is stated because it is lofty; so that for those who desire to fornicate, the place of fornication may be far away and there is no need to search for it. What we have said once and again and again, let it suffice to have said it forever, that under the guise of a woman, after many benefits from her husband, describing the fornication of Jerusalem, how she has departed from God and joined with idols, and was not satisfied with hidden fornication; but rather built herself a brothel and placed a sign on every street for those passing by, so they would come to the prostitute and satisfy their lust, not only their own, but also the one who has spread her legs for every passerby, and has defiled the greatness of beauty with the greatness of fornication: and among other things, she has also been bowing down to the Egyptians, her neighbors, in a love of great flesh. And in order to demonstrate every kind of ugliness, it was deformed by various forms of filth. But there is no doubt that Palestine is near Egypt, as the Lord said to Abraham: I will give you all the land from the river of Egypt to the great river Euphrates (Gen. XV, 18), so that on one side it includes the Egyptians, and on the other side it includes the Assyrians, with whom it is said to have committed fornication in later times. But the fornication of Jerusalem with the Egyptians is an imitation of their idolatry. But against our Jerusalem, whether the Church or the souls of the believers, if they are negligent and exposed to all vices, a double curse is pronounced, so that they may hear: Woe, woe to you, says the Lord God, according to what is written in the Apocalypse of John: Woe to all the inhabitants of the earth (Apoc. 8:13). For if the holy one says: I am a stranger and a sojourner like all my fathers (Psalm 38:13): why is it not said that the sinner is an inhabitant of the earth? However, he builds for himself a brothel, who sins with complete freedom of the forehead; according to what is written: When the sinner comes into the depths of wickedness, he despises (Prov. XVIII, 3). And he constructs the highest place in all the streets: For wide and spacious is the way that leads to death. And at every head of the street he builds; so that he leaves behind no types of sins; but imitating the prostitute of Proverbs, he openly invites foolish young men into his embraces in the streets and in the corners of the streets, and pollutes the beauty of their souls, which they obtained as a benefit from God the creator (Prov. V and VII). And all his journeys are full of filthiness, and he opens his heart to all thoughts that supply the incentives of vices, and he spreads his legs and fornicates with his Egyptian neighbors, whose examples he follows, namely the pagans, who glory in their filthiness, and it is so wicked that it even surpasses them in filthiness. And he does all these things to provoke God to anger. Moreover, the Egyptians are said to have large genitals, either because of the magnitude of their filthiness or because of the deformity of their sins. Wherefore the saint says, 'The flesh of little children, which daily decreases in it, and is attenuated by virtues, so that it is not called flesh, but spirit, and speaks in the psalm: My soul has thirsted for you, O God, how many ways does my flesh long for you (Psalm 62:2): or (as some copies have) how my flesh has been consumed: in a desert and impassable and waterless land, I have appeared to you in the saint (1 Corinthians 5).' Therefore, the Corinthian fornicator is condemned to the destruction of the flesh, so that the spirit may be saved. Concerning this flesh, it is written: All flesh is grass, and all its glory is like the flower of the field. The grass withers, and the flower falls, but the word of the Lord remains forever (Isa. XL, 6, 7). The Apostle also spoke about this: Flesh and blood cannot inherit the kingdom of God (I Cor. XV, 50). And in Genesis, God speaks: My spirit shall not abide in man forever, for he is flesh (Gen. VI, 3). And it is said to the believers: Those who are in the flesh cannot please God. But you are not in the flesh, but in the spirit (Romans VIII, 8, 9). But there is another flesh of the saints, of which it is written: All flesh shall see the salvation of God (Isaiah XL, 5).

(Verse 27.) Behold, I will stretch forth my hand over you and will take away your righteousness, and I will give you over to the souls of those who hate you, the daughters of the Philistines, who are ashamed of your wicked way. LXX: But if I stretch out my hand against you and take away your lawful possession and give you over to the souls of those who hate you, the daughters of foreigners who led you astray from your path. And what follows, 'ἠσέβησας,' that is, 'you acted impiously,' is connected with the following chapter according to the Septuagint, but according to the other translations, it is the end of the previous chapter. However, the Lord stretched out his hand over Jerusalem to correct the wrongdoer and take away its rightful possessions, which, as long as he observed God's commandments, were called the rightful possessions of the Lord. But when he worshiped idols and changed his religion into impiety, they are by no means called his rightful possessions. Which not only in the law and ceremonies, but also in the Sabbaths and feast days and new moons, must be observed. For in the law, it is said: My Sabbaths and my feast days. But when they turned away from God, it is said to them: I will not receive your new moons, and Sabbaths, and great day: my soul hates your fasting and rest, and your solemnities (Exodus 31; Deuteronomy 5; Isaiah 1:14). This is also written about the people (Deuteronomy 7). For when the people, who were previously called the people of God, turned away from the Lord, it is said of them concerning Moses: 'Your people, whom you brought out of the land of Egypt, has sinned' (Exodus XXXII, 7). The stretching out of the hand is here called elsewhere as lifting up or visiting. For when God does not correct the sinner, He withdraws His hand. But if the sinner sins and begins to be sick in God's law, a visitation is sent to him; according to what is sung in the psalm: 'If his children forsake my law and do not walk in my judgements, I will visit their iniquities with the rod' (Psalm LXXXIX, 31, 32). And in this the prophet has written: If the earth sins against me to commit a crime, I will stretch out my hand against it and break its bread supply, and so on. In this we are questioning what the difference is between the stretching out of the hand and its emission. However, the devil speaks to the Lord: Stretch out your hand and touch all that he has, unless he blesses you to your face (Job 2:5). And it seems to me that the hand is sent, for the testing of those to whom it is sent; but it is stretched out, for the punishment of those who deserve torment. Not only extension and outreach, but also the stretching out of God's hands is called expansion, as Isaiah proclaims from the perspective of the Lord: 'All day long I have held out my hands to a disobedient and contrary people' (Isa. 65:2). It is also narrated that the holy hands are lifted up, as Scripture says: 'Let my prayer be counted as incense before you, and the lifting up of my hands as the evening sacrifice' (Ps. 141:2). But since the legitimate practices of God have been taken away from the people of the Jews, let us ask them what observance of the law they have. The victims, with the temple being destroyed and overturned, cannot be offered; nor can the stoning of adulterers and the execution of other crimes permitted by law be carried out, nor can the year of release of the land and other similar things. However, it is given to the souls of the haters of the daughters of Palestine, when they are delivered to the Palestinians, whom the Seventy indiscriminately call foreigners: which we can understand as the cities or towns of Palestine. Our Jerusalem too, if we neglect the ceremonies of God, and his hand is stretched out against us, and the observance of the entire law is taken away, will be delivered to the daughters of Palestine and not to the sons. For we are not first consigned to more severe punishments, but according to the quality of sins, to lesser ones, so that being corrected in the lesser, we may avoid the greater torments. The Philistines, that is, the Palestinians, with the first part of the word changed, interpret it as falling by drinking, or breaking ((perhaps breaking)). By which it is signified that we are to be handed over to adversarial powers, who have drunk from the cup of Babylon and have fallen, and whose works are perverse. And so great will be the correction and disgrace of wretched Jerusalem, that even the opposing powers themselves will be ashamed at the magnitude of our sins. This we have interpreted according to Symmachus, 'scelerata': Theodotion placed the Hebrew word itself 'Zemma ()'. But with the ceremonies of God removed from the people of the Jews, it has passed to us along with the priesthood and the legislation, with the Scripture saying, 'Establish, O Lord, a legislator over them' (Psalm 9:21). And in another place: Set a law for me, O Lord, in your way (Psalm 26:11).

(Verse 28, 29.) And you have committed fornication with the sons of Assyria: because you were not yet satisfied, and after you committed fornication, you were still not satisfied. And you multiplied your fornication in the land of Canaan with the Chaldeans, and even then you were not satisfied. LXX: You have acted impiously, and you have committed fornication with the sons of Assyria; and even then you were not satisfied: you have committed fornication, and you have not been filled; and you have multiplied your agreements with the land of Canaan, and with the Chaldeans; and you have not been satisfied with them either. The above is written, Jerusalem fornicated with the sons of Egypt, her neighbors, who are of great flesh: this signifies the other neighboring of the Assyrians. And for this reason, both are handed over to the nations, because they worshiped the idols of both, and entering into Chaldea, which is the land of Canaan, they imitated the errors of those whom they were subject to. According to allegory, we often pass from one sin to another. And when we do not repent of our previous sins, we increase sins with sins, and we are satisfied with no error, but like calves tied with a long rope and an unceasing strap, we drag our sins, and we multiply our covenant, or fornication, in the land of Canaan, which is interpreted as fluctuation, and with the Chaldeans, who also sound like demons (Psalm 39:3). And we always have footprints in the salt, and we can never say: 'He has set my feet upon a rock'. And we are subjected to the malice of heretics, who have the likeness of demons: whether they are Demons themselves, of whom Paul writes: 'For we wrestle not against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this world, against spiritual wickedness in high places' (Ephesians 6:12).

(Verse 30, 31.) In what shall I cleanse your heart, says the Lord God, when you do all these works of a promiscuous and shameless woman? For you have made your brothel at the head of every street, and your high place you have made in every square; and you have not acted like a prostitute, increasing your price. LXX: What shall I do to your heart, says the Lord God, when you do all these works of a prostitute and shameless woman? ÷ And you have committed adultery three times with your daughters ** when you built your brothel at the beginning of every street, and you made your platform in every square; and you have not been like a prostitute gathering wages. And what the Seventy said: 'And you have prostituted yourself thrice with your daughters, which is not found in the Hebrew, nor has any other Interpreter put it.' But God speaks all of this contentiously towards Jerusalem, that He may find a remedy by which He can heal the sick and the half-dead; according to that which Isaiah writes: 'What more could I have done for my vineyard, that I have not done for it?' (Isaiah 5:4). And Hosea said: What shall I do with you, Ephraim? what shall I do with you, Judah? Your mercy is like the morning clouds, and like the dew in the morning that passes away (Hosea 6:4). For your idolatry is not hidden, but committed with complete freedom, as you set up altars and high places at the beginning of every street and on every corner, and you make your bed in every square. And you have not imitated the cunning of prostitutes, who often increase the price of desire with difficulty, and from this incite lovers to madness. Or according to the Septuagint: You were not like a prostitute gathering wages, but you gave what you should have received, so that you would not be protected by the help of those with whom you fornicated and followed demons, but rather, oppressed by various captivities, you would feel your calamities. And this can indeed be applied to every Christian soul, which, having abandoned the worship of God, has given itself over to vices and luxury, and pursuing a worldly life, did not even thrive in it, but lost the riches of religion and did not receive the riches of the world. And there was no difficulty at all in prostituting yourself to it, but you yourself embraced your lovers. Moreover, there is another spiritual fornication, when we forsake the Church and join the heretics, and build our brothel at the head of every road, as the divine word commands: Stand in the ways and see, and ask for the ancient paths, where the good way is, and walk in it (Jeremiah 6:16), namely in the books of Moses, Joshua, Judges, Kings, Isaiah, Jeremiah, and the other prophets. In the beginnings of all roads, their brothel is constructed, which, to the perversion of doctrine, abuses the testimonies of the Scriptures and says: This is what Isaiah says, this is what Hosea says, this is what Moses said, this is what Daniel said. And he does not place his brothel in the middle of the streets or at the ends of the roads, but at the beginning. For if he comes to knowledge and the depths of divine books, he will not be able to err. He also makes his high place or pedestal in every public square, allowing himself to be corrupted by the depravity and vices of the heathens, even among the heretics when he has been defiled by them, having no grace but exposing himself to contempt, because he easily lost the purity of faith that has passed. But this, which (as we have said above) is not found in Hebrew: Thou art fornicated threefold in thy daughters, or to Jerusalem, according to the letter, that in all kinds in its towns and villages it has fornicated; and there will be no corner or square left, where it has not set up the signs of idolatry: or to the Church and the deceived believers, who have not heard the words of the Apostle: Now may the God of peace Himself sanctify you in all things, that your whole spirit, and soul, and body may be preserved blameless in the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ (1 Thess. V, 23); but they have fornicated in every kind, with body, and soul, and spirit. We read in Proverbs: But you write them in three ways, so that you may answer with words of truth that are proposed to you (Prov. XXII, 20, 21). And it is commanded to us that we understand the words of truth, that is, the holy Scriptures, in three ways. First, according to the letter; second, in the middle through tropology; third, in a higher way, so that we may understand mystical things. According to the letter, it is this: Neither let us commit fornication, as some of them committed fornication, and one and twenty thousand fell in one day (I Cor. X, 8). And: Do not murmur, as some of them murmured and were destroyed by the destroyer (1 Corinthians 10:10). But according to the sense and tropology, when we depart from the literal meaning and ascend a little to higher things, as the Apostle says: It is written: You shall not muzzle the ox when it treads out the grain. And immediately follows: Is God concerned with oxen? Or is He speaking because of us? (1 Corinthians 9:9). But the highest and sublime spiritual understanding, according to the same Apostle: Therefore a man shall leave his father and mother, and be joined to his wife. This is a great mystery. But I speak concerning Christ and the Church (Ephes. 5:31-32). The daughters of the Church are those who fornicate, first of the believers, and afterwards of the deceived in the heresy of the soul, whose fault is attributed to the mother.

(Verse 32 and following) But like an adulterous woman, who brings in strangers over her husband. All prostitutes receive payment: but you have given payment to all your lovers, and you would give them anything to come in to you from every direction to fornicate with you. And it happened in you contrary to the custom of women in your fornications, and there will be no fornication after you. For in that you have given payment, and have not received payment: it has become contrary to you. LXX: The adulterous woman − similar to you: receiving rewards from her husband: she gave rewards to all who fornicated with her, and you gave rewards to all your lovers, and you burdened them to come to you, going around in your fornication. And it happened in you that you turned against other women in your fornication, and they did not fornicate after you: because you gave rewards, and rewards were not given to you: and it happened in you that you turned against. What is written in the Septuagint is not found in Hebrew and disrupts the order of the reading, and it raises a significant question: which woman is being referred to when it is said that Jerusalem herself is an adulterous woman? So Jerusalem took all the abundance of things that had been given to her by the generosity of her husband, and she gave them to others, namely demons and idols, according to what is written in Hosea: 'And she did not know that I gave her grain, wine, oil, and multiplied her silver; but she made Baals, silver and gold' (Hosea 2:8). Therefore, in his anger, he immediately declares: 'Therefore, I will take back my grain in its time and my wine in its season; and I will take away my wool and my linen, so as not to cover her disgrace anymore. And now I will uncover her immorality in the sight of her lovers, and no one will rescue her from my hand.' And while all women usually receive payment from their lovers, Jerusalem did the opposite, giving more than she received. And to show the extent of her generosity, she would burden them, saying, 'Come to me often,' so that there would be no neighbor who would not be mixed up in her dishonor. And indeed, Jerusalem surpassed other prostitutes in this as well, not only giving what she had earned through the shameful practice, but also giving marital gifts to her lovers and her adulterers. So great was the example of the adulteress in all its magnitude of shame, that it is preferred not only to those present, but also to future prostitutes. Hence, we have interpreted it according to Symmachus: 'And after you there shall be no more fornication.' For by comparing yourself, all subsequent fornication will be considered less serious. Whatever we have said about Jerusalem, it applies to the Church and the souls of the believers, who give their lovers the gifts of marriage, namely gold in a metaphorical sense, and silver in speech, and clothing, with which our filthiness and shame are concealed; or to contrary strengths, or to masters of perverse doctrines, when they assert that vice does no harm, and that passive lust, according to the genital parts of the body, demands sexual intercourse by natural law: all foods must be used indiscriminately, created for this purpose, to be consumed. Prudence in that only necessary, that it benefits oneself; and justice does not have a place, which if it prevails, one must beg, and other such things. Jerusalem, miserable when receiving these things, in which the vision of peace should be, perverts the sharpness of intellect and the charm of eloquence into ugliness. And for her lovers, she adorned herself against her husband with these ornaments, in which she was adorned by a man for the abuse of good. And what follows: And you gave them that they may enter to fornicate with you from all sides, signifies all types of sins, so that she is not satisfied with just one sin, but endures a hunger for sinning, and is defiled against the laws of nature with all shameful parts up to her head.

(Verse 35 and following) Therefore, prostitute, listen to the word of the Lord. Thus says the Lord God: Because your bronze has been poured out, and your disgrace has been revealed in your fornication (in your adulteries), with your lovers, and with the idols of your abominations, in the blood of your sons, whom you have given to them. Behold, I will gather all your lovers, with whom you have mingled, and all those whom you have loved with all those whom you have hated, and I will gather them against you from all sides, and I will uncover your disgrace before them, and they will see all your shame. And I will judge you with the judgments of adulteresses, and those who shed blood, and I will give you into the blood (Vulg. blood) of fury and zeal, and I will give you into their hands, and they will destroy your brothel, and they will demolish your prostitution house, and they will strip you of your clothes, and they will take away the vessels of your beauty, and they will leave you naked, full of shame. And they will bring a multitude upon you, and they will stone you with stones, and they will kill (Al. mutilate) you with their swords. And they will burn your houses with fire, and they will bring judgment upon you in the eyes of many women, and you will cease to fornicate and no longer give bribes. And my indignation will rest on you, and my jealousy will be taken away from you, and I will rest and not be angry anymore, because you have not remembered the days of your youth and you have provoked me in all these things. Therefore, I have given you your ways upon your head, says the Lord God, and I have not acted according to your wickedness in all your abominations. LXX: Therefore, prostitute, hear the word of the Lord: Thus says the Lord God: Because you have poured out your wrath and your shame will be revealed in your prostitution to your lovers, and in all your wicked thoughts, and in the blood of your sons, whom you have given to them. Therefore, behold, I will gather all your lovers, with whom you have mingled, and all those you loved with all those you hated, and I will gather them against you from all around, and I will reveal your evil deeds to them, and they will see all your shame. And I will avenge on you the vengeance of adulteries and the shedding of blood, and I will put you in the blood of fury and zeal, and I will deliver you into their hands: and they shall demolish your brothel, and destroy your foundation, and they shall strip you of your garments, and they shall take away the vessels of your glory, and they shall leave you naked and full of shame, and they shall bring a multitude upon you, and they shall stone you with stones, and they shall cut you with their swords. And they shall set fire to your houses, and they shall execute punishments on you in the presence of many women: and I will turn you away from fornication, and you shall no longer give rewards, and I will unleash my fury upon you, and my zeal shall depart from you, and I will rest and will be no longer concerned: because you have not remembered the days of your infancy, and you have grieved me in all these things. And behold, I will bring your ways upon your head, declares the Lord God, so that you have done wickednesses above all your other wickednesses. We lay the foundations of the story first. Because you have done these things and those things which the previous speech comprehends: therefore hear, O harlot, what you have done and what you will suffer. You poured out your brass which you received from me, and you gave payment to your lovers, which you should have received, and you killed your sons as you offered them to idols: so that you have become not only an adulteress, but also a murderer of your own children. Therefore, I will gather all your lovers with whom you have prostituted yourself, both those whom you have loved and those whom you have hated, and I will expose you as an adulteress and reveal your nakedness, so that all may see your shame and the genitals for which you were once consumed with passion. All these things are said metaphorically of an adulterous and murderous woman, who not only committed acts of adultery against her husband, but also killed her children. They are spoken concerning Jerusalem and the gathering of all the nations against her, of which she worshiped idols and turned all of God's gifts into their worship, and the temple of Baal must be destroyed and the altars of every city must be overturned by fire, so that nothing remains in her. And just as it is customary for all to throw stones at the adulteress and to slay the harlot, so that she may be killed by the wounds of each: so shall all women see the punishment of the fornicator. Thus, in the sight of others, in the surrounding cities and nations, Jerusalem shall be abandoned. And this shall be done, so that she may cease her whoring and no longer give wages to her lovers, and the anger of God may rest, and He may not be angered by her when she ceases to love. From this we understand that there is great offense, not taken care of by God, but allowed for man's crimes and sins. My zeal will be removed from you, I will rest, and no longer be angry, as if it were someone else, and what has departed from me, and which I have handed over to eternal nakedness. But if Jerusalem has endured this, because it fornicated with idols, what do we think it will endure, when it has killed God's Son? And you have done all these things, forgetting past kindnesses, and you have provoked me to anger, or saddened me, when you should have provoked me to joy with your good works. Therefore, I have also rendered your deeds upon your head. And when I destroy you, O adulteress, I will exercise less of my anger against you than you deserve, so that divine mercy may be shown, that sins may be greater than punishments. According to tropology, every soul receives spiritual money from God, according to the Gospel (Mt. 25, Lk. 19) which is spoken in five and two parables, and of one talent, and ten servants receiving each a single mina, who, when they act negligently, become debtors of fifty (or ten) denarii and five hundred, and because of this, in the presence of lovers, whom we understand as demons and contrary virtues, the ignominy of Jerusalem is revealed, either on the day of judgment or at the time of repentance when they are reproached. And indeed only the omnipotent God sees hidden things, as the Gospel says: And the Father who sees in secret (Matthew 6:6). And in another place: God, who searches the heart and reins (Psalm 7:10). And in the book of Kings: You alone know the hearts of all the sons of men (2 Kings 8). But when it is fulfilled: There is nothing hidden that will not be made manifest, nor secret that will not be revealed (Luke 12:2). And in another place: Judge not before the time, until the Lord comes, who will bring to light the hidden things of darkness, and will make manifest the counsels of the hearts; and then shall every man have praise from God (1 Corinthians 4:5); and when the time of correction comes, then shall be fulfilled what Hosea says: Now their own thoughts have surrounded them (Hosea 7:2). And in another place: Mutual accusations or defenses of thoughts, on the day when God will judge the hidden things of men (Rom. II, 15). And again: Behold the man, and his works before his face. And all who had fornicated with her before will see her disgrace, and God will give it to them in the blood of fury and zeal. For the fury of a man is full against an adulterous wife, and it cannot be redeemed at any price. And the blood of the children can be understood in this way, that we call the good thoughts of men implanted by God in them the children of Jerusalem; the adulteress kills them when she turns to evil deeds. It is also advantageous for Jerusalem, that its brothel be dug up, and the entire seedbed of fornication be destroyed. For when this has been done, it will no longer provide wages, and the wrath of God will rest, and he will not be jealous of its chastity: namely, according to those who understand in a positive sense what is said. Others, however, as we have said above, take the opposite view, that it is a great anger of God not to be angry, since he has once despised the fornicator, and has despaired of his salvation. But if heretics who do not accept the old Testament according to the Septuagint edition criticize this passage that was said: And you were grieved in all these; because God not only receives wrath but also submits to sorrow and sadness, let us ask them how they accept what is certainly a commandment of the good God: Do not grieve the Holy Spirit of God, in whom you were sealed on the day of redemption (Ephesians 4:30). Whatever they may say in defense of that testimony, we will include it in the satisfaction of the present discourse.

It is when God shows no anger to sinners that his anger is great. So in the case of Ezekiel he said to Jerusalem, “Now I shall not be angry with you, my jealousy has left you.” … So that I may not go too far and overrun the length of a letter by piling up instances from the Old Testament, I shall tell you a brief story that happened in the days of my childhood. When the blessed Antony was summoned by Athanasius, bishop of Alexandria, to the city of Alexandria to confute heretics, and Didymus, a most learned and blessed man, had a meeting with him, they had a discussion about the holy Scriptures. Antony admired the other’s brain and praised his mental sharpness. Then he asked, “I imagine that your blindness does not depress you?” Didymus in his shame said nothing. But when Antony asked a second and third time, he finally succeeded in eliciting from Didymus a simple expression of grief. Antony said to him, “I am surprised at a wise man grieving at the loss of what ants, flies and gnats have rather than rejoicing at having what only the saints and apostles have deserved to get.” From this you can realize that it is much better to see with the spirit than with the flesh and to possess the eyes that the mote of sin cannot enter.

(Verse 44.) Behold, everyone who speaks a commonly-known proverb, will apply it to you, saying: Like mother, like daughter. You are the daughter of your mother, who has cast away her husband and her sons, and the sister of your sisters, who have cast away their husbands and their sons. Seventy: These are all the things that they have spoken against you in a parable, saying: Like mother and daughter. You are the daughter of your mother, who has rejected her husband and her sons; and the sisters of your sisters, who have rejected their husbands and their sons. In the catalog of vices and corrections ((otherwise known as repentance)) in Jerusalem, by which one is drawn back to salvation, a well-known proverb in the common speech of the people is adapted, or as the Seventy translated it, a parable: Like mother, like daughter. The mother, however, is called Jerusalem, as is written above and in the following passages, and she is called Chethaea, which means raging or turning to madness: through her, the provocations of this world are shown, which lead the captive soul to destruction and separate her from her husband (no doubt, this is said by the word of God and his teaching). And the sister of their sisters, as we have read a little later, is called Sodom, and Samaria: one of which signifies the Gentile life and luxury, the other the deceitful followers of heretics. Moreover, what is read in the Septuagint, 'the sisters of your sisters, who rejected their husbands and their sons,' has no meaning. For what other sisters did Sodom and Samaria have, who are sisters to Jerusalem? And it must be asked, which husbands did Sodom and Samaria send away, and which sons did they reject? Unless, perchance, we are able to say this: that the feet of those who always wander are tossed about and there are no solid footsteps which are contrary to the truth; but they run hither and thither, and are carried about by every wind of doctrine, until they pass from falsehood to another falsehood (Ephesians IV). And when they realize that they have labored in vain at first, they proceed to second and third things.

(Verse. 45 seqq.) Your mother Hethaea (also spelled Chethaea), and your father Amorrhaeus, and your older sister Samaria: she and her daughters who live on your left. But your younger sister, who lives on your right, is Sodom and her daughters. But you did not walk in their ways, nor did you commit crimes like theirs, but rather, you committed even more wicked things in all your ways. LXX: Your mother Chethaea, and your father Amorrhaeus, your older sister Samaria: she and her daughters who live on your left, and your younger sister, who lives on your right, is Sodom and her daughters: and even so, you did not walk in her ways, nor did you act according to her wickedness, but rather, you transgressed against them in all your ways. He had said above: your father is Amorrhæan, and your mother Chethæan; here with the order and number changed: Your mother is Chethæan, and your father is Amorrhæan. For when they have advanced in wickedness, they are divided into parts; and deserted unity, they make progress into a tumult and multitude, which is not able to ascend to the mountains with Jesus. But Jerusalem is the sister of Samaria, and Sodom, of which one is on the left, the other on the right, even according to the carnal understanding, if you look from the temple at Jerusalem towards the East, you will approve. Majorca is said to be Samaria, because it sinned first and was led into captivity by the Assyrians; and Minor and younger Sodom, which is related to a multitude of nations. Otherwise, at that time Sodom was not there, which we read about before in the Scriptures, with Gomorrah, Admah, and Zeboiim, it was destroyed by divine fire (Gen. 19). However, in between the two sisters, Jerusalem, which is also called Judah, was led into Babylon by the Chaldeans; and Jerusalem sinned much more wickedly than Samaria and Sodom, worshipping the idol of Baal in the temple, and later killing the Son of God. Furthermore, according to tropology, Samaria and Sodom, that is, heretics and the Gentiles, often commit less serious sins than those who are considered Jerusalem, that is, the Ecclesiastics. Therefore, it is said to the Corinthians, who indeed believed in Christ but were oppressed by evil works: Certainly there is heard among you fornication, and such fornication that not even among the Gentiles, so that one has his father's wife (I Cor. V, 1), and so on. The heretics, however, who still accept the old Testament, understand three natures from this place: spiritual, animal, and earthly. And they refer the spiritual to Jerusalem; the animal to Samaria; the earthly to Sodom. Let us briefly ask them how the three natures, spiritual, animal, and earthly, which are certainly distinct from each other, are said to have one mother and one father? This does not correspond to their fabrication. And how will the animal and earthly nature be restored to their original state, that is, the spiritual state, according to this same prophet? This is contrary to their own reasoning. Moreover, the understanding that Samaria refers to heresies is confirmed in the prophet Hosea and many other places, especially by this testimony: Woe to those who despise Zion and trust in the mountain of Samaria, they have taken the firstfruits of the nations (Amos 6:1). For all heretics despise Zion, which is interpreted as a watchtower, and is referred to the Church; and they trust in themselves on the mountain of Samaria, namely in the pride of perverse doctrines, which they think are sublime, and through these fraudulent preachings, they plunder and pillage the beginnings of nations, so that, through the wonder of teachings, they may draw even the powerful ones of the Gentiles into heretical error.

(Verse 48, 49) I live, says the Lord, that Sodom, your sister herself and her daughters did not do as you and your daughters have done. Look, this was the iniquity of your sister Sodom: pride, fullness of bread, abundance, and idleness of herself and her daughters; and they did not strengthen the hand of the poor and needy. And they were haughty and committed abominations before me, and I took them away as you saw. And Samaria did not commit half of your sins; but you surpassed her in your wickedness, and you have justified your sisters in all your abominations that you have done. LXX: I live, says the Lord Adonai: this is what your sister Sodom did, and her daughters did the same as you and your daughters. However, the wickedness of your sister Sodom was pride, fullness of bread, and abundance. She and her daughters lived in luxury and had an abundance, but they did not support the poor and needy. They were proud and committed iniquities in my sight, so I took them away as you have seen. And Samaria has not sinned half as much as your sins, and you have multiplied your iniquities upon them; you have justified your sisters in all your iniquities which you have done. What the LXX has placed, she and her daughters also have, but it is not found in Hebrew. In the Old Testament, there is the oath of God: As I live, says the Lord (Num. XIV, 21). But in the New Testament: Truly, truly, I say to you (John XIII, 16). But if this is common with others: God of Abraham, God of Isaac, and God of Jacob, He is not the God of the dead, but of the living (Mark XII, 16, 27). And in another place: I will please the Lord in the land of the living (Ps. CXIV, 9): we seek to understand how the common term properly belongs to God. But how is it said, a good tree, and a good man, and a good shepherd, and a good servant (Luke XVIII); for no one is absolutely good, except God alone: so when the angels and other virtues, as well as patriarchs and prophets, and even the apostles, are called living in comparison to almighty God, they are called dead. For what is the man who lives, and does not see death? (Psalm LXXXVIII, 49). Hence, the apostle Paul also said about God: He alone, he said, has immortality and dwells in inaccessible light (I Timothy VI, 16). And about the fountain of life: Our life, he says, is hidden with Christ in God (Colossians III, 3). Therefore, this person who swears and says: As I live, says the Lord, describing the crimes of Sodom and its daughters, established the first pride, the very own of the devil, and the first sin. Wherefore as the same Apostle says: 'Lest being inflated with pride, he fall into the judgment of the devil' (1 Timothy 3:6), on account of which he says: 'And his pride fell from heaven' (Isaiah 14:12). For he had said: 'I will do it in the strength of my hand, and by wisdom of my understanding I will take away the bounds of the people, and I will rob their strength, and I will make their cities desolate: and I will break them asunder, and they shall not be able to stand, nor shall they be able to resist my force' (Isaiah 10:13-14). And: 'God resisteth the proud, and giveth grace to the humble' (James 4:6). We also read in another place: 'Why do you boast, O earth and ashes?' And the Gospel tells of the Pharisee's pride overcome by the humility of the tax collector (Luke 18): whose seedbed is the abundance of bread and all things, and leisure; or as the Septuagint translated, the luxury and opulence of delights. That rich man in the Gospel, dressed in purple (Luke 16), is reported to have had no other fault except that, being abundant in wealth and riches, he had burst forth with such pride that he did not reach out his hand to the needy and poor Lazarus: and thus he had forgotten his own condition, to the point that he did not even give this miserable man what was to be thrown away. For what reason and in another place it is written: Everyone who exalts himself will be humbled, and he who humbles himself will be exalted (Luke XIV, 11). Pride, gluttony, abundance of all things, leisure and indulgence, are sins of Sodom, and because of this, the forgetfulness of God follows, which considers present goods to be perpetual and never in need of necessities. Therefore, it is also commanded by the law: Take care lest, while eating and drinking and being satisfied, you build good houses and possess sheep and oxen, silver and gold, you forget the Lord your God (Deuteronomy VIII, 11). And in another place it is written about Israel: 'He ate and drank, and was satisfied, and grew fat, and kicked' (Deut. XXXII, 15). Knowing this, the wisest of all, Solomon, prays in Proverbs: 'Give me what is necessary and sufficient, so that I may not become full and deny you, saying: Who will see me? Or becoming poor, steal and profane the name of my God' (Prov. XXX, 8, 9). And what follows: 'And you justified your sisters in all your abominations, which you have done, not simply judging Sodom and Samaria to be wicked, but with a comparison to the worse: as the Publican, of whom we have spoken above, is not called absolutely righteous, but in comparison to the worse.' And yet even though Sodom and Samaria were such, they did not even sin half as much as Jerusalem. For the servant who knows his master's will and does not do it, shall be beaten with many stripes (Luke XII, 47). And: The mighty shall suffer torments mightily (Wisdom VI, 7). Furthermore, that which is contained in Hebrew for luxury (or wealth), should be understood to refer to this meaning: In desires is the entire soul idle; that is, that there should always be something to do: lest the field of our heart, with the hand resting, be occupied by the thorns of evil thoughts.

(Verse 52.) So you also bring your own confusion, having surpassed your sisters in your sins, acting more wickedly than them ((Other version: against them)): for they have been justified by you. Septuagint: And you will bear your torment because you have corrupted your sisters in your sins, in which you have acted unjustly against them, and you have justified them against yourself. The second tablet after the shipwreck is to be ashamed when you have sinned, and not to subject yourself to the reproach that is said against Jerusalem: You have become like a prostitute, you do not know how to blush (Jeremiah III, 3). But he carries his own torture, who is tormented by his own conscience, and in this world endures torment by his own will, lest he endure eternal torments (Genesis IV). And we corrupt our brothers and sisters through our sins, when they are provoked to greater crimes by our own sins. What I say will become clearer: Imagine someone in a priestly position not living well, and dishonoring their dignity with their actions. Surely by imitating his vices, the lay brother is corrupted? For even he who scandalizes one of the least of these, it would be better for him to have a millstone hung around his neck and be thrown into the depths (Matthew XVIII, 6). Likewise, the sisters of Jerusalem are justified like Sodom and Samaria, not because they are inherently righteous, but as we said, by comparison with the worse.

So you will also be confounded; and your own shame, which you have justified, will become your gate. Seventy: So you will also be confounded, and you will bear your shame, because you have justified your sisters. Confusion follows shame: shame correction: correction consolation: consolation salvation: according to that of the Apostle: Tribulation works patience: patience provenance: provenance hope: but hope does not confound (Rom. V, 3-5). There is no doubt that in the future: because in its present state it has wiped out its sins through confusion. Something like this and that of the Gospel is said: There is confusion that leads to death, and there is confusion that leads to life (Eccl. 4:25). The Holy Spirit also urges sinners in the Psalms: Let all my enemies be confused and ashamed: let them turn back and be confused very quickly (Psalm 39:15). It is written also in another place: Declare your sins first, so that you may be justified (Isa. 43:26, sec. LXX). And again: The just one is his own accuser in the beginning of the discourse (Prov. XVIII, 17). Therefore, it is not surprising if Jerusalem is called to confusion and disgrace; she has sinned so much that she had to justify her sisters, to whom it is then said: And you, and your daughters, return to your former state.