Jerome

(Verse 7 and following) The whole earth rested and was silent; it rejoiced and exulted. The fir trees also rejoiced over you, and the cedars of Lebanon. Since you have fallen asleep, no one will rise up to cut us down; the underworld below is troubled, and it has aroused giants in anticipation of your coming. All the rulers of the earth have risen from their thrones; all the rulers of the nations will respond and say to you: Are you also wounded like us? Have you become like us? Your pride has been brought down to the underworld, your body has fallen; below you shall be spread out maggots, decay, and worms shall be your covering. For the destruction of the impious king, who struck the nations with an incurable wound and cruelly pursued them, all the earth has rested and become silent, which previously was full of turmoil and sedition, to the extent that the firs and cedars of Lebanon rejoiced, of which it is written in the psalms: You have transplanted a vineyard from Egypt, you have driven out the nations, and you have planted it. His shade covered the mountains, and his cedars, the cedars of God (Ps. 79:9). These cedars of God, because they sinned at one time, the Lord handed over to be crushed by punishments. Hence it is said in another psalm: The Lord will crush the cedars of Lebanon (Ps. 28:5). However, the tall and lofty trees, which are exalted in the service of the Lord, should be understood as saying with a harmonious voice: Since you have slept. Note that even the death of death is called sleep. He who cuts us down will not ascend. For when the strong one is defeated and his vessels plundered, even the rest of his companions fall. Hence the Lord speaks in the Gospel (Matthew 25:41): 'Depart into the eternal fire which is prepared for the devil and his angels.' How many of these woodcutters and tree fellers have cut down and made fall with their axes? The underworld also, disturbed and turned towards bitterness, at the approach of the true Nebuchadnezzar, is the place of punishments and tortures, in which the rich one clothed in purple appears: to whom the Lord descended, in order to release the prisoners from the prison. We can speak of the opposing inferno and the angel who is placed in charge of the punishments of the underworld, who raised all the giants: for which some call them Raphaims, others call them Titans. Giants, according to the custom of the Gentiles, are called those whom they consider to be earth-born, whom the earth has produced. However, we can call giants, according to the etymology of the Greek language, those who served earthly works. Finally, it follows: All the rulers of the earth rose from their thrones, in the coming of their former ruler: so that those whom they previously honored for their power, afterwards marveled at their punishments, and said: You have been wounded just like us: you have become like us. What words have this meaning: We thought that because of our weakness we could not resist the power of God, and that you were the only one who would remain in your greatness; but as it is evident, you were wounded and captured, like us; so that whom dignity separates on earth, punishment may unite in the underworld. The pride, or your glory, has been taken down to the underworld, and your corpse has fallen, or as the LXX translated, your great joy, with which you used to rejoice over the nations subject to you. Under you shall be strewn putrefaction, and worms shall be your covering. This is the resting place of the devil, this is the bed of the tempter, who was raised up in such pride that he dared even to tempt the Lord, saying: 'All these things I will give you, if you will fall down and worship me.' (Matth. IV, 9). The putrefaction and worms, and the covering of vermin, signify the eternal punishments which the conscience itself gives birth to, or the material of punishments which arises from one's own sins. For just as long as the material of a corpse exists, and there is any moisture in the corpse, worms are born from the putrefaction; so from the same material the punishments of sins are produced. Therefore, the Apostle Paul, speaking of the death that Hosea prophesied about, saying, 'I will be your death, O death; I will be your sting, O grave' (Hosea 13:14), speaks to it, saying, 'Where, O death, is your victory? Where, O grave, is your sting?' (1 Corinthians 15:55). For when she is dead, there will be no one to cut us down: for there will be no sin that needs to be cut down, since the sting of death is sin.

(Verse 9) Behold, the cruel day of the Lord is coming, full of indignation, wrath, and fury, to make the earth a desolation and to crush sinners out of it. For the phrase 'the earth' the Seventy interpreted it as 'the inhabited world', that is, the globe. And for 'cruel' they translated it as 'incurable'. For when the day of judgment or death comes, that will be fulfilled which is read in the sixth psalm: 'For in death, who will give you thanks?' (Ps. VI, 6). For that time is not a time of repentance, but of punishment. And in another place it is said: How great is the multitude of your sweetness, Lord, which you have hidden for those who fear you! Therefore, much of God's mercy is hidden from those who are still in fear and do not have perfect love of God, so that when they hear of the cruel day of the Lord, and of the incurable and full of anger and fury, they may cease from sinning. The world or the earth will also be turned into a desert, and sinners will be crushed by it, which was previously burdened by the weight of sins, so that after wickedness is destroyed and lost, only justice may dwell and reign in the earth.

(Verse 10.) For the stars of heaven and their splendor will not expand their light: the sun will be obscured in its rising, and the moon will not shine in its brightness. LXX: For the stars of heaven and Orion, and all the adornment of the heavens will not give their light (or, will have it): and they will be darkened when the sun rises, and the moon will not give its light. Because we have interpreted the splendor of them, without a doubt the stars Aquila and Theodotion have placed the Hebrew word "Chisileem" (): for which reason the LXX translated it as Orion, adding from their own, and all the adornment of the heavens, which is to be marked with an obelus. The fables of the Gentiles say that Orion has twenty-two stars, of which four are of the third magnitude, nine of the fourth, and again nine of the fifth, and they are called Bootes by others. We also read in Job about the Hyades, the Evening Star, Arcturus, and the treasures or inner parts of the South (Job 9:9), about which will be said in their proper place. Nor should we think that these stars are called by these names among the Hebrews, which the Greek and Latin language sound forth, but they have their own proper names. For just as God called light, day; and firmament, heaven; and dry land, earth; and gatherings of waters, seas (Gen. I); so too he named each star with its own names, the properties of which our language does not express. It is written of God in another place: Who numbers the multitude of stars: and calls each of them by name. Therefore, when the day of the Lord comes to establish the barrenness of the earth and to completely remove sinners from it (Ps. CXLVI, 4); then, in comparison to the divine majesty, the stars of the sky and all their splendor will withdraw their light. And it is no wonder to say this about the lesser stars, since the sun itself becomes obscured at its rising, and the moon does not have its usual radiance. But that which the seventy translators rendered, that the stars and Orion, and all the adornments of the sky are obscured at the rising of the sun, does not have any significance or miracle; for this happens at all times, that when the sun rises, the stars that are in the sky do not appear. It is also not surprising to say this about the sun, since even during a full moon and when the entire night is shining, many stars do not shine. Moreover, it also proves the daily movement of the stars in the sky, as well as the eclipse of the sun, which, as philosophers argue, when the shadow of the earth and the orbit of the moon are obstructed, brighter stars are seen in the sky.

(Verse 11) And I will visit the evils of the world, and against the wickedness of their iniquities. When God visits and strikes; He strikes in order to correct. Indeed, when He is greatly angered against those who do not repent: 'I will not visit,' He says, 'upon your daughters when they have committed fornication, and upon your daughters-in-law when they have committed adultery' (Hosea 4:14). On the contrary, concerning those who will believe in Christ, it is said (Psalm 88:33): 'I will visit with the rod their iniquities, and with stripes their sins: but I will not take away my mercy from them.'


And I will make the pride of the infidels rest, and I will humble the arrogance of the strong. LXX: And I will destroy the injustice of the wicked, and I will humble the injustice of the proud. The Hebrew word Gaon (), which clearly conveys arrogance and pride, has always been translated by Theodotion and the Septuagint as injustice, expressing the meaning rather than the word: because every proud person is ready for injustice. Therefore, the Lord visits the world's evils, and against the wickedness of the wicked, to suppress the arrogance of the proud, and to humble the pride of the strong. For God resists the proud, but gives grace to the humble (1 Peter 5). And in Proverbs we read: Before destruction, the heart of a man is haughty, and before honor is humility (Proverbs 16:18). Pride always follows with a fall, and humility with glory: For whoever exalts himself will be humbled, and whoever humbles himself will be exalted (Luke 14). We read in another place: I will destroy the wisdom of the wise, and the understanding of the prudent I will reject (1 Corinthians 1:19). Not that true wisdom and true prudence are lost by the Lord, but the knowledge of a false name: those who treasure up the language of falsehood, and fail in their searching, and find nothing, speaking iniquity on high and setting their mouth against heaven. Hence the pride of heretics is properly called an injury to truth.

(Verse 12) A man will be more precious than gold and a human more adorned than the world. LXX: And those who have been abandoned will be honored more than refined gold, and a man will be more honorable than the sapphire stone. In the consummation of the world, when the globe will be reduced to desolation, and the sun will be darkened at its rising, and the moon will not give its brightness, there will be so many signs and wonders by the Antichrist, that with the increase of iniquity, the love of many will grow cold, even to deceive, if possible, the chosen ones of God (Matthew 24). Then the man will be more precious than gold, which in Hebrew is called Phaz, and Aquila translates as κιῤῥὸν, which is the color of the finest and blood-red; and the man is dressed in the finest purple, which in Hebrew is called Ophir, and Aquila translates as σπήλωμα ὀφεὶρ, which the translators of the LXX rendered as the stone from Sophir. And it is a place in India where the finest gold is born; as we read in Genesis about the river Phison: This is the one that goes around the whole land of Evila, where there is gold; and the gold of that land is the finest: and there is carbuncle and green stone. However, it is considered more precious because it is rarer. For everything that is rare is precious, as we also read in the book of Samuel: And the word of the Lord was precious in Israel (1 Samuel 3:1).

(Verse 12) How you have fallen from heaven, Lucifer, son of the morning! You have been cast down to the earth, you who once laid low the nations! LXX: How you have fallen from heaven, Lucifer, son of the morning! You have been shattered on the earth, who once sent to all the nations. For Lucifer, which is translated in Hebrew as Elil (), Aquila rendered the howling son of dawn. Truly, he should have howled and lamented, for he was cast down to the earth and shattered due to his pride. And the Savior also speaks to the disciples: I saw Satan fall like lightning from heaven (Luke 10:18). Not only do I see, but I saw beforehand when he fell. And if he fell because of his pride from such greatness, you also should not boast, because demons are subject to you: but because your names are written in heaven; so that as he fell through pride, you may ascend through humility. This is the prince of the world, who used to rise among the other stars in the morning, and by his fault became the evening star from Lucifer, and not rising, but setting: who wounded nations, or who sent his own satellites to nations, to deceive them all with his deceit. These are false Apostles, deceitful workers, who disguise themselves as Apostles of Christ, who sow tares among the good seed, while the shepherds of the Churches are asleep and unwilling or unable to resist their evil. But Jacob, whom the Lord has shown mercy to and chosen, is still speaking these things to the devil, or as the Seventy wish to say, about the devil, that is, not as referring to the second person, but to the third.

(Verse 13.) On this, I will shake the heavens, and the earth will be moved from its place. LXX: For the heavens will rage, and the earth will be moved from its foundations. When a man shall be more precious than gold, and a human than a pure gold nugget, and it will fulfill what is written: Do you think that when the Son of Man comes, He will find faith on earth? (Luke XVIII, 8). Then both the heavens and the earth will be moved. For the heavens and the earth will pass away, not by their own will and choice, as many think, believing them to be living creatures. But because of the indignation of the Lord of hosts and because of the day of His fury, who looks upon the earth and causes it to tremble. Wherefore that which is said in the LXX, 'For the heavens shall rage,' is to be understood metonymically for those who are in heaven, just as if we were to say, 'The whole city shouted,' and 'The entire city went out to meet the judge.' But in Proverbs we read, 'God by wisdom hath founded the earth' (Prov. 3:19). And the Lord speaks to Job, 'Where wast thou when I laid the foundations of the earth?' (Job 38:4). Not that the earth has its foundations deep in a mass of fallen matter; but the will and power of God, by which all things are upheld, are to be called its foundations. For He founded it upon the seas and established it upon the rivers. And He set it above nothingness.

(Verses 13, 14.) You said in your heart: I will ascend to heaven, above the stars of God I will exalt my throne; I will sit on the mount of the covenant on the sides of the north; I will ascend above the heights of the clouds, I will be like the Most High. Whether you said these things before you fell from heaven or afterwards, if you are still in heaven, how can you say, 'I will ascend to heaven' (Psalm 113:16)? But because we read, 'The heaven of heavens is the Lord's,' when he was in the sky, that is, in the firmament, in the heaven where the Lord's throne is, he desired to ascend, not out of humility, but out of pride. But if after he fell from heaven, he speaks these words, we should understand arrogance, because he not only does not rest having been cast down, but he still promises himself great things, not that he may be among the stars, but that he may be above the stars of God. And when the Lord speaks to the Apostles: It is enough for the disciple that he be like his teacher, and the servant like his master (Matthew 10:25), and he says to the Father: Holy Father, grant that as I and you are one, so they may be one in us (John 17:11): he boasts to such an extent that he places his throne above the stars of heaven, which have not fallen. And what it implies: I will sit on the mountain of the testament on the sides of the North; for which the Seventy translated, on a high mountain, over lofty mountains, which are towards the North, let us refer to that which is said in Jeremiah: From the North evil will burn upon all the inhabitants of the earth (Jer. 1:14). And that the pot kindled by the face of the North is ignited. This is the most severe wind of the North, from which the Lord wants to free His captive people and bring them back to the holy city, saying: I will say to the North, bring them in; and to the South, do not hinder, bring my children from a far country (Inf. 43:6). But that which can be contrary to this is easily resolved, O mountains of Zion, sides of the North, city of the great king. For those who were once the hardest on the sides of the North, through repentance have begun to be in the city of God. The devil always seeks to ascend over those who have the image of the heavenly, and who shine in the Church like the stars of God: and to sit on the mountain of the covenant or testament, that is, in the Church, which is placed in the high places, and possesses the inhabitants of the former North. He who is so forgetful of himself, that he desires to ascend above the clouds, to which the Lord commanded, so that they would not rain upon Israel, and to which the truth of the Lord reached, of which Obadiah speaks: 'Though you soar aloft like the eagle, though your nest is set among the stars, thence I will bring you down, says the Lord' (Obadiah, 4). Unfortunate Judas, who was sent along with the other Apostles like a cloud, so that he would rain upon Israel, and was like a star among the other stars, to whom the Lord spoke: 'Let your light shine before others' (Matthew 5:16), he accepted the devil as his partner in sin, who, in order to fulfill the words of pride, even dared to say: 'I will be like the Most High', so that just as Christ has His Prophets and Apostles, I too may have pseudoapostles. But all these things must be referred to the heretics, who, being beneath, boast themselves to be lofty with their leader.

(Verse 14-16.) And it shall be like a frightened doe and like a flock of sheep, and there will be no one to gather them. Each one will turn to their own people, and they will each flee to their own land. Everyone who is found will be killed, and everyone who comes upon them will fall by the sword. Their infants will be dashed to pieces before their eyes; their houses will be plundered, and their wives will be violated. With heaven and earth in turmoil, the devil will flee like a twisted serpent, or any doctrine contrary to the truth, which is divided among teachers and disciples, the former being called Dorcades, which means Fawns in the Greek language, and the latter are like brute animals, wandering here and there with no one to guide them. For they have lost the one about whom it is written: The steps of a man are established by the Lord (Prov. 20:24). Those who are freed from the worst teachers will turn to their own people, and they will each flee to their own land from which they came. But anyone who is found will be killed or slaughtered. However, this not only happened at the end of the world, but it still happens today in the Church: when the masters are overcome, the deceived flock returns to the people and to their own land; and in that which is found, it is killed so that it ceases to be a heretic, and whoever comes after will fall by the spiritual sword. Then their infants and little ones, who have not yet reached the age of perfected error, are blinded in the eyes of the masters, and their homes are plundered, and their wives are violated, with wicked wisdom and perverse teaching. Wherefore, for fathers of this kind, whose infants are to be killed, we ought to pray and say: Give them, O Lord. What shall you give them? A barren womb, and dry breasts (Hosea IX, 4). For they have brought forth iniquity, have conceived sorrow, and have brought forth injustice.

(Verse 15.) However, you will be dragged down to the depths of the lake. LXX: But now you will descend to the underworld, and to the foundations of the earth. You will not descend to the underworld willingly (or, by your own choice), for this is the work of the Lord and Savior, to free the bound from the depths. But you will be dragged down to the underworld against your will, for while you were able to ascend to the heights through virtues, you will be dragged down to punishment through vices. The saints have the wings of an eagle, and the wings of a dove, and they can say: I will fly and find rest (Psalm 54). But the wicked, like the Egyptians, were submerged as lead in the violent waters, and they were submerged into the depths like a stone (Exod. XV). Therefore, iniquity, or as is better understood in Hebrew, impiety, is seen sitting upon a talent of lead (Zach. V). Therefore, what we read elsewhere, 'Everyone who exalts himself will be humbled' (Luke XVIII, 14), even the king of confusion suffered, so that he would be cast down to the foundations of the earth, or as is more true in Hebrew, into the depths of the abyss. In Deuteronomy, it is written about the foundations of the earth: A fire is kindled in My anger, and it shall burn to the lowest hell. It shall consume the earth and its foundations, namely those who are earthly. Concerning the pit, which signifies the depths of hell, there are these testimonies: I am made like those who go down into the pit. And: You have laid me in the lowest pit. Just as a lake receives descending waters, so does hell receive souls: to this lake did Benaiah descend in the time of snow and cold, and he killed a lion there. And so the heretics forsake the fountain of the living water, the Lord, and dig for themselves broken cisterns that cannot hold water. Concerning these cisterns, which do not have the fervor of the Holy Spirit, they are not like the prophet Jeremiah, who spoke according to the Septuagint translators: 'I found warm water in the desert' (Jeremiah 2). But with charity growing cold, they have lost the heat of the Holy Spirit. That is the cistern of which Jeremiah also speaks: 'As a cistern cools the water, so does malice cool those who have it' (Jeremiah 6:7). Oh, would that they were either hot or cold (Apoc. III), that is, either believers or not believers at all, so that they would not be rejected by the Lord because of lukewarmness and feigned faith!

(Verse 16, 17.) Those who see you will bow down to you, and they will look at you. Is this the man who troubled the earth? who shook kingdoms? who made the world a desert, and destroyed its cities, and did not open the prison to those who were bound? Or as the Seventy translated: did he not release those who were led? Those who see King Nebuchadnezzar of Babylon, not with the eyes, but with the sight of the heart, falling from heaven to hell, will bow down with humility, which is contrary to pride, and they will look at him saying these things: Is this not the man, or the human, who troubled or stirred up the earth? Testimony of the senses: Whoever said, 'I will be like the Most High, and exalted himself as God,' is proven to be a man, as is stated in the ninth psalm, which is specifically against the devil: 'Arise, O Lord, let not man prevail' (Psalm 9:19). And in the Gospel: 'An enemy has sown weeds among the wheat' (Matthew 13:25). Therefore, we read that it was said to him and his companions: 'I said, You are gods, sons of the Most High, but you shall die like men, and fall like any prince' (Psalm 81:6). And to the same person under the figure of the prince of Tyre it is said: Because your heart is exalted, and you have said: I am God, I dwell in the heart of the sea, whereas you are a man, and not God, and have set your heart as if it were the heart of God (Ezek. 28:2). This man, and this man alone, has troubled the whole earth, namely those who heard with Adam: You are dust, and to dust you shall return (Gen. 3:19), and has shaken kingdoms and kings whose hearts are in the hand of the Lord (Proverbs 21). He struck, he says, but did not overthrow. And hence one of those who had been struck, and yet had not fallen, spoke: But my feet have almost stumbled (Psalm 73:2). And the Apostle speaks to the believers, that they should take up the armor of God, and stand against the wiles of the devil (Ephesians 6). But the house which is founded upon a rock is not shaken by any storm (Matthew 7). It follows: He who established the inhabited world, or according to the Hebrew, all others have translated it as 'desolate.' For by vice and sins the world, which is called Thebel in Hebrew, was made a desert, so that it had no virtue, or was subject to the same vices with which the wilderness is full of nations. He also destroyed the cities of the same world, so that he might make the synagogues of the devil out of the Churches of Christ, and pollute the purity of true faith with heretical filth. But he did not open the prison to his captives, that is, to the world. We were all bound and held captive in prison, to whom the Savior said, 'Come out,' and to those who were in darkness, 'Be revealed.' For he sets free those who are bound; those who are freed by him give thanks, saying, 'You have loosed my bonds' (Ps. CXV, 17; Jer. II, Prov. V). For each person is bound by the cords of their own sins, which cords and bonds the Apostles can loose, imitating their Master who had said to them, 'Whatever you bind on earth shall be bound in heaven, and whatever you loose on earth shall be loosed in heaven' (Matthew XV). And the Apostles loose them by the word of God, and the testimonies of the Scriptures, and the exhortation of virtues.