Jerome

(Verse 10) In the multitude of your ways you have labored, and you have not said: I will rest. You have found life in your hands, therefore you did not ask me to be silent (Vulgate: you remain silent). LXX: In many journeys you have labored, and you have not said, I will cease: you have made these strengthen. Therefore, you did not ask me. He who walks in one royal path does not labor, as God commanded through Moses: You shall walk in the royal path and you shall not turn aside to the right or to the left (Deuteronomy 5:32). There is one way of truth, which is said in the Gospel: I am the way, the truth, and the life (John 14:6). And there are many paths of lies, through which Jerusalem is now accused of having walked, of which paths God, knowing the difference, speaks above to those who stray: Not like my paths, your paths (Isaiah 55:8), which those confessing say to the Lord: You have made our paths turn aside from your paths (Psalm 44:19). Therefore, having known the one royal way, let us see which paths are on the right and on the left, through which we are prohibited from walking. The middle way is temperance, having neither too much nor too little. For example, prudence is the straight and royal way. We deviate to the right if we know more than we should know, and we value cunning for prudence: because the serpent was wiser than all the beasts in paradise (Genesis 3): And the children of darkness are wiser than the children of light (Luke 16). We turn to the left when we are foolish and know less than is necessary. Of which it is said: The fool has said in his heart, there is no God (Ps. XIII, 1). Piety and true religion are also the royal way. He who is superstitious turns to the right and deserves to hear, Do not be overly righteous (Eccles. VII, 17). To the left, is he who neglects the worship of God and is counted among the goats and the rams. Generosity and giving are also the greatest virtues, from which he turns to the right, who is frugal and does not give to others, nor even to himself, what is necessary. On the left, he who consumes his substance with prostitutes and says with Israel: Let us eat and drink; for tomorrow we shall die (Isaiah 22:13). Strength and steadfastness are also the royal road, from which the reckless and stubborn turn aside to the right, the fearful and timid to the left. Therefore, the holy man, desiring to walk on the straight path, prays: Lead me, O Lord, in the straight path (Psalm 139:24). And in another place: Make known to me, O Lord, the way in which I should walk; for I have lifted up my eyes to you (Psalm 142:8). Scripture also speaks about this kind of way in other places: Seek the good way, and walk in it, and you will find the purification of your souls (Jeremiah 6:16). Therefore, Jerusalem was humbled to the depths because it labored in many ways, and did not say, 'I will amend my error through repentance,' but on the contrary, 'I will be strengthened in my beginnings, and I will not heed the judgment of the person who warns me: Turn your foot from the rough way, and your throat from thirst' (Jeremiah 2:25). Finally, it follows: But she replied, 'I will act like a man,' that is, 'I will act bravely,' which is now expressed by another word: 'I will be strengthened.' And because she did these things that the previous discourse narrated, that is why she did not implore the Lord, having more confidence in her own strength rather than in God. Furthermore, the phrase that is placed next to the Hebrew: 'You have found life in your hands,' therefore implies this meaning and understanding: 'Because you have abundance in all things and have become rich, you have neglected the Lord.' These are the riches that even Solomon detests, lest he forget God (Proverbs 30 and 31). And it is said concerning Sodom in Ezekiel: 'Because she was satisfied with bread, she became proud' (Ezekiel 16). Not only wealth, but also poverty tests a person. Hence it is written: I have tested you in the furnace of poverty (Isaiah 48), in which Lazarus, the poor man, was also tested, who endured both poverty and weakness (Luke 15).

“Of what are you so afraid that you would lie and neither remember me nor think of me in your heart? For I am silent, as if I do not see, and you forget me.” Because you put your trust in the gods whose storehouses are full, you refused to ask me and were thus fearful of many things. For you were unable to say, “The Lord is my help, and I am therefore unafraid of my enemies,” or “The Lord is my light and my savior, so whom shall I fear?” If at any time you chose to speak against what was in your own mind, you lied. For how would you be able to invoke me, who remember neither me nor any of my precepts, such as: “Honor the Lord and you will be strong and will fear nothing”? For, according to Symmachus and Aquila, I am he who continually remained silent about your sins and pretended to ignore the crimes you committed, as though I had not seen them at all, this so that you would return to me at least for the sake of my patience, if not because you fear me.… The word mind, which is associated with the heart in the Septuagint, is not written in the Hebrew text but is added here as though it were a gloss on how the mind ought to be identified with the heart in Scripture.

(Verse 11.) For what reason did you fear anxiously? Because you lied and did not remember me, nor did you think in your heart? For I was silent and as if not seeing, and you forgot about me. LXX: Whom you feared, you were greatly terrified, and you lied to me, and you did not remember me. Nor did you place me in your mind and in your heart. And I, seeing you, despise you, and you did not fear me. Because you have confidence in riches with full granaries, you did not want to ask me, therefore you feared many. For you could not say: The Lord is my helper, and I will despise my enemies (Ps. CXVII, 7); And again: The Lord is my light and my salvation, whom shall I fear (Ps. XXVI, 1)? And even if you ever wanted to say this against the conscience of your mind, you have lied. For how could you invoke me, when you did not have any memory of me, nor did you ever consider the precepts of the one who says: Honor the Lord, and you will be strengthened, and without him you will have no fear (Eccles. XXXVIII)? For I am the one who, like Symmachus and Aquila, always remained silent about your sins, and whatever crimes you committed, as if I did not see them, I disregarded with dissimulation, so that if not out of fear of me, at least out of patience, you would return to me. I do not question with my eyes, but with my eyelids I interrogate the sons of men. But on the contrary, you have forgotten about me, and you deserved to hear: You have forgotten the law of your God, and I will forget your children (Hosea 4:6). And again: They have walked against me in perversity, and I will walk against them in furious perversity. What is associated with the mind in the Septuagint, not written in Hebrew, but as if an interpretation has been added, what the heart should be understood as in the Scriptures.

(Verse 12.) I will proclaim your righteousness, and your deeds will not benefit you. When you cry out, let your congregations deliver you. LXX: I will proclaim your righteousness and your evils, which will not benefit you. When you cry out, let them snatch you out of your tribulation. I have always remained silent and as if I did not see your sins, I have ignored them, but I will no longer remain silent, but rather speak what I have already said: Have I always been silent? And I will proclaim your righteousness, and your deeds. It is to be read as irony, as if someone caught in wrongdoing were to say: 'Look at your good deeds.' Therefore, if a time of trouble comes upon you and you begin to reach out not to the idols you worshiped, but to heaven and implore the help of God, may they hear you and deliver you from the danger you embraced without concern. This is also spoken by God through Jeremiah: 'Where are your gods, the ones you made? Let them rise up and save you in your time of trouble' (Jeremiah 2:28). On account of the fact that the seventy translated it as 'May they deliver you in your tribulation,' and we have said, 'May your congregations deliver you,' Symmachus translated it as 'May your synagogues deliver you.' Therefore, it speaks specifically to the Jews, that the multitude of their synagogues is not able to deliver them in the time of siege.

(Verse 13, 14.) And the wind will carry them away: the breeze will lift them. But those who have confidence in me will inherit the land and possess my holy mountain. And I will say, Make a way, offer a path, turn aside from the path, remove stumbling blocks from my people's way. LXX: For the wind will carry away all of them, and the tempest will take them away. But those who hope in me will possess the land and inherit my holy mountain, and they will say: Make his ways clean and remove stumbling blocks from my people's way. The Jews of Babylon assert that these things are prophesied: that, by the power of God, after overcoming their enemies, the people will return to Judah and possess Mount Zion, and all obstacles of the journey will be removed, and they will not suffer any ambush from any nation, because the Lord will make a straight path for His people. And they claim that these things were fulfilled under Zerubbabel and Ezra. But we, joining what has been said before, assert that the wind and storm will remove all the idols that could not save them, and they will be like dust that the wind blows away from the face of the earth. But those who have trust in the Lord will possess the land which we will read about in this same Prophet: He will exalt you to the good things of the land. From which it is clear that this land is not below, but above. To which the holy one, lifted up by the Lord, will ascend, of which we have often said: Blessed are the meek, for they shall inherit the land (Matthew 5:4); and I believe to see the good things of the Lord in the land of the living (Psalm 27:13). But the holy mountain of God, that is to be understood, is the one about which he speaks to the Hebrews, who wrote the Letter: You have come to Mount Zion and to the heavenly city of the living God, the heavenly Jerusalem, and to the countless angels and the assembly of the firstborn who are written in heaven (Hebrews 12:22). We can understand the land and mountain of the Lord, which the saints will possess, and the holy Scriptures, which were to be carried from the Jews, the Lord threatens, saying: The kingdom of God will be taken from you and given to a nation producing its fruits (Matt. XXI, 43); so that they may find in them that same mountain, of which we read in this same Prophet (Isaiah II), and in Micah: In the last days, the mountain of the Lord will be made manifest (Micah IV, 5). And the Lord himself commanded the Apostles and all the teachers of the Church to dissolve with their interpretation whatever seemed harsh and difficult, and to provide the way of understanding, and to remove all scandals from among them so that the people of the Lord may understand what they read without any impediment, and may progress in the fear of God. Concerning these ways, John the Baptist said: Prepare the way of the Lord, etc. (Matthew 3:3). Where we have taken the place of God, and I will say, the 70 translators have put and will say: namely those who will possess the land, and inherit the holy mountain of God. They will not be content with their own salvation, but they will also challenge others to teach the people. Symmachus interpreted this passage as follows: But whoever trusts in me will possess the land and will inherit my holy mountain, and will say: Make the way straight and the rest. Because he, who possesses the land and the mountain himself, should instruct others, so that they may obey the way of the Lord.

(Verse 15) For thus says the high and lofty One who inhabits eternity, whose name is Holy: I dwell in the high and holy place, with him who has a contrite and humble spirit, to revive the spirit of the humble, and to revive the heart of the contrite. LXX: Thus says the high and lofty One who inhabits eternity, whose name is Holy: I dwell in the high and holy place, and also with him who is of a contrite and humble spirit, to revive the spirit of the humble, and to revive the heart of the contrite. The prophetic speech began against the people of the Jews, whose leaders he accused of being blind spies, mute dogs, ignorant shepherds, wicked sons, and the offspring of adulterers and prostitutes. After this, he came to Jerusalem, to which he reproached for its immorality, because it had spread its bed to its lovers, and had openly welcomed and adorned itself with all idols, and had sent envoys far away, in order to enjoy foreign lovers as well. With the rebuke finished, he came to those who trust in the Lord, and to whom he had promised to possess the land and the mountain, and for whom he had commanded the journey to be prepared for their return; undoubtedly the Apostles, in whose preaching they believed from both peoples. Hence he begins with the praises of God and testifies in the following discourse what he promised concerning the return of his people. For thus says the exalted and sublime Lord, who dwells in the highest places and is Holy in the Holy, not by place, but by the merit of those in whom he dwells, of whom one says in the psalm: I will exalt you, Lord, for you have upheld me (Ps. 29:1). And again: Exalt Yourself, O Lord, You who judge the earth (Ps. XCIII, 2); not so that God is lifted up by human words, but according to what is said elsewhere: The Lord has become my salvation (Ps. CXVII, 21), let Him also be exalted by the humble. He resists the proud and gives grace to the humble (James IV): so that He may lift them up and make them dwell in the heights. For the Lord is exalted, and He looks upon the lowly (Ps. CXXXVII, 6). And in the Gospel the angels cry out: Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace (Luke II, 14). And again in the Psalms: Praise the Lord from the heavens: praise him in the highest. And not only does the Most High dwell in the highest, but the Holy One also dwells in the holy. As it is said elsewhere: Be holy; for I am holy. And just as wisdom does not enter into a perverse soul, nor does it dwell in a body subject to sin: so the holy one dwells in the holy; and wherever there are impurities, purity cannot dwell, as the holy one says to the Lord: But you inhabit the holy place, the praise of Israel. And we also dare to say in prayer: Our Father, who art in heaven, hallowed be thy name. And in the second psalm we read: He who dwells in heaven shall laugh at them, and the Lord shall mock them (Ps. II, 4). For Christ does not dwell in those who are earthly, but in those who are supercelestial, who proclaim the glory of the Lord, of whom it is said: He shall hear him from his holy heaven (Ps. XIX, 7). And again: The heavens are the Lord's heavens (Ps. XIII, 16): in which sense even Moses, the servant of God, agrees with the same voice: Behold the heavens of the Lord thy God, and the heaven of heavens (Deut. X); which we must certainly not understand in the Jewish manner, that God is confined to any place and dwells only in heaven, for he is everywhere present and all things are contained by him: but by heavens, let us rightly understand the highest ones, the Saints and the Virtues. For this is the one who dwells in heaven, of whom it is written in the Gospel: No one ascends to heaven unless he descends from heaven, the Son of Man who is in heaven (John 3:13). This one finds rest in the holy and dwells with the humble and those who are contrite in spirit. Of them, it is said: A crushed spirit is a sacrifice to God; a contrite and humbled heart, O God, you will not despise (Psalm 51:19). He himself gives patience to the weak, so that they may endure tribulation while being placed in narrow circumstances, with hope for the future. He himself gives life, especially to those who were dead by sin. Of whom it is said: With you is the fountain of life (Ps. XXXV, 10) . He who speaks in the Gospel: I am the way, the truth, and the life (John XIV, 6) .

We certainly ought not to agree, after the Jewish custom, that God is enclosed in any place and dwells only in heaven. For God, by whom all things are held together, is present everywhere. Instead, we should understand correctly the meaning of heights and heavens and saints and virtues.…Because I strike in order to correct, therefore do I kill in order to bring to life. For I have mercy on my creatures, nor will I allow those whom I have established to perish eternally. And my Spirit that proceeds from me, or, according to the Hebrew of Aquila and Symmachus and Theodotion, that “encompasses all things” (for this is what the Greek words perieilēthēsetai and periballei signify), is the animator of all that exists. I also created the breath, or plural breaths (this is what “nasamoth” indicates), about which it is written elsewhere: “May every breath, or everything that breathes, praise the Lord.” … Some among us say that this is the Spirit whereby all the world is inspired and ruled.… But others understand it to be the Holy Spirit who was borne above the waters in the beginning and vivified everything, the Spirit who proceeds from the Father and, because of the union of natures, is sent by the Son, on account of which he said: “It is expedient for you that I go away, for unless I depart, the Paraclete will not come to you. If I go, however, I will send him to you.” … Let no one be scandalized, though, if the Spirit is said to proceed from the Father, for the Son also says this about himself: “I proceeded and came from the Father; I did not come on my own, but he sent me.”

(Verse 16.) I will not contend forever, nor will I be angry to the end: for the spirit will go forth from my presence, and I will make breath. LXX: I will not take vengeance on you forever, nor will I be angry with you always. For the spirit will go forth from me, and I have made every breath. The Lord, who dwells on high and looks upon the lowly, whose name is holy and who finds rest in the holy ones: who sustains the afflicted and gives life to the oppressed (Ps. CXII), has spoken these words: I will not always be angry, nor will I be indignant forever. I strike in order to correct, I kill in order to give life. I have pity on my creature; and those whom I have created, I will not allow them to perish forever. My spirit, which emanates from me or, according to the Hebrew, Aquila, Symmachus, and Theodotion, encompasses all things (for this is the meaning of περιειληθήσεται and περιβαλλεῖ), is the life-giver of all. And the breath, or in the plural breaths (for this is what Nasamoth signifies), I have made, about which it is written elsewhere: Let every breath, let everything that breathes, praise the Lord (Ps. 150:6). Regarding the spirit and breath that is written in the beginning of Genesis: God breathed the breath of life, and man became a living soul. Job also speaks of such a thing: The spirit of the Lord is in my nostrils, and the breath of the Almighty teaches me (Job 27:3). Therefore, when my spirit goes out and by my breath and inspiration all things are invigorated and live, it is not right for those who are sustained by my breath and spirit to perish forever. Some of us say that this is the spirit by which the whole world is inspired and governed; and all things have knowledge of God, whom the renowned poet, according to the Stoics, writing in the Aeneid (Book 6), says:

In the beginning, the spirit nourishes the sky and the earth and the flowing fields, the shining globe of the moon, and the stars of Titania. It infuses the whole through all its limbs, the mind moves the mass, and mingles itself with the great body. And so on. But others understand the Holy Spirit, who in the beginning was carried upon the waters and gave life to all things: who proceeds from the Father, and, because of the fellowship of nature, is sent by the Son, who says, 'It is expedient for you that I go.' For if I do not go, the Paraclete will not come to you; but if I go, I will send him to you. (John 16:7) And again he says of him: When the Paraclete comes whom I will send you from the Father, the Spirit of truth who proceeds from the Father. (John 15:26) Let no one be scandalized if it is said that the Spirit proceeds from the Father, when the Son himself has also said: I came forth from the Father, and I have come; I did not come of myself, but he sent me. (John 16:28) About this Spirit, he spoke: I will ask the Father, and he will give you another Paraclete, that he may be with you always, the Spirit of truth (John 14:16). This is the Spirit of whom Moses also wrote: Would that all the Lord's people were prophets and that the Lord would put his Spirit upon them (Numbers 11:29). And Joel, speaking on behalf of God, said: I will pour out my Spirit upon all flesh, and your sons and daughters will prophesy (Joel 2:28). And Zacharias: Nevertheless, receive my words and my laws, which I command in my Spirit, to my servant the Prophets (Zach. I, 6). And again: I will pour out upon Jerusalem the Spirit of grace and of mercy (Zach. XII, 10). And many other things from both the Old and New Testaments that it is now too long to repeat. We only say this, that the same Prophet has spoken about this Spirit and breath in the same way: Thus says the Lord God who made the heavens. And afterwards a little: He who gives breath to his people, who is above her, and spirit to those who trample on her (Isaiah 42:5).

(Verse 17 onwards) Because of the wickedness of his greed, I became angry and struck him; I hid myself and was indignant, and he went on his way grieving (Vulgate: he went astray). I saw his ways and healed him; I led him and gave him comfort to him and to those who mourned for him. I produced the fruit of lips, peace, peace to him who is far off and to him who is near, says the Lord, and I healed him. But the wicked are like a boiling sea that cannot rest, and its waves churn up mire and filth. There is no peace, says God, for the wicked. LXX: Because of sin I have afflicted him for a little while, and struck him: and I turned my face away from him, and he was saddened and walked sadly in his ways. I saw his ways, and healed him: and I comforted him and gave him true consolation, peace to those who are far away and those who are near, says the Lord, and I will heal them. But the wicked will waver and cannot rest. There is no joy for the wicked, says the Lord God. After the rejection of the people of Judah and those who refused to believe in the Savior, God had promised those who had confidence in Him a gentle land and a holy mountain, and He commanded the Apostles: Make a way for the people who are returning and remove all stumbling blocks from their path. And lest it seem unbelievable, He reveals His power, that the lofty and great God can easily grant forgiveness to the repentant, and it is just that the Creator should have mercy on His creatures. Therefore, because of those things, He joined together, because He was angry and saddened His people: therefore, He made Himself, because He sinned, and He had greed for iniquity, and He was not satisfied with one iniquity, but He always added sins to sins. And I struck Him for a little while, He says, in order to heal, and I hid, it is understood, My face, so that He would desire Me more, and would say: Show Your face and we shall be saved (Psalm 79:4). And I was indignant; which He sensing, He approached sadly, saying: I walked sad all day long (Psalm 38:7). And he walked in sorrow, whether turned towards the way of his heart, so that he did not act for the appearance of men, but in his heart he performed repentance. Therefore, seeing the ways of his conversion, I healed the wounds with which I had previously struck him. And I brought him back to me, whom I had previously expelled, and I gave him true consolation. For many consolations are false, by which the human race is deceived. Whether I have comforted his mourners, saying in the Gospel: Blessed are the mourners, for they will be comforted (Matthew 5:5). And what follows: I have created the fruit of the lips, this has meaning, I have fulfilled what I promised, saying: As I live, says the Lord, I prefer the repentance of the sinner to death (Ezek. 33:11). Or, I have granted all that I previously promised. What, then, is the promise of the Lord? My peace I give to you: My peace I leave to you (John 14:27). And this is what he now says: Peace upon peace; not only to one nation, but to the whole world: specifically to those who were far away and to those who were near, that is, first to the Gentiles, and then to those who wanted to believe from Israel. About whom the Apostle says: 'It was necessary that the word of God be spoken to you first; but because you have judged yourselves unworthy of eternal life, behold, we now turn to the Gentiles' (Acts 13:46). Writing to the Ephesians and discussing at length the people of the Circumcision and the Gentiles, he declares: 'But now in Christ Jesus, you who once were far off have been brought near by the blood of Christ. For he is our peace, who has made both one, and has broken down the middle wall of partition, abolishing in his flesh the enmity' (Ephesians 2:13-14); and again: 'He came and preached peace to you who were far off, and to those who were near' (ibid., 17). Since through Him we both have access in one Spirit to the Father: giving peace upon peace to those who were far away, and to those who were near and to those who did not have the Law and the Prophets; and to those who had received it before, He received them and healed them. But the wicked and the unjust will be tossed like a boiling sea and will never be able to rest. Although this can be understood of every wicked person, it is especially applicable to the Jewish people, who with one voice cried out and persisted in their impiety, saying: Crucify him, crucify such a person. We have no king except Caesar (John 19:15). Therefore, just as a boiling sea cannot become calm, but its waves overflow and roll back to the shore, and when broken, they become mud that is trampled by the feet: so the wicked will be subjected to eternal trampling, having no joy and finding no peace in their persistence in wickedness. Some understand this passage specifically about the Savior, that he was deeply grieved for the sins of the world, saying: My soul is sorrowful even to death (Matthew 26:38). And the Father who speaks through Zacharias says: I will strike the shepherd, and the sheep will be scattered (Zech. XIII, 7); and he himself says of himself in the sixty-eighth psalm: Because it is you who have struck, they have persecuted (Psalm LXVIII, 27). And God turned his face away from him, so that he might assume the appearance of a servant for a short time, walk in sadness, lamenting the sins of the people, mourning and weeping over Jerusalem. And whoever saw the Father's ways, therefore healed him, who was free among the dead: and his flesh did not see corruption, so that he, who was struck on the cross, might be healed in the resurrection. And I consoled him, he said, giving him for the one nation of the Jews, the whole world. And those who mourned him, it is understood, he consoled. There is no doubt that he refers to the Apostles. And he fulfilled the fruit of his lips, who said to him: Ask of me, and I will give you the nations for your inheritance, and the ends of the earth for your possession (Ps. 2:8): peace upon peace, reconciling the world to God, so that both peoples may be called to him, and be healed by the Father. But the impious, about whom we have spoken above, he compares to the sea, which can never be at rest, but even in the greatest calm, is tossed with broken waves onto the shores, and its end is mud and trampling.

(Chapter 58—Verse 1.) Cry aloud, spare not, lift up thy voice like a trumpet, and declare unto my people their transgression, and to the house of Jacob their sins. (LXX: Cry aloud, spare not, lift up thy voice like a trumpet, and declare unto the people their transgression, and to the house of Jacob their sins.) After finishing the previous chapter, in which peace is proclaimed to the righteous and no rest is given to the wicked, God commands the prophet Isaiah to cry aloud in strength, and to exalt his voice like a trumpet, and not to fear to declare the sins and transgressions of the people of Israel, neither fearing death nor the insults and threats of the wicked, but rather considering the Lord who rules over all. And because they have deaf ears and can barely hear, according to Symmachus and Aquila, they should turn their throat into a trumpet, which is called a shofar in Hebrew, and which they have interpreted as 'horn made of horn'. And indeed, when it was said to the Apostles, 'Ascend to the high mountain, you who evangelize Zion: lift up your voice with strength, you who evangelize Jerusalem: lift it up, do not be afraid' (Isaiah 40:9), neither a trumpet nor a horn is mentioned, but they are commanded to ascend the mountain. But because they were sinners whom he had to announce, and they dwelt below, the prophet is not commanded to ascend the mountain, but only to raise his voice like a trumpet and announce to them the coming wars. Otherwise, on the day of judgment, when it is said that the dead will rise in the resurrection and at the last trumpet, it is written, for the trumpet will sound, and the dead will rise incorruptible, so that just as they will be judged at the sound of the trumpet, so may Israel, dead in sin, hear its own crimes; at the same time, it is referred to as the people of God, so that they may learn what kind of father they have lost, who even calls his people sinners.

(Verse 2) They search for me day after day and desire to know my ways, like a nation that has done righteousness and has not forsaken the judgment of their God. LXX likewise. This specifically applies to the Jews, who run to the synagogues every day and meditate on the law of God, desiring to know what Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, and the other saints have done, and diligently studying the books of the Prophets and Moses, reciting the divine commands. To them, the following is most fittingly applied: The wicked seek me out but will not find me. For thus it is written: Everyone who seeks, finds (Matt. VII): whoever does not find, is convicted of seeking badly; for the Lord is found by those who seek Him in goodness, and is revealed to those who are not incredulous towards Him. Therefore, for those who have forsaken the justice and judgment of God, by what names is Christ revealed, as the Psalmist says: O God, give your judgment to the king, and your justice to the king's son (Ps. LXXI, 1): for Christ has become for us redemption, holiness, and righteousness (I Cor. I): in vain do they boast of knowledge of the law, when the holy one boasts not in knowledge of the Scriptures, but in works, saying: I have run the way of your commandments, when you have enlarged my heart (Ps. CXVIII, 31).

The unjust accuse the Lord of not respecting good works, and then they offer to God only hunger pangs of the stomach but not the work of virtue. Nor do they eat the foods that God created for believers and those who know the truth, to be received with thanksgiving. …This is what follows in the Septuagint: “And you wound all those who are subject to you,” [Is 58:3] or “afflict,” as in the better translation of Theodotion and Symmachus, which we follow with “and you are demanding of your debtors.” From this he shows that it is not without danger to demand repayment of a poor person who is insolvent or to refuse to return to a freezing debtor the garment that you took as collateral, lest his cry reach God. For one who has mercy on the poor lends to God. In contrast, whoever demands repayment from those who have nothing violates God.… The servant of the Lord … must not be litigious but be kind and imitate him who said, “Learn from me, for I am kind and humble of heart,” such that his humility would not be pretentious but of the heart, a humility that seeks the soul’s conscience rather than human glory.…
And we say this not to reprove the practice of fasting, through which Daniel, a man of passions, came to know the future and the Ninevites placated the wrath of God, and Elijah and Moses, after fasting for forty days, were filled with God’s friendship. The Lord, moreover, fasted for all those days of solitude in the desert in order to bequeath solemn days of fasting to us. But it profits nothing to endure an empty stomach and then to do other things that are displeasing to God.…
Nor should they disfigure their faces but wash them with water and anoint their heads with oil, about which John the Evangelist wrote, “You also have been anointed by the holy One,” through which the anointed were themselves made holy.

(Verse 3) They ask me for judgments of justice, and for the nearness of God. Why did we fast, and you did not look upon us? We humbled our souls, and you did not know? Behold, in the day of your fast your will is found, and you exact all your debtors. Behold, you fast for strife and contention, and you strike with the fist wickedly. LXX: They now seek a just judgment from me, and they desire to draw near to God, saying: Why did we fast, and you did not see? We have humiliated our souls, and you have not acknowledged? For on the days of your fasts, your desires are found, and you afflict all those subject to you, fasting for judgments and arguments, and you strike the humble with your fists. There is another rashness of the Jews, as if with the confidence of a good conscience, they demand a just judgment, and they imitate the words of the saints saying: Judge me, O Lord, for I have entered in my innocence (Ps. XXV, 1, 2). And again: Test me, O Lord, and try me: burn my reins and my heart. And in another place: Judge my cause, and redeem me (Psalm 118:154). And they desire to draw near to God: but this does not occur in a physical place, but in affection, nor in idle thoughts, but in laborious deeds. Finally, Scripture instructs us on what it means to draw near to God, saying: Seek the Lord. And when the wicked draws near to you, let him forsake his ways, and the unjust his thoughts. For the Lord is near to those who approach Him, and to those who pursue what is just. And they can say: But for me it is good to cling to God (Ps. LXXII, 28). For if Almighty God is the Father of truth and justice, whoever is deceitful and unjust cannot draw near to God, of whom it is written: The wicked shall not dwell with you, nor shall the unjust remain before your eyes (Ps. V, 6). Why did we fast, they say, and you did not look? We humbled our souls, and you did not know? They accuse the Lord of injustice, because he does not regard good works, and they offer to God only the hunger of the belly, without the work of virtues: not eating the foods that God created for the faithful and those who know the truth, so that they may take them with thanksgiving. But those of whom it is written in Proverbs: For they are nourished with the foods of impiety and are intoxicated with the wine of iniquity (Prov. 4:17). The Pharisee, satisfied with these kinds of banquets, among other words of pride, boasted on the Sabbath that he was fasting. (Luke XVIII): he did not drink wine from the vineyard of Sorec, but from the vineyard of the Sodomites, whose wine is the madness of dragons, and the madness of asps is incurable, and their grapes are grapes of gall: whom God reproves through the Prophet: They eat the sins of my people (Hos. IV, 8). And again: Why have you remained silent about their wickedness, and gathered and eaten the harvest of falsehood? (Hos. X, 13). Therefore, because they had posed the question to God, desiring to know why they had fasted and humbled their souls, and God did not respond, forgetting the old story of why He did not regard Cain's offering, who offered correctly but did not divide rightly with his brother (Gen. IV), not seeing the love of God, as the Scripture says: You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, and your neighbor as yourself (Matt. XXII, 39): therefore, God answered that He does not reject fasting, but the works that are done in fasting, saying: In the days of your fasting, your own wills are found, that you do not do God's will, but your own wills, which Paul, writing to the Ephesians, rejects: According to the prince of the power of the air, the spirit who now works in the sons of unbelief, among whom we all once conversed in the desires of our flesh, doing the will of the flesh and thoughts. And we were by nature children of wrath, like the others (Eph. 2:2-3). And what follows according to the Septuagint: 'And you oppress, or afflict, all your subjects,' which Theodotion and Symmachus translated better, whom we have followed in this place, 'and you demand payment from all your debtors.' From this it is evident that it is not without danger to demand repayment from a poor person who is unable to pay, and to not return a cloak taken as a pledge to a debtor who is shivering, lest his cry come before God. For he who has pity on the poor lends to God (Proverbs XIX). And on the contrary, he who withholds from the poor, harms God. And so that we may know that this is the meaning in the present passage, we will also read in the following verses in this same chapter: Break the bonds of wickedness, untie the bundles of oppression. It is undoubtedly clear that the bonds refer to: For what profit is it if you make your face pale with fasting, and fast for quarrels and arguments, as the Scripture says, He who loves sin rejoices in arguments (Proverbs XVII, 11)? But a servant of the Lord must not quarrel, but be gentle (2 Tim. 2), and imitate Him who says: Learn from me, for I am gentle and humble in heart (Matt. 11, 29): so that humility is not affected, but of the heart, not seeking the glory of men, but the conscience of the soul. You fast and strike with fists the humble, and with slaps you beat (1 Tim. 3). Therefore, a bishop must not be a striker. For how can he restrain lust, who is unable to restrain his own hand or tongue? The Lord reproves such fasting and in the beginning of this prophet he says: My soul hates your fasting and rest, your new moons and Sabbaths, and your other solemnities (Isaiah 1:13). Therefore, Joel commands: Sanctify a fast, proclaim a healing (Joel 2:15); so that we may fast from vices and become holy through good works and the healing of sins. Finally, it follows: Let the bridegroom go forth from his chamber, and the bride from her bridal chamber; so that during the time of fasting we may give ourselves to prayer: lest our inner self be nourished by the dragon's flesh, which has been given as food to the peoples of Ethiopia. And we say this, not because we disapprove of fasting, through which both Daniel, a man of desires, knew the future (Daniel IX), and the Ninevites appeased the anger of God (Jonah III), and Elijah (III Kings XIX) and Moses (Exodus XXXIV), satisfied with the familiarity of God through a forty-day fast, and the Lord Himself (Matthew IV) fasted for the same number of days in the wilderness, in order to leave us the solemn days of fasting. But fasting alone should not be empty, and one should not do other things that displease God. And, leaving aside other things, you will make their faces disfigured so that they appear to be fasting ((or fasting)), those who, by obtaining glory in the present, will be excluded from the kingdom of God, because they have received their reward (Matt. VI). Therefore, even if the Apostle were to offer his body to martyrdom, as it were, to be burned or to boast (both are mentioned in the copies), without the love of God (which is in the conscience of the heart), he says in vain that he pours out his blood (I Cor. XIII).

(Vers. 4, 5.) Do not fast as you do to this day, to make your voice heard on high. Is this the kind of fast I have chosen, only a day for people to humble themselves? Is it only for bowing one's head like a reed and for lying in sackcloth and ashes? Is that what you call a fast, a day acceptable to the Lord? LXX: Why have we fasted,' they say, 'and you have not seen it? Why have we humbled ourselves, and you have not noticed?' And when you have bowed your neck like a circle, and have put sackcloth and ashes under you: do not call this an acceptable fast. He teaches not to reprove fasting itself which he had commanded, but how one should fast: moreover, before he teaches what they should follow, he instructs what they should avoid: That it may be heard, he says, in high places. Do not bring your clamor to prayer, praying in synagogues and corners of the streets, so that you may be seen by men (Matthew 6), and raise your voice on high, and with the Pharisee, who is condemned by the judgment of the Lord, proclaim your fasts and works (Luke 18). Because of these things, the Lord, reproving the prayer of the Pharisees, teaches the disciples how they should pray (Matthew 6). They should enter into the hidden chamber of their hearts, to speak to God alone, who can hear the silence of the heart; so that they may cry out in their hearts, 'Abba, Father' (Romans 8:15); and not make their faces disfigured, but wash with water and anoint their heads with oil. John the Evangelist also writes about this: 'And you have an anointing from the Holy One' (1 John 2:20): that by being anointed, they themselves may become holy. For God does not seek only affliction and humiliation of the soul through injury to the body, as if to twist the body in the manner of a circle and bow the neck, and to walk in sadness. According to what is said in the Psalms: I am afflicted and bowed down to the end; I was mournful all day long (Psalm 37:9). Nor does He seek for one to be clothed in sackcloth and sleep in ashes, as we read of David and Ahab (2 Samuel 3; 1 Kings 21); but that one should do these things along with those that follow. Moreover, the Apostle frequently says that he fasts (2 Corinthians 6 and 11), and the Lord, when he is taken away as a bridegroom from his disciples, teaches them to fast (Matthew 6). And in the Psalms, speaking of repentance, he says: I ate ashes like bread and mixed my drink with tears (Psalm 102:10). And when they were troublesome to me, I put on sackcloth (Psalm 34:13). From this, we learn that these are the things that the Lord wants to be done first, and not to overlook them for anything else.

(Verses 6, 7.) Isn't this the fast that I have chosen? To loosen the chains of wickedness, to undo the bands of the yoke, to let the oppressed go free, and to break every yoke? Isn't it to share your bread with the hungry, and to bring the poor who are cast out into your house? When you see the naked, to cover him, and not to hide yourself from your own flesh? Isn't it to deal your bread to the hungry, and that you bring the poor who are cast out to your house? When you see the naked, that you cover him, and that you not hide yourself from your own flesh? Isn't this the fast that I have chosen?' says the Lord: 'to release the bonds of wickedness, to undo the heavy burdens, to let the oppressed go free, and that you break every yoke?' Dissolve the bonds of violent obligations. Release the broken ones in remission, and cut off all unjust writings. Break your bread to the hungry, and bring the homeless into your house. If you see someone naked, cover them, and do not despise the members of your own household. After he taught what kind of fasting he disapproves of, he showed what kind he gladly accepts. Dissolve, he says, the bindings of impiety: untie the bundles that weigh down: or as the Septuagint translated more clearly, the bonds of violent obligations, which our people, deceived by the ambiguity of the word, that is, exchanges in certificates, interpreted as transfers. However, it signifies the bundles of documents in which the deceit of lenders is contained, and the poor are oppressed by debt, which is the main cause of revolt in all cities. Therefore, the Roman people occupy neighboring mountains, and there are new records, which the Greeks call 'χρέων ἀποκοπάς'. Therefore, the Prophet does not command that each person should not demand what is owed, especially when it was justly given and justly sought after; otherwise, he would be a supporter of sedition. But where there is unfair surety, where the poor are oppressed by slander: there the bundles of sureties and all the chains of injustice must be broken. Or indeed, this must be said, because it is about fasting, and fasting has affliction and humiliation of the soul: but the affliction of sinners' bodies begs for indulgence. Divine Scripture teaches us to forgive our debtors, so that the Heavenly Father may also forgive us our debts (Mark 11). The ancient history tells that in the year of the Jubilee, which is the true Jubilee, all possessions return to their owners and slaves regain their freedom, and all obligations, commonly known as cautions, become void (Leviticus 25 and 27). If this is commanded in the old Law (Exodus 21), how much more in the Gospel, where everything that is good is multiplied: and not an eye for an eye, or a tooth for a tooth is commanded, but to offer the other cheek to the one who strikes! And so that we know what we have said above: Collect all your debtors, have the creditors written down, and join them with the debtors more clearly: Forgive those who are broken, that is, those who are broken by poverty, whom affliction has afflicted, so that you do not allow them to beg. And break all burdens by which they are oppressed. For which the Seventy translated it more clearly, and cut off all unjust writing: which Symmachus translated: And break all false caution. But it could happen that someone would say, 'I have no debtors, what should I do to observe my fast?' It follows: Break your bread to the hungry. Not many loaves, nor cause poverty, but one loaf. Not the whole loaf itself, but a portion of bread: which if you did not fast, you would eat; so that your fast is not a profit for your purse, but a satisfaction for your soul. And beautifully he added 'your', so that you do not make your alms from robbery: For the redemption of a man's soul is his own treasure (Proverbs 13, 6). And in another place: Honor the Lord with your just labor (Proverbs 3, 9). Certainly if you do not have bread, and there is a great multitude of hungry people, give from what you suffer no harm. In which there are no expenses, bring the homeless, the poor without shelter, into your home. Or as it is said in Hebrew, into the house, so that if you do not have your own, you bring them into a small guesthouse, which you either rent or possess as a favor. If you see someone naked, cover him. And what the Lord said in the Gospel: Whoever has two tunics, let him give one to him who has none (Luke 3, 11). For he did not command that one be torn and divided, as many do for the sake of popular applause, but that the other not be preserved, increasing the precepts of justice, so that he also may say that having handed a cup of cold water has its rewards. And he says 'your' flesh, do not despise it. For every man is our flesh. And according to the Gospel parable, he is called the neighbor who does good to the one who came down from Jerusalem to Jericho and was wounded by robbers (Luke 10). Or certainly according to the Seventy who said: And do not despise the servants of your own seed, let us understand those servants of your own seed, about whom the Apostle also teaches, saying that alms should be done to all, but especially to the servants of faith (Galatians 6). For they are our flesh and our seed, being generated with us by the same parent. To whom the Savior also extended his hand, saying: These are my mother and my brothers, who do the will of my Father (Mark 3, 34, 35). And so that we know that there is one Lord, both of the new and the old Testament, the Lord speaks the same in the Gospel about those who will stand on the right on the day of judgment, saying: Come, you blessed of my Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world. For I was hungry and you gave me food. I was thirsty and you gave me drink. I was sick and in prison, and you visited me. I was a stranger and you brought me into your home. And I was naked and you clothed me (Matthew 25, 34-36). And to those who humbly say that they have done nothing for the Lord and Savior, he responds: As long as you have done it to one of the least of my brothers, you have done it to me. According to tropology, we can say: Whoever fasts from all evil and wishes his fast to be respected, not only must turn away from evil, but also do good, so as to break every bond of iniquity by which simple believers are bound by the deceit of heretics. And the Prophet also speaks about the bonds of violent contracts, which he demonstrates in the psalm, saying: But those who go astray in their obligations, the Lord will bring with those who work iniquity (Psalm 125, 5). For all those who are bound by the bonds of heretics, turn away from the Lord; they are like a bull led to the slaughter; and they choose and exchange falsehood for truth. Therefore, let the Ecclesiastical man dismiss and dissolve these kinds of men, who are broken in judgment; and break and tear apart all the writings of heretics, about whom the same Prophet says: Woe to those who write iniquity: for they write malice, stealing the judgment of the poor people of mine (Isaiah 10, 1, 2), so that they do not hold every simple person ensnared by their traps. And when he does this, let him break his bread to the hungry of the Ecclesiastical doctrine, which the Lord also did, giving broken bread to the Apostles, which he left for them in seven baskets and twelve small baskets, not whole as they were in the Law, but crushed and broken in the Gospel, so that they would have something to give to the poor (Matthew 15). When you see those who do not have the warmth of faith, but who freeze outside the Church in the coldness of unbelief, bring them into the house of the Church, and cover them with the robe of incorruption; so that, clothed in Christ's tunic, they do not remain in the graves, as we read of the one who was possessed by a legion of demons, who lived naked among the memorials of the dead. And when you have done this, let your generosity be shown to all, especially to the faithful servants.