Jerome

(Verse 10 onwards) Beyond the rivers of Ethiopia, there my scattered children, the offspring of my dispersed ones, will bring a gift to me. On that day you will no longer be ashamed of all your rebellious acts against me, for then I will remove from your midst those who proudly boast of their arrogance, and you will no longer exalt yourself on my holy mountain. I will leave in your midst a humble and oppressed people, and they will trust in the name of the Lord. The remnant of Israel will not commit injustice or speak falsehood, and no deceitful tongue will be found in their mouths. They will feed and lie down, and no one will make them afraid. LXX: Concerning the boundaries of the rivers of Ethiopia, I will gather my dispersed ones. They will bring sacrifices to me. On that day, you will not be ashamed of all your inventions, in which you have acted impiously towards me, for then I will remove from you the arrogance of your insults, and you will no longer exalt yourself upon my holy mountain. I will leave in you a gentle and humble people, and they will revere the name of the Lord, those who remain of Israel. They will not commit iniquity, nor speak falsehoods, nor will there be deceitful language found in their mouths, for they will be nourished and lie down, and no one will make them afraid. When the Lord returns the chosen lip to the people of the believers, and all invoke the name of the Lord, and bear his yoke, then even beyond the rivers of Ethiopia (where the queen of Sheba came to hear the wisdom of Solomon) they will bring offerings to the Lord. And Ethiopia will stretch out its hand to God. And truly, the Ethiopian woman, who the lawgiver struck Egypt with ten plagues, will marry, while the Hebrew synagogue looks on with envy. But what he says according to the Hebrew: From there my supplicants, the daughter of my scattered ones, will bring me a gift of this kind: O Israel, formerly the assembly of daughters, whom I dispersed throughout the whole world, although you may envy, although you may be tormented by emulation, nevertheless from Ethiopia sacrifices will be brought to me, that is, from the Gentile people. In that day, that is, when the multitude of the Gentiles believes, even you will not be completely confounded above all your errors, by which you transgressed against me, choosing Barabbas and crucifying the Son of God (John 6). Then I will remove from your midst the scribes, and the priests, and the Pharisees, proud of your arrogance, and you will no longer boast on my holy mountain; but you will have a poor people, uneducated men, and fishermen, who will hope in the name of the Lord. The remnants of Israel, not the multitude that cried out, 'Crucify him, crucify him' (John 19:6): not the priests and the nobles; but the remnants will not commit iniquity, nor speak falsehood against Christ, believing in the truth: nor will deceitful language be found in their mouths, knowing that every lie is from the devil (John 8); for they themselves will be shepherded and will say: The Lord shepherds me, and I shall lack nothing; in the place of pasture, there he has placed me. He has led me beside still waters, he restores my soul (Psalm 23:1): and there will be no one to frighten, the pride of the persecutors being conquered by the faith of the believers. Let it be understood that this refers to the first coming of Christ, which the Jews promise to themselves in the end, and hope to dwell in Jerusalem, and to be satisfied and nourished with bodily gifts and Jewish resources like sheep, and with green herbs, and with all nations destroyed and subjected to themselves, so that no one can frighten them. But we, taking from this fable an opportunity for a true story, say that, by washing our stained and sinful souls, and by our lips being restored to their chosen and pure state (as Symmachus has explained), we have left behind us in the rivers of Ethiopia the masters of perverse doctrines, with whom we were once associated, and we will bear the gifts to Christ, the scattered Israel. On that day, in which the light of Christ rose for us, it will be said to each of us: you will not be ashamed of all your inventions, namely, the worst thoughts with which we acted impiously against the Lord, and all pride and contempt through which we exalted ourselves against the Lord and against His holy mountain, our Lord and Savior, and for proud and empty names there will be left in us a gentle and humble people, so that we may think of nothing arrogant, nothing boastful, nothing that displeases God. At the same time, consider that on the day of judgment and at the end of the world, all names of dignities will be taken away, and only one people will remain, and a flock under a good shepherd, who is meek and humble. Then even the people of Israel, as the fullness of the gentiles enters (For God has concluded them all in unbelief, that he may have mercy on all. - Romans 11:32), will fear the name of the Lord. And the remnant of Israel will no longer commit iniquity, having denied the Lord exceedingly, nor will they speak vanity, promising themselves foolish stories. And in their mouth, the tongue of deceit will not be found, while Christ, who is truth, speaks through them. For then they will feed, both themselves and in one flock, and they will recline in the Church, and they will not fear the true attacks of Nebuchadnezzar. Seeing and reading such great mysteries, let us cry out with the Apostle and say: O the depth of the riches of the wisdom and knowledge of God! How unsearchable are His judgments and His ways past finding out! (Rom. XI, 33). Which indeed the prophet, sensing and pondering within himself, suspects concerning the judgments of God. In the night, while I was meditating in my heart, and my spirit was tormented, I said: Is God going to cast off forever, or will he no longer show his mercy? Or will he keep his mercy locked up in his anger? And I said: Now I begin: this is the change of the right hand of the Most High (Psalm 76:7, following). And the meaning is this: I understood that what I thought, that the Lord would abandon sinners forever and hold back his mercy with anger succeeding, was done for this reason, so that by the change of his right hand, which is the right hand of the Most High, he would change everything and have mercy on those whom he had previously cast away. And we, both ourselves and the rest of Israel, knowing that we shall render an account for every idle word (Matthew 12), and that the Lord will destroy all lips that speak falsehood, let us not speak vanity. For vanity of vanities, and all is vanity (Ecclesiastes 1:2). And also: All the vanity of every living man (Psalm 38). Let us not speak lies with our mouths; but having received the power to tread upon serpents and scorpions, and upon all the power of the enemy (Luke 10), let us fear no terror, neither let us dread the snares of wolves with Christ as our guardian. But let us say, 'The Lord is my light and my salvation; whom shall I fear?' (Psalm 27:1). And so forth, which are contained in the twenty-sixth psalm.

(Verse 14 and following) Praise, daughter of Zion, shout for joy, Israel, rejoice and exult with all your heart, daughter of Jerusalem. The Lord has taken away your judgment, he has turned away your enemies: the Lord, the King of Israel, is in your midst, you will no longer fear evil. On that day, it will be said, Jerusalem, do not be afraid: Zion, let your hands not be weak: the Lord your God, in your midst, is mighty he will save, he will rejoice over you with gladness, he will quiet you with his love: he will exult over you with praise. I will gather those who turned away from the law, because they were from you, so that you will no longer have reproach against them. Rejoice, daughter of Zion; proclaim, daughter of Jerusalem, rejoice and delight with all your heart, daughter of Jerusalem. The Lord has taken away your iniquities, he has redeemed you from the hand of your enemies, the Lord, the king of Israel, is in your midst: you will no longer see evil. In that time, says the Lord, Jerusalem, have confidence, Zion, let your hands not be weak: the Lord your God, who is mighty, will save you, he will bring joy upon you, and renew you in his love, and he will rejoice over you with delight, as on a solemn day: I will gather your broken ones. Woe to anyone who receives reproach upon it. It does not seem strange, as we have often said, that Hebrew chapters end differently from the Greek Septuagint and the Latin. For where there is a different sense of translation, there must necessarily be different beginnings or endings. The Jews, who expect Christ to come, promise themselves all these things, which we who have received Christ have already obtained with him. Therefore, if anyone, especially among the new wise men of the Christians, whose names I will not mention in order not to appear to harm anyone, thinks that prophecy has not yet been fulfilled, let him know that he falsely bears the name of Christ and has a Jewish soul, having only the circumcision of the body. For if these things have not yet been done, but are to come, we have believed in vain in the coming of the Savior. But in vain do we understand that the mystery, which has been kept secret from eternal times, is fulfilled in us who do not believe, and is now manifested through the prophetic Scriptures and the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ. Finally, let us consider the order of the reading, and we will see that it is said to pertain not to the Jews, but to the Church of Christ. For after that which went before (My judgement concerning the nations, that they might receive kings, even unto that place where it is said: They shall call upon the name of the Lord, and shall serve him under one yoke. And I will take of my dispersed into Ethiopia, and they shall offer to me victims. And in that day there shall be no more a Pharao in the land of Egypt: but the Assyrian shall be his king, because they would not be converted. And the remnant of the house of Israel, and they that shall escape of the house of Jacob, shall lean upon the Lord, the Holy One of Israel, in truth. A remnant shall be converted, the remnant, I say, of Jacob, to the mighty God. For if thy people, O Israel, shall be as the sand of the sea, a remnant of them shall be converted. Consummation, and that determined, shall overflow justice. Because the Lord God of hosts shall make a consumption, and an abridgment in the midst of all the land. The Holy Spirit, preaching about the general consummation of the world, speaks: Rejoice, daughter of Zion, proclaim, daughter of Jerusalem, be glad and delight with all your heart, daughter of Jerusalem. For every soul of the Church, which is established on the watchtower and contemplates peace, rejoices and is glad that its iniquities have been removed and redeemed by Him who redeemed all with His precious blood. For Christ has become wisdom for us from God, and righteousness, and sanctification, and redemption (I Cor. I, 30). And the king of Israel, who dwells among us, redeemed us, saying: I and my Father will come, and we will make our abode with him (John XIV, 23); and I will dwell and walk among them (Lev. XXVI, 12): and we will no longer see evil, but only think and do virtues. In that day, says the Lord, we will see peace, and placed on high, let not your hands be dissolved, who also said through Isaiah: Strengthen the weak hands, and let your works be strong (Isaiah XXXV, 3). For the Lord is strong, against whom no one can resist: your savior, he himself will restore to you the joy that you have lost, and after casting off the old man, he will make you walk in the new, and he will do all this out of his love: not because of your merit, but because of his mercy. And he will rejoice in you, and delight in you, receiving your salvation like a rich sacrifice of your solemnity; and he himself will say to you: I will gather your contrite ones; for a contrite and humble heart, God will not despise. (Psalm 50:19); and, a crushed reed he will not break. (Isaiah 42). But for now, if we want to understand the second coming of the Savior. Moreover, because the prophet Zechariah encourages Zion and Jerusalem to similar joy, and Matthew says that this same prophecy was fulfilled in the first coming of Christ (Matt. 21), we are compelled by necessity, or rather we are led by the very order of truth, which is said in Zephaniah, not to hope for what is to come, but for what has already happened. For it is written in Zechariah: Rejoice greatly, O daughter of Zion; proclaim, O daughter of Jerusalem: behold, your king comes to you, righteous and saving: he is humble and riding on a donkey (or a colt) (Zech. 9:9). These things are said according to the Septuagint. However, according to the Hebrew, the Church is commanded to praise and Israel is commanded to rejoice, perceiving God with understanding, and to exult and be joyful with their whole heart in the place of peace, to which it was said: Peace I give to you, my peace I leave with you (John 14:27). For in the end and consummation of the world, he took away his judgment, by no means judging or reproving it, but saving it; and he turned away his enemies, the hordes of demons. The Lord God of Israel will be in its midst: it will no longer fear evil. On that day it will be said to Jerusalem: O thou free city, thou shalt no longer serve with thy sons, but thou shalt be the mother of the saints (Galatians IV). Fear not, O Zion (for thou art indeed Jerusalem): none of thy works shall be destroyed, nor shalt thou mourn for the things which thou hast done (or, shalt thou lament, Isaiah 54:9). The Lord thy God, who will save thee, is strong and mighty: he himself will dwell in the midst of thee, he will rejoice over thee with gladness and joy, and he will silence thy sins with love (or, with peace), wherewith he hath loved thee: and he will exult over thee with praise, either because thou art praiseworthy, or because thou singest praises with thine own (people). Just as the Eagle, or, as it is interpreted, the Aquila, gathers those who have strayed from you, because they were from you, that is, those who had fled from your bosom through vice and sin, and had come under the power of demons, when the state of all things is restored, they will come to you, and you will no longer allow any reproach against your lost children. Let us know that what we have said is nonsense (), in Hebrew it is the same as the Latin language, and therefore it is placed by us as it was in Hebrew: so that we may know that the Hebrew language is the mother of all languages, which is not for this time to discuss. But I marvel at Aquila and the Septuagint, because we translated them, in that place namely where we said: I will gather because they were from you: instead of, they were, they translated it as woe, or οἴ: which Aquila always puts not for lamenting, but for calling and crying out: Haja (), for the beginning of the word signifies 'they were,' the past tense in the plural number, either were or had been. I know that this will be bothersome to the reader, who, if he notices, will not accuse me of writing controversies and declamations, nor of rejoicing in commonplaces: but rather will criticize me for playing in the manner of rhetoricians, rather than blame me for dwelling in so great obscurities, as is worthy of one lingering.

Verse 19, 20: Behold, I will kill all those who have afflicted you at that time; and I will save the lame, and gather her who was cast out; and I will make them a praise and a name in all the earth's confusion. In the time when I bring you; and in the time when I gather you: for I will give you a name and a praise to all the peoples of the earth, when I turn your captivity before your eyes, says the Lord. LXX: Behold, I will do in you, for you, at that time, and I will save the oppressed, and I will receive the rejected, and I will place them in glory, and those who are named in all the earth. And they will be confounded at that time, when I have done well to you: and at the time when I have received you, for I will give you a name, and glory among all the peoples of the earth; when I turn your captivity before you, says the Lord. And this is the synagogue that does not limp, but is cut off on both feet, promising itself in the coming of its Christ, whom it hopes to come: and it thinks that all the nations that have afflicted Israel will be destroyed by the Lord, and the synagogue will be saved, and the one who had received the bill of divorce will be gathered, and they will be placed in praise, and in the name in all the land of their captivity, where they were previously confused. And this happened during the time when the captivity of Jerusalem had been reduced, and the temple had been rebuilt, and the remaining order of ceremonies had been observed. She promises this to herself, and therefore does not repent, and while she hopes for uncertain things, she loses certain salvation. I am not surprised that the synagogue says these things, which, because it does not receive Christ, it hurts its eyes, and when it winks, it is not loved by Jacob, and when Rachel succeeds, it is neglected (Gen. XXIX). I marvel at the Christians, or rather semi-Jews, who claim to be of the Church and profess those things which, if true, we believe in vain in Christ, and all our sacraments are taken away, and we are more miserable than all men, believing in him who did not come. But since our hope is certain and the vows of the Jews are empty, according to the earlier understanding, let us now weave the present and final chapter and let us bring forth the testimony of Jesus son of Sirach: He who casts a stone high, casts it upon his own head (Eccl. XXIII). For indeed, because Zion and Jerusalem are situated on high, whoever detracts from Zion and Jerusalem and hurls stones of contempt at them, casts them upon his own head; and their reproach will return upon his own head. And his pain and wickedness will descend upon his own head. How many today reproach the souls that seek God's mysteries, that desire to see His peace, and say: He is insane and drunk, and full of wine; he avoids the company of men; he spurns pleasure; he considers gold as mud; he loves only poverty. But those who are unbelievers even reproach the cross of Christ to Him, even though when they see Him in distress and temptation, they say: Where are Your mercies and the justice that You have wrought? What shall I say concerning unbelievers, when certain leaders of the Churches reproach such men and consider their lives folly, and do not praise their present conduct, but reproach their old sins? Nor do they hear that it is commanded: Do not reproach a man who turns away from his sins (Eccl. VIII). Woe therefore to him who brought reproach and took it upon himself, and surrendered himself to such a duty, to slander Zion and the city of God. For by this injury, the Lord is the avenger of his own city, and he will say to Zion: Behold, I will do in you for your sake, that is, I will do your vengeance, and I will save the afflicted, or as it is said in Greek, the oppressed; so that the meaning may be: I will save her, who at present is like a grape and an olive, so pressed and afflicted by trials and troubles, as if she were crushed and pressed by a winepress and a beam, in order to make wine and oil, and Jesus would drink of the wine in the kingdom of his Father; but he would be anointed with the oil by his fellow partakers. I think that because of the expression of such wine and oil, Job suffered many things; but after he had made wine and oil, he heard from the Lord, 'Do you think that I have responded to you in any other way, except that you may appear just?' (Job 40:70). As if he were speaking to a grape and an olive; Do you think that I have pressed and afflicted and crushed you in any other way, except that I may extract wine and oil from you? It follows: And I will receive her who was rejected. It seems that God repels us when he allows temptation. Hence Job says, 'The visitation of the Lord has looked upon me' (Job 10:12). And not only do the just speak, saying, 'But now you have repelled and confounded us,' as it is written in the forty-third psalm, but the Lord and Savior himself, speaking in the person of the man he had assumed, says, 'But you have repelled and despised: you have delayed your Christ; you have overthrown the testament of your servant.' But the identity of the righteous person is confirmed in the 43rd psalm, which says: Now you have rejected and humiliated us, but all these things have come upon us, and we have not forgotten you, nor have we acted unjustly in your covenant; our heart has not turned back. Therefore, the Lord will receive her who appeared cast down in temptations, and he will place them in glory and make them renowned throughout the earth, namely, the children of the Church, who have been manifested and rejected. But who else can we understand as children of the Church, if not the apostles? Look at Peter and Paul and Matthew and John; and consider this that was promised to Abraham: I will magnify your name, accomplished in them by their works. Every day their names are mentioned in the Church, every day their names are magnified: not because it benefits them to be mentioned by us in the Church, but because by magnifying their names and reading what they wrote, we obtain salvation. In that time, he says, when the repulsed attack had been undertaken, and his sons had been placed in glory (for the Lord glorifies in his athletes, when he sees them crowned, just as he gloried against the devil concerning Job), so the Apostle, rejoicing in the progress of his disciples, says: Even through your glory, those who were your adversaries will be confounded, and they who had hurled reproach against you will see those whom they had considered miserable to be happy, and those whom they had regarded as poor and lowly to become powerful and glorious. Then they will see their captivity, by which they had been subjected to a harsh rule in this world, being brought back to heavenly Jerusalem; and they themselves rising to eternal shame and confusion. Grant us, Jesus Christ, who are expressed and afflicted and rejected in this world, that you may receive us and place us in glory: may confusion prevail in the time of his remaining, may his idle words cease, may his poisons become dull, and may his confusion lead to salvation. This according to the Septuagint. However, the Hebrew text does not require much explanation because, apart from the beginning that we mentioned at the end of the previous chapter, it does not differ significantly from their translation.