Jerome

"All adulterers are like an oven heated by the baker: the city rested for a little while from the mixture of the ferment, until it had fermented all. " LXX: "All adulterers are like a burning oven for baking bread, heated by the fire of mixed bread, until it has fermented all." Those who rejoice in their wickedness, kings in their lies, are all adulterers, and like a burning oven, consumed by the fire of Jeroboam's idolatry, to bake bread of impiety which, when it sent an error into their souls, like an oven and kiln first set on fire, rested for a little while, so as not to overpower the people, but to let them follow their own will until all lies had fermented: for whatever is done out of necessity, is quickly dissolved: what is willingly taken up, endures. Therefore even here, because he had taken the translation from the shovel, which is used to bake bread, he preserves in the rest, so that in the mixing of the whole people, he shows their consent: namely, that both king and people are consumed by equal ardor in idolatry. No one doubts that the hearts of the heretics are set ablaze by the fire of the devil, so that the loaves of Antichrist can be baked in them: who therefore first remain silent in the Church, and speak secretly, and promise all peace, so that cancer gradually creeps into peoples, and their teaching leaven (which the Lord also understands when he says: "Beware of the leaven of the Pharisees" (Matth. XVI, 6) when it swells in the hearts of the deceived, then they break out into open madness, and what is said by John the Apostle is fulfilled in them: "They went out from us, but they were not of us: for if they had been of us, they would no doubt have continued with us" (I John I, 19).

"The day of our king: the princes began to rage from wine: he stretched out his hand with the mockers: who placed his heart in the oven as he dined with them. He slept throughout the entire night cooking them, and in the morning he burned like a flame of fire: all of them were heated like a hot oven, and they devoured their judges: all their kings fell, there is none who cries out to me from them." LXX: "The days of your kings. The princes began to rave from wine: he stretched out his hand with pestilences, because their hearts were burning like an oven, when they were rushing down all night. Ephraim is filled with sleep: in the morning it happened: he is inflamed like the flame of fire. All are heated like an oven of burning fire, and fire devoured their judges. All their kings fell: there is none among them who calls upon me." A dark place and in need of the attentive reader's sense, so that we may first understand the history. Israel and the city of Samaria rested for a little while, with the passion of error received into itself, until the whole mass became like leaven, and grew and burst forth, and the swelling people cried out at the gates of King Jeroboam, and said: This is the day of our king Jeroboam, this is the festive day that our emperor has appointed for us; this we celebrate, this we sing, in this we exult and play, in this we worship the golden calves. The people are shouting, the leaders are not angry, as some may think; but they themselves began to rage from the wine, and lose the understanding of their minds, forget God, and push into the idols' woods. When the king saw this, he cried out to the people and said, "This day belongs to our king," and the leaders, like drunk and fanatical people, not knowing what they were saying, extended their hands to the jesters, deceiving those who flattered him with empty praises. Those deceivers, when their king was plotting against them, and was trying to draw them away from their God, gave their heart as a furnace to him, so that he might kindle them and cause them to burn with the flames of idolatry. Therefore, because all of them were turned in mind to error, the people agreed. And what follows: "He slept all night, baking them; in the morning he himself was kindled as a flame of fire," means this: after he had sent fire into their heart as a furnace and had seen them go mad and there being no one to resist his will, he slept all night, that is, he was secure; walking in darkness while they were being cooked and made into the bread of impiety. Therefore, in the morning he rose up, and showed openly the flame of his wickedness, so that they might not pass over into the ceremonies of idols by treachery, but shamelessly. What more? All were heated as if in a furnace, with the fire of idolatry, and devoured their judges, so that he who could have been good by nature and could have remembered the religion of the Lord, seeing both rulers and people subject to calves, and thinking that they were gods, also was devoured by wickedness. Finally, all the kings of Israel fell, and they walked in the ways of Jeroboam the son of Nabath, who caused Israel to sin, and no one was found who, having abandoned idols, returned to God. We have spoken boldly rather than knowingly according to the Hebrew tradition, leaving the authors of our words to faith. Now let us move on to spiritual understanding: unhappy peoples, who are seduced by the devil king and his princes, or who have taken other solemnities from the prince of heresy and his leaders, leaving the Church and trampling on the truth of faith, are wont to cry out and say: This is the day of our king: for example, Valentinius, Marcion, Arius, and Eunomius. Those who are put in charge of them, upon hearing this (advice) must not be glad with wine (lest) it be thought as a minor sin; but they act like mad men because of wine, of which Moses wrote in the Song of Deuteronomy: "The wine of their " "dragons, and the fury of the " "unhealable asps" (Deut. 32:33): for they eat the food of wickedness and are intoxicated with the wine of evil. Concerning this, the Apostle says: "Be not drunk with wine, wherein is luxury" (Ephesians 5:18). And in Proverbs, we read: "Princes should not drink wine: lest they forget wisdom, and not be able to judge what is right" (Prov. XXXI, 5). Hence, with deceived peoples and leaders, a prince stretches out his hand, be they deceivers or pests, such as the sons of Eli, about whom we read in the first Psalm: "He did not sit in the seat of pestilence" (Ps. I, 1); of whom it is said: "Cast out the pestilent one from your council, and contention will go out with him" (Prov. XXII, 10): with their hearts inflamed, so that they may collide with whom they have deceived. For according to the seventy this points to "cataracts," which do not lift upwards, but drag downwards. And when he says: "Ephraim is filled in sleep throughout the entire night," he shows that heretics who are sleeping cannot see the light of the sun of righteousness. For those who sleep, sleep at night: because their senses are oppressed. And of them we read in the Psalms: "They slept their sleep, and found nothing" (Ps. LXXV, 6). Their hearts are heated by various disturbances: anger, love, avarice; and they devour their judges, or if they can have anything in mind with virtues, or senses by which they can discern evils from goods. Whether this is to be said, that the leaders of the heretics are devoured by their own people, as they devour their homes for the sake of shameful gain, they themselves are devoured by their consent. All the leaders of the heretics have fallen: although he cries out to the Lord, there is no one who calls upon his name: "For everyone who calls upon the name of the Lord shall be saved" (Romans X). "Moses and Aaron were among his priests, and Samuel among those who called upon his name; they called upon the Lord, and he answered them" (Psalm XCVIII), he does not hear them who are kings and princes of the heretics, because there is none among them who calls upon the Lord.

"Ephraim mingled himself with the people. Ephraim is become as bread baked under the ashes, that is not turned. Foreigners have devoured his strength, and he knew it not. Yea, gray hairs also are spread upon him, and he is not aware of it. And the pride of Israel shall be humbled before his face: and they have not returned to the Lord their God, nor have they sought him in all these." LXX: "Ephraim was mingled with his own people: Ephraim is become as ashes, which is not returned: strangers have devoured his strength, and he knew it not: yea, gray hairs are here and there upon him, yet he knoweth not. And the pride of Israel shall be humbled before his face: and they have not returned to the Lord their God, nor have they sought him in all these." The kingdom of ten tribes has been made, like all nations, because they have departed from the Lord: and like ashes of bread, which does not return, that is, does not do penance, the Assyrians and the Chaldeans have eaten up its strength, and whatever it could have in terms of power, they have devoured. And the madness was such that he did not know that he had been devoured, or indeed did not know the reason for which he had been handed over to the devourers: in short, he remained in the mistaken belief until old age, that is, until the ultimate captivity. Therefore, the pride of Israel will be humbled not long after, but now and in the present, for this is what he says: "in his presence:" he will be humbled, because he had exalted himself and trusted in the multitude of armies, not in God. And because God resists the proud, but gives grace to the humble (James IV); for pride, that is, Gaon, according to their custom, translated ὕβριν, that is, "insult." And because he had said before: "Ephraim has become like a cake unturned," and it seemed ambiguous, or did not sound enough what he was saying, now he explains it more clearly: "They have not returned to their Lord their God, nor have they sought him in all these things." If they had returned to their Lord their God, they would surely have heard through Jeremiah, speaking from God, "Return to me, and I will return to you." And although they have done so much, they have not sought him, whom they have lost by their own fault. But when Ephraim ought to teach the people so as to lead them to another way of thinking and draw them to himself as an example, he mixes with the people and becomes like them, according to what was said above: 'He will be like the people, so will the priest.' Whether Ephraim mixes with the people and nations, so that all heretics differ in nothing from the error of the Gentiles. And he who was once a leader in the Church becomes a worthless heap of ashes, completely filthy with ashes on every side and surrounded by the fire of sins, so that he does not return to the Lord, but remains in the beginning of error. The demons have eaten his strength: for they are indeed strangers and enemies of all Christians, and he did not know, thinking adversaries were friends, and considering his devourers as guests; but they also poured out like dogs upon him, indeed they flourished, that is, he erred for a long time; and nevertheless he ignored his old age and antiquity, about which it is written, "What grows old and aged, " "is near extinction" (Heb. VIII, 13). And if it is said of the just man and the ecclesiastic: 'The wisdom of his intellect is the dog of a man." (Wisdom 4:8): Why should it not be said of the wicked and the heretic: 'The stupidity of his intellect is the dog of a man?' Concerning this old age Daniel spoke to the elder: 'Thou hast grown old in days of wickedness' (Dan. III, 52). Wherefore also in the book of the Pastor (if, however, one is pleased to receive it), the Church seems to be first seen as an old man, then as a youth, and finally as a maiden adorned with hair. And when the pride of the heretics is humbled, or the insult they daily offer to ecclesiastical men, they do not turn to the Lord. But in all these things, they never seek him; for they are heated like an oven and have not sought him: their judges have been devoured, and their kings have fallen together, and there is none among them who calls upon the Lord. All these things they have suffered so that they might seek the Lord, whom they refused to seek.

"And Ephraim became like a bird deceived, not having a heart. They called upon Egypt, they went to the Assyrians. But when they shall go, I will spread my net upon them: I will bring them down as the fowls of the air; I will strike them as their congregation hath heard." LXX: "And Ephraim was like a foolish dove, without understanding; they called to Egypt, they went to Assyria. I will spread my net over them; I will bring them down like birds of the heavens; I will discipline them according to the report made to their congregation." The Lord commanded in the Gospel (Matthew 10) that we should be simple like doves, and shrewd like serpents, so that imitating the simplicity of doves and the shrewdness of the serpent, we may neither harm others nor suffer from their snares; but let us exhibit a tempered humanity with simplicity and prudence, for prudence without goodness is malice, and simplicity without reason is called foolishness. Therefore Ephraim became like a deceived dove, which in Hebrew is called Photha, deceived by the eagle and Symmachus, or seduced, as it is said, or 'nursed', or 'deceived': and by the Septuagint 'foolish' or 'senseless': for both express the foolish. And she is rightly called a deceived dove, or foolish, because she is a dove and wise, which says in the Psalms: "Who will give me wings like doves, and I will fly and rest" (Ps. 54:7)? Whose feathers are silvered, and the rear of its back in a greenish gold. But Ephraim like an insipid dove, and not having a heart, is shown to be of such a brutish mind, that invoking Egypt, he has gone to the Assyrians. For he who has solicited the aid of the Egyptians is led away captive by the Assyrians. The Egyptian reed staff, on which he has relied, immediately crushes him, and his hand is broken, transformed into one of those who lie on it. And to show that God rules everywhere, and that we cannot escape his watchful eye by changing our place, and that we are always subject to the power of God: 'When they have set out for the Assyrians,' he said, 'I will stretch out my net there too, and if they are exalted like birds, thence I will bring them down.' But I will not bring them down to destruction but rather that I may slay them as sons; and I will slay them not with great pains but in fear, so that hearing of the punishments to come, they may be corrected by the terrors alone. It is asked why Ephraim is compared not to other birds but to a dove. Other birds hasten to protect their chicks even at the risk of their own lives, and when they see a hawk, serpent, crow, or raven approach their nest, they fly here and there and throw themselves upon them with bites and claws, and with plaintive voice they testify [to their chicks] concerning their parent's teaching; alone, the dove does not grieve over her lost chicks, nor does she seek them out: and thus Ephraim is rightly compared to her, because though the people are laid waste in parts he does not feel it, but is careless [of his] safety. And what he says, "I will cut them down according to the hearing of their heavens," can signify this: just as by a joint council all the idols were made, in the same way, in my anger, all will be destroyed together. We can rightly call the teachers of opposing doctrines, who have abandoned Christ's wisdom and left the Church, foolish and insane doves, who, desiring earthly things, have been delivered to the Assyrians. And when they have departed from the Church, the Lord spreads his net over them, woven with the wisdom of Scripture and skillful words, so that, raising themselves up against the wisdom of God, and flying like birds to the heights, he brings them down to the depths and corrects them with threats and punishments, so that they may not perish forever.

"Woe to them, for they have departed from me; they will be destroyed because they have transgressed against me. I redeemed them, yet they spoke lies against me and did not cry out to me in their hearts, but instead howled in their beds." LXX: "Woe to them, for they have departed from me: they have acted wickedly against me: but I have redeemed them: but they spoke falsehood against me, and did not cry out to me with their hearts, but they howled in their beds." They got away from me who was spreading out my net to catch them as a bird of the sky, to get rid of pride, and I was falling in difficulty when they withdrew and jumped away from me, for ἀπεπήδησαν means this, which the Septuagint translated: "And for this reason they will be laid waste, because they have transgressed against me." For that which we have said, 'they shall be laid waste,' is written also in Hebrew, Sod Laem, that is, 'a desolation to them:' Symmachus translates it 'destruction:' Theodotion, 'misery.' Moreover, in the Vulgate edition we read in two ways; for some codices have δῆλοί εἰσιν, that is, "they are manifest:" others δειλαῖοί εἰσιν, that is, "they are timid," or "miserable." Therefore they will be devastated and will be miserable forever, always fearing and trembling, because they have transgressed against God, worshipping golden calves, and leaving Him who redeemed them from Egyptian slavery, and led them with a high arm. They spoke lies against the Lord, saying of idols: "These are your gods, O Israel, who brought you up out of the land of Egypt" (Exodus XXXII), and did not cry out to the Lord in their hearts, but wallowed in idolatrous fornication. Either because lust and luxury follow the worship of demons, those who worshiped demons were consequently being turned around in the mire of lust in the manner of swine. And beautifully sounding songs of idolaters, not hymns to God, but a cry of wolves, they were barking. It is easy to interpret about heretics that they have woe forever, because they have departed from God, and they are miserable because they have left their Creator who redeemed them with his blood: and they speak lies against him themselves, composing wicked dogmas of falsehood, and they do not shout in their hearts, but they always howl in the meetings, which are beautifully called bedrooms and beasts’ lairs. They cannot say this kind of thing: "I will wash my bed every night, and with my tears I will water my couch" (Psalm 6:7); but they roll in the filth of lust, they are filled with indecency, and whatever they say and think they are praising God, is like the howling of wolves and the sound of mad revelers. Rarely does a heretic love chastity, and those who pretend to love purity, like Manichaeus, Marcion, Arius, Tatianus, and the restorers of the old heresy, promise honey with a poisoned mouth. Moreover, it is shameful to speak of things done in secret, according to the Apostle (Ephesians 5).

They muttered about wheat and wine: they separated themselves from me, and I taught them a lesson. I strengthened their arms, and they thought evil against me. They turned back, so as to be without a yoke: they became as a deceitful bow: their princes shall fall by the sword, by the rage of their tongue: this their derision in the land of Egypt." "Over wheat and wine they were being cut to pieces; they were instructed in me, and I strengthened their arms, and they thought evil against me: they were turned into nothing, they became like a tense bow, their rulers shall fall by the sword because of their lack of understanding; this is their derision in the land of Egypt." "On account of the abundance, they said, they have fallen because of their own foolishness. Which Ezekiel also mentions was done in Sodom and Gomorrah (Ezek. XIX), that they chewed on nothing other than food and lust: for which reason the Seventy translated, "they were sliced ​​over grain and wine," as an example of the prophets of Baal, who, with Elijah present, prayed for rain by cutting off the members (III Kings. XVIII). And at the same time, to show that they were like animals, he did not say they ate, but ruminated: and therefore they wandered from the Lord who says, "I have taught them, I have provided strength, and they have raised their necks against me; not that they can do anything and harm their Creator, but what they could do, they thought evil against me." And as they were in the beginning, before I called them by Abraham, and afterwards by Moses and Aaron, and they were without the yoke of the law and without knowledge, and mingled with all nations: so now they have returned to their former state, so as to be carried down headlong without a yoke and reins, and changed into a deceitful bow, so that having aimed at whom God had directed them, they turned their weapons against their own Lord, and sent forth arrows of blasphemy against Him. Therefore, their princes shall fall by the sword because of the rage of their tongue: this is their derision in the land of promise. They have said: "Where is he that he may reign over us?" In undisciplined pride they have pushed you away from your people, saying: "Be gone from us, for we do not desire to know your ways." And: "Would that we had died in the land of Egypt, when we sat by the fleshpots" (Exodus 32:4), and the rest. Concerning wheat and wine, and false mysteries of the body and blood of Christ, who says in the Gospel: "Unless a grain of wheat falls into the earth and dies, it remains alone" (John 12:24): And in another place: "I am the true vine" (John 15:1): And: "Unless you eat the flesh of the Son of Man and drink his blood, you have no life in you" (John 6:54). Therefore, heretics fall over this with wheat and wine and construct different tabernacles for themselves: whether they are prevented by the body of the Church, and simulate meditating and reflecting on the law of God. But those who do this depart from the Lord who taught them in the Church, and gave them the strength to fight their enemies. They, on the other hand, considered evil against the Lord, building the most impious heresies, and returning to the state of the Gentiles so that they were without the knowledge and yoke of God: or they returned to nothingness, not that they ceased to be, but that in comparison to Him who speaks to Moses, "Go, tell the people of Israel: He who sent me" (Exodus 3:14), all who are against the Lord should not be said to be (they are called). According to what we read in Esther, specifically in the Septuagint: "Do not give your scepter to those who are not worthy" (Esther XIV, 11, sec. LXX), it is undoubtedly referring to idols. For if God is truth, whatever is contrary to truth is falsehood and cannot be named. This is what heretics agree on, who, having learned from the Holy Scriptures, translate the words of the Lord of the Law, Prophets, and Gospel against Him, and they are like a deceitful and perverse bow. A deceitful and wicked is the bow that strikes its director and wounds its master. Whether they have been made like a bow drawn taut, always ready for battle and disputes, for the overthrow of those who hear them. Therefore their leaders, that is, the heresiarchs, are struck with the sword of the Lord, because of the insanity of their tongue, with which they blasphemed the Lord: doing the same thing in the false name of the Church, which they did at the time when they lived in the ages of Egypt, that is, when they were gentiles. For all the questions of heretics and Gentiles are the same, because they follow not the authority of Scripture, but the sense of human reason.

Let the trumpet be in your throat, like an eagle over the house of the Lord: because they have transgressed my covenant, and violated my law. They will call upon me, (or "They called upon me") my God, we have known you, Israel. Israel has rejected the good, the enemy will pursue him. They themselves have reigned, and not by me; principalities have arisen, and I have not known them. They made for themselves idols of their silver and gold, so that they should be destroyed. In their bosom they are like the earth, like an eagle over the house of the Lord: because they have transgressed my covenant, and acted wickedly against my law. They called upon me (or "They will call upon me"), God, we have known you, because Israel has rejected the good; they persecuted the enemy, they themselves have reigned, and not by me; principalities have arisen, and have not declared it to me: they have made idols for themselves with their silver and gold, so that they may perish. This which we have interpreted as "let the trumpet be in your throat," is what is written in Hebrew. Aquila, Symmachus, and Theodotion have similarly translated it as Alechchac Sophar. Only the seventy said, "Like the earth in their bosom", and what this means is uncertain. For some people, bosom is understood in two ways: the lower part of the clothing from the genitals to the feet, or the gulf of the sea, that is, the bosom, for example, of the Adriatic and Ionian Seas and the Propontis, as well as the false teachers who followed the blasphemy of Egypt, keeping all things serving their lusts and earthly desires in their bosom; or indeed in the port and refuge of their navigation, nothing of precious merchandise, but acquiring earthly things. But we, following the Hebrew truth, weave the order of the begun explanation together. It is commanded to the prophet, and it is said to him: "Let the trumpet be in your throat," that is, so elevate your voice, as if it were like a trumpet: so that most may hear, because most have sinned. And when you have lifted up your voice, say this with a shout, like an eagle over the house of the Lord, and the meaning is: Nebuchadnezzar will come with his entire army so swiftly, so quickly, that it imitates the flight of an eagle, hastening to prey; and he will come not to another place, but to Jerusalem, where the temple of God is located, so that he may destroy and subvert it. Of this, the eagle and Ezekiel speaks more fully (Ezek. 17): the great wings, feathers, and talons, which have the direction of entering into Lebanon, that is, into the temple of God. According to the prophet Zachariah, in which it is written: "Open, Lebanon, thy gates, and let fire devour thy cedars" (Zach. 11: 1). But this, O prophet, what I tell you and command: "Let there be a trumpet in your throat," so that you may shout and say, like an eagle upon the house of the Lord, the king is coming of the Chaldeans, I order for no other reason, except that they have violated my covenant, and have left my ceremonies. At the time of necessity and distress, when captivity will come, they will call upon me and say: 'My God, we know you, Israel;' we who are called Israel, we know and recognize you, and we keep the ancient name of Jacob, which pleased you, so that we may be called Israel." To which the Lord responds: "How can you be called Israel, when Israel has rejected the good, that is, the Lord God, whom Israel was named after? Therefore, because Israel has rejected the good, the enemy, that is, the Assyrian, will pursue him and capture him: they who, with me as their deserted ruler, have sought a king for themselves, as have the other nations, and they have acted against my ((or "his")) will. Finally, Samuel therefore exposes to them the harsh commands of the king, and says that their sons and daughters will serve the kings, so that they may be converted to the Lord, the most merciful king (1 Kings 18). But they became rulers without God's will. And this crime did not satisfy them, they doubled the sin with greater impiety, converting the silver and gold which they had received into idols for wealth and decoration. Therefore, Saul was made king not by God's will, but by the error of the people. And because he had no root of piety, as soon as he began to reign, he was filled with impiety. It may be that what he says, 'They reigned, and not by me; the princes existed, and I did not know them,' may also be accepted of Jeroboam the son of Nebat and of the other princes who succeeded him in the empire. And not immediately, because God was angry with Solomon, did Israel receive him as king. For according to the precepts of the law he ought to have asked the Lord whether he wished this to be done. For it is said of the Savior: Indeed, woe to him by whom the Son of Man is betrayed (Matt. XXVI). We frequently read that the devil, who desires to place his nest above the stars of heaven, is like an eagle: 'If you are exalted as an eagle, thence I will draw you down,' saith the Lord (Obadiah 1:4). Also, the eye which mocks father and despises the old age of the mother, shall be rooted out by the ravens of the valley, and shall be eaten by the younglings of eagles (Proverbs 30): through the devil and demons, losing the clear light of his vision. Therefore, it is commanded in the Law, that we do not eat the eagle (Leviticus 11). Therefore, this eagle comes upon the councils of heretics which formerly were the homes of the Lord. And thus, she comes because they have violated His covenant and abandoned the law of God. And they call upon him without cause and say: You are my God, and we have known you, we who are called Israel, seeing God and we are called by the name Christian. They do these things in vain, he says, since they themselves have appointed their own kings and have acted against my will; they have princes who are my adversaries, whom I do not know, for they do not deserve my knowledge. They also turned their silver, and gold, and whatever they were able to have naturally, into idols of speech and thought, which they fashioned out of their own hearts; And they turned, not that they might perish, but because they turned, therefore they perished. For they did not do this in order to perish, but because they did this, therefore they perished.

Your calf has been cast away, Samaria. My fury is against them: how long will they be incapable of purity? Because he is also from Israel: the craftsman made it, and it is not a god: for the calf of Samaria shall become spider's webs." LXX: "Cast away your calf, Samaria: my wrath is kindled against them: how long will they be incapable of purity in Israel? And the craftsman made it, and it is not a god: because your calf, Samaria, was deceiving." In the place where we have put "spider's webs," in Hebrew script it is written Sababim, with the Iod letter as penultimate: not as some wrongly think, Sababum, that is, with the Vau, which the Seventy and Theodotion have interpreted as "deceiving," and "fooled:" Aquila, "erring," or "converted:" Symmachus, "unstable," or "unstable," that is, ἀκαταστατῶν: Fifth edition, ῥεμβεύων, "vagrant" and "fluctuating." We learned from the Hebrew that Sababim are properly called "cobwebs" flying in the air, which when they appear disappear and dissolve into atoms and nothingness. And rightly your Samaria is compared to these golden calves, which at that time, because of their great value, the people worshipped. This is explained more clearly by what he said above: 'They have made for themselves idols of silver and gold, that they may perish'; 'Your calf has been thrown down, Samaria; my fury is kindled against them': either against the calves, because two were made; or against the inhabitants of Samaria, who worshipped them. Moreover, what we read in the Septuagint: 'Cast away your calf, Samaria,' exhorts the inhabitants thereof, not of one city, but of all ten tribes which are called Samaria (for the calves were not named in the city of Samaria, but in Dan and Bethel), to cast away the calves over which God is angry: or he will cast away, that is, 'brush away': so that he who had worshipped them for a long time would gradually brush them away from himself and purify himself. And with them not listening, he turns to others, and speaks as if in the third person: "How long will they not be cleansed?" What madness is this, he says, with me providing an opportunity for repentance, that they do not desire to turn to health? And because he had said, "Cast away your calf, Samaria," he explains what that calf is: Because he is from Israel himself, not acquired from others; you yourselves and your king Jeroboam did this in Israel, because of what you had learned in Egypt. (2 Kings 23) Or what kind of God is formed by the hand of an artisan? Finally, just as spider webs are dissolved into the wind, so the calf of Samaria will be reduced to nothing. The Lord rejects the calves of the heretics and Samaria, who say they keep the precepts of the law: calves that cling to the ground and work in the earth, not in spirit, nor do they lift their eyes to heaven; and therefore the fury of the Lord is upon them, and he wonders what such perversity is, that they are not willing to abandon the idols they have fabricated for themselves and love the heretical filth in place of the cleanliness of the Church. Israel did not receive these calves, who pretends to see the Lord among other nations: but from the Holy Scriptures he has created for himself a wicked intelligence, and he is the craftsman of his own God, who will quickly perish and imitate the webs of spiders which are easily broken by touch.

For they have sown the wind, and they shall reap the whirlwind: standing stalk, there is no grain in it, it shall not make flour: and if it should make any, strangers would devour it. " LXX: "Because they have sown corruption, they shall reap a fall: a handful of corn hath not the beauty of ear; they shall yield no flour; and if it should yield, strangers shall devour it. " She compares the calf of Samaria with a spider's web: therefore she keeps the metaphor in the remaining parts, that what she called spider's webs, she compares with the wind, and the whirlwind, and standing stalks: and if they stand, having no grain; and if they make any flour, she says, it shall be devoured by others. And because the common sense is the same, both in regard to heretics and to those who have made idols in Samaria, it must be jointly discussed. They sow the wind, or seeds corrupted by the wind, which have no kernel, which the Greeks call "enterion," and so they, sowing in emptiness, receive emptiness and vanity. Rather, sowing in the flesh, they reap corruption from the flesh, and are carried away by every wind of doctrine. And when they sow the wind, they will reap hurricanes and storms, and first of all, the stalk, that is, the straw, will not be from these seeds, nor will they be able to have any appearance of a fruitful harvest. But if it happens rarely that the Ecclesiastics seem to have something similar to dogma: the seed itself and the ear of corn do not make flour. In the flour of which, the Gospel woman puts enough yeast (Matthew XIII): so that both the spirit by which we feel, and the soul by which we live, and the body by which we move are reduced to one holy Spirit, according to the Apostle: "In him we live, move, and have our being" (Acts XVII, 18). But if it happens rarely to heretics that they also make flour from their seed, the flour will make a sub-ashen bread, which will not come back, and which aliens will eat. And now he says: "Even if he makes flour, others will eat it." But we must accept those strangers of whom it is written: "Foreign sons have lied to me" (Ps. XVII, 46). And in the eighteenth psalm: "Cleanse me from my hidden sins, O Lord, and spare your servant from strangers." If they have not ruled over a just man, then he will be blameless and shall be cleansed from the greatest sin.

"Israel has been devoured, now he has become like an unclean vessel among the nations." The Septuagint translated "unclean" as "useless," the rest likewise. The Hebrews call the unclean vessel, or useless, a chamber pot, which we usually use to receive and discard feces. This uncleanness is compared to idolaters and heretics who mix with the Gentiles, while not guarding the truth of God, and have become vessels of honor, turned into vessels of (( "Al." vas)) insult. For what is more unclean than a demonic spirit and the teachings of the heretics who have mixed them with those of the pagans? Such was Jechonias, enslaved to idols, of whom God speaks through Jeremiah: "Jechonias was dishonoured like a vessel of no use" (Jer. XXII, 18) . Conversely, Paul, who could say: "Do you seek a proof of Christ speaking in me?" (II Cor. XIII)? is called a vessel of election, made of gold and silver, because he had the wisdom and the eloquence to preach the Gospel of Christ. But when he says, "devoured," or "absorbed," this means that he lost his own name of Israelite and Christian, being mixed with idols and nations.

"For they are gone up to Assyria, a wild ass alone by himself: Ephraim hath given gifts to his lovers, yea, though they have hired among the nations, now will I gather them together, and they shall rest a little from the burden of the king and the princes." LXX: "Because they went up to the Assyrians, Ephraim has flourished within himself: they have loved gifts, therefore they shall be given to the Gentiles: now will I gather them together, and they shall rest a little from the labour of the king and the princes." Israel is devoured," he says, "and has become like a useless vessel, or unclean, from which no shard remains, in which water can be drawn, or a little bit of fire. And because he became an unclean vessel, therefore they went up to the Assyrians, imitating a wild ass alone: they were not fed like lambs by the Lord, but rather abusing their freedom and being led into captivity, of whom the prophet mourns and says, 'Ephraim gave gifts to the Assyrians, and hired lovers with a reward,' of which Ezekiel writes: 'All harlots receive rewards; but thou hast given rewards to thy lovers' (Ezek. 16: 33), and it has become the opposite in you. And when he has given gifts to peoples and nations have been hired to help him, they will gather for battle and will be taken captive together. And because they love to offer gifts to their adversaries, for a short time they will receive benefit, so that they will not pay tribute to the king and princes until they reach the Assyrians, where they will not give either tribute or stipend as free men; but they will be brought into the ultimate bondage. We do not doubt concerning the heretics, that they, according to the error of their minds, going to the Assyrians, will think that they are ascending and not descending. Therefore it is said to them through Isaiah: "What is happening to you now, that you have all gone up on vain roofs?" (Isa. XXII, 1), whose Assyrian prince is a great sense. Therefore, Ephraim grew up in presumption within himself. Whether he became a solitary wild ass, as he penetrated not sown by the Church but by the devil's deserted places. He loved gifts for his own error, promising rewards to himself, or doing all things out of the motive of shameful profit. Or certainly he gave gifts and rewards to his lover demons, and when he did this, he will be handed over to the nations. For just as nations venerate physical images: so do they think that they are idols of gods, which they have invented from their own hearts, and therefore they will be considered among the number of nations. But if, he says, now, and in the present age they have repented, and I have accepted them, they will cease to establish a little king and his princes over themselves. So that we understand the small king as the devil, as distinguished from the great king who cannot have fellowship with Belial; but as soon as he is received, he drives out the small king and his princes from the hearts of believers. But according to the Hebrew, those who were previously dispersed will gather in the Church of God and will have hired nations for themselves, and they will rest from the burden of the king, whom the Apostle reproaches for being torn apart from the Church, saying: "You reign without us, and would that you did reign" (I Cor. IV, 8), and from the princes whom they have established in the synagogues of the devil.

I will write to him many of my laws, which are regarded as alien: they will offer sacrifices, they will slaughter meats and eat, and the Lord will not receive them." LXX: "I will write to them a multitude: their rightful altars have been regarded as foreign. Because if they sacrifice and eat meat, the Lord will not accept them:" which I had previously given through Moses. But what profit is there in writing further, since he has despised those which he previously received? Is it not contempt of God when, at my command that there be one altar in Jerusalem, idols were made on all the mountains and hills to provoke the Lord? They also made altars for the same reason, not to please me, but so they could eat the meat of the many sacrifices offered, according to what the Lord says in the gospel, "Amen, amen I say unto you, you seek me, not because you saw miracles, but because you did eat of the loaves, and were filled." (John VI, 26). For every pursuit of sacrifices, they have it, to devour the offerings, not to please God through them; and the Lord will not receive those which they have immolated not to Him, but to their own stomachs and throats. But the apostle teaches that there is one altar in the Church, and one faith, and one baptism (Ephesians 4), which heretics, deserting them, have fabricated many altars for themselves, not to placate God, but to multiply transgressions. Therefore they do not deserve to receive God's laws, since they have previously despised the ones they received. And if they say anything about the Scriptures, it must be understood, not as divine words, but as expressing the ideas of the heathen. These men offer many sacrifices and eat the meat of these animals, abandoning the one sacrifice of Christ; and they do not partake of his flesh, the flesh which is the food of believers. Whatever they do, pretending to follow the order and rites of sacrifices, whether they give alms, make promises of chastity, or feign humility, and deceive the simple with false flattery, God will accept nothing of such sacrifices.

"Now their iniquities will be remembered, and their sins will be punished: they themselves will be turned into Egypt, and Israel, their maker, has forgotten them, and has built shrines, and Judah has multiplied fortified cities, and I will send a fire into its cities, and it will devour their houses." LXX: "Now their iniquities will be remembered, and their injustices will be avenged. They themselves turned into Egypt, and forgot him who made them, and they built shrines, and Judah multiplied fortified cities, and I will send fire into their cities, and it will devour their foundations." Between lawlessness, which means "iniquity and sin," this is the difference: iniquity is before the law, sin is after the law, and those who persist in their sins will be remembered for their iniquities committed before the law by the Lord. However, their sins will not be remembered, but vengeance will be taken. Therefore, he will remember the iniquity of the ancients, and will visit the former sins: because they returned to Egypt, either asking for help, or worshipping the same gods in which they had previously erred, ἄπιν and μνεῦιν. For Israel has forgotten his Maker, and built shrines on high hills, and under shady trees, consecrating to Baal and Astarte, and to other idols as well. Judah also, understanding that Israel had turned away from the love of God, and that their sins had been visited upon them, did not turn back to the Lord, but instead relied on fortified cities, which the Lord said He would destroy, devouring them down to their foundations. "His," no doubt, means Judah ("Al." Judah): though some read the foundations of "those," that is, cities, instead of "his." According to the spiritual sense, however, iniquities, that is, ἀνομίαι and ἀδικίαι, are called those which we committed before baptism, and which were forgiven us in baptism; but sins that we committed after baptism, concerning which it is written in the psalm, "Blessed are they whose iniquities are forgiven, and whose sins are covered" (Ps. XXXI). All of which shall be imputed to the heretics, so that both their ancient iniquities and their new sins may be accounted for. For those who had left Egypt by confessing Christ, they returned to perfidy in Egypt. Israel has forgotten its maker, and rejecting its Creator, has devised another master for itself. Judas also, that is, the Ecclesiastical man, in evil deeds, or in perverse interpretation of the Holy Scriptures, built fortified cities for himself, not by the help of God, but by an artisan’s lie: which the Lord says he will enflame with the fire of his spirit, and devour their burdens, that is, the great houses built up like towers, and he will upset the ill-laid foundations, so that they may not be able to build sacrilegious shrines against God. Certain cities fortified by the Jews are received in good faith, and they try to temper that which seemed contrary to this view: "I will send fire upon its cities, and it shall devour the houses thereof," so that when what is perfect has come, that which is partly destroyed. What we read according to the LXX interpretation, "they have eaten unclean things among the Assyrians," is not found in the Hebrew, and therefore must be marked with an obelus. We may say, however, that the Israelites, desiring Egypt, were captured by the Assyrians and ate unclean food there, according to Ezekiel, who describes them as eating food sacrificed to idols in Chaldea (Ezek. IV): and polluted to such an extent with the filth of idols, that they are compared to human excrement. The heretics also, whose leaders are Assyrians (of whom we have spoken frequently), eat unclean things among them, while they themselves are polluted by their filth.

"Do not rejoice, Israel: do not exult as the peoples: for you have committed fornication with your God: you have loved the reward above all the wheat fields. The floor and the winepress shall not feed them, and the wine shall deceive them." LXX: "Do not rejoice, Israel, and do not be glad like the other peoples: for you have committed fornication against your God; you have loved the wages of fornication above every wheat floor. The threshing floor and winepress shall not feed them, and the wine will deceive them." "Those who have departed from God, when they have come into the depth of sinners and have despaired of their salvation, will despise everything." (Proverbs 18) Finally, Israel departing from the law of God and worshiping idols, says that it is one people from many nations: rejoicing and congratulating that it has departed from knowledge of God and is a mixed people with others, and therefore now it corrects them, saying, "Do not rejoice, do not be glad, and do not think that you are like other nations. For one who does not know God is punished differently than one who departs from God, because a servant who knows the will of his master but does not do it will be beaten severely (Luke 12)." Your reward for prostitution, you thought many threshing floors and wine presses, so that you might enjoy abundance of all things; therefore, the threshing floor and wine press will not make wheat and wine, and the wine press will lie to them, or it will deny its wine, which they thought would make them drunk. We read that there was a severe famine in Samaria during the reign of Ahab, king of Israel, and the prophet Elijah, so much so that mothers ate their own children's corpses (3 Kings 6). At that time, according to the letter, the threshing floor and wine press did not feed them, and the wine was a lie to them, and they languished in want. It is said to the heretics, 'Do not exult and rejoice, and think yourselves similar to the other nations. For those did not believe in God; but these worship idols under the name of God, and fornicate against their God: and they multiply for themselves countless fields and winepresses, and they eat wheat from which mourning bread is made, and they drink the wine of Sodom, which is trodden down with adder's gall. And because they have prepared for themselves many winepresses and fields: therefore they will not feed on the true and one field, and on the wine-press which our Lord Jesus has trodden, nor will they drink; but whatever they have thought to have, it will be corrupted by falsehood.'

"They shall not dwell in the land of the Lord. Ephraim returned to Egypt, and in Assyria he ate polluted food. They shall not offer wine to the Lord, nor shall their sacrifices please him; like the bread of mourners, all who eat it shall be defiled, because their bread does not enter the house of the Lord, which is their soul." LXX: "They did not dwell in the land of the Lord; Ephraim lived in Egypt and ate unclean things among the Assyrians. They did not pour out wine to the Lord, nor did their sacrifices please Him; their bread was like mourning; all who eat of it will be defiled; for their bread of their souls will not enter the house of the Lord." Not only has the threshing floor and the winepress not fed them, and the wine has lied in the land of Israel, when everything had perished for three years and six months, but also the inhabitants themselves will depart from the land of the Lord, and will be led into a foreign land, so that they may not dwell in the holy land which they have defiled with their fornication. "He returned," he said, "to Egypt, and in Assyria he ate defiled things." Of this place, some have added above: "and in Assyria he ate defiled things," which is not in Hebrew, as we have already said. But since they were in Chaldea without a temple and without an altar, they will not pour out wine to the Lord, but to demons, and they will not please those who pour out to alien gods, and those who are held captive and eat idols in Assyria are like mourning bread. For it is not lawful to eat of the food of mourners, and whoever shall eat of it shall be defiled, even what is lawfully offered. The Greeks call the suppers of mourners νεκρόδειπνα, and we may call them "parentalia," from the fact that they are offered to the dead. And not only he that offers, but also he that partakes of such food, shall be unclean; for their bread, that is, the food which they offer, shall not enter into the house of the Lord, which is destroyed, and burnt up with the fire of the Babylonians; let their souls be put to silence. And there is a sense, to its own gluttony, and it provides enjoyment for itself; but I do not like what is polluted. Those who have left the Church and returned to Egypt, and of the Assyrians, that is, they eat sacrifices of demons, will not dwell in the land of the Lord: nor do they drink wine offered to the Lord, in their drunkenness, and neither they nor those who offer it please Him. The sacrifice of heretics is bread of mourning and tears: for all that they do shall be turned into weeping. They will not be able to hear: 'Blessed are the mourning, for they shall be comforted' (Matt. 5:5); but on the contrary, they will hear: 'Woe to the laughing, because they will weep' (Luke 6:25). Whatever they offer, they offer not to God, but to the dead: namely those who have concocted wicked heresies; and whoever eats of their victims, will be contaminated. They will be led by the blind into the pit. Whatever they do, they do for the sake of pleasures, to deceive the people and to devour the houses of widows. We can say that grief is bread, deadly words with which they speak iniquity against the Lord: for he who does not enter the house of God is bread: for the assemblies of heretics are called not the house of God, but the dens of robbers.

"What will you do on the solemn day, on the day of the Lord's festival? For behold, they have gone forth from desolation: Egypt shall gather them, Memphis shall bury them: the desirable silver of them, the nettle shall inherit, the burdock shall be in their tabernacles." LXX: "What will you do on the day of the assembly and on the day of the solemnity of the Lord? Therefore, behold they shall go from the misery of Egypt, and Memphis shall receive them, and Machmas shall bury them; their silver shall possess destruction, thorns shall be in their tabernacles." When the day of captivity will come, he says, and the most cruel enemy will attack, what is my solemnity? How pleasing a sacrifice do I have? For it avenges me against my enemies and puts a limit on their wrongdoing, and it flogs the impious sons. What then will you do on the day of the Lord's festival? Respond. With them being silent, he responds to himself, indeed he figures out with divine eyes what they will do: Behold, I say, in misery and ruin, they fled to Egypt, where those who want to capture the Assyrians and Chaldeans are bound. There Memphis will bury those, which at that time was the metropolis of Egypt, before Alexandria, which was formerly called No, received both the greatness of the city and its name. But what is said in the Septuagint, "Machmas will bury them," is not found in Hebrew; but Mamad, which means "beloved." From which it is clear that they are false, because of the similarity of the letters Daleth and Chaph; and instead of "Mamad," which everyone translated as "beloved," they thought "Machmas" to be an Egyptian city. We can consider that which is said: "For, behold, they are gone because of destruction, Egypt shall gather them up, Memphis shall bury them," and take from the tribe of Judah: when, after the murder of Gedaliah by Ishmael, whom Nebuchadnezzar had appointed over the land, the remnant of the people with the prophet Jeremiah fled to Egypt, and there later were either captured or buried by the Chaldeans who pursued them. However, their desirable silver that nettles possess, we will understand to be the villages and all the ornaments of the villages, which are bought with the price of silver. "And what follows, 'a burr in their tabernacles,' signifies a long desolation; so that where once their houses were, there burrs and nettles and thorns may grow. And is said also to heretics: When the solemn day shall come, what will ye do? Aquila interprets 'solemn day' as 'time.' From this it is manifest that it does not mean a festive day, but a time of retribution; for immediately it follows: 'The days of vengeance are come, the days of thy visitation.' Behold, ye are devastated by many enemies: the Assyrians and the Chaldeans have slaughtered you, ye have fled into the world, and ye are likened to other nations: there ye shall be buried in 'Memphis,' which means 'from the mouth,' and the sense is: According to your blasphemies ye shall receive, and what ye have spoken ye shall feel in punishments; your desirable things, that is, the doctrines which ye have artificially composed with language, which is interpreted silver, shall be possessed by the nettle, which shall consume you with eternal fire: and there shall be the burr or thorn in your tabernacles; for thorns shall grow on the hands of those who have been made drunk with the Babylonish cup." (Jer. 51) And in the Gospel we read that shameful thoughts and worries of this world, and clinging vices, are called thorns, which rising up in the herbs choke the grain. (Matthew 15).

"The days of visitation have come, the days of retribution have come: know, O Israel, a foolish prophet, a spiritual madman because of the multitude of your iniquity, and the multitude of your madness." LXX: "The days of vengeance have come, the days of your retribution have come, and Israel shall be afflicted as a raving prophet, a man who had the Spirit, because" "the multitude of your iniquities, your madness has multiplied." And in this place there is a usual error: for where we have translated, "know, O Israel," that is, Israelites, and in Hebrew it is read Jadau, the Septuagint has translated "and will be afflicted:" thinking Jod is the vowel and Res the consonant instead of it, and reading it for Daleth: the former of which means knowledge, the latter affliction or malice. Therefore came the days of visitation, of which it was said above (Verse 5): "What will you do in the solemn day, and in the day of the feast of the Lord? The days of retribution have come." O Israel, now know your words, who called the prophet speaking true things to you, and prophesying by the Holy Spirit, a fool and insane, according to what the princes spoke to Jehu in Ramoth Galaad: "What is this madman coming to you?" (4 Kings 9:11). Therefore, because of the multitude of your injustices, in which you have revelled in wickedness for a long time, recognize that you are not my prophet, but rather insane, who labours to trample on my words. For "insanity," Aquila translates ἐγκότησιν, which we can also say in Latin as "anger" or "memory of pain". Some interpret the day of vengeance and retribution as the day of judgment, when Israel, who now boasts of seeing God, will be afflicted, not guided by the Holy Spirit but swept into various parts by demons, not knowing what they are saying: calling the Son of God a creature, denying the Holy Spirit God. And again another good God, asserting another creator of the world: their madness is manifold, because there were many iniquities. We said that he was a foolish prophet, and they interpreted him as a seventy pseudoprophet. And lest, by often repeating the same things, we seem to distrust the prudence of the reader, we briefly admonish that whatever is said about Israel and Ephraim in this prophet must be referred to heretics, who truly speak lies against God, being insane.