Jerome

(v. 3-5.) Because it was cut down from the forest, the work of a craftsman with an axe: decorated with silver and gold, fastened with nails and hammers, so that it would not be dissolved (or moved). They are made in the likeness of a palm tree and do not speak: they are carried and brought, because they cannot walk. Therefore, do not fear them, because they cannot do evil, nor can they do good. Description of the idols that the nations worship. He said that he cut down the wood from the forest. Therefore, the material of idols is cheap and perishable: the work of a craftsman's hands. Since the craftsman is mortal, the things he makes are also mortal. He decorated it with silver and gold, to deceive the simple-minded with the splendor of both materials. This error has also passed to us, so that we consider wealth as a religion. He fastened it with nails and hammers, so that it would not be dissolved or moved. The power of these idols, which cannot stand on their own, unless they are fastened together with keys and hammers! They are made to resemble a palm tree, adorned with the beauty of metals and the art of painting: but they do not possess utility, by which they provide any benefits to the craftsman. And they cannot speak. For they have no life within them. Of them it is written: They have mouths, but do not speak; they have ears, but do not hear. They will be carried away (Psalm 115:5-6). He is stronger who carries than those who are carried; indeed, in him there is meaning, in this there is form without meaning. Therefore, do not fear them, because they can neither do good nor evil. For, indeed, many of the gentile demons are accustomed to worship, so as not to harm, and to beseech others to bestow blessings: Whence also that saying of Virgil (Aeneid. I):

The dark winter sky, the white sheep with favorable west winds. Whatever we have said about idols, it can be referred to all teachings that are contrary to the truth. For they themselves promise great things and fashion an image of empty worship from their own hearts. They boast of great things and deceive the simple, as if they were dazzling with golden senses and eloquent words, they bind the eyes of the foolish and are exalted by their inventors, in whom there is no usefulness, and whose worship is specific to the nations and those who do not know God.

(Verse 6 and following) There is none like you, O Lord: you are great, and your name is great in power. Who will not fear you, O king of the nations? Yours is the glory among all the wise of the nations, and in all their kingdoms there is none like you. Both fools and wise men will be proved, their teaching is empty as a wooden idol. Silver brought from Tarshish is plated (or brought) and gold from Ophaz, the work of an artist and the hand of a craftsman. Hyacinthus and their purple garment: the work of craftsmen (or wise men) all these things. But the Lord God is true: this God is living and everlasting king. The earth will be moved from his indignation, and the nations will not be able to withstand his threat. These are not found in the Septuagint, but were added in many places from Theodotion's Edition, and although they seem clear according to the letter, they present a great difficulty according to allegory. For there is no one like the true God, of those gods who are fabricated by heretical art. All will fear him, for he is the king of the nations. The beginning of wisdom is the fear of the Lord (Prov. IX, 10): and from it we advance to true charity. 'The glory is yours,' he says. In truth, there is beauty; in falsehood, there is ugliness: although heretics, according to the wisdom of the world, which is destroyed, may seem wise to themselves; nevertheless, in all the kingdoms which they tear the Church in, none are like you, as the divine word says: 'I will destroy the wisdom of the wise, and I will reject the prudence of the prudent' (I Cor. I, 19). Both the wise and the foolish exist together. Their education, depending on the quality of their intelligence, is either cheap and compared to wood, or similar to silver because of the elegance of their speech. It is brought from Tharsis. Tharsis is either a region of India, as Josephus says, or certainly the entire sea is called Tharsis, and it has a resemblance to the sky; and yet it is wrapped in the artifice of words, or extended. If it wants to deceive, it will not be able to. And gold from Ophaz. Gold is called by seven names among the Hebrews, one of which is called Ophaz, which we can call obryzum, so that it shines on the surface of idols, which internally is wood and of cheap material. They are covered with hyacinth and purple, so that they deceive the eyes with their surface, while promising to themselves the color of the heavens and the kingdoms of the sky; and yet all these things are the work of the wise, who are considered wise in this world; but before God they are foolish. But our Lord God, the true God, is. Therefore, all those things are lies. And He is the living God: therefore, those things that are feigned are dead. And He is the eternal king. The shadows of heretics prevail for a time, but are corrupted over a long time. The earth will be moved from His indignation: those who engage in earthly works and fashion worldly idols. And the nations will not endure, nor the people of the Lord, but the multitude of nations who are unable to bear the threat of God.

(Verse 12 and following) The one who made the earth in his strength, who established the world in his wisdom, and who stretched out the heavens in his understanding. By his voice, he gives a multitude of waters in the sky, and he lifts up the clouds from the ends of the earth. He made lightning for rain, and he brings forth the wind from his storehouses. Every man has become foolish because of his knowledge; every artisan is put to shame by his idols. For what he has made is false and there is no spirit in them. They are worthless and fit only for ridicule. They will perish at the time of their visitation. It is not like these, the portion of Jacob. For He who formed all things, He is, and Israel is the rod of His inheritance; the Lord of hosts is His name. He who makes the earth by His power, He is God the Father. But He also makes by His power the Lord the Savior. For Christ is the power of God and the wisdom of God (1 Corinthians 1:24). He Himself is both wisdom and the one by whom the heavens are stretched out. For He Himself spoke and they were made; He Himself commanded and they were created (Psalm 33:9); speaking to the Son: Let us make man in our image, and according to our likeness (Genesis 1:26). He gives a multitude of waters in the heavens at his voice. For all the doctrine of the Lord flows from the heavens, as David says: You will separate God a voluntary rain for your inheritance, and it was weakened, but you have perfected it. And he raises or brings forth the clouds from the ends of the earth (Psal. 67:10). The clouds, or the clouds by which God commanded that they should not rain a shower upon Israel (Isa. 5), are brought forth from the ends of the earth, of which one cloud spoke: For I think that God has set forth us the apostles last, as men appointed to death, because we are made a spectacle to this world, and to angels, and to men (1 Cor. 4:9). He made lightning into rain. For when the rain of doctrine comes down from heaven and nourishes the parched hearts of men, then you will find flashes and bright flashes of wisdom. And he brings forth winds from his treasuries; in them are all the treasures of hidden wisdom and knowledge. All men have become fools because of knowledge. Though that Paul, though Peter, though Moses, and Abraham may be wise, in comparison to God, all their wisdom will be considered as nothing: hence, even the foolishness of God is wiser than men. Every artist who sculpted images without a heart is confused and what he created is false. But if every person is ignorant of knowledge, everything false that he made is foolish. And there is no spirit in them. It should be noted that in this chapter, wind and spirit are called by one name among the Hebrews, Rûaḥ (); but he calls it the Spirit of sanctification, which cannot be found in the minds of heretics. They are vain and worthy of laughter. For who would not laugh when they see the images of heretics? Either they are rustic and wooden, or they are composed in beautiful language and contain silver, or they are admittedly simulated with their own sense and falsely promise the image of gold. In the time of their visitation, they will perish. Heresy is valuable for a time, so that the chosen ones may be made manifest and proven. But when the visitation of God comes and His foolish eye sees everything, all things fall silent (I Cor. XI). There is no one like these people of Jacob: those who have supplanted the Jews and destroy heretics every day. But the part of God is the Saints: of whom the prophet says: My part, O Lord. For he who formed all things, he is (Psalm 72:26): who made and fashioned all things, both in spirit and in body. And Israel is the rod of his inheritance. Whoever is upright in God or perceives God with understanding, is the scepter of his inheritance. Whose name is the Lord Almighty, or of Hosts, for this means the Lord of Hosts, which is written in Hebrew as the Lord Sabaoth.

(Vers. 17, 18.) Gather from the land your confusion, you who dwell in siege; for thus says the Lord: Behold, I will cast far away the inhabitants of the earth this time, and I will afflict them that they may be found. LXX: It has gathered from outside its substance, which dwells in the fortified place. For thus says the Lord: Behold, I will overthrow the inhabitants of this land, and I will afflict them, that they may be found. Jerusalem is commanded to gather whatever substance it has outside into the heavily fortified city, and to prepare provisions for a long siege. For never in the past has it been threatened about the future and long time, but now about the imminent captivity, which is soon to come. Gather, he says, both from outside and from the land, that is, from your fields, your possessions or confusion. For whatever you have, it is worthy of confusion: which, although you may prepare these things, learn the words of the Lord about them. Behold, in this case, at this time, I will cast, or rather throw far away the inhabitants of this land like a sling: for which the Seventy translated 'I will supplant' and 'I will make them fall.' For the Hebrew word Colea (), Aquila and Symmachus interpreted it as σφενδονήσω. And the meaning is: I will cast like a sling with all my might, and thus I will besiege them: and I will distress and constrain them, so that all may be found in the city, and they may not be able to escape the disaster.

(Verse 20.) My tent has been devastated, all my ropes have been torn (or all my skins have been ripped), my sons have left me (or my sheep), and there is no one left ((Alternatively: remaining)): there is no one to extend my tent any further (or there is no place beyond my tent) and to set up my skins. Jerusalem laments the ease with which its city is overthrown, not by walls and fortifications completely destroyed, but by the removal of tents and tabernacles. The tabernacle, he says, that is, my dwelling, was suddenly taken away. All my cords were broken. He preserves the metaphor of the tabernacle, that is, all my coverings were torn. My sons have left me, that is, my livestock, which is added by the Septuagint, does not fit the story. For in a long siege, how could sheep and livestock be taken away from Jerusalem, which even if they had been there, would have been consumed by famine? And they do not remain, that is, they are not. For they have not been translated into Chaldean, but a great part of them has been completely destroyed and wiped out. There is no one to extend my tent anymore: there is no one to restore me and lay the foundations of my walls, which have been laid down to the ground.

(Verse 22) A voice of the cry, behold it comes, and a great commotion from the land of the North: to make the cities of Judah desolate, a habitation of dragons (or a den of ostriches). And as Symmachus has interpreted, of sirens: for which in Hebrew, Thannim () is put. The words of the prophet: Behold, he says, the noise and the tumult of the Babylonian coming is heard, and great commotion, or earthquake, from the land of the North: to reduce all the cities of Judah, with the inhabitants being killed, into desolation, and to make dragons dwell instead of men, and all venomous creatures, or ostriches, which animal itself is familiar with desolation and is born and nurtured in the wilderness. Certainly, we can understand certain sirens, monsters, and phantoms of demons. All of these things that both past and present speech have described, let us refer them to times of persecution of the Church, when the tabernacles of the Lord are overthrown, and all the dwelling of the Church is reduced to solitude. And in order for all these things to happen, it is the fault of the shepherds, who acted foolishly and did not seek the Lord, nor understand Him, and therefore the whole flock is scattered.

(Verse 24, 25.) Rebuke me, O Lord, but with justice, not in your anger, lest you reduce me to nothing. Pour out your indignation on the nations that do not know you, and on the provinces (or generations) that have not invoked your name, for they have devoured Jacob and consumed his dwelling place, and they have scattered (or reduced to desolation) his glory (or pasture). We also read this passage in the psalm: O Lord, do not rebuke me in your anger; do not discipline me in your wrath (Psalm 6:1; 38:1). And the meaning is this: We indeed deserve all that we endure, and we deserve much greater things than what we suffer. Nevertheless, I beseech you, that you may correct me as a father, not as an adversary: that you may correct me as a son, and not punish me as an enemy (Hebrews 12); for you discipline every son whom you receive, and you correct Jerusalem through every pain and scourge. However, the enemies who do not know you, and the provinces or regions who have not invoked your name, should not feel your judgment, but rather your displeasure (Psalm 88). For you have handed us over to be corrected. But they have made their yoke heavier: they have not spared the elderly, and they have afflicted the little ones: they have eaten us up and completely devoured us, and they have reduced Jerusalem to such desolation that they have plundered both public and private buildings and killed your people.

(Ver. 4.) Cursed is the man who does not listen to the words of this covenant that I commanded your fathers on the day that I brought them out of the land of Egypt, out of the iron furnace, saying: Listen to my voice, and do all that I command you, and you shall be my people, and I will be your Lord (or God). Not because of the privileges of lineage, not because of the injury of circumcision, and the rest of the Sabbath, but because of obedience, God becomes the people of Israel, and Israel becomes his people. And here indeed He speaks as if to slaves, so that they may please God. But in the Gospel, the Lord says to His disciples: 'You are my friends,' He says, 'if you do what I command you. I will no longer call you servants, because a servant does not know what his master is doing. But I have called you friends, because I have made known to you everything that I have heard from My Father.' (John 15:14-15). And when they have become My friends, they pass on to being children: For as many as received Him, He gave them the power to become children of God. (John 1:12). Where he instructs his friends and disciples: Be perfect as your Father in heaven is perfect (Matthew 5:48); he is commanding likeness, not equality. And there is obedience to the commandments, here is the likeness of God. And when he says: On the day when I brought them out of the land of Egypt, out of the iron furnace, he gives us understanding that the furnace and the iron furnace, and the kindling of tribulation and punishment signify magnitude, not a specific place of punishment, prepared with iron material.

(Verse 5.) In order to fulfill the oath that I swore to your fathers, I will give them a land flowing with milk and honey, just as it is on this day. The fathers seem to receive, as the sons receive; and the promise to Abraham is fulfilled in his descendants. However, we must understand the land flowing with milk and honey metaphorically as representing the abundance of all things, as Virgil says in Eclogue III.

Let honey flow for them, let the rough bramble bear cinnamon. And again:

And everywhere he restrained the wines flowing in the rivers. Or certainly, tropologically, let us perceive the Church of Christ as the land flowing with milk and honey, in which we are nurtured as infants and sucklings through faith, so that we may be able to receive solid food.

And I answered and said, Amen, Lord. For which reason the Seventy translated 'Fiat, Domine' as 'Amen' (for this is what 'amen' signifies). The Lord had said, 'I have sworn to give to your fathers a land flowing with milk and honey,' as is confirmed today by the very things themselves (Exod. III). The diligent prophet takes up the voice of the Lord for his people and desires to be true and to endure forever what has been given. Therefore he says, 'Truly, Lord, you have fulfilled what you promised; whether it be done, Lord, or whether it endure forever, this is what you have given.'

(Vers. 9, 10) And the Lord said to me: A conspiracy has been found among the men of Judah and the inhabitants of Jerusalem have turned back to the iniquities of their former fathers, who refused to listen to my words. And so they went after foreign gods to serve them. The house of Israel and the house of Judah have broken my covenant, which I made with their fathers. As for the conspiracy, which we have interpreted according to Symmachus, Aquila, and the Septuagint, Theodotion has translated it as 'connection,' which we can also call 'binding.' And so Athalia, when she discovered that an ambush was being prepared for her in the Temple, spoke the same word: Conspiracy, conspiracy (2 Kings 11:14). The Scripture properly uses this word when it refers not to a sudden and accidental sin, but to a deliberate plot and conspiracy aimed at committing a crime, and when they all have the same mind and intention and work together to despise God's commandments. And it is said that both the fathers and the sons, with one mind and one judgment, neglected God and worshipped idols, both in Israel and in the house of Judah, that is, in the ten tribes as well as in the two tribes whose authority was in Jerusalem, so that, in their contempt for God, the punishment they suffered in captivity was equal.