Hosea 7

When I wished to heal Israel, the iniquity of Ephraim was uncovered, and the malice of Samaria, because they have wrought a lie; and the thief has entered, the robber plundering outside. LXX: likewise. Israel often received many wounds of idolatry, and above all that one when in the desert they cast the head of a calf and said: These are your gods, Israel, who brought you out of the land of Egypt. Hence I, who prefer the repentance of the sinner to his death, and who afterwards say in the Gospel: The healthy have no need of a physician, but those who are sick, have tried to heal the wounds of my people. And while I was treating these with every art, so that the wretched people might be cured, suddenly Jeroboam of the tribe of Ephraim arose, to make the golden calves, and the malice of Samaria, which followed the impious king, was uncovered; for both king and people wrought a lie, that is, an idol. For just as an image is contrary to God, so a lie is contrary to the truth. And the king himself entered like a thief to the people of Israel, and like a robber plundered the unhappy people of God of their help. And the sense is: When I wished to blot out the old sins of my people on account of their ancient idolatry, Ephraim and Samaria found new idols. But this too can be said: that when the Lord and Savior, after the shedding of his blood and his Church gathered from Jews as well as from Gentiles, wished to heal the sins of the people and to bring them back to repentance, suddenly Ephraim, who promise an abundance of false dogmas, and the people of Samaria, who say that they keep the commandments of God, rose up and wrought the idol of false dogmas; and through them the thief and robber, the devil, entered the Church; or else the very doctrine of the heretics entered, like a thief and a robber, of whom the Savior too says in the Gospel: All who came before me were thieves and robbers. Thieves lie in wait and deceive by hidden fraud; robbers boldly carry off what belongs to others. For those who steal, steal by night and in darkness. Hence he says pointedly that the thief entered secretly, and that the robber plunders outside. For they cannot strip those whom they have taught of the garment of Christ unless they have led them out of the Church and made them walk in the perverse way of their doctrines. By the thieves and robbers who came before the Lord we ought to understand not Moses and the prophets, who are always praised by the mouth of the Savior, but the false prophets; and afterwards the heretics, who were not sent by the Lord but came of their own will.

And lest perhaps they say in their hearts that I have remembered all their wickedness, now their devices have surrounded them; they have been done before my face. LXX: That they may sing together as those who sing in their hearts: I have remembered all their wickednesses; now their thoughts have surrounded them, they have been done against my face. Lest perhaps, he says, they say in their hearts: God has brought old sins back upon us, and we are paying for the offenses of our fathers; they ate the sour grape, and our teeth were set on edge; for that reason I will recount in the following discourse what they have done now and at present, while I look on, and what they do daily; and I will show them their devices, or the thoughts with which they have most zealously pursued evil, and the things they have done in my presence, not fearing my face. But what we read in the Seventy: that they may sing together as those who sing in their hearts, is to be referred to this: that the thief entered, or the robber plundered outside, for this reason, lest, remaining in their former riches and garments, they should reject agreement with the thief and robber; but that, when they have been plundered, they should sing together with them and be made of one heart. Therefore let them receive what they have done, and all their thoughts or works will not merit my regard. The heretics too cannot plead old sins against God, since daily they add new impiety to their ancient works, and perish with the lost, and are bound by their own errors, and, though they think they are hiding from the Lord, are not able to escape his eyes.

Therefore each one must keep his heart with all watchfulness, for when the Lord comes in the day of judgment, "He will bring to light the hidden things of darkness and will make manifest the counsels of the hearts," "all the thoughts of men meanwhile accusing or else excusing them," "when their own devices have beset them about." But of such a nature are the evil thoughts that sometimes they make worthy of censure even those things which seem good and which, so far as the popular judgment is concerned, are indeed worthy of praise.

In their wickedness they made the king glad, and in their lies the princes. LXX: In their wickednesses they made the kings glad, and in their lies the princes. He sets out what they did before his face: In their wickednesses they made King Jeroboam glad, and in their lies the princes who had been set over the people under Jeroboam. The heretics too, in the wickedness of their works, have made the king, the devil, glad, and in the lies of their perverse dogmas, the princes, no doubt those of this world, whose false wisdom God destroys. Among the heretics we can call king the one who first invented the heresy, and princes those who, set over the peoples of the heretics, claim for themselves a false priesthood. And at the same time it must be noted that the opposing powers and the rulers and princes of this darkness rejoice in our sins.

Those who bent their knee to drink are those who inclined themselves totally to philosophy: and the same are inclined to an infinite number of errors, and that is how the leaven of error is warmed. As Osee writes, "the city rested a little from the mingling of the leaven, till the whole was leavened." They warm the eggs of asps, so that what has been warmed breaks out into a serpent.

Although you might marry and in the face of the authority of all the Scriptures never commit adultery, why do you not with God's grace accept what is lawful? Instead you dare to offend God and commit what is unlawful. I would like to know whether those who have no wives, and neither fear nor blush to commit adultery before they are joined in wedlock, would want their spouses to be violated by adulterers before they come to marriage. Since there is no one who would patiently accept this, why does not each one observe toward his spouse the fidelity he wants observed by her? Why does one desire to take a virgin as his wife, when he himself is corrupted? Why does he wish to be united to a wife who is alive, when he is dead in soul because of adultery, according to what is written: "The soul that sins shall die"? Moreover, the apostle exclaims in terrible words, "God will judge the immoral and adulterers," and "Adulterers will not possess the kingdom of God." Furthermore, "They are all adulterers, their hearts like an oven."

All are adulterers, like an oven heated by the baker; the city rested a little from the mixing of the leaven, until the whole was leavened. LXX: All are adulterers, like an oven burning for baking, to the scorching of the flame, from the mixing of the leaven, until the whole was leavened. Those who in their wickedness made the king glad, and in their lies the princes, are all adulterers; and like an oven they were heated by Jeroboam with the fire of idolatry, so as to bake the bread of impiety; and he, when he had sent the burning of error into their souls, like a furnace and an oven first heated with fire, rested a little, so as not to force the people but to leave them to their own will, until the whole lie was leavened; for whatever is done by compulsion is quickly undone, but what we seize upon by our will endures. Therefore here too, since he had taken the metaphor from an oven, which is heated for baking loaves, he keeps it in the rest, so as to show, in the mixing of the leaven, the consent of the whole people; by which, namely, both king and people fell with equal ardor into idolatry. No one doubts that the hearts of the heretics are heated with the fire of the devil, so that the bread of the Antichrist may be baked in them; therefore at first they rest quiet in the Church and speak in secret, and promise all things peaceable, so that the cancer may creep little by little into the peoples, and the leaven of their doctrine; which the Lord too understood when he says: Beware of the leaven of the Pharisees; when it has swollen in the hearts of the deceived, then they break out into open madness; and in them is fulfilled what is said by the apostle John: They went out from us, but they were not of us; for if they had been of us, they would surely have remained with us.

But where shall I find on a sudden the divine Scripture which may teach me what the "oven" is? I must call upon my Lord Jesus, that he may make me who seek to find, and open to me who knock, so that I may find in the Scriptures the "oven" where I may cook my sacrifice, so that God may receive it. And indeed I think I have found it in the prophet Hosea, where he says: "all committing adultery, like an oven heated for burning", and again: "their hearts," he says, "grew hot like an oven". The heart of man, then, is the "oven". But this heart, if vices set it ablaze or the devil inflames it, will not cook, but will burn up. But if he set it ablaze who said: "I came to cast fire upon the earth", then the loaves of the divine Scriptures and of the words of God, which I receive in my heart, I do not burn up to destruction, but cook for a sacrifice.

The day of our king: the princes began to rage from wine; he stretched out his hand with the mockers, because they applied their heart like an oven when he lay in wait for them. All night he slept baking them; in the morning he himself was kindled like a fire of flame; all were heated like an oven and devoured their judges; all their kings have fallen; there is none among them who cries to me. LXX: The day of your kings. The princes began to rage from wine; he stretched out his hand with the pestilent, because their hearts were kindled like an oven, while they were cast down headlong all night. Ephraim was filled with sleep; morning came; he was set on fire like a flame of fire. All were heated like an oven, a burning fire, and they ate up their judges. All their kings have fallen; there is not among them one who calls on me. An obscure passage, and one needing the close attention of the reader, so that we may first learn the history. Israel and the city of Samaria rested a little, having received into themselves the heat of error, until the whole lump became like leaven, and rose and burst out; and the people, swelling up, shouted at the doors of King Jeroboam and said: This is the day of Jeroboam our king, this is the feast day which our ruler has appointed for us; this we celebrate, this we sing, on this we exult and play, on this we worship the golden calves. When the people shouted, the princes were not angry, as some think; but they too began to rage from wine and to lose the understanding of their mind, to forget God and to dash themselves against the wood of idols. When the king saw this, namely that the people were shouting and saying: This is the day of our king, and that the princes, like drunken and frenzied men, did not know what they were saying, he stretched out his hand to the mockers, he joined his assent to those who mocked him with empty praises.

Now let us pass to the spiritual understanding: Unhappy peoples who are led astray by the king, the devil, and by his princes; or who have taken up other solemn feasts from the prince of a heresy and from his leaders, leaving the Church and trampling on the truth of the faith, are accustomed to shout and say: This is the day of our king; for example, of Valentinus, of Marcion, of Arius and of Eunomius. Those set over them, hearing this, are not made drunk with wine, lest the sin be thought a light one, but they rave from the wine of which Moses writes in the song of Deuteronomy: Their wine is the fury of dragons, and the incurable fury of asps; for these eat the food of impiety and are made drunk with the wine of iniquity. Of this the Apostle also says: Do not be drunk with wine, in which is debauchery. And in Proverbs we read: Let princes not drink wine, lest they forget wisdom and be unable to judge rightly. Hence, both peoples and leaders having been deceived, the prince stretches out his hand to the mockers, or the pestilent, such as were the sons of Eli, and of whom we read in the first psalm: He has not sat in the chair of the pestilent; of whom it is said: Cast out the pestilent man from the council, and strife will go out with him; whose hearts were kindled, so that they might dash down those whom they had deceived. For this, according to the Seventy, is what cataracts signify, which do not lift up on high but dash down below. And what he says: All night Ephraim was filled with sleep, shows that the heretics, sleeping, do not see the light of the sun of justice. For those who sleep, sleep at night, because their sense is weighed down. And of these we read in the psalms: They have slept their sleep and found nothing.

These mockers, when their king lay in wait for them and was leading them away from their God, offered him their heart like an oven, for him to kindle them and make them burn with the flames of idolatry. For he assented to the people for this reason: because he understood that they had turned to error with their whole mind. And what follows: All night he slept baking them; in the morning he himself was kindled like a fire of flame, signifies this: after he sent fire into the oven of their heart, and saw them raging, and that there was no one to resist his will, he slept all night, that is, he was secure; he kept himself in darkness while they were being baked and were making the bread of impiety. Hence afterwards he rose in the morning, and showed the flame of his crimes in open madness, so that they passed over, no longer by stealth but shamelessly, from the worship of God to the ceremonies of idols.

But where shall I find on a sudden the divine Scripture which may teach me what the "oven" is? I must call upon my Lord Jesus, that he may make me who seek to find, and open to me who knock, so that I may find in the Scriptures the "oven" where I may cook my sacrifice, so that God may receive it. And indeed I think I have found it in the prophet Hosea, where he says: "all committing adultery, like an oven heated for burning", and again: "their hearts," he says, "grew hot like an oven". The heart of man, then, is the "oven". But this heart, if vices set it ablaze or the devil inflames it, will not cook, but will burn up. But if he set it ablaze who said: "I came to cast fire upon the earth", then the loaves of the divine Scriptures and of the words of God, which I receive in my heart, I do not burn up to destruction, but cook for a sacrifice.

What more? All, like an oven, were heated with the fire of idolatry, and devoured their judges, so that even one who could have been good by nature and could have remembered the religion of the Lord, seeing both princes and people subject to the calves and thinking them gods, is himself also devoured by the crime. Finally, all the kings of Israel fell, and walked in the ways of Jeroboam son of Nebat, who made Israel sin, and none was found who abandoned the idols and returned to God. These things we have spoken according to the tradition of the Hebrews, more boldly than knowingly, leaving the credit for what is said to its authors.

Their hearts are heated by various passions: anger, love, avarice; and they devour their judges, either whatever virtues they may be able to have in their mind, or the senses by which they distinguish evil from good. Or else it must be said that the leaders of the heretics are devoured by their own peoples, so that they themselves are devoured by the assent of those whose houses they devour for the sake of base gain. All the princes of the heretics have fallen; although they cry to the Lord, there is none who calls on his name. For everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved. Moses and Aaron among his priests, and Samuel among those who call on his name; they called on the Lord, and he heard them, he who does not hear the kings and princes of the heretics, because there is none among them who cries to the Lord.

Ephraim is a cake under the ashes not turned. For a cake under the ashes, that hath ashes upon it, lays the cleaner side flat to the ground, and has the upper side the fouler, in proportion as it carries the ashes upon it. And so with the mind that harbours earthly thoughts, what else does it carry upon itself but a load of ashes? But if it will be 'turned,' the clean surface, which it had kept downwards, it brings back to the top, when it has shaken off the ashes that it had upon it. If therefore we shake off from the mind the ashes of earthly thoughts, as it were we 'turn the cake under the ashes,' that that bent of our mind may henceforth go to the rear, which the ashes of grovelling thought before overlaid, and the clean face come to the top, that our right bent of mind may not henceforth be surcharged with the weight of earthly desire. Which we can never do, except we be bedewed with the grace of the Holy Spirit, in that when Almighty God 'sendeth out the waters, they will overturn the earth.'

But, to pass to another sense: though Ephraim ought to teach the peoples and draw them to his own likeness, he himself is mingled with the peoples and becomes like them; according to what was said above: As the people is, so will the priest be. Or Ephraim is mingled with the peoples and the nations, so that all heretics differ in nothing from the error of the Gentiles. And he who was once a leader in the Church has become a loaf baked under the ashes, surrounded on every side by unclean ash and the heat of the fires, so that he did not return to the Lord but persisted in the error he had begun.

Ephraim himself was mingled among the peoples; Ephraim has become a loaf baked under the ashes, which is not turned over; strangers devoured his strength, and he did not know it. Yes, and grey hairs were spread over him, and he was unaware of it; and the pride of Israel will be humbled before his face, and they have not returned to the Lord their God, and they have not sought him in all these things. LXX: Ephraim was mingled with his peoples; Ephraim has become a loaf baked under the ashes, which is not turned over. Strangers devoured his strength, but he did not know it; and grey hairs blossomed on him, and he was unaware of it; and the insolence of Israel will be humbled before his face, and they have not returned to the Lord their God; and they have not sought him in all these things. The kingdom of the ten tribes became like all the nations, because they withdrew from the Lord; and, like a loaf baked under the ashes which is not turned over, that is, which does not repent, the Assyrians and the Chaldeans devoured its strength, and whatever strength it could have, they swallowed up. And such was its madness that it did not know it had been devoured; or at least it was unaware of the cause for which it had been handed over to those who devoured it. Finally, right up to old age, that is, right up to the last captivity, it persisted in the error it had begun.

Strangers have devoured his strength, and he hath known it not. For by 'strangers' are usually understood apostate angels, who devour our strength, when they consume the virtue of the mind by perverting it. Which Ephraim both endured, and knew it not, because through the temptation of malignant spirits he both lost the strength of his mind, and understood not that he had lost it. Want therefore goes before the face of Leviathan, because he spoils by his temptation the minds of the careless, before he who is tempted knows his snares.

Demons devoured his strength, for these are the strangers and the enemies of all Christians, and he did not know it, thinking his adversaries friends, and judging those who devoured him to be his table-companions; yes, and grey hairs were spread over him, or rather they blossomed, that is, he went astray for a long time; and nonetheless he was unaware of his old age and his decrepitude, of which it is written: What grows old and ages is near to destruction. And if it is said of a just man and a churchman: A man's grey hairs are his wisdom, why should it not be said of an unjust man and a heretic: A man's grey hairs are his folly? Of this old age Daniel spoke to the elder: You who have grown old in evil days. Hence also in the book of the Shepherd — if, however, anyone cares to accept the reading of it — the Church appears to Hermas first with a grey head, then as a young girl and a bride adorned with her tresses.

Not content with these words, the blessed Anthony entered upon a wider field of discussion, and he said, "This way of life and this most lukewarm condition not only causes you the loss that I have spoken of, even though you yourself may not feel it now. You may even somehow say in keeping with a sentence from Proverbs: 'They strike me, but I did not grieve, and they mocked me, but I was unaware.' And remember what is said by the prophet Hosea: 'Aliens devoured his strength, and he himself did not even recognize it.' "

Hence the pride of Israel will be humbled, not after a long time, but now and in the present; for this is what he means by before his face; and it was being humbled because it had lifted itself up and trusted not in God but in the size of its army, and because God resists the proud, but gives grace to the humble; for pride, that is, gaon, the Seventy, after their custom, translated ὕβριν, that is, outrage. And because he had said above: Ephraim has become a loaf baked under the ashes which is not turned over, and this seemed ambiguous and did not make clear enough what he meant, he now puts it more plainly: They have not returned to the Lord their God; and they have not sought him in all these things. For if they had returned to the Lord their God, they would surely have heard God speaking through Jeremiah: Return to me, and I will return to you. And though they had done so much, they did not seek him whom they had lost through their own fault.

And though the pride of the heretics is humbled, or the insolence which they daily offer to churchmen, they do not return to the Lord; but in all these things they by no means seek him, because they have been heated like an oven, and they have not sought him; they have devoured their judges, and the kings fell together; nor is there anyone who cries to the Lord. All these things they suffered so that they might seek the Lord, whom they refused to seek.

And Ephraim has become like a dove led astray, without heart. They called upon Egypt, they went off to the Assyrians; and when they have set out, I will spread my net over them, I will bring them down like a bird of the sky, I will strike them according to the report of their assembly. LXX: And Ephraim was like a foolish dove without heart. He called upon Egypt, and they went off into the Assyrians as they will go. I will cast my net over them, I will bring them down like the birds of the sky; I will correct them in the hearing of their tribulation. The Lord commands in the Gospel that we be simple as doves and shrewd as serpents, so that, imitating the simplicity of doves and the shrewdness of the serpent, we may neither be able to harm others nor suffer snares from others; but by simplicity and prudence may show ourselves balanced men, because prudence without goodness is malice, and simplicity without reason is called folly. Ephraim therefore has become like a dove led astray, in Hebrew photha; by Aquila and Symmachus it is called θελγομένη or ἀπατωμένη, that is, enticed or deceived; and by the Seventy foolish or senseless; for ἄνους can express both. And he is fittingly called a dove led astray, or foolish, because there is also a dove that is wise, which says in the psalms: Who will give me wings like a dove, and I will fly and be at rest? Whose wings are silvered, and the hinder parts of whose back are in the greenness of gold. But Ephraim, a foolish dove and without heart, is shown to be of so brutish a mind that, calling upon Egypt, he went on to the Assyrians. For he who begged the help of the Egyptians is led away captive by the Assyrians. Egypt is a staff of reed: whoever leans on it, it will at once crush him, and, broken and shattered, it pierces the hand of the one who rests upon it.

The question is asked why Ephraim is compared not to other birds but to the dove. The other birds hasten to protect their young even at the peril of their own life; and when they see a hawk, a snake, a raven or a crow approaching their nest, they fly about hither and thither, and hurl themselves at the attacker with their bites, and tear it with their claws, and testify to a parent's grief with plaintive cries; the dove alone does not grieve for its young when they are taken away, and does not look for them; and to it Ephraim is rightly compared, because he does not perceive that his people is being laid waste piece by piece, but is careless of his own safety.

And what he says: I will strike them according to the report of their assembly, can also mean this: just as by a common counsel they all fashioned idols, so, when I am angered, they will all be laid waste together. The teachers of contrary dogmas, who have abandoned Christ, the Wisdom, and have gone out from the Church, we can rightly call a foolish and heartless dove, since, desiring earthly things, they have been handed over to the Assyrians. And when they have set out from the Church, the Lord spreads his net, woven from the testimonies of the Scriptures and the skilful discourse of wisdom, so as to bring down to low places those who lift themselves up against the knowledge of God and, like a bird, fly to the heights; and to correct them by threats and by the hearing of punishments, so that, corrected, they may not perish for ever.

And the prophet of God abuseth those who are foolish in respect of good things, and wise in respect of evil things. "Ephraim is like a silly dove, without understanding; he cometh to Egypt and he goeth to Assyria, and in the way of repentance towards Me he walketh not." Now the prophet maketh an accusation against such silliness, because it is not simplicity, but folly. And this also is the wickedness of those who are silly in respect of good things. Instead of one Redeemer, they have chosen unto themselves many helpers, and they have forsaken the path which leadeth to God, and have run after the Egyptians and Assyrians that they might come to their help. And although they have experienced many times that they were not able to redeem them from the evils in which they stood, they never became wise enough through the experience of facts to run to God's place of refuge. And the prophet likened them unto doves whose fruit others carried off, and the children of whose bowels were made servants unto others; and he considered them to be without understanding, because they possessed not the discretion through which they would have drawn nigh to God.

And so that God might show that by changing places we cannot escape his eyes, and that we are always ruled by the power of God: When, he says, they have set out into the Assyrians, even there I will spread my net, and if they have been lifted up like birds, I will bring them down from there. But I will bring them down, not to destruction, but to strike them as sons; and I will strike them not with the greatness of punishments, but with fear, so that, hearing of the punishments of old, they may be corrected by terrors alone.

Woe to them, because they have withdrawn from me; they will be laid waste, because they have transgressed against me. I redeemed them, and they have spoken lies against me, and they have not cried to me in their heart, but they howled on their beds. LXX: Woe to them, because they have withdrawn from me; they are manifest, because they have acted impiously against me; but I redeemed them; yet they have spoken a lie against me, and their hearts have not cried to me, but they howled on their beds. While I was spreading my net to catch them, and to bring them down from their pride like a bird of the sky, and to strike them in the hearing of their distress, they withdrew and leapt away from me; for this is what ἀπεπήδησαν means, which the Seventy used in their translation. And therefore they will be laid waste, because they have transgressed against me. Where we said: they will be laid waste, in the Hebrew is written sod laem, that is, devastation to them. Symmachus translated it destruction; Theodotion, misery. Moreover, in the common edition we read it in two ways; for some manuscripts have δῆλοί εἰσιν, that is: they are manifest; others δείλαιοί εἰσιν, that is: they are fearful or wretched. They will be laid waste, therefore, and will be wretched, and always fearing and dreading, because they transgressed against God, worshiping the golden calves and abandoning him who redeemed them from Egyptian slavery and led them out with a lofty arm. But they spoke lies against the Lord, saying of the idols: These are your gods, Israel, who led you out of the land of Egypt, and they did not cry to the Lord in their heart, but wallowed in the fornications of idolatry. Or, because lust and luxury follow the worship of demons, those who worshiped demons consequently wallowed like pigs in the mire of lusts. And he fittingly calls the songs of those who serve idols not hymns to God but howling. Concerning the heretics the interpretation is easy: they have everlasting woe, because they have withdrawn from God; and they are wretched, because they have abandoned their Creator, who redeemed them with his own blood; and they themselves speak lies against him, composing the impious dogmas of falsehood; and they do not cry out in their hearts, but always howl in their conventicles, which he fittingly calls beds, and the lairs of wild beasts. Such men cannot say: Every night I will wash my bed, with my tears I will water my couch; but they wallow in the filth of lusts, they give themselves to debauchery, and whatever they say, and think they are saying in praise of God, is the howling of wolves and the din of raving Bacchantes. Rarely does a heretic love chastity, and whoever pretend to love purity, like Mani and Marcion, and Arius and Tatian, and the restorers of the old heresy, promise honey with a poisoned mouth. For the rest, according to the Apostle, the things they do in secret it is shameful even to speak of.

If [birds] do not hold to the narrow path with cautious and careful restraint as they go their way, making their airy progress through the void, thanks to their marvelous skill, the earth, which is as it were the natural mooring for everyone and the most solid and safe foundation for all, becomes for them a present and manifest danger—not because its nature is changed but because they fall precipitously upon it by the weight of their body. Similarly, the unwearying goodness of God and his unchangeable substance itself certainly hurt no one, but we ourselves bring death upon ourselves by falling from the heights to the depths. For this very fall means death for the one who falls. For it is said: "Woe to them, for they have departed from me. They shall be destroyed, for they have transgressed against me."

"First I will educate them through the threat of sufferings. Then I will catch all of them like birds, placing around them a cloud of enemies like a net." And having said that, he does not forget his love for mankind but offers a dirge from fatherly love for them.

They ruminated on wheat and wine, they withdrew from me.

And I taught them and strengthened their arms; and they devised malice against me; they returned so as to be without a yoke; they have become like a deceitful bow; their princes will fall by the sword, from the fury of their tongue; this is their derision in the land of Egypt. LXX: On wheat and wine they were cutting themselves; they were taught in me, and I strengthened their arms, and they devised evils against me; they turned to nothing, they became like a bent bow; their princes will fall by the sword because of the unskilfulness of their tongue; such is their derision in the land of Egypt. Because of the abundance of all things, he says, they fell. Ezekiel too records that this happened in Sodom and Gomorrah, so that they ruminated on nothing but food and luxury; for which the Seventy translated: On grain and wine they were cutting themselves, after the example of the prophets of Baal, who, in the presence of Elijah, prayed for rain by gashing their limbs. And at the same time, to show that they were like beasts of burden, he did not say: they were eating, but: they were ruminating; and therefore they withdrew from the Lord, who says: I taught them, I gave them strength, and they raised their necks against me; not that they could do anything and harm their Creator, but, what alone they were able to do, they devised evils against me.

On wheat and wine, and the 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. And in another place: I am the true vine. And: Unless you drink my blood. Over this wheat and wine, then, the heretics are cut asunder, and build diverse tabernacles for themselves; or they are cut off from the body of the Church, and pretend to meditate on the law of God and to ruminate on it. But in doing this they withdraw from the Lord, who taught them in the Church and gave them strength with which to fight against the adversaries.

But they devised malice against the Lord, building up most impious heresies, and returned to the state of the Gentiles, so as to be without the knowledge and the yoke of God; or they returned to nothing, not that they ceased to be, but because, in comparison with him who speaks to Moses: Go, say to the people of Israel: He who is has sent me, all who think against the Lord are said not to be. According to what we read in Esther, in the Seventy only. Do not hand over your scepter to those who are not: there is no doubt that it means idols. For if God is truth, whatever is contrary to truth is a lie, and is called nothing. This fits the heretics, who, instructed from the holy Scriptures, turn the words of the law and the prophets and the Gospel against the Lord; and they are like a deceitful or perverse bow. A deceitful and perverse bow is one that strikes the one who aims it, and wounds its own master. Or they have become like a bent bow, always ready for battle and contentions, to the subversion of their hearers. Hence their princes, that is, the heresiarchs, are struck by the Lord's sword because of the madness of their tongue, with which they blasphemed the Lord; doing in a Church falsely so called the same thing they did at the time when they dwelt in the Egypt of the world, that is, when they were Gentiles. For all the questions of the heretics and of the Gentiles are the same, because they follow not the authority of the Scriptures but the sense of human reason.

And as they were from the beginning, before I called them through Abraham and afterwards through Moses and Aaron, when they were without the yoke and the knowledge of the law and were mingled with all the nations, so even now they have returned to their former state, so as to be carried without yoke and bridle over precipices, and to be changed into a deceitful bow; so that the bow which God had bent against the adversaries they themselves turned against their own Lord, and shot against him the arrows of blasphemies. Hence their princes, who deceived the unhappy people, will fall by the sword because of the fury of their tongue, with which they dared to call the golden calves gods, so that they did in the land of promise what they had learned in Egypt, worshiping the Egyptian Apis and venerating all their monstrosities. For so also in the wilderness, when they had come out of Egypt, they derided the Lord, saying: These are your gods, Israel. And: Would that we were in the land of Egypt, where we sat by the pots of meat, and so on.