Jerome

(Verse 14, 15) Thus says the Lord: For three transgressions of the Ammonites, and for four, I will not revoke the punishment, because they have ripped open pregnant women in Gilead, that they might enlarge their border. So I will kindle a fire in the wall of Rabbah, and it shall devour her strongholds, with shouting on the day of battle, with a tempest in the day of the whirlwind; and their king shall go into exile, he and his princes together, says the Lord. LXX: Thus says the Lord: For three transgressions of the Ammonites, and for four, I will not turn away its punishment, because they ripped open the women with child in Gilead, that they might enlarge their borders. So I will kindle a fire in the walls of Rabbah, and it shall devour its palaces, with shouting in the day of battle, with a tempest in the day of the whirlwind. Their king shall go into captivity, he and his priests and his princes together, says the Lord. The divine message captures the sons of Ammon, who are descendants of Lot, and who dwell in Arabia, where Philadelphia now stands. They question why, during the reign of Saul, the king of Judah, Naash, the prince of the Ammonites, ravaged Jabesh-gilead and mutilated its pregnant women in order to expand his territory and subdue all of Gilead with his empire (1 Samuel 11). Therefore, God threatens to kindle a fire on the walls of Rabbah, the capital city of the Ammonites, so that its houses may be devoured amidst the clamor and wailing of the conquering army. This will happen on a day of turmoil and whirlwind, when its captives are led away as captives by Nebuchadnezzar. The idol of the Ammonites, called Molech or their king, will be carried off to Assyria, and its princes or priests will also be taken captive. Priests are not recognized in Hebrew, but rather princes. So the Seventy priests were added, so that if you want to know who those princes are, you will listen to the priests. However, there is a difference between the cruelty of Damascus and the sons of Ammon, because they shattered the pregnant women of Gilead in iron carts or in iron saws: but these (priests) dismembered the pregnant women of Gilead in order to expand their territory. In Damascus, those who drink blood are deemed heretics, who have not only plundered the people of God from the Church but have also shattered them and chewed them with iron teeth, about whom it is written: Why do they devour my people as if eating bread? (Ps. LII, 5). Among the sons of Ammon, which is interpreted as the people of mourning, or my people, we receive the schismatics, who indeed separate the deceived multitude from the Church of God, and they break and divide the ignorant souls, who have recently conceived the word of Christ: yet they do not do this with cruelty, by which heretics slaughter any deceived individuals, but by remaining in the same rule of faith, they desire to expand their boundaries and send the name of glory to future generations. Therefore the Lord threatens that he will burn the walls of Rabbah, that is, of the multitude, in a day of wailing and of war, of commotion and of swirling, and will lead their king, the author of the schism, captive, and make the leaders of the Church submit their necks to the yoke.

(Chapter 2, Verse 1 and following) Thus says the Lord: Concerning the three sins of Moab, and concerning four, I will not revoke my punishment, because he burned the bones of the king of Edom to ashes. And I will send fire upon Moab, and it shall devour the palaces of Kerioth, and Moab shall die with tumult, with shouting, and with the sound of the trumpet. And I will cut off the judge from the midst of her, and will slay all her princes with him, says the Lord. LXX: Thus says the Lord: Concerning the three impious acts of Moab, and concerning four, I will not turn away from them, because he burned the bones of the king of Edom to ashes. And I will send fire upon Moab, and it shall devour the foundations of its cities, and Moab shall die with affliction, with shouting, and with the sound of the trumpet. And I will cut off the judge from her, and will slay all her princes with him, says the Lord. Not only the sons of Ammon, but also Moab, was descended from Lot, who was the son of Abraham's brother. And in order to demonstrate that He is the Lord of all and that all souls belong to Him, who is their creator, He avenges the injustice of the king of Edom, indeed the crime that was perpetrated against him by the Moabites, that they burned his bones to ashes, and their cruelty and rage did not end even in death. The Hebrews tell that the bones of the king of Edom, who had gone up with the king of Israel, Joram, and the king of Judah, Jehoshaphat, against Moab in revenge for a grievance, were later torn apart and burned by the Moabites (2 Kings 3). Therefore, they say, God declares that he will send fire upon Moab, or the capital city of the Moabites, from which the whole province is named, or the entire province, to devour the city of Carioth, which is the name of the city. Although the Seventy translated it as 'the cities of Moab', that is, Moab: and it will perish in the sound and wailing of the conquering army, of which one is called Saon in Hebrew, the other Therua; and in the blast of the trumpet or horn, for this is what Sophar means. And when Moab shall perish, the counsel of the princes and judges shall be in vain, with the cities and leaders being overthrown. However, it is necessary to transfer the perfect captivity, or Solomon's, and conclude it in Edom, so that it may make them humble and earthly from the high and heavenly, as Gaza and Tyre are said to have done. Thus, we should not burn the bones of the king of Edom and dissolve them into ash and dust. The Jews transfer spiritual understanding into Edomite flesh, and weaken and diminish the royal sense, which is found in scripture and is most solid and firm, with certain genealogies and unnecessary traditions, reducing it to dust. And it is not only they who do this, but all heretics who want to sit God on a high and elevated throne in a human likeness, and to place feet on the ground so that they do not hang; to have a nose to smell the fragrance of good scent, eyes to see, hands to work, feet to walk, ears to hear, a mouth to speak, teeth to chew food. He who reads that Judah went in to Thamar the harlot and from her begot two sons (Gen. XXXVIII): if he follows the disgraceful letter and does not ascend to the beauty of spiritual understanding, he will burn the bones of the king of Edom. He who thinks that Hosea took a harlot as a wife (Hosea I), and understands nothing more in the statement than what is contained in simple words, he will burn the bones of the king of Edom. And therefore the Lord will send fire into Moab, which is interpreted 'from the father,' because although he was indeed born from God, yet he has forsaken him. And it shall devour cities, or towns, because it is interpreted as Carioth. Hence Cariathiarim is translated into our language as the village of the woods. And Moab shall not die in any other way except in a clamor, and a noise, and a wailing, and the blast of the trumpet, so that they may be overwhelmed in their high senses, which are compared in holy books to the blasts of the trumpet. Then the judges and princes, and all those who are in charge of earthly works, are destroyed by the divine word, and the Church commands to the teachers: \"Climb up to a high mountain, you who preach Zion, lift up your voice, you who proclaim Jerusalem\" (Isaiah XL, 9).

(Verse 4, 5.) Thus says the Lord: On account of three crimes of Judah, and on account of four, I will not turn them aside, because they have rejected the law of the Lord and have not kept his commandments. They have been deceived by their idols, after which their fathers walked, and I will send fire into Judah, and it will devour the palaces of Jerusalem. LXX: Thus says the Lord: On account of three impieties of the sons of Judah, and on account of four, I will not turn away from them, because they have rejected the law of the Lord and have not kept his precepts, and they have been deceived by their vanities, which their fathers followed, and I will send fire into Judah, and it will devour the foundations of Jerusalem. Regarding the other aforementioned cities and peoples, such as Damascus and Gaza, Ashkelon and Gaza, Ashkelon and Azotus, Tyre and Idumea, and the sons of Ammon and Moab, it does not reproach them for rejecting the law of God and despising His commandments; for they did not have the written law, but the natural law. Hence, it says that they violated their own bowels and the bowels of mercy, and crushed pregnant women in iron chariots, and carried away the captivity of Solomon, whether it was perfect or incomplete, and confined it in Idumea, and did not remember the covenant of their fathers, and pursued their brother with the sword. And they burst forth not only with cruelty, but with fury, to the extent that they burned the bones of the king of Idumea, and did not allow death to be the final evil for everyone. But Judas, at that time, in which these things were being said, had the religion of God and the temple and the ceremonies, who had received the law, and the precepts, and the judgments, and the testimonies, and the commandments (concerning the difference of which is more fully debated in the eighteenth psalm, and in the one hundred and eighteenth), is reproached by the Lord and convicted, and will receive worthy punishments, because he has rejected His law, and has not kept His commandments. Because he rejected and despised them, his idols deceived him in order and way. For he could not be deceived by idols before he rejected the law of the Lord and did not keep His commandments. These are the idols after which their fathers went in Egypt, fabricating the images of the Egyptian bull, and worshiping Beelphegor, and honoring Astaroth and Baalim. Therefore, the Lord threatens even Judah that he will send fire, which will devour the houses and foundations of Jerusalem: not the one in which the vision of peace dwells, but those that have risen under the name Jerusalem in different cities. Whatever we have said about Judah, it pertains to the Church, in which there is true confession, and the peace of the Lord, and the vision of truth. And therefore it is argued against him, that he has despised the law of God and has not kept his commandments, and each one, worshipping his own vices and sins, has begun to have God from whom he has been conquered, as the apostle Peter says: For by whom a person is overcome, to him he is a slave (2 Peter 2:19). The covetous worships gold, the glutton worships his belly, the lustful worships his genitals and Beelphegor: the lascivious woman, although she may live in luxury, is dead, and she worships the pleasures of Venus. Where will the Lord send fire upon Judah, and it will devour the most wicked and sinful houses, which have lost the glory of Jerusalem; at the same time, we learn that the Creator of all things does not only care for the Jews and Israel, but also for all the nations, and according to the Apostle, those who sin without the law will perish without the law, and those who commit sins under the law will be judged by the law of the Lord (Rom. II).

(Vers. 6 seqq.) Thus says the Lord: For three crimes of Israel, and for four, I will not revoke my word: Because they sell the just man for silver, and the poor man for a pair of sandals. They trample the heads of the weak into the dust of the earth, and they force the lowly off the path. Son and father go to the same prostitute, profaning my holy name. Upon garments taken in pledge, they recline beside every altar; and the wine of those who have been fined, they drink in the house of their God. LXX: Thus says the Lord: For three transgressions of Israel, and for four, I will not turn away from them: because they have sold the righteous for silver, and the poor for a pair of shoes. They trample on the dust of the earth and crush the heads of the poor. They turn aside the way of the humble, and a man and his father go in to the same maiden to profane my holy name. They tie themselves to altars with cords and drink wine obtained through fraud in the house of their God. Therefore, he places the last of Israel, that is, the ten tribes, because we have foretold in writing nearly everything that follows in order to include the prophetic discourse of the book under one text. Therefore, first of all, their wickedness or impiety is in three or four crimes, namely, that they sold a man for money, and a just man, who is more admirable in this, that he was not overcome by poverty so as to do anything unjust: and indeed, if they had sold a poor just man compelled by the necessity of hunger for a price, there would be some excuse for the crime; but now they have sold the precious soul of a man for a most worthless thing, for shoes with which they trample on dust and dung. These people, according to the Septuagint, strike the head of the poor; according to the Hebrew, they crush the heads of the poor into the dust of the earth, and they are so filled with pride that they refuse to walk with other men. And so, not satisfied with this wicked deed, both the son and the father have violated together a young girl, in order to desecrate the holy name of God. Therefore, whatever is done shamefully is attributed to an injury against God, who says: Through you my name is blasphemed among the Gentiles (2 Peter 2:2). This is what the Apostle writes to the Corinthians: Indeed, fornication is heard among you, and such fornication as is not even among the Gentiles, so that someone may have his father's wife. And you are puffed up, and have not rather mourned, that he who has done this deed might be taken away from among you (II Cor. V, 1, 2). It often happens that a father defiles his son's wife, the father-in-law defiles his daughter-in-law, which is prohibited in the Law: You shall not uncover the nakedness of your father, and you shall not uncover the nakedness of your daughter-in-law (Leviticus XVIII, 7). Therefore, the letter also has the greatest usefulness if it is preserved. And because every vice, if it exceeds the boundary of shame, punishes crimes with other crimes, and it always proceeds to worse things, even over the pledged garments, ten tribes slept next to every altar, which the Hebrews interpret as follows: On the garments of those who did not want to go to idols, and they reclined on what they had forcibly taken while feasting in the idol. According to the Septuagint, there was such contempt for God that they would stretch out their garments in which they sleep or commit fornication, with ropes next to the altar, and they would make παραπετάσματα, that is, veils, so that no one could see the fornicators in the Temple. And they would also serve drunkenness and lust, even buying the wine they drank not with their own labor, but with deceit. And they would do this in their god's temple, so that they would defile those whom they thought were gods with filth and debauchery. They speak these things and thus explain, those who follow a simple history. But we, who taught in Hosea, under the name of the Israelites, and Samaria, and Ephraim, and the sons of Joseph (from which tribe Jeroboam was, who separated the people from the kingdom of David and Jerusalem, and the temple of God), are understood to signify heretics: even now, after Judah and Jerusalem, which is interpreted as the Church, let us understand that the prophetic discourse is directed towards heretics, who sell a holy and righteous man, but poor, for money. A poor and just man, he is an ecclesiastic, who does not have knowledge of the Scriptures, but is content with simplicity, and does the commandments that are given, of whom it is written: The poor man does not endure threats (Prov. XIII, 8). And to the Galatians: Only that we should be mindful of the poor (Gal. II, 10). All heretics do these things for wealth, and for the shoes with which they trample on the dust of the earth: for they cannot stand with bare feet on the holy ground (on which Moses and Joshua the son of Nun stood, Exod. III; Josh. V): therefore the apostles are commanded to walk with bare feet (Luke X), so that they have no possessions or skins, which pertain to the flesh), thus they strike the poor on the head. And the Savior commanded his disciples that, if perchance, because they were still in the world, some mortal thing had clung to their actions, they should shake the dust off their feet (Matt. X, Mark V). But the heretics strike the heads of the poor, although this is not written in Hebrew (Let it be read in Greek), because they have turned away from the path of the humble. That path of the humble is the one that says: I am the way, the truth, and the life (John XIV, 6), which urges us to walk in it, and it says: Come to me, all you who labor and are burdened, and I will give you rest (Matt. XI, 28). But all the leaders of the heretics swell with pride, concerning whom the Apostle also speaks: 'Lest being puffed up he fall into the judgment of the devil' (1 Timothy 3:6), who says: 'I will ascend into heaven, I will exalt my throne above the stars of God; I will sit also upon the mount of the congregation, in the sides of the north' (Isaiah 14). Therefore, God resists the proud heretics, but gives grace to the humble ecclesiastics (James 4). Moreover, the son and the father entered unto a maiden, to violate and defile the holy name of God. We often read that our father is the Jewish people, as Paul says: I do not want you to be unaware, brothers, that our fathers were all under the cloud, and all passed through the sea, and all were baptized into Moses in the cloud and in the sea (I Cor. X, 1, 2). And in another place: Ask your fathers, and they will tell you; your elders, and they will declare to you (Deut. XXXII, 7). And again: For your fathers, sons are born to you (Psal. XLIV, 17). And the Church of the Gentiles speaks: The sons of my mother fought against me (Song of Songs 1:5). Therefore we are sons, and the father is the Jewish people. We sin and commit a crime, when we enter into the observation of the Sabbath and circumcision, abolishing the ceremonies of the law with our parent, to whom the Apostle says: Behold, I Paul say to you, that if you be circumcised, Christ shall profit you nothing (Galatians 5:2, 4). And again: Those who are justified by the law have fallen from grace. Whoever enters the Church in such a way that he keeps the law in the gospel, he enters with the father to the virgin and commits fornication, and violates the name of the Lord. Hence those who say that they do not harm the Jews after the advent of Christ, if they believe in the Lord in such a way that they also keep the precepts of the Law, they contaminate the father and the son with one fornication. And they also tie their garments with ropes and make veils next to the altar, pretending the faith of Christ. For as many as have been baptized in Christ, have put on Christ (Galatians 3), and they oppose their garments, which have bound them with the cords of sins, to the eyes of those who see, so that their wicked deeds may not be seen: so that whoever looks at the altar may not suspect immorality. All heretics under the name of Christ do this, fornicating and obscuring the testimonies of the Scriptures with their errors and lies. Therefore, the apostles spread their garments on the colt of an ass, so that the Lord may sit more comfortably (Matthew 21), and he may trample the path adorned with the Law and the Prophets. On the contrary, heretics do not lay down their garments in the footsteps of the Savior; but they bind them next to the altar, and they pretend their sins, in order to drink the wine of deceit, or of the condemned, who, because they have departed from the Church, have been condemned. This wine is the wine of Sodom, the fury of dragons and adders, which whoever drinks it cannot be healed. But they drink the wine not in the house of God, where the temple is and Jerusalem; but in their own house of God, which they have fabricated for themselves with crafty speech.

(Verse 9 and following) But I destroyed the Amorite before them, whose height was like the height of cedar trees, and he was strong like an oak tree. And I destroyed his fruit from above and his roots from below. I am the one who brought you up from the land of Egypt and led you into the wilderness for forty years, so that you could possess the land of the Amorite. And I raised up prophets from among your sons and Nazirites from among your young men. LXX: But I destroyed the Amorite before them, whose height was like the height of the cedars, and he was strong as the oaks; and I destroyed his fruit from above, and his roots beneath. I brought you out of the land of Egypt, and led you forty years in the wilderness, that you might possess the land of the Amorites. And I took your sons as prophets and your young men as consecrated ones. Is it not true that you have sold the righteous for silver, and the poor for a pair of sandals? You have struck the heads of the poor, crushing them to the ground, and you have turned aside from the way of the humble. So much so that both father and son go to the same girl, defiling my holy name. Your garments are stained with the blood of the innocent and your clothes are polluted with adultery. You have bound yourselves with the chains of sin, committing adultery even in the sanctuary and joining injustice with drunkenness. You drink wine bought with foreign money in the house of your God. But on the contrary, I bestowed good things upon you in return for the evils you inflicted on me, so that I might destroy, before your presence, Seon, the king of the Amorites, who was so lofty and strong like a cedar and an oak, and I broke his fruit from above and his roots from below. I led you out of Egypt (Deut. 29), and for forty years I made you go around in circles to reach the holy land, so that you might possess the land of the Amorites, of which we have spoken before: which Moses divided to the sons of Reuben and Gad, and to half the tribe of Manasseh (Num. 32); and after so many benefits, I also added this, that I would take prophets for myself from your sons, and from your young men or chosen ones, I would make Nazarites, who the Seventy have interpreted as sanctified. And indeed, when it comes to praising God, the order of history must be preserved; but it often happens that what happened first is told last, and what is most recent is related to what came first. The seventy-seventh and one hundred and fourth psalms, where the power of signs is described, not the order, will teach us this, as well as the titles of the psalms, of which we will give just two examples: the third psalm and the fifty-first, where what happened first is narrated last, and what we read last is referred to in the beginning. For before we read in the book of Kings about Doeg the Edomite (1 Kings 21, 22), which is titled as the fifty-first psalm, how Absalom rose up against his father (2 Kings 15), which is mentioned in the title of the third psalm. And so the last Amorite was exterminated or erased, as is now first reported, and he made them go up from the land of Egypt and led them into the desert for forty years, we read about this in the beginning (2 Kings 21), which are called the last here with the order changed. Therefore, before God brought us out of the land of Egypt, from the iron furnace, He exterminated before our face the Amorite, who is called bitter or insolent, that is, speaking, or notorious, and celebrated in frequent conversation. But this Amorite is also called Seon, an unfruitful and barren tree, not because it does not produce fruit, but because it produces bad fruit, of which it is said: Every tree that does not bear good fruit will be cut down and thrown into the fire (Matth. 3:10; 7:19). And concerning false prophets, we read: They come in sheep's clothing, but inwardly they are ravenous wolves, by their fruits you shall know them (Matthew VII, 15, 16): namely, by their evil fruits. Therefore, whether they do not bear fruit, or they bear fruit but not good fruit: they are called fruitless trees. This is similar to Seon, about whom it is written: Now the axe is laid to the root of the trees (Luke III, 9), because he was a fruitless tree, and when the Lord struck, he was cut down, whose height is compared to that of cedars, of which we read: I have seen the wicked exalted, and lifted up as the cedars of Lebanon: and I passed by, and behold, he was not; and I sought him, and his place was not found (Psalm XXXVI, 35, 36). And he says that he passes beautifully, because he who passes from the world can say: Passing, I will see this great vision (Exod. III, 3), the cedar is removed, and the place of pride cannot be found. His strength, like that of the hardest and strongest oak tree. From which word, Philo, the most eloquent of the Hebrews, thinks that Esau is called 'δρύινον', that is, oaken and strong: although Esau can also be understood as 'ποίημα', that is, a work, referring to evil deeds. About this strong and robust, the Lord speaks in the Gospel: When a strong armed man guards his courtyard, all the things he possesses are in peace; but if a stronger man comes and defeats him, he will take away all his weapons in which he trusted, and distribute his spoils. And the Lord has granted us that he would crush and take away the fruits of this Amorite Sihon, whom we have interpreted as the fruitless tree, because they were evil, so that no one, thinking them good, would eat and perish. He also cut and crushed its roots, so that nothing would grow afterward from the evil tree. The Lord Himself made us leave the world, and for forty years, which is always a number of affliction and fasting, mourning and sorrow, through tribulations and distress, to come into the holy land, so that we would possess the land of the Amorites first, and that region would become our possession, and later He would raise up Prophets from our descendants, all holy men who received the prophetic spirit, about whom we read more fully in the first Epistle to the Corinthians (I Cor. XIV). And from our young men, or chosen ones, let him take the Nazarites and the sanctified ones, who offer their souls to God as a sacrifice, and who do not touch wine that can intoxicate and disturb the state of mind, so that they may have the hair of Samson, in whose head (for the head of a man is Christ) strength and victory resided (Judges 16).

(Verse 12.) Is it not so, sons of Israel, says the Lord, that you offered wine to the Nazarenes and sent commands to the prophets, saying: Do not prophesy. Likewise, the Septuagint. I granted you so many benefits, that I would kill your enemies and give their land to you, and I would choose prophets and Nazarenes from your sons and young men, and I would consecrate them to my worship. Can you say that I have not done these things, and that I have denied my mercy towards you, by which you live? Why did you burst forth into such rage, that you would get my Nazarenes drunk with wine, whom the law commands not to drink anything that can intoxicate? (Num. VI): and you would command the prophets not to prophesy in my name. This is what the priest Amaziah of Bethel commanded the prophet Amos, whom we now have in our hands: and it was commanded by the king to Jeremiah, not to speak the words of the Lord to the people, to the extent that his words were even burned with fire. Tatianus, the leader of the Encratites, attempts to construct his heresy on this matter, stating that wine should not be drunk, since it is commanded by the law that Nazarenes should not drink wine, and now they are accused by a prophet who provides wine to the Nazarenes. If they follow the letter in all things and introduce Jewish fables into the churches of Christ, then they should also grow their hair long, abstain from eating dried and green grapes, and not approach their deceased mother and father. And if by chance they have done these things and have been overcome by human frailty or necessity, they should shave their heads, and all their days of dedication and work shall be void. But if they do not do these things, nor are they able to mix water with wine like the Jewish innkeepers, let them understand the shadows of truth, the grace of the Gospel, the necessity of the Law, and that drunkenness with which the vigor of the soul is intoxicated and overwhelmed by worldly cares, and let them command those prophets, saying: 'Do not prophesy, you who, overcome by envy, forbid learned men from speaking the word of doctrine.' And as the Lord says: 'Go and say to this people' (Is. VI, 9), they on the contrary command them not to speak in the name of the Lord, especially if the one teaching provides for the utility of the readers and listeners, not for shameful gain, fame, and boasting.

(Verse 13 onwards) Behold, I will roar underneath you, like a heavily loaded wagon roars with hay, and the fleet warrior shall perish, and the strong shall not retain his strength, and the mighty shall not save his soul, and the archer shall not stand, and the swift-footed one shall not be saved, and the rider of the horse shall not save his soul, and the strong of heart among the strong ones, shall flee naked on that day, says the Lord. LXX: Therefore, behold, I will roll under you like a wagon full of straw is rolled, and the swift one shall perish in flight, and the strong one shall not retain his strength, and the warrior shall not save his soul, and the archer shall not endure, and the swift-footed one shall not be able to be saved, and the horseman shall not save his soul, and his heart shall be found among the mighty, and the naked one shall flee on that day, says the Lord. With me granting benefits to you, and leading you out of the land of Egypt, and destroying the Amorite before your face, so that you could possess his land, and raising up prophets from your sons, and Nazarites from your young men, you made my Nazarites drink wine, and said to the prophets: Do not prophesy. Therefore, just as a cart is burdened with a load of straw or hay, and it screeches and makes a loud noise from afar, so I, unable to bear your sins any longer, and handing you over to the fire like straw, will cry out and say: The quick will perish in flight, whom the Hebrews understand to be Jeroboam the son of Nabath, who had previously fled to Egypt (1 Kings 11). But here we will not take the princes themselves, but their houses and offspring. And the strong will not retain his strength: strong is interpreted as Basan, who was very ready for war (3 Kings 15). And the mighty will not save his soul: they understand this as referring to Amri (or Omri) here. And the one holding a bow will not stand or sustain: they think this refers to Jehu son of Namsi (or Nemsi), who struck King Joram of Israel with an arrow (4 Kings 9). And he who is swift on his feet will not be saved: Manahen they understand, who vainly hastening directed gifts to the king of the Assyrians (2 Kings 15): And the rider of the horse will not save his life: this Phacee, the son of Romelia, they interpret, who united with Aram, that is, Syria, devastated many things under the reign of Achaz, king of Judah. And with a strong heart, he will flee naked among the strong on that day, says the Lord (Ibid.). Only Osee, who was the last king of the ten tribes, and who attempted to bring back the errant people to the worship of God (2 Kings 18), will go out as if naked from the fire. Moreover, he calls them naked because under him the ten tribes were captured. This is what the Hebrews assert, and as it has been handed down to us, we have faithfully explained it to our people. But now let us return to our own matter. God threatens to roll a cart over them, burdened with hay or straw, so that because they do not have grain to store in granaries, their hay and straw will be consumed by fire. This is the hay of which the prophet says: Let it become like the hay of buildings, which withers before it is uprooted (Ps. 128:6). And: All flesh is grass (Isaiah 40:6). But that straw is what the prophet mourns lamentably for when it catches fire, saying: Woe is me! for I have become like one who gathers straw in the harvest, and like grape clusters in the vintage, when there is no bunch to eat the firstfruit. Woe is me! my soul (added in some versions), for the kind-hearted person has perished from the earth, and there is no one who does what is right among humanity: all are judged by blood (Micah 7:1), and so on. This is hay and straw, of which the Apostle speaks: Each one's work will become manifest, for the Day will disclose it, because it will be revealed by fire. And the rolling cart, that is what we read about in Isaiah: Moab shall be trampled down as straw is trampled in the dung-pit. And in another place: I will make you like a new threshing sledge with sharp teeth; you shall thresh the mountains and crush them, and you shall make the hills like chaff. And after you have broken the mountains and hills, the swift flight shall cease, as Paul says: Do you not know that in a race all the runners compete, but only one receives the prize? So run that you may obtain it. And in another place: You were running well; who hindered you from obeying the truth (Gal. 5:7) ? And about himself, fearing, he said: Not that I have now received, or am already perfected; but I pursue, if I may apprehend, in which also I am apprehended by Christ Jesus (Phil. 3:12) . He did all these things, lest the flight from the swift be in vain: wherefore when he had now reached the end, and had received the reward of victory, he said securely: I have fought a good fight, I have finished my course, I have kept the faith; as to the rest, there is laid up for me a crown of justice, which the Lord, the just judge, will render to me in that day; and not only to me, but to them also that love his coming (2 Tim. 4:7, 8) . If we flee with quickness, sin will not be able to apprehend us; but if malice binds our feet, we will speak with the prophet to God: Where shall I go from your spirit, and where shall I flee from your face (Ps. 138:7)? The Apostle speaks about wicked runners: It is not of the one who wills, nor of the one who runs, but of the one who has mercy of God (Rom. 9:16) . It follows: And the strong will not obtain his strength: not because he is strong, but because he boasts of being strong. Whether one trusts in their own strength and not in God's mercy, according to what is written: 'I will destroy the wisdom of the wise, and the discernment of the discerning I will thwart' (1 Corinthians 2:19): not that true wisdom can perish, and the understanding of truth be rejected; but that the wisdom of those who consider themselves wise and trust in their own erudition may perish. Likewise, the strong or warrior who does not save his own soul is the one who does not possess the full armor of the Apostle: having a shield, but not faith; girded with a belt, but not in truth; clad in armor, but not in righteousness; wielding a sword, but not for salvation (Ephesians 6). A warrior of this sort does not sanctify battle, nor can he wage war in the name of the Lord, fighting against truth for the sake of lies. Such a warrior cannot say: Blessed be the Lord my God, who teaches my hands to fight and my fingers to war. My mercy and my refuge (Ps. CXLIII, 1). The heretics also have archers who, in vain, try to draw the bow, they cannot withstand the arrow of the Lord, as spoken by Isaiah: But I said, 'I have labored in vain, I have spent my strength for nothing and vanity' (Isa. XLIX, 2). These are the archers, of whom David also sings: Look, the sinners have bent their bow, they have prepared their arrows in the quiver, to shoot at the upright in heart in the darkness (Ps. X, 2). And the swift (he says) will not be saved by his feet, who runs through the testimonies of the Scriptures because of the sharpness of his wit, and tries to oppress the truth with the eloquence of speakers or with the sophisms of the dialecticians, and is hindered in it and falls, because he trusts not in God but in his own feet. The horse also will not save his own soul, who disregards the saying through the prophet: The horse is a deceitful hope for salvation (Ps. 32:17). And he does not know that it is written: All who mounted horses have slumbered (Ps. 75:7). This one will not save his own soul; but perishing, he will hear: Some trust in chariots, and some in horses: but we will call upon the name of the Lord our God. They are impeded and have fallen; but we have risen and have been raised up (Ps. 19:8-9). A strong man, even with a courageous heart, will flee when naked among the brave. This place can be interpreted in two ways: either he is able to escape because he has stripped himself of the old man and the garments of sins, and he is burdened by no weight, or on the contrary, he is naked and has lost the clothing of Christ, of which it is said in the Apostle: Put on Christ Jesus (Rom. XIII, 14) . And in another place: For if we are clothed, we shall not be found naked (II Cor. V, 3); his strength will be of no use to him; but on the day of battle and struggle, he will flee from those who pursue him, and not being able to resist the enemies without armor, he will show them his back.

(Chapter 3, verses 1-2) Listen to the word that the Lord spoke against you, O children of Israel, against the whole family that I brought out of the land of Egypt, saying: You alone have I known out of all the families of the earth; therefore I will punish you for all your iniquities. LXX: Listen to this word that the Lord spoke against you, O house of Israel, and against all the tribe that I brought out of the land of Egypt, saying: However, I have known you among all the tribes of the earth; therefore I will avenge all your evils upon you. He addresses the sons of Israel, and in the following verse, he shows who these sons of Israel are: Above all, he says, the kindred that I brought out of the land of Egypt, which we must not only consider in the ten tribes, but in all twelve, including Judah and Benjamin. For he brought all out of the land of Egypt, and he says: Only, or as Symmachus interpreted: Only you have I known of all the kindreds of the earth. And because I have known only you, who are the Creator of all, and I have considered you my peculiar people, for this reason I will restore all your sins only upon you: For the mighty will powerfully endure torments (Wis. VI); but he who is the least, is worthy of mercy. And in Ezekiel we read: Begin from my sanctified ones (Ezek. IX, 6). And the judgment of God is said to begin from his house (I Pet. IV). Let this be said for now according to the history. Moreover, because hearing is understood in the Holy Scriptures, not only in the sense of perceiving with the ears of the flesh, but also in the sense of understanding, as the Lord says: He who has ears to hear, let him hear (Luke 8:8). Therefore, when the whole people saw the voice of God (Exodus 20), it was a direct message from the Lord to those who perceived God with their senses, namely those whom He brought out of the land of Egypt and from the power of Pharaoh (so that they would no longer serve mud and straw by building Egyptian cities), and those whom He knew from all the tribes of the earth, as the Apostle says: But now, having come to know God, or rather, having been known by God (Galatians 4:9). And in another place: He who is ignorant, will be ignored (I Cor. XIV, 38). Therefore, not all know God, but those who are worthy of His knowledge, as it is said in the Gospel: Depart from me, workers of iniquity, I do not know you (Luc. XIII, 27). For in being workers of iniquity, they are ignorant of God: therefore He says: Because I knew only you, and I had mine, I will visit upon you all your iniquities. Whom the Lord loves, He chastises, and He corrects every son whom He receives (Hebr. XII). And he said beautifully: I will visit, and I will not strike; for the plague of God is a visitation, and a healing. And he said, I will visit all your iniquities or sins, so that nothing may remain unstruck, so that nothing may not receive healing.

(Verse 3 onwards) Will two walk together unless they have agreed? Does a lion roar in the forest unless it has prey? Does a lion's cub give a cry from its den without capturing something? Does a bird fall into a trap on the ground without a trapper? Does a trap spring up from the ground before catching something? If a trumpet is blown in a city, will not the people be afraid? If there is calamity in a city, has not the Lord caused it? For the Lord God does nothing without revealing his secret to his servants the prophets. The lion roars, who will not fear? The Lord God has spoken, who will not prophesy? Amos: If two shall walk together, except they know each other? If the lion shall roar in his den, having no prey? If the lion's cub gives forth its voice from its lair, unless it has taken something? If a bird falls to the ground without a fowler? If a snare is laid upon the ground, unless it has caught something? If the trumpet sounds in the city, and the people do not fear? If there is wickedness in the city that the Lord did not make, because the Lord God will not do anything unless He reveals His teaching to His servant prophets. Will a lion roar, and who will not fear? The Lord God has spoken, and who will not prophesy? I read in the commentaries of someone who desired to convince of a difficult matter, about eight crimes, wickednesses, and sins: first, Damascus; second, Gaza, and the other cities of Palestine; third, Tyre; fourth, Edom; fifth, the sons of Ammon; sixth, Moab; seventh, Judah, that is, the two tribes; eighth, which is the last, Israel, that is, the ten tribes, with the same number of judgments, now given, and the first answering the first, that is, Damascus, the second answering the second, that is, Gaza, and the rest answering the rest. The one who wrote it knows whether it is true or not. However, another person thinks that the six examples given, of two people walking together on a road, and a lion roaring while leaping, and a lion cub making its voice when it catches something, and a bird caught by a bird catcher, and a snare set in the ground for catching prey, and a trumpet sounding in the city, and with these examples, a similar argument is given, that just as the previous things have a cause and do not happen unless those things have preceded them: likewise, no evil occurs in the city that has not been done by the Lord's command. There are those who consider the first example to contain doctrine, because two cannot walk together unless they have agreed to do so beforehand. He who made both one, and destroyed the middle wall of partition, and created of the two one new man (Ephesians 2): and made peace between them, and joined them together with the bond of charity, so that when they are together, the two may ask the Father and obtain whatever they have requested. These are the two sticks that are joined together in Ezekiel (Ezek. VII), and the two peoples, the circumcision and the Gentiles, about whom the Lord speaks to Elijah: I have left for myself seven thousand men who have not bowed the knee before Baal (3 Kings XIX, 18). And in another place, God says: I was found by those who did not seek me; I appeared to those who did not ask for me (Isaiah LXV, 1). But when the two are brought together, they will cling to the Lord, and they will become one spirit: for he who clings to the Lord is one spirit (1 Cor. VI, 17). Therefore, these two who agree with each other and walk together in the way of Christ, cannot fear the attack of any adversaries. But if they are separated by discord, immediately the roaring lion will invade them, about which Peter the Apostle said: Your adversary the devil prowls around like a roaring lion, seeking someone to devour (I Pet. 5:8). This roaring lion does not roam in cultivated fields, nor among vineyards, nor in olive groves, nor among fruit-bearing trees which praise God; but where there are forests and uncultivated ground, and where wild beasts dwell. And not only will they be exposed to the bites of the lion, but the lion cub will capture them and lead them to its den, fleeing from the light and going towards darkness. For everyone who sins loves darkness and hates the light (John 3), as we read in the psalm: You have set darkness, and it has become night: in it all the beasts of the forest will roam. The lion cubs roaring, to snatch and seek food from God (Psalm 104). For the lion cub seeks not the prey which it possesses and is under its power; but that it may snatch from the Church of Christ, of which it is written in Habakkuk: Its choice food (Hab. 1:16). The third punishment is for those whom discord has separated, that they lose their wings, on which they were previously carried aloft, and fall from heaven to earth, and are caught by the birdcatcher, who is better called the fowler, because he catches birds that are entangled in birdlime, which have descended willingly to earthly things. About which it is written in Proverbs: 'The nets are not unjustly spread for the birds' (Prov. I, 17, and XXIX, 5). For it is a just punishment for sinners, who, having the wings of doves, ought to fly through the air, that they are weighed down by the burden of sins and are brought down to earth, sticking to their vices. Concerning this, we read in the Apostle: 'He who joins himself to a harlot becomes one body with her' (I Cor. VI, 16). The fourth punishment is for those who are in discord, so that they are caught in a snare not set in heaven, but on earth. Regarding this, the holy one rejoices and says: 'Our soul has been delivered as a sparrow from the snare of the hunters; the snare has been broken, and we have been set free' (Ps. CXXIII, 7). This is the broken snare, of which the Apostle speaks to believers: God will crush Satan beneath your feet quickly (Rom. XVI, 20). And again in David we read: They have set a stumbling block on my path (Ps. CXXXVI, 6). For they cannot deceive the simple ones of the believers unless they propose the name of Christ, so that while we think we find Christ, we may go on to the Antichrist. The fifth punishment is for those who have forsaken the peace, which surpasses all understanding (Philipp. IV), and which the Lord, going to the Father, left to the Apostles, saying: My peace I give to you, my peace I leave with you (John XIV, 27), so that as citizens of the Lord, they are terrified by the sound of the trumpet. For whatever is said in the Holy Scriptures, it is like a threatening trumpet, penetrating the ears of believers with a loud voice. If we are righteous, we are provoked to blessedness through the trumpet of Christ; if we are sinners, we hear what torments we will suffer. However, the evil that the Lord does in a city is not contrary to virtue, but it is affliction and torment, as we read: Each day has enough trouble of its own (Matthew 6:34), that is, tribulation and distress. And in the Prophet, we read: I am God who made light and darkness, who brings peace and creates evil (Isaiah XLV, 6, 7). Just as darkness is contrary to light and day, so war is contrary to peace, which in itself is not evil, but seems evil to those who suffer it. And so we know, from the holy Scriptures, that sometimes wickedness is not opposed to virtue, but is rather affliction, punishment, and distress. Let us take one more example from Jonah: And God saw their works, that they turned from their evil ways, and he repented of the evil which he had said that he would do unto them (Jonah III, 10). Surely there is the evil overthrow of the Ninevites, which God had threatened through the prophet, and it is not contrary to virtue, which pertains to sin, for which He threatened torment to sinners. It follows: The Lord God will not do a word unless He has revealed His secret, or His correction, to His servant prophets: not that God reveals to the prophets all that He does in heaven, or has already done before; but what He is about to do on earth. Noah revealed to his servant that he would bring a flood. Abraham and Lot revealed to their servants that Sodom and Gomorrah, Admah and Zeboiim would be destroyed. Joseph revealed the interpretation of a dream of seven years of famine in Egypt. And Jonah revealed the destruction of Nineveh, so that those who heard of the coming punishments would either repent and avoid torment, or those who ignored them would be justly punished. And now the Lord reveals through his servant and prophet Amos what he will do to the ten tribes, that if they are converted to better things and forsake their idols, they may be delivered from the impending danger. And note that the merciful and gracious God always foretells the future so that he is not compelled to inflict punishments. And as for the heretics who slander the Creator as if he were severe and harsh, cruel and only a judge, because there is no evil in the state that he does not do, we refer this to the greatness of his mercy, that he does not inflict punishments unless he has foretold them beforehand. But whoever predicts does not want to punish the sinners. The lion, he says, will roar, and who will not be afraid? The Lord God has spoken, who will not prophesy? Who in this place is not accepted as being for the rare, but not for the impossible. For he who disregards the Lord due to his own stubbornness will not be afraid and will not prophesy. And the meaning is according to the story: if everything trembles at the voice of the lion, and all the nature of animals is frightened, shall we, by God's command to speak and announce to the people the coming punishments, not prophesy? Shall we not speak? I know that someone has written in his Commentaries about a roaring lion to be understood as the devil, and roaring towards those who are about to perish: but God, who speaks through the Prophets, should be referred to the Lord Savior, just as those who hear the roaring of the lion in a bad way and are captured unto death, so the holy ones should hear the Lord commanding in a good way and be saved.

(Vers. 9, 10.) Make it heard in the houses of Azotus, and in the houses of the land of Egypt, and say: Gather yourselves together upon the mountains of Samaria, and behold the many follies in the midst thereof, them that suffer wrong, and that oppress in the innermost parts thereof, and they have not known to do the right thing, saith the Lord: treasuring up iniquity and spoils in their houses. LXX: Declare ye in the countries of the Assyrians, and make it known in the land of Egypt, and say: Gather yourselves together upon the mountain of Samaria, and behold the many wonderful things in the midst thereof, and the oppressions in it, and they have not known the things that are to come in it, saith the Lord, who treasureth up iniquity and misery in their countries. We have already mentioned that the prophet Amos specifically, indeed a large part of the volume, prophesies to the ten tribes called Israel and Ephraim, and Samaria. Therefore, he is also commanded to announce now to Ashdod and the land of Egypt that follows. For Ashdod, the Seventy Assyrians wanting something, since Ashdod is called Esdod in the language of the Hebrews, and the Assyrians, Assur. For the buildings that are called Armanoth, they rendered regions, which are called Sadoth, and they have nothing in the word of similitude. He said, 'Tell them to gather all the nations that are nearby, and let them see the crimes of Israel, so that they do not think that God's judgment is unjust. Just as if he were to say, 'First see what they do, and then you can approve of my opinion.' And he introduced it beautifully: Over the mountains of Samaria, or the city that is now called Sebaste, then known as Samaria, or the whole province that is situated in the mountains: and see the many insanities in their midst, that they worship calves as gods and sacrifice their own children. Not content with this wickedness, they defame the poor in their own homes and do not know how to do what is right, storing up not gold and money, which are sometimes obtained through labor, but wickedness and plunder in their own houses: so that because they have deserted the worship of God and have worshipped idols, God may give them over to a reprobate mind, to do what is not fitting.' And since, according to the laws of tropology, Samaria is referred to as the heretics who falsely claim to be the keepers of God's commandments, the divine word commands that they preach among the Gentiles who do not have the knowledge of God, in whose doctrine there is a consuming fire, tribulation, and distress. So that they may consider the false Samaria and ascend to the mountains of its pride, and see the many insanities in the midst of the city, while each one imagines whatever he desires and worships his own creation - like Marcion who considers God to be good but inactive, like Valentinus who believes in thirty αἰῶνας and an ultimate Christ, whom he calls an abortive, like Basilides who calls the omnipotent God by the wondrous name Ἀβράξας and says that the annual course of the sun is contained within the circle, which the pagans call Μείθραν under the same number of other letters. And the follies of Iberians marvel at Balsamo Barbeloque. Are these not insanity and many insanities, with each person imagining whatever comes into their mind? They also endure slander in their innermost places, or the simple ones who believe are oppressed; while under the guise of truth they cultivate falsehood, and they do not know how to do what is right at all, because they have lost the path of truth, and they do not believe in the one who says: I am the truth (John 14:6): and they hoard for themselves the doctrines of wickedness, and they seize and enclose in their houses those whom they can deceive with false error. But if it pleases to read the Assyrians (which, however, is not found in Hebrew), let us say that they are those of whom it is written: I will bring upon you a great chief of the Assyrians, who said, With my strength I will act, and so on, so that the heretics may be captured by the Assyrian and held in the land of Egypt, from which they have already come to the Church and been released.

(Verse 11) Therefore thus says the Lord God: The land shall be troubled and surrounded, and your strength shall be taken away from you, and your houses shall be plundered. LXX: Therefore thus says the Lord God: Tyre and the surrounding land will be deserted by your strength, and your regions will be plundered. Regarding Tyre, which is written in Hebrew with two letters, Sade () and Res (); and it is called Sor (): which both Aquila and the Seventy translated similarly: a Hebrew who instructed me in the Holy Scriptures interpreted it as tribulation, and we did not reject his opinion: for Symmachus, who is accustomed to follow not the wordplay, but the order of meaning, says, siege and encirclement of the land. For the siege, which is called πολιορκία by him, was placed by Theodotion who thought not Sar and Sor (which is called tribulation, or Tyre, but Sur should be read: which properly refers to a very hard rock, which is called ἀκρότομος in Greek, and which we can call flint in Latin. Let us therefore speak about each one. The LXX said: Tyre and the land surrounding it. And the sentence seemed to hang: they added therefore of their own, it will be deserted: nor is it an error of the interpreters, where because of the ambiguity of the word, both tribulation and Tyre can be said. And the meaning is: Over the mountains of Samaria my people have done many insanities: slandering and completely ignoring what is right, and hoarding for themselves injustice and plunder: therefore they will be afflicted, or crushed, and surrounded by the Assyrian army, and, she says, strength will be taken away from you, o Samaria, o ten tribes, o once my people: and they will be plundered in your houses, which you have gathered through the tears of the wretched by means of slander. The heretics also will be afflicted on the day of judgment, and all their strength will be weakened, and what they had gained through plunder will be taken away, so that the people whom they had deceived may be freed: or certainly they will be afflicted every day by ecclesiastical men, and they will be surrounded by testimonies of the Scriptures, and strength of syllogisms, and clever words by which they had confirmed their own doctrine will be taken away from them. And their houses will be plundered: so that those who were taken from the Church may return to the Church.

(Vers. 12, 13.) Thus says the Lord: Just as a shepherd rescues from the mouth of a lion two legs or the tip of an ear, so will the sons of Israel who dwell in Samaria be rescued, on the corner of a bed and in Damascus on the sheets. LXX: Thus says the Lord: Just as a shepherd tears away from the mouth of a lion two legs or the tip of an ear, so will the sons of Israel who dwell in Samaria be torn away, in front of the tribe and in Damascus. In the beginning of Amos, where we discussed those verses: The Lord will roar from Zion, and from Jerusalem He will give His voice; and the beautiful pastures will mourn, and the top of Carmel will wither, we said that He was using his art of speaking so that, since as a shepherd of sheep He knew nothing more terrifying than a lion, He would compare the anger of the Lord to lions. According to this meaning, he now also takes an example from what he had often seen, and thus describes that the small remaining remnants of the Assyrians must be extracted by hand: just as if a shepherd, with all the other parts devoured, were to snatch two legs or the outermost part of the ear from the jaws of a lion. And with the example of comparison set aside, he says that the sons of Israel, specifically the ten tribes who dwell in Samaria, will be extracted in the same way, from the edge of the bed and from the grab at Damascus. What seems to me to be explained in this way: we read in Isaiah that Rezin king of Aram, that is, the Syrians, who reigned in Damascus, and Pekah son of Remaliah king of Israel, with the intention of fighting against Judah, came (Isa. VII): concerning whom the Lord directs Achaz king of Judah and Jerusalem not to be afraid of the two half-burnt torches: because as a sign of complete liberation, the Virgin's conception and childbirth are shown to him. Therefore, the children of Samaria dwell in the region and district of the bed, resting in the help of the Syrians, and promising victory to themselves in the bed of Damascus: just as one who is tired is refreshed in bed: so they fortified their weakened forces with the help of the neighboring nation. And in the same Isaiah, it is said by way of a type of future events, that a child will be born who, before he knows how to call his father and mother, will receive the spoils of Samaria and the power of Damascus, which, of course, fought against Jerusalem with united forces (Ibid.). For the blow of the bed and of Damascus, the Seventy translated it against the tribe and in Damascus: so that, according to the symbolism, we may refer the tribe to Judah, and Damascus to the calling of the Gentiles: from which one flock of the Lord was made, whose wild beasts often tear apart the sheep: from whose jaws scarcely two legs or the very tip of the ear are taken away. In the calf the path of teachings is shown, in the ear the sacraments of words. Therefore, even the apostles were commanded to walk without shoes and any skin of a dead animal on their bare feet (Matth. X). And it is said to the believers: He who has ears to hear, let him hear (Luc. VIII, 8). In the Apocalypse of John, we also read: He who has ears, let him hear what the Spirit says to the Churches (Apoc. II, 7). And more explicitly through the prophet: Set your words in the ears of your heart. Both heretics and their teachers rush to hinder this journey and to weave nets so that we may fall on the way that is Christ. But if a man from the church and a man of God come, and Samson, who is interpreted as 'sun', kills the lion: descending into the lake of the underworld, which cools the waters, he suffocates the lion in the time of snow, storm, and winter: so that we may be able to follow the Lord with sure foot and safe ears, and hear his words.

(Verse 14, 15.) Listen and testify in the house of Jacob, says the Lord God of hosts, because on the day when I begin to visit the transgressions of Israel upon him, I will also visit the altars of Bethel: and the horns of the altar shall be cut off, and shall fall to the ground: and I will strike the winter house with the summer house, and the houses of ivory shall perish: and many houses shall be destroyed, says the Lord. LXX: O priests, listen: testify in the house of Jacob, says the Lord God Almighty: because on the day when I will avenge the iniquities of Israel upon him, I will also avenge upon the altars of Bethel: and the horns of the altar shall be undermined, and shall fall upon the ground. I will confuse and strike the house with wings over the summer house, and the ivory houses will perish, and many other houses will be added, says the Lord. What is written at the beginning of the chapter according to the Septuagint is not found in Hebrew, but instead the word Ares () is read for this, which Aquila interpreted as bed; and I think the Septuagint used this Hebrew word, which some who did not understand read as ἱερεῖς, that is, priests. But the prophetic word commands that they first listen, and then respond in the house of Jacob, that is, in the ten tribes that the Lord has spoken about. 'When I begin,' he says, 'to punish the transgressions or impieties of the house of Israel, and to give them what they deserve, and the time of captivity comes, then the altars of Bethel, where the golden calves were, will be destroyed, and the horns of the altar, which was also broken by Jeroboam's hand, will be cut off (3 Kings 13); and they will fall to the ground, shattered by the invading Assyrians.' And I will strike, he said, the winter house with the summer house, which we can simply understand literally: they had such great wealth that they had two houses, a winter house and a summer house, and some of them faced the North, while others faced the South, so that they could provide for the variations in weather, cold and heat, and the temperate climate. We can call the winter house the kingdom of Israel, where there was the cold of religion and worship of God, and the fierce storms of various winds; and the summer house, Judah and Jerusalem, where the temple was, and morning and evening burnt offerings were made, and the fervor of religion thrived. And they shall perish, he said, the ivory houses, which can also be supported by history. For we read that Ahab, king of Israel, indulged in such great delights that he made for himself an ivory house (3 Kings 22). Instead of ivory, we find the term 'tooth houses', that is, houses made of elephant tusks, in Hebrew. Concerning these, it is written in the forty-fourth psalm: From ivory houses: from which the daughters of kings have delighted you in your honor. When the Lord begins to visit the transgressions of Israel, who previously beheld God with their mind, he will also visit the altars of Bethel: not just one altar, as the Church has, but many altars of heretics. For as many altars as there are schisms, so many will the altars be stripped of their horns, which they boast of having through pride. And their horns will fall, that is, their arrogance, upon the earth; and it will strike the wintry house, those heretics who engage in continence and fasting, in dry diets and camel's hair garments, among whom are Tatianus and Manichaeus. And it will strike the summer house, that is, the Nicolaitans and Eunomians, and the followers of the old heresy, who, because of the gluttony of their bellies, indulge in every pleasure. And the ivory houses, which are composed of the skillful tooth and the splendor of rhetorical brilliance, will perish. And many buildings, which are dispersed throughout the whole world, will be scattered. For when one truth arises, many lies will be destroyed. Regarding the winter house, they have translated it as 'peripteros', which we have interpreted as 'winged', because it has small doors through the windows, and as if wings to repel the severity of the cold.

(Chapter 4, Verse 1 onwards) Hear this word, you fat cows of Samaria, who oppress the poor, who crush the needy, who say to your husbands, 'Bring us something to drink!' The Lord God has sworn by his holiness: behold, days are coming upon you when they will take you away with hooks, even the last of you with fishhooks. And you will go out through breaches, each one straight ahead, and you will be cast out into Harmon, declares the Lord. LXX: Hear this word, you cows of Bashan ((Or Bashanites)), who are on the mountain of Samaria, who oppress the poor, and crush the needy, who say to your lords: 'Give us something to drink.' The Lord has sworn by his holiness, behold, days are coming upon you when they will take you away with hooks, even those with you in pots, you pestilent merchants, and you will be thrown naked one against another, and cast upon the mountain of Remmon, says the Lord. For the fat cattle, the Seventy interpreted it as Basan's; Aquila and Theodotio interpreted the Hebrew word Basan itself (); we followed the interpretation of Symmachus, who says, 'the well-nourished cows,' that is, fatted cows, we have interpreted as fat cattle. However, he speaks to the leaders of Israel and the best men of the ten tribes, who were occupied with pleasures and rapine, that they may hear the word of God, and know that they are not plowmen's oxen, but fat cattle of the herd, or those nourished in the pastures of Basan, which are the most fertile places for herbs: and by this he signifies that they are prepared not for agriculture, but for sacrifice and eating. You fat cows of Samaria are on the mountain, and you humble ones are crushed. And you say to your lords, that is, to the shepherds through whom we understand the kings, 'Give us, and we will drink,' that is, command and we will destroy everything. But from what he said, 'Give us, and we will drink,' and he did not say, 'Give us, and we will eat,' he signifies their drunkenness in wine and luxury, which overthrow the state of the mind. Therefore, the Lord God swore in His sanctuary, either in Himself, or in the Son, or in the Temple, or in every one who is holy and called the Temple of God, that the day is coming not far off and after many ages, but now imminent, the day of captivity and distress, in which the cows will be led with hooks, and the remains of them in boiling pots, for which it is also written in Hebrew and by Aquila, 'in the bowls of the fisherman.' Furthermore, those shields that are called Sannoth in Hebrew, Aquila interpreted as clypeos; Symmachus and the LXX [interpret as] weapons; only Theodotion [interprets as] dorata, which we have followed and interpreted as contos or hastas. However, this signifies that they are captured in battle, and are carried and taken away by the right of victory; still preserving the metaphor of cows that he had begun, so that just as he had said the cows were fat, he states that their flesh should be carried in contis velscutis. And just as a boiling pot wraps up small fish, so the cows of Basan are to be oppressed with no order of captivity. And what follows: And through the openings you will go out one against another, can be explained thus: The way of captivity is open to you, and when your pots are burned up, you will go out one against another, according to the Hebrew idiom, which for that which we mutually or reciprocally, woman and woman, that is, one against another, call. And he said, 'You will be cast into the places of Armenia, which are called Armona.' Finally, Symmachus interpreted it as follows: 'And you will be cast into Armenia, in place of which the Septuagint has the mountain of Remma, Aquila [has] the mountain of Armona, Theodotion [has] the mountain of Mona; but the fifth edition has translated it as the lofty mountain.' But the word of the Lord which commands the cows of Bashan to listen, according to the begun tropology, commands the heretics, who serve their belly and throat, and are rightly called very fat cows or disgraceful cows. For Basan, in fact, translates to 'shame,' which if we want to say means 'confusion,' we will interpret it more as Babylon than Basan. These fat cows, or rather dishonorable and dry ones, are located on the mountain of Samaria, which is also referred to in Hosea: Take away your calf, Samaria. And again in the same [book], Because your calf has led you astray, Samaria (Hos. VIII, 5, 6): and therefore on the mountain of Samaria, because they are always lifted up in pride and promise themselves lofty things. Samaria is also called a custodian, not because they guard the words of the Lord, but because they boast of being guardians of his precepts. They falsely accuse the needy and crush the poor. By the needy and poor, understand the ecclesiastical man who is content with the simplicity of truth and does not seek the wealth of heretical arguments or the brilliance of eloquence. These cows say to their masters: Bring us and let us drink. We can call their masters or leaders of perverse doctrines, Valentine, and Marcion, and Arius, and Eunomius, or those who support their wrongly invented teachings through multiple books. These Basanite cows say: Bring us, and let us drink. For if they do not give them, they do not have what they devour, indeed what they drink to become drunk. But in order that we may know that waters and cups signify doctrine, the Lord speaks to the Samaritan woman: Everyone who drinks from this water will thirst again; but whoever drinks from the water that I will give him will not thirst forever (John 4:13). Therefore, those who drink from the waters of the Samaritan, that is, of heretics, will always be thirsty and will not be able to refresh the heat of their dry throats, as Isaiah proclaims: As one dreams of drinking when thirsty, and when he arises, he is still thirsty, and his soul has hoped in vain; so will all the nations that fight against Jerusalem (Isaiah 29:8). For truly, he who drinks from the waters of heretics, and fights against the Church of God in Jerusalem, drinks in his dreams and his soul is deceived by empty images. And when he considers himself satisfied, then he will have the beginning of thirst. Hence it is said to the religious man: Drink the waters from your vessels, and let your own waters flow from the fountains of wells, and let them be for you alone (Prov. 5:15). And the Lord your God swears in his sanctuary against the fattened cows and the feasts that serve them, whether he swears by his saints, that the days of judgment and punishment will come upon them, to carry them in their arms, and to cast those who are with them into stewpots, or to carry them as well. And let those cows themselves be pestilent merchants, or let those who come to carry them be thrown out naked, seeing each other: let them be cast upon Mount Remman, says the Lord God. For we must say, according to the Septuagint, so that we do not seem to have proposed them in vain. When the day of judgment and vengeance comes against the heretics, then they will be taken away in arms, that is, with their weapons with which they fought against the Church; or, having been conquered by the armor of God and overcome by His warriors, they will be thrown into boiling pots to be burned and cooked, who were previously pestilent merchants; for they engaged in this trade in order to deliver those whom they had deceived to death. These are the ones of whom it is said: the sons of Heli, the sons of pestilence (1 Samuel II), who sat in the chair of pestilence (alternatively, pestilences). And when they have been sifted and burned, they will go out naked, having nothing of what they had previously presumed. And they will see their shame, and they will be cast upon the mountain of Remman, which is translated as sublimity, so that they may be crushed in their pride. Some interpret Remman as the sight of someone, that is, the vision of someone. For they could not see everything; but they promised themselves knowledge of a certain part, so that they might be projected into it, because they believed they knew it. We can, according to the letter, understand that when the days of captivity come upon the cows of Samaria, they will prevail over them in battle, and oppress them with their weapons, and in the encounter compel the defeated to go to fortified cities, which will be compared to boiling pots: just as Jerusalem, having its people shut in and besieged, is likened to a boiling pot full of meat; so the cities of Samaria will be compared to boiling pots, which will force the shut-in people to leave due to famine and plague, and to go into captivity seeing each other mutually, and be transferred to the mountains of Armenia, which are adjacent to Media and Persia.

(Verse 4 and following) Come to Bethel, and act wickedly: to Gilgal, and multiply transgression, and bring your morning sacrifices, your tithes for three days. And offer praise with leaven (Vulgate: with fermented dough), and call for voluntary offerings, and proclaim. For thus you have desired, O children of Israel, says the Lord God. Therefore, I have given you the stench of decay in all your cities and the lack of bread in all your places; and you have not returned to me, says the Lord. You entered Bethel and acted wickedly in Gilgal, multiplying your impious acts. And you brought your offerings in the morning, your tithes on the third day. And you read the law outside and made confessions. Proclaim that the children of Israel have loved these things, says the Lord God. And I will give you the astonishment of teeth in all your cities, and the lack of bread in all your places, and you have not returned to me, says the Lord. Let us lay the foundations of history first: O wretched Israel, captivity is now near to you, the Assyrian army is now advancing: do whatever you please, act impiously: freely fornicate with idols, so that the more shameless you are, the more just my sentence will appear above your torments. 'Come,' he says, 'to Bethel, where you have set up a golden calf, and act impiously towards God. Come to Gilgal, the place of idolatry, of which I spoke through Hosea: 'All their wickedness is in Gilgal' (Hosea 9:15).' And again in the same place: They were in vain in Gilgal, sacrificing to cows (Ibid., XII, 11). And when you come to Gilgal: multiply transgression. For whatever you do there is transgression against God, to whom you prefer idols. And bring your offerings in the morning, lest there be any delay in wickedness. On the third day, give your tithe: or, as Symmachus interpreted, give your tithe on the third day. The explanation of this place seems to us to be: in the Book of Leviticus it is commanded (Lev. VII) that certain offerings should not be reserved for another day, and that others should not remain until the third day: if they do, they shall be unclean. So the meaning is: Sacrifice unclean victims every day, and offer polluted sacrifices, and make a sacrifice of leaven as praise, which is not completely offered to God according to the precepts of Moses. For praise, Eucharist has been interpreted as thanksgiving, which in Hebrew is called Todah (). And he says to call them voluntary offerings, which the Hebrews call Nadaboth (), meaning spontaneous. But a voluntary sacrifice belongs to joy: which in Latin we can call a feast. And when you have done this, announce your impiety to everyone: so that you not only seem to have done it, but also to have taught others. But I command this, and I speak in an imperative manner, in order to satisfy your wishes, because you have acted and desired this way, O children of Israel, says the Lord God. Therefore, I have also given you a shock of teeth, which the Septuagint translated as 'astonishment', whom we have followed in this place because of the simplicity of the word: either the cleanliness of teeth, as Aquila and Symmachus interpreted it, in order to demonstrate the magnitude of hunger through clean teeth. And I made a scarcity of bread, not in one city, but in all your cities; neither in one place, but in all your places. And when I did this, it was not to punish, but to give an opportunity for repentance; yet you did not turn back to Me, says the Lord. This is what we have said according to the Hebrew text: let us now turn to the Seventy Interpreters, and briefly discuss what seems to us, according to the anagogical interpretation, in each (verse); for the greatness of the books does not allow us to say both in each edition. You entered into Bethel, that is, the house of God, which is understood as the Church: and you acted impiously towards the Lord, trampling upon His commandments. But in Galgala, which means revelation or scroll, you have multiplied impieties, claiming knowledge of the holy Scriptures for yourselves: and while you are exalting yourselves in pride, you have fallen to the lowest filth. Moreover, you have brought your morning offerings, your tithes on the third day, transformed into an angel of light: and you have confined the triple understanding of the Scriptures (which we have been commanded to write in our hearts in three ways) into a single interpretation. For we must understand Holy Scripture, first according to the letter, doing whatever precepts are in ethics. Secondly, according to the allegory, that is, the spiritual understanding. Thirdly, according to the future blessedness. But you, despising the first and the second day, compose for yourselves certain spiritual figments without foundation, and place a roof upon them without walls. Nor are they heretics, concerning whom and to whom it is said, being content with the end of ungodliness: but they have read outside the Church the law of God, and have attempted to join together confessions and testimonies to their own perverted heart: or they have sacrificed of the leaven, concerning which it is said in the Gospel, 'Beware of the leaven,' that is, the doctrine of the Pharisees. And they did these things not by error, but by study: not by chance will, but by the fullest charity of their ancestors. Hence the Lord threatens vengeance upon them: I will give you the astonishment of teeth, which in Greek is called 'γομφιασμός'. For if anyone, according to Ezekiel (Ezek. 18), eats a sour grape, his teeth will be astonished: so that those who abuse the testimonies of the holy scriptures, consuming them immature and without their sweetness, may lose the strength of their teeth: so that they are unable to chew tough things, which are beneficial to the whole body, and pass into the stomach. I will give you this wonder of teeth and scarcity of food in all cities, and in all your places, so that you may suffer the hunger of the Word of God, and its bread which descended from heaven (John VI), and of which it is written in the Psalms: Man ate the bread of angels (Psalm LXXVII, 15). All these things I have done not out of cruelty and savagery, as heretics may calumniate, but out of severity and seriousness of judgment, so that you may convert to me, according to what is written: I have struck your children in vain, they did not receive discipline (Jeremiah II, 30).

(Verse 7 onwards) I have also withheld rain from you, when there were still three months until the harvest. I caused it to rain on one city and not on another. One part was rained upon, while the part on which it did not rain became dry. So two or three cities went to another city to drink water, but were not satisfied. Yet you did not return to me, says the Lord. LXX: And I have withheld rain from you three months before the harvest. I have caused it to rain on one city and not on another city. Part of it will be irrigated, and part of it, upon which it does not rain, will dry up. And two or three cities will gather in one city, so that they may drink water and not be satisfied; and you have not returned to me, says the Lord. Not only have I caused astonishment of teeth in all your cities, and a scarcity of bread in all your places, but I have also prevented rain from you when there were still three months remaining until the harvest, which is called the late rain, and is especially necessary for the thirsty fields and Palestinian lands, so that when the grass swells in the harvest and the wheat bears fruit, it will wither due to excessive dryness. However, the significant time of spring at the end of the month of April, from which there are three months remaining until the harvest of wheat. May, June, July. For the harvest, seventy days, in their own way, were transferred to the vintage, which, if we accept it, is completely unusual and impossible next to all the regions of the East. For we have never seen rain at the end of June or in the month of July in these provinces, especially in Judea. Finally, in the Books of Kings, as a great sign and wonder, rain was brought about on the days of summer and harvest, when Samuel prayed (1 Samuel 12). And it was excessive to threaten now the dryness of the month of July, in which it had never given rain. It prevented rain, so that they would endure not only a shortage of bread, but also the heat of thirst and a scarcity of drinking. For in these places where we now live, besides small springs, all the water is in cisterns, and if divine wrath withholds rain, the danger of thirst is greater than that of hunger: which Scripture also mentions to have happened in the days of the prophet Elijah for three years and six months (3 Kings 17). And perhaps they might not think that this happened by the law of nature, and the course of the stars, and the variety of seasons, to rain on one city and its fields, and to suspend rain from another: so that two or three cities may go to another city and yet be not satisfied with the drinks of water. And when He has done these things, not for punishment but for healing, He rebukes those who persist in wickedness: and even so you have not returned to me, says the Lord. The Lord also forbids or restrains spiritual rains and all the riches of divine wisdom from the heretics; and He commands His clouds not to rain the showers of rain upon them before three months of harvest or vintage, so that they cannot come to the fruits of the mystery of the Trinity. And as this sun, which we see, completes its annual course until it returns to its original point, in twelve months, which consist of thirty days each; and the moon, which in Hebrew is called 'Jare', and in Greek 'μήνη', gave the name of months in both languages from its own name, and is illuminated by the sun's rays from that part which is near it, receiving more or less light according to the changing seasons: so also the Church, adorned by the splendor of the true Sun, completes the number of the twelve apostles. And so, the twelve tribes are called in Israel, and as a testimony of eternal memory, twelve stones are taken from the bed of the Jordan, to be placed in the location of the second circumcision (Joshua 4). But the Lord rains upon one city, the true Church of confession, and does not rain upon the other, which is in the assemblies of heretics. And while the former receives eternal rain, the latter is dried out by constant aridity: so that those who thirst, compelled by scarcity, may come to the city of the Lord, from which a most abundant fountain flows, irrigating the torrent of thorns. But this is the fountain which speaks through Jeremiah: They have abandoned me, the fountain of living water, and have dug for themselves broken cisterns that cannot hold water (Jeremiah 2:13). This fountain, flowing from one source, runs in threefold union: the fountains of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit, which the psalmist yearns for in the manner of a thirsty deer, saying: As the deer longs for the streams of water, so my soul longs for you, O God (Psalm 42:1). And when two or three cities have journeyed to one city, in which there is an abundance of water, they will not be satisfied with hope, faith, and charity, because they have come not by choice, but by necessity, to seek divine grace.

(Verse 9) I struck you with scorching wind and with blight. The abundance of your gardens, vineyards, olive groves, and fig trees were eaten by the locusts, yet you did not return to me, says the Lord. LXX: I struck you with burning heat and with blight. You multiplied your gardens, vineyards, fig trees, and olive groves, yet you did not even turn to me, says the Lord. It was not only the past that I did to correct you; but whatever remained of the drought, I struck with scorching wind and blight. For vento urente, Aquila, Symmachus, and Theodotion are interpreted as 'Septuaginta πύρωσιν,' which we can translate as 'combustion.' All of them translated 'Auruginem' as 'ἴκτερον,' except Theodotion, who translated it as 'ὠχρίασιν,' which means 'pallor.' And when they multiplied against the anger of the Lord, they consumed all the gardens, vineyards, fig trees, and olive trees with 'eruca,' which is further explained in Joel (Joel. I). And not even by means of wounds did they want to come to God, burdened as they were by the weight of evils. With this saying, let the heretics be confounded, who interpret the discipline of the Creator, and, so to speak, medicine, as cruelty. But the Lord spiritually strikes the heretics with the burning fire, about which the Apostle Paul said: It is better to marry than to be burned (1 Corinthians 7:9). And the prince of the apostles: Beloved, do not be surprised at the fiery ordeal that comes upon you for your testing (1 Peter 4:12), and like rust that, with bile poured out, changes the redness of blood into paleness, and allows nothing healthy in the body, so much so that even the sweetest honey seems bitter. And those who recently heard in the Church: Taste and see that the Lord is sweet: and they said: How sweet are your words to my throat, more than honey to my mouth (Ps. CXVIII)! Let them be called bitter, and their waters and rains not drip sweetness: let them not be from the promised land, which we read flows with milk and honey: but let them be called Mara, that is, bitterness. These multiplied gardens for themselves, into which Naboth (( Al. Nabutha)) did not want his vineyard to be changed, and so he wanted to die (III Kings XXI). For the one who is weak, let him eat vegetables (Rom. XIV). And because heretics are always swollen with pride, and falling into the judgment of the devil, they promise great things to themselves and invent images of good things, so that they may mix poison with honey: they boast that they have vineyards, olive groves, and fig orchards; but their vineyard is the vineyard of Sodom; their olive groves are not from good olives, but from wild olive trees, which the Apostle commands to be grafted onto the roots of good olive trees (Rom. XI). Figs also have such things, which fill the basket of the worst figs, which Jeremiah testifies that he cannot eat because of bitterness (Jerem. XXIX). When the Lord comes to them, he curses them with eternal drought (Mark. XI), so that they never bear fruit, lest they deceive passers-by with the greenness of their leaves. And so that we understand that the gardens of heretics and vineyards and olive groves and fig groves are referred to in a negative way, he adds the word 'yours' to each of these phrases, to show that they belong not to God but to the heretics: your gardens, your vineyards, your olive groves, and your fig groves: all of which have been ravaged by caterpillars, the final punishment of all; they do not fly away like locusts, and scattering in all directions, but rather remain and consume everything slowly, with a lazy and sluggish bite, all that is doomed to destruction. And when they had suffered these things, they did not even want to return to the Lord in this way.

I sent death upon you on the way of Egypt, I killed your young men with the captivity of your horses. And I made the stench of your camps go up into your nostrils, and you did not return to me, says the Lord. LXX: I sent death upon you on the way of Egypt, and I killed your young men with the captivity of your horses. And I led your camps in fire in my anger, and yet you did not return to me, says the Lord. Through all the whips and tortures Israel is educated: and at that time when they asked for help from the Egyptians, death was sent upon them, and their young men were struck down by the sword, and the captivity cruelly confined those horses which they had multiplied against God's commandment, so that the rottenness of the camps and the stench of the dying army would fill the nostrils of the living. And even after doing all this, to seize the wrongdoers and correct those who went astray, they did not return to Him, says the Lord. Not only at that time, but every day, he puts to death on the way of Egypt, so that one who treads the path of Egypt may hear, dying, the teaching of the Apostle: For the sin I am dead, I am dead; but in what I live, I live in God (Galatians II). And in another place: If we have died with Christ, we will also live with him (Romans VI, 8). And again: I always carry about in my body the dying of Jesus (II Corinthians IV, 10). And again: It is no longer I who live, but Christ lives in me (Galatians II, 20). The Lord wants to give us life through this death, so that, dying to sin, we may live for God. But we die to sin when we mortify our earthly members, that is, fornication, impurity, sensuality, idolatry and so on. We read in Isaiah, according to the Septuagint translators: otherwise in Hebrew it is expressed differently: 'I have sent death unto Jacob, and it has come upon Israel' (Isa. IX). Jacob is the name of the body that is being born; Israel is the name of blessing. For he wrestled all night and prevailed in the struggle (Gen. XXXII), and when the morning star arose, he could say with the Apostle: The night is far gone; the day is at hand (Rom. XIII, 12), therefore Israel, seeing God, received his name. Therefore death is sent first to Jacob, so that we may mortify our members upon the earth, and through the mortification of our bodily members, we may come to the death of Israel, so that all incentives of disturbances may die within us. God strikes whatever is strong in evil, and perversity rises up in youth, so that it does not reach old age, and He delivers horses to captivity, so that they do not slip into the abyss of hell; and He causes the stench of decay of their camps to rise up into their nostrils, so that they may recognize their own sins and feel the rottenness, and they may say with David: My wounds have putrefied and become corrupt because of my foolishness (Ps. XXXVII, 6). And when they have done all this according to the desire of the healer, they have not even turned back to Him, says the Lord.