Ezekiel 32

And it came to pass in the twelfth year, in the twelfth month (or the tenth), on the first day of the month, the word of the Lord came to me, saying: Son of man, take up a lament over Pharaoh king of Egypt, and you shall say to him: You have been likened to the lion of the nations, and to the dragon that is in the sea; and you tossed with your horn in your rivers, and you troubled the waters with your feet, and you trampled their rivers (or your rivers). Therefore thus says the Lord God: I will spread my net over you in a multitude of many peoples, and I will draw you out in my dragnet (or I will draw you out on a hook); and I will cast (or I will draw) you onto the land, upon the face of the field I will throw you (or the plains will be filled with you), and I will make dwell (or sit) upon you all the birds of the sky, and I will glut the beasts of the whole earth with you; and I will put your flesh upon the mountains, and I will fill the hills (or the valleys) with your gore (or with your blood). And I will water (or the land will be watered) with the stench of your blood (or with your dung) upon the mountains, and the valleys will be filled with you; and when you have been extinguished I will cover the sky, and I will make its stars grow black: I will cover the sun with a cloud, and the moon will not give its light; all the lights of the sky I will make mourn (or they will grow dark) over you, and I will put darkness upon your land, says the Lord God. And I will provoke the heart of many peoples, when I bring your destruction (or your captivity) among the nations upon a land (or in a land) which you do not know. And I will make stand astonished (or there will be saddened) over you peoples (or many nations), and their kings will tremble over you with exceeding horror, when my sword begins to fly over their faces, and each one will be suddenly dumbfounded for his own life on the day of his ruin (or awaiting their own ruin from the day of your ruin). For thus says the Lord God: The sword of the king of Babylon will come to you; by the swords of the mighty (or of giants) I will cast down your multitude (or your strength) — all of them invincible nations (or pestilent ones from all the nations) —, and they will lay waste (or destroy) the pride (or the insolence) of Egypt, and its multitude will be scattered (or all its strength). And I will destroy all its beasts that were beside many waters (or from many waters), and the foot of man will trouble them no more, nor will the hoof of beasts trouble (or trample) them; then I will make their waters most pure (or so that their waters may at length be at rest), and I will lead their rivers like oil (or so that they flow like oil), says the Lord God, when I have made the land of Egypt desolate (or ruined): and the land will be deserted of its fullness (or with its fullness) when I strike (or scatter) all its inhabitants, and they will know that I am the Lord. It is a lament, or they shall lament him; the daughters of the nations shall lament him; over Egypt and over its multitude (or all its strength) they shall lament him, says the Lord God. We mingle both editions, only in those places in which they disagree; otherwise, where there is one sense, we follow the Hebrew. In many copies, moreover, according to the Seventy 'the twelfth year' and 'the tenth month' is set down, but according to the other translators 'the tenth year' and 'the twelfth month', so that either Jerusalem has already been taken, and Pharaoh's joy, with evils hanging over him, is taken away, or at any rate it is about to be taken, and he should grieve more over his own miseries than rejoice at the captivity of others; and meanwhile, briefly laying down certain foundations of the history, let us run through what the Hebrews understand concerning this passage.

Pharaoh is compared to a lion — not of one nation but of many nations — or to a dragon in the sea, so that he possesses land and waters; he was lifted up into 'pride' by the watering of the rivers — which he calls 'horn' — and, by the multitude of his army, passing through all the waters, he was able to trouble them.

Let it suffice to have said these things in passing on the simple letter, so that we may come to the spiritual understanding. Nor do I think one must labor greatly to know who Pharaoh king of Egypt is, since we have spoken of it more fully above: namely that power to which Egypt was entrusted, whether one province or the Egypt of the whole world, which was not created a lion but by its own vice was likened to the lion of the nations — for Man, indeed, when he was in honor, did not understand; he was compared to the senseless beasts, and was made like them; of this lion Peter also speaks: Our adversary the devil goes about like a roaring lion, and in Psalm 9 (10) it is written: He lies in wait in secret like a lion in his den; he lies in wait to seize the poor, and Jeremiah says by the Holy Spirit: A lion from the forest has struck them —; but that the devil is called a dragon — for which Aquila translates Leviathan, setting out the name of the dragon — I have shown in the earlier explanation with many testimonies, he who had said: The rivers are mine and I made them. This dragon, then, tossed very many nations with his rivers as with horns; which we can understand of Marcion, Valentinus, Arius and Eunomius, and the other leaders of heresies, who imitate churchmen saying to the Lord Savior: In you we will toss our enemies with the horn, and they do not toss them unto salvation, to lift them from earth to heaven, but to cast them into the deep. Then follows: And you troubled the waters with your feet — according to that saying of the Apostle: But he who troubles you will bear the judgment —; for he does not wish to drink the waters of Siloam, which go in silence, but the 'turbid' and 'muddy' waters of Egypt, which, before they were trampled by the dragon's feet, were pure and flowed in their own order, but after they were troubled by his feet, lost the order of their course — for the heretics do not use testimonies of the Scriptures that cohere with one another, but they trouble everything —; and, because he himself is the enemy and the avenger, the Egyptian dragon not only troubles other people's waters with his feet, but tramples his own rivers, so as not to spare those whom he has once brought under his power — which the righteous man, desiring to avoid it, prays: Let not the foot of pride come against me; and in another place, having been trampled, he asks not to be trampled again: Have mercy on me, O Lord, for man has trampled me; and the enemy man is the devil, of whom another psalm also speaks: That man may no more be magnified upon the earth —.

Therefore thus says the Lord God: I will spread my net over you, in a multitude of many peoples; the Lord's net, woven by the plan of the Old and New Testament, is cast over the dragon — who dwells in the multitude of peoples, and delights in crowds and multitude —, so as to draw him out in his dragnet, or on his hook — this is the dragnet that is cast into the sea of this world and draws out many fish, some to be chosen and others to be thrown away; or this is the hook of which it is written in Job: But you will draw out the dragon with a hook and put a halter around his nostrils, for which Aquila translates: Drawing out Leviathan with a hook, and with cords you will bind his tongue —; and the dragon — or Leviathan — is drawn out of the sea with the hook — or the Lord's dragnet —, so as to be cast — or stretched out — upon the land, and all his coils, in which he used to hide his snares, may be opened and brought out into public and thrown down upon the land, and he may lie prostrate who had set his mouth in heaven and boasted that he was like the Most High; hence there follows: And I will make dwell (or sit) upon you all the birds of the sky, and I will glut the beasts of the whole earth with you — according to what is written: You gave him as food to the peoples of the Ethiopians —, who are called either birds or beasts of the earth: birds, which, as we have said, snatch the seed beside the way; beasts of the whole earth, made savage by vices; which can be referred to heretics and Gentiles;

Therefore he says that he will spread his net over his multitude and draw him out with his dragnet — or hook —, and cast — or stretch — him out upon the land, him who like a serpent had been wound in many coils, so that he may be devoured by all the birds of the sky. And when not only the birds but all the beasts of the earth have torn him, the rest of his flesh will fill the mountains and valleys and plains, so that all things swarm with worms — and he says this by way of metaphor, so that, after the birds of the sky and the beasts have been glutted with his flesh, that is, his army and the whole multitude, the remaining part may be turned into worms and gore —:

and what follows: And I will put your flesh upon the mountains, and I will fill your hills with your gore (or I will fill the valleys with your blood), has this sense, that we should understand the birds of the sky and the beasts of the earth as the peoples of the deceived and the cruelty of the Gentiles, and refer the mountains to the leaders of heresies — such as Valentinus and Marcion were —, and the hills to their successors who are glutted with the dragon's gore, or the valleys which are filled with the dragon's blood to all the lower sort of believers; or certainly the mountains are the hostile powers that roam about in the air, and the valleys those which penetrate the underworld and have been consigned to eternal punishments.

Further, what is said: And I will water the land with the stench of your blood upon the mountains (or the land will be watered with your dung upon the mountains), and the valleys will be filled with you, signifies this, that all the pride and arrogant swelling of the heretics is filled not so much with living and pure blood as with putrid and stinking blood — according to what is written: Make them like the dung of the earth, from which the holy man is delivered by the Lord: Who raises the needy from the earth, and lifts the poor from the dung, to set him with princes, with the princes of his people —; and the valleys, sunk into the depths, as we said above, signify either the underworld or the lowly mind of the heretics, who do everything for the sake of pleasure and earthly wealth;

and what is joined: And when you have been extinguished I will cover the sky, and I will make its stars grow black: I will cover the sun with a cloud, and the moon will not give its light; all the lights of the sky I will make mourn (or grow dark) over you, and I will put darkness upon your land, says the Lord God, if we follow the letter, cannot be understood at all: for when, after Pharaoh — or the dragon — was slain, did the sun and moon and stars not give their light, and the sky was covered with darkness — according to that poetic line: And the impious ages feared eternal night —? This, then, must be said: that when Pharaoh has been extinguished — who transformed himself into an angel of light, of whom it is written in another place: The light of the impious will be extinguished —, the sky, or the heavens, will be covered with darkness — of which Paul also speaks: And the spiritual things of wickedness in the heavenly places —; and the Lord made its stars grow black, whether the dragon's or the sky's — concerning whom Jude the apostle also writes: Wandering stars, for whom the gloom of darkness is reserved forever —; the sun too is covered in a cloud: the sun of iniquity — which is the opposite of the sun of righteousness —, and with a cloud: either by the Lord Savior himself — who descends into Egypt upon a light cloud, weighed down by no burden of sins —, or by the prophets and apostles — of whom we read: I will command the clouds that they rain no rain upon it, and in the Psalms: Your truth reaches to the clouds —; and when the sun of iniquity has been darkened, the moon — which we take to be the church of the heretics, and which was thought to receive its light from the sun of iniquity — will not give its light, nor will it deceive believers with the knowledge falsely so called;

'Then,' he says, 'the heavens will be wrapped in darkness: the sun and the moon and the other lights will not give their light, but over you all things will grow black, and nothing will be joyful for you.

all the lights also, and whatever of doctrine seems to be among the heretics, will be blinded when the dragon has been extinguished, or they will mourn the loss of their prince, so that the Lord himself covers the land of the heretics with darkness, namely ignorance of the truth, so that the blind lead the blind into a ditch and the inhabitants of the land are sent into the outer darkness, where there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth.

After this it is said: And I will provoke the heart of many peoples, when I bring your destruction (or your captivity) among the nations upon a land which you do not know, so that those who formerly served Pharaoh are angered against him, seeing that his captivity has been led away to another land, which the dragon did not know. Nor ought we to doubt that the lands which Pharaoh does not know are good, namely when the captivity of Pharaoh is exchanged for another captivity — of which it is said to the Savior: Ascending on high, he led captivity captive; he received (or, according to the Apostle, gave) gifts among men —.

And at your destruction all peoples and all their kings will tremble with exceeding horror, seeing my sword flying this way and that and sparing no one, and in your ruin they dread a like ruin.

And I will make, he says, many peoples stand astonished over you, so that those who formerly admired Pharaoh's power may afterwards marvel at him for having fallen from his summit; the kings of the peoples, too, will tremble over him with exceeding horror — whose kingdoms the devil showed to the Lord, and of whom it says in the psalm: The kings of the earth stood up, and the princes gathered together —; and this will come about when the sword of the Lord begins to fly over their faces, understood as those of the kings, or of the peoples — and the sword of the Lord is to be understood as the word of God, living and effective, and sharper than any two-edged sword, which flies and darts about and dazzles the eyes of those who behold it and frightens their faces —, so that, astounded at the ruin of Pharaoh, they may see themselves cast down in him; and indeed the sword of the Lord — of which it is written: Behold, this one is set for the fall and rising of many — raises those who lie fallen and by humility changes those wrongly lifted up.

But so that you may know what this sword is, hear it more plainly: The sword of the king of Babylon will come to you; by the swords of the mighty (or of giants) I will cast down all your multitude — which giants are the invincible nations that were held in the army of the Babylonian king —; these will lay waste (or will destroy) the pride of Egypt and all its multitude, and nothing will remain in Egypt, but together with the men the beasts and brute animals too will be carried off alike.

But the sword of the king of Babylon will come upon the Egyptian dragon, so that by the swords of the mighty — or of giants — the Lord may cast down his multitude, which followed the king of Egypt: Invincible, he says, (or pestilent ones from the nations) are all these, so that the evil are handed over to worse ones to be punished — of whom it is written: A sending by most evil angels, and the Apostle: Whom I have handed over, he says, to Satan, that they may learn not to blaspheme, or for the destruction of the flesh, that the spirit may be saved —.

And when by ministers of this kind the pride of Egypt has been cast down and its multitude scattered, all its beasts that were beside many waters will perish, and the foot of man will trouble them no more — for if Blessed is he who sows upon the waters, where ox and ass tread, conversely unhappy is he who will be able any longer to hold the simple by his terror, so that the foot of man does not tread in them, whereby the Egyptian waters seem not to have in them even a sign of wisdom and reason —; nor will the hoof of beasts trouble them, so as to make them 'turbid and muddy' instead of most limpid and shining.

And so great will be the desolation in Egypt that its waters will be troubled neither by the foot of man nor by the hoof of beast, but all things will be quiet; and the waters of its rivers will flow like oil, most pure and shining, with no one passing through them nor troubling their streams' — and this will come about because of the desolation of Egypt, which will be reduced to a desert, stripped of all its multitude, when the Lord has struck its inhabitants, so that those who remain may understand that he himself is the Lord —.

Then the waters that had been troubled by the dragon's dominion will be rendered most pure, not by another but by the Lord himself, so that their rivers are rendered like oil and are the nourishment of the true light; and these things will come about when the Lord has made the land of Egypt desolate and has destroyed its fullness and all its inhabitants have been struck, so that by this progress they may be able to know that he himself is the Lord.

Therefore it is a lament for Pharaoh, and the daughters of the nations round about will lament him, and not only over him, but also over his multitude which, as the Lord laid it waste, was blotted out.

And what is joined: It is a lament, and they shall lament him; the daughters of the nations shall lament him; over Egypt and over its multitude they shall lament him, says the Lord God, makes it plain that the souls of all the nations which had formerly been oppressed by him, or of those nations which by no means dwelt in Egypt but in the region of the living, lament the slain dragon and all his multitude: not in hope of salvation, but because from so great a power, by his own vice and pride, he has been cast down into eternal punishments.

Now, with the same brevity, so far as the difficulty of the explanation permits, let us gather the chief points of the spiritual understanding. Above, the word of the Lord came to the prophet on the first day of the month; here, on the fifteenth — now on the first day, that is, on the calends, is the beginning of the month; on the fifteenth, when the whole orb of the moon is filled; and if it was the first month, it is the first day of Unleavened Bread, but if the seventh, of Tabernacles, when the tents are pitched, which feasts are among the very greatest among the Hebrews —; and the lament is made over the strength of Egypt, so that he who is strong in evil may cease to be so and take on weakness, and when he is weaker, then he may be stronger. For the 'strength' of Egypt, the Hebrew has 'multitude' — For wide and spacious is the way that leads to death, and many enter by it, just as, on the contrary, it is said to Israel: But you are few among all the nations; for virtue is always rare, and: Narrow and strait is the way that leads to life, and few are those who enter by it —. And that Egypt is lamented, and its dead daughters — 'her' daughters according to the Seventy, or those 'of the mighty nations' — are led down to the lowest land into the deepest pit — or ditch —, signifies the souls dwelling in the Egypt of this world — which have lost him who says: I am the life, and, dead in sins, are dragged down to the underworld by their weight, as the sinner says: For my iniquities have gone over my head; like a heavy burden they weigh upon me; these are the ones of whom it is also written in another place: They go into the lower parts of the earth; they will be given over into the hands of the sword; they will be portions for foxes. He who, indeed, digs a ditch, falls into it; whence we also read: He opened a pit and dug it out, and he will fall into the ditch which he made —.

And it came to pass in the twelfth year, on the fifteenth of the month, the word of the Lord came to me, saying: Son of man, sing a dirge over the multitude of Egypt, and drag it down, it and the daughters of the mighty nations, to the lowest land with those who go down into the pit. Than whom are you more beautiful? Go down, and sleep with the uncircumcised. In the midst of those slain by the sword they shall fall; the sword has been given; they have dragged her away and all her peoples. The mightiest of the strong will speak to him from the midst of hell, they who went down with his helpers; and they have slept uncircumcised and slain by the sword. There is Assyria and all her multitude, round about her are their graves, all of them slain, and they who fell by the sword; whose graves have been set in the uttermost parts of the pit, and her multitude is round about her grave; all of them slain and falling by the sword, who once had spread dread in the land of the living. There is Elam and all her multitude round about her grave; all these slain and falling by the sword, who went down uncircumcised to the lowest land, who set their terror in the land of the living, and they have borne their shame with those who went down into the pit. In the midst of the slain they have set his bed, among all his peoples; round about him is his grave, all these uncircumcised and slain by the sword; for they had spread terror in the land of the living, and they have borne their shame with those who go down into the pit; they have been set in the midst of the slain. There is Meshech and Tubal and all her multitude, round about her are her graves, all these uncircumcised and slain, falling by the sword, who set their dread in the land of the living; and they will not sleep with the mighty who fell, and the uncircumcised, who went down into hell with their weapons and set their swords under their heads, and their iniquities were in their bones, because they became the terror of the mighty in the land of the living. And you therefore will be crushed in the midst of the uncircumcised, and you will sleep with those slain by the sword. There is Edom and all her kings and her leaders, who were given up with their army with those slain by the sword, and who have slept with the uncircumcised, and with those who went down into the pit. There are all the princes of the north and all the Sidonians (or 'hunters'), who were led down with the slain, trembling, and confounded in their strength, for they have slept uncircumcised with those slain by the sword, and they have borne their confusion with those who go down into the pit. Pharaoh saw them and was comforted over all his multitude which was slain by the sword, Pharaoh and all his army, says the Lord God, for I have set his terror in the land of the living; and he has slept in the midst of the uncircumcised with those slain by the sword, Pharaoh and all his multitude, says the Lord God. (In this place the edition of the Seventy translators disagrees greatly both in order and in translation, and some things in it have been added from Theodotion; hence we have found it necessary to set it down too, by no means sparing length, and serving the diligence of the studious reader. LXX: "And it came to pass in the twelfth year, on the fifteenth of the month, the word of the Lord came to me, saying: Son of man, lament over the multitude of Egypt, and the nations will lead her daughters down dead into the depth of the earth, to those who go down into the ditch." — Moreover, under asterisks there has been added: ※ From the most beautiful water go down, and sleep with the uncircumcised ⁚. Again the sequence follows: — In the midst of those wounded by the sword they shall fall with him, and all their strength will sleep. And the giants will say to you: Go down into the depth of the ditch. Than whom are you better? Go down, and sleep with the uncircumcised in the midst of those wounded by the sword. There is Assyria and all her congregation. — And what is joined: ÷ All the wounded have been set there, and his grave is in the depth of the ditch, and his congregation came to be ⁚, is not found in the Hebrew, but was added by the Seventy. Again it is said: — Round about his grave, all the wounded who had fallen by the sword. — And again from the edition of Theodotion there has been added under asterisks: ※ Who had set graves for them in the sides of the pit, and the congregation came to be round about his grave; all these wounded and falling by the sword ⁚. After which the Seventy set down: — Who set their fear in the land of life. There is Elam and all her strength round about her grave; all wounded and falling by the sword, and who go down uncircumcised into the depth of the earth, who set their terror in the land of life, and they received their torment with those who go down into the ditch, in the midst of the wounded. There have been set Meshech and Tubal and all their strength, round about his grave, all his wounded, all uncircumcised and wounded by the sword, who set their terror upon the land of life; and they did not sleep with the giants, who had fallen from of old, who went down into hell with the weapons they used for wars and set their swords under their heads, and their iniquities came to be in their bones, because they had terrified giants in their life. And you in the midst of the uncircumcised ※ will be crushed, and ⁚ will sleep with those wounded by the sword. There is Edom, ※ her kings and all ⁚ the princes of Assyria, who gave his strength to the wound of the sword; these have slept with the wounded, with those who went down into the ditch. There are all the princes of the north, all the magistrates of Assyria, who go down wounded with their terror, and confounded in their strength; they have slept, uncircumcised too, with those wounded by the sword, and they have carried off their torment with those going down into the ditch. Pharaoh will see them and will receive comfort over all their strength ※ wounded by the sword, Pharaoh and all his strength ⁚, says the Lord God, for I have set his dread upon the land of life, and he will sleep in the midst of the uncircumcised with those wounded by the sword, Pharaoh and all his multitude, says the Lord God.) I am not unaware that so great a discrepancy between the two editions will be tiresome to the fastidious reader; but what am I to do with my slanderers, who, if I take away anything from the translation of the Seventy translators, cry out that I am sacrilegious and without the fear of the Lord — especially those who, though they disagree with me in the truth of the faith and follow the errors of the Manichaeans, stir up the minds of the unlearned on this very point, if they can show that anything of the old has been changed against established custom, preferring to err rather than to learn anything true from a rival. Meanwhile, according to the history the sense is plain. For in the same twelfth year, and in the same month, as we think, but not on the first of the month, as above, but on the fifteenth day, a lament is taken up not over Pharaoh, but over the strength — or multitude — of Egypt, which is dragged down from its pride with all its daughters — or those of the mighty nations — to the lowest land, that is, into the depth of hell. And it is said to the king of Egypt: 'Than whom are you better, that you should deserve to escape death? — for since Assyria and Elam — that is, the Persians —, and Meshech — who are interpreted as the Cappadocians —, and Tubal — whom some take to be the Iberians, others the Italians —, the Edomites also and the princes of the north and the Sidonians, with all their armies by whose help they struck horror into all the nations, have died and been slain by the sword, and have set their swords under their heads — which saying is to be taken ἐμφατικώτερον [more emphatically, as an expressive figure] —, will you alone be able not to endure the same things? Rather, when you see so great a multitude of sleepers with you among the dead below, and your grave surrounded by the memorials of princes once most mighty, you will have consolation, reckoning your torments lighter through the fellowship of very many —'. Let it suffice for the present to have said these things briefly according to the simple sense.

And what follows: Than whom are you more beautiful? Go down, and sleep with the uncircumcised, the word is properly addressed to Pharaoh king of Egypt — or, as was added in the Seventy from Theodotion, to Egypt itself: From the most beautiful water go down, and sleep with the uncircumcised; which pertains especially to him who, reborn in the baptism of Christ, hearing with the Church: Who is she that comes up made white, leaning upon her kinsman?, afterwards, defiled either by fornication or by other vices, is cast out of the Church, and it is said to him: From the most beautiful water go down, and sleep 'with the uncircumcised', that is, 'with the unclean', according to that sense which the Apostle sets down: We are the circumcision, who serve God in the spirit, and glory in the Lord, and put no confidence in the flesh —.

All these will fall with Pharaoh in the midst of the wounded — or the slain —, by that sword which is the opposite of the sword which the Lord came to send upon the earth: for just as the sword of Christ separates the good from the evil — as he says: I came not to send peace upon the earth, but a sword —, so the sword of the heretics cuts down all peoples and leads the wounded down to the underworld; these are the giants, most mighty and rebellious and setting their mouth on high, and the more they raise themselves up to the heights through pride, the more they are dragged down to the depth of the ditch and the uttermost parts of hell, all of whom have been slain by the sword.

And so that either Pharaoh or the whole strength of Egypt, which has been dragged down to the underworld, might know whom he had as companions in punishment, the following word shows: There is Assyria and all the multitude (or synagogue) of her; for the prince of the heretics is the devil — whose congregation is truly a synagogue, of which it is said in the Revelation: Who are the synagogue of Satan —.

But the following short verses, which are marked in front with an obelus, I think should be passed over, and what is found in the Hebrew should be stated: Round about her are their graves, namely of those deceived by him, who are all wounded (or slain) by the sword, and therefore have fallen; whose graves have been set in the uttermost parts of the pit — and that hell is called a pit is plainly shown by that psalm in which the penitent says: I have been likened to those who go down into the pit; which we ought by no means, according to the proper sense of the Latin word, to understand as that which in Greek is called λίμνη [lake] — such as the lake of Tiberias, and lakes Larius and Benacus, and many others —, but as what we are accustomed to call cisterns; which pits, because they chill the waters and take from them all the warmth of the spirit, sinners and all heretics dig; and, so far as my memory goes, Scripture testifies that none of the saints dug a pit — that is, a cistern — but all sinners — among whom was Uzziah, the leprous king, who also fell through his pride, of whom it is written that he was a man brooding over the works of the soil, and that he built many towers of pride in the corners, and that he dug pits —; on the contrary it is said to the righteous man: Drink waters from your own vessels and from the springs of your wells, and again: Let the fountain of your water be your own, whence the Lord also says: They have forsaken me, the fountain of living water, and have dug for themselves pits (that is, cisterns) which cannot hold water —. There follows: And her multitude is round about her grave; all these surround the Assyrian, and their multitude is very great, all of whom have been wounded and slain and are falling by the sword — for none of them can stand with Moses, or hear: You who stand in the house of the Lord; but all have been wounded and slain and are falling —: who once had spread dread in the land of the living; and dread to those who were set over the churches, lest in the land of the living they should make peoples of the dead and deceive all the simple — whence Paul also said: But I fear lest, as the serpent deceived Eve in his malice, your minds be corrupted through the simplicity that is in Christ; but this fear is softened by hope in the Lord, as the man of the Church says: The Lord is my light and my salvation; whom shall I fear? The Lord is the protector of my life; of whom shall I be afraid? —.

After this it is said: There is Elam, and all her multitude round about her grave, no doubt the Assyrian's. 'Elam' is rendered into our tongue as 'their ascent'; for all who, despising the humility of Christ, have ascended to the pride of the devil and have thought themselves to be something in the knowledge falsely so called, are to be named Elamites, who go round the grave of the Assyrian king and have been slain and wounded by the sword; and although they set their mouth on high, yet they went down unclean and uncircumcised to the lowest land, so that the more loftily they had been raised up, the more heavily they might fall; these set their terror not once but a second time in the land of the living — for who among the churchmen is safe from the terror of Elamites of this kind and has not lost someone of his flock? —; and beautifully the Church of Christ is called the land of the living, so that, on the contrary, the conventicles of the heretics may be believed to be the land of the dead.

And they have borne, he says, their shame (or their torment) with those whom they dragged down with them into the pit and the depth of hell, whose bed is in the midst of the slain; namely of those whose throats they cut with their blade, and they are surrounded by peoples of this kind; these peoples are the peoples of the Assyrian king, and although they boast that they are circumcised, yet they are uncircumcised and slain by the sword, and a third time they have spread terror and dread in the land of the living; hence they have borne their torment and punishment in the midst of those whom they deceived by their frauds.

There also is — that is, beside the Assyrian — Meshech and Tubal and all her multitude, round about her grave, all uncircumcised and slain and falling by the sword, who had set their dread in the land of the living. For 'Mosoch and Thubal', Symmachus and Theodotion translated 'their bed', to show that the beds of the heretics, or rather their everlasting ditches, are the punishments of the Assyrian king; 'Mosoch' means 'madness', 'Thubal' 'conversion' — not to good from evil but from good to evil — or 'all things', to show that all heretics are mad and with equal zeal are turned to worse things; nor is it surprising if those who are mad and heaped together for evil have a multitude, since they are companions of the Egyptian king, who rejoices in multitude; all these have been slain by the sword, who set their dread, not once nor a second time, but a third time, in the land of the living, of which we have spoken more fully above.

There follows: And they will not sleep with the mighty (or the giants) who fell, and the uncircumcised, who went down to hell with their weapons and set their swords under their heads, and their iniquities were in their bones, because they became the terror of the mighty in the land of the living. 'These,' he says, 'who stood out as leaders of the heretics, have come to such a summit of malice and of torment, that they do not deserve to bear like punishments even with the mighty and the giants who fell from the beginning; who, having by no means done penance for their error, went down to the underworld with their weapons, rebels against God and his Church, carrying their spirit with them' — of whom it is written: Sons of men, their teeth are weapons and arrows —, 'and they set,' he says, 'their swords under their heads, resting in a hostile spirit, and, as their supreme victory, embracing the darts of their opinions, to such a degree that their iniquities were in their bones — that is, their strongest fabrications —, and holding fast the doctrines of their error: Because they became the terror of the mighty in their life (or in the land of the living)', which is said for the fourth time, that by their perversity they terrified even the mightiest, and those who had knowledge of the Scriptures and who were of the region of the living, while they go down to hell with their weapons and set their swords under their heads and their iniquity reaches to their bones.

After this it is written: 'And you therefore will be crushed in the midst of the uncircumcised' — which is said either to Pharaoh or to the strength, or multitude, of Egypt, that it too is crushed, according to what is written: But may God crush Satan under your feet swiftly — 'and you will sleep,' he says, 'with those slain by the sword, in perpetual sleep'.

There, with the Assyrian and with the Egyptian multitude, will be Edom and her kings, all who have served earthly works or delighted in blood — for 'Idumaea' [Edom] sounds both 'earthy' and 'bloody' —; all the kings and all the princes — of whom the Apostle also frequently speaks: 'brooding over earthly works and daily shedding the blood of those whom they have deceived by their fraud' — have slept with the uncircumcised and unclean and with those who went down into the pit, of whom we have spoken above.

In the same company will also be the princes of the north, from which evils blaze up upon the earth — and from which, whether in Jeremiah or in this same prophet, that pot full of flesh and bones is set alight —, and not only the princes of the north, but every magistrate of 'Assur' — for which in the Hebrew is more truly set down all the 'Sidonians', whom we have rendered as 'hunters', according to what is written: Our soul has been snatched like a sparrow from the snare of the hunters (for which in the Hebrew is set down of the Sidonians); which Sidonians — or hunters — will be led down to the underworld trembling, who once trusted in their own strength; and they will sleep unclean, and they will bear their confusion — or torment —, having the everlasting remorse of an evil conscience, so that their fire is not quenched and their worm does not die.

When Pharaoh has seen all these, he will be comforted, either still having his former malice and seeing that he has many companions of his punishment, or at any rate he was comforted seeing that they too are confounded in their punishments and their terrors, over all his multitude which was slain by the sword: that is, Pharaoh's, or that of all his companions, and especially of the Assyrian king and Meshech and Tubal and the Edomites, and of the princes of the north and of the Sidonians; for these had set their terror in the land of the living — which is said for the fifth time, so that we ought to beware of and flee all nations of this kind, which have deceived us in all our senses, and know that they are dreadful and cannot easily be avoided unless we keep our heart with all vigilance —. 'He has slept,' he says, 'Pharaoh himself too, with his companions slain by the sword', which companions are his multitude, going by the wide and spacious way to everlasting punishments.