Jerome

(Verse 7) They therefore began with the older men who were before the house. And he said to them: Defile the house, and fill the courts with the slain. Fill the courts with the slain. For the courts, which are called the Asroth in Hebrew, the Seventy set up roads. However, the older men, of whom we read above that they had censers and offered incense to idols, are killed. There is no longer any religious worship in the temple, for, having offended the God of religion, all things are defiled, so that where there is sin, there is also judgment. The atriums are filled with corpses in the temple, and not the streets, which were certainly outside, unless we can perhaps understand the streets as the city squares. The angels could not dare to defile the temple with the blood of the dead, in which the glory of God previously dwelt, unless the Lord of departing glory commanded it. Everyone who is dead because of sin defiles the atriums of the temple and the streets of the Lord's city, in which he lives. But when he rises again with Christ, he ceases to be dead.


And they went out and struck those who were in the city. Or, as others have translated: they struck the city, calling the city itself the ones who were in the city.

And when the slaughter was complete, I remained: and I fell upon my face, and crying out I said: Alas, Lord God, wilt thou then destroy all the remnant of Israel, pouring out thy fury upon Jerusalem? For when all those who did not have the seal were slain, the prophet fell down on his face, thinking that no one except himself had remained among the dead. And because this seemed to be contrary to the commandment that the Lord had given, that the men with sealed foreheads should not be slain, it was therefore removed from the Vulgate edition. But we, following the Hebrew truth, have established, I remained. And it should be noted that He did not say alone: as if He had said, it seemed to be contrary; but I remained, so that it is understood with the others who had marked foreheads. But in order to know distinctly what is said here, I remained, in the book of Kings, when Elijah speaks to God: Your altars have been demolished, and I alone have been left, and they seek to take my life (1 Kings 19:14); He said alone, because He did not know that others had remained. Some think that, from the person of the Lord in whose likeness Ezekiel preceded, this can be understood of the people of the Jews: when all turned aside, they became useless together (Psalm XIII). And the Prophet testifies: Save me, O Lord: for the holy one has failed (Psalm II, 1). For only the Lord has been found who did not sin, nor was deceit found in his mouth (1 Peter II). But what he inflicted, pouring out your fury upon Jerusalem, the word of outpouring shows the magnitude of the punishments, as we read elsewhere: Scorn has been poured out upon the princes (Psalm CVI, 40). And again: My steps have almost slipped (Psalm 73:2). And in a good way. The love of God has been poured out into our hearts (Romans 5:5). And: Grace has been poured upon your lips (Psalm 45:3). And on the contrary: Pour out your fury upon the nations that do not know you, and upon the kingdoms that do not invoke your name (Jeremiah 10; Psalm 79:6). And: Draw out your spear and stop those who pursue me (Psalm 35:3).

(Verse 9, 10.) And he said to me: The iniquity of the house of Israel and Judah is exceedingly great. And the land is filled with blood, and the city is filled with perversity. For they said: The Lord has forsaken the land, and the Lord does not see. Therefore, I will not show pity nor have mercy: I will repay their ways upon their heads. Seeing his prophet weep for the people, the Lord, in his great anger, explains the reasons: not as he thought, unjust or excessive punishment, but a deserved and just sentence. Iniquity, he says, is great among the ten tribes of Israel and the two tribes of Judah, and not only great, but exceedingly great. And he not only said this once, but repeated it forcefully, so that the punishment is as great as the magnitude of the iniquity. From this we learn, contrary to what most people think, especially the Stoics, that sins are not equal; but rather, they are either great or small, and the judgement of the punisher varies according to the quality and quantity of the sinners. 'The land is filled,' he says, 'with blood,' or as the Septuagint translates, with peoples; and the city is filled with aversion, or as the Vulgate edition has it, with iniquity and uncleanness. Not a small amount of blood has been shed, but from one end of the city to the other; and the whole city has turned away from the worship of God, and as a result it is filled with uncleanness, clearly of idolatrous filth. But the cause of such great crimes is that they believed there is no providence over the earth, nor does God care about mortal things, according to what we read elsewhere (Virgil, Book IV, Aeneid).

Undoubtedly it is a task for the gods, this concern disturbs their tranquility. Because therefore they either thought that there is no providence, or that which was in other nations has now abandoned its own people: on account of this, the eye of God will not spare, nor will it have mercy: so that raging against vices, it may be appeased by virtues, and may repay their ways and sins upon their heads, either upon the principal (ἡγεμονικὸν) of the heart, or upon the leaders of the people, according to the book of Numbers, in which the leaders of the people are said to be the heads of the people.

(Verse 11) And behold, a man who was clothed in linen, who had a writing utensil at his waist, answered saying, 'I have done as you commanded me.' LXX: And behold, a man who was clothed in a long robe and had a belt around his waist, answered and said, 'I have done as you commanded me.' He is the man who was commanded to pass through the midst of Jerusalem and put a mark on the foreheads of the men who sigh and cry over all the abominations that are done within it. He says that he has fulfilled the commandments of the Lord, and has marked the foreheads of the mourners with the seal of the letter Tau (or armed them). But the six men to whom the Lord commanded, saying: Go through the city following him, and strike; show no mercy to anyone until complete destruction, do not report such a thing. For they filled not the sentiment of joy, but of sorrow, which is proven not by words, but by actions. And in this place, instead of ποδήρη, which is translated by the Seventy as a long robe, Theodotion placed the Hebrew word Baddim (); Symmachus, a rope; Aquila, a main robe, or a stole. Symmachus also placed the tablets; Aquila, the inkwell; Theodotius, the helmet.

(Chapter 10, Verses 1, 2) And I saw, and behold, in the firmament that was above the heads of the cherubim was as a sapphire stone: and the likeness of a throne appeared upon it. And he spoke to the man clothed with linen, and said: Enter between the wheels that are under the cherubim, and fill your hands with burning coals, which are between the cherubim, and scatter them over the city. Let it suffice to have said of the firmament that was above the cherubim, and of the sapphire stone that had the likeness of a throne, and of the wheels that accompanied the living creatures. Now concerning what is commanded to the man clothed with linen, for whom the Septuagint in this place have interpreted as a robe, to take the burning coals from among the cherubim and scatter or sprinkle them over the city, it seems to me that it signifies, after the slaughter and killing of many, and the corpses of the dead on the streets, the taking up of burning coals to punish or cleanse Jerusalem, according to what is written in Isaiah: He has made him holy in a burning fire, and it will consume like dry grass (Isa. 10:17). These are the coals which the Prophet, desiring to remedy the burning of his tongue, asks: What shall be given to you, and what shall be added for your deceitful tongue? Sharp arrows with desolating coals (Psalm 120:3, 4). And many similar passages we can find in the Holy Scriptures, of which we have often spoken. It is important to note only that in Isaiah, who had sinned so much in speech and claimed to have unclean lips, a coal is taken up with tongs for cleansing. But here, because the city was full of wickedness, and after punishments with the corpses of the dead, many coals of fire are taken up, and not with one hand, but with both, so that all of Jerusalem may be cleansed. Although it should also be understood that the taking up of burning coals is not for cleansing, but for punishment and torment, which are poured out over Jerusalem.

(Verses 3 and following) And he entered in my sight. But the cherubim stood at the right side of the house, when the man entered, and the cloud filled the inner courtyard. And the glory of the Lord was lifted up from the cherub to the threshold of the house, and the house was filled with the cloud, and the courtyard was filled with the splendor of the glory of the Lord. And the sound of the wings of the cherubim was heard up to the outer courtyard, like the voice of God Almighty speaking. And when he commanded the man who was dressed in linen, saying: Take fire from the middle of the wheels, which are between the cherubim: he entered and stood beside the wheel. And the cherub stretched forth his hand from the midst of the cherubim to the fire that was between the cherubim, and took and put it into the hands of him that was clothed with linen: who took it and went out. And there appeared in the cherubim the likeness of a hand of a man under their wings. Then the prophet, seeing the vision, approached the man who was clothed in a long linen garment or tunic. And according to the Septuagint now they change the interpretation, the holy vestment, when among the Hebrews it is called Baddim, and the other interpreters persist in the translation they have begun. However, as it is said in the second part, he entered into the midst of the wheels, which are beneath the Cherubim, to fill his hands with burning coals. When he had entered, he stood only next to the wheel, either out of sadness for the punishment of Jerusalem, or out of astonishment at the greatness of glory, he himself did not put his hand into the fire, but one of the Cherubim, that is, the Cherub, put his hand into the fire and took the fire, which was in the midst of the Cherubim, and gave it into the hand of the one who was clothed in linen garments. The one receiving went out; and yet Scripture does not say what he did, so that it would leave the narration of the sad event to our understanding rather than subjecting it to our eyes. But when the man entered, who was dressed in linen garments, the Cherubim stood on the right side of the house, so that they seemed to hold the right part of the house of God, as holy and heavenly powers, and those who are sent for punishment, of whom it is written: 'He sent upon them the heat of his anger, fury and indignation and trouble, a sending of evil angels.' (Psalm 78:49), may be believed to possess the left parts. And when the glory of the Lord was lifted up from the cherub, who was about to deliver coals of fire to the man; and it passed over to the threshold of the house, immediately the cloud, darkness, and gloom fill the inner courtyard. For in the presence of the majesty of the Lord, no punishments are carried out, and the glory of the Lord is seen in the courtyard, of which it is written: The sound of the wings of the cherubim was heard as far as the outer courtyard. For the Hebrew word for sound is used instead of the Latin word voice: and this sound had a resemblance to the voice of God Almighty speaking. Why they translated it as seventy: as the voice of God Saddai (); which Aquila, Symmachus, and Theodotio translated as suitable, which signifies strong and powerful. Note, reader, in which they agree, and in which they differ, so that from the comparison of both, without our admonition, you may understand the divine sacraments, and that which I mentioned before, that both in the firmament and on the throne, and in the hand of man, it is not called untruth but resemblance. For now we see in a mirror, dimly, but then face to face. Now I know in part, but then I shall know just as I also am known. (I Corinthians 13)

(Versed 8 and following) And I saw, and behold, there were four wheels beside the Cherubim. One wheel beside one Cherub, and another wheel beside another Cherub. The appearance of the wheels was like the gleam of a chrysolite stone, and they all had the same likeness, like a wheel within a wheel. When they moved, they went in the four directions without turning as they went. And the wheels went toward the place where the first wheel went, and they followed in its tracks and did not turn back. And all their bodies, and necks, and hands, and wings, and circles, were full of eyes all around the four wheels. And these wheels he called voluble, as I heard. But it had four faces. One face, the face of a Cherub; and the second face, the face of a man; and in the third, the face of a lion; and in the fourth, the face of an eagle. And the Cherubim were elevated. Notice what was before, or how many species of wheels, according to the Septuagint, like the appearance of a beryl: but now, according to the same, like the appearance of a carbuncle; so that the likeness of wings being moved by fire, which is attributed to the Cherub, may be shown: although in Hebrew, both above and here, it is written 'beryl,' which the Eagle translated as 'chrysolite' and Symmachus as 'hyacinth.' And again, when we turn to them: And the whole body of them, which is understood to be of the wheels, is written in Hebrew: And all their flesh, and necks, and hands, and feathers, and circles. Note that flesh is called in heavenly powers, as when we read: Flesh and blood shall not possess the kingdom of God, neither shall corruption possess incorruption (I Cor. XV), let us know that not the substance of the flesh, but the works, are condemned: For Basar () which is written in this place, signifies not the body, but rather flesh. But he called the circles of wheels, iron edges, by which the roundness of the wood is constrained and tightened. And these wheels not only have flesh, or bodies, or limbs: but also necks, and hands, and feathers, so that we perceive the effectiveness of things in each, not images of limbs. The wheels themselves are also called in the Hebrew tongue Gelgel, which Symmachus interpreted as revolving, and Aquila as a wheel. Furthermore, what follows: When I was listening, until the place where it is written: The Cherubim are lifted up, it is not found in the Septuagint; but it has been added from the Hebrew. In which it is to be noted that, as stated above, there are not, as it were, four faces on the right and four faces on the left: the face of a man and the face of a lion on the right, and the face of a calf on the left, and the face of an eagle; so that they are believed to be different on the left and on the right. But an equal order of all is described, with Scripture saying: Yet it had four faces: one face, the face of a Cherub, and the second face, the face of a man; and in the third, the face of a lion; and in the fourth, the face of an eagle; so that the first and second, and third, and fourth faces, are described not by the difference of places on the right and the left, but by one order of degrees. He named the first face Cherub, which he had spoken about earlier as the face of a calf. From this, it is understood that the face of the Cherub is the face of a calf. The explanation of this vision includes the meaning of all these things.

(Vers. 15 seqq.) It is a creature that I saw beside the river Chobar. And when the Cherubim walked, the wheels also went beside them. And when the Cherubim lifted their wings to be lifted up from the ground, the wheels did not resist, but were also beside them. When they stood, they stood, and when they were lifted up, they were lifted up. For the spirit of life was in them. All things live to God and feel their Creator. For God is not the God of the dead but of the living (Matthew 22:32). And all the bodies of the wheels are full of eyes (Supra I) . And in the psalm it is said: The heavens declare the glory of God, and the firmament proclaims the work of his hands. Day unto day speaks forth speech, and night unto night reveals knowledge (Ps. 19:1-2) . The sun also and the moon, the sea and the rivers, the mountains and hills praise God, and in their own cycle they revolve through the years, and we perceive the order of the heavens on earth, so that, by preserving the order of the ancient law, they may turn and run; and let us not see anything new upon the earth. But when it is said, 'It is an animal, which I saw by the river Chobar' (Ecclesiastes 1)', Scripture shows that we should understand the same thing in the interpretation of 'animal' as we understood above.

(v. 18 seqq.) And the glory of the Lord went forth from the threshold of the Temple and stood over the Cherubim. And the Cherubim lifted up their wings and were exalted from the ground before me. And as they went, the wheels also followed them. And it stood at the entrance of the gate of the house of the Lord, which faces east, and the glory of the God of Israel was above them. It is the creature that I saw beneath the God of Israel, by the river Chebar, and I understood that they were Cherubim. Four, through four faces to one: and four wings to one, and the likeness of the hands of a man under their wings: and the likeness of their faces, the very faces which I had seen by the river Chobar, and their looks, and the way each one went forward to his own front. The glory of the Lord, or the majesty, which had stood in the entrance of the temple, stood over the cherubims. They lifting up their wings, and the prophet seeing, were raised up: and the wheels followed them: and the glory of the God of Israel was over them. First, he was in the temple, then he stood in the courtyard of the temple or at the threshold. As he was departing from the temple, clouds and darkness filled the inner sanctuary of the temple. And once again, the glory itself sat upon the cherubim, and as they immediately flew away and departed to the outside, the wheels followed. And the glory stood at the gate of the house of the Lord facing east, not at the entrance of the temple, but behind the courtyard and threshold at the entrance of the gate of the house of the Lord facing east. When the prophet saw this, he said, 'It is the creature that I saw beneath the God of Israel by the river Chobar, and I understood that they were cherubim.' For what new thing had he seen, which he understood to be Cherubim, which he had not understood before? Cherubim, in our language, is a multitude of knowledge: the knowledge of the sacraments of God, and his throne and rest. Therefore, it is said in the psalm: You who sit above the Cherubim, reveal yourself. (Ps. LXXIX, 2). For the glory of the Lord always resides in the multitude of knowledge; and it is manifested when all things are shown by divine providence; nothing happens by chance, nor does anyone say anything without reason: The Lord has abandoned the earth, and the Lord does not see. (Supra IX, 9). Wherefore also, having beheld the cherubim and their desire, is to forget the things that are past, and to stretch forth unto those which are before (Philippians 3).

(Verse 2 onwards) And behold, at the entrance of the gate were twenty-five men, and in their midst I saw Jaazaniah the son of Azzur, and Pelatiah the son of Benaiah, the princes of the people. And he said to me, Son of man, these men devise iniquity and give wicked counsel in this city, saying, 'The houses have been recently built. This is the pot, but we are the meat.' Therefore, prophesy against them, prophesy, son of man. And the spirit of the Lord rushed upon me, and he said to me, speak: Thus says the Lord: So you have spoken, O house of Israel, and I know the thoughts of your heart. You have killed many in this city, and you have filled its streets with the slain. Therefore thus says the Lord God: Your slain whom you have laid in the midst of it, they are the meat, and this city is the pot, but you shall be brought out of the midst of it. You have feared the sword, and I will bring the sword upon you, declares the Lord God. And I will bring you out of the midst of it, and give you into the hands of foreigners, and execute judgments upon you. I will judge you with the sword of the Chaldeans; you shall know that I am the Lord. This will not be a pot for you, and you shall not be in the midst of it as flesh. I will judge you at the borders of Israel, and you shall know that I am the Lord. The following is not found in the Septuagint, but is added from the Hebrew: Because you have not walked in my commandments and have not kept my judgments, but have acted according to the judgments of the nations that surround you. The prophet is assumed according to what is written: The Lord raises the meek (Ps. 146:6); whether he is lifted up from the earth and brought into the eastern gate of the Lord's house, so that he may know the oaths of the twenty-five men who were at the entrance of the gate, and the sons of Jezaniah the son of Azur, and Paltheiah the son of Benaiah, the princes of the people. Therefore, those who were at the entrance of the eastern gate of the Lord's house, despairing of salvation and prepared for destruction by the consciousness of their crimes, and not desiring to correct their sins through repentance, say: Although recently houses have been rebuilt that had fallen, yet we know that this city is like a pot, and we are like the flesh in it, to be consumed and burned, according to what is written in Isaiah: If a tempest passes by, it will not harm us (Isa. 28:15). While they were saying these things, the spirit of the Lord rushed upon the prophet; and for a second time he commanded him to prophesy and say: Because you have spoken these things and the secrets of your hearts are not hidden from me, I will interpret for you how the city will be transformed into a cauldron, and you yourselves will be considered as meat: not according to the sense in which you spoke, but according to another sense which you do not fear. Indeed, the city is like a cauldron, but it will not be filled with your flesh; rather with the flesh of those whom you have killed. But you, who consider yourselves to be dying in this city, I will bring out from the midst of the city and deliver into the hands of the enemy. I will execute judgments against you. And when you have fallen by the sword, you shall not be in the city, nor outside the boundaries of Israel, but rather in the borders of your own province, then you will know that I am the Lord. And it is furthermore said: In the borders of Israel I will judge you, and you will know that I am the Lord. But you will endure all these things because you have not walked in my commandments, and you have not observed my judgments, but have committed the abominations of the surrounding nations. And when it is clear according to the literal sense of what is said, omitting for a moment the names of Jezoniah, Azur, Phaltiah, and Benaiah, which we reserve for another time, it must be said that even to this day in the Church, which is the house of the Lord, and before the gate, and at the entrance, or at the way of the gate, which signifies the Savior, through whom we enter to the Father, there are twenty-five men who represent everything concerning the senses. And as far as my memory serves me, I have never been able to find this number in a positive sense; although in Leviticus twenty-five years are chosen for the priestly ministry; for in Hebrew it does not have this number, which is said in the Seventy, but thirty, which is contained in the beginning of this prophet and the age of the Lord, when He came to the banks of the Jordan and was baptized by John (Luke 3). But in the Gospel there are found five wise virgins and five foolish ones (Matthew 25), let us know that this number is placed in the middle and can be applied to either the good or the bad, depending on the users. Therefore, these men, who refer everything to the senses and have two principles, as we mentioned above, are contained in the dual number, which divides unity, and in the number of the second day, does not seem to be from the Lord, according to the Hebrew truth. And in Noah's Ark, two by two unclean animals are brought in (Genesis 6). But the Lord, restricting division into one, made both one, and broke down the middle wall, condemning enmities in His flesh (Ephesians 2). Therefore, He speaks more augustly and sublimely: I and the Father are one (John 10:30), so that He may bring us from the Judaic duality into the unity of the Christian faith. Finally, with the priesthood of the Jews being lost, the Lord suffered not under one ruler, but under two, Annas and Caiaphas, to show the dividedness of their religion (False). There are many at the entrance of this gate in front of the house of the Lord of the East, who are compared to their own nations in vices, and in the conscience of sins despair of salvation, and say: The city in which we live is a cauldron, and we are all flesh, and we will be consumed by the burning Babylon, whose fiery arrows are: unwilling to repent and despairing of salvation; therefore they hear that they themselves are not the flesh of the past and lost city, but those whom they have scandalized and killed. And so the sword is drawn against them, so that after they have been judged not among the nations, but among Christians in the land of Israel, they may then know that He Himself is the Lord, according to what is read in the Psalms: When He killed them, they sought Him (Psalm 77:34), so that by the torments they may come to know Him whom they did not recognize through His blessings.

(Verse 13) And it came to pass, while I was prophesying, that Phaltias son of Banajae died. And I fell on my face, crying out with a loud voice, and I said, Alas, alas, alas, Lord God, are you making an end of the remnant of Israel? As the prophet prophesied, one of the two chief princes, Phaltias son of Banajae, dies. He is interpreted as falling ruin, and he is the son of a builder or mason, for οἰκοδόμος cannot be translated into our language otherwise. Another prince is preserved unharmed, Jezonias son of Azur. Jezonias serves as his ears, that which is subaudible to the soul. Azur, on the other hand, serves as his support or help. Therefore, he who falls away from the Lord, and was in a state of very bad construction, falls rightly, as prophesied by him, whom God strengthened. But he who obeys the commands of God, and is sustained and supported by his help, rightly remains in the leadership of the people. We read in Exodus (Chapter II), after Pharaoh, the king of Egypt, died, the sons of Israel groaned from the works of mud, straw, and bricks, and cried out to the Lord, whom they could not cry out to while he was alive. Isaiah also (Chapter VI), after the death of King Uzziah, who was leprous, saw the Lord sitting on a high and lofty throne, and the Seraphim standing around him; and understanding that his lips were unclean, and he dwelt among a people with unclean lips, he deserved to have a hot coal sent from the altar, and his lips were cleansed of impurity. In this situation, with the strength of God prophesying, the prince who had turned away from the service of the Lord falls in order to be elevated by Christ. For if the resurrection is of the Lord, then the downfall is of the devil. In this, it is sought how it is spoken of the Savior. Behold, here He is placed in ruin, and the resurrection of many in Israel (Luke II, 34). In the ruin of those who were standing wickedly, and in the resurrection of those who had fallen. When the prophet saw this, he fell on his face, not by the merit of sinning, but by the affection of lamenting; and with a loud voice, which came from great fervor of faith, he cried out three times, and said, Alas, alas, alas, O Lord God, are you bringing about the consummation of the remnant of Israel? And there is this understanding: Even the remnants themselves, which seemed to exist in the people, are destroyed when you are displeased.

(Verse 14 onwards) And the word of the Lord came to me, saying: Son of man, your brothers, your brothers: the men near you and all the house of Israel, all of whom the inhabitants of Jerusalem have said: Depart far from the Lord: to us the land has been given as possession. Therefore, thus says the Lord God: because I have removed them far off among the nations, and because I have scattered them among the lands, I will be a small sanctification for them in the lands which they have come to. LXX: And the word of the Lord came to me, saying: Son of man, your brothers and the men of your captivity, and all the house of Israel is consumed; to whom the inhabitants of Jerusalem have said: You are far off from the Lord; to us is given the land in possession. Therefore say: Thus saith the Lord God: Because I will remove them far off among the nations, and because I will disperse them in the countries, and will be to them a little sanctuary in the countries where they shall come. First, we must discuss the variety of interpretations. Because in the Hebrew it says, 'the men who are near to you' (for this is the meaning of 'Goolathach'), the LXX translated it as 'the men of your captivity'. Then it follows: 'all whom the inhabitants of Jerusalem told'; instead of 'all', they put 'those' due to the ambiguity of the letters and the word. 'Chullo', which Aquila, Symmachus, and Theodotion translated as 'all', they rendered as 'consummated', which does not make any sense at all in terms of the meaning. Therefore, the word of the Lord came to Ezekiel, who had said: Alas, alas, alas, O Lord God, are you bringing to an end the remnant of Israel? Specifically, through the death of Phaltiel and those who were killed with him, because those were not the remnants that the prophet thought were in Jerusalem, but rather those who appeared to be captive in Babylon. And the meaning is this: O son of man, your brothers, who were born of the same lineage as you, your brothers, I say, to whom the inhabitants of Jerusalem said, you have turned away from the Lord because you are captives, and you have given yourselves to Jechoniah, but to us the land of Israel has been given as an eternal possession. So tell them that though I have sent them far away from the land of Israel and scattered them among the nations and commanded them to be in foreign lands, because they have obeyed my command, I will be with them even in foreign and hostile places for a small sanctification. As long as there are some among them who do not submit their necks to idolatry but remember God's commandments, like Daniel and the three young men, it is to be believed that there were others like them, in the likeness of such great rulers that Scripture now recalls (Dan. III). From all these things we learn that we should not insult those who have been handed over to punishment by the judgment of God, nor reproach a person who has turned away from their sins, nor should we ever say to those who repent and leave the Church: 'You have gone far away from the Lord; the land has been given to us as a possession.' For thus says the Lord: Although I have temporarily separated them from my Church and scattered them among the nations, I will still be for them a sanctification, as long as they remember their sins and hasten to return to their former dwelling places due to repentance.

(Verse 17 and following) Therefore, speak and say, 'Thus says the Lord God: I will gather you from the peoples and assemble you from the countries where you have been scattered, and I will give you the land of Israel. And they shall go there and remove all offenses and all abominations from it. And I will give them one heart (or I will give them a new heart) and put a new spirit within them; I will remove the heart of stone from their flesh and give them a heart of flesh, so that they may walk in my statutes and keep my ordinances and do them; then they shall be my people, and I will be their God.' But as for those whose heart follows their detestable things and abominations, I will bring their way upon their own heads," declares the Lord God. This is a divine message to those who were captive in the land of Babylon, to the brothers of the prophet Ezekiel, and to the near ones to whom the inhabitants of Jerusalem (or Israel) said: 'You have gone far from the Lord, the land has been given to us as a possession.' But these are the words that follow: 'I will gather you from the peoples and give you the land of Israel.' And when you have entered, you shall remove all idols, because of which you have offended God, and I will give you a unified heart of fear and servitude to God, so that you may not serve diverse idols, or any other than what you had before. And I will give a new spirit in your midst, according to what is written: Create in me a clean heart, O God, and renew a right spirit within me (Psalm 51:12). And I will remove from you a heart of stone, that is, a hard heart, according to what Stephen, the first martyr in Christ, spoke: Stiff-necked and uncircumcised in heart (Acts 7:51). And the heart of Pharaoh was hardened, and he would not let the people of Israel go (Exod. VII). And I will give them a heart of flesh, a soft and tender heart, that they may receive the commandments of God, so that they may be written on the tablets of their carnal hearts. Therefore, a soft heart is given and a hard heart is taken away, so that they may walk in my precepts, keep my judgments, and be a people of God. And the Lord, who was previously an adversary, shall be their God. But those who do not correct their previous sins with repentance, but follow after their abominations, I will repay them according to what they deserve, so that their ways may be upon their heads. These things are believed by many to have happened under Zerubbabel, the son of Salathiel, and under Jesus, the son of Josedec, the high priest, and under Ezra and Nehemiah, to the tribe of Judah, and to those who returned with them. The inhabitants of Jerusalem, who were taken captive under King Zedekiah of Judah, or who fled with Jeremiah to Egypt, are believed to have been dispersed into all lands and not to have returned to the city of Jerusalem. But the full conversion of those who were captive and the remnant of Israel is understood in Christ, when the remnant was saved, and three thousand believed in one day, and again five thousand (Acts 2); and others, of whom James speaks to the apostle Paul: Do you see, brother, how many thousands of Jews have believed? hi, all the imitators of the Law are. But even the proud daily inhabitants of the city of Jerusalem, whose hearts walk after their stumbling blocks and abominations, deserve the offense of God, but those who were outside, with their stony heart removed and a very soft heart accepted, return to the Church through repentance, and they walk in the precepts of the Lord and keep His judgments, and they become the people of the Lord, and the Lord, whom they formerly offended, becomes their God.