Jerome

"Therefore, your daughters will prostitute themselves, and your daughters-in-law will commit adultery. I will not punish your daughters when they fornicate or your daughters-in-law when they commit adultery, because they themselves consorted with prostitutes and offered sacrifices with effeminate men, and the people who do not understand will be punished." LXX: "Therefore your daughters will prostitute themselves, and your brides will commit adultery; I will not punish them for prostitution nor for adultery, because they went to prostitutes and arranged pagan temple rites with sacred prostitutes; a senseless people they are." The word Cadesoth, which was translated by Aquila ἐνηλλαγμένων, by Symmachus ἑταιρίδων, by the Seventy τετελεσμένων, by Theodotion κεχωρισμένων, we translate as "effeminate" in order to convey the meaning of the word to our ears. These are they who serve today in Rome, not the gods but the demons, who are called Gauls, because the Romans castrated men of this tribe for the honor of Atys (whom the goddess harlot had made a eunuch) and appointed them to be priests. Therefore, the men of the Gaulish race are effeminate, so that those who captured the city of Rome are struck by this ignominy. There was such idolatry in Israel, mostly by women, who worshiped Beelphegor for the obscenity of his magnitude, whom we can call Priapus. Therefore, Asa the king took away the lofty ones of the people and such priests and deposed his mother from her august throne, as is testified in the scripture, saying: "And Asa did that which was right in the sight of the Lord, as did David his father, and took away the sodomites out of the land, and removed all the idols that his fathers had made. And also Maacha his mother, he removed from being queen, because she had made an idol in a grove: and Asa destroyed her idol, and burnt it by the brook Cedron. But the high places were not taken away: nevertheless the heart of Asa was perfect with the Lord all his days." (III Kings 15, 11 seqq.) It must be known however, that at present in Kadesh, "prostitutes," are called "sacerdotes" or "priests" of Priapus. In other places, we read of Ca’desim, men who, driven by lust have been castrated, of whom Isaiah says, "And the mockers shall rule over them," for which in Hebrew it is written, "And the eunuchs shall rule over them," which we translate to mean "effeminate" people. But Aquila, giving an interpretation, that is to say, "those who have been changed," wanted to show that their nature had changed, and that men had been made women. Symmachus properly called them "prostitutes." The Septuagint called them "consecrated and initiated" to show themselves as idol worshipers. Theodotion called them "separated from the people" who seemed to have something more than the common people. We have briefly discussed the words, now let us return to the meaning of the chapter. It is a great offense to not merit the anger of the Lord after you have sinned. Israel had fornicated with their God, and were seduced by a spirit of fornication: therefore their daughters and brides fornicate, and are left unpunished in their sin, so that they may feel what their sons and wives did to their true parents and husbands, and understand the pain of God from their own pain, who is so angry that he does not strike these sinners. For the Apostle also testifies in mystical language, writing to the Romans: "For saying they were wise, they became fools and exchanged the glory of the incorruptible God for the likeness of the image of corruptible man, and of birds, and of four-footed beasts, and of serpents. Therefore God gave them up to the desires of their heart, unto uncleanness, to dishonor their own bodies among themselves, who changed the truth of God into a lie and worshipped and served the creature rather than the Creator, who is blessed for ever. Amen." And in order that we may know that the visitation of God is inflicted upon us when we are wounded and weak, in order that by means of the cauterization of bitter potions we may be cured of sickness – let us listen to the Lord speaking through the prophet: "I will visit their iniquities with a rod, and their sins with stripes; but my mercy will I not take from him" (Ps. 88:33-34). Therefore, he who is loved is corrected; he who is neglected is left to his own sins. And so great was the number of fornicators in Israel that vengeance ceased, despairing of amendment. For what is more shameful than to be joined to the worship of harlots and to offer sacrifices of their lust with effeminate men? And what the phrase, "A people that doth not understand shall be beaten," which in the Septuagint is translated: "And a people not understanding adhered to the harlot," means is that such a people shall be scourged in captivity and shall be visited with various plagues in order that, by means of pain, it may receive discipline. The easy understanding about heretics is that their children will fornicate and their spouses, namely, the souls which they have begotten in error and married to their doctrines. Such persons are unworthy of correction by God, for their every form of worship is fornication and they mingle foul deeds with foul doctrines. Therefore, they shall be beaten so that they may finally understand what God they seek. When you see a sinner abound in riches, boast in power, rejoice in health, delight in his spouse, be surrounded by a garland of children, and fulfill that which is written: "They are not in trouble as other men; neither are they plagued like other men" (Ps. 73:5), say that the Prophet's threat has been accomplished in him: "I will not visit upon your daughters when they commit fornication, nor upon your spouses when they shall commit adultery."

"If you fornicate, Israel, let not at least Judah sin, and do not enter into Gilgal, and do not ascend into Bethaven, neither shall you swear, by the living Lord, for as an wanton heifer, Israel has sinned. Now the Lord will feed them as a lamb in a large place." LXX: "But you, Israel, do not ignore, and Judah, do not enter into Galgala, nor ascend into the house [ὢν] and do not swear, the Lord lives: for as a refuge-killed cow, Israel went insane. Now the Lord will feed them like a lamb in a spacious place." "For home" [ὢν] being read in some copies, and most particularly in Theodotion as "house of iniquity," which Aquila and Symmachus interpreted as ἀνωφελοῦς ["house of the profitless,"] that is, "useless" which is of no benefit, and is designated by another word "idol". But Bethel was formerly called the "House of God," but after the calves were placed in it, it was called "Bethaven," that is, "useless house" and "house of idols," which we have expressed as we read it in Hebrew. But it seems to me that both the people of Israel and Jeroboam the son of Nebat made a golden calf to be worshipped in the wilderness, and fashioned golden calves as they had learned in Egypt, where the bulls are worshipped as gods in their superstition. Let us discuss the meaning of the chapter: Sisemel, O Israel, you have been deceived by error and have mixed with prostitutes, so that whoever fulfills the act of offering and giving gifts to the king or himself, would become a priest of the high places. At least you, Judah, who possess Jerusalem and have Levites from the law and perform temple ceremonies, should not imitate the examples of your former sister Oolla in fornication and worship idols with her. Do not enter Galgala, about which we read in this same prophet: 'All their wickedness is in Galgala' (Hosea 9:15), where Saul was anointed king, where the people, coming out of the wilderness, camped for the first time, and were purified by a second circumcision. From that time on, in this notorious place, error of an opposing religion crept in. And do not go up to Bethaven, that is, what was once called Bethel, because after golden calves were placed there by Jeroboam son of Nabath, it is not called the House of God but the house of an idol. For which reason, I wonder why the Septuagint interpreted it as "unless I make a mistake, the middle Jod letter which is surrounded on both sides by Aleph and Nun letters was believed to be Vau based solely on its size." "You shall not make a false oath by my name," says the Lord. For I do not want my name to be mentioned on your lips, which is tainted by the memory of idols. For just as a cow that is wanton and throws off her yoke, so too Israel, that is, the ten tribes, turned away from the service of the Lord. For the wanton cow, the Seventy translated παροιστρῶσαν, which stung by desire and struck by the asylum, which they commonly call "tabanus". About which Virgil also reports in the third book of the Georgics.

...The name of the asylum is Roman: the Greeks called it "oestrum," a harsh and bitter name that drives all the herds to flee in terror from the woods. The sky roars and trembles with their cries, and the banks of the dry Tanagra shake. And so because Israel had become insane and, struck by the spirit of fornication, went mad with unbelievable fury, not much longer afterwards, but while the prophet's body was still possessed by the spirit, the Lord said: "I will feed them as a lamb in a spacious place." He kept the metaphor of a cow in heat, in the same way that he had used it before, calling the captivity in Assyria and the dispersion of Israel into the widest land of the Medes, the pasture of a wide field and of flocks of sheep and lambs. A predisposition is present against heretics, concerning whom or about whom it is said: If you fornicate once, heretic, at least, do not offend, church-goer, and do not enter into Galgala, the meetings of heretics, where the sins of everyone are exposed, and are rolled in the mud like pigs. Do not assume that you rise up to the proud and arrogant fictions of false teachings. For there is not the house of God, but the house of an idol. And do not swear by the name of Christ, whose majesty you have defiled by mingling it with idols. For just as a slaughtered cow falls in the asylum, so the heretics are struck by the burning arrows of the devil and abandon knowledge of the Law. Therefore, they will graze in the broad and spacious way that leads to death, and the patience of the Lord and the care of the good Shepherd will nourish them unto their own destruction.

"Partaker of their idols is Ephraim, leave him; he is separated from their congregation: they have committed fornication in their fornication; they loved to bring disgrace upon their protectors, his spirit is bound up in their wings, and they shall be confounded because of their sacrifices." LXX: "Ephraim, a participant in idols, has placed scandals for himself, he has provoked the Canaanites, they have committed fornication, they have loved disgrace from his roar; a whirlwind of spirit will whistle in his wings, and they will be confounded from their altars." Ephraim, of whose tribe Jeroboam son of Nabath, who first set up golden calves in Bethel and Dan, is king of ten tribes. Therefore, O Judah, whom I mentioned above, if Israel commits fornication, let at least Judah not sin. Listen to my advice, do not disregard the words of the prophets; for Ephraim once was a friend and partner with idols. Leave him, do not follow his impiety, for his worship and religion and food are separated from your fellowship. They serve idols once, sacrificed to devils, fornicating every day, and loving their fornication. Indeed, its leaders and protectors, that is, the kings, took pleasure in bringing dishonor to the people, that is, in the vice of the princes. The unhappy people received the worship of idols, whose unclean spirits bound Israel in their wings and do not allow it to fly freely. Therefore they shall be confounded in their sacrifices, and they shall receive disgrace for their confusion. Symmachus, because we have interpreted it as "he bound his spirit on his wings," translates it into Greek in this way, as if one binds the wind in the wings of the wind, so that both the princes and the people, indeed both demons and Israel, may assert that they are vainly coupled with vanities. For wind and spirit are called "Rua" in one word in Hebrew. That which the Seventy translated ("Al." placed) as "provoked the Canaanites," is not found in Hebrew, but it can be thus interpreted, that we say only that Israel had such zeal for the worship of idols, that it did not imitate the Canaanites, that is, the heathen; but it provoked them to emulate its own error. This same thing can also be referred to heretics, and it is said to Judah, that is, to an ecclesiastical man, because Israel, who is interpreted as bearing fruit, promises himself a false richness of doctrine, and fruitful teachings, and once was a friend of demons, dismiss him and despise him: especially since their sacrifices are separated from your own sacrifices. For this is what is said: their gathering has been separated, they committed fornication once, and their leaders have deceived the unhappy people; and for the worship of God they have imbued them with the disgrace of idols, and devilish spirits have bound them on their wings, who are carried around by every wind of doctrine; and they cannot remain firm on the solid foundation of the Church. Those who truly are confounded in their sacrifices, because their bread is the bread of sorrow. And what is said, "He provoked the Canaanites," can be referred to heretics in the same sense, that most heretics have invented such abominations and filthy things, and have impure sacrifices, so that idolatry is inferior. Or certainly because "Cananaean" means "trader," or μετάβολος, that is, "translator," all those who make the Father's house a house of trade (John 2), and seek profits from the people, and transfer the truth of the Church into falsehood, are to be called Canaanites.

"Hear these things, O priests, and attend, O house of Israel, and O house of the king, give ear; for judgment is for you. For you have become a snare at Mizpah and a net spread upon Tabor, and victims on high have been turned aside into the depths." LXX: "Listen to these things, priests, and attend, House of Israel, and House of the King, perceive with your ears, for judgment belongs to you, since you have become a snare for speculation, and like a net spread out over Italy, those who capture it have established a hunt." The priests of the ten tribes are called to judgment, and the kings, not because the priests are from the tribe of Levi, but because the priests are called by the people. So even the priests of Baal, and four hundred and fifty prophets whom Elijah slew (1 Kings 18), and later Jehu the son of Namshi (2 Kings 9:10), in the presence of Jonadab the son of Rechab, were called priests. But even Israel, that is the people, is called to judgment, and none is excused, so that both priests and people and kings, who had led the people and appointed priests, hear together what they did and why they are handed over to enemies. I have appointed you as spies," he said, "and as leaders among the people, and have placed you on the high pinnacle of dignity, so that you might guide the wandering people. But you have become a trap, and are to be called not so much spies and leaders as hunters. For you have spread your net over Mount Tabor, which the Seventy translated as Itabyrium, having the custom of using Greek speech to decline Hebrew names, just as Edom, that is, Esau, and Seir are always interpreted as Idumea. But Mount Tabor is in Galilee, located in a plain, round and lofty, and finished equally on every side. About this mountain, we also read in the Psalms: "Thabor and Hermon shall rejoice in thy name". (Psalm 88:13). This mountain was translated as "Itabyrium" by the Seventy translators [of the Septuagint], as in Jeremiah. Birds are often caught in traps set upon this mountain. "And ye have cast off my fear, and have not kept my covenant. I also will cast off you for ever." (Jeremiah 34:15-16). The kings and priests have prohibited the people from going to the Temple of Jerusalem; therefore, they are said to have turned down sacrifices into the depths. According to the trope, the people are accused not to consider themselves strangers to crime, if they are induced by kings and priests, whom we understand as leaders of heretics. The leaders themselves are also accused of having taken the people like a trap and, with spies placed in the Church, led them astray. And on the lofty and most beautiful mountain "Tabor", which is interpreted as "coming light", they set traps, so that they could draw every deceiving person into the abyss, and offer them as sacrifices to demons, and steer them into the pit, lest they ever come to their senses, or sigh for the house of God, the Church. Some think that Thabor means a lake, that is, a cistern, and is suitable for the immediate meaning, that the heretics dug a lake and fell into the pit which they made. (Ps. LVI).

"And I am skilled in all of them, and I know Ephraim, and Israel is not hidden from me: for now Ephraim has committed fornication, Israel is contaminated: they will not give their thoughts, to turn again to their God, for the spirit of fornication is in the midst of them, and they have not known the Lord." LXX: "For I am your master: I have known Ephraim, and Israel has not departed from me; for now Ephraim has fornicated, Israel is defiled. They have not given their thoughts to turn back to the Lord their God, for the spirit of fornication is in them and they have not known the Lord." O priests and kings, who deceived my people; and you, the people, who have been deceived, have sinned so gravely that you have not only killed victims, but also sent them down to the depths of hell: do not think that the magnitude of your crimes has caused you to be completely separated from me. I am your teacher, indeed a scholar, who desires to improve, not punish; and to save, not destroy. "I know Ephraim," he says, "that is, Jeroboam, from whom the people were persuaded; and all the kings who followed him in both rank and wickedness, and Israel was not hidden from me, that is, the people of ten tribes, because Israel was contaminated by a fornicating king. At first the king began to fornicate from the worship of God, desiring to worship golden calves, and the people wanting to follow him, they fulfilled equal impiety with equal zeal." (III Kings 12) Finally, they shall not return to the Lord because they found what they wanted, and the spirit of fornication, which according to the apostle, works in the sons of diffidence, possesses their captive hearts, and therefore under that ruler, they did not know, no, they forgot their Creator. (Ephesians 2). Therefore, the leaders of perverse teachings and the people of the Lord do not ignore: not because they are worthy of His knowledge, but because nothing of what they do in secret is hidden from Him, of whom some were deceived and others fell. And they will not give their thoughts to repentance, who always advance in destruction. For the spirit of fornication, by which they have committed fornication in the Church and have departed from true marriage, is in their midst: therefore they have not known the Lord.

"And the pride of Israel shall answer in his face: and Israel and Ephraim shall fall in their iniquity: Juda shall also fall with them." LXX: "And the injury of Israel will be humbled before him: and Israel and Ephraim will be weakened in their iniquities, and Judah will also be weakened with them." The word "Gaon" is interpreted by Septuagint and Symmachus as "injury," by Aquila and Theodotion as "pride." Therefore, whatever Israel did, whether acting arrogantly against the Lord or worshipping idols to injure the Creator, will be answered in its face so that it may not go unpunished, but rather its humiliation will be humbled, and both people and kings will fall or weaken in their injustice, so that those who were strong in wickedness are forced to return to the Lord in weakness. And this will not only happen to Israel and Ephraim, that is, the ten tribes and their kings, so that they will be led into captivity; but Judah also, that is, the two tribes which ruled in Jerusalem, will follow the footsteps of the captives, that as they imitated the crime, they may imitate the punishment. Heretics have the mother of their iniquity in their pride, while they boast that they always know more, and rage against the Church. But their pride will weaken, and the people and teachers will equally fall: even Judah, who appears to be in the house of God, and in the Church, dwells not in mind but in body: and he has the same opinion in error with heretics; he is useless in promising the ecclesiastical name, because he also must be punished with the heretics. We rush towards what is clear, so that we may linger in the more obscure.

"In their flocks and herds they will go to seek the Lord, but they will not find Him; He has withdrawn Himself from them. They have transgressed against the Lord, for they have produced illegitimate children. Now the month and its parts will devour them." LXX: "When they go with sheep and calves seeking the Lord, but shall not find him, he hath withdrawn himself from them. Because they have forsaken the Lord, and have brought up strange children, their rust shall devour them and their portions." Not only Israel and Ephraim will go with flocks and herds to seek the Lord, but also Judah, of whom it is written above: "Judah will also fall with them," all having this struggle, that they may try to appease with sacrifices those whom they have offended with their transgressions; and they will not find whom they seek, because he also departed from those who were departing. Especially when elsewhere he says, "Will I eat the flesh of bulls or drink the blood of goats?" And again, "I will not accept a bull from your house, nor goats from your flocks" (Ps. 49:13 and 9). And in Isaiah: "I do not want the sacrifices of rams or the fat of lambs or the blood of goats and bulls" (Isaiah 1:11). For they have transgressed against the Lord; because fornicating with idols, they did not beget children to God, but to demons. Some think that this signifies what is said in Ezra much later (1 Esdras 10) when they took foreign wives, creating children with them, and later were compelled to repudiate them. But it is better to accept foreign children who were generated in idolatrous error or whom they consecrated to idols by leading them through fire. Because, therefore, they did this, shortly afterwards, not after infinite periods of years, and as I used to predict before, far from the future; but now and in the present, the Assyrian and Chaldean will come and devour them with their parts, that is, with the possessions that they received in the division of the land according to the measure of the rope. Because we said "he will devour them," the Seventy translated "rust" for "them"; yet indeed rust, that is, ἐρυσίβη, in Hebrew is called Hasil, as they also said in the Prophet Joel: "The remnants of a worm will eat rust," which is to say, Hasil. But the month is called Hodes; finally Aquila translated "neomenias," that is, "Kalendas"; Symmachus and Theodotion translated "month"; and the sense is, the enemy will come each month and devastate all things. We read the Books of Kings and Chronicles, and we find that under King Pekah, who reigned over ten tribes, Tiglath-pileser, the king of Assyria, came and took a great part of the people of Samaria to the Assyrians, at which time, according to the Greeks, it was the second year of the first Olympiad; and among the Latins (not yet founded Rome) Amulius was ruling in the twentieth year, whom later Romulus drove out of the kingdom. Heretics suspect that God is pleased with the multitude of sacrifices; and ecclesiastics, that by giving alms, they redeem sins, in which they remain: whereas every sacrifice except past sins, not present ones; thus, they do not find the Lord, Who removes Himself from such things, and retreats far away. These have truly ($"Al." however$) acted deceitfully against God, and have begotten children for the devil, not for Christ: therefore their works are cursed at all times, and all things that they do, the rusty color of blood lays waste, because they are closely related to blood and killing. But the rusty color is said in a proper sense to come down in the night dew, and to stain the lactating grains of wheat with the color of vermilion or red lead, and suitably in accordance with conversion, it devastates the clergy of heretics, of whom it is said, "Their clergy shall not " "profit them" (Jeremiah XII, 13, according to the LXX).

Blow the horn in Gabaa, trumpet in Rama: howl at Bethaven after your back, O Benjamin: Ephraim shall be in desolation in the day of rebuke, among the tribes of Israel have I made known the truth." LXX: "Blow the trumpet on the hills, sound on the high places," "proclaim it in the house." ὢν: "Benjamin's mind has failed, Ephraim has become desolate in the days of reproof, in the tribes of Israel I have shown faithfulness." Ephraim and Israel and Judah shall each month, or the rust with its parts, devour. Therefore, I command you who listen that you do not sound a trumpet with a lofty voice, but a clear one: for there is a need for a clear hearing, so that all who are around may hear. "Blow the trumpet in Gabaa," which the Septuagint translated the etymology into "hills": and "sound the trumpet in Rama," which means "high": and these two are in the tribe of Benjamin, cities close to each other, that is, Gabaa, where Saul was born; and Rama, which is near Gabaa, situated on the seventh stone from Jerusalem; and which the king of Israel tried to occupy, to close the exit and entrance of the tribe of Judah. In Gabaa and in Rama, therefore, a clear trumpet and tuba resound, whose trumpet is pastoral, and the horn is made curved; whence it is properly called a Hebraic Sophar, and a κερατίγνυμι in Greek. But the tuba is made of bronze or silver, with which they rattled in wars and ceremonies. Above Bethaven, which was once called Bethel, and is in the tribe of Ephraim, where there was a golden calf, there is a need for not a clangor and sound, but a wailing: because there is a nearby captivity. And he said beautifully that Bethaven is located behind Benjamin, for where the tribe of Benjamin finishes, not far in the tribe of Ephraim, this city was founded. Therefore, I say and command: Blow the trumpet in Gabaa, and the horn in Rama, and howl in Bethaven, because the regal house of Ephraim, or Ephraim himself, that is the empire of Israel, will now be in desolation; and the neighboring captivity approaches. On the day of correction and supplication of the ten tribes of Israel, I showed my faithful words that I threatened through the prophets, so that I might prove, by action, what I had announced by word. Certain people who were near Bethaven according to the Seventy who said the house was the "city of the sun," were interpreted as saying that Christ, the sun of righteousness, was the city, and they wanted his Church to be that city. But this displeases me, for the house of an idol, which Aquila interpreted as "useless house," cannot be referred to the Church by means of tropology. But let us say this, that the heretics who promise themselves lofty knowledge in Gabaa and Rama, are ordered to howl ((or "jubilate")) in the house of an idol; and they should not be before the face of Benjamin, who is interpreted as "son of the right hand," but rather behind him, where he does not have eyes. For all the boasting of Ephraim, which means "abundance," he will soon be in desolation, and when the day of judgment and time of correction comes, I will show that my words are not in vain. Because we translated "Benjamin at your back," the Seventy translated it as "Benjamin's mind was moved," always adapting Benjamin, a man of the church, to excess of mind. Hence in the sixty-seventh psalm it is said: "There Benjamin, the youth, is in excess of mind." And in Jacob's blessings, in the person of Benjamin, from whom Paul the Apostle was descended, we read: "Benjamin is a ravenous wolf; in the morning he shall devour the prey, and in the evening he shall divide the spoil." (Gen. XLIX, 27). For he who persecuted the Church in the beginning, later on throughout the whole world, bestowed nourishment upon those who believed in the Gospel. From this it happened that Saul, who was from the tribe of Benjamin, raving with madness, prophesied among the choir of prophets all day long until evening (1 Kings 10).

"The leaders of Judah have become like those who remove a boundary; upon them I will pour out my wrath like water." LXX: "The leaders of Judah have become like those who move boundary lines. I will pour out my rage on them like a flood, raging and swift." After the captivity of Ephraim and Israel, and their land became desolate, the leaders of Judah who should have wept and encouraged their people to turn away from idolatry, lest they suffer similarly, began to rejoice and be happy that their land was opened wide for them to possess. They became like those who remove boundary lines and expanded their kingdom and possession in the former places of Israel. Therefore, thus says the Lord: And upon those princes of Judah shall come the Babylonians; and they shall take them: their bowels will not be of force, but of my indignation. And he also speaks to the princes of Judah, that is, the Church, that they ought not to exult; and to estimate their own salvation through the perdition of heretics, but rather to mourn because they are lost. Wherefore even the Apostle Paul teaches the ecclesiastical men not to glory in the breaking off of the Jewish branches, but rather to fear lest they themselves be broken off (Rom. XI). And in another place: "Who," he says, "is scandalized, and I am not burned." (2 Corinthians 2:29)? Otherwise, against such leaders who glory in the miseries of others, and therefore think that they are standing if others fall, the Lord will pour out His anger like water. Seventy interpreted the word "impetus" as wrath, and some think that it should be understood as a blessing, according to what we read elsewhere: "The impetus of a river rejoices the city of God" (Ps. 45:4). But more correctly (as all except the Seventy have translated) anger should be received, especially since the name of effusion and anger is appropriate, as the prophet says to the Lord: "Pour out your anger upon them, and let the fury of your wrath take hold of them" (Ps. LXVIII, 25). The princes of Judah have moved the boundaries which their fathers had set, when they change truth with falsehood, and they preach something different from what they have received from the apostles.

"Ephraim endures slander, broken in judgement, because he started to follow after filth." LXX: "Ephraim oppressed his adversary, trampled justice, because he began to pursue vain things." If Ephraim is wicked, and because of his wickedness he will be destroyed, how can it now be said: "Ephraim endures slander, broken in judgement?" For he who endures slander is also broken, his judgement oppressed unjustly, especially when a just cause is stated for which he was given up to captivity. For it follows: 'since he began to leave behind filth', that is, behind the idols which are compared to filth. Therefore, what he says is this: Ephraim is oppressed by the Assyrians, first by Pul, then by Tiglath-pileser (2 Kings 15), and afterwards by Salmanazar; not because they were righteous who oppressed him, and therefore he was handed over to them; but because those who were once my people, when I abandoned them, were handed over to punishment, and in this there seems to be slander, not towards God ("Al." from God), who inflicts just sentence: but towards those who endure torments, while they are handed over to more wicked adversaries. And the Lord brought upon them the cause of contempt in this part, and to be delivered unto the worst, and no judgment to be had toward them: for Ephraim began to go after idols, and to forsake God: for he himself had made golden calves. According to the interpretation of the Septuagint, Ephraim, that is, Jeroboam, oppressed his adversary Rehoboam, that is, the tribe of Judah, and in it he oppressed: because he followed the filthy idols of the Egyptians, and deserted Jerusalem and the temple. The meaning concerning heretics is clear: that with their false sophisms and dialectical art they often suppress churchmen; but when they have done this, they do not follow the purity of true faith, but the filth of lies; who are given over to the devil and his angels and seem to suffer slander and have the truth of judgment broken within them. Thus Israel is laid waste; and all its labors are devastated by the Assyrian conqueror; and the bishop lost God and therefore he is broken in judgment; because he followed idols.

"And I am like a moth to Ephraim, and like rottenness to the house of Judah." LXX: "And I am like a tribulation to Ephraim, and like a stimulus to the house of Judah." In the Hebrew language "moth" is called "Recob" for "rot and decay"; one of which consumes clothes and the other wood: for which the LXX translated as "turbulence", which is "disorder" or "turbulence", and "stimulus". And it should be noted that the moth pertains to Ephraim, and the rottenness to the house of Judah. Therefore, how does a clothes moth consume clothing, and decay or rot consume wood; which both take a long time: In the same way, God gave a place for repentance to the ten tribes, and later to the two tribes for a long time, calling them to salvation, storing up His wrath for the day of wrath, like a moth or decay, not because God is a moth or decay, disturbance or affliction, but because to those who suffer punishment all these things seem so. Therefore, first consumed was Ephraim and Israel, then followed was the house of Judah: not Judah himself, but his house; otherwise, it was reserved for the genealogy of Judah, among whom He had been placed: And He was the expectation of the nations. However, the heretics, who are understood to be Ephraim, and also Judas, namely, those who remain with the Church, and who are con­tained in the errors or vices of heretics, will be subject to the same judgment.

"And Ephraim saw his sickness, and Judah his band: and Ephraim went to the Assyrian, and sent to the avenging king: and he shall not be able to heal you, neither shall he be able to take off the band from you." LXX: "And Ephraim saw his weakness, and Judah his pain, and Ephraim went to the Assyrians, and sent ambassadors to king Jareb, and he will not be able to free you, nor will he make an end of your pain." Embassies are not held in Hebrew. And where the Septuagint place "Jarib," we translate it as "avenger" according to Symmachus; for Aquila and Theodotion translated it as "judge." And this name "Jarib," signifying "avenger" and "judge," is shown by the name of Gideon who, when the worshippers of Baal sought him for punishment, because he had overthrown the grove of Baal and its altars, answered his father, "Let Baal therefore plead against him" or "avenge" himself, and he was afterward called "Jerubbaal," that is to say, "Let Baal plead against him." Therefore, understanding their own weakness, Ephraim sought not aid from Him who could loose them, but from the King of the Assyrians, to whom they were in sinfulness bound together with the ten tribes. We read that under King Manahen, who ruled over ten tribes (IV Kings XV), Israel sent gifts to the Assyrians; and Judah under King Ahaz, sought aid from Tiglath-pileser king of the Assyrians, who was unable to deliver them from those who opposed God, nor could he loosen the bonds of captivity. We can refer to those bonds, for which it is written in Hebrew as Mezur, and which Aquila interpreted as ἐπίδεσιν or συνδεσμὸν, that is, "binding" or "conspiracy," and to that time when Rezin and Pekah son of Remaliah devastated many thousands of men from the tribe of Judah (Ibid. XVI), and Judah pleaded in vain for help against not two, but the aid of the kings of Assyria. Some people, according to the trope of Ephraim and Judah, refer both to heretics and to men of the church, because both they and Judas, the sinners, are bound with the chains of sins, according to what is written: “With the cords of his sins every one is bound” (Prov. 5:22). They have sent to Assyria and to the avenging king, that is, to the devil, of whom we read: “That thou mayst destroy the enemy and the avenger” (Ps. 8:3). And because they did not beseech the true helper or judge; therefore He has made them abide in the pain of sickness and the chains of their own offenses. I have read in the commentaries of someone that the King "Jarib" is interpreted as Christ. And because it follows: "He will not be able to heal you," this argument is used, that Christ cannot heal heretics or sinning Christians at the time of judgment, where there is no mercy, according to what is written: "But in hell, who shall confess to thee?" (Ps. VI). And that he cannot heal or free, not because of his weakness, but because of their merit, who have sought help too late. How our Lord was said to have been unable to work miracles in his own country, and the reason why he was unable, he explains: 'Because,' he says, 'they did not believe in him.' He said these things: we will interpret the king unfavorably. Because we explained 'Jarib,' which means 'avenger:' others read Jarim with the letter Mem, which is transferred to 'woods:' hence Cariath Jarim, interpreted as 'the village of woods.'

"For I am like a lioness of Ephraim, and like a lion's cub to the house of Judah." LXX: "For I am like a panther to Ephraim, and like a lion in the house of Judah." When they go to Assyria and send to the avenging or the revenger king, who will not be able to heal them; nor to undo the bound chain, I will show that with me opposing, all human help is vain: for I will be like a lioness to Ephraim, and like a lion's whelp to the house of Judah. For the lioness, which in Hebrew is called Sohel, the Seventy [translators] interpreted it as 'panther,' which is similarly said in Greek and in Latin, and both the name of the beast and every beast can be taken [in this sense]: so that you may recognize whatever is savage in the beasts, as existing in God's indignation. There is nothing swifter than the panther, nothing stronger than the lion: in the panther the swiftness of the destruction of the kingdom of Samaria is significant among the Assyrians; and in the lion, the strongest [beast], is shown their kingdom against Jerusalem and Judah somewhat later in time of the Chaldeans. And because she had said that she was both a lioness or panther, she maintains the metaphor and says:

"I will take and go, and I will take away and there is no one who can deliver: going I will return to my place until you fail and seek my face." LXX: "And I will snatch, and go and take away, and there will be no one who can deliver: I will go and return to my rightful place until they are destroyed and seek my face." It is asked, if God takes, and takes away, and holds, no one can take them from his hands, according to what is written: "No one can snatch them from the hand of my Father" (John X, 29) how was Judas snatched from the hand of God through betrayal? We will briefly answer this, that no one can snatch from the hand of God: however, he who is held, can by his own will fall away from the hand of God. And what follows: "Going, I shall return to my place," we ought to accept the place of God, his magnificence and majesty: so that he does not in any way descend to deal with men, become angry, show mercy, forget, become like a panther, turn into a lion, change into beasts: but may despise human things, and allow those whom he formerly protected to submit to their enemies, so that they may waste away, and fail, and die, and afterwards seek the face of the Lord and say: "Illuminate your face and we will be saved" (Ps. LXXIX, 4). "And: Show us, Lord, your mercy, and grant us your salvation" (Psalm 85:8). Even to heretics and the negligent Church, God turns into a panther and a lion; and He will reclaim the prey from those who had previously seized it from the Church, so that those who had been lost might be saved when they are captured. He will not dwell in the gathering of the wicked but will return to His place, as He said, "I am in the Father, and the Father is in me" (John 14:1). He will reject and despise them until they are consumed by their impiousness and seek Him through penance, abandoned as they once were. Some think heaven is God's dwelling place; thus God, offended by those who dwell on earth, will return and make perish those who, through the enormity of their sins, have converted the most merciful Lord into a wild beast for themselves.

"In their affliction they will rise early to me: come and let us return to the Lord, for he has taken us, and he will heal us; he will wound us and he will cure us; he will bring us to life after two days, and on the third day he will raise us up and we shall live in his sight: we shall know and we shall follow, that we may know the Lord." LXX: "In their affliction they will rise early to me, saying: let us go and return to the Lord our God: because he will strike and he will heal us: he will wound and he will cure us. He will heal us after two days: on the third day we shall rise again and live in his sight. We shall know, and we shall follow on, that we may know the Lord." Therefore God delivered Ephraim and Judah into captivity, and there is no one who can rescue them from his hand, and they will return to their place until they fail, and they will seek his face, so that they may seek the propitious and present one, whom they had not felt, but one who is angry and absent, and in their tribulation, with the light of penance rising for them, let them arise early to him, as we read in Isaiah: "In their tribulation they remembered the Lord" (Isaiah 26, LXX version). And in the first grade of the psalm: 'When I was in trouble, I cried out to the Lord,' 'and he heard me' (Ps. 119:1). And when they rise up in the morning to the Lord, what will they say? 'Come and let us return to the Lord.' They are not content with their own salvation, but they provoke one another to return to the Lord whom they left, whom they abandoned for their sins, from whom they were abandoned. 'For he has taken us, and he will heal us:' who had said earlier 'I will take myself' 'and I will go,' he will strike and heal us. For what we have said, 'will cure,' all have similarly translated, but properly they are called 'linteola' which are inserted or applied to wounds, so that they may eat away putrid flesh and extract pus: and the art of physicians is to heal large wounds in a long period of time and to restore health through pain. Therefore the Lord strikes and he heals us: for the Lord loves whom he corrects, and he chastises every son whom he receives (Heb. XII) ; and he not only heals, but he vivifies after two days and on the third day rising from the dead, he raises up with himself all human race. And when He shall have healed the stricken and given life to the healed, and raised up the living, then shall we live in His sight, we who lay dead in His absence. We shall live (being alive) in His sight, knowing Him, and with all zeal we shall strive to know the Lord, by whose rising again on the third day we also rose again. These words explain that which we have often warned, and both Israel and Judah, that is, the twelve tribes, shall then have one shepherd and king David, when they shall have believed in the risen Lord. And vainly the Jews of a thousand years promise themselves dreams of salvation, whereas the promised day of the resurrection of the Lord on the third day is the salvation of all. The Hebrews interpret the day secondly, in the coming of Christ, and the third day, in judgment, when they will be saved. Let us grant this, they reply, what is the first day, that is, the first coming of the Savior? And when they cannot respond, we infer that the first day is the same as they desire, in the humility of the Savior's coming, the second in glory, the third in the garb of the judge. And those who accept the second and third, testify that they have lost the first: because the second and third cannot be called without the first.

His going forth is prepared as the morning light, and he shall come unto us as the rain, as the latter and former rain unto the earth." LXX: "We shall find him ready as the morning, and he shall come to us as the early and the latter rain to the earth." Come, and let us return unto the Lord: for he hath torn, and he will heal us; he hath smitten, and he will bind us up. After two days will he revive us: in the third day he will raise us up, and we shall live in his sight. And let us know, let us follow on to know the Lord: his going forth is prepared as the morning; and he shall come unto us as the rain, as the latter and former rain unto the earth. About which the title of the twenty-first psalm is: "For the morning assumption:" Although it is written in Hebrew: "For the morning deer:" because after death and the twisted ancient serpent he desires to climb towards the mountains, and he, with the darkness dissipated, rises to us the sun of justice, that he may illuminate our blindness. And it is beautifully said, "his going forth is from the end of heaven, and his circuit even to the end of it." concerning which, according to the tropology, we read in the eighteenth psalm: "And he, as a bridegroom, coming out of his bride-chamber." (Ps. XVIII, 5). He who is not only called morning, dawn, and daybreak, but will come to us like a temporary and late rain to the earth. We receive Christ as a temporary (savior), when the foundations of faith have been cast in us, and we will welcome rain in the late season when we will gather eternal crops from the mature crops, and we will be stored in the Lord's granaries. Therefore, you Jews who do not receive temporary rain, and without rains cast seeds, will not receive the fruits of crops in the end times. This is the rain of which the Lord promises, saying: "I will give you rain in due season, and the latter rain" (Deut. 11:14). According to the allegory, rain is given in due season, when we partly know: the latter rain is given when what is perfect comes. And the Lord is always ready for those who rise in the morning, who can say, "I will arise at dawn" (Ps. 56:1). And: "O God, my God, I watch for you at break of day. My soul thirsts for you" (Ps. 62).