TRV
Jerome
Nicene & Post-Nicene · AD 325–500
5,299 passages across 63 books of the Bible · Who was this?
On Ezekiel
20 of 523-
Ezekiel 18:7
This bread the just person gives to the hungry, of whom it is said in Scripture, blessed are those who hunger and thirst after righteousness, for they shall be satisfied.
COMMENTARY ON EZEKIEL 6:18.5-9
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Ezekiel 18:7
Let us give the garment of Christ to those who are naked in faith and virtues, about which it is written, “as many are baptized into Christ put on Christ.”
COMMENTARY ON EZEKIEL 6:18.5-9
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Ezekiel 18:10-13
(Ver. 10 and following) But if he has fathered a son who is a robber, shedding blood, and he has committed one of these (or, as the Septuagint has translated, if he has committed sins: if he has not walked in the way of his righteous father), and he does all these things, not abstaining from them, but rather feasting on the mountains, defiling the wife of his neighbor, oppressing the needy and the poor, seizing plunder, not returning pledges, lifting his eyes to idols, committing abominations, engaging in usury, and taking more, will he live? When he has done all these detestable things, he will die: his blood will be upon himself. Regarding the thief, it is written in Hebrew Pharis, which in the second edition of Aquila means sinner; Symmachus translates it as transgressor, and the Septuagint and Theodotion as pestilent. Just as a plague creates diseases and usually devastates the regions where it has spread, so does a pestilent person ravage everything. And let us say first according to history, so that you may know that the iniquities of the fathers do not overflow onto the childr…
(Ver. 10 and following) But if he has fathered a son who is a robber, shedding blood, and he has committed one of these (or, as the Septuagint has translated, if he has committed sins: if he has not walked in the way of his righteous father), and he does all these things, not abstaining from them, but rather feasting on the mountains, defiling the wife of his neighbor, oppressing the needy and the poor, seizing plunder, not returning pledges, lifting his eyes to idols, committing abominations, engaging in usury, and taking more, will he live? When he has done all these detestable things, he will die: his blood will be upon himself. Regarding the thief, it is written in Hebrew Pharis, which in the second edition of Aquila means sinner; Symmachus translates it as transgressor, and the Septuagint and Theodotion as pestilent. Just as a plague creates diseases and usually devastates the regions where it has spread, so does a pestilent person ravage everything. And let us say first according to history, so that you may know that the iniquities of the fathers do not overflow onto the children. If a righteous man does the things that the previous discourse explained in order, he will live. But if he begets a son who departs from the service of the Lord and exchanges his father's virtues for vices, doing what his father did not do and not doing what his father accomplished, can he live? Surely he will not live, but will be guilty of his own blood. Moreover, according to spiritual understanding, the righteous man in Ecclesiasticus, if he proclaims the Gospel faith and his son and disciple is deceived by heretical error, will be called a pestilence. Concerning this, it is written in the first psalm: 'And he did not sit in the seat of pestilence' (Psalm I, 1). And in Proverbs, he is described as confident, shameless, and arrogantly pestilent (Prov. XXXIII). He sheds the blood of the deceived and heaps sins upon himself; he feasts on the mountains of pride, polluting the Church of his neighbor, causing distress to the needy and poor in the knowledge of Scripture, oppressing and overthrowing them; seizing plunder from those who he has led astray from the Church: not returning the pledge he received from his teacher, in order to fulfill what is written: 'Freely you have received, freely give' (Matthew X, 8). And to idols and images, which he fashioned from his own heart, he lifts his eyes, and committing all abominations; and he gives money for usury, so that the error of the master may increase by the diligence of the disciples; and seeking repayment from those to whom he loaned, he demands more than he had given: surely he will not be able to live, but he will die in his own blood. -
Ezekiel 18:14-18
(Verse 14 and following) But if he has a son who sees all the sins his father has committed, fears them, and does not commit them himself (as Vulgate says, 'similar to them'): he does not eat on the mountains, he does not lift his eyes to the idols of the house of Israel, he does not violate his neighbor's wife, he does not oppress anyone, he does not keep a pledge, he does not commit robbery, he gives his bread to the hungry, he covers the naked with clothing, he turns his hand away from the poor man's injury, he does not take interest or usury, he follows my ordinances, and he walks in my statutes: this son will not die because of the iniquity of his father, but he will surely live. His father, who accused falsely and used violence against his brother, and committed evil in the midst of his people: he died in his wickedness. So, do not be surprised, he says, if the son of a righteous man, inclined towards vice and sin, dies by death. On the contrary, if the son of a sinful and impure man sees the wickedness of his father's ways, and turns away from doing evil and does good, he shal…
(Verse 14 and following) But if he has a son who sees all the sins his father has committed, fears them, and does not commit them himself (as Vulgate says, 'similar to them'): he does not eat on the mountains, he does not lift his eyes to the idols of the house of Israel, he does not violate his neighbor's wife, he does not oppress anyone, he does not keep a pledge, he does not commit robbery, he gives his bread to the hungry, he covers the naked with clothing, he turns his hand away from the poor man's injury, he does not take interest or usury, he follows my ordinances, and he walks in my statutes: this son will not die because of the iniquity of his father, but he will surely live. His father, who accused falsely and used violence against his brother, and committed evil in the midst of his people: he died in his wickedness. So, do not be surprised, he says, if the son of a righteous man, inclined towards vice and sin, dies by death. On the contrary, if the son of a sinful and impure man sees the wickedness of his father's ways, and turns away from doing evil and does good, he shall not be held accountable for his father's crimes. And what can also be received in us, as it is said in the Psalms: Hear, O daughter, and see, and incline your ear, and forget your people, and your father's house: and the king desires your beauty (Ps. 44, 11). And we who are born of the stock of the nations, to leave behind the crimes of our parents, and to do judgment and justice, and to live in it. Therefore, we repeat what we have explored above more fully. And so, briefly, we review everything, desiring to move on to those things that are more obscure and new. -
Ezekiel 18:19-20
(Verse 19, 20.) And you say: Why did not the son bear the iniquity of the father? Clearly, because the son has practiced judgment and justice, has kept all my commandments and has done them: he shall live. The soul that sins, it shall die. The son shall not bear the iniquity of the father: and the father shall not bear the iniquity of the son. The righteousness of the righteous shall be upon him, and the wickedness of the wicked shall be upon him. He answers the question that the listener could have proposed in the opposite way. He often says, they say, why did the righteous son not bear the iniquity of the father? To which he himself responds: Clearly, because the son has acted well, and has not committed the father's offenses. And it is right, just as a sinner dies in his own wickedness; so the righteous live in their virtues: and let the soul that has sinned die; and let the one who has kept God's commandments live.
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Ezekiel 18:21
The sins of the parents do not fall on the children, nor does a wicked parent burden a just child, nor are some punished for the crimes of others. One alone who was wrong and sinful before, if he afterwards becomes penitent and turns to better things, wipes out his former sins and is not judged by what he had done wrong, but he is received into my flock with a renewed virtue.
COMMENTARY ON EZEKIEL 6:18.21-22
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Ezekiel 18:21-22
(Vers. 21, 22.) But if the wicked shall do penance for all his sins which he hath committed, and keep all my commandments, and do judgment, and justice: living he shall live, and shall not die. I will not remember all his iniquities that he hath done. In a way only, saith he, the sins of the fathers are not transmitted to the children, neither doth the wicked son any longer burden the righteous father; nor are others punished for the sins of others, so that he, who before was wicked and a sinner, if he afterwards do penance, and turn to better things, and blot out his former sins, be not judged by the old sins: but let him be received into my flock, by the renewal of virtue. At the same time, let us consider what sort of repentant person an impious and sinful person receives. If, he says, he turns away from all the sins he has committed and keeps all the commandments of the Lord, so that he truly abandons all wrongdoing and follows all virtues; if he does all good things and forsakes all evil; then I will forget all the injustices he has committed.
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Ezekiel 18:23
It is the will of God “who desires all people to be saved and to come to the knowledge of the truth.” For everywhere that the purpose of God appears to be severe and stern, it is not the people but the sins that he condemns.
COMMENTARY ON EZEKIEL 6:18.23
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Ezekiel 18:23
(Verse 23) In his righteousness, which he has worked, he will live. My righteousness will live not so much as mine, but as his. It is allowed for my righteousness to give good things to the good and bad things to the bad.
Is it my will that the wicked should die, says the Lord God, and not that he should turn from his ways and live? (Ezekiel 18:23) Therefore it is the will of the Lord that all should be saved and come to the knowledge of the truth. Wherever God seems to pronounce a severe and harsh judgment, He condemns not men, but their sins. -
Ezekiel 18:24
As a sinner who is now just is not harmed by his earlier offenses, so previous righteous deeds do not help a sinner who was once righteous; as each is found, so will it be judged in him.
COMMENTARY ON EZEKIEL 6:18.24
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Ezekiel 18:24
(Verse 24) But if the righteous turns away from his righteousness and commits iniquity according to all the abominations that the wicked person usually does, will he live? None of the righteous deeds that he had done will be remembered. In the transgression that he has committed, and in the sin that he has sinned, he shall die. Just as the previous sins do not burden a righteous person who has sinned, so the previous righteousness does not benefit a sinner who was previously righteous. For each person will be judged according to what is found in them.
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Ezekiel 18:25
(Verse 25.) And you said: The way of the Lord is not fair. Hear, O house of Israel: Is not my way fair? Are not your ways unfair? Give reasons why the judgment of the Lord is just. Do you think, he says, that I am unfair, that I will render the sins of the fathers to the children (Deut. 24); and while others eat sour grapes, will the teeth of others be set on edge (Jerem. 31)? Behold, each person dies in their own sin, and is made alive in their own righteousness. In both cases, judgment is not based on the past, but on the present. Rather, your unjust opinion is that you think a parable is not a parable, but you understand it in such a way that the sins of others are punished in others as if it were the truth of a story.
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Ezekiel 18:26
(Verse 26.) For when the righteous turns away from his righteousness and does iniquity, he shall die in them. In the iniquity which he has done, he shall die. This can also be understood: The righteous first, the people of Israel, turned away from their righteousness, because they abandoned the author of righteousness, and they committed iniquity by denying the Son of God. In the sin and wickedness which he has done, he shall die: not in many, but in one, killing the heir in order to destroy the inheritance.
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Ezekiel 18:27-28
(Verse 27, 28.) And when the wicked turns away from his wickedness that he has done and does judgment and righteousness, he shall keep himself alive. For he considers and turns away from all his transgressions that he has committed; he shall surely live, he shall not die. On the other hand, it says, the people of the nations who do not have knowledge of God and the wicked, if he turns away from his wickedness, which he previously practiced in idolatry, and does the things that are commanded by the law of Israel, he who was previously dead will give life to his soul. And seeing that he has perished in the injustices he has wrought, he will believe in him who says: I am the way, the truth, and the life (John, XIV, 6): he will live and not die.
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Ezekiel 18:29
(Verse 29.) And the children of Israel say: The way of the Lord is not fair. Are not my ways fair, O house of Israel, and are not your ways crooked? Even today Israel blasphemes God, for abandoning his people and taking in a multitude of nations. Whom the Lord reproves because their ways are crooked, he exercises his rightful judgment by sending other farmers to his vineyard after the previous ones were lost. Which, understanding in the parable of the Gospel, the Jews said: This will not be (Luke 20:16).
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Ezekiel 18:30
This word is rightly directed against Israel, so that they might repent and leave behind their iniquities, their transgressions, with which they have sinned against God.
COMMENTARY ON EZEKIEL 6:18.30-31
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Ezekiel 18:30
(Verse 30.) Therefore, I will judge each one according to their ways, O house of Israel, says the Lord God. Whether they are from the multitude of nations or from the people of Israel who are being judged: God does not show partiality (Colossians 3:25), but each one will be rewarded according to their faith, and will be condemned for their wickedness and unbelief.
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Ezekiel 18:30
These words show us that the mind must not fail to believe in the promised blessings and give way to despair; and the soul once marked out for perdition must not refuse to apply remedies on the ground that its wounds are past curing.
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Ezekiel 18:31
(Verse 31.) Turn away and repent from all your iniquities, and iniquity will not be your downfall. Cast away all your transgressions, in which you have transgressed. This message is specifically directed towards the Israelites, urging them to repent and abandon their iniquities or transgressions against God. However, it can also be understood as applicable to both the Israelites and the crowd of Gentiles, encouraging them to forsake their vices and turn to the one who can heal their brokenness. And make for yourselves a new heart and a new spirit. Leaving behind the old letter, live in the newness of the spirit. The new heart of the Israelites is to believe in Him whom they had previously denied. The new heart of the gentiles is to abandon idols and despise the worship of the dead, and to believe in Him who is the God of the living. And why will you die, house of Israel? It is better, as we have said above, to accept this exhortation in which it is written: Repent and do penance, regarding the person of the Jews whom He does not want to die, and to whom He now speaks: why will you…
(Verse 31.) Turn away and repent from all your iniquities, and iniquity will not be your downfall. Cast away all your transgressions, in which you have transgressed. This message is specifically directed towards the Israelites, urging them to repent and abandon their iniquities or transgressions against God. However, it can also be understood as applicable to both the Israelites and the crowd of Gentiles, encouraging them to forsake their vices and turn to the one who can heal their brokenness.
And make for yourselves a new heart and a new spirit. Leaving behind the old letter, live in the newness of the spirit. The new heart of the Israelites is to believe in Him whom they had previously denied. The new heart of the gentiles is to abandon idols and despise the worship of the dead, and to believe in Him who is the God of the living.
And why will you die, house of Israel? It is better, as we have said above, to accept this exhortation in which it is written: Repent and do penance, regarding the person of the Jews whom He does not want to die, and to whom He now speaks: why will you die, house of Israel, who have the fathers Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, of whom it is written: God of the living, not of the dead (Mark 12:27). Why will you die by your own fault, when you owe your life to the merit of the fathers and my mercy? -
Ezekiel 18:31
“Get yourselves a new heart and a new spirit” means leaving behind the old age of the letter and living in the newness of the spirit. The new heart of Israel is to believe in him who before had denied them; the new heart is to forsake the idols of the Gentiles, to despise dead things and to believe in him who is “God of the living.”
COMMENTARY ON EZEKIEL 6:18.31