Jerome

(Verse 8) Woe to those who join house to house and connect field to field, until there is no more room and you are left to dwell alone in the land. In our opinion, they have transferred this phrase, 'until there is no more room,' to 'until you take away your neighbor's property.' Symmachus and Theodotion have done this, until the land fails or there is no place left; so that when the land fails, greed will not be satisfied. I believe that this applies generally to all those who are never satisfied, and specifically to the vineyard of the Lord, which produces wild grapes instead of good grapes, meaning injustice instead of justice, and outcry instead of righteousness. For what madness is it, when houses and fields should be had for driving away the rains and for sowing crops, to desire to have those things in which you cannot dwell and which you are not sufficient to cultivate, and to make your own pleasure the necessity of another? Some consider this saying according to the trope, against the heretics: when they move their feet from the East, they come into the plain of Shinar, which is interpreted as the scattering of teeth; and they build a city of confusion and a tower of pride, and they hear under other words: 'Hear this, rulers of the house of Jacob, and you remnant of the house of Israel, who loathe justice and pervert all that is right, who build Zion with blood and Jerusalem with iniquity' (Micah 3:9-10). They join houses to houses, that is, doctrines to doctrines; about which it is said by Michael, 'Do not build in a scornful house' (Micah 3), nor above the foundation of Christ, which the apostle Paul placed (1 Cor. 3), and in which they should have built gold, silver, precious stones; on the contrary, let them build wood, hay, straw, the end of which is fire. The Savior speaks about these kinds of houses in the Gospel: 'Everyone who hears my words and does not do them will be like a foolish man who built his house on sand.' Rain descended, rivers came, winds blew and beat on that house, and it fell; and great was its fall. (Matthew 7:26, 27). For so long heretics seek to join new things with old, and to change the same things for more recent ones, until human perception and speech fail.

(Verse 10.) For they will make one small jar from ten acres of vineyards, and they will make three bushels from thirty bushels of seed. For the small jar, which only the seventy translated, all others have interpreted as a bat, which is said in Hebrew Beth (). And for the thirty bushels, which we have called a cor, which in Hebrew is called Omer (), the seventy translated as six artabas: which is an Egyptian measure and makes twenty bushels. Therefore, in the extreme barrenness that follows the captivity, ten acres of vineyards will make a bat, that is, three amphoras: and thirty bushels of seed, that is, a cor, will make an ephah, which the seventy have interpreted as three measures, that is, three bushels. But batus is said to refer to liquid measures, and ephi, or epha of the same measurement, to dry measures. As we read in Ezekiel according to the Hebrew: A just ephi and a just batus shall be for you. Ephi and batus shall be equal and of the same measurement, so that a batus may hold a tenth part of a cor, and an ephi may hold a tenth part of a cor; their balance shall be according to the measurement of a cor (Ezek. 45:10-11). According to anagoge, we ask how the houses of heretics, which are large and beautiful, will have no inhabitant when the time of judgement comes. For every parade and elaborate arrangement of words, and every dialectical argument, are reduced to nothing. And since according to the Apostle Paul (2 Corinthians 3) we are not just the building of God, but also the cultivation, which the heretics imitating are dug up and eradicated by Jeremiah: therefore where ten acres of vineyards, or where ten pairs of oxen work, they will make one bath, and thirty measures of seed they will make an ephah (Jeremiah 18), to signify the mystical and perfect number of ten in the holy scriptures: and the thirty, in which Ezekiel prophesied (Ezekiel 1), and the Lord was baptized (Luke 3), are reduced to the ephah, which is connected by comparison with a multiple number through unity. But when it comes to spiritual understanding, building and agriculture, the Apostle Paul also teaches in another place (Ephesians 4) that believers are rooted and grounded in love. Furthermore, Ecclesiastes (Ecclesiastes 2) not only built houses for himself, but also planted vineyards, made gardens and orchards, and established all kinds of fruit trees. He also constructed pools to irrigate the forest. On the other hand, heretics, having only the image and shadow of virtues and not the truth itself, promise empty words without the fruit of works. Regarding their trees, the Lord says: Every plant that my heavenly Father has not planted will be uprooted (Matt. 15:13). For the vineyard of the Sodomites is their vineyard, and their offspring is from Gomorrah. Their grapes are grapes of gall, and their clusters are bitter. Their wine is the venom of serpents and the deadly poison of cobras (Deut. 32:32, following).

(Verse 11, 12.) Woe to those who rise early in the morning to pursue drunkenness, and continue drinking until evening, so that they are inflamed with wine. They have the lyre, the harp, the tambourine, and the flute at their feasts, but they do not regard the work of the Lord or consider the operation of His hands. Regarding drunkenness, which Aquila and Symmachus have interpreted as the Hebrew word Siceram, the LXX have rendered it as any drink that can intoxicate and overthrow one's mental state. But it accuses, according to the sequence of the begun explanation, the farmers of the vineyard, who, with impending sterility and a nearby fire, in which brambles and thorns are to be burned, have surrendered themselves to luxury and pleasures: not only in eating and drinking, but also in the delight of the ears, and in various types of musical art. When they do these things, they do not consider the work of the Lord, nor do they consider what is to come. We will use this testimony against the princes of the Church, who rise in the morning to drink and drink until evening: concerning whom it is said elsewhere: Woe to you, O city, whose king is young, and whose princes feast in the morning (Eccl. X, 16). Those who are occupied with pleasures do not understand the Creator from His creatures, nor do they consider the works of His hands, of which we read: 'By the word of the Lord the heavens were made, and all their power by the breath of His mouth' (Psalm 32:6). According to a higher understanding, every disturbance of the soul can be called drunkenness, which is conceived from the wine of the madness of dragons, and from the incurable poison of asps, which some drink from youth to old age, that is, from morning until evening (Deuteronomy 32). But others are awakened from the banquet at the third, sixth, or ninth hour, and it is said to them: Wake up, you who are drunk with wine. On account of this wine, and on account of such grapes and vineyards, the Lord rains down sulfur and fire from the Lord; and whoever drinks from them is burned and tormented. He seeks the lyre and the harp, the inventor of which is Jubal, generated from the lineage of Cain (Gen. 4), and does not hear the Lord saying to Aaron: You and your sons shall not drink wine or strong drink, when you enter into the tabernacle of the testimony, or when you approach the altar (Lev. 10:8). The king of Babylon had lyres, and harps, and a drum, and flutes, with which, when they sounded together, the peoples of all nations would fall down and worship the golden statue (Dan. III). But as for the first time of human wisdom, when we leave childhood and come to the age of reason, it is understood in the Scriptures to be the morning, many testimonies can teach us about it, of which a few examples are to be given: In the morning I sent the prophets; and: In the morning you will hear my prayer. In the morning I will stand before you, and I will see (Ps. 5:4-5); and: From night until morning my spirit will rise (Ps. 62:1); and: O God, my God, I watch for you from dawn (Ps. 100:8); and: In the morning I would slay all sinners of the earth, that I might destroy from the city of the Lord all who work wickedness (Ps. 29:7); and in another place: We delay weeping until evening, and joy comes in the morning, and similar things. But we rise in the morning when we leave our vices in childhood, and we can say: Remember not the sins of my youth and ignorance (Ps. 24:7). And with the rising of the sun of justice, darkness is banished, and immediately we destroy all thoughts that provoke us to sin, and we scatter those sinners from the city of our mind, of whom the Savior speaks: Evil thoughts, murders, adulteries, fornications, thefts, false testimonies, blasphemies (Matt. XV, 19), and the rest. However, most unfortunate are those who, from morning until evening, occupied with drunkenness, gluttony, and various pleasures, do not understand in themselves the works of the Lord, nor consider why they were created.

(Verse 13.) Therefore, my people have been taken captive because they lack knowledge, and their nobles have perished of hunger, and their multitude has dried up with thirst. This happened literally to the people of Judah under the Roman princes Vespasian and Titus, as both Greek and Latin history relate. And even today, they suffer from this spiritually, enduring not the hunger for bread or the thirst for water, but the hunger to hear the word of God. For they have not regarded the works of the Lord, nor considered the deeds of His hands, nor have they obtained His knowledge who has spoken through the prophets (Amos 8). And in the Psalms it is said of them: They shall convert in the evening, and suffer hunger like dogs, and shall go around the city (Ps. 59:16). But the Gospel teaches that every word of doctrine is called bread and water: Man does not live on bread alone, but on every word that comes from the mouth of God (Luke 4:4); And, Whoever drinks of the water that I shall give him, shall never thirst (John 4:13). And in the Psalm it is said: He has led me by the waters of refreshment (Ps. 23:2). And the Lord does not want to send away the hungry in the wilderness, so that they do not faint and fall and be killed by hunger (Matt. XV). And of the just man it is said: I have been young, and now am old; yet have I not seen the righteous forsaken, nor his seed begging bread (Ps. XXXVI, 25). Some interpret this that is said: My people have been taken away, because they have no knowledge; and the nobles have perished with hunger, and the multitude thereof is dried up with thirst, generally as referring to Hell and Gehenna, where everyone who does not have the knowledge of God will be punished.

(Verse 14, 15.) Therefore, hell enlarged its soul and opened its mouth without any limit, and its strong ones, and its people, and its high and glorious ones descended to it. And man will be humbled, and the man will be brought low, and the eyes of the proud will be cast down. Those who rose early to pursue wine, and remained in drunkenness until evening, and were occupied with pleasure and indulgence, did not want to consider the work of the Lord, nor did they contemplate the works of His hands. Therefore they were brought into captivity because they did not have knowledge of the Son of God, as He himself said to them, 'You neither know me nor the one who sent me' (John 8:19), and in that very captivity they died of famine and wasted away from thirst. Where Hell and death extended their souls, and opened their mouths, and devoured without number and satiety those to be punished forever: so that the princes and people, and the sublimity and glory of the land of Judah would descend to him, and all pride would be humbled, and the eyes of the lofty would be lowered, understanding themselves to be mortals; and all things were fulfilled, which the Lord had foretold through the prophets. However, Hell is said to have a soul, not that it is a living creature, according to the error of some; but that by the words of human custom, we express the impassivity of things that do not sense, that it is insatiable, and is never filled by the multitude of the dead. And in the hand of the tongue, death is spoken (Prov. XVIII), and the almighty God hates the Sabbaths, and speaks of the Jews despising their own soul (Isai. I). Whatever we have said about the Jewish people can be metaphorically applied to those who are occupied with the pleasures of the world, not looking to the works of God, they are led captive into sin, and have no knowledge of God: and therefore, they perish from hunger and thirst for good works and virtues, and are dragged into hell, where they are assigned to eternal torments, and they witness the power and pride of misery being transformed by humility.

(Verse 16) And the Lord of hosts will be exalted in judgment: and the holy God will be sanctified in righteousness. When the people are led captive, because they have no knowledge, and die of hunger, and with thirst shrivel up, and the grave enlarges its appetite: and the mighty and noble and glorious descend into the depths, and man is humbled, and the vir is abased, and all receive according to their merits: then the Lord will be exalted in judgment, whose judgment previously seemed unjust, and the holy God will be sanctified in righteousness by all, so that what is said in the Gospel may be fulfilled: Our Father, who art in heaven, hallowed be thy name (Matthew 6:9); and: Righteous Father, the world has not known thee (John 17:25). Where should we be careful not to anticipate the judgment of God, whose judgments are great and unsearchable, and about whom the Apostle speaks: His judgments are unsearchable and his ways are unfathomable (Rom. XI, 33), until he enlightens the hidden things of darkness and reveals the thoughts of the hearts (I Cor. IV, 5), who says in the Gospel: Do not judge, so that you may not be judged (Matth. VII, 1). To which statement the Apostle Paul concurs, commanding: Who are you to judge someone else's servant? He stands or falls to his own master. And he shall stand, for God is able to make him stand. (Romans 14:4)

(Verse 17) And the lambs will be fed in their order: and the deserted places will be turned into abundance, and strangers will feast upon them. Instead of the lambs being fed in their order, which is understood in a positive sense, I do not know what the LXX, desiring something else, translated as 'they will be fed as plundered bulls'; understanding lambs as bulls, and again interpreting strangers as lambs. But when the Lord is exalted in judgment, and sanctified in His righteousness, so that the evil farmers may be destroyed, and the lofty cedar may be cut down by the axe of the Lord; then those who are among the number of lambs, not of goats, will be fed in the meadows of the Church, and will say: 'The Lord feeds me, and I lack nothing' (Psalm 23:1); and the people of the nations will eat the deserted things of the Jews, turned into abundance. This is according to the tropology. Moreover, to complete the order of the narrative, the same thing is said in other words, which we have read above: Your land is devoured by strangers in your presence, and it is deserted and destroyed by foreign peoples (Isaiah 1:7). For the multitude of nations gathered from the whole world dwell in Judea, and the previous peoples being expelled, therefore blindness has happened to the house of Israel, so that the fullness of the Gentiles may enter (Romans 11). Beautifully, according to the LXX, they were plundered and devastated and led into captivity like bulls, of whom the Lord had said: Fat bulls have surrounded me, so that the lambs may occupy the places of the bulls.

(Verse 18, 19.) Woe to those who draw iniquity with cords of vanity, and sin as if with a cart rope. Those who say: let his work speed up and come quickly, so that we may see it; and let the counsel of the Holy One of Israel approach and come, so that we may know it. As for the cart rope, the Septuagint translated it as a strap of the yoke of a heifer or a cow. And it is more commonly read that the ropes are called sins. Among them is this: Each one is bound by the cords of their own sins (Proverbs 5:22). And the Lord, rebuking the delinquent people who had joined sins with sins, made a scourge out of cords, showing them how they had made the house of God a den of thieves (John 2), and turned the house of prayer into a house of trade (Matthew 21). Also, the guest of the Lord's supper, not wearing a wedding garment, was bound hand and foot and thrown into the outer darkness (Matthew 22). And the Lord came to say to those who were in chains: Go forth (Isaiah 49:9); and to those who dwelt in darkness: Be revealed (Psalm 146:8). For he loosens the bound, and enlightens the blind, whom Jeremiah calls bound to the earth. He does not lament those who have begun to sin and immediately stop, for there is no one on earth who does good and does not sin at times (Eccl. 7:2); but those who extend their sins with a long cord. And so we read in Numbers (Chapter 19), the red heifer, whose ashes are the purification of the people, must not be sacrificed and offered on the altar of the Lord unless it has not done earthly works, and has not worn the yoke, nor has been bound by the yoke of Nebuchadnezzar. And in this same prophecy, the daughters of Zion are also girded with the cord of truth. Achitophel and Judas (one of whom betrayed David, the other the Lord) were both hung by very long ropes, dragging their own sins, thinking that the evil of conscience would end with their immediate death, and that there would be nothing after death. But what is called cords of vanity according to the Hebrew and all other interpreters signifies that sin is easily covered up for those who commit it, and it is so empty and easy that it is woven like spider webs. But when we want to leave, we are bound by the strongest chains. But those who remember what is written in Zacharia understand more easily a wagon full and burdened with sins, that wickedness sits upon a talent of lead (Zach. V): and the Egyptians who were burdened with a heavy load of sins, as lead were immersed in the Red Sea (Exod. XV). And in another place a sinner speaks: My iniquities have gone over my head: like a heavy burden they have been loaded upon me (Ps. XXXVII). But these things are said to the leaders of the Jews, who are known for their greed and luxury: that, being provoked by the Lord to repentance, and afterwards by His Apostles, they continue until today in blasphemies, and three times each day in all synagogues they curse the name of Christian under the name of Nazarenes. And the meaning is: Woe to you who think that the day of judgment will not come, or that the captivity which the prophetic word predicts will not come: you who say to the Prophet: How long will you threaten us with the wrath of God? We want her to know, let her come now. However, they speak this ironically, because they do not think she will come, but rather pretend to be a Prophet.

(Verse 20) Woe to those who call evil good, and good evil: who put darkness for light, and light for darkness: who put bitter for sweet, and sweet for bitter. It is of the same crime to call good, light, and sweet by the opposite names, as to call evil, darkness, and bitter by the names of virtues. This is what the Jews do, who consider good evil, and light darkness, and sweet bitter, welcoming Barabbas, the author of robbery and sedition, and crucifying Jesus, who had come only for the lost sheep of the house of Israel, to save what was lost. Let us understand Barabbas as the devil, who, although he is darkness and night, is transformed into an angel of light (Matthew XXVII). Therefore, the Apostle also speaks: What sharing of righteousness with iniquity? What fellowship does light have with darkness? What agreement is there between Christ and Belial (2 Corinthians VI, 14, 15)? For a lamp is not to be taken away and put under a bushel, or under a bed, but to be placed on a lampstand, so that it may give light to everyone. Nor is a tree that bears evil fruit to be called a good tree (Matthew V). And in the mystical language of Genesis, it is narrated that God separated light from darkness, which were hovering over the abyss in the beginning (Gen. I). And He Himself, being called the Good Shepherd, speaks in the Gospel: The Good Shepherd lays down his life for his sheep (John X, 11). He also says that He is the light: I am the light of the world (John VIII, 12), and we, who are nourished by the heavenly bread every day, say: Taste and see how sweet the Lord is (Ps. XXIII, 9). On the contrary, when we say: Deliver us from evil (Matthew 6:13); and: The world is set in wickedness (1 John 5:19), we desire to be freed from the snares of the devil. Moreover, we frequently read that he himself is signified by names of darkness and bitterness. But we can also say that all contrary doctrines are bitter to the truth, and only the sweet truth. Therefore, we must be careful not to follow falsehood in place of truth, nor darkness in place of light. For there are many paths that appear straight to men, and their last ends lead into the depths of Hell. Also, the just man perishes in his justice, of whom it is said: Do not be excessively righteous (Eccl. VII, 17). For these reasons, Israel promises to walk in the royal way, not deviating to the left or to the right (Deut. V). And to speak what I feel: it is difficult to escape this curse, since we often flatter the wicked because of their power, and despise the good because of their poverty. Aquila interprets this saying as follows: Woe to those who say that good is evil and evil is good (Prov. XVII, 13). This meaning is also in accordance with what Solomon says in Proverbs: He who judges the just as unjust and the unjust as just, both are abominable before God. The scribes and Pharisees, who do not accept the words of the Savior but instead follow human traditions and old wives' tales, have made good into evil and evil into good.

It is of the same crime to call goodness, light and sweetness by contrary names as it is to apply the names of the virtues to evil, darkness and bitterness. This is directed against those who do not think it a sin to curse the good, nor consider it an offense to praise evil. The Jews called good evil, and light darkness, and sweetness bitterness, when they received Barabbas, thief and traitor, while crucifying Jesus, who came only for the lost sheep of the house of Israel, to save those who were dying. In Barabbas we can understand the devil, who though he was night and darkness, changed to appear as an angel of light. Hence the apostle said, “What participation does righteousness have with iniquity? What does light have in common with darkness? What agreement does Christ have with Belial?” For a lamp must not be taken and placed under a basket or a bed but should be set on a stand that it might illuminate everyone. Nor should a tree that bears evil fruit be called a good tree. Hence it is told with mystical language in Genesis that God separated the light from the darkness, both of which were born above the waters in the beginning. But the Savior himself testifies in the Gospel that he shall be called good: “The good shepherd lays down his life for his sheep.” He also calls himself light: “I am the light of the world.” And we say that he is the daily heavenly bread with which we are filled: “Taste and see how sweet is the Lord.”

(Verse 22.) Woe to those who are mighty in drinking wine, and men of strength in mixing strong drink, that is, drunkenness. To those mentioned above who rise early in the morning to pursue drunkenness, and drink until evening, so that you burn with wine, he now also speaks of those who are mighty in drinking wine, and men of strength in mixing strong drink (Deuteronomy 32). Those who were intoxicated with the wine of dragons, and with the deadly venom of asps, they slandered with the power of the Lord. And they themselves, drunk, intoxicated the people, so that, like frenzied bacchantes, they shouted against the Lord. According to the tropology, we have already said: priests entering the Tabernacle of God should not drink wine and strong drink (Leviticus 10). We now add, that it is also commanded to the Nazarenes, who dedicate themselves to the Lord, that they should not drink wine or strong drink, or anything made from grapes, nor even eat dried grapes or vinegar made from wine (Numbers 6). But in Proverbs it is also commanded: Powerful men who are prone to anger; do not drink wine, lest when they drink, they forget wisdom. I think that there is an analogy between wine and drunkenness, in that wine is one disturbance out of many, for example, of lust, greed, gluttony, and envy. Drunkenness, on the other hand, contains within itself all the passions of vices, which we can more accurately call disturbances in the Latin language, because they overturn the state of the mind and make the drunkards unaware of what they are doing. Therefore, those who are in charge ought to be free from vices, especially anger, which is closest to madness, so that they may not harm their subjects even more as they gain more power. For someone who is full of drunkenness, he pretends to possess certain virtues by deceiving others and creating illusions.

(Verse 24) Therefore, as the tongue of fire devours straw, and the heat of flames consumes it, so their root will be like embers, and their blossom will rise like dust. For they have rejected the law of the Lord of hosts and have blasphemed the word of the Holy One of Israel. Because of the higher causes of pride, drunkenness, and greed, they have brought forth thorns, hay, wood, straw, and will burn the brambles. Therefore, the root of their wickedness will be reduced to ashes, and all the beauty and splendor of wealth and the body will be compared to dust (I Cor. III). For they not only did these things, but by these steps they arrived at blasphemy, so that they would not receive the law of the Lord, and they blasphemed the word of the Holy One of Israel; concerning which we read above: From Zion the law will go forth, and the word of the Lord from Jerusalem (Isaiah 2:3). The root can be understood as evil thoughts, but the fruit and the shoot as evil deeds and words, so that what lies hidden in the root may be revealed in the shoot: both of which will be consumed by the fire of the Lord. And so the Apostle (Heb. XII, 15), refers to the root of bitterness springing up, speaking of evil.

(Verse 25.) Therefore the wrath of the Lord's fury is upon His people, and He stretches out His hand against them and strikes them, and the mountains tremble, and their dead bodies become like refuse in the middle of the streets. In all of this His anger is not turned away, but His hand is still outstretched. For they have rejected the law of the Lord of hosts, which the Lord had promised to give through Jeremiah, saying: 'Behold, the days are coming,' says the Lord, 'when I will make a new covenant with the house of Israel and with the house of Judah, not like the covenant which I made with their fathers on the day I took them by the hand to lead them out of the land of Egypt' (Jeremiah 31:31-32). And the people of Holy Israel blasphemed His speech, saying: He has a devil, and He is a Samaritan (John 8:48); and: Is not this the carpenter's son (Matthew 13:55)? Therefore, the fury of the Lord was kindled against His people, who were previously angry with the rulers and the powerful, who were wise in their own eyes, and justified the wicked for bribes, and their tongue devoured them like fire, and the heat of the flame consumed them, so that the mighty would suffer mighty torments. And He stretched out His hand against the people whom He calls His own; because they are His portion and the inheritance of His possession (Deut. XXXII). But He stretched out His hand to strike, and His fury was kindled, as we read in another place: O Lord, rebuke me not in Thy fury, neither chasten me in Thy wrath (Ps. VI, 1). And Jeremiah says: Correct us, O Lord, but with judgment; not in Thine anger (Jerem. X, 24). However, the Lord is said to be angry, not because He is subject to human disturbances, but because we who sin do not fear the Lord unless we hear Him expressing His anger. Therefore, the Apostle writes (Rom. II) that the goodness and patience of God provoke us to repentance: but we, according to the hardness and impenitence of our heart, treasure up wrath to ourselves against the day of wrath and revelation of the righteous judgment of God. And concerning the hand that is stretched forth or lifted up against the sinful people, Job speaks more explicitly: For the hand of the Lord has touched me (Job. XIX, 21). And the devil, knowing the mighty hand of the Lord, and the arm that is revealed to all nations, says to the Lord: send forth your hand, and touch all that he has, unless he blesses you to your face (Job 2:5). But what is said as if it were past, which is future, follows a prophetic custom, in which the things that are said to be future are so certain, that they are thought to be past. This is also sung in the Psalms: They gave me gall for my food, and in my thirst they gave me vinegar to drink (Psalm 69:22). And again: They have divided my garments among themselves, and for my clothing they cast lots (Ps. XXI, 19). And what follows: And he struck him, that is, his people, and the mountains were troubled: some mountains are thought to be opposing strengths; or they are the spirits who are in the ministry of God, and to whom sinners are handed over for punishment. But we think that it is said hyperbolically, that the mountains are also moved because of the magnitude of the impending evils, and that all the streets of cities are filled with the corpses of the dead. No one doubts that this happened to the Jews after the passion of the Lord under Vespasian and Adrian. And when these things were done, it is not against their fury: but still his hand stretched out, or elevated, which shows the appearance of one being angry and striking. And it is to be noted in all these things, that it does not reproach them for idolatry, nor for any other sins for which they have offended God, but because they have rejected the law of the Gospel, and blasphemed the word of the Lord.

(Verse 26 and following) And he will raise a signal among the nations far away, and he will whistle for them from the ends of the earth, and behold, they will come quickly and swiftly. And he will not be weary or faint. He will not slumber or sleep, nor will his waist belt be loosened or his sandal strap be broken. His arrows are sharp, and all his bows are drawn tight. The hooves of his horses are like flint, and his chariot wheels are like a whirlwind. His roar is like that of a lion, he will roar like a lion's cubs. He will growl, and seize his prey, and embrace it, and no one will rescue it. And it will sound over him in that day like the roaring of the sea: we will look to the land, and behold, darkness of distress, and the light is obscured by its shadow. The Hebrews understand this passage to prophesy about the Babylonians and Nebuchadnezzar, that by the will of God he was led into Judah and Jerusalem, and he destroyed the temple. But we, following the order, and connecting the following things with those that came before, therefore, we say that the sign, elevated far away among the nations, signifies the Lord, or that he has hissed at them like a serpent, or has dragged them with the boundary of the land; because they have cast aside the law of the Gospel, and have blasphemed the holy word. For if there had been discourse regarding the Babylonians, according to the prophetic custom, it would have said: I will call him who is from the North, because the Assyrians and Chaldeans are situated near Judea in the northern region. He certainly described the Babylonians and Assyrians more clearly. But now, saying, 'He will raise a signal among the nations far away, and will whistle for them from the ends of the earth,' he signifies distant nations and those who dwell at the ends of the earth, undoubtedly including the Romans and all the peoples of Italy, Gaul, and Spain, who were subjected to the Roman Empire under Vespasian and Hadrian. Hence why Italy was called Hesperia, because the evening star sets there. And with this, he was struck down, and all the hills of Judea were troubled, as Theodotion and Symmachus interpreted, or disturbed, as Aquila put it, or embittered, as the LXX translated, so that the streets were filled with the bodies of the dead, as if by the assault of enemies. The divine word describes the speed of the approaching army, which came not by its own will, but by the will of the Lord; indeed, it was drawn in and provoked by its hiss, which did not fail or tire from such a journey, and did not allow sleep to its eyes, and whose sandals were not worn out. The multitude of archers, the troops of horsemen, the fervor of chariots and quadrigas, is compared to the roar of a lion, which came not so much to fight as to plunder and devour, and the shouting of the victorious army is likened to the waves of the sea. From which it should be noted whenever the sound of the sea is referred to in the Scriptures, what it signifies. Therefore, when the Roman army arrives, takes plunder, and there is no one to rescue, the Prophet joins the people with sympathetic affection and says: We will look upon the earth and behold the darkness of affliction. For we dare not look upon the sky, whose inhabitant we offend, and our light, which we always had in God, is obscured by the darkness of afflictions. I read in the commentary of someone that this which is said: He will raise a signal among the nations afar off, and will whistle to him from the ends of the earth, is to be understood from the calling of the Gentiles, that when the sign of the Cross is raised and the burdens of sins are laid aside, they will come quickly and believe. But I do not know how the following things can agree with this interpretation.

(Chapter 6, Verse 1) In the year when King Uzziah died, I saw the Lord sitting on a high and lofty throne. Isaiah prophesied under the reign of four kings over Judah and Jerusalem, as indicated in the introduction to the first vision: Uzziah, Jotham, Ahaz, and Hezekiah. After Uzziah died, under whom all the things we have mentioned above were spoken, his son Jotham succeeded him. Jotham reigned for sixteen years and did what was right in the sight of the Lord. He also built a high gate for the temple. When he saw this, Isaiah saw the Lord sitting on a high and lofty throne, to show the appearance of a ruler.

And those things which were under him, filled the Temple, whether as Theodotius and Symmachus carried it over: And those things which were under his feet, filled the Temple. For which reason the Seventy interpreted. And the house was full of his glory. About thirty years ago, when I was in Constantinople, with the most eloquent man Gregory Nazianzen, then bishop of the same city, I recall having dictated a brief and sudden treatise on this vision, in order to test my little talent and to obey my friends' advice. Therefore, I send this little book to the reader, and pray that he may be satisfied with a brief explanation of this time. It tells the sacred story of Aziah, who claimed for himself an illicit priesthood and was struck with leprosy; and when he died, the Lord appeared in the Temple that he had defiled (2 Chronicles 26). From this, we understand that while we have a leprous king ruling within us, we cannot see the Lord reigning in His majesty, nor understand the mysteries of the Holy Trinity. And in Exodus, after Pharaoh, who oppressed Israel with mud and bricks, and later with straw, died, the people cried out to the Lord, who they could not cry out to while he was still alive. And when Phaltia son of Bananiah, a wicked ruler, died, Ezekiel fell on his face and with a loud voice cried out to the Lord. And it is beautifully said in the Hebrew: the Lord does not fill the Temple, whose heaven is his throne and the earth is his footstool; and as we read elsewhere: The Lord is in his holy Temple, the Lord's throne is in heaven (Psalm 11:5); but the things under his feet filled the Temple (Isaiah 66). But who is this Lord that is seen, as we learn more fully in the Gospel of John and in the Acts of the Apostles. Of whom John says: These things said Isaiah when he saw his glory and spoke of him (John 12:41), undoubtedly referring to Christ. Again, Paul in the Acts of the Apostles, where he speaks to the Jews in Rome, says: Well said the Holy Spirit through Isaiah the prophet to our fathers, saying: Go to this people, and say: Hearing you will hear and shall not understand, and seeing you will see and not perceive; for the heart of this people has grown dull, their ears are hard of hearing, and their eyes they have closed, lest they should see with their eyes and hear with their ears, lest they should understand with their heart and turn, so that I should heal them (Acts 28:26-27). However, the Son appeared in the form of one who reigns, and the Holy Spirit spoke because of the sharing of majesty and the unity of substance. Someone may ask, how can the Prophet say that he saw the Lord now, and not just the Lord, but the Lord of hosts, as he himself testifies in the following text; since the evangelist John said: No one has ever seen God (John 1:20). And God speaks to Moses: You cannot see my face, for no one can see me and live (Exodus 33:20). To this we will respond, not only regarding the divinity of the Father, but also of the Son and the Holy Spirit, because there is one nature in the Trinity, that is able to see with the eyes of the flesh; but with the eyes of the mind, as the Savior himself says: Blessed are the pure in heart, for they shall see God (Matthew 5:8). We read that Abraham saw the Lord in the form of a man, and that Jacob wrestled with him as a man, who was God. Therefore, that place itself was called Peniel, which means 'face of God': For I have seen the Lord face to face, and my soul has been saved (Genesis 32). Ezechiel also saw the Lord in the form of a man sitting upon Cherubim, from his loins downwards he was like fire, and the upper parts had the appearance of electricity. Therefore, the nature of God is not seen, but appears to humans as he chooses.