Jerome

(Verse 20 and following) And the word of the Lord came to me, saying: Son of man, set your face against Sidon and prophesy against it, and say: Thus says the Lord God: Behold, I am against you, Sidon, and I will be glorified in you. And they shall know that I am the Lord when I execute judgments in her and am sanctified in her. And I will send pestilence upon her and blood in her streets, and the slain shall fall in her midst, by the sword all around, and they shall know that I am the Lord. And there will no longer be a stumbling block of bitterness and a thorn inflicting pain in every direction for the house of Israel (or those who have insulted them). And they will know that I am the Lord their God. Thus says the Lord God: When I gather the house of Israel from the peoples (or from the nations) among whom they are scattered, I will be sanctified in them before the nations. And they will dwell in their own land, which I gave to my servant Jacob, and they will dwell there securely (or in hope). And they will build houses and plant vineyards, and they will dwell confidently (or in hope) when I execute judgments on all who oppose them (or have insulted them) on every side. And they will know that I am the Lord their God. And what follows, according to the Septuagint: And you, the God of their fathers, is not found in Hebrew. Furthermore, after Tyre, the speech turns to Sidon; for both cities are part of the same province. And in the Gospel, Tyre and Sidon are mentioned together: If the miracles which were done in you were done in Tyre and Sidon (Matthew 11:21). Therefore, even the Canaanite woman, whose daughter was possessed by a demon, because she came from the region of Tyre and Sidon, obtained what she had asked for (ibid., 15). But the divine word predicts that it will be taken captive by the Babylonians, and it will know the weight of its evils, that He Himself is the Lord: when He has judged it, and has been sanctified in it, and has consumed it with hunger and pestilence, and with the sword: so that it falls in its streets, and no longer becomes a stumbling block to the people of God, nor does it frequently attack them. But when this has been done, the people of Israel, whom He had dispersed into various nations, will return to their own land, and they will be sanctified in them, not for evil, as in Sidon, but for good, when He has shown mercy to them, and they will dwell in the land which He gave to their father Jacob, and they will dwell securely, and in the Lord they will trust, and they will build houses, and plant vineyards, when He has fulfilled His promises to them: and then they will know that He Himself is the Lord, whose promises are most firm. Many refer to the time of Zerubbabel, Ezra, and Nehemiah, when the people of Israel returned and lived in the land of Judah. Others, however, hope for its fulfillment in the last time and in a thousand years. Moreover, according to spiritual understanding, this seems to have a symbolic meaning for us. Sidonians are interpreted as hunters, about whom it is also written in the Psalms: Our soul has been rescued like a bird from the snare of the hunters (Psalm 124:7). And in Proverbs: The eye of a harlot is the snare of a sinner (Prov. XXIII, 27). But there are also hunters on the good side, of whom Jeremiah writes: Behold, I will send fishermen and hunters, who will hunt you down from every hill and mountain (Jerem. XVI, 16): whom the Lord also sends to fish, and makes them fishers of men (Matth. IV). Hence the village of Peter and Andrew is called by this name: For Bethsaida in our language means 'the house of hunters'. Against these wretched hunters, the word of God is directed, and the prophet is commanded to set his face against Sidon and not waver in the wind of doctrine, but stand firm in the truth and destroy his hunters. So what is it that the Lord threatens against Sidon? Behold, I myself will come to you and be glorified in you when I destroy you, and all who live will know that I am the Lord when I repay you according to what you deserve. And I will send pestilence and blood into your streets. And rightly are they called streets of Sidon: for it is a wide and spacious road that leads to death (Matt. 7). And the slain will fall, those who stood evilly by the sword in a circle: by that sword which the Lord came to send upon the earth, so that He may separate what is improperly joined, and so that those who remain may know that He Himself is the Lord. And when they have ceased, there will no longer be any stumbling block of bitterness, nor a thorn that pierces and wounds the people of God. But all these things are said against the opposing powers, that they may be destroyed in the end time, and there may be eternal security when the Lord gathers the house of Israel, those who perceive God with understanding. And he will be sanctified in them, and that which is written will be fulfilled: Be holy, for I am holy (Leviticus 19:2). And they will dwell in their own land, as we read elsewhere: I believe in seeing the good things of the Lord in the land of the living (Psalm 16:13). What Jacob gave, who had supplanted his brother earlier, and earned the primacy for himself. And they will dwell in it securely, either in hope, and they will build houses, plant vineyards, and dwell confidently in hope, according to what is read in Isaiah: Those who have been weaned from milk, those who have been taken away from the breast, expect tribulation upon tribulation, and hope upon hope (Isa. 60). But they will build houses, as also built in the Gospel, who established foundations not on sand, but on rock (Matt. 7). Of which it is written: Unless the Lord builds the house, they labor in vain who build it (Ps. 127:1). And in Exodus, according to the Septuagint: Because the midwives feared the Lord, they built houses for themselves (Exod. 1:21), and many such things. But when the Lord executes judgment against those who oppose or inflict insults on Israel, all creatures will know that He is the Lord, whose judgments are true and justified in themselves.

(Chap. XXIX.—Vers. 1, 2.) In the tenth year (or according to the LXX, the twelfth), in the tenth month (or, according to the Hebrew, the twelfth), on the first (or one) day of the month, the word of the Lord came to me, saying: Son of man, set your face against Pharaoh king of Egypt, and prophesy against him, and against all Egypt, and say: Thus says the Lord God. After Sidon, which is also situated on the coast of Phoenicia, the word of the Lord came to the prophet in the tenth year of the captivity of King Jehoiachin, in the twelfth month, and on the first day of the month, that he should set his face and strengthen himself against Pharaoh king of Egypt, and speak concerning him, and concerning all Egypt, against all of Egypt province. And prophesy regarding what will happen to them. But if we must say something about the numbers, which place does one hold among ten days: hence, at the beginning of Genesis, it is not said: There was evening and morning, the first day, but one day (Gen.1), in order to teach that the same day is always repeated: the tenth number holds the same order among ten decades, which is a hundred, and this number is taken up by the sacrificial lamb, so that it is sacrificed on the fourteenth day, and in this way it continues through its decades, with the order of its numbers proceeding to a thousand and ten thousand, and one hundred thousand, and beyond. But after the tenth year, the twelfth month is placed, so that the perfect number of twelve apostles and prophets (who are contained in one volume) may be shown. Moreover, according to the Septuagint, the tenth month, which is called Tebeth in Hebrew (), and in Egypt týbi, is called January by the Romans, because among them it is the door of the year: with all heat removed, it contains the beginning of winter cold. Let it suffice to have spoken about numbers. Moreover, that must be especially sought after, whether the Pharaoh referred to in Exodus, and Isaiah, and Jeremiah, and Ezekiel, and many other places, and in the Song of Songs is the same person or different individuals. And it seems to me that this word does not refer to a single person, but rather signifies the royal dignity among the Egyptians, like how the Romans called their emperors and kings from the first Caesar, Gaius Caesar, and the second, his adopted son Octavian, who was later named Augustus. And among the Syrians, there was Antiochus, among the Persians, there were the Arsacid kings, among the Philistines, Abimelech, and after Alexander, in Egypt, there were the Ptolemies until Cleopatra, who, when defeated at Actium, made Egypt a Roman province. Therefore, in the present time, the word of the Lord is directed against every king of Egypt, who is interpreted as the destroyer, the slayer and maimer, cutting and dividing all things with a sword. This is to be understood in a mystical sense referring to the power to which Egypt is subject. For no man would dare to say: 'The rivers are mine, and I have made them,' nor would the great dragon be called, sitting in the midst of its rivers; but Egypt is called Mizraim in Hebrew, and it is translated into our language as afflicting and troubling, narrowing down and oppressing those who are subject to it, and not lifting its eyes to heaven but, according to the Gospel and the example of that woman whom the devil had bent double for eighteen years, always sinking down to earthly things (Luke 13).' Let us therefore see what is the threat against Pharaoh and all of Egypt.

(Verse 3 onwards) Behold, I am coming to you, Pharaoh, the king of Egypt, the great dragon, who lies (or sits) in the midst of your rivers, and you say: The river is mine, and I have made it for myself (or them). And I will put a bit (or a snare) in your jaws, and I will stick the fish of your rivers to your scales (or feathers), and I will draw you out of the midst of your rivers; and all your fish will cling to your scales (or feathers). And I will cast (or put) you out swiftly (or into the desert), and all the fish of your river will fall upon the face of the land (or your field). You shall not be gathered together, nor shall you be assembled; I have given you to the beasts of the earth and the birds of the air to be devoured. And all the inhabitants of Egypt shall know that I am the Lord; because you have become (or were) a staff (or reed) of the house of Israel, when they took (or he took) you with their hand ((Vulgate is silent on his hand)), and you were broken, and you bruised their every shoulder, and those leaning on you were shattered, and you broke (or shattered) all their loins. We combine both editions of brevity, where they do not differ much from each other. Otherwise, when there is a great difference, we present both. However, it speaks against Pharaoh, the ruler of Egypt, and under his figure it speaks to great power, to which Egypt is given to govern, and nevertheless it boasts against its Creator, claiming dominion over the land for itself, and entrusting itself to be worshipped by the Egyptian nations. And it speaks according to the location of the province, as if to a king, relying on the flood of the Nile and not greatly desiring rains from the sky, and thinking itself to be the author of itself, or of the rivers, that is, the canals and streams of the Nile made by itself. No, he said, I will not send an Angel, but, O great dragon, who lie and dwell in the middle of your rivers, I myself will come to you for punishment. For you have dared to say: The Nile river is mine, and I am its creator: or, I have made the river by which all Egypt is watered. And when I come, I will put a bridle in your jaws: or I will bind your mouth with reins, with which you boasted so mightily, and I will make all your allies and leaders, whom you call fish, cling to your feathers or scales, so that you are dragged out of the river and thrown out or cast down. For you have exalted yourself excessively in the desert. And you shall fall on the face of the field, or of your land, because Egypt is a flat province. Your body will not be gathered, nor will you be gathered, that is, you will not be buried, but I will give you to be devoured by beasts and birds of the sky, so that when the inhabitants of Egypt see these judgments executed upon you, they may know that I am the Lord. But these things shall happen to you because you have deceived my people Israel with your false aid, so that they would not trust in their God and Creator, but in you. You were a reed staff to them, according to Isaiah (Isa. XXX), or an empty rod, and a very fragile reed, which, when they leaned on it, proved to be useless, so that when they leaned on it, it would break and tear their shoulder, and the hand with which they held on. And while they trusted in you, all the loins of those who fell to the ground would be broken, and those who received help from you would be wounded. But these things are said metaphorically as if to the king of Egypt, because even the province itself was not an adversary to Israel, but while it made great promises, it would separate them from God's help. But according to the anagoge, we often read about the opposing power of the dragon. Therefore, Pharaoh is called the scatterer, because he separates and disconnects from God, and Egypt, that is, Egypt (), is turned into a tribulation and affliction for those whom it can subjugate. This dragon is a transgressor, of whom Job speaks very fully (Job 41). And in the Psalms it is written: You have broken the heads of the dragon, and have given him as food to the people of Ethiopia (Psalm 74:14). And the great dragon is said to be compared to the smaller dragons, of which it is sung in the psalm: You have broken the heads of the dragons in the waters (Ibid.). And in another place: This great and spacious sea with hands. There are reptiles there without number: small animals with large ones, there the ships will pass: This dragon which you have formed to mock him (Ibid., CIII, 25 seqq.). As it is said in another place: He is the king of all that are in the waters, and the beginning of the representation of the Lord, who was made to be mocked by his angels (Job. XLI, 24, sec. LXX). But he sits, or lies down, in the midst of his rivers, not of one river, but of many, which we receive in various heresies, through which he flowed into Egypt of this age, and watered the souls of the deceived, not with rain from heaven, but with turbid waters from the earth, which Jeremiah does not forbid to drink, saying: What to you and the ways of Egypt, that you drink the water of Geon (Jerem. XI, 18) ? For which it is written in Hebrew Sior (), which word is translated into turbid and muddy waters. But so that we may understand what the rivers of the Egyptian dragon are, we will be able to know from their opposites. The Lord speaks of his rivers: Whoever believes in me, out of his belly shall flow rivers of living water (John 7:37). And to the Samaritan woman: Whoever drinks of the water that I shall give him shall never thirst; but the water that I shall give him shall become in him a fountain of water springing up into everlasting life (John 4:13-14). These are the rivers coming from heaven, of which David sings: The stream of the river makes the city of God glad (Psalm 46:4): undoubtedly it signifies the Church. Therefore, let us consider what is the punishment or penalty of the dragon. It follows: And I will put a bit or a noose in your jaws. This is similar to what Job says: You will draw out the dragon with a fishhook, and put a bridle around his nose. He trusts that the Jordan will enter into his mouth; he will receive it in his eye. However, a hook will pierce his nose, and a ring will be in his lips (Job 40:19). The Lord puts a bit in the jaws of this dragon, and pierces his lips and binds them with a ring. This happens when He silences him through Ecclesiastical men who are well-versed in the Holy Scriptures, and all the teachings of wickedness are dissolved. And the fish of its rivers agglutinate with its own wings, or scales, with which the heretics, through pride, hasten to high things, so that they themselves, bound together with the dragon, may become one body with it, and may be united to it either in the fellowship of error, or in the likeness of punishment: just as one who cleaves to the Lord is one spirit (I Cor. VI, 17). And indeed, the Egyptian dragon does not have one river, but many rivers, with which it waters humble and lowly Egypt, which has nothing in itself of mountains: nor the waters of Siloam, which flow silently, but turbid and muddy (Isa. VIII). And the Lord will remove him from the midst of his rivers, so that he does not incubate over them, nor sit upon them: and all the fish will adhere to his scales, according to the quality of his vices, throughout the body of the dragon, either to the head, or to the belly, or to the tail, and to the extremities sticking to it: so that when the dragon is removed, the fish also, which adhere to him, be likewise removed. And I will cast you, he says, into the desert, so that you will never find anyone to deceive. Surely, I will cast you down from the summit of your pride, and I will cast you down swiftly, according to the words of the Apostle: 'The God of peace will quickly crush Satan beneath your feet' (Rom. XVI, 20); so that the dragon, broken and cast down, the fish of that river may also be cast down, and the author of crimes may fall, who previously thought he could stand and run throughout the whole world. Let him fall upon the face of his own land, to which he was precipitated from heaven, so that he may no longer be gathered or congregated in the heretical Churches, nor buried among those who believed in him when they have been freed from him, but let him be given over to be devoured by the beasts of the earth and the birds of the sky. Regarding the beasts, it is written: 'Do not give the soul confessing to you to the beasts' (Psalm 73:19). And the birds of the sky, which eat the seed along the path, are interpreted to be the devils by the Savior (Matthew 13). For not only the prince of evil, but also his disciples are called devils, according to what is said of Judas: 'Have I not chosen you twelve, and one of you is a devil?' (John 6:71). The birds of the sky are called birds because they promise themselves things that are lofty, so that after the dragon with its fish is cast down and handed over to be devoured by the beasts of the earth, which have no gentleness in themselves, and by those who are blown about by every wind of doctrine (Ephesians 4), then all the inhabitants of this world may understand that he himself is the Lord. But the whole reason for punishments is that Israel sought help in vain, and it was a rod or reed staff, empty and void, having nothing of fullness in itself, because it could not say: But we all received from his fullness (John 1:16); when the Scripture commands: You shall not appear before the Lord your God empty or void (Exodus 23:15). And that we should not seek help from Egypt, Scripture elsewhere testifies: Woe to those who go down to Egypt for help (Isaiah 31:1). He taunts King Hezekiah with a reed staff like this and Rabsaces in vain, saying: Behold, you trust in a reed staff and in this broken staff, over Egypt: on whom if anyone leans, it enters his hand. Thus is Pharaoh, the king of Egypt, to all who trust in him. And indeed, he lied about the righteous king, mentioning these things, who is interpreted as 'multus poculo'. For he was intoxicated with the golden cup of Babylon, and therefore he fed his own people to the Lord who they confess. But here the pharaoh is reproached because he made the house of Israel to trust in a rod or reed, which promised them vain and fragile help, quickly to be broken. But that we may know what the reed rod is, on which the house of Israel ought not to trust, we may understand from the opposite rod and staff of the Lord, of which it is said to the Lord: Thy rod and thy staff, they have comforted me (Psalm 23:4). Aaron also had this rod, which devoured the Egyptian serpents, and when he struck the banks of the Nile, mosquitoes were generated in the whole of Egypt (Exodus VII, VIII). Moses also, according to the Septuagint, extended this rod and raised it to the heavens, and the Lord brought a south wind upon the land all that day and all that night, and in the morning the wind lifted locusts and brought them upon all the land of Egypt. I think that this rod is also mentioned in the Book of Numbers, that it blossomed and bore nuts or almonds (Numbers XVII). The Apostle had this when he said: What do you want? Shall I come to you with a rod? (I Cor. IV, 21). And those who celebrated the Passover held staffs in their hands, without which they could not support the weakness of the human body and eat the flesh of the lamb. This is the rod from the root of Jesse, upon which the seven spirits rested. But not like Pharaoh, nor like the staff of Egypt and the reed rod that deceives those who grasp it and tears their shoulders, that is, their strength. And whoever leans on it, his loins are loosened and he cannot stand; nor can he celebrate Passover, girded with his loins. This is fitting for those whose hearts and kidneys God examines.

(Verse 8 and following) Therefore thus says the Lord God: Behold, I will bring a sword upon you, and will cut off from you man and beast. And the land of Egypt shall become a desolation (or destruction) and a wilderness: and they shall know that I am the Lord: because he (or you) said, My river is mine, and I have made it (or My rivers are mine, and I have made them). Therefore behold, I am against you and against your rivers: and I will make the land of Egypt desolate, cut off by the sword from Migdol to Syene (or from Migdol to Syene and beyond) to the border of Ethiopia. The foot of man shall not pass through it, nor shall the foot of beast tread upon it; it shall not be inhabited for forty years. And I will make the land of Egypt a desolation in the midst of desolated countries, and her cities shall be desolate for forty years. And I will scatter (or disperse) the Egyptians among the nations, and disperse them among the countries. For thus says the Lord God: After the end of forty years, I will gather Egypt (or the Egyptians) from the peoples (or nations) among whom they were scattered. And I will bring back the captivity of Egypt, and I will place them in the land of Phatures, in the land of their birth (or in the land from which they were taken). And there they shall be in a humble kingdom (or principality), among the other kingdoms it shall be the most humble (or lowest). And they shall no longer be elevated above the nations, and I will diminish them so that they will not rule over the nations (or so that there are not many among the nations). And they shall no longer be a confidence (or hope) to the house of Israel, teaching iniquity in order to flee and follow them (or in order to remember the iniquity and follow them). And they shall know that I am the Lord God. You were a reed staff to the house of Israel, and not only were you broken in his hand, but according to Isaiah (Isa. XXXVI), you pierced his hand, and now you have torn his shoulder, and you yourself are broken, and you have loosened the loins of those who leaned on you. Therefore, I will bring the sword of the enemies upon you, and I will devastate both men and animals, and the land of Egypt will be reduced to desolation, and the Egyptians will know for the second time that I am the Lord. But I will not be content with this; but because he burst forth into such great blasphemy, that he said his own rivers were gods, and all the abundance of Egypt: therefore I will take away him who said he was the Creator, and the rivers which he had boasted were created by him, and I will reduce the land of Egypt to a long wilderness, and it will be destroyed by the sword, from the tower of Syene to the borders of Ethiopia. They called the tower, which in Hebrew is called Magdal (), 'the tower of the LXX,' so that they would write Μαγδαλὸν. However, the tower of Syene still stands today, a fortress subject to Roman rule, where the cataracts of the Nile are located, and up to which place our sea is navigable. Therefore, he says that the whole of Egypt must be depopulated until the borders of Ethiopia, where the outermost region of Egypt is joined, so that the chief priests may not cross into Egypt, nor may any animals be found there, and it may not be inhabited for forty years. For Egypt is spared, and because the Israelites were once guests there, the punishment is of shorter duration. Tyre celebrated its sabbaths for seventy years, and thus it was restored to its former state. The captivity of Judah and the destruction of the temple lasted for seventy years, until the reign of Cyrus, king of Persia. For the mighty will endure mighty torments (Wisdom 6:7). And when it says, 'I will make the land of Egypt a desolation, in the midst of desolated countries,' it refers to the Philistines, Edomites, Moabites, and all the other regions against which the prophecy of the prophets was given. Then he will scatter or disperse the Egyptians into nations, and will scatter them into lands. Because the Lord is merciful and compassionate, patient and full of mercy, after forty years the restoration of Egypt will occur, and all the captivity will be brought back to the ancient land, and will be placed in the metropolis city, which is called Phaturos, where it originated and from where it set forth: but only in such a way that it loses its ancient pride for its own benefit, and becomes a humble kingdom, or rather the humblest of all nations: so that it does not elevate itself above other peoples, nor have dominion over them; but reduced to a small number, it will by no means deceive the house of Israel with its confidence, nor teach them wickedness; whether it brings them to remembrance of their wickedness, that they sought the aid of Egypt by abandoning the help of God. And all these things will happen so that the Egyptians may know on the third day that He Himself is the Lord. We have briefly explained these matters, laying the foundations of history. Now the cloud of allegory must be discussed, and we will try to avoid both brevity and the lengthiness of this explanation. This is a discourse about the dragon, who said: 'The rivers are mine, and I made them.' (Above, same.) May the Lord Himself bring a sword upon him, as it is written in Isaiah: 'My sword is intoxicated in the sky; now it will descend to the earth to destroy humans and animals from it.' (Isaiah 34:5) Whatever the dragon seems to possess, whether of reason or simplicity, should be destroyed, not absolutely, but by the dragon itself, so that the dragons may perish and God may live, and the land of Egypt may become a wasteland, according to the higher understanding, whatever the dragon may perish by, and after its destruction, be reduced to solitude, ceasing to have the worst guest. And then shall men and beasts know, and the earth, being ruined, that He is the Lord, in that sense in which it is written in the seventy-seventh Psalm: When He slew them, then they sought Him (Ps. LXXVII, 34). For everyone who seeks, finds. It is indeed an act of God's mercy that the abundance of this world perishes, and the rivers of Egypt are dried up, and even their land becomes a desert, and the purpose of the Lord is scattered from the Tower of Syene, which means a circle, so that it may not have any righteousness in itself, even to the land of the Ethiopians, who are called the humble ones, so that every pride that had exalted itself against the knowledge of God may be destroyed and humbled for its own salvation. Neither the foot of man, that is, anything rational, passes through Egypt, nor does the foot of an animal walk in it: so that it does not hold even the simple ones, whom Pharaoh desired to keep in Egypt after dismissing the people, Moses objecting, and desiring that even the animals be liberated from the captivity of Egypt. And it shall not be inhabited for forty years, which number is always one of affliction and punishment. Hence Moses, and Elijah, and the Savior himself, fasted for forty days and nights, and the people were in the wilderness for forty years, so that afterwards they would be freed in Gilgal, having been circumcised, from the reproach and shame of Egypt (Exod. XXXIV; III Reg. IX; Matth. IV; Num. XIV). In the sacrament of this number, the prophet of the tribe of Judah also slept on the right side for forty days, and it was announced that the people would serve in Egypt for four hundred years (Gen. 7). They make forty decades, or four hundreds. The rains of the flood last for forty days and bring shipwreck to the world. For it was just that the one who offends God by loving and cherishing the four elements of the world, which are said to constitute everything, should be punished in that very number. And Israel, who sinned on the Sabbath, would endure the punishment of seventy years, which is the punishment of seven decades. And the barren land of Egypt is given, and its cities in the midst of the lands and of the subverted cities, which are not built of stones, but of mud and straw, so that Egypt, which was joined together poorly, may be dispersed and scattered into the lands, and so that the wheat may be separated from the straw, and when the completion of forty years is reached, there may be restitution of Egypt, and its captivity may be brought back, and it may be placed in the land of Phatures, which is interpreted as trampled bread; where that bread which said, 'I am the bread that came down from heaven' (John 6:5), was trampled upon by heretical wickedness: so that when they come to the Church, they may dwell in trampled bread, and may not be lifted up in pride, but may be in a humble kingdom. And also, when they are restored to their previous state, they should humble themselves, because they lived in Egypt and built brick cities, and among many kingdoms they should be humble in the Church, and they should know whom they have sinned against, and Egypt should no longer be exalted above the Churches throughout the divided world, but should be reduced to a few, and only a few should remain among the nations, according to what is written: Give them, O Lord. What will you give them? Give them a barren womb and dried-up breasts (Hosea 9:4), so that they may not rejoice and exalt themselves in the multitude of deceivers, but be reduced to a few: For many are called, but few are chosen (Matthew 20). And let them no longer deceive the house of Israel, that is, the Church; nor promise them vain hope and confidence, teaching iniquity, so that they may avoid the discipline of the Church and pursue Egyptian pleasures. But these things will happen so that the Egyptians may know for the third time that He Himself is the Lord. This, it seems to me, is said for this reason: that the first knowledge of the Egyptians is in the flesh, the second in the soul, the third in the spirit. First, upon the earth; second, after the completion of the conversation of this world; third, after the resurrection.

(Verse 17 onwards) And it came to pass in the twenty-seventh year, in the first month, on the first day of the month, the word of the Lord came to me, saying: Son of man, Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon caused his army to serve a great service against Tyre; every head was made bald, and every shoulder was rubbed bare; yet he had no wages, nor his army, for Tyre, for the service that he had served against it. Therefore thus says the Lord God: Behold, I will give Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon the land of Egypt; and he shall take its multitude, and take its spoil, and take its prey; and it shall be the wages for his army. I have given him the land of Egypt for his labor that he has performed for me, says the Lord God. On that day the horn of the house of Israel will sprout, and I will give you an open mouth in the midst of them, and they will know that I am the Lord. It is asked how after the tenth year of the previous discourse, immediately the twenty-seventh year is placed, and in the following years the twelfth and the thirteenth, and in the final description of the temple, the twenty-fifth. But the solution is easy. Because both the prophecy about Egypt and the previous one, and the one that is now being spoken, are covered, although they have been made at different times: yet they are joined together because they prophesy about one province. And we often read in Jeremiah, that times are described in a preposterous order. For the deeds of Zedekiah are reported first, and then those of Joachim who came before him. But in the Psalms, because it is a lyric poem, the order of the events is not sought. So let us speak first according to the letter. When Nebuchadnezzar besieged Tyre, and because it was surrounded by the sea, he could not join the rams, machines, and vineyards to the walls, he ordered an infinite multitude of the army to carry rocks and mounds, and when the middle sea, or rather the narrow strait, was filled, he made the neighboring shore an uninterrupted island. When the Tyrians saw that the city was now completely finished and that the foundations of the walls were being shaken by the battering of the rams, they loaded onto ships whatever precious things they had in gold, silver, clothing, and various furnishings that the nobility possessed, and carried them to the islands, so that after capturing the city, Nebuchadnezzar found nothing worthy of his hard work. And because he had obeyed God's will in this matter, after a few years of captivity in Tyre, Egypt was given to him; and Tyrus was much more cruel to Egypt. For she was attacking Jerusalem; this one was promising empty assistance. Indeed, it is one thing to deceive weakness with hope: it is another thing to fight against the people of God. Therefore, this is what Nebuchadnezzar, the king of Babylon, says: in the siege of Tyre, he made his army serve me, so that I may fulfill my will. Every head is shaved, and every shoulder is made hairless, carrying baskets of earth and stones with which shoulders are shaved, and the head is shaved; and yet neither he nor his army found anything worthy in Tyre. And when he served me in this way, and fulfilled my will against Tyre, therefore I will give him the land of Egypt. Some say that this was accomplished under Nebuchadnezzar; others say under Cambyses, the son of Cyrus, who devastated Egypt as far as Ethiopia, to the extent of killing the sacred bull Apis and destroying all their statues. For this reason, they believe that he was turned mad by the chance of a horse and killed himself with his own dagger. Herodotus recounts this history in great detail, describing all of Egypt through its villages, castles, and towns, and revealing the origin of the Nile and the people of that land, as well as the measurement of the land around to the desert of Ethiopia and the shores of the Great Sea, bordering Libya and Arabia. But the cause of the Lord's anger against Egypt is that it deceived His people by not allowing them to hope in God and by provoking Him to anger. On that day when Egypt is captured, the horn of the house of Israel will sprout: undoubtedly indicating a royal lineage. Some refer this to Zerubbabel, the son of Shealtiel, who was descended from the line of David through Jeconiah, while others refer it to the ultimate time, when they believe that Elijah will come. But we, by understanding the Lord's horn to be Christ, interpret the present history. And when, he says, this has been accomplished first, then your mouth will be opened, and your prophecy will not hang on uncertain promises, but it will be seen accomplished in action: so that all who hear may know that I am the Lord, of whom it has been said and done. These things, according to the letter, indeed according to the truth, have been spoken as prophecies. Furthermore, from the fact that Nebuchadnezzar received a reward for his good work, we also understand that even the Gentiles, if they do something good, are not overlooked by God's judgment without a reward. Therefore, through Jeremiah, Nebuchadnezzar is called the dove of God because he served the will of God against the sinful people. 'And I will bring my servant Nebuchadnezzar' (Jeremiah 25).' From this, it is clear that we are condemned in comparison to the Gentiles if they follow the natural law, which we also neglect even though it is written. Paul the Apostle discusses this matter at length in his letter to the Romans. And lest we seem to overlook anything according to spiritual understanding, we inquire where we find this number, that is, the twenty-seventh. In the book of Genesis, Scripture testifies (Gen. VII) that in the six hundredth year of Noah's life, in the second month, on the twenty-seventh day of the month, the waters of the flood came upon the earth, and after seven months of the same year, which is near the Sabbath, and on the twenty-seventh day of the seventh month, the waters of the flood ceased, and Noah's ark settled on the mountains of Ararat, which are interpreted as Armenia. From this we understand that the number is average and can be applied to both, when in this and the anger of God begins from the flood, and his mercy is shown in the seventh month on the same day. And because among the Hebrews the month, which with us is measured by the Kalends, Nones, and Ides, is calculated according to the course of the moon: whence also in the Greek language it has received the name μήνη, that is, moon, it is said that on the twenty-seventh day of the moon there remained little light, so that his anger may not be without mercy. But when the whole orb of the moon is filled up, then both Easter is celebrated and all the greatest solemnities. Which we have set down strictly, so that we may know that in this number, both good and evil are contained equally. Good for Nebuchadnezzar, to whom his labor is rewarded; evil for the Egyptians, whose destruction is announced.

(Chapter 30, Verses 1 and following) And the word of the Lord came to me, saying: Son of man, prophesy and say: Thus saith the Lord God: Howl ye, woe, woe to the day: For the day is near, yea the day of the Lord is near, a day of cloud, the time of the nations shall be. And the sword shall come upon Egypt: and there shall be dread in Ethiopia, when the wounded shall fall in Egypt, and the multitude thereof shall be taken away, and the foundations thereof shall be destroyed. Ethiopia, and Libya, and Lydia, and all the rest of the people, and Chub, and the children of the land of the covenant, shall fall with them by the sword. Thus says the Lord God: The supports of Egypt shall fall, and the pride of her power shall come down; from Migdol to Syene they shall fall within her by the sword, says the Lord God. And they shall be desolate in the midst of the desolate countries, and her cities shall be in the midst of the cities that are laid waste. And they shall know that I am the Lord, when I have set a fire in Egypt, and all her helpers are destroyed. In that day shall messengers go forth from me in ships to make the confident Ethiopians afraid, and great pain shall come upon them, as in the day of Egypt: for, surely it is coming. Thus says the Lord God: I will make the multitude of Egypt cease by the hand of Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon. He and his people with him, the most ruthless of nations, shall be brought to destroy the land. They shall draw their swords against Egypt and fill the land with the slain. I will make the rivers dry and sell the land into the hand of the wicked; I will make the land desolate and all that is in it, by the hand of foreigners. I, the Lord, have spoken. Thus says the Lord God: I will destroy the idols and put an end to the idols in Memphis. There will no longer be a ruler in the land of Egypt, and I will bring terror to the land of Egypt. I will destroy the land of Pathros and bring fire to Taphnis. I will bring judgment upon Alexandria and pour out my anger upon the stronghold of Egypt, Pelusium. I will kill the multitude of Alexandria and bring fire to Egypt. Pelusium will suffer like a woman in labor, and Alexandria will be laid waste, with daily distress in Memphis. The young men of Heliopolis and Bubastus (or Bugastus) will fall by the sword, and the captives themselves will be led away. And in Taphnis the day will darken, when I shatter the scepters of Egypt and the pride of its power fails in it. It will be covered by clouds, and its daughters will be led into captivity. And I will execute judgments on Egypt, and they will know that I am the Lord. LXX: And the word of the Lord came to me, saying: Son of man, prophesy and say: Thus says the Lord God: Woe to the day! For the day is near, the day of the Lord is near; it will be a day of clouds, the end of the nations. And the sword shall come upon the Egyptians, and there will be turmoil in Ethiopia. And those wounded shall fall in Egypt, and they shall take away its multitude, and its foundations shall be destroyed. Persians, and Cretans, and Lydians, and Libyans, and all the mixed peoples, and from the sons of my covenant they shall fall by the sword. Thus says the Lord God. And the supports of Egypt shall be cut down, and the pride of its strength shall come down from Migdol to Syene. They shall fall by the sword in it, says the Lord God. And it shall be desolated in the midst of the desolated regions, and its cities shall be in the midst of deserted cities, and they shall know that I am the Lord, when I bring fire upon Egypt, and all who support it are destroyed. In that day, messengers shall go forth from my presence, hastening to destroy the hope of Ethiopia, and there shall be great turmoil among them on the day of Egypt, for behold, it is coming. Thus says the Lord God. And I will destroy the multitude of Egyptians by the hand of Nebuchadnezzar, king of Babylon himself, and his people with him, sent from the nations to destroy the land. And they will unsheath all their swords against Egypt, and the land will be filled with the wounded. And I will make their rivers desolate, and I will deliver the land into the hands of the wicked, and I will destroy the land and its abundance in the hands of foreigners. I, the Lord, have spoken. For thus says the Lord God: And I will destroy the abominations, and I will cause the officials of Memphis to fail, and the princes of the land of Egypt, and they will exist no longer. And I will bring terror to the land of Egypt, and I will destroy the land of Pathros, and I will bring fire upon Tahpanhes, and I will execute vengeance in Diospolis, and I will pour out my fury upon Sin, the stronghold of Egypt, and I will destroy the multitude of Memphis. And I will set fire to Egypt, and there will be a great commotion in Sais, and there will be a division in Diospolis, and the waters will be scattered. The young men of Heliopolis and Bubastis will fall by the sword, and the women will be taken captive, and in Taphnis the day will become dark when I break the scepters of Egypt there, and the strength of its power will be destroyed, and a cloud will cover it, and its daughters will be taken captive, and I will bring judgment on Egypt, and they will know that I am the Lord. After the twenty-seventh year of the captivity of King Joachim, we return to the present time when he began to prophesy against Egypt, that is, in the tenth year and the tenth month, on the eleventh day of the month. And the Lord commanded him to speak to all nations, and especially to Egypt. So what is it that he speaks? Howl, woe, woe to the day, for the day is near and the day of the Lord is approaching. It is not a bright shining sun, but a day covered with clouds, bringing a storm upon Babylon. And when the sword begins to devastate Egypt, there will be fear in Ethiopia, which is near Egypt, lest the Babylonian blade reach her even to herself. For the wounded will fall in Egypt, and its multitude will be taken away, and all its foundations will be destroyed, so that if someone from Ethiopia, and Libya, and Lydia, and from other various peoples is found in Egypt, and Chub, which Symmachus translates as Arabia, and from the sons of the covenant with the land, that is, from the people of the Jews, let them fall with that sword. For which nations, seventy were appointed: the Persians, and the Cretans, and the Lydians, and the Libyans, and all the mixed peoples, and the children of my covenant with the sword they will fall. And in order that we may know that all these nations were in aid of Egypt, the following speech demonstrates: And those supporting Egypt will collapse, that is, its allies, and all the pride of its empire, or the insult of its strength will be destroyed and deposed from the tower of Syene, which we said was located at the farthest borders of Egypt, or from Magdalo to Syene, as the seventy translated: all the cities of Egypt will be deserted, so that they may know the Lord, when the fire of the Chaldeans has devastated everything, and all his helpers have been worn down, and messengers have arrived near Aquila and Theodotion Siim, which Symmachus translated, hastening: we turn to the ships; for this is how we have received it from the Hebrews: so that all of Ethiopia's confidence may be crushed, and when the neighboring province has been laid waste, fear may grip the nearest. But in order that we may know who that sword is, which devastates Egypt and terrifies Ethiopia, it follows more clearly: And I will cause the multitude of Egypt to cease in the hand of Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon, who shall not only come, but shall come with many accompanying nations, so that all of Egypt shall be filled with the blood of the slain, and the wrath of the Lord shall be so great that the channels of the rivers, that is, the canals of the Nile, shall be dried up to the ground, and the land shall be deserted in the hand of the pestilence, or the multitude of the worst men of Egypt. For my words cannot be in vain, and there will be such indignation that the images of Egypt will be dispersed and the idols of Memphis, which is still the capital of Egyptian superstition, will cease to exist, whether it be the nobles and leaders of Memphis or the whole land of Egypt. But such terror will possess all of Egypt that the whole land of Phatures will perish and fire will devastate Taphnis, or as the Septuagint translates it, Tanin. And he said, 'I will establish law courts in Alexandria, which is called so today. But it had the former name 'No', which Aquila, Symmachus, and Theodotion translated as it is in Hebrew. For this, I do not know why, the Seventy, wishing something, said 'Diospolis', which is a small city of Egypt. But we have placed 'No' for Alexandria, by anticipation, which is called 'prolepsis' in Greek, according to that Virgilian phrase (Aeneid, book IV):

And I will pour out my indignation upon Sais, which we have turned into Pelusium, and it is called the strength of Egypt, because it has the safest harbor, and the sea trade is exercised there to the greatest extent. Hence the poet calls it 'lentil of Pelusium' (Virgil, Georgics I), not because this type of legume is produced there, or primarily there; but because it is brought from Thebes and all of Egypt through the Nile river to that place in large quantities. And he said, 'I will destroy the multitude of Alexandria, which is again situated in Hebrew No, not in Diospolis, but in Memphis, they transferred it to LXX. And to show that the city was populous at that time, he said, 'I will destroy the multitude of No (); and I will give fire, that is, the king of Babylon in Egypt, who will lay waste everything like fire. Sain, that is, Pelusium, will groan like a woman in labor: or it will be disturbed by turmoil; and in Alexandria, that is, in No, there will be a rupture, and the waters will be dispersed, for which they transferred it back to LXX Diospolis. However, it is the custom of the Egyptians, because of the flooding of the Nile, to build high embankments along the banks of the Nile. If these embankments are breached due to the negligence of the caretakers or the excessive magnitude of the water, the surrounding fields are not irrigated by water, but are instead overwhelmed and ravaged. This signifies that Egypt should be occupied by the Chaldean army in the same way that it is usually covered and corrupted by the overflowing waters of the Nile. Because of the flooding of the waters, and the breaking and breaching of the dikes, it is written in Hebrew: 'And there shall be daily distress in Memphis, where the Nile is divided, and where the temple of Apis is, and the oracles give their answers, there let daily distresses occur. The young men of Heliopolis, which in Hebrew is called On, and of Bubastis, another city, shall fall by the sword, so that the cities themselves, that is, their inhabitants or women, shall be taken into captivity, who are of the sex that is subject to harm.' But in Taphnis, which is the royal city, the scepters of Egypt, that is, the entire royal race, will be destroyed. And when its power, with the killing of the princes, is ended, then the day will darken, and all things will be filled with darkness and shadows, so that the city itself is covered in a cloud of sorrow and mourning, and its daughters, that is, the remaining towns, will be led into captivity. After I have executed judgments in Egypt and demonstrated that I am the judge of all, then the Egyptians will know that I am the Lord. We have described these elements as if for little children, so that they may be able to reach the reading of prose or poetry through letters, syllables, names, and the context of words. Now let us undertake anthropology and demonstrate, in a short like a painted picture, the very wide sea of discussion. The Word of the Lord, who was always in the Father, became a prophet, and He calls him not by his own name but the Son of Man. This is always understood in a good sense in the Holy Scriptures, specifically in the singular number, as in this same prophet, and in Daniel, and in the Gospel. Furthermore, the plural number is read in the opposite sense, as in this example: Sons of men, their teeth are weapons and arrows, and their tongue is a sharp sword (Psalm 56:5). And again: Sons of men, how long will you have heavy hearts? (Psalm 4:3). For the lion roars, and who will not be afraid? The Lord has spoken, and who will not prophesy? (Amos 3:8). Woe, woe to the day, says the Lord. For the day is near, and it approaches, says the Lord. It will be a day of clouds, a time or end of nations. Duplex consummatio est, aut generaliter omnium, quando finis advenerit, aut specialiter singulorum, quando tempus mortis institerit. Juxta autem dicitur, quia aeternitati comparatum, omne tempus breve est. Unde et Jacob centum et triginta annos quibus dixerat: pauci, inquit, et pessimi sunt dies mei (Gen. XLVII, 9) . Et Psalmista de universi generis humani fragilitate disputans, ait: Dies nostri quasi umbra pertransierunt (Ps. CXLIII, 4) . Considering this, we will not be lifted up by power, nor will we be incubating with wealth, nor will we rejoice in happiness, knowing that all things must quickly be taken away. And the beautiful day of the Lord is said to be when the conversation of the entire world will be destroyed, and with error removed, the truth will appear as one, and the days of clouds and mist. For no one, fearless and uncertain, awaits the judge without fear of judgment. And the time or end of the nations will not only be of the Egyptian nation, but of all nations, so that it may be made clear that prophesy applies to all nations. Following, a flaming sword will come to Egypt, a versatile sword, divine word, that will divide the good from the evil and consume the wicked with its fire. But in Egypt of this age, there will be fear in Ethiopia, those who stray through Egypt in the night of error and dwell in darkness, and whose darkness does not easily or at all turn to light. And those who have stood in wickedness will fall wounded in Egypt. And the multitude of Egypt will be taken away. For wide and spacious is the path that leads to death (Matthew 7:13). And its foundations will be destroyed, so that nothing of Egypt's former firmness remains: but with the desolate and worse foundations, let the foundation of Christ be laid, on which the Church will be built. For every plant that the heavenly Father has not planted will be uprooted (Matthew 7). Hence Jeremiah is commanded to destroy what has been built, in order to build better things (Jeremiah 1). The Ethiopians, Libyans, and Lydians, or according to the Seventy, the Persians, Cretans, Lydians, Libyans, and Chub, that is, the Arabs, and all the remaining common people, whom the Seventy translated as hybrids and mixtures. All of these, due to the diversity of vices and the interpretation of names that we have placed in the vision of Tyre, we can understand as different nations. Hence, the Apostle says: You, he says, who are called Uncircumcision, Gentiles in the flesh (Ephesians 2:11). For never would He have said that the nations are flesh and that others are spirit, as in another place: 'Behold Israel according to the flesh.' Hence it must be provided with special care that we do not turn back in our hearts to Egypt, from which we once have come forth, and that we do not find ourselves among the other nations and perish by the sword. As it is said in what follows: 'The young men of Heliopolis and Bubastus shall fall by the sword.' This will happen especially when the sons of the earth of the covenant or Testament of Mine are struck with the sword, of whom it is written: 'Woe to those who go down to Egypt for help, who trust in horses and chariots.' (Isa. 31:1) But if the people of other nations are slaughtered in Egypt, how much more will the sons of the earth, the covenant and Testament of God, be contemptuous of the bread of Angels, the pumpkins, onions, garlic, and cucumbers of Egypt (Num. XI) . Then the supports and props of Egypt, which sustained it in wickedness, will fall, along with the clever arguments of dialecticians and the tricks of philosophers. Also, the contemptuous and proud empire will be destroyed, those who speak arrogantly and consider Ecclesiastical simplicity meaningless. For indeed, from the tower of Syene to those things which are at the furthest boundaries of Egypt, adjoining Ethiopia and the Blemmys: where the Nile is unnavigable and the clamor of cataracts, and everything is impassable and full of serpents and poisonous animals. But if, as we said above, 'Magdala' sounds forth magnificence and 'Syene' a circle, it is clear that the riches of Egypt and its insolent power and magnificence, that is, boasting and exaltation, perish by force even to the circle of Egypt, where nothing is stable; rather, it turns in an uncertain course and reaches ruin. Then the cities of Egypt will be scattered, and the land will be deserted, and no assembly will remain, having any firmness, so that at the end of things they may know that He Himself is the Lord, when He sends fire into Egypt, which the Lord desires to burn, like hay, wood, and straw, which have been built upon the foundation of Christ, and all helpers of perverse doctrines will be crushed. From this it is to be understood that the knowledge of a false name, and those of whom it is written: Scatter the nations that desire war (Ps. LXVII, 32), are called partners and helpers of Egypt. On that day, they say, those messengers will go forth from the face of God, of whom it is written in the Gospel: Their angels always see the face of my Father who is in heaven (Matthew 18:20). And in the parable of the sower, the reapers are angels, that is, those who are messengers, are sent to gather all scandals and throw them into the furnace of fire, where there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth (Ibid. 13). And they will hasten to fulfill the command in order to deter or crush the confidence of Ethiopia, who have reached the highest peak of wickedness, so that Ethiopia may be crushed in the overthrow of Egypt, and may fear, because it is the day of the Lord's vengeance and vindication, when the darkness of sinners will flee and the light of virtues will remain. And he says, 'I will make the multitude of Egypt cease in the hand of Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon, to whom they were delivered to be punished. For he is the enemy and avenger who also received a reward, because he served in the conquest of Tyre, the multitude of Egypt, so that many in Egypt may cease who have always been there. But if anyone opposes, how can it be said in Deuteronomy: Your fathers descended to Egypt with seventy souls, but now you have become as numerous as the stars of heaven (Deut. X, 22): it is easily solved.' For He did not establish an example of the earthly multitude, but of the heavenly, which shines with virtues and is full of light, above which the bravest of nations, bring brought by the Lord, are proclaimed, so that they may scatter the earth, on behalf of whom the Seventy interpreters of plagues were sent. Which I do not know how it is consistent with those who are brought by the Lord, unless perhaps according to that example, the sending in of the very worst angels (Psalm 77:19): who will unsheath their swords upon Egypt, and will fill the land with the slain or the wounded, so that they may feel themselves to have been killed and wounded, and to such an extent Egypt is destroyed and has fallen into nothingness, that all the rivers of eloquence by which the errors of the Egyptians were washed away, with reeds and a pen, should dry up and be handed over into the hands of the worst, who may torment them, and the fullness of the land of Egypt, which had grown in evil, may be blotted out in the hands of foreign gods. For neither good, but wicked angels are put in charge of torments. It is necessary for them to know that the Lord has spoken. This is frequently assumed so that those who hear may know that these are not the words of prophets, but of the Lord, whose commandments cannot be nullified. It follows: And I will destroy the idols, which are abominations. The Seventy translated it: And I will cause the idols or the chief men of Memphis to cease, and the leader or prince in the land of Egypt will no longer exist. For it is the very character of the most merciful Lord to overthrow what is falsely constructed, so that no likeness which feigns the image of truth may remain in Egypt. Let the nobles of Memphis also perish, which is interpreted from the mouth; concerning which all the idols have been set up, so that with their heads cut off and the masters of the idols destroyed, there may be no ruler in Egypt, and all Egypt may be filled with terror and destruction. Concerning its cities, it is said: And I will destroy the land of Pathros, and I will bring fire upon Taphnehes, or upon Tanis, and I will execute judgments in No, which the Seventy translated as Diospolis; and I will pour out my indignation upon Zoan, the stronghold of Egypt. Phatures is interpreted as the crushing of bread; Taphnis, a humble command; Diospolis, for which the name Noah is given in Hebrew, is rest. Sain, temptation: by these names, the various gatherings of heretics and all forms of lies are revealed: those who trample upon the bread of the Church and despise it, and follow a humble commandment that does not lead to heavenly things, and indulge in pleasures, and are at rest; such as the rich purple-clad man we read about in the Gospel (Luke 16); and they serve the tempters: one of whom sought from the Lord the power to tempt Job. The Lord will destroy and burn all these things, and He will pour out His indignation over them, and He will scatter the strength of Egypt, so that they are reduced to nothing and no longer trouble the people of God, and make them rely on their own help; so that, having forsaken the truth, they may seek falsehood, and be wounded by their own support, just as one is injured by a reed staff. After this, it is said: 'And I will kill or destroy the multitude of Memphis, for which in Hebrew is called No, which the same Seventy translators have rendered as Diospolis, which means 'rest'.' For there are many who seek rest, and desire to lie on ivory beds, and to eat suckling lambs. Or, according to the Seventy, who are translated as Mempheos, there are many who talk in riddles: Take the splinter out of your eye, when they themselves have a beam in their own. And there is fire given in Egypt, which consumes verbosity and luxuries with its ardor. All temptation will grieve, and in Diospolis, which is again not put in Hebrew as No, there will be a tearing apart; so that waters may be poured out and every wicked assembly may be scattered, and may perish here and there. And according to the Hebrew in Memphis, there will be daily distress, as they will give an account for every idle word, so that they may understand that nothing of their Lord's judgment will pass by. The young men of Heliopolis and Bubastus will also fall by the sword. Heliopolis is called On in Hebrew, which means sorrow. But Bubastus, according to the Egyptian language, is an experience of the mouth. All of these who were unable to bear the pain of the world, but sought after the delights of Diospolis, and trusted in their flowery words and debated against other doctrines, will have the victories of their speech cut down by the sword of God's word; and those who are not young men, but are called women due to the weakness of their minds, will be led captive. Whether the cities themselves, with their boastful sorrows and jaws, will be led into captivity. And in Taphnis, he says, the day will turn black. Taphnae, according to interpretation, means yielding to the jaw, and it is understood to refer to the devil: those who yield to him will lose the light of truth, and they will transform day into night, and they will feel that the scepters of Egypt and all authority have been shattered in Taphnis, so that its contemptible strength or the pride of its power may fail, and the rays of the sun's justice may be blinded in a cloud, and not women, but daughters will be led into captivity; and the Lord will bring about not one judgment, but many judgments in Egypt. For just as there are many dwelling places for the righteous with the Father, so too there are different judgments for the punishments of Egypt, so that when all these things have been done, the Egyptians may recognize that He Himself is the Lord, whose true judgments are justified in themselves.

(Verse 20 and following) And it came to pass in the eleventh year, in the first month (Vulgate adds 'of the month'), in the seventh month, the word of the Lord came to me, saying: Son of man, I have broken the arm of Pharaoh king of Egypt, and behold it is not bound up, to be healed, that it may be tied with bandages, and clothed with strips (or to receive a healing plaster): and having taken hold of strength, he might hold the sword. Therefore thus says the Lord God: Behold, I am against Pharaoh king of Egypt, and I will break his strong arm, and shall cause the sword to fall out of his hand, and I will scatter (or scatter abroad) Egypt among the nations, and disperse them (or winnow them) into the lands (Vulgate: 'countries'). And I will strengthen the arms of the king of Babylon, and I will place my sword in his hand, and he will break the arms of Pharaoh, and they will groan with the groans of the slain before him. (or as it is in the Septuagint: And he will bring a sword over Egypt, and he will plunder its spoils, and take its plunder. It follows:) And I will strengthen the arms of the king of Babylon, and the arms of Pharaoh will fall, and they will know that I am the Lord, when I give my sword into the hand of the king of Babylon, and he extends it over the land of Egypt, and I will scatter Egypt among the nations, and disperse them into the lands, and they will know that I am the Lord. He returns to the order of prophecy; for after the twenty-seventh year he now places the eleventh. This question is also addressed in the previous passages. For when the word of the Lord was spoken against Tyre in the eleventh year, which was mentioned earlier, in the subsequent passages He speaks to Pharaoh in the tenth year. And again, He places the twenty-seventh year, as we have said, and now the eleventh. Leaving aside the other things that are contained in the order of the Psalms: the question is, how is the third Psalm placed before these Psalms in which David changed his appearance before Abimelech, and about Doeg the Edomite, and when he was found in the cave, and the fiftieth of penitence, in whose title it is shown that he came to Bathsheba, the wife of Uriah, although these previous Psalms come before the third, in which it is noted that he fled from the face of his son Absalom. But in the Psalms the response is simple, for it is a lyric poem, and in such a work the order of history is not sought; rather, it is the songs of individual events. But in history, it must be said that those things which have been said about one thing at different times should not be divided by speech, but concluded by the narrative of one place. For example, so that those things which have been said about Egypt at different times may be known in one order of reading. When we have said these things, nevertheless the question remains: Why in this same place was the word of the Lord to Pharaoh first spoken in the eleventh year, and later in the twenty-seventh, and then in the tenth year, when certainly according to the order, the eleventh year should have been first, the twenty-seventh second, and the tenth year third, and each prophecy should have been designated by year? To which we can respond: O the depth of the riches of the wisdom and knowledge of God! How inscrutable are his judgments and how unsearchable are his ways! (Romans 11:33). And in another place: Who can search out the depths of knowledge? (Sirach 1:2-3). However, we can say this, that the order of history is not observed in the prophets, at least not in all cases, for they do not narrate the past, but they foretell the future, according to the will of the Holy Spirit. But in history, the books of Moses, Joshua, Judges, Ruth, Esther, Samuel, Malachi, Chronicles, and Ezra, together with Nehemiah, do not contain a chronological account. Let it suffice to say this about the order of years. Now let us examine the prophecies against Pharaoh or concerning Pharaoh. It is said that God broke his arm and it was not bound up or healed, nor did he receive any ointment, according to what is written: 'There is no ointment to be applied, nor oil, nor bandages' (Isaiah 1, sec. 70). But if it had happened that, with courage regained, he could hold the sword and proceed to war. Therefore, God, who is merciful and compassionate, once again shattered his arm or arms, so that the sword may completely fall from his hand, and be scattered among the people of Egypt, and be dispersed among the nations. But in your arm, receive strength and courage, as the Scripture says: 'Break the arm of the sinner and the evildoer' (Psalm 9:15). This arm is broken in our adversaries, when they pursue us, but cannot overcome us. And for the salvation of the servants of God against Pharaoh, the king of Babylon often rises up to oppress the powerful oppressor, and the wicked are handed over to the more wicked, with God strengthening the arms of the worst, so that the one who is set free may know that He is the Lord. Indeed, it is an achievement of virtue to know that He is the Lord. On the contrary, we can say: The sons of Eli, the sons of pestilence, not knowing God (1 Samuel 2:22). And concerning the good kings who did what was right in the sight of God, it is written that they may know the Lord. But that which is said in the Septuagint: 'I will break his strong and appointed arms', which in Greek is said 'τεταγμένα', has been corrupted by the fault of copyists. For they interpreted it not as 'τεταγμένα', but as 'τεταμένα', which means not appointed, but stretched out. For this reason, according to their custom, other interpreters have put 'exalted' instead.

(Chapter 31.) And it came to pass in the eleventh year, in the third month, on the first day of the month, that the word of the Lord came to me, saying: Son of man, speak to Pharaoh king of Egypt and to his people: Whom are you like in your greatness? Behold, Assyria was like a cedar (or cypress) in Lebanon, beautiful in branches and dense with foliage, towering in height, and its top was among the thick foliage (or in the midst of clouds). The waters nourished him: the abyss lifted him up; his rivers flowed round about his roots, and he sent forth his channels to all the trees of the region. Therefore his height was exalted above all the trees of the region, and his boughs were multiplied, and his branches were elevated above many waters. And when he had stretched forth his shadow, all the fowls of the air made their nests in his branches: and under his branches all the beasts of the field brought forth their young, and under his shadow dwelt all the multitude of nations. And it was most beautiful in its magnificence, and in the spreading (or multitude) of its shrubs (or branches): for its roots were near the waters. The cedars (or cypresses) were not taller than it in the paradise of God, and the firs (or pines) did not reach its summit, and the plane trees (or firs) were not equal (or similar) to its foliage (or branches). Every tree of the paradise of God (or in the paradise of God) was not like it and its beauty, because I made it beautiful (Vulg. made him beautiful), and with many thick branches, and all the trees of delight (or pleasure) that were in the paradise (Vulg. adds of God) envied it. Therefore thus says the Lord God: Because it has exalted itself to the height, and has set its top among the thick clouds, and its heart is proud of its height, I will give it into the hand of a mighty one of the nations. He shall surely deal with it as its wickedness deserves. I have cast it out for its wickedness. Foreigners, the most ruthless of nations, have cut it down and left it. On the mountains and in all the valleys its branches have fallen, and its boughs have been broken in all the ravines of the land, and all the peoples of the earth have gone away from its shadow and left it. In its ruins all the birds of the sky made their homes or found rest, and all the beasts of the field dwelt among its branches. Therefore, all the watered trees will not be lifted up to their full height, nor will they set their lofty tops among the thickly leaved trees or in the clouds. Nor will all those irrigated by water stand tall, for they have all been delivered to death, to the farthest depths of the earth, in the midst of the sons of men, to those who descend to the pit. Thus says the Lord God: on the day when he descended to the underworld, I proclaimed mourning (or the abyss mourned for him): I covered him with the abyss, and I held back its rivers and restrained its many waters. Lebanon was shattered (or darkened) over him, and all the trees of the field withered (or failed). At the sound of his downfall, nations were shaken (or trembled), when I brought him (or her) down to the underworld with those who descend (or descend) into the pit; and on the weak earth the splendid and magnificent trees of delight (or luxury) in Lebanon were consoled: and all were watered by the waters. For they themselves, whether with her or with him, went down to the underworld to the slain or wounded with a sword, and the arm or seed of each dwelled beneath her shadow, perished in the midst of the nations or their own lives. To whom have you likened yourself, O illustrious one, and sublime among the trees of pleasure! Behold, you are brought down with the trees of pleasure to the lowest earth, you will sleep in the midst of the uncircumcised, with those who were slain by the sword. So Pharaoh and all his crowd, says the Lord God. I combined both editions in the usual way, however, where they disagreed the most, so as not to increase the size of the books with a double proposition. And first it must be understood that whatever is said about the future Assyrian king is mentioned in the Septuagint as if already fulfilled, and thus it speaks of the tree or the prince of the Assyrians, so that both the masculine and feminine genders are understood to refer to one person, while the tree is related to the Assyrian and the Assyrian is called the tree. And there is no mention in the present discourse of the Babylonian king, lest it seem to provoke the anger of the lords and rulers against the captive people placed in Chaldea, but it is said of the king of the Assyrians, who at that time had already been captured by the Chaldeans, and all the strength of the Assyrians was subject to the Babylonian yoke. Therefore, the ten tribes, that is, Israel, are captured by the Assyrians; but the Chaldeans overpower the two tribes, that is, Judah and Benjamin, and they overthrow the city of Jerusalem. Therefore, in order to speak against Pharaoh, the king of Egypt, and his people, God used the following divine words in the beginning: 'To whom have you become similar in your greatness? Behold, Assyria is like a cedar in Lebanon, and so on.' And the meaning is: Do not be surprised if you are to be defeated and destroyed by the Babylonians, and if your empire is to be destroyed, and if all the wealth of Egypt is to be destroyed, since Assyria, much stronger than you, was destroyed by the same Chaldeans who conquered you. And he described the power of the king of Assyria under the figure of a cedar tree, according to the Hebrew, the Septuagint, and the Cypress, which was planted on Mount Lebanon, which is beautiful with branches and dense with foliage, and it reaches up to the clouds, and it grew so much because it was irrigated not by water, but by the abyss, that is, by very abundant waters. For the abyss is the multitude of the sound of waters: so that all birds have made their nests in its branches, and all the beasts of the field have given birth under its foliage. And so that we would not doubt what were the flying creatures of the sky, and what were the beasts of the woods, he explained more clearly: And under its shade dwelled a multitude of diverse peoples. Cedars, he said, and cypresses, firs or pines, and plane trees or cypresses were not equal to its branches. And so that he would not speak separately about all the trees, he said, all the trees of the paradise of God are not likened to it, and to its beauty. Through these things, some understand that it is not spoken about the Assyrian king, but about an opposing strength, which is said to be generated in the speech of Tyre among the Cherubim, and distinguished by precious stones, and afterwards to have fallen to earthly matters because of his own fault, who is also called Lucifer when he is falling in Isaiah (Isaiah XIV), and is signified in the Gospel by the Lord: I saw Satan falling like lightning from heaven (Luke X, 12). But we should understand all these things as hyperbolic statements made in history, that Assyria had such great power, and it oppressed all nations so that it compared itself to the strength of angels. However, everything metaphorically is said to be under the highest cedar or cypress, referring to Assyria, and the killing of it is called its destruction. And what follows: I have given it into the hand of the mightiest nations, it calls the king of Babylon, so that what conquered Assyria, it understands was not its own strength, but of divine power. According to him, I expelled her because of her impiety, so that secretly she might warn Babylon that it should not be cruel or oppress the people of God, who have been handed over to her, lest she suffer the same fate as Assyria, which was cruel and impious. And strangers will cut her down, the most cruel of nations; or, according to the Septuagint, the pestilent: which he would never say (or rather, wanted to say) while he was in Chaldea, so as not to arouse them against his nation. She is also cast upon the mountains, and her branches fall swiftly in the valleys, and they are shattered against the rocks, and she is abandoned by all the peoples, that is, by the birds of the sky and the beasts of the field, and she will come to such destruction that all the trees that were considered tall in comparison to the tree of Assyria will be raised up by her example and lifted up on high; and they will no longer stand at their height, but they will be cut down along with her in fear. And what was said through the translation becomes clearer. All, he says, were handed over (understood: kings to death) to the deepest land (that is, to the underworld), in the midst of the sons of men (by no means among the trees) to those who descend into the lake. There is no doubt that it signifies the underworld. After the cutting down of the Assyrian tree, or on the day when the Assyrian descends to the underworld, and the Lord inflicted mourning (or commanded mourning), again through the translation he speaks about him being covered by the abyss, according to what is written: 'I went down to the depths of the sea, and the storm engulfed me' (Psalm 68:3); and all the rivers, that is, all the nations, ceased to flow beyond him, and he was grieved, or darkened over it, that is, the tree, or him, that is, the Assyrian, Lebanon. So that we may not think that the tree has speech, it follows: I moved the nations by the sound of its falling. For what great ruin of one tree can there be, that all nations are moved by its sound? 'When I brought it down to the underworld,' he says, 'according to the letter, a tree cannot be brought down to the underworld with others who were descending into the pit, that is, to the underworld.' And the lowest parts of the earth, namely the heart of the earth, were consoled, because all the trees of pleasure, or delights, which in Hebrew is called Eden, were there, signifying delightful and excellent groves and forests that were in Lebanon and were watered by streams. For even the trees themselves, along with him, that is, the Assyrian, descend into the underworld, to the dead or wounded by the sword. The trees are not wounded by swords, but they are cut down, and they do not descend into the underworld. And the arm, he says, or the offspring (since in Hebrew the word 'Zara' means both), will rest in its shade among the nations, not of forests but of peoples. In the end, there is an apostrophe to the Assyrian himself, or to Pharaoh. To whom have you been compared, O illustrious and sublime among the trees of pleasure? None was your equal, they say, but you surpassed all kings in power. And yet, when you were led with the other kings, who were in your company to the farthest lands, that is, to the depths below, as Scripture says: They shall go to the ends of the earth, they shall be delivered into the hand of the sword, they shall be the portion of foxes. (Ps. LXII, 10, 11). In the midst, it is said, you will lie with the uncircumcised, with those who have been slain by the sword. He showed what were the trees, what cedar, or cypress, wounded by swords, and lying with the uncircumcised. And yet he would join the extremities to the preceding ones, because he had said above: To whom are you like in your greatness: behold the Assyrian as a cedar in Lebanon, fair in branches and leaves, and the rest, now it is brought forth: Thus is Pharaoh, and all his multitude, says the Lord. How, he says, is the Assyrian, the cedar and cypress, fallen by the Babylonian, thrown down: thus Pharaoh and his people, that is the very tree and its branches, will be thrown down by the Babylonian. In the meantime, let these things be said according to history, which most people understand will happen at the end of the world, and let the king of Pharaoh, that is, the power to which Egypt is subject, be compared to the most powerful king of the Assyrians, that is, the antichrist: if he falls, surely the other rulers of these darknesses and the princes of the world will fall more easily. Let us therefore briefly touch on each one, so that we do not so much discuss and explain obscure things, but rather seem to have given material to those who desire to explain. And first it must be discussed why, in the eleventh year, in the third month, on the first day of the month, the word of the Lord came to Ezekiel, saying: Son of man, speak to Pharaoh of Egypt and his multitude. When speaking to Pharaoh, in the eleventh year the word of the Lord was spoken, for it had not yet come to the twelfth year, which is the number of full and complete power. Hence, there are also twelve sons of Jacob (Genesis 35), from whom later the twelve names of the prophets are contained in one volume. And there are twelve Apostles (Luke 6), of whom one, Judas the traitor, is replaced by Matthias. And the daughter of the synagogue official, who is twelve years old, is raised by the Lord (Mark 5). The woman with the issue of blood is also healed in the twelfth year. But because Pharaoh is rebuked and mourned later, therefore the third month and the eleventh day of the twelfth year are linked together. Hence, in the subsequent twelfth year, in the twelfth month, on the first day of the month, the word of the Lord comes to Ezekiel, saying: Son of man, lament for Pharaoh king of Egypt and say to him. For the one who mourns, mourns in order to understand how many goods he has lost; and yet, because Pharaoh was there, and his arm had not yet been bound, nor had he regained his former strength: therefore, in the twelfth year and month, there are still twenty-nine days remaining, in order to complete the number of twelve years. Therefore, on the first day of the month, the word of the Lord came to the Prophet, and he was commanded to speak to the king of Egypt and his people. It is remarkable that the four interpreters did not say 'people' but 'multitude'. For many are called, but few are chosen (Matthew 22:14). And in the law it is written: 'You shall not be with the multitude in evil.' And it is said to the king of Egypt: 'To whom have you likened yourself in greatness or in height?' For he himself will be exalted and subject to this sentence: 'Everyone who exalts himself will be humbled' (Luke 14:11). But let him not be like him in height, who has been like a cedar or a cypress in Lebanon, beautiful with branches and leafy; and raised his head in height, even to the clouds, to which, according to David, the truth of God reaches (Psalm 36), and to which they are commanded not to rain upon Israel. Beauty is also praised, which, when turned by wicked will into ugliness, so that it can be said of him: The Lord will break the cedars of Lebanon: and he himself, being exalted on the highest mountains of Lebanon, the higher he had been, would fall even more forcefully. The holy Scripture, desiring to demonstrate his majesty, calls him the great cedar, which was nourished by waters, not the waters of Siloam that flow silently, but the waters of Rasin and the waters of Egypt, of which it is written: Why do you want to drink the waters of Geon, or Sion? which is said to sound the turbid waters. The abyss also exalted him above which at the beginning of the world darkness was carried (Gen. I), and to which in the Gospel the demons beg not to be sent (Luke VIII). The rivers of the same abyss were around its roots, of which it is said: What do you have with the ways of the Assyrians, to drink the waters of the rivers (Jer. II, 18)? And in another place: Behold, the Lord will bring upon you strong and abundant river water, the king of the Assyrians and all his glory (Isa. VIII, 7). The abyss also sent forth its streams to all the trees of the region, in order to irrigate not only the prince of this world, but also his companions. Therefore, it was elevated and grew above all the tallest trees, and its bushes multiplied, and it possessed the empire of the whole world, saying: 'All these things have been handed over to me' (Matthew 4:9). And its branches were elevated, because they were watered by the abyss. It spread out and extended its shade, in order to subject everyone to its dominion. All the birds of the sky made their nests in its branches. For everyone who sins is born of the devil, and is counted among its branches. But those birds made their nests in its branches, which, according to the Gospel, devour the seed by the wayside. Either because all have sinned and are in need of God's mercy, as it is said: All have turned aside, they have become altogether useless. Therefore, they made their nests in its branches. It follows: And under its branches all the beasts of the forest, who have lost Christ's gentleness, were born, and under its shade dwelt a multitude of nations, so that there was no one who was not covered by its shade, except for him who said: Behold, the prince of this world is coming: and he will find nothing in me (John 14:30). For by one man sin entered into the world, and by sin death (Romans 5:12); and thus death passed unto all men, in whom all have sinned, and in Adam all die, and we all have sinned, and we are in need of the glory of God (1 Corinthians 15). And yet, even within this dwelling, there is a diverse condition. Some dwell in its branches like birds, boasting knowledge of philosophy and the teachings of heretics. Others are like wild beasts, fierce and cruel. Others are like a multitude of many nations, symbolizing a mixture of different vices and sins. Now, Assur was most beautiful in its size and in the spreading of its foliage, for its roots were nourished by many waters. It was so tall in the garden of God that no cedar or cypress could surpass it, nor could fir trees and pine trees match its height, nor were plane trees equal in foliage to it. Therefore, no tree of the plants in paradise was equal to it, because every wood of the paradise of God is not similar to it and its beauty. For they were not raised up by pride, but they knew their humility, nor did they attempt to claim the likeness of God in their sacrilegious mind. And what follows: And all the trees of delight that were in paradise envied it, we shall explain as follows: The trees of paradise envied the abundance of its branches: For many are called, but few are chosen (Matt. XX, 16). And; The broad and spacious way that leads to death (Ibid. VII, 13) . For he desires to have as many for salvation as Assur had for destruction. Therefore, because Assur was exalted in height; and he gave his flourishing and dense height, even to the highest clouds, and his heart was lifted up to say: I will be like the Most High (Isa. XIV, 14) , therefore he was delivered into the hand of the strongest of nations: which we understand as another detestable power, to which he is delivered for punishment: for he himself is an enemy and avenger; so that Assur may be understood as Antichrist, and the strongest of nations to which he is delivered, Satan, according to the saying of the Apostle: Whom I have delivered to Satan, that they may learn not to blaspheme (I Tim. II, 20) : Who will perform for him whatever has been commanded to him by the Lord. But this cypress was expelled from the paradise of God because of its impiety; and strangers and cruel, or pestilent, people will cut it down among the nations, so that what is written may be fulfilled: The fool, when scourged, will become wiser (Proverbs 19:25). And again: The axe is already laid to the root of the trees (Matthew 3:10); those who cut it down on the mountains, so that it may fall in its pride. However, in all the valleys, its branches will fall, so that all those who were in its company are led down to Tartarus, and they will leave its shadow and abandon it, so that the birds of the sky and the beasts of the earth, which were previously under it and protected by its shadow, will then share in its punishment. And when they see the other trees of the forest, or of Paradise, they will not be elevated in pride, nor consider themselves to be anything, nor will they regard the abundance of their own water as riches: because all the branches and birds of the sky, and the animals of the earth, which were under the dominion of Assyria, will be brought down in death to the lowest earth. Of which it is written: In his sight all who go down to the earth will fall (Psalm 21:30). And in another place: They shall go to the outermost parts of the earth (Ps. LXII, 10): and they shall in no wise be with the Angels, but with the sons of men, who descend into the lake, or into the eternal pit. But when he shall descend to the outermost parts of the earth, and a part of the foxes shall be from whom he will be torn: then there shall be mourning either of all his companions, or of the holy fortitudes, which will grieve for him having descended to the underworld. Hence the Lord says: I have covered him in the deep, whose waters he had been nourished by before; and I have stopped his rivers, that is, the depths, and I have restrained many waters, so that they would not irrigate him, but rather oppress him. Lebanon was grieved over him, in which he had been exalted, and all the trees of the field were shaken, fearing a similar destruction. From the sound of its downfall, nations were moved, so that no one would be ignorant of its ruin and descent to the underworld with its companions. And all the trees of pleasure, that is, of paradise, received consolation, while they saw evil punished with evils, and good restored to the good. But these trees of Lebanon are watered by the streams of the Lord, in which that fallen tree had also been watered. Whether all the trees that were once good and irrigated by waters, and dwelt in the height of Lebanon, will receive consolation when they see their prince endure similar torments. For they themselves will descend to hell, to the dead killed by the sword of the Lord, and all the might of the trees will dwell under its shadow, that is, in punishment, amidst all the nations that will be held captive in the prisons of hell. After this, the discourse turns to Pharaoh himself, to whom it was said in the beginning, to whom have you been likened in your greatness? And he said to him: To whom have you been compared, O renowned and lofty one, among the trees of pleasure? Surely to the Assyrian who fell. And you were renowned and lofty among the trees of Eden, which is to say, of delights and paradise. And behold, you have been brought down like the Assyrian, with all the trees that were once in delight, to the lowest earth and to the underworld, and you will not sleep in peace, but in torment amidst the uncircumcised, that is, the unclean, and with those who have fallen by the sword of the Lord. And so that we may know who is the one to whom he said: O illustrious and lofty among the trees of pleasure, he puts it more clearly: He is Pharaoh, and all his multitude. Or according to the Septuagint, it is thus Pharaoh, and all his multitude, so that just as the Assyrian was cut down and fell, so may the Egyptian be overthrown.

(Chapter XXXII, verse 1 and following) And it was in the twelfth year, in the twelfth month (or tenth), on one day (the Vulgate is silent on the day) of the month, the word of the Lord came to me, saying: Son of man, take up a lamentation for Pharaoh king of Egypt, and say to him: You are like a lion among the nations, and like a dragon in the sea; you stirred up your horns in your rivers, and troubled the waters with your feet, and trampled their (or your) rivers. Therefore, thus says the Lord God: I will spread my net over you in the multitude of many peoples, and I will draw you up in my dragnet (or I will draw you up with a hook). And I will throw you down on the ground; on the surface of the field I will cast you (or your fields will be filled). And I will make all the birds of the sky dwell upon you, and I will satiate all the beasts of the earth with you, and I will give your flesh over the mountains, and I will fill the hills (Vulgate adds yours) (or valleys) with your filth (or your blood) and I will irrigate the land (or the land will be irrigated) with the stench (Vulgate feces; alternative odor) of your blood (or your dung) over the mountains, and the valleys will be filled from you. And when you are extinguished, I will cover the sky and make its stars darken: I will hide the sun with a cloud, and the moon will not give its light. I will make all the luminaries of the heavens mourn over you: and I will bring darkness upon your land, says the Lord God. And I will provoke the hearts of many peoples when I bring your destruction upon the nations and lands that you do not know. And the people will be astonished, and their kings will be greatly terrified when my sword begins to fly against them, and they will be suddenly dismayed, each for his own life, on the day of your downfall. Because thus says the Lord God: The sword of the king of Babylon will come upon you. I will cast down your multitude (or your strength) with the swords of warriors (or giants): all these nations are invincible (or pestilent from all nations), and they will destroy (or lay waste) the pride (or injury) of Egypt, and his multitude (or all his strength) will be scattered (or crushed). And I will destroy all its livestock that were upon many waters (or from many waters): and the foot of man shall no longer disturb them, nor shall the hoof of beasts trouble (or trample) them. Then I will make their waters very pure (or so that their waters may finally rest), and I will bring their rivers like oil (or so that oil may flow), says the Lord God, when I make the land of Egypt desolate (or destroyed). But the land will be deserted from its abundance (or with abundance) when I strike (or scatter) all its inhabitants: and they will know that I am the Lord. The daughters of the nations will lament for him, and they will lament for him over Egypt and its multitude (or over all its strength), says the Lord God. We mix both editions, but only in those places where they differ. Otherwise, where there is only one meaning, we follow the Hebrew text. In many copies, according to the Septuagint, the twelfth year and tenth month are stated; according to other interpreters, the tenth year and twelfth month, either because Jerusalem has already been captured and Pharaoh's joy is taken away from him, due to the impending evils; or certainly it is to be captured and Israel should mourn more for its own miseries than rejoice in the captivity of others. And meanwhile, briefly laying down some foundational history, let us examine what the Hebrews understand in this place. Pharaoh is compared to a lion, not of one people, but of many peoples; or to a sea serpent, who possesses the land and the waters and was raised in pride by the irrigation of the rivers, which is called a horn, and by the multitude of his army, he could disturb all the waters as he passed through them: therefore, it is said that his net is spread out over his multitude, to catch him with its fishing net or hook, and to throw or extend him on the ground, who had been wrapped in many coils like a snake, so that he could be devoured by all the birds of the sky. And when not only the birds but all the beasts of the earth have torn him apart, his remaining flesh will fill the mountains, valleys, and fields, so that everything teems with worms. This, however, is metaphorical, indicating that after the birds of the sky and the beasts have been satiated with his flesh, that is, his army, and the rest of the multitude is turned into worms and putrefaction. Then it says, the heavens will be enveloped in darkness: the sun, moon, and other celestial bodies will not give their light, but everything will turn black over you: nothing joyful will be for you, and for your destruction all the peoples and all their kings will be terrified in great horror, seeing my sword flying here and there and sparing no one, and in your ruin they will fear a similar ruin. But so that you may know who this sword is, listen more clearly: The sword of the king of Babylon will come to you: with the swords of the mighty, or the giants, I will cast down all your multitude. These giants are invincible nations, which were held by the army of the king of Babylon. They will devastate or destroy the pride of Egypt, and all its multitude: and nothing will remain in Egypt, but both men and brute animals will be taken away together. And there will be such a solitude in Egypt that neither the foot of a man, nor the hoof of a beast, nor the water of its rivers shall be disturbed, but all shall be calm; and the waters of its rivers shall flow like pure and shining oil, with no one passing through them, nor disturbing their flow. And this shall happen because of the solitude of Egypt, which shall be turned into a desert by its own multitude: when its inhabitants are struck by the Lord, so that those who remain may understand that he is the Lord. Therefore Pharaoh lamented, and the daughters of the nations lamented him in a circle. Not only over him, but also over his multitude, which, being devastated by the Lord, was destroyed. Let it suffice to have hastily said these things in a simple letter, let us come to spiritual understanding. And I do not believe that we need to labor greatly to know who Pharaoh, the king of Egypt, is, since we will explain more fully above, namely that power to which Egypt is entrusted; either one province, or Egypt of the whole world, which is not established like a lion, but is assimilated to the lion of the nations by its own fault. For when a man is in honor, he does not understand; he is compared to senseless beasts, and becomes like them. (Psalm 49:20) Concerning this, Peter also speaks of the lion: Our adversary the devil prowls around like a roaring lion, seeking whom he may devour. (1 Peter 5:8) And in the ninth psalm, it is written: He lies in wait secretly like a lion in his den; he lies in wait to catch the poor. And in Jeremiah, the Holy Spirit says: A lion from the forest has struck them down. (Jeremiah 5:6). But the dragon is called the devil (for which the Eagle has interpreted as Leviathan, explaining the name of the dragon), as I have taught with many testimonies, who said: My are the rivers, and I made them. Therefore, this dragon, with his rivers, as if with horns, scattered many nations: which we can understand concerning Marcion, Valentinus, Arius, Eunomius, and the other leaders of heresies, who imitate the ecclesiastical men, saying to the Lord and Savior: In you we will scatter our enemies with a horn (Ps. 43:6); and they do not scatter for salvation, to be lifted from earth to heaven, but to be thrown down into the depths. Finally, it follows: And you were disturbing the waters with your feet; according to the words of the Apostle: But he who troubles you, will bear judgment (Gal. V, 10). For he does not want to drink the waters of Siloam, which flow silently (Isa. VIII), but the turbid and muddy waters of Egypt, which were pure and flowing in their own order before they were trampled by the feet of the dragon; but after they were disturbed by his feet, they lost their course. For heretics do not use the testimonies of the Scriptures that agree with themselves, but rather confuse everything. And because he is an enemy and avenger, not only does the Egyptian dragon disturb alien waters with his feet, but he tramples his own rivers so as not to spare those whom he has once brought under his power. The righteous, desiring to avoid this, prays: Let not the foot of pride come upon me (Ps. 35:12). And in another place, being trampled, he asks not to be trampled again: Have mercy on me, O Lord, for man has trampled upon me (Ps. 55:1). But the enemy is a man who is a devil, about whom another psalm speaks, 'Let not man be magnified over the earth.' Therefore, thus says the Lord God: I will spread my net over you, in the multitude of many peoples (Ps. IX, 18). The net of the Lord, woven together by the reason of the old and new Testament, is sent upon the dragon, who dwells in the multitude of peoples, and always delights in the tumult and multitude of peoples, so that he may draw him in his snare or in his hook. This is the net that is cast into the sea of this world, and it draws in many other fish to be chosen, and others to be cast away (Matt. XIII). Or this is the hook, of which it is written in Job: Thou shalt take the dragon by the hook, and encircle his nostrils with a bridle (Job XL, 19); for which Aquila interpreted: Thou shalt draw out Leviathan with a hook, and bind his tongue with cords. Now the dragon, or Leviathan, is drawn out of the sea by the hook or net of the Lord, to be cast away, or extended upon the earth, and all its coils, in which it concealed its snares, shall be uncovered and brought forth in public, and cast down to the earth, and he who had placed his mouth in heaven shall lie down, and boast of being like the Most High. From this it follows: And I will make all the birds of the sky dwell or settle upon you, and I will satisfy all the beasts of the earth with you, according to what is written: You have given him as food to the peoples of Ethiopia (Ps. 73:14). Those that are called birds or beasts of the earth (Matt. 13; Luke 8). Birds, which, as we have said, snatch the seed along the path. Beasts of the earth, which can be referred to heretics and pagans, given to vice. But what follows: And I will give your flesh upon the mountains, and fill your hills with your gore; or, I will fill the valleys with your blood, has this meaning: that we understand the deceitful people, the cruelty of the pagans, both the birds of the sky and the beasts of the earth, and that we return the mountains to the leaders of heresies, such as Valentinus and Marcion, and the hills to their successors who are filled with the gore of the dragon; or the valleys, which are filled with the blood of the dragon, to the lowest of the believers. But certainly there are opposing powers in the mountains that roam in the air, and valleys that penetrate the depths, and they are bound by eternal torments. Furthermore, what is said, 'And I will water the land with the stench of your blood over the mountains,' or, 'The land will be watered with your excrement over the mountains, and the valleys will be filled with you,' signifies that every pride and the arrogant swelling of heretical pride is filled not so much with vital and pure blood, but with putrid and foul-smelling blood, according to what is written: 'Make them like the dung of the earth' (Ps. LXXXII, 11). About whom the saint is freed from the Lord: He raises up the needy from the earth, and lifts up the poor from the dung heap. To seat him with princes, with the princes of his people. (Ps. CXII, 7, 8). However, the valleys in the depths, as we have said, signify either hell or the humble sense of the heretics due to pleasure and earthly wealth that make everything. But what is joined: And I will cover the heavens when you are extinguished, and I will make its stars black: I will cover the sun with a cloud and the moon will not shed its light, all the luminaries of heaven will mourn, or I will make them dark over you, and I will give darkness over your land, says the Lord God, if we follow the letter, it cannot be fully understood. For when Pharaoh, or the serpent sun, and the moon, and the stars did not give their light, and the heavens were covered in darkness, according to that poetic (Virgil, Georgics I):

And the impious have feared the eternal darkness. Therefore, this must be said, that with the extinguishing of Pharaoh, who transformed himself into an Angel of light, about whom it is written elsewhere: The light of the wicked will be extinguished (Job XVIII), the heavens or the highest heavens will be covered in darkness. Of which even Paul speaks: For our wrestling is not against flesh and blood, but against the Principalities and Powers, against the rulers of this world of darkness (Ephesians VI, 12). And the Lord will cause his stars, or the dragon, or the heavens, to darken. On which also Jude the Apostle writes: Wandering stars, for whom the gloom of darkness is kept forever (Jude XIII). The sun is also covered by a cloud, the sun of iniquity, which is contrary to the sun of justice, but by a cloud, even by the Lord and Savior Himself, who descended into Egypt upon a light cloud (Isaiah 19), not weighed down by any burden of sins, or by the prophets and Apostles, of whom we read: 'I will command the clouds, that they rain no rain upon it' (Isaiah 5:6). And in the Psalms: 'Your truth reaches unto the clouds' (Psalm 36:6). But when the sun of iniquity is obscured, the moon, which we understand to be the Church of heretics, and which was thought to receive its light from the sun of iniquity, will not give its light, nor will it deceive believers with the false knowledge of its name. Moreover, all the lights and everything that appears to be in heretics' doctrine will be extinguished, the dragon being destroyed, and dried up, they will mourn, the prince being lost, so that the Lord himself may cover the land of the heretics with darkness, namely ignorance of the truth, so that the blind may lead the blind into the pit, and the inhabitants of the earth may be cast into outer darkness, where there is weeping and gnashing of teeth. After this it is said: And I will provoke the heart of many peoples, when I bring your contrition, or your captivity, among the nations upon the earth which you do not know, so that those who previously served Pharaoh may be angry against him, seeing his captivity brought to another land, which the dragon did not know to exist. Nor should we doubt that those lands are good, which Pharaoh does not know, namely when the captivity of Pharaoh is changed by another captivity, of which it is said to the Savior: Ascending on high, he led captivity captive: he received (or, according to the Apostle (Ephes. IV, 8), gave) gifts to men (Psal. LXVII, 19). And I will cause many peoples to marvel at you, he says, so that those who previously admired Pharaoh's power may afterwards marvel at his downfall from his own height. The kings of the nations will also fear him excessively, whose kingdoms the devil shows to the Lord and of whom it is said in the psalm: The kings of the earth stood up, and the princes gathered together in one (Ps. II, 2). This, however, will happen when the sword of the Lord begins to fly over their faces, understood as the kings or the peoples. The sword of the Lord, moreover, is to be understood as the living word of God, powerful and sharp on both sides, which flies and runs, and wounds the eyes of those who see it and terrifies their faces, so that, amazed by the downfall of Pharaoh, they see themselves thrown down in it. And indeed, the sword of the Lord, about which it is written: Behold, this one is set for the fall and rising again of many (Luke 2:34), raises up those who are lying down, and by humility, transforms those who are badly erected. But the sword of the king of Babylon will come upon the Egyptian dragon, so that, like the swords of the mighty or giants, the Lord may cast down the multitude of those who followed the king of Egypt. Inexorable, he says, or pestilent from the nations, all of these, so that they may be handed over to worse evils for punishment, about which it is written: He sent among them the anger of his wrath, fury, and affliction, by sending evil angels (Psalm 78:49). And the Apostle says: 'Whom I have delivered up to Satan, that they may learn not to blaspheme, but rather to be saved in the day of judgment by the destruction of the flesh' (I Tim. I, 20). But when through such ministers the pride of Egypt has been cast down and its multitude scattered, all the beasts that were upon many waters will perish, and the foot of man will no longer disturb them. For if blessed is he who sows upon the waters, where the ox and the ass tread (Isa. XXXII); on the other hand, unhappy is he who can retain only the simple things and is thus unable to reach his own error, so that the foot of man does not tread upon them, as if they did not even seem to have the sign of wisdom and reason, the waters of Egypt within themselves. Moreover, the hoof of the cattle will not disturb them so as to make them muddy and turbid from being clear and bright. Then the waters, which had been disturbed by the dominion of the dragon, will be restored not by another, but by the Lord Himself: so that their rivers flow like oil, and they become the nourishment of true light. However, these things will happen when the Lord has made the land of Egypt desolate, and has destroyed its multitude, and all its inhabitants have been struck, so that they may know by this event that He Himself is the Lord. But what is joined: it is a lament, and the daughters of the nations shall lament over Egypt, and over its multitude they shall lament, says the Lord God; it is clear to the souls of all nations, which were previously oppressed, whether the nations that did not dwell in Egypt at all, but lived in the land of the living, to lament the slain dragon, and all its multitude: not in hope of salvation, but because he, through his own fault and pride, has been cast down into eternal punishment of such great power.

(Verse 17 onwards) 'And it came to pass in the twelfth year, in the fifteenth month, that the word of the Lord came unto me, saying: Son of man, mourn for the multitude of Egypt, and bring her down, even her and the daughters of the mighty nations, unto the nether parts of the earth, with them that go down into the pit. Wherein art thou fairer than any woman? go down, and be thou laid with the uncircumcised. Among them that are slain with the sword, they shall fall: the sword is given: draw her and all her multitudes.' The most powerful of the strong ones from the middle of the underworld will speak to him, who descended with his helpers (or his own) and slept with the uncircumcised and those killed by the sword. There Assur and all his multitude, around his tomb, all the slain and those who fell by the sword, whose tombs were given in the furthest depths, and his multitude became a circle around his tomb, all the slain and fallen by the sword who once caused fear in the land of the living. There Aela and all his multitude around his tomb: all these were killed and fell by the sword, who came down uncircumcised to the nethermost parts of the earth: who caused their terror in the land of the living, and bore their shame with those who descend into the pit. In the midst of the slayers his bed was set in all his people: his tomb is round about him. All these uncircumcised, slain by the sword. For they had (Vulgate: they had given) their terror on the land of the living, and they carried their disgrace with those who descend into the pit; they were placed in the midst of the slain. There are Mosoch and Thubal, and all his multitude, around his grave. All these are uncircumcised, and fallen by the sword, who had given their terror on the land of the living. And they shall not sleep with the mighty, and with the fallen, and with the uncircumcised, who have descended to the underworld with their weapons, and have placed their swords under their heads; and their iniquities shall be upon their bones, because they have become terror among the land of the living. And so you will be crushed among the uncircumcised, and you will sleep with the slain by the sword. There Edom and its kings, and all its princes who have been given with their armies, are laid with the slain by the sword, and they sleep with the uncircumcised, and with those who descend into the pit. There are all the princes of the north, and all the Sidonians, who have gone down with the slain; they are ashamed and confounded because of their strength; they sleep uncircumcised with the slain by the sword, and bear their shame with those who descend into the pit. Pharaoh saw them and consoled himself over his entire multitude, which was killed by the sword, Pharaoh and all his army, says the Lord God. For I have given (or I have caused) my terror in the land of the living, and he slept among the uncircumcised with those killed by the sword, Pharaoh and all his multitude, says the Lord God.» This passage differs greatly in the Septuagint edition, both in order and translation, and some additions from Theodotion are included in it. Where it was necessary, we also included the text itself, not sparing in length and serving the diligence of the eager reader.

70. And it came to pass in the twelfth year, in the fifteenth month: the word of the Lord came to me, saying: Son of man, lament over the multitude of Egypt, and bring down her daughters to the nations of the dead in the depths of the earth, to those who descend into the pit (Moreover, under the asterisks it is added: + Descend from the most beautiful water; + and sleep with the uncircumcised ** Again it follows in order): In the midst of the slain by the sword they shall fall with him, and all his strength shall sleep, and the giants shall say to you, descend, you who are better, descend, and sleep with the uncircumcised in the midst of the slain by the sword. There Asshur, and all his congregation. (And that which follows: * There all the wounded were given, * and his grave in the depths of the pit, * and his congregation is not found in Hebrew, but was added by the Seventy. Again it is said): Around his tomb all the wounded who had fallen by the sword. (And again from Theodotion's Edition it is added under asterisks: + Those who gave his tombs on the sides of the lake; + and his congregation was made around his tomb. + All these wounded and falling by the sword. After these things the Seventy placed): Those who gave their fear in the land of the living. There Aelam, and all his strength, are around his tomb, all wounded, and falling by the sword: and those who descend uncircumcised into the depths of the earth, who brought their terror upon the land of the living, and received their torment with those who descended into the pit among the wounded. There Mosoch and Thubal were given, and all their strength around his tomb, all his wounded, all uncircumcised and wounded by the sword, who brought their terror upon the land of the living, and did not sleep with the giants who fell from eternity: who descended to hell with the weapons they used in battle, and placed their swords under their heads, and their iniquities became part of their bones, for they terrified the giants in their lifetime. And you will be broken in the midst of the uncircumcised, and you will lie with those who are slain by the sword. There Edom and its kings, and all the princes of Assyria, who gave strength to it, lie with the uncircumcised, with those who are slain by the sword; they lie with those who go down to the pit. There are all the princes of the north, all of them, and all the Sidonians, who have gone down with the slain; in shame they lie uncircumcised with those who are slain by the sword, and bear their disgrace with those who go down to the pit. Pharaoh will see them and will find comfort in all their strength: Pharaoh wounded by the sword, and all his strength, says the Lord God. Because I have put his fear upon the land of the living, and he will sleep in the midst of the uncircumcised, with those who are wounded by the sword, Pharaoh and all his multitude, says the Lord God. I am not unaware that such a discrepancy between two editions will be displeasing to the delicate reader. But what can I do about my slanderers, who, if I subtract anything from the translation of the Septuagint interpreters, accuse me of sacrilege and shout without fear of the Lord, especially since they disagree with the truth of faith and follow the errors of the Manichaeans, stirring up the souls of the unlearned by pointing out anything that may have changed in ancient customs, desiring to err willingly rather than learn anything true from a rival. And meanwhile, according to the story, the meaning is clear. For in that same twelfth year, and in the same, as we think, month, but not on the same day as above, but on the fifteenth day, not against Pharaoh, but against the strength or multitude of Egypt, a lamentation is taken up, which is taken away from its pride with all its daughters, or with the strong nations to the farthest land, that is, to the depths of hell, and it is said to the king of Egypt: How much better are you, that you deserve to escape death? For when Assur, and Elam, that is, the Persians, and Mosoch, who are called Cappadocians, and Thubal, whom some understand to be Iberians, others Italians: also the Edomites, and the rulers of the North, and the Sidonians with all their armies, who by their aid have struck horror into all nations, are dead, and have been slain by the sword, and have placed their swords under their heads, which expression must be understood emphatically, will you alone be able to endure the same? But rather, when you see such a great multitude of sleeping souls with you in the underworld, and your tomb surrounded by the memories of once mighty princes, you will find comfort, considering the lighter torments to be of less consequence in the company of many. For now, let it suffice to have expressed these things briefly according to the simple meaning. Now, let us, with the same brevity as the difficulty of explanation allows, delve into spiritual understanding and the highest wisdom. Above, on the fifteenth day of the month, the word of the Lord came to the Prophet. But in the first of these [months], that is, on the Kalends, the beginning of the month is: on the fifteenth, when the whole orb of the moon is filled, and if it is the first month, it is the first day of unleavened bread; but if it is the seventh, it is the day of setting up the booths (which are the greatest of the solemnities among the Hebrews). Indeed, there is mourning over the strength of Egypt, so that it ceases to be strong in evil: and it receives weakness, and when it is weaker, then it becomes stronger. For the fortitude of Egypt, in Hebrew it has multitude. For wide and spacious is the road that leads to death, and many enter through it (Matthew VII, 13): as it is said to Israel on the contrary: But you are few among all nations (Deuteronomy XXVIII): for virtue is always rare, and the path that leads to life is narrow and confined, and few are those who enter through it. But what is mourned for Egypt, and her dead daughters, according to the Septuagint, or strong nations are led to the farthest land in the lake, or in the deepest pit, the souls dwelling in Egypt of this age are signified, who have lost him who says: I am the life (John XIV, 6): and dead from sins, they are dragged down to the underworld by the weight of their sins, as the sinner says: For my iniquities have gone over my head, and like a heavy burden they have pressed heavily upon me (Psalm XXXVII, 5). These are the things about which it is written in another place: They will go down into the depths of the earth, they will be handed over into the hands of the sword, they will become the prey of foxes (Ps. LXII, 10). For he who digs a pit will fall into it (Eccli. XXVII, 29; Ps. VII, 16). And so we also read: He opened a pit and dug it, and fell into the hole he made. And what follows: How beautiful you are, descend and sleep with the uncircumcised, is properly addressed to Pharaoh, the king of Egypt, or as it is added in the Septuagint from Theodotion, to Egypt itself: Descend from the most beautiful water, and sleep with the uncircumcised. What specifically pertains to him, who is reborn in the baptism of Christ, and hearing with the Church: Who is this that ascends, leaning upon her brother (Song of Solomon, 8:5)? Afterwards, either through fornication or other filthy sins, he is cast out of the Church, and it is said to him: Come down from the most beautiful water, and sleep with the uncircumcised, that is, with the unclean, according to that sense which the Apostle establishes: We are the circumcision (Philippians 3:3), who serve in the spirit of God, and glory in Christ Jesus, and have no confidence in the flesh. Hi all in the midst of the wounded, or slain, shall fall with Pharaoh, by that sword which the Lord is coming to send upon the earth. For as the sword of Christ separates the good from the evil, saying: I came not to send peace upon earth, but the sword (Matth. X, 34): so the sword of heretics cuts off ((Al. slaughters)) all peoples, and leads the wounded down to hell. These are very powerful and rebellious giants, who raise their mouth high and the more they exalt themselves in pride, the more they are brought down to the depths of the pit and to the very last part of the inferno, all of whom have been killed by the sword. And so that Pharao or all the strength of Egypt might know, which was dragged down to the infernal, which allies he had in punishments, the following speech demonstrates: There Assyria, and all his multitude, or his assembly. For the prince of heretics is the devil, whose true assembly is a synagoga, of which it is said in the Apocalypse: But Synagogas of Satan (Apoc. II, 9). But I think the following verses, which are marked with an obelus, should be passed over, and it should be said what is contained in the Hebrew: In their circuit, their tombs, namely of those deceived by him. All who were wounded or killed by the sword, and therefore fell, their tombs are given in the depths of the lake. But that the lake is called Infernus is clearly shown by that Psalm in which the penitent speaks: I am likened to those who descend into the lake (Psalm 27:1). We should by no means understand it as the Latin word for lake, which in Greek is called λίμνη, as in the Lake of Tiberias, Lake Como, and Lake Benacus, and many others, but those which we do not usually call cisterns. The Scripture testifies that sinners and all heretics dig up the lakes, because they cool the waters and take away all heat, and as far as my memory serves me, no saint has dug up a lake, that is, a cistern. But all sinners, including King Uzziah who had leprosy and fell by his own pride, about whom it is written that he was a man lying in the works of the earth, and built many towers of pride in the corners, and dug up lakes (2 Chronicles 26). On the contrary, it is said: Drink water from your own vessels, and from your own fountains (Prov. V, 15). And again: Let your fountain be your own. Therefore the Lord speaks: They have forsaken me, the fountain of living water, and dug up cisterns, which can hold no water (Jer. III, 13). It follows: And her multitude has become all around her grave. All these surround Assyria, and there is a great multitude of them, who are all wounded and slain, and falling by the sword. For none of them can withstand Moses, nor can they hear: You who stand in the house of the Lord (Psalm 134:2); but all were wounded and killed, and those who once struck fear into the hearts of the living, now fear those who were entrusted with the Churches, lest they make the people of the living into the people of the dead, and deceive even the innocent. Hence Paul also said: But I fear that as the serpent deceived Eve by his cunning, your thoughts may be corrupted from the simplicity that is in Christ (2 Corinthians 11:3). But here this fear is mitigated by the hope of the Lord, as Ecclesiasticus says: The Lord is my light and my salvation, whom shall I fear? The Lord is the protector of my life, from whom shall I tremble? (Psalm 26:1-2). After this it is said: There is Aelam (or Assyria) and all its multitude around his tomb, undoubtedly the Assyrians. Aelam is translated into our language as their ascent. For all those who, despising the humility of Christ, have embraced the pride of the devil and consider themselves to be something in the knowledge of a false name, are to be called Aelamites, who surround the king's tomb of the Assyrians and are killed and wounded with the sword. And although they may set their mouth on high, yet they descended unclean and uncircumcised to the uttermost parts of the earth, so that the higher they were exalted, the more forcibly they fell. These have set their terror not once, but a second time in the land of the living. For who among the Church is secure from the terror of these Alemites, and has not lost someone from his flock? And indeed the Church of Christ is aptly called the land of the living, so that the assemblies of heretics may be thought of as the land of the dead in contrast. And they carried, he says, the disgrace and torment with them into the lake, and into the depths of hell: their resting place is in the midst of the slain, namely those whom they have cut down with their sword, and they are surrounded by such peoples. These peoples are the peoples of the Assyrian king, and although they boast of being circumcised: nevertheless they were uncircumcised and were killed by the sword, and for the third time they have given terror and fear to the land of the living. Where they brought their torment and punishment in their midst, those whom they deceived with their frauds. There also, that is, near Assyria, are Mosoch and Thubal, and all his multitude around his tomb: all uncircumcised and slain, falling by the sword, who had put their fear in the land of the living. For Mosoch and Thubal, Symmachus and Theodotius interpreted their abode, so as to show the dwelling places of heretics, rather eternal pits, to be the punishments of the Assyrian king. Masochism is interpreted as madness: Thubal, conversion, not from evil to good, but from good to evil; or it can be understood as a universal madness that causes all heretics to go insane and intentionally turn towards worse things. (Romans 12). It is not surprising that they are insane and prone to evil, as they are allies of the Egyptian king who rejoices in numbers. All of these have been killed by the sword, those who had instilled fear, not once, not twice, but three times among the living, as we have mentioned before. It follows: And they do not sleep with the strong, or with the fallen giants, and not with the uncircumcised, who descended to the underworld with their weapons; and they placed their swords under their heads; and their wickedness was in their bones; for the terror of the strong was made in the land of the living. These, he says, who had been the leaders of the heretics, have reached such a pinnacle of evil and torment that they do not deserve to suffer similar punishments even with the strong and giants, who fell from the beginning. Who, in no way repenting of their own error, descended into the underworld with their weapons, rebelling against God and His Church; carrying weapons with them, of which it is written: The teeth of the sons of men are their weapons and arrows (Psalms 56:5); and they placed, it is said, their swords under their heads, resting in their minds to destroy; and embracing the darts of their judgments as the highest victory; to the extent that their iniquities were in their bones, that is, possessing the strongest inventions and doctrines of their own error. Because the strong became terrified in their lives, both in the land of the living. This is said in the fourth (section), that the strongest, those who had knowledge of the Scriptures, and those who were from the region of the living, would be terrified by their wickedness, as they descend to hell with their weapons, and they place their swords under their heads, and their iniquities reach even to their bones. After this, it is written: And so you will crush (them) in the midst of the uncircumcised ones (Rom. XVI, 20), which is said either to Pharaoh, or to the strength, or to the multitude of Egypt, and that she herself may be crushed, according to what is written: But may God quickly crush Satan under your feet. And you shall sleep, he says, with those killed by the sword, in eternal sleep. There, with the Assyrian and with the Egyptian multitude, there will be Idumea and its kings, all who served earthly works or delighted in bloodshed. For indeed Idumea sounds earthy and bloody. All the kings and all the rulers of whom the Apostle often speaks (Phil. III), who were devoted to earthly works and daily shed the blood of those whom they deceived with their deceit, slept with the uncircumcised and unclean, and with those who descended into the pit, of whom we have spoken above. In that very county they will be, and the princes of the North, from whom evil is kindled upon the earth. And by whom, either in Jeremiah (Jer. 1) or in this same prophet (Above XXII), that pot full of flesh and bones is kindled. And not only the princes of the North, but all the rulers of Assyria, for which in Hebrew it is more accurately stated, all the Sidonians, whom we translate as hunters, according to what is written: Our soul is like a bird escaped from the snare of the hunters (Ps. 123:7), for which in Hebrew it is stated, the Sidonians. Those from Sidon, or hunters, who will be led trembling to the underworld, once relying on their own strength, will sleep impure, and will carry their own confusion or torment, having the everlasting remorse of a guilty conscience, so that their fire may not be extinguished (Isaiah 66), and their worm may not die (Mark 9). When Pharaoh sees all of them, he will be comforted, either still possessing his former malice and seeing many partners in his punishment, or certainly he was comforted, seeing them also being confounded in their torments and terrors over his entire multitude that was killed by the sword, namely of Pharaoh, or of all his allies, especially the king of Assyria, and Meeshech and Tubal and the Edomites, and the princes of the north, and the Sidonians. For they had instilled their terror in the land of the living. And it is said in the fifth place, that we should beware and flee from all nations of this kind, which have deceived us in all senses and are known to be dreadful, and can only be avoided if we guard our hearts with all diligence. He slept, it is said, and Pharaoh himself along with his allies were slain by the sword. His allies, a multitude, went along a wide and spacious path to eternal punishments.

(Chapter XXXIII, Verse 1 and following) And the word of the Lord came to me, saying: Son of man, speak to the children of your people and say to them: When I bring a sword upon a land and the people of the land take one man from among them and make him their watchman, and he sees the sword coming upon the land and blows the trumpet and warns the people, then whoever hears the sound of the trumpet and does not take warning, if the sword comes and takes him away, his blood shall be upon his own head. He heard the sound (or voice) of the trumpet, and did not pay attention, his blood shall be upon himself: but if he takes heed, he shall save his soul. But if the watchman sees the sword coming, and does not blow the trumpet; and the people are not warned, and the sword comes and takes any person from among them, he is taken away in his iniquity; but his blood I will require at the watchman's hand. And you, son of man, I have made you a watchman for the house of Israel. Therefore hear from my mouth the word, and proclaim it to them from me. If I say to the wicked, wicked one, you shall surely die, and you do not speak to warn the wicked to turn from his way, that wicked person shall die in his iniquity, but his blood I will require at your hand. But if you warn the wicked to turn from his way, and he does not turn from his way, he shall die in his iniquity, but you will have delivered your soul. Once again, the word of the Lord came to the prophet, who had been silent for some time because neither the prophet nor human frailty can bear a constant and continuous prophecy. And he speaks the same things that are contained in the previous verses. Son of man, I have made you a watchman for the house of Israel, and you will hear a word from my mouth, and you will warn them from me. If I say to the wicked, 'You shall surely die,' and you have not warned him, nor spoken to warn the wicked to turn from his wicked way and live, the wicked shall die in his iniquity; but his blood I will require at your hand. And even if you warn the wicked, and he does not turn from his wickedness and his evil ways, he will die in his iniquity, but you have delivered your soul. If you carefully consider, you will understand that they are indeed similar, but not the same, as they disagree in many things. And in all Holy Scriptures we must observe this, where there seems to be a similarity in the sentiment, not all things are said in the same way: but many things are either subtracted or added, and there is a reason for the discrepancy between the words of individuals. And meanwhile, before we come to deeper matters, a brief statement must be explained. If a watchman is appointed among the people to announce the coming sword of the Lord's wrath, and if, when he announces it, the people refuse to listen, the watchman will be free, and the one who is oppressed by the sword will bear the guilt of his own blood: but if he hears and saves himself. But if the watchman does not blow the trumpet, and the ignorant people do not observe the approaching sword, the people will indeed die in their iniquity, but I will require the blood of the dying from the hand of the watchman. And in order for the prophet Ezekiel to know that the general dispute concerned him in particular, He said to him, 'And you, son of man, have not been appointed as a watchman for the land and the people of the land, as I have already said, but you have been appointed as a watchman for the house of Israel. Therefore, if when I say to the wicked, 'You shall surely die,' you do not speak to warn him, that he may turn from his wicked way to save his life, his blood shall be upon you. But if you warn the wicked, and he does not turn from his wickedness, or from his wicked way, he shall die in his iniquity, but you have delivered your soul.' But if you announce and command the wicked to turn away from their worst ways, and they refuse to do so: they will indeed die in their iniquity; but you will deliver your soul from the death brought on by negligence. From these words we learn that a person, no matter how wicked and impious, can be saved from their wickedness if they hear the words of the teacher and repent. The teacher also faces a danger if they refuse to teach, either out of fear or despair of the sinner's fate. The teacher is guilty of shedding the blood of the one who could have been saved and rescued from death if the teacher had not remained silent, and in both cases the free will of the person is preserved, as it is up to the teacher to choose whether to speak or remain silent, and up to the listener to choose whether to listen, act and be saved, or to ignore and perish through their own disdain. And immediately it does not follow that because the prophet predicts, what he predicted will come. For he does not predict so that it may come, but so that it may not come. And because God speaks, it is not necessary for what he threatens to happen, but he threatens so that the one to whom he threatens may be converted to repentance, and what is future does not happen if the words of the Lord are despised. However, we can discuss this passage in three ways: as the land that appoints a watchman for itself, either according to the literal sense, that is, the land of Judea, or according to the spiritual interpretation, the Church, which often chooses a watchman for the last things of its people, namely the one whom the Apostle, writing to the Corinthians, takes as a judge (1 Corinthians 15), or certainly the soul of the believer, which sets its mind and reason above the people and crowd of its thoughts, so that it does not accept all the incentives of thoughts, but judges and discerns what should be followed by itself and what should be avoided. A watchman of the land of Judea, either a king, or a prophet: a watchman of the Church, either a bishop, or a presbyter, because he is chosen by the people, and knowing the reading of the Scriptures, and foreseeing what is to come, he announces to the people and corrects the wrongdoer. Therefore, it is greatly to be feared that we approach this office unworthy and chosen by the people, giving ourselves to neglect and idleness: and what is worse, serving pleasures, the belly, and laziness, we think that we have received honor, not ministry. For indeed the Son of Man came not to be ministered unto, but to minister (Matthew 20:28); and he washed the disciples' feet (John 13), to show that all filth and vices must be washed and purged from the masters in the disciples. Let us not immediately answer what profit is it to teach, if the hearer is unwilling to do what you have taught? For each one is judged according to his own mind and duty. If you have not spoken, he, if he has disregarded listening. Salomon speaks about negligent magistrates: Hidden wisdom and hidden treasure, what is the use for both? What does this signify in the Gospel (Mark 9) as well, that whoever scandalizes one of the least of the Church, it is expedient for him to be tied around his neck with a millstone of a donkey and be cast into the deep, rather than being placed on a high watchtower where he can harm many.

(Versed 10ff.) Therefore, son of man, speak to the house of Israel and say to them: 'Our transgressions and sins are upon us, and we waste away because of them. How then can we live?' Say to them: 'As surely as I live, declares the Lord God, I take no pleasure in the death of the wicked, but rather that the wicked turn from their ways and live. Turn! Turn from your evil ways! Why will you die, O house of Israel?' And you, son of man, say to your people: 'The righteousness of the righteous man will not save him when he disobeys, and the wickedness of the wicked man will not cause him to stumble when he turns from it. The righteous man cannot live by his righteousness when he sins.' Even if I say to the just, that he shall surely live; and relying on his justice he commits iniquity, all his justices shall be forgotten, and in his iniquity which he has wrought, he shall die. But if I shall say to the wicked: Thou shalt surely die; and he does penance for his sin, and does judgment and justice, and if he restore the pledge, and render what he had robbed, and walk in the commandments of life, and do no unjust thing, he shall surely live, and shall not die. All sins ((Vulg. adds of him)), which he has committed, shall not be imputed to him: for judgment and justice he has done, he shall live: And the children of your people have said: The way of the Lord is not equal, whereas their way is unjust. When the just turns himself away from his justice, and commits iniquity, he shall die therein: in the same manner, when the wicked turns himself away from his wickedness, and does judgment and justice, he shall live therein. And you say: The way of the Lord is not right. Each one I will judge according to his ways, o house of Israel. If we read negligentl, the same prophecy seems to us which is said above, in which it is said: Do I desire the death of the wicked, saith the Lord God, and not that he should be converted from his ways, and live? (Ezek. XVIII, 23). And in the end of the same prophecy: Return ye, and turn yourselves from all your impieties, and there shall not be iniquity that may be your ruin (Ibid., 8). For there, indeed, a conversation is had with those who desire to do penance and to expiate their sins with justice, so that they may convert with confidence and perform penance with a full heart. But here, He speaks to those who, due to the magnitude of their sins, or rather their impieties, despair of salvation and say: Our iniquities and sins are upon us, and we waste away in them. How then can we live? And the meaning is: Since death has once been proposed to us and no medicine can restore health to our wounds, why must we labor and be consumed in vain, and not transact this present life in despair, so that at least we may enjoy it, since we have lost the future life? To whom God responds, that he does not want the death of the wicked, but that they should turn back and live. And he addresses a apostrophe to the despairing wicked: Turn away from your wicked ways. And so that we may know who the wicked are to whom he speaks, the following discourse demonstrates: Why should you die, O house of Israel? However, life and death in this context do not signify the common life or death shared with animals according to the natural law, but rather that which is written, I will please the Lord in the land of the living (Psalm 114:9); and, The soul that sins shall die. And with a special warning, because he was speaking to the house of Israel, he proceeds to a general discussion: that even if the just do not save their past righteousness, if they are engaged in new sins, and even if sinners or wicked people do not lose their old sins, if they correct their previous mistakes with righteous actions, God does not judge in both cases based on the past, but on the present. If I say, he says, to the righteous, you shall live, and I promise him the rewards of righteousness, and he, relying on that, sins, all his previous righteousness will be forgotten, and he will die in his present unrighteousness. My opinion has not changed, for I cannot give to the same sinner what I promised to the righteous. And if I, being a sinner and wicked, pronounce and say: Yet three days, and Nineveh shall be overthrown; and he shall repent of his sins, and amend his old error with good works, so that he may do justice and righteousness, restore the pledge, and give back the plunder, and walk in the commandments of life, and not do anything unjust: should not the life, which is Christ, live and never die, since the punishment of the sinner should not punish the righteous? This is what the divine word speaks to Jeremiah when he goes down to the potter's house and hears either the promises or the threats of God, in order to either provoke people to salvation or deter them from sin (Jer. XVIII). Hence those who say that the way of the Lord is not just are argued against because their opinion is unjust, possessed of a very evil eye, and not at all new, but of those who have passed judgment in the past. To all of whom it is shown that the sinner should not despair of salvation if he repents; nor should the righteous person place confidence in his righteousness if he negligently loses what he had earnestly sought after. We pass over those things which are clearly stated, so that we may dwell on those which are more obscure, in which the present prophecy differs from the past, and in which it speaks similar things, the comparison of both can indicate. Moreover, what it means to pass judgment and to be just, to restore a pledge, to repay robbery, to walk in the commandments of life, and other things, we have spoken of in this same prophet above.