Amos 8

These things the Lord God showed me: And behold, a hook for fruit, and he said: What do you see, Amos? And I said: A hook for fruit. And the Lord said to me: The end has come upon my people Israel; I will not again pass him by any more, and the hinges of the temple shall creak in that day, says the Lord God; many shall die, in every place silence shall be cast. LXX: Thus the Lord God showed me: And behold, a fowler's vessel. And he said: What do you see, Amos? And I said: A fowler's vessel. And the Lord said to me: The end has come upon my people Israel; I will not again pass him by any more; and the ceilings of the temple shall howl in that day, says the Lord God. Many will be falling: in every place I will cast silence. What Jeremiah sees under the figure of the rod of watchings, or of the nut, because God kept watch over the sins of his people, lest, as though with eyes shut and blinking, he should not see their offenses, this Amos now beholds against Judah and Israel alike under the appearance of a hook, which in Hebrew is called chelub and is turned by the LXX into a fowler's vessel; whereas a fowler is properly called moces, as we read above in this same prophet: If a bird will fall upon the earth without a fowler. And the sense is: As the branches of trees are drawn down with a hook to pick the fruit, so I have drawn near the time of captivity.

But if we choose to read a fowler's vessel instead of a hook for fruit, this must be said: that as a fowler, with birdlime or nets, draws down to the earth birds that fly through the air and range on high, so the Lord, through Sennacherib or Nebuchadnezzar, whom we now understand as the fowlers, seized, bound, carried away and killed his people, who were formerly free and lofty through their observance of the law. For not unjustly are nets spread for birds. And this is to be referred not only to the time of the Babylonian captivity, but also to the coming of the Lord the Savior, when they said: Away with such a one from the earth; crucify him, crucify him; and they lost the wings of the dove. And the end came upon them, and the final captivity, and God spared them no longer.

And that we may know that this is what we say, God himself explains what the vision he had shown the prophet signifies: The end has come upon my people Israel. And what follows: I will not again pass him by any more, signifies this: that he will no longer pass over the iniquities of his people, nor neglect them, nor allow their crimes to pass unpunished.

And lest he seem to speak only of the ten tribes, he added: The hinges of the temple shall creak, or the ceilings, in that day, says the Lord. This, however, is to be taken ὑπερβολικῶς (hyperbolically): so heavy a weight of evils will press down that even the very hinges of the gates and the lofty ceilings will howl and feel an incredible devastation, when many will die and, the inhabitants being captured or killed, silence will be cast in every place.

And the hinges of the temple howled, or the ceilings of the temple, collapsing upon the slain people. And in every place silence has been cast, the Jews having Moses and the prophets, but not having the Word of God; reading the letter and losing the spirit, when their table was made into a snare, and into a recompense, and into a ruin; and their eyes were darkened, so that they should not see; and their ears were stopped, so that they should not hear; and their back was bowed down, so that they should not look up to heaven, but, with that woman of the Gospel who had a spirit of infirmity, should always be bent toward the earth. And the wrath of God was poured out upon them, and the fury of his wrath seized them, so that their habitation became desolate, and there was no inhabitant in their tents; when this was fulfilled: Behold, the days are coming, says the Lord, and I will send a famine upon the land; not a famine of bread, nor a thirst for water, but of hearing the word of the Lord; about which, if we reach that point, we must speak more fully later on. We, then, seeing that God did not spare the natural branches, let us fear to suffer the same things, and let us avoid the fowler's snares, and say to the Lord: Do not be silent, nor hold yourself back, O God, and do not keep silence from me, and I shall become like those who go down into the pit. Over the whole world the silence of the Jews has been cast: wherever they are, they mutter rather than speak; and though their blasphemy against the Lord the Savior reaches even to heaven, all interpretation of the Scriptures is mute and silent, and does not set its ears to hearing.

Hear this, you who crush the poor and make the needy of the land fail, saying: When will the month pass, and we shall sell our wares, and the sabbath, and we shall open the grain, that we may diminish the measure and increase the shekel; and put in deceitful balances, that we may possess the needy for silver, and the poor for shoes, and sell the refuse of the grain. LXX: Hear these things, you who crush the poor in the morning, and oppress the needy from the land, who say: When will the month pass by, and we shall trade; and the sabbaths, and we shall open the granary, to make the measure smaller and the weight greater; and let us make an unjust balance, that we may possess the poor for money, and the needy for shoes, and trade in every sale. Lest the hook for fruit and the fowler's vessel should seem to have been shown in vain, and the captivity to threaten as near through these signs, the causes of God's offense are briefly described. O you, Judah, O you, Israel, hear what crimes you have committed: rising by night, instead of prayer and hymns to God, you have a zeal for oppressing, or crushing, the poor, so that, worn out with hunger and want, they may be removed from the land.

And this indeed we sometimes see done also by perverse teachers and rulers, who without the fear of God lord it over the clergy, of whom Jeremiah speaks: Their clergy will not profit them; who think that gain is godliness, and, sitting in the temple as money-changers, set out doves, not in cages but in chairs, as though they were teachers, selling the gifts of the Holy Spirit; who make the measure smaller and greater, so that to the poor they speak either little or nothing, but to the rich, and to those from whom they pursue gain, they speak in the manner of public orators at very great length. And for money they crush and trample the heads of the poor, and thrust into greedy throats, not the grain of the Lord, which strengthens the heart of man, but refuse and the vilest dust; selling even these things that are of no value, although the Lord commanded the apostles: Freely you have received, freely give.

You who wait for the Kalends, to trade and to heap interest upon interest, and for the sabbaths, to open the granaries and give out grain, meaning to receive more back, and who turn the solemn feasts of God to your own profit for the sake of shameful gain; who make the measure smaller in selling goods, and the weights greater in receiving them, and the balance unjust, so that you may possess the poor man's money, and hold men so cheap that you fulfill what I said of you above: Because you sold the righteous for silver, and the poor for shoes; you have leapt into such a frenzy for gain that you sell to the poor not grain, by eating which men's bodies are sustained, but the refuse and sweepings of the grain, mixing dust and chaff with the wheat.

The Lord has sworn against the pride of Jacob: If I shall have forgotten all their works even to the end. Shall not the earth be moved over this, and every inhabitant of it mourn, and it rise up wholly like a river, and be cast out, and flow away like the brook of Egypt? LXX: The Lord has sworn against the pride of Jacob: If he will forget all your works to the end. And over these things shall not the earth be troubled, and every inhabitant of it mourn, and its consummation rise up like a stream, and go down like the river of Egypt? Scripture quite often records the Lord swearing. First, in Genesis, the angel of the Lord called Abraham a second time from heaven, saying: By myself I have sworn, says the Lord, because you have done this thing, and have not spared your dearest son, blessing I will bless you, and multiplying I will multiply you like the stars of heaven, and like the sand that is on the shore of the sea. And in the hundred and ninth (110th) psalm: The Lord has sworn, and he will not repent; you are a priest forever according to the order of Melchizedek. Discussing this, whoever he is who wrote the epistle to the Hebrews says: Since he had no one greater by whom to swear, he swore by himself. And in this same prophet we read above: The Lord has sworn by his holiness, or by his holy ones, that behold, days will come upon you, and they will take you up with weapons, or with poles, and the rest. He, then, who had earlier sworn by his holiness, or by his holy ones, now swears against the pride of Jacob, so that if they do not believe him when he threatens, they may believe him when he swears, after the likeness of men, who take up an oath when their simple words are not believed. Nor is it surprising if God is said to swear, since he sleeps with those who sleep and keeps watch with those who keep watch, and is said to be angry with those who have stored up wrath for themselves in the day of wrath.

And he swears that he will not forget their works even to the end; for the proud God resists, but gives grace to the humble; but that he holds in memory all the sins they have committed, and brings them even to the end and the time of judgment. Hence the penitent pray: Do not remember our former iniquities; especially since against the proud the earth itself is moved, or troubled, and mourns, not the tenant and the stranger, but its inhabitant; and its consummation rises up like a river, and goes down like the stream of Egypt, so that he who repents rises with the climbing river, but he who persists in his offenses goes down like the river of Egypt and, entering the sea, is swallowed up. And by this he shows that the pride of Jacob, against which the Lord swears, is to be devoured by eternal punishments.

HOW THE PROPHECY AGREES WITH THE GOSPEL, CONCERNING THE DARKENING OF THE SUN AND CERTAIN OTHER THINGS. — Since at the Lord’s first coming it was foretold that the sun would be darkened at his passion, at the very hour when it is proved to have happened, that is, at midday, for therefore it is written in the prophet Amos: “And it shall come to pass in that day, says the Lord, I will cause the sun to go down at noon, and I will darken the earth in the clear day” (Amos 8:9). On that day, therefore, from the sixth hour the sun was darkened until the ninth hour, and therefore the prophecy of the aforementioned prophet was fulfilled. The image of this event, which is to occur at the Lord’s second coming, was shown in the Lord’s passion; for at the end, when the Lord begins to come to judge the world, the heavenly lights will be released from their service, as the Lord says: “In those days the sun shall be darkened, and the moon shall not give her light” (Matt. 24:29). Joel the prophet has not omitted this either, so that, being signified by many, it may without doubt be believed to be fulfilled. For therefore he said: “The sun shall be turned into darkness and the moon into blood, before the great and revealing day of the Lord comes” (Joel 2:31). As far as appears, this more fittingly belongs to the second coming; for then it will be openly revealed to all, as Scripture says: “Then every eye shall see him, and all the tribes of the earth shall mourn over him, and those who crucified him” (Rev. 1:7). Therefore, if in both comings it is contained that the sun shall be darkened in those days, what is that day on which Scripture rings that the sun and moon shall be increased? For among other things Isaiah says: “And there shall be upon every high mountain, and upon every high hill, streams running with water in that day, when many shall perish and when the towers shall fall. And the light of the moon shall be as the light of the sun, and the light of the sun shall be sevenfold, in the day when the Lord shall heal the brokenness of his people” (Isa. 30:25–26), and so forth. What day can be understood, on which the Lord promised to heal the brokenness of his people? I think this is the day which Zacharias, the father of John, pointed out when he said: “Blessed be the Lord God of Israel, for he has visited and performed the redemption of his people. And he has raised up a horn of salvation for us in the house of David his servant, as he spoke by the mouth of his holy prophets, who have been since the world began, that he would deliver us from our enemies and from the hand of all who hate us, to perform mercy with our fathers” (Luke 1:68–72). And Simeon, among other things, said: “This child is set for the fall and for the rise of many in Israel” (Luke 2:34). This fall is that of the scribes and Pharisees and the rulers of the Jews, whom the prophet signified by the towers. These, therefore, falling through unbelief, others rose up by believing, who had previously seemed weak and sick through negligence. Where the Savior says: “For judgment I have come into this world, that those who do not see may see, and those who see may become blind” (Jn. 9:39); so that those who by the practice and knowledge of the Law seem to be lights may be blinded through unbelief, but the blind, that is, the unlearned or publicans, may see by believing. Their weaknesses the prophet foretold that the Savior would bear (Isa. 53:11). And so at this time of the Savior it came to pass, as we read in the Gospel, that “he took our infirmities and bore our diseases” (Matt. 8:17). All these things indeed were completed and fulfilled in the Savior’s passion: for therefore the salvation of the human race, both in heaven above and in the lower regions, was both redeemed and confirmed, since the prophecy of the aforementioned Zacharias encompasses both. For here above they were freed from the crushing of enemies by the intervention of mercy; and there below, in the underworld, when they were snatched from Tartarus. For all who hoped in the promised Christ were awaiting his coming, that, death having been conquered, they might be freed from Hades. Therefore he said: “To perform mercy with our fathers.” If anyone, however, understands this salvation also to be contained in the second coming, yet in both comings, especially in the second, the sun will be turned into darkness and the moon will not give her brightness: how then shall we perceive the sun and moon to be increased on the day when the Lord will visit his people, when in both times, in which the liberation of the people was begun and completed, we read that the sun and moon are not diminished but darkened? Unless, clearly, we understand the sun and moon to be compared to the saints; just as in another place we read that the saints are made equal to the heavenly lights, with the Apostle Paul preaching that among these men the saints in this world appear as luminaries. And in the Gospel: “Then the righteous shall shine like the sun” (Matt. 13:43). For the Lord calls righteous works “light”: therefore he says, “Let your light shine before men, that they may see your good works and glorify your Father who is in heaven” (Matt. 5:16). Those, therefore, who, having left all that is theirs, follow the Lord for the sake of righteousness and holiness, are compared to the sun and moon as being honored sevenfold; as the Lord says: “There is no one who leaves house, or wife, or children, or fields, who will not receive seven times as much in this age” (see Luke 18:29–30). Those, then, who are now honored sevenfold can be understood to be believed in the future to become seven degrees brighter than the rest; so that their resurrection is compared to the sun and moon, while that of the others is like the stars. Therefore the brightness of the saints, which is honored sevenfold here, obtains another sevenfold in the resurrection, so that one who here has the brightness of the moon will receive the brightness of the sun in the future; and one who here is compared to the sun will be believed then to receive seven times as much. Therefore the prophet Isaiah foretold that by comparison with the sun and moon the merits of the saints would be increased, and not without reason. For if the Lord himself is called the Sun of righteousness, and the saints will be like him, as the Apostle John says: “When he appears, we shall be like him” (1 Jn. 3:2), then fittingly the saints are signified in the sun, yet the aforementioned prophet shows the sun to be greater than the moon by seven degrees For when it shows that the moon, like the light of the sun, will exist in the future, but the sun will be seven times as great; it certainly means, in the manner of speaking, that the moon will be increased sevenfold more than the sun, so that the moon will then be such as the sun is now: although the reasoning here concerns the saints, under this explanation of the luminaries it has nevertheless partly revealed their measure, so that after the increase of the sun and the moon, a saint will again be as much greater as the sun once was; and as much as one saint now differs from another saint, so much will one differ from another in the future after the reward.

In relation to Christ's death, it is said: "The sun shall go down at midday." At midday, the sun falls for the Jews. When Christ was at the highest point of His power, that is, after the resurrection and the ascension, the Jews were blinded.

And it shall be in that day, says the Lord: The sun shall set at midday, and I will make the earth grow dark in the day of light; and I will turn your festivals into mourning and all your songs into lamentation; and I will bring sackcloth upon every back of yours and baldness upon every head; and I will make it like the mourning for an only son, and its last end like a bitter day. LXX: And it shall be in that day, says the Lord God: The sun shall set at midday, and the light shall grow dark upon the earth in the day; and I will turn your solemnities into mourning and all your songs into lamentation; and I will bring sackcloth upon every loin and baldness upon every head; and I will make it like the mourning for a beloved one, and those who are with him like a day of grief. By that day he means the day of captivity, when both peoples will be led away to the Assyrians and the Chaldeans; for whom, from the greatness of their sorrow, the sun will set at midday, and while the light is clear for all, darkness will fill everything; when their festivals and all their songs were turned into mourning and lamentation, and upon every back, or loins, they were girded with haircloth, and, according to the custom of mourners of old, they had baldness on their heads, which we read that Job also did at the deaths of his children. And so great will be the greatness of the mourning and sorrow that it will surpass the grief for an only son, dying, and very dear to his mother, and all things will be filled with lamentation and bitterness. We can also understand this passage of the Lord's passion, when the sun at the sixth hour drew back its rays and did not dare to look upon its Lord hanging on the cross; when, as darkness filled everything, their festivals and songs, with Vespasian and Titus prevailing, were changed into mourning and lamentation; when all things were filled with tears and remorse and haircloth, and their heads had baldness, which before, adorned with the long hair of the Nazirites, had grown their locks for the Lord. Then the first-born son of God, the people of Israel, which had laid its hand upon the Only-begotten and true Son of God, was handed over to eternal mourning; and its last end, or those who were with it, were filled with bitterness. Now therefore, while they have darkness, who drove back the sun of righteousness, we who sat in darkness and in the shadow of death have seen a great light, and their whole festival has been transferred to the mysteries of the Church, so that while they weep, we sing praises together to the Lord.

Let us keep [the Feast of Annunciation] with psalms and hymns and spiritual songs. From ancient times Israel kept their festival, but then it was with unleavened bread and bitter herbs, of which the prophet says, "I will turn their feasts into afflictions and lamentation and their joy into shame." But our afflictions our Lord has assured us he will turn into joy by the fruits of repentance.

They, instead of a belt, are girded with ropes and haircloth; to us, with the apostles, it is said: Let your loins be girded, and burning lamps in your hands. We are girded with the truth of Christ, fulfilling what is written: Stand, having your loins girded in truth. But they, instead of truth, are girt about with the lie of the devil. Our head, of which the Savior speaks: But even the hairs of your head are numbered, has perpetual hair, and in our head, who is Christ, we possess strength to kill the lion. But they slept on the knees of the harlot synagogue, and, shaved bare as the devil sheared them, lost the power of the head, losing together with their strength their eyes, of which it is written in Ecclesiastes: The eyes of the wise man are in his head, but he who is a fool walks in darkness. Their companions pass their days in mourning; our comrades are clothed with the garment of gladness.

Suspended, then, and fastened to his cross Christ cried out to God the Father in a loud voice and willingly laid down his life. In that same hour there was an earthquake, and the veil of the temple that separated the two tabernacles was cut in two, and the sun was suddenly withdrawn, and from the sixth hour until the ninth hour there was darkness. The prophet Amos bears witness to this. "And it shall come to pass in that day, says the Lord, that the sun shall go down at midday, and the day shall be darkened of light. And I will turn your feasts into mourning and all your songs into lamentation."

The unreliability of excessive wealth may edify even to the point of eliciting contempt of corporal riches. Wealth is unstable. It is like a wave accustomed to change back and forth due to the violence of the wind. One might suppose that the people of Israel are rich, since they have the adoption of sons and divine worship, the promises and the patriarchs. However, they have become poor because of their sin against the Lord. "But they that seek the Lord shall not be deprived of any good." They have lacked nourishment in a certain way and have suffered hunger. For when they had put to death the bread of life, a hunger for the bread came upon them. A chastisement for the thirst was imposed on them, but "the hunger was not for sensible bread or the thirst for water, but a hunger to hear the Word of God." Therefore "they have wanted and have suffered hunger."

Behold, the days are coming, says the Lord, and I will send a famine into the land, not a famine of bread, nor a thirst for water, but of hearing the word of the Lord. And they shall be moved from sea to sea, and from the north to the east they shall go about seeking the word of the Lord, and shall not find it. In that day the beautiful virgins shall fail, and the young men, in thirst, who swear by the sin of Samaria, and say: Your god lives, Dan, and the way of Beersheba lives; and they shall fall and shall not rise again any longer. LXX: Behold, the days are coming, says the Lord God, and I will send forth a famine upon the land, not a famine of bread nor a thirst for water, but a famine of hearing the word of the Lord. And the waters shall be moved from sea to sea, and from the North to the East they shall go about seeking the word of the Lord, and shall not find it. In that day the beautiful virgins shall fail, and the youths, in thirst, who swear by the propitiation of Samaria; who say: Your god lives, Dan, and your god lives, Beersheba; and they shall fall and shall not rise again any more. 'Waters' are not found in the Hebrew; and 'propitiation', which we have rendered 'sin', and which is called asamath by the Hebrews, signifies an idol, which is the beginning of sins. Ancient history, Latin as well as Greek, and that of all the barbarian nations, relates that nothing is harder than famine, which often compels the besieged to feed on human flesh and to rage against their own nature, so that parents do not spare their little children, and marital affection tears apart the limbs of a wife once loved. If the famine of bodies does this, what must be said of the famine of souls? This famine, on the day of the Lord's resurrection, overwhelmed the people of the Jews, and joined to the famine was a most burning thirst, since they did not have the bread which came down from heaven, nor those waters which flowed from the belly of Jesus. The law has been taken away from them, and the prophets have fallen silent in eternal silence; they are moved from sea to sea, and from the British Ocean to the Atlantic Ocean, that is, from the west to the south, and from the north to the east, wanderers through the whole world, and they are not able to find the word of God. At this place we shall ask the Jews what day they think is signified, in which they are to endure a famine of hearing the word of God, especially since they read the Scriptures and follow the lowliness of the letter? To them we press home that what was foretold is a famine of spiritual understanding, in which Christ is discerned, and the passion and resurrection of the Lord are found. They go around the world and seek the word of the Lord and do not find it, because they denied the Word of the Lord, which came to pass in the hands of all the prophets, which in the beginning was with the Father, which was made flesh and dwelt among us.

But the Lord sends a famine into the land upon those who savor earthly things; and a famine not of bread, and a thirst not of water, but of hearing the word of the Lord, when on account of the sins of the people teaching fails in the churches; and from sea to sea, that is, from salt and most bitter waves they come as far as the sea; not meeting with rivers, nor with most sweet and varied springs, but running back again to bitter things; and from the north to the east, desiring to forsake the north, which is the harshest wind and is called 'the right-hand wind' by the ignorant, and to reach the east, which they will not be able to find, because they do not go by a straight road but wander about by devious paths, and, not keeping to the king's road, are led along winding turns.

We harm both soul and body if we are guilty of lack of moderation to them both by fattening one beyond need or by causing them to waste away from starvation.… The Lord of all once admonished the Jewish people … by way of extreme indignation in the words, "I will deal you not a famine of bread nor a thirst for water, but a famine of hearing the Word of the Lord," to teach us that while one famine can torture the body, the other famine affects the soul. This very thing that the Lord threatened to inflict on them by way of punishment we now of our own volition secure for ourselves despite God's show of care for us and his provision for us, through the advice of mentors, as well as the reading of Scriptures.

But this also, which he says, "about thirty years old", must be considered. "Joseph was thirty years old" when he was released from his chains and, having interpreted the dream of Pharaoh, was made ruler of Egypt, and in the time of plenty gathered wheat, so that in the time of famine he might have what he could distribute. I think that the thirty years of Joseph went before, as a type of the thirty years of the Savior. For this Joseph gathered not such wheat as that Joseph in Egypt, but true and heavenly wheat, so that, the wheat having been gathered in the time of plenty, he might have what he could distribute when famine had been sent into Egypt, "not a famine of bread nor a thirst for water, but a famine of hearing the word of God". And so he gathers from the prophets, from the law, from the apostles the words of abundance, so that when now no more books are written, nor is any new instrument composed, nor are apostles sent, then he may distribute those things which had been brought together by Jesus into the storehouses of the apostles — that is, into their souls and the souls of all the saints — and may nourish Egypt, imperiled by famine, and especially his brothers, of whom it is written: "I will declare your name to my brothers, in the midst of the church I will sing to you". Other men too have words of patience and words of justice and the words of the remaining virtues; this is the wheat which Joseph distributed to the Egyptians. But the grain which he gives to his brothers, that is, to his disciples, is another kind, from the land of Goshen, from that land which looks toward the east: the wheat of the Gospel, the wheat of the apostles.

It is prophesied, "Their young men will die by the sword, and their sons and daughters will perish in famine." Those who hindered Jesus from teaching have not simply perished by the sword. But now, after the advent of the Lord, a more profound famine has come upon them. It is "not a famine of bread or thirst of water, but a famine of hearing the Word of the Lord." For the "Lord almighty" no longer "speaks" with them. This famine portends that prophecy would cease. And why do I say prophecy? The Lord ceased teaching them. Even if they bear the title sage a thousand times with them, the Word of the Lord is still not among them, since the verse has been fulfilled: "The Lord took away from Judea and Jerusalem the strong man and strong woman, the giant and the strong man, and the soldier and judge and prophet and diviner and elder and captain of fifty and the admirable adviser and master builder and intelligent pupil." For he is no longer able to say, "Like a master builder I laid a foundation." The builders have passed over, have come to the church, have laid the foundation, Jesus Christ. Those who came after them have also built on him.

In that time the beautiful virgins failed, and the young men, or the chosen ones and teachers — for this is what baurim means —, failed in thirst. They interpret the beautiful virgins as the synagogues, and the chosen ones as the masters of the people. And since these have failed, they teach that the curses of Deuteronomy have been fulfilled in the Jewish people.

In that time the virgin souls will fail, which the Apostle calls uncorrupted; and he desires them to possess everlasting chastity, writing to the Corinthians: For I betrothed you to one husband, to present a chaste virgin to Christ. But I fear lest, as the serpent seduced Eve by his cunning, so your minds should be corrupted and fall away from the simplicity which is in Christ. And if all virgins were beautiful or good, he would never have said: The good virgins will fail; but he set down 'good' to distinguish them from bad virgins, the good being those who are holy in body and in spirit. The bad virgins are the five foolish ones, who did not prepare oil for their lamps. The good and comely virgins are those who had the light of the virtues and entered the bridegroom's chamber. But the virgins will fail, because they will not find the word of the Lord. From this we understand that when teaching is lacking in the churches, modesty perishes, chastity dies, all the virtues depart, because they have not eaten the word of the Lord; and whoever has eaten it, fattened with its food, will hear through Solomon: The righteous man eating satisfies his soul, but the souls of the ungodly hunger. And David, who had reached the old age of Abraham, sang freely: I have been young, and have grown old, and I have not seen the righteous forsaken, nor his seed seeking bread. How many martyrs in persecutions perished of hunger, and lacked grain and these nourishments of the body. Therefore he speaks of that bread which came down from heaven, which whoever eats will be able neither to hunger nor to thirst.

And when the virgins fail, the young men too will fail, who had previously conquered the world; and they will fail for this reason, because they swear by the idol of Samaria, which we always take as standing for the heretics, as this same prophet says: Woe to those who despise Zion, and trust in the mountain of Samaria. For the heretics despise the Church of the Lord and trust in the falsity of their own dogmas, raising themselves up against the knowledge of God, having split his people, and saying: We have no portion in David, nor inheritance in the son of Jesse. If anyone, therefore, swears by the sin of Samaria and says: Your god lives, Dan, and the way of Beersheba lives, he will fall and will not be able to rise again any longer. The tribe of Dan could not find a possession in the farthest borders of the Jews, as is written in the book of Judges, and Dan is interpreted 'judgment'. Beersheba, according to the variety of accents, is rendered into our language 'well of the oath', or 'well of plenty', and 'of the seventh'. Therefore the heretics too will thirst at the farthest borders of the holy Scriptures, despising the judgment of God and desiring the way of Beersheba, which was in the tribe of Judah; and, desiring to imitate many mysteries of the Church, they say that they are sated and filled. These the apostle Paul reproaches: Already you are sated, already you have become rich; and they swear in the name of the Lord; and, once fallen, since they consider the gods of the idols to be their god, they will not rise again any more. But those who are willing to repent, and do not say: Your god lives, Dan, and the way of Beersheba lives, will hear through Jeremiah: Shall he who falls not rise again, or he who has turned away not return.

These chosen ones and teachers swore by the idol of Samaria, that is, by the golden calves, and said: Your god lives, Dan, at the borders of the land of Judea, where Paneas now is, and where at that time the golden calf was worshipped, and the way of Beersheba lives, because they travelled there by a long and seldom-taken journey, on account of the kings of Judah, the righteous and the unrighteous alike. And because they did this, they will therefore fall and will not rise again any more, that is, they will not recover the state which they had had before.