Isaiah 14

Truly his will shall be fulfilled swiftly and suddenly, as the Scripture testifies.

For the Lord will have mercy on Jacob, and will yet choose from Israel, and will make them rest upon their own soil. Of this Zephaniah speaks more fully: Praise, daughter of Zion; shout for joy, Israel; be glad and exult with all your heart, daughter of Jerusalem: for the Lord has taken away your judgment: he has turned away your enemies (Zeph 3:14-15). And it signifies the time when Cyrus king of the Persians permitted the captive people to return to Jerusalem. Read the book of Ezra (Ezra 1), Haggai (Hag 1) and Zechariah (Zech 1): when, under Zerubbabel, and Joshua the high priest, and Ezra, and Nehemiah, the altar, the Temple, and the walls of the city were built.

The stranger will be joined to them, and will cleave to the house of Jacob, and peoples will take them, and bring them into their own place, and the house of Israel will possess them upon the land of the Lord as menservants and maidservants: and they will take captive those who had taken them captive, and they will subdue their taskmasters. We conjecture that many from various nations came to Jerusalem with the people of the Jews, believing in the God of Israel and abandoning the idols of their errors. And that they were brought back by the king's letters, and received gifts and the expenses of the Temple, there is no doubt. The understanding seems to be hemmed in only on this point: how Israel possessed, in the land of the Lord, those who had once been its conquerors, and subdued its taskmasters, and held them as menservants and maidservants. Unless perhaps synecdochically we understand the whole from the part: that they afterwards enjoyed such prosperity that they acquired for themselves households of menservants and maidservants from the various nations round about as well. It can also be understood of the times of Ahasuerus (Esth 9; Jdt 13), when, after Holofernes had been killed, the enemy army was cut down by Israel. That I cling to the letter and, in the manner of the serpent, eat earth, is your will, who have wished to hear only the historical interpretation.

For the Lord will have mercy on Jacob, and will yet choose out of Israel, and will make them rest upon their own soil: the stranger will be joined to them, and will cleave to the house of Jacob. And the peoples will take them and bring them to their place: and the house of Israel will possess them upon the land of the Lord as menservants and maidservants; and they will take captive those who had taken them captive, and they will subdue their oppressors. And it will be in that day, when God has given you rest from your labor, and from your trouble, and from the hard bondage in which you served before: you will take up this parable against the king of Babylon, and you will say. For stranger, that is, proselyte, the Seventy translated γηώραν, which in Hebrew is called GER (גר). Hence I think that the son of Moses too, who was a stranger in the land, was named by his father Gersam (Exod 1). Therefore georas is a Hebrew word declined after Greek custom: although someone ignorant of the Hebrew tongue tries to express a Greek etymology in it, from the fact that it has the care of an earthly thing: for γῆ, he says, is the word for earth, and ὤρα, φροντὶς, that is, care. Again, for MASAL (משל), which Aquila and Symmachus and Theodotion translated parable, and whom we too have followed, the Seventy translated lament. Now the order is this: after Babylon has been deserted forever, so as to be a dwelling of wild beasts, the Lord will have mercy on Jacob, namely on him who supplanted vices; and he will choose Israel, him who beholds God with the mind. And note the propriety of the words: on Jacob, who is still set in the wrestling, he will have mercy; but to Israel, who received the name after the victory, not mercy but election is fitted. He will also make them rest upon their own land, of which the Savior speaks: Blessed are the meek, for they shall possess the land (Matt 5:4), and I believe that I shall see the good things of the Lord in the land of the living (Ps 26 [27]:13). There will also be joined to the house of Jacob those who were chosen through the Apostles, the multitude of the nations; and they will take the remnant of the house of Israel and bring them to their own place, so that they may dwell in their tents; and the house of Israel will possess them upon the land of the Lord as menservants and maidservants. For it profits the wicked to serve the good. Hence it is said to Esau too: You shall serve your brother. And to Jacob: Your brother shall serve you (Gen 27). And they will take those who had formerly deceived them with sophistries: and they will reduce to bondage their oppressors, who do all things for the sake of gain. And after Jacob and Israel have rested from their labor, in which they had labored much fighting against the world and the heretics, and from their trouble and bondage, in which they had formerly served a malignant interpretation and false doctrines, then they will take up a lament and parable against the king of Babylon, namely the discourse of heretical error and confusion, and will say what follows. The Jews interpret this passage carnally, but they will not be able to show that it came to pass after they returned from Babylon. For neither did the Babylonians, who had first taken them captive, serve them; nor, when the Babylonians were conquered, did they possess their houses; nor did they have them as menservants and maidservants. It remains, therefore, that according to their fables they think this will come about in respect of this Roman empire: that when the Romans have been overcome in the last time, the nations whom they formerly served will serve them. But if, by following the letter, they deceive themselves with a false hope, who will grant them that Rome is called Babylon, and Nebuchadnezzar the king of the Roman empire?

For the proselytes have no need of a covenant, if, since there is one and the same law imposed on all that are circumcised, the Scripture speaks about them thus: 'And the stranger shall also be joined with them, and shall be joined to the house of Jacob.'

Her time is near at hand. In this part, he promises liberation to the Jews through the destruction of Babylon, which he threatened above. And this is divided into three parts: in the first, he promises liberation; in the second, he foretells the insults of the liberated against their oppressor: and it shall come to pass in that day (Isa 14:3); in the third, he sets out the confirmation of the insult: the seed of the wicked shall not be named (Isa 14:20).

Concerning the first, he sets out three things: the shortness of time: near at hand is the day of the Lord, to whom all things are present, or after our subjugation, her days, of subjugation: the day of destruction is at hand, and the time makes haste to come (Deut 32:35).

Second, he sets out the manner and order of liberation, and first, as to the relief of their misery: for the Lord will have mercy: he will turn again, and have mercy on us (Mic 7:19); as to the recovery of divine favor: and will yet choose, namely, some of them: the Lord your God has chosen you (Deut 7:6); as to the restoration of their homeland: and will make them rest: I will bring them to their own land: and I will feed them in the mountains of Israel (Ezek 34:13).

Third, he describes the dignity of the liberated, as to the adhering of strangers to them: the stranger shall be joined: draw nigh to God: and he will draw nigh to you (Jas 4:8).

As to honorable retention: the people, among whom they were taken captive, shall take them, namely, the Jews, as though to carry them in their arms, below: and they shall bring your sons in their arms, and carry your daughters upon their shoulders (Isa 49:22); or otherwise, as to the leading away of those who adhered to them, the people, namely, the Jews, shall take, that is, retain, them, leading those who adhered to them with themselves; as to the subjugation of the enemy or of those who adhered to them: and the house of Israel shall possess them, as they once possessed Israel: I will return your recompense upon your own heads (Joel 3:7).

And it will come to pass in that day, when the Lord has given you rest from your labor, and from your turmoil, and from your hard servitude, because you served before: you will take up this parable against the king of Babylon, and you will say. The discourse is directed to Israel: that after it has returned to Jerusalem and shaken off the yoke of servitude, it should recall the former power of Nebuchadnezzar and the Babylonian summit, and lament him with a pitiful voice, because he has come to such calamity that he seems worthy of pity even to his enemies.

And it shall come to pass. Here the insult of the liberated people against their captor, who has now been destroyed, is set out.

And first, the title or the inscription is set out, containing three things: the time, when God shall give you rest from your labor, by which you have labored in waging war; and from your vexation, of captivity, by which you were kept in prison; and from bondage, by which you were oppressed in the land of your captivity.

We will show in what follows that these things are not said of someone else but of that tyrant, the one without shame, the enemy of God, as Isaiah says.

How has the oppressor ceased, the tribute come to rest? The Lord has broken the staff of the ungodly, the rod of the rulers, which struck the peoples in indignation with an incurable stroke, which subdued the nations in fury, persecuting cruelly. In the Epistle of Peter we read: It is time for judgment to begin at the house of God (1 Pet 4:17). And in Ezekiel it is said to the tormentors: Begin at my holy ones (Ezek 9:6). For the order of judgment is arranged according to the diversity of sin, so that those who have offended less are purged first. And the last enemy to be destroyed is death. Therefore, when Israel has been freed from hard bondage, he will take up a parable against the king of Babylon, which we ought to understand as a parable. For if the discourse is against Nebuchadnezzar, and a simple exposition of the history, how is it called a parable, when it παραβάλλεται, that is, is compared, to nothing else? Israel therefore wonders how the oppressor has ceased, who was accustomed to exact payment down to the last farthing. And he was accustomed to exact from none but debtors, who say in the Lord's Prayer: Forgive us our debts, as we also forgive our debtors (Matt 6:12). To this exactor debtors are handed over by the judge, who sends them into prison and exacts down to the least sin. Accordingly Paul the apostle too handed over to the exactor the Corinthian fornicator, who had taken his father's wife, and also Phygellus and Hermogenes (1 Cor 5; 2 Tim 1). And of these exactors it is also said above: My people, your oppressors plunder you; and those who demand payment rule over you. For tribute Aquila translated famine. For since the bridegroom has been taken from us, we suffer a famine of the word of God and fast continually from the body of the Lord.

How has the taskmaster ceased, the tribute come to rest? The Lord has broken the staff of the wicked, the rod of the rulers, that struck the peoples in indignation, that subdued the nations in fury with an incurable blow, that persecuted cruelly: it has come to rest and fallen silent: the whole earth has rejoiced and exulted. This is the voice of Israel lamenting and pitying: how one who was once a lord and conqueror of the lands, despoiling everything with tributes, has been crushed and brought to nothing. He, I say, who was the staff of the wicked, who as sceptre and royal rod struck all in his fury, whose blow could not be endured, who cruelly pursued even those who fled: how he has come to rest and been humbled, and at his ruin the whole earth has fallen silent, uttering only the voice of exultant joy!

According to Isaiah, in which lament is offered on behalf of the king of Babylon, much can be learned about the origin and beginning of evil. Evil derived its existence from some who had lost their wings by following the one who was first to lose his own wings.

You shall take up this parable, that is, a sermon of similitudes, which says one thing and signifies another: for the things spoken of in the parable signify the condition of Nabuchodonosor, as to his power, his fault and his punishment, because of which these things could have happened, even if they did not happen: against the king of Babylon; in that day a parable shall be taken up upon you, and a song shall be sung with melody (Mic 2:4); shall not all these take up a parable against him? (Hab 2:6).

The insult itself is set out: and first, of the living; second, of the dead: hell below (Isa 14:9). The insult of the living contains three things: his destruction with the fault which he committed in exacting tributes: how is the exactor come to nothing.

Because the Lord Jesus would destroy their staff, that is, their power to oppress, Isaiah said, "How has the oppressor ceased and the tax ended? Was his oppressor's staff destroyed?" It befits Christians to be cautious, therefore, and it is right for the people of the Lord to be observant, lest oppressors who had once been repelled by divine grace should rouse themselves again to demand the kind of taxes which are paid with spiritual delinquency.

And for this reason the rod and staff of the ungodly, for which the Seventy translated yoke, strikes us, or oppresses us, because we would not bear the lightest yoke, the yoke of the Savior. And with this staff and this rod he struck the nations with incurable fury, and cruelly pursued those who fled: not wishing to amend those handed over to him, but to kill them.

In inflicting punishments on men: the Lord has broken the staff of the wicked, the rod of the rulers, that struck the people in wrath, as though in reply to a preceding question; in attacking kingdoms: that brought nations under: how is the hammer of the whole earth broken, and destroyed (Jer 50:32).

That struck the people in wrath with an incurable wound, that brought nations under in fury, that persecuted in a cruel manner: how is the hammer of the whole earth broken, and destroyed (Jer 50:32).

The whole earth has come to rest and fallen silent; it has rejoiced and exulted; the fir trees too have rejoiced over you, and the cedars of Lebanon. Since you have fallen asleep, no one comes up to cut us down. Hell beneath was troubled: to meet your coming it stirred up the giants for you. All the princes of the earth have risen from their thrones; all the princes of the nations, all of them will answer and say to you: You too have been wounded as we were, you have become like us? Your pride has been dragged down to hell, your corpse has fallen; beneath you the moth will be spread, decay, and worms will be your covering. At the destruction of the ungodly king, who struck the nations with an incurable stroke and pursued them cruelly, the whole earth came to rest and fell silent, which before was full of tumults and sedition, so much so that the fir trees and the cedars of Lebanon rejoiced, of which it is written in the psalms: You brought a vine out of Egypt, you cast out the nations and planted it. Its shade covered the mountains, and its branches the cedars of God (Ps 79 [80]:9). These cedars of God, because at one time they sinned, the Lord handed over to punishments to be broken. Hence in another psalm it is said: The Lord will break the cedars of Lebanon (Ps 28 [29]:5). And the fir trees ought to be taken as all the lofty, those who are sublime in the service of the Lord, who said with harmonious voice: Since you have fallen asleep. Note that even the death of death is called a sleeping. No one comes up to cut us down. For when the strong man has been overcome and his vessels plundered, the rest of his attendants also have fallen. Hence the Lord too says in the Gospel (Matt 25:41): Depart into the eternal fire, which has been prepared for the devil and his angels. How many have these fellers of timber and trees cut down with their axes and made to fall?

Second, it contains the ensuing peace: the whole earth is quiet, ceasing from that tumult, and still, ceasing from weeping, it is glad, in your destruction, and has rejoiced, in its liberation: the just shall rejoice when he shall see the revenge (Ps 58:10).

The fir trees too have rejoiced over you, and the cedars of Lebanon: Since you fell asleep, no one has come up to cut us down. By the fir trees and cedars of Lebanon understand the princes of the nations, who were cut down when Nebuchadnezzar struck them; and they too, breaking out into a voice of joy, say: Since you were led down to the underworld, no one else could be found to cut down the great and the mighty.

Third, it contains the eagerness of the princes: the fir trees also, which signify those elevated in dignity; similar to this is what is found in Ezekiel 31:8: the cedars in the paradise of God were not higher than he. You have slept, with the sleep of the dead; cut us down, that is, kill us.

The underworld beneath you was thrown into confusion, at the meeting of your coming it roused up giants for you: all the princes of the earth have risen from their thrones: all the princes of the nations, every one, will answer and say to you. These things are to be read emphatically and in the manner of a stage scene; not because they happened, but because they could have happened; unless perhaps we believe that the souls of the kings whom he had killed came to meet the Babylonian king, mocking him. For it is a solace in evils when men see their enemies suffer the same things:

Hell too, troubled, or turned to bitterness, to meet the coming of the true Nebuchadnezzar, is the place of punishments and torments, in which the rich man clothed in purple is seen: to which the Lord also descended, to release the bound from prison. We can also call hell, coming to meet him, that angel who is set over the punishments of hell, who stirred up all the giants: for which some have translated Raphaim, others Titans. And they are called giants according to the custom of the heathen, who suppose them earth-born, whom the earth begot. But we, according to the etymology of the Greek word, can call giants those who have served earthly works. Then there follows: All the princes of the earth have risen from their thrones, at the coming of their former prince: so that him whom they formerly honored for his power they might afterward marvel at in punishments, and say: You too have been wounded as we also were: you have become like us. These words have this sense: We thought that we, because of our weakness, had not been able to resist the power of God, and that you alone were the one who would remain in your loftiness; but, as the facts show, you too have been wounded and taken, and have become like us; so that those whom rank separated on earth, punishment unites in hell.

Hell below. Here the insult of the dead against Nabuchodonosor is set out, and first, that of the princes and the powerful, second, of the others: they that shall see you (Isa 14:16).

Concerning the first, he does two things. First, he sets out the meeting with the lower regions, as to the ministers of punishments or officials: hell, that is, the devil, who is set over hell, below, for hell is below, was in an uproar, that is, turned to tumult, as if this could happen, below (ch. 30). Likewise as to other powers rushing in: it will stir up the giants for you, as though to rise to you with them; giants, as to the strong in body, below: let not the dead live, let not the giants rise again (Isa 26:14).

All the princes of the earth, as to kings, to whom it belongs to sit in thrones; the princes of the nations, as other power; but they are risen up.

And you too have been wounded as we were, you have become like us: your pride has been dragged down to the underworld: there has fallen your corpse; beneath you the moth will be spread, and worms will be your covering. The speech of the mighty ones and princes of the earth, whom he had called cedars and fir trees above, is addressed to the Babylonian king, now placed in the underworld. We no longer grieve that we were cut down, since you too have fallen by the same axe. All your power, and your pride lifted up to heaven, has been dragged down to the earth. So will your corpse too feed the moth, and a multitude of swarming worms cover it? Through death you will feel the worthlessness of man, you who displayed the power of God in yourself.

All, namely, all the giants of hell, shall answer, as if you had summoned them, or as though crying.

Second, he sets out their reproach. And they reproach him with three things: namely, the punishment which he found, as to his death: you also are wounded, in death, by the force of divine power: you have humbled the proud one, as one that is wounded (Ps 89:10).

Your pride has been dragged down to hell, or your glory, and your corpse has fallen, or, as the Seventy translated, your great gladness, in which you formerly rejoiced when the nations were subject to you. Beneath you decay will be spread, and worms will be your covering. This is the rest of the devil, this the bed of the tempter, who was lifted up into such pride that he dared even to tempt the Lord, saying: All these I will give you, if you will fall down and worship me (Matt 4:9). The decay and the moth and the covering of worms are understood either as the eternal punishments which one's own conscience begets, or as the material of torments, which is born from one's own sins. For just as, so long as there is matter in a corpse and any moisture in the corpse, worms are born from decay, so from the very matter of sins torments are begotten. Hence the Apostle Paul too, death having been slain, to which the prophetic word spoke through Hosea: I will be your death, O death; I will be your bite, O hell (Hos 13:14), says to it: Where is your contention, O death? Where is your sting, O death (1 Cor 15:55)? For when it is dead, there is no one to cut us down: for there will by no means be sin that must be cut down, since the sting of death is sin.

Then as to the humiliation of the dead man, both in soul, your pride is brought down to hell, and in body, your carcass of death is fallen down; then also as to the affliction of the dead man in hell: under you shall the moth be strewed; worms, in which all the punishments of hell are designated: he will give fire, and worms into their flesh, that they may burn, and may feel for ever (Jdt 16:21).

[On why God created the world:] And lest we seem to have passed over the mystery, or rather to have been ignorant why the world was made, we say that the apostasy of the Devil drew many angels, that is, spiritual powers, with him into transgression, when he willed by wicked presumption to defend a kingdom for himself. This the prophet Isaiah signifies, saying, “How are you fallen from heaven, O Lucifer, who used to rise in the morning?” (Isa. 14:12); that is, you who appeared brighter than the rest. For he was a sort of prince of many, among whom he was more splendid, and with whose company he descended into wicked conflict. Seeing beneath himself many spiritual powers, since in the paradise of God he was more excellent in the knowledge of the heavenly mystery, swollen with pride itself, he wished to be called god. In this, moreover, we see in the present life that some have imitated his example: men who, puffed up by the contemplation of the troops of soldiers gathered around them, and with their attendants supplying fuel for conspiracy in this matter, have tried to claim dominion for themselves. From this it came about that God, in order to destroy his presumption not by power but by reason, created matter which would be a confusion of things, from which He would make the world.

It was by a kind of strength that man offended, so as to require to be corrected by weakness: for it was by a certain "pride" that he offended; so as to require to be chastened by humility. All proud persons call themselves strong people. Therefore have many [others] "come from the East and the West" and have attained "to sit down with Abraham, and Isaac and Jacob, in the kingdom of heaven." Therefore, how was it that they so attained? Because they would not be strong. What is meant by "would not be strong"? They were afraid to presume of their own merits. They did not "go about to establish their own righteousness," that they might "submit themselves to the righteousness of God." … Behold! you are mortal; and you bear about you a body of flesh that is corrupting away: "And you shall fall like one of the princes. You shall die like human beings" and shall fall like the devil. What good does the remedial discipline of mortality do you? The devil is proud, as not having a mortal body, as being an angel. But as for you, who have received a mortal body, and to whom even this does no good, so as to humble you by so great weakness, you shall "fall like one of the princes." This then is the first grace of God's gift, to bring us to the confession of our infirmity, that whatever good we can do, whatever ability we have, we may be that in him; that "he that glories, may glory in the Lord." "When I am weak," he says, "then am I strong."

For example, what is said in Isaiah, "How he is fallen from heaven, Lucifer, son of the morning!" and the other statements in that context that speak of the king of Babylon are of course to be understood of the devil. However, the statement that is made in the same place, "He that sent orders to all nations is crushed on the earth," does not altogether fitly apply to the head himself.

The first among the Angels, Lucifer, presuming upon his private good, sought private excellence, wishing to be raised above the others; and therefore he fell together with the rest who consented to him. Falling, moreover, he became impenitent, obstinate and blinded and excluded from the contemplation of God and disordered in operation, striving with all his effort to subvert man through manifold temptation. Since through the free choice of the will he could tend toward the supreme good or turn toward his private good, Lucifer, aroused by the consideration of his own beauty and loftiness to love himself and his own private good, presumed upon the loftiness he possessed and sought his own excellence, yet not one that was obtained; and by this, in presuming, he made himself his own principle, glorying in himself; and in seeking, he made himself his own supreme good, resting in himself. But since he was neither the supreme principle nor the supreme good, it was necessary that by his disordered ascent he should fall; and by equal reason, all who consented in this. And immediately when he fell into sin, together with the rest who adhered to him, he lost the highest place, namely the empyrean, descending to the lowest, namely the murky air or hell, so that the fall into guilt was through free choice, but the fall into punishment was through divine judgment.

Good and evil, then, are not on all fours. Badness is not even bad in the same way in which goodness is good. Ormuzd and Ahriman cannot be equals. In the long run, Ormuzd must be original and Ahriman derivative. The first hazy idea of devil must, if we begin to think, be analysed into the more precise ideas of 'fallen' and 'rebel' angel.

Now it is impossible at this point not to remember a certain sacred story which, though never included in the creeds, has been widely believed in the Church and seems to be implied in several Dominical, Pauline, and Johannine utterances--I mean the story that man was not the first creature to rebel against the Creator, but that some older and mightier being long since became apostate and is now the emperor of darkness and (significantly) the Lord of this world.

It seems to me, therefore, a reasonable supposition, that some mighty created power had already been at work for ill on the material universe, or the solar system, or, at least, the planet Earth, before ever man came on the scene: and that when man fell, someone had, indeed, tempted him. This hypothesis is not introduced as a general "explanation of evil": it only gives a wider application to the principle that evil comes from the abuse of free-will. If there is such a power, as I myself believe, it may well have corrupted the animal creation before man appeared.

And do you now begin to see why Christianity has always said that the devil is a fallen angel? That is not a mere story for the children. It is a real recognition of the fact that evil is a parasite, not an original thing. The powers which enable evil to carry on are powers given it by goodness. All the things which enable a bad man to be effectively bad are in themselves good things—resolution, cleverness, good looks, existence itself. That is why Dualism, in a strict sense, will not work.

If you mistake for your own merits what are really God's gifts to you through nature, and if you are contented with simply being nice, you are still a rebel: and all those gifts will only make your fall more terrible, your corruption more complicated, your bad example more disastrous. The Devil was an archangel once; his natural gifts were as far above yours as yours are above those of a chimpanzee.

The Word clearly demonstrates many things in this passage: the lunacy of that spirit, his fall from what was good to what was bad, and the result of his fall. Having pronounced many terrible threats against humanity he realized that they had the possibility of falling into evil by virtue of their own free will. Therefore he turned them from a good state to a bad one, leading the many souls by the lure of desire to every fashion of evil. There was no device he did not attempt. With the myths of the gods and impure stories he tempted his victims with the things they loved and the things that gave them pleasure.… Soon, according to the blessed apostle, they no longer pondered the works of God that still illumined the heavens.

It is the prince of the world; but it is also a usurper. So he will apprehend vaguely what the vision will give to him vividly; no less than all that strange story of treason in heaven and the great desertion by which evil damaged and tried to destroy a cosmos that it could not create. It is a very strange story and its proportions and its lines and colours are as arbitrary and absolute as the artistic composition of a picture. It is a vision which we do in fact symbolise in pictures by titanic limbs and passionate tints of plumage; all that abysmal vision of falling stars and the peacock panoplies of the night. But that strange story has one small advantage over the diagrams. It is like life.

[Daniel 4:4] "I, Nebuchadnezzar, was at ease in my house and prospering in my palace." The narrative is clear indeed and requires but little interpretation. Because he displeased God, Nebuchadnezzar was turned into a madman and dwelt for seven years amongst the brute beasts and was fed upon the roots of herbs, Afterwards by the mercy of God he was restored to his throne, and praised and glorified the King of heaven, on the ground that all His works are truth and His ways are justice and He is able to abase those who walk in pride. But there are some who claim to understand by the figure of Nebuchadnezzar the hostile power which the Lord speaks of in the Gospel, saying: "I beheld Satan falling from heaven like lightning" (Luke 10:18). Likewise John in Revelation, in the passage where the dragon falls upon the earth drawing a third of the stars with him (Revelation 12:4). Likewise Isaiah: "How hath the morning star fallen, which used to rise early in the morning" (Isaiah 14:12). These authorities assert that it was absolutely impossible for a man who was reared in luxury to subsist on hay for seven years and to dwell among wild beasts for seven years without being at all mangled by them. Also they ask how the imperial authority could have been kept waiting for a mere madman, and how so mighty a kingdom could have gone without a king for so long a period. If, on the other hand, anyone had succeeded him on the throne, how foolish he would have to be thought to surrender an imperial authority which he had possessed for so long. Such a thing would be especially incredible since the historical records of the Chaldeans contain no such record, and since they recorded matters of far less import, it is impossible that they should have left things of major importance unmentioned. And so they pose all of these questions and offer as their own reply the proposition that since the episode does not stand up as genuine history, the figure of Nebuchadnezzar represents the devil. To this position we make not the slightest concession; otherwise everything we read in Scripture may appear to be imperfect representations and mere fables. For once men have lost their reason, who would not perceive them to lead their existence like brutish animals in the open fields and forest regions? And to pass over all other considerations, since Greek and Roman history offer episodes far more incredible, such as Scylla and the Chimaera, the Hydra and the Centaurs, and the birds and wild beasts and flowers and trees, the stars and the stones into which men are related to have been transformed, what is so remarkable about the execution of such a divine judgment as this for the manifestation of God's power and the humbling of the pride of kings? Nebuchadnezzar says, "'I was at ease in my house and prospering in my palace...'" or as Theodo-tion renders it "upon my throne." Now those who follow the interpretation we are opposing understand by the devil's home this world of ours. Concerning the world Satan himself in the Gospel says to the Savior: "All these things have been given over to me" (Luke 4:6). Likewise the Apostle says: "The world lieth in the Wicked One" (1 John 5:19).

Lucifer fell, Lucifer who used to rise at dawn; and he who was raised in a paradise of delight had the well-earned sentence passed upon him: "Though you exalt yourself as the eagle, and though you set your nest among the stars, thence will I bring you down, says the Lord." For he had said in his heart, "I will exalt my throne above the stars of God," and "I will be like the Most High."

How have you fallen from heaven, Lucifer, who rose in the morning? You have crashed to the earth, you who wounded the nations? LXX: How has Lucifer fallen from heaven, who rose in the morning? He who sent to all the nations has been crushed to the earth. For Lucifer, who in Hebrew is called ELIL (הילל), Aquila translated howling son of the dawn. For truly he ought to howl and wail, who because of his pride was cast headlong from heaven to earth and crushed. Hence the Savior too says to the disciples: I saw Satan falling like lightning from heaven (Luke 10:18). Not, I see now; but I saw before, when he fell. And if he fell from so great a height because of pride, you too ought not to glory because the demons are subject to you, but because your names are written in heaven; so that whence he fell through pride, you may ascend through humility. This is the prince of the world, who rose in the morning among the other stars, and by his own fault was made from Lucifer into Vesper, and not rising but setting: who wounded the nations, or who sent his attendants to the nations, to deceive all by his fraud. These are the false apostles, deceitful workers, who transform themselves into Apostles of Christ, who sow darnel over the good seed while the teachers of the Churches sleep and are unwilling or unable to resist their malice. And Jacob, and Israel, on whom the Lord has had mercy and whom he has chosen, still says these things to the devil, or, as the Seventy will have it, about the devil, that is, not in the second person but in the third.

How you have fallen from heaven, Lucifer, who rose in the morning: you have crashed to the earth, you who wounded the nations: who said in your heart: I will ascend into heaven, above the stars of God I will exalt my throne, I will sit on the mountain of the covenant, in the sides of the North; I will ascend above the height of the clouds, I will be like the Most High. In place of what we have translated, for ease of understanding, How you have fallen from heaven, Lucifer, who rose in the morning, in the Hebrew, to render it word for word, one reads: How you have fallen from heaven, howl, son of the dawn. Now in other words Lucifer is meant; and he is told that he ought to weep and mourn, he who was once so glorious that he was compared to the brightness of the morning star. Just as, he says, the morning star, scattering the darkness, shines forth burning and ruddy, so your progress too among the peoples and in public seemed like a bright star; but you have fallen to the earth, you wounder of nations, who in your pride said: I have attained such power that heaven remains for me, and the stars, so that the things on high must lie beneath my feet. The Jews, however, would have heaven and the stars of God understood of themselves, on the strength of what follows: I will sit on the mountain of the covenant, that is, in the Temple, where the ordinances of God are laid up, and in the sides of the North, that is, in Jerusalem. For it is written: The mountains of Zion, the sides of the North (Ps 47 [48]:3). Nor had it been enough for his pride to desire heavenly things, unless he had burst out into such madness as to claim for himself the likeness of God.

It is most clearly proved by these words that he who formerly was Lucifer and who "arose in the morning" has fallen from heaven. For if, as some suppose, he was a being of darkness, why is he said to have formerly been Lucifer or lightbearer? Or how could he "rise in the morning" who had in him no light at all?… So he was light once … when "his glory was turned into dust."

How can we possibly suppose that what is said in many places by Scripture, especially in Isaiah, about Nebuchadnezzar is said about a human being? For no human being is said to have "fallen from heaven" or to have been "Lucifer" or the one who "arose every morning."

Second, they reproach him with the glory he has lost. Both as to the dignity of the king: O Lucifer, beautiful among all other kings, in the morning, monarch before all others; and as to the power of war: how are you fallen to the earth: you, therefore, are the head of gold. And after you shall rise up another kingdom, inferior to you (Dan 2:38-39).

For what proud enemy can there be against the servants of God, who exalts himself against God and says: I will ascend into heaven, I will place my seat above the stars of heaven: I will sit on a lofty mount, above the high mountains that are from the north: I will ascend above the clouds, and I will be like the Most High? Therefore, it is not surprising if he can burden men, who with obstinate spirit do not yield to God. How then will he preserve the measure of truth and faith in man, who promises himself to be equal to the Almighty Lord with blasphemous and shameless falsehood? How he falsely accuses individuals, who has amazed the whole earth, shaken kings, laid waste the entire world, and destroyed cities: he did not release those who were in captivity. Let us beware, therefore, lest he destroy the walls of our soul, lest he demolish the defenses of our mind, lest he set his throne above the stars. He sets it above the stars when he deceives the chosen, when he circumvents the just, whose works shine like stars in the sky.

When the Lord Jesus redeemed the human race through obedience and restored justice, the serpent introduced sin through disobedience; we can estimate the extent of this vice, of which the author is the devil, whom the Prophet introduces saying: I will set my throne above the clouds, and I will be like the Most High. Therefore, since he is most wicked, he did not give honor to our Lord God; nevertheless, he educated worse disciples. For he exalted himself in such a way that he wanted to be equal and similar to the Most High: but his disciple, as signified by the Apostle, would be indignant to be considered equal and similar to God. For it is written: When the man of sin and son of perdition is revealed, who opposes and exalts himself above every so-called god. Therefore, the teacher considers himself similar, this one superior. And so the Lord said to his disciples: You will do greater things; so that to those whom the serpent had taken away more than he himself had lost, Christ would give greater things than he had done on earth. For he wanted to deceive the prince of the world in himself, to triumph in the disciples.

WHY WAS THE SON OF GOD SENT, AND NOT ANOTHER? — Although everything that God does must be believed to be done reasonably and providentially, I nevertheless think it better if, after faith, the cause of what is done can also be noticed, so that what is believed is not unknown. Therefore the Lord says: “Now this is eternal life: that they may know you, the only true God, and Jesus Christ whom you have sent” (Jn. 17:3). For first what is said by the Prophet must be believed, and then what is believed must be known; because the Holy Spirit helps the faithful and diligent person in this matter, so that by coming to know he may understand the rationale of faith. Then he enjoys the full joy of his believing, if he understands what he believes. For this is the strength of faith, this the immovable foundation of belief: to learn the mystery. For where there is only faith, devotion is not so pure, and deception can gain entrance. Therefore the chosen vessel labors so that believers may learn the rationale of their faith. For when they have come to know how great he is in whom they have trusted, and what his power is, they will by no means and in no way allow themselves to be turned away from hope in him. Therefore we read the saying: “Taste and see that the Lord is sweet” (Ps. 34:9), so that by deliberate effort they may know the flavor of his divinity, understanding that nothing is wiser than to believe in Christ. For this reason the Teacher of the Gentiles says among other things: “In whom are hidden all the treasures of the wisdom and knowledge of God” (Col. 2:3); and again, “I know,” he says, “whom I have believed, and that he is able to guard my deposit” (2 Tim. 1:12). Therefore this man knows the rationale of his faith and does not doubt the power of him who understands that all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge are hidden in the mystery of the birth, passion, and resurrection of Christ. So, with faith remaining, I long conferred with myself to know why our Lord came incarnate from holy and heavenly seats down to earth, and not another from among those whom the Lord himself calls holy angels. For it seems unfitting to his person that he should have undertaken this work, unless the cause of the deed is known. Indeed this is what troubles many. For the providence of God the Father could have carried out this business through another person, in order both to show the truth to men who were in error, and to restrain the arrogant and envious Devil, who begrudges salvation, together with his satellites, and to despoil him once defeated. For the stubbornness and irreverence of most wicked servants ought to have been curbed by subordinate ministers, so that the Lord of all should not experience something unworthy of himself. For Satan does not have such great force and power that he could in no way be overcome by another power of the same order, since it is clear that by God’s help he is even conquered by men. For although the comparison is unequal if we take examples from earthly affairs, still it suits reason in some respect. For against the servant who rebelled against King David, Joab, his fellow-servant, was sent to pursue and kill him; and against Absalom, wicked toward his father, this task was laid upon the servants (2 Kings 20:6 and 15:14): how much more would the worth of one among many have suited to conquer the tyranny of the Devil; since we read that, challenging against Michael the archangel, he could not hold out, but was cast down to the earth (Rev. 12:7–9)? Often reflecting on this, I knew only this: that he himself was sent by the Father lest it should touch the Father as an injury if a work done by him were corrected by another; but to know this was little. For it did not avail for so great and wondrous a cause, unless something else were also grasped that would help toward the secret understanding. Therefore it came about that I noticed that the cause itself demanded that the one who came should come in just this way. Reason itself required that he should come to subdue the one who had seized his dignity and merit. For after God the Father the Devil wanted to be called god, which he even now still strives for, though the matter did not belong to him, but to the Son of God, who after the Father is second as God, not by nature but by order. Therefore for dealing with this cause no one ought to have come but Christ our Lord: who came not only to subdue the Devil, but also to reveal himself to every creature; so that, with the Devil’s person rejected, they might recognize him whose rule and majesty Satan had presumed upon; and thereafter, once the truth was known, they might abandon error, being certain that Christ is the Son of God, who alone is God from God, and the head or ruler of all things, whether those in heaven or those on earth. For by the strength and power with which he overcame the tyrant Satan, he is shown to be the very one whose dominion the wicked Devil, who is Satan, had presumed upon. For when he unjustly wished to be called god so that he might rule spiritual powers (for which he is rebuked by the prophet saying, “For you have said in your heart: I will set my throne in the clouds, and I will be like the Most High” (Isa. 14:13–14), he deceived many, by whose conspiracy he became the prince of error. These are admonished in the Psalm to reject falsehood and receive truth. For it is said to them: “Lift up your gates, you princes; and be lifted up, you eternal gates; and the King of glory shall enter in.” (Ps. 24:7-10) For unless error is removed from the minds of unbelievers, they could not receive faith in the one God in Christ. For this they are taught: that, once the gates by which one goes to death, according to the unbelief established by the Devil, are taken away, they may receive the mysteries of faith by which one goes to life. These are what he signifies by the eternal gates; because the truth of faith is eternal, but unbelief is temporal, because falsehood is the invention of the Devil. For the Devil sowed on earth the transgression he had begun in heaven, urging the worship of many gods, among whom he might hold first place. For he wished to be the head and ruler of the others, which was not owed to him, but to the Savior. Therefore the Savior pursues him even to the earth, so that by subduing him he may show the transgression of his error, with the truth revealed in himself. Where it is said: “Truth is sprung out of the earth” (Ps. 84:12). For, cast down from heaven, he took refuge on earth, so that the divinity he had contemplated in the heights he might enact in the lower regions. Therefore the Apostle says: “So that he sits in the temple of God, showing himself as though he were God” (2 Thess. 2:4). For in whatever way he wishes to fulfill his desire, even if it means being damned: filled with madness he considers it less grievous to be damned than not to satisfy the greed of his error.

Now Nebuchadnezzar said, "I will ascend to heaven and exalt my throne above the stars of God and sit in the lofty mountains that are in the borders of the north." Isaiah said concerning him: "Because your heart has thus exalted you, therefore you shall be brought down to Sheol, and all that look upon you shall be astonished at you."

According to Christian teachers, the essential vice, the utmost evil, is Pride. Unchastity, anger, greed, drunkenness, and all that, are mere fleabites in comparison: it was through Pride that the devil became the devil: Pride leads to every other vice: it is the complete anti-God state of mind...

Pride gets no pleasure out of having something, only out of having more of it than the next man. We say that people are proud of being rich, or clever, or good-looking, but they are not. They are proud of being richer, or cleverer, or better-looking than others. If everyone else became equally rich, or clever, or good-looking there would be nothing to be proud about. It is the comparison that makes you proud: the pleasure of being above the rest...

But pride always mean enmity - it is enmity. And not only enmity between man and man, but enmity to God. In God you come up against something which is in every respect immeasurably superior to yourself. Unless you know God as that - and therefore, know yourself as nothing in comparison - you do not know God at all. As long as you are proud you cannot know God. A proud man is always looking down on things and people: and, of course, as long as you are looking down, you cannot see something that is above you.

When we have understood about free will, we shall see how silly it is to ask, as somebody once asked me: 'Why did God make a creature of such rotten stuff that it went wrong?' The better stuff a creature is made of—the cleverer and stronger and freer it is—then the better it will be if it goes right, but also the worse it will be if it goes wrong. A cow cannot be very good or very bad; a dog can be both better and worse; a child better and worse still; an ordinary man, still more so; a man of genius, still more so; a superhuman spirit best—or worst—of all.

How did the Dark Power go wrong? Here, no doubt, we ask a question to which human beings cannot give an answer with any certainty. A reasonable (and traditional) guess, based on our own experiences of going wrong, can, however, be offered. The moment you have a self at all, there is a possibility of putting yourself first—wanting to be the centre—wanting to be God, in fact. That was the sin of Satan: and that was the sin he taught the human race.

The devil regarded himself as great when he said, "I will set my throne at the north, and I will be like the Most High." Even today proud people count themselves greater than all others. But no one can be truly called great except God alone, for nothing can be remotely compared with his power; he is subject to no change but continues always in the glory of his nature.

And again: "I shall set my seat to the north, and I will be like the Most High." So he is rightly termed a calumniator, for while performing cruel deeds he always lays accusations against the devoted. Scripture elsewhere says of him, "He shall humble the oppressor, and he shall continue with the sun." So they most justly ask that the humble be not betrayed to the proud, the ingenuous to the liar, the pious to the ungrateful, for the persons whom those persecutors cannot seduce they treat with more savage violence.

Michael indeed means "Who is like God"; Gabriel, "the strength of God"; and Raphael is called "the medicine of God." And whenever something of wondrous power is accomplished, Michael is said to be sent, so that from the act itself and the name it may be understood that no one can do what God is able to do. Hence that ancient enemy, who through pride desired to be like God, saying: "I will ascend into heaven, I will exalt my throne above the stars of heaven, I will sit on the mountain of the covenant, on the sides of the north, I will ascend above the height of the clouds, I will be like the Most High," when at the end of the world he is left to his own power to be destroyed by the final punishment, is said to be about to fight with the archangel Michael, as it is said through John: "There was a battle with the archangel Michael," so that he who proudly raised himself to the likeness of God, slain by Michael, might learn that no one rises to the likeness of God through pride.

You who said in your heart: I will ascend into heaven, above the stars of God I will exalt my throne: I will sit on the mountain of the covenant, on the sides of the North: I will ascend above the height of the clouds, I will be like the Most High. He said these things either before he fell from heaven or after he had fallen from heaven. If he was still set in heaven, how does he say, I will ascend into heaven (Ps 113 [115]:16)? But because we read: The heaven of heaven is the Lord's, when he was in heaven, that is, in the firmament, he desired to ascend into the heaven where the throne of the Lord is, not by humility but by pride. But if he speaks these words after he fell from heaven, we ought to understand arrogance: that even when cast down he does not rest, but still promises himself great things, to be not among the stars but above the stars of God. And while the Lord says to the Apostles: It is enough for the disciple to be as his master, and for the servant as his lord (Matt 10:25), and says to the Father: Holy Father, grant that as I and you are one, so these also may be one in us (John 17:11), this one arrogates so much to himself that he boasts he will set his throne above the stars of heaven, which have not fallen. And what he adds: I will sit on the mountain of the covenant, on the sides of the North, for which the Seventy translated, on a lofty mountain, above the high mountains which are toward the North, let us refer to what is said in Jeremiah: From the North evils will blaze forth upon all the inhabitants of the earth (Jer 1:14). And that the pot set on fire is kindled from the face of the North. This is the North, the harshest wind, from which the Lord wishes to free his captives and bring them back into the holy city, saying: I will say to the North, Bring; and to the South-west wind, Do not hold back; bring my sons from a distant land (below, Isa 43:6). But that which can seem contrary to this, the mountains of Zion, the sides of the North, the city of the great king, is easily resolved. For those who once were in the sides of the North, most hardened, afterward through penance began to be in the city of God. Always a Lucifer of this sort seeks to ascend above those who bear the image of the heavenly, and who shine in the Church like the stars of God: and to sit on the mountain of the pact or covenant, that is, in the Church, which is set on high and possesses inhabitants who were once from the sides of the North.

It must also be said another way: the north wind is a very harsh wind, which makes very hard the hearts of those who dwell in its land, and from which evils are kindled upon all who dwell on the earth, and toward which, according to this very prophet Zechariah, the black horses go out, to take their stand in its region. He too who in Isaiah had said in his boasting: I will ascend into heaven, above the stars of heaven I will set my throne, I will sit on a lofty mountain, above the high mountains in the north, vaunts that he holds his kingdom in the coldest place of the earth.

Read in the letter of James how much evil the tongue can cause. The tongue knows no middle way; either it is a great evil or a great good; a great good when it acknowledges that Christ is God, a great evil when it denies that Christ is God. Let no one, therefore, harbor the illusion and claim: I have not committed sin in act; if I sinned, I sinned with my tongue. What more monstrous sin is there than blasphemy against God? Yet it is the tongue that is sinning. Why did the devil fall? Because he committed theft? Because he committed murder? Because he committed adultery? These are certainly evils, but the devil did not fall because of any of these; he fell because of his tongue. What was it that he said? "I will scale the heavens; above the stars I will set up my throne; I will be like the Most High!" Monks surely, then, have no right to think they are safe and say: We are in the monastery, and so we do not commit serious offenses; I do not commit adultery; I do not steal; I am not a murderer; I am not guilty of parricide; and so of all the rest of the big vices. But the devilish sins are those of the tongue. It is outrageous to detract from my brother; I am killing my brother with my tongue, for, "Everyone who hates his brother is a murderer."Listen to what Solomon says: "Death and life are in the power of the tongue." "In the power of the tongue," do you see how much evil there is in the tongue? It has power, for what does he say? "In the power of the tongue."

The one says, "I will exalt my throne above the stars of God"; the other, "Learn of me, for I am meek and lowly of heart." The one says, "I know not the Lord and will not let Israel go"; the other, "If I say that I know him not, I shall be a liar like unto you: but I know him and keep his commandments." The one says, "My rivers are mine, and I made them"; the other, "I can do nothing of myself, but my Father who abides in me, he does the works." The one says, "All the kingdoms of the world and the glory of them are mine, and to whomsoever I will, I give them"; the other, "Though he were rich, yet he became poor, that we through his poverty might be made rich." The one says, "As eggs are gathered together which are left, so have I gathered all the earth, and there was none that moved the wing or opened the mouth, or made the least noise"; the other, "I am become like a solitary pelican; I watched and became as a sparrow alone upon the roof." The one says, "I have dried up with the sole of my foot all the rivers shut up in banks"; the other, "Cannot I ask my Father, and he shall presently give me more than twelve legions of angels?" If we look at the reason of our original fall and the foundations of our salvation, and [if we] consider by whom and in what way the latter were laid and the former originated, we may learn, either through the fall of the devil or through the example of Christ, how to avoid so terrible a death from pride.

And because he "loved the words of ruin," with which he had said, "I will ascend into heaven," and the "deceitful tongue," with which he had said of himself, "I will be like the Most High," and of Adam and Eve, "You shall be as gods," therefore "shall God destroy him forever and pluck him out and remove him from his dwelling place and his root out of the land of the living." Then "the just," when they see his ruin, "shall fear, and shall laugh at him and say" (what may also be most justly aimed at those who trust that they can obtain the highest good without the protection and assistance of God): "Behold the man that did not make God his helper but trusted in the abundance of his riches and prevailed in his vanity."

There were some who dared in the opinion of the multitude to immortalize themselves; and notwithstanding that the very sense of sight bore witness to their mortality, were ambitious to be called gods, and were honoured as such; to what a length of impiety would not many men have proceeded, if death had not gone on teaching all men the mortality and corruptibility of our nature? Hear, for instance, what the prophet says of a barbarian king, when seized with this frenzy. "I will exalt," saith he, "my throne above the stars of heaven; and I will be like unto the Most High." Afterwards, deriding him, and speaking of his death, he says, "Corruption is under thee, and the worm is thy covering;" but his meaning is, "Dost thou dare, O man, whom such an end is awaiting, to entertain such imaginations?"

Third, they reproach him with the pride of heart which he had, as to three things: as to his proud thought; second, as to his perverse intention: I will be like the most high (Isa 14:14); third, as to the frustration of his proposal: but yet you shall be brought down to hell (Isa 14:15).

Now his thought was proud because he thought to usurp what belongs to God, according to the error of the gentiles, who believed that men are turned into gods, and that stars come to be from princes, as it says in 2 Maccabees 11:23: our father being translated amongst the gods; he also thought to usurp the divine place: I will ascend into heaven, above the stars of God, as if to say: for as I am above other the princes on earth, so will I be above other the stars in heaven; and divine worship: I will sit, as though receiving sacrifice, in the mountain of the covenant, that is, in the temple of God, which was on mount Zion, and in which was the testament of the law, in sides of the north, that is, in Jerusalem, which was on the north part of the mountain. And divine action: above the height of the clouds; as if to say: that I might send thunder and lightning. Or the clouds signify the prophets; heaven, the kingdom of the Jews; the stars, the Jews shining in the knowledge of God.

Note on the words, above the stars of God (Isa 14:13), that the saints are compared to stars: first, because of their number: who tells the number of the stars (Ps 147:4); thousands of thousands ministered to him, and ten thousand times a hundred thousand stood before him (Dan 7:10); second, because of their location: the beauty of heaven with its glorious show (Sir 43:1); but our conversation is in heaven (Phil 3:20); third, because of their different degrees: star differs from star in glory (1 Cor 15:41); fourth, because of the glow of their splendor: they that instruct many to justice, as stars for all eternity (Dan 12:3); fifth, because of their well-ordered motion: the stars, remaining in their order and courses, fought against Sisara (Judg 5:20); let all things be done decently and according to order among you (1 Cor 14:40); sixth, because of their appearance: as the morning star in the midst of a cloud (Sir 50:6); it has not yet appeared what we shall be (1 John 3:2); seventh, because of their circular figure: a woman appeared in heaven . . . and on her head a crown of twelve stars (Rev 12:1), by which is signified the perfection of their glory.

"He deemed it no robbery to be God's equal, yet he emptied himself and took on the form of a slave." This was by no means robbery! Who was the robber, then? Adam. And the primordial robber? The being who seduced Adam. How, then, did the devil seize what did not belong to him? "I will set my throne in the north; I shall be like the Most High," he said. He grabbed for himself something not given to him; that was robbery. The devil tried to usurp what had not been granted to him and thereby lost what he had been given. Then from the cup of his own pride he offered a drink to the humans he was trying to seduce, saying, "Taste it, and you will be like gods." They too wanted to make a grab at divinity, and they lost their happiness. The devil robbed and paid for it; but Christ declares, "I was discharging a debt, though I had committed no robbery."As the Lord approached his passion, he testified, "Now the prince of this world (that is, the devil) is coming, and he will find nothing in me (that means, he will find no justification for killing me). But so that the world may know that I am doing my Father's will, rise, let us leave here." And he went out to his passion, to pay back where he had committed no robbery. What else does his statement mean—"he will find nothing in me"? He will find no fault. Had the devil found anything missing from his house? Let the devil pursue any robbers he may find; "he will find nothing in me."

Both meditated iniquity, affecting height: the one, of power; the other, of knowledge. For the foolish woman believed him who promised, but who was deceiving: "You shall be as gods, knowing good and evil." Had he not already first deceived himself, he who had persuaded himself that he would be like the Most High? For he who thinks himself to be something, when he is nothing, deceives himself.

Therefore the devil was judged in fury, because his iniquity was found to be unto hatred; but man's unto wrath, and therefore he is chastised in wrath. Thus every height has been crushed, both that which puffs up and that which casts down, the Father indeed being zealous for the Son. For in both cases there is an injury to the Son: both from the usurped power against the power of God, which he himself is; and from the knowledge presumed from elsewhere than from the wisdom of God, which he no less is.

Michael indeed means "Who is like God"; Gabriel, "the strength of God"; and Raphael is called "the medicine of God." And whenever something of wondrous power is accomplished, Michael is said to be sent, so that from the act itself and the name it may be understood that no one can do what God is able to do. Hence that ancient enemy, who through pride desired to be like God, saying: "I will ascend into heaven, I will exalt my throne above the stars of heaven, I will sit on the mountain of the covenant, on the sides of the north, I will ascend above the height of the clouds, I will be like the Most High," when at the end of the world he is left to his own power to be destroyed by the final punishment, is said to be about to fight with the archangel Michael, as it is said through John: "There was a battle with the archangel Michael," so that he who proudly raised himself to the likeness of God, slain by Michael, might learn that no one rises to the likeness of God through pride.

[Daniel 7:4] "The first beast was like a lioness and possessed the wings of an eagle. I beheld until her wings were torn away, and she was raised upright from the ground and stood on her feet like a human being, and she was given a human heart." The kingdom of the Babylonians was not called a lion but a lioness, on account of its brutality and cruelty, or else because of its luxurious, lust-serving manner of life. For writers upon the natural history of beasts assert that lionesses are fiercer than lions, especially if they are nursing their cubs, and constantly are passionate in their desire for sexual relations. And as for the fact that she possessed eagle's wings, this indicates the pride of the all-powerful kingdom, the ruler of which declares in Isaiah: "Above the stars of heaven will I place my throne, and I shall be like unto the Most High" (Isaiah 14:14). Therefore he is told: "Though thou be borne on high like an eagle, thence will I drag thee down" (Obadiah 1:4). Moreover, just as the lion occupies kingly rank among beasts, so also the eagle among the birds. But it should also be said that the eagle enjoys a long span of life, and that the kingdom of Assyrians had held sway for many generations. And as for the fact that the wings of the lioness or eagle were torn away, this signifies the other kingdoms over which it had ruled and soared about in the world. "And she was raised up," he says, "from the ground"; which means, of course, that the Chaldean empire was overthrown. And as for what follows, "And she stood upon her feet like a human being, and she was given a human heart," if we understand this as applying to Nebuchadnezzar, it is very evident that after he lost his kingdom and his power had been taken away from him, and after he was once more restored to his original state, he not only learned to be a man instead of a lioness but he also received back the heart which he had lost. But if on the other hand this is to be understood as applying in a general way to the kingdom of the Chaldeans, then it signifies that after Belshazzar was slain, and the Medes and Persians succeeded to imperial power, then the men of Babylon realized that theirs was a frail and lowly nature after all. Note the order followed here: the lioness is equivalent to the golden head of the image [in chap. 2].

He has so forgotten himself that he wishes to ascend above the clouds, which the Lord commanded not to rain rain upon Israel, and to which the truth of the Lord reaches, to whom Obadiah also says: Though you be exalted like the eagle, and set your nest among the stars of heaven, thence I will drag you down, says the Lord (Obad 4). Unhappy Judas, who like a cloud was sent with the other Apostles to rain rain upon Israel, and was like a star among the other stars, to whom the Lord said: Let your light shine before men (Matt 5:16), by his own fault received the devil as his rider, who, to complete his words of pride, dared even to say this: I will be like the Most High, so that, as Christ has his Prophets and Apostles, so I too may have false apostles. All these things are to be referred to the heretics, who, though they are below, boast with their prince that they are on high.

I will be like the most high: here, his perverse intention: will you yet say before them that slay you: I am God? (Ezek 28:9).

For as long as vain, transitory, passing good is loved, man is "passing over." And such passing over Wisdom reproves. This passing over is the cause of every evil. In this way Lucifer passed over, to whom it was said: "Down to the nether world you go, to the recesses of the pit!" He was thrown first by sin, then by the judgment. Adam did the same: after he had given up the tree of life, he hid. Indeed, he saw himself denuded of all good habits. Wherefore he was thrown out of Paradise.

But you will be dragged down to the underworld, into the depth of the pit. He who in his pride had said: I will ascend into heaven, I will be like the Most High, is dragged down not only to the underworld but to the lowest underworld. For this is what the depth of the pit signifies, in place of which we read in the Gospel of the outer darkness, where there is weeping and gnashing of teeth (Luke 13:28).

But you will be dragged down to hell, into the depth of the pit. LXX: But now you will go down into hell, and to the foundations of the earth. You will not go down to hell of your own accord, for this belongs to the Lord the Savior, to free the bound from hell, but you will be dragged down to hell against your will, so that you who could have climbed to the heights through virtues are dragged down to punishments through vices. The saints have the wings of an eagle and the wings of a dove, and can say: I will fly away and be at rest (Ps 54 [55]). But the ungodly, like the Egyptians, sank like lead in the mighty waters, and sank into the depth like a stone (Exod 15). Hence also iniquity, or, as it is better in the Hebrew, ungodliness, is seen sitting upon a talent of lead (Zech 5). Therefore what we read elsewhere: Everyone who exalts himself will be humbled (Luke 18:14), the king of confusion also suffered, so that he was dragged down to the foundations of the earth, or, as it is more truly in the Hebrew, into the depth of the pit. Of the foundations of the earth it is written in Deuteronomy: A fire has been kindled in my fury, it will burn down to the lowest hell. It will devour the earth and its foundations (Deut 32:22), namely those who are earthly. Of the pit too, that by it the depths of hell are signified, these are the testimonies: I am counted with those who go down into the pit. And: They have laid me in the lowest pit (Ps 87 [88]:5, 7). For just as a pit receives the waters that run down into it, so hell receives souls: into which pit Benaiah went down in the time of snow and cold and slew a lion in it (2 Sam 23, and 1 Chr 11). Hence the heretics too forsake the Lord, the fountain of living water, and dig for themselves broken pits which cannot hold water. Of these pits, which do not have the fervor of the Holy Spirit, and are not like the prophet Jeremiah, who according to the Seventy translators said: I found warm water in the desert (Jer 2), but, as love grew cold, have lost the warmth of the Holy Spirit: that is the pit of which the same Jeremiah speaks: As a pit cools water, so wickedness cools those who have it (Jer 6:7). Would that they, according to the Apocalypse of John, were either hot or cold (Rev 3), that is, either believed or did not believe at all, lest through lukewarmness and the pretense of faith they be cast out by the Lord!

But yet: here, the frustration of his intention; into the depth of the pit, that is, into the harshest punishments: they spend their days in wealth, and in a moment they go down to hell (Job 21:31).

Those who see you will bow down to you, and will look closely at you. Is this the man who troubled the earth? who shook kingdoms? who made the world a desert, and destroyed its cities, and did not open the prison to its prisoners? Or, as the Seventy translated: did not release those who were being led away? Those who see Nebuchadnezzar, the Babylonian king, fallen from heaven to hell, with the gaze not of the eyes but of the heart, will bow down in the humility which is contrary to pride, and will look closely at him, saying these things: Is not this the man, or the human being, who troubled, or stirred up the earth? And the sense is this: he who had said, I will be like the Most High, and boasted himself God, is proved to be a man, of whom it is said in the ninth psalm, which is properly against the devil: Arise, O Lord, let not man prevail (Ps 9:20). And in the Gospel: An enemy man sowed tares over it (Matt 13:25). Hence we read it said to him and his companions: I said, You are gods, and all sons of the Most High. But you will die like men, and you will fall like one of the princes (Ps 81 [82]:6). And to the same, under the figure of the prince of Tyre, it is said: Because your heart has been exalted, and you have said, I am God, I have dwelt in the dwelling of God in the heart of the sea: yet you are a man and not God, and you have set your heart as the heart of God (Ezek 28:2). This man, this human being, troubled the whole earth, namely those who hear with Adam: Earth you are, and into earth you shall go (Gen 3:19), and shook kingdoms, or kings, whose heart is in the hand of the Lord (Prov 21). He shook them, it says, he did not overthrow them. Hence one of those who had been shaken, and yet had not fallen, said: But my feet were almost moved (Ps 72 [73]:2). And the Apostle tells believers to take up the armor of God and stand against the snares of the devil (Eph 6). But the house that is founded upon the rock is shaken by no storm (Matt 7).

Those who see you will bend down toward you and gaze at you (understand: saying): Is this the man who troubled the earth, who shook kingdoms, who made the world a desert and destroyed its cities; who did not open the prison to his captives? This too is the voice of those who mock and marvel, how the devastator of all has himself been devastated. And when he says: Who did not open the prison to his captives?, the greatness of his cruelty and impiety is expressed: that he kept even men in chains in prison, and chains were not enough for the wretches unless the horror of darkness also shut them in.

They that shall see you. Here the insult of the other, common persons, is set out. And first, he describes their meeting: all others that shall see you, being punished, shall bend to you, as if to say: you will be so far below these others that it will be necessary for them to bend down for them to see you: the mighty shall be mightily tormented (Wis 6:7).

Second, he sets out their reproach, and they reproach him with three things. First, the fault which he committed: is this the man that troubled the earth, in wars, that shook the kingdoms, changing dominions.

All this is explained mystically of the devil: he shakes the kingdoms (Isa 14:16), as the minister of punishment, and inciter of sin; his power was lessened by Christ, and in the day of judgment, he shall be pulled entirely into hell, who wished to ascend to heaven and to come to equality with the divine majesty, according to what is explained in the Gloss.

There follows: Who made the world a desert, or, as according to the Hebrew all the others besides the Seventy translated, as a desert. For by vices and sins he made the world, which in Hebrew is called THEBEL (תבל), a desert, so that it had no virtue, or was subject to the same vices with which the solitude of the nations is filled. He also destroyed the cities of that same world, to make synagogues of the devil out of the Churches of Christ, and to pollute the purity of the true faith with heretical filth. But also to its prisoners, that is, the world's, he did not open the prison. We were all prisoners, and were held shut up in prison, to which prisoners the Savior said, come out, and to those who were in darkness, be uncovered. For the Lord sets free those in fetters. And those freed by him give thanks, saying: You have broken my bonds (Ps 115 [116]:17; Jer 2, Prov 5). For each one is bound fast with the cords of his own sins: and these cords and bonds the Apostles too can loose, imitating their master, who had said to them: Whatever you loose upon earth will be loosed also in heaven (Matt 18). And the Apostles loose them by the word of God, and by the testimonies of the Scriptures, and by exhortation to the virtues.

That made the world a wilderness, exiling men, and destroyed the cities, overturning their governments, that opened not the prison to his prisoners, that they might see light: they spread their terror in the land of the living (Ezek 32:25).

All the kings of the nations, all of them, have slept in glory, each one in his own house. But you have been cast out of your tomb like corrupt matter: polluted, wrapped up with the slain and those pierced through by the sword, who go down to the stones of the pit. LXX: All the kings of the nations have slept in honor, a man in his own house. But you will be cast out on the mountains like an untimely birth, abominable, and wrapped up with those slain by the sword who go down to the foundations of the earth. The kings of the nations, to whom, according to the Song of Deuteronomy, God had entrusted the nations to be governed (Deut 32), who were shaken by Nebuchadnezzar and yet not overthrown, in whom sin by no means reigns; but because their heart was in the hand of God, they did not fall at all. For indeed the Savior, just as he is called God of gods, so too is he Lord of lords and King of kings. These kings, then, all of them, have rested in their glory, each one in his own house. For with the Father there are diverse mansions (John 14): and according to the variety of the virtues, differences of dwellings.

All the kings of the nations, every one, have slept in glory, each man in his own house. But you have been cast out of your tomb like a useless shoot, defiled and wrapped up with those who were slain by the sword, and went down to the foundations of the pit; like a rotting corpse you will have no fellowship, not even with them in burial. The Hebrews tell a fable of this kind. Evil-merodach, who had reigned earlier while his father Nebuchadnezzar lived for seven years among the beasts, was kept in chains together with Jehoiachin king of Judah, after his father had been restored to his kingdom, until his father's death; and when his father died and he succeeded to the kingdom again, and was not accepted by the princes, who feared that the man said to be dead might be alive, then, to give proof that his father was dead, he opened the tomb and dragged out his corpse with a hook and ropes. And the sense is: While all who were killed by you are buried, you alone will lie unburied. Others, however, interpret this place thus: All souls in the underworld will receive some rest; you alone will be bound fast in the outermost darkness. For you will be covered with the blood of all, and the gore of everyone will weigh upon you, as one wrapped in the putrid matter of the dead. Symmachus translated this place thus: Not even with those who are slain in war will you deserve to share in burial. And for what we have said, like a useless shoot, where in the Hebrew one reads CHANESER NETHAB (כנצר נתעב), Aquila translated like defiled putrid matter. Now NESER (נצר) properly denotes a sucker that springs up at the roots of trees and is cut off by farmers as useless; we can understand this very thing as putrid matter and corruption. And at the same time we learn that the underworld is beneath the earth, since Scripture says: To the foundations of the pit.

But Nebuchadnezzar has been cast out of his tomb, and not even in death has he rested from torments. And he has been cast out like corrupt matter, which in Hebrew is called NESER (נצר), which Aquila translated ἰχῶρα, namely putrefaction and filth, which Symmachus translated ἔκτρωμα, that is, an untimely birth, the Seventy a dead thing, Theodotion a shoot: although this very word above (Isa 11:1), where we read of Christ: A rod will come forth from the root of Jesse, and a flower will rise up from its root, the Seventy translated flower, Theodotion shoot, Aquila ἀκρέμονα, that is, sucker. Properly, however, Neser means sucker, which grows at the roots of trees and, torn off by farmers, is thrown away as useless; hence we too translated useless stock. Therefore Nebuchadnezzar, like a useless stock prepared for burning, or polluted like corrupt matter, and wrapped up with those who were slain by him with the sword and went down to the foundations of the pit, will be dragged down into the depth, and will not have fellowship in burial even with those whom he slew. For the punishment of the author of an offense is one thing, and that of him who was compelled by the author another. This is the sword by which very many have been wounded and slain, of which we read in the seventh psalm: Unless you are converted, he will brandish his sword; he has bent his bow and made it ready. And in it he has prepared the instruments of death: he has made his arrows for those who burn (Ps 7:13, 14), namely for those who have received into their heart the fiery darts of the devil. But according to the Seventy, the corpse of Nebuchadnezzar, polluted and pierced through, will lie with very many slain on the mountains of pride, and will be led down to hell. And Symmachus translated foundations of the pit in place of stones of the pit, to signify in other words the depth and the Tartarus of hell.

Like a putrid corpse, you will not have fellowship with them even in burial. For you have destroyed your land, you have slain your people. LXX: As a garment mixed with blood will not be clean, so neither will you be clean, because you have destroyed my land and have slain my people. Since the Hebrew and the edition of the Seventy differ greatly from each other, let us discuss each separately. Like a putrid corpse, or, as Aquila translated, trampled, you will not have fellowship of burial, not even with those whom you slew. For you are the teacher, they were the disciples: and from him to whom more has been entrusted, more is required. For you have destroyed your land, you have killed your people, namely those who were entrusted to you to govern. Hence he dares to say to the Savior: All these have been delivered to me, and I will give them to you, if you will fall down and worship me (Matt 4:9). And that the corpse of the devil is putrid because of the greatness of his sins, he will not be able to doubt who reads that sin is most foul-smelling, the sinner himself saying: My scars have putrefied and are corrupted because of my foolishness (Ps 37 [38]:6). On the contrary, virtue is of a good odor: hence the love of spiritual brethren is also compared to ointment, which runs down upon the beard, the beard of Aaron, and upon the border of his garment (Ps 132 [133]). And the bridegroom says to the bride: Your odor is sweet, and your face is comely (Song 2:14). And how the corpse of the devil is spiritually trampled, that saying of the Apostle teaches us: God will crush Satan under your feet swiftly (Rom 16:20). And the words of the Lord, who says: I will blot them out like the mud of the streets (Ps 17 [18]:43). This one, because he has destroyed the land entrusted to him, and slaughtered the people committed to him, by no means keeping them alive for God but preparing them as companions of his burial, therefore the seed of the most wicked will not be, nor will it be named, forever. But according to the Seventy it has this sense: O Lucifer, who rose in the morning, who, when you had the works of virtue and of light, were the garment of God, and of whom it could be said: Clothed with light as with a garment (Ps 103 [104]:2): because you have slain many with the sword who went down to hell, and have been polluted with their blood, you will by no means be called the garment of God, but a garment mixed with gore, not stained and polluted, so that you might seem to have something clean, but wholly bloodied with blood. And this is to be noted, that it is said to the devil: as a garment mixed with blood will not be clean, so neither will you be clean. Where then are those who grant the devil penance, and say that he can be made clean? Nor do we on that account at once concede the heresy which asserts that there are diverse natures, and that there is one which never receives healing. For this garment, with which God was once clothed, is not unclean of itself, and was not so made by God; but because it is mixed with blood, and has wholly polluted itself by its own fault, and with evils added to it, it will not be clean. And it will not be clean for this reason: because it has destroyed the land of the Lord and slain his people, destroying and slaying the land of Judea and the land of confession and all the saints: and therefore it will not remain forever. Hence also in the Gospel it is said: Depart into the eternal fire, which has been prepared for the devil and his angels (Matt 25:41). And just as the saint is the garment of God, and a new garment, and is clothed with the tunic of salvation and of gladness, saying: Let my soul exult in the Lord: for he has clothed me with the garment of salvation, and has surrounded me with the tunic of gladness (Isa 61:10), so on the contrary the sinner, who bears the image of the old and earthly man, deserves to hear: Behold, all of you will grow old like a garment, and the moth will devour you (Isa 50:9). But he who has advanced in wickedness, and has been unwilling to cleanse his oldness by newness, will be compared not to an old garment but to the rag of a menstruous woman, saying: We have gone astray, and we have all become unclean; all our righteousness is like the rag of a menstruous woman.

Second, they reproach him with the grave he has lost, for he was exhumed by his son, who divided his corpse into two-hundred pieces and bound the pieces to just as many birds gathered from different lands, that he might not rise again: defiled, by the blood of those whom you killed: he shall be buried with the burial of an ass (Jer 22:19).

For you have destroyed your own land, you have slain your own people. According to the Seventy interpreters, who said: Because you have destroyed my land, and slain my people, there is no doubt what they mean. For Nebuchadnezzar slew and destroyed the land of Judea and its people Israel. According to the Hebrew the understanding is difficult: how he destroyed his own land and slew his own people; unless perhaps it is to be taken in this sense: those whom God had given you for chastening, you have utterly destroyed. Or otherwise: the ancient kingdom of the Assyrians, through your great pride and your lifting up your neck against God, has been utterly destroyed. For had you behaved humbly and known your own measure, the Assyrian and the Babylonian would be reigning to this day. Or in this way: you were so cruel toward foreigners that in your fury you oppressed even the peoples subject to you.

The seed of the most wicked will not be named forever. Prepare his sons for slaughter in the iniquity of their fathers: they will not rise up, nor inherit the land, nor fill the face of the world with cities. All the histories agree that, after Belshazzar the grandson of Nebuchadnezzar was slain and Darius succeeded to the kingdom of the Chaldeans, no one of Nebuchadnezzar's stock reigned thereafter. This, then, is what Scripture foretells: that Babylon will come to such devastation that not even of the royal seed will anyone remain, but on account of the father's impiety all his offspring will be wiped out. And for what we translated in the last part of the sentence, nor fill the face of the world with cities, there is written in the Hebrew, for cities, ARIM (ערים), which we can also translate as adversaries; so that the sense is: no one of your seed will be raised up as an adversary who desires to restore the kingdom. According to the Seventy interpreters, who said: Most wicked seed, prepare your sons for slaughter because of the sins of your father, what sense it has I am unable to know.

Seed of the most wicked, prepare your sons for slaughter for the iniquities of their fathers: they will not rise up nor inherit the land, nor fill the face of the world with cities. And I will rise up against them, says the Lord of hosts: and I will destroy the name of Babylon and its remnant, and its offshoot and offspring, says the Lord of hosts. LXX: Most wicked seed, prepare your sons for slaughter for the sin of your father: that they may not rise up and possess the land, and fill the land with cities. And I will rise up against them, says the Lord Sabaoth: and I will destroy their name and remnant and seed. For most wicked seed, which the Seventy translated, in the Hebrew is written ZERA MRIM (זרע מרעים), which the others translated seed of the most wicked. Not that the seed itself is evil of itself: for God made all things good (Gen 1); but that from those who are most wicked by their own will an evil seed has sprung, which comes about by will, not by nature. Hence we read in Daniel too: Seed of Canaan, and not of Judah (Dan 13:56). And of good sons it is said by the Apostle: In Christ Jesus through the Gospel I have begotten you (1 Cor 4:15). And in the Gospel: As many as received him, to them he gave power to become sons of God (John 1:12). For everyone who commits sin is of the devil. To this seed, therefore, it is commanded that it prepare for slaughter its sons, namely all most wicked thoughts and evil works, which were born of ungodly fathers, who beyond doubt signify the hostile powers. These most wicked sons are slaughtered in the iniquities of their fathers for this reason: that they may no longer rise up and possess the land, which is to be possessed and filled by the saints, so that cities of the Lord may be built in it.

Third, they reproach him with the damage he inflicted on his own kingdom: you have destroyed your land, for the Chaldeans would have held the kingdom longer had it not been for the sins of Nabuchodonosor; for the people are punished for the fault of their prince, as is evident from Proverbs 31; the reason for this is that the people are accustomed to imitate the fault of their king: a prince that gladly hears lying words, has all his servants wicked (Prov 29:12).

The seed of the wicked shall not be named. Here he confirms the insult, and first, through the prophecy of the prophet; second, through the divine purpose: and I will rise up (Isa 14:22); third, through the support of the divine purpose: the Lord of hosts has decreed (Isa 14:27).

Concerning the first, he threatens three things. And first, the loss of his kingdom: the seed of the wicked, that is, the sons of Nabuchodonosor and their sons, shall not be named for ever, that is, his name will not survive in the honor of his kingdom.

And since the victory of men is not perfect: For unless the Lord guards the city, those who guard it will keep watch in vain (Ps 126 [127]:1): therefore the Lord himself will rise up against the sons of the most wicked, and will destroy out of confusion their name and remnant, and every offshoot and offspring, so that they may no longer sprout in the cities of the Lord. We read in the Gospel (John 8) that the devil is a liar from the beginning, and his father, that is, of the lie; which many not understanding wish the father of the devil to be the dragon who reigns in the sea, whom the Hebrews call Leviathan. And they think this suits the present passage according to the Seventy translators, who said: for the sins of your father: whereas in the Hebrew ABOTHAM (אבתם) plainly signifies not of your father but of their fathers.

Second, the killing of his sons by the Medes and Persians: prepare his children for slaughter in the iniquity, that is, for the iniquity, of their fathers.

Third, the impossibility of recovery, they shall not rise up; the face of the world, that is, of Babylon, which above (Isa 13:11) was referred to as the world: I am a jealous God, visiting the iniquity of the fathers upon the children (Exod 20:5); from the unlawful iniquity is born (Wis 4:6).

God's warning is twofold, one directed toward the submissive and the other toward obstinate minds. As was said about the submissive: "I will punish their crimes with a rod and their sins with a whip, but I will not remove my mercy from them or deceive them in my truth." But the wrath of God's rebuke upon obstinate sinners is unbearable, as Isaiah testifies: "The descendants of the evil will never be named. Prepare their sons to be killed for the iniquity of their fathers. They will not rise, or inherit the earth or fill the face of the world with children. 'And I will rise against them,' says the Lord of hosts, 'and I will destroy the name of Babylon and its seed and offspring,' said the Lord."

And I will rise up against them, says the Lord of hosts: and I will destroy the name of Babylon, and the remnant, and the offshoot, and the progeny, says the Lord. And I will make it a possession of the hedgehog, and pools of water: and I will sweep it with a broom, grinding it away, says the Lord of hosts. That Babylon was most mighty, and that, set foursquare on the plains, it extended sixteen thousand paces from corner to corner of the wall, that is, sixty-four thousand in all around its circuit, is reported by Herodotus and many others who have written Greek histories. And its citadel, that is, the Capitol of that city, is the tower which was built after the flood, and is said to reach four thousand paces in height, narrowing little by little from broad to narrow, so that the overhanging weight may be borne more easily by the broader parts. They describe marble temples there, golden statues, streets gleaming with stones and gold, and many other things that seem almost incredible. We have recounted all this to show that before the wrath of God all power is dust, and is to be compared to embers and ashes. If it were permitted to go into the barbarian nations and see the last traces of so great a city, we would see the possession of the hedgehog and the pools of water, and that what is now sung by the voice of Isaiah has truly been fulfilled: I will sweep it with a broom, grinding it away; for apart from the walls of baked brick, which are repaired after very many years in order to shut in the beasts, the whole space in between is a wilderness.

And I will rise up. Here the divine purpose to fulfill the prophecy is set out. And first, to destroy Babylon, as to the destruction of its men: against them, namely, the sons of Nabuchodonosor, I will destroy the name of Babylon, that is, the reputation of its power, the remains, his sons, and the offspring, his nephews and so forth: his seed shall not subsist, nor his offspring among his people (Job 18:19).

And I will make it a possession of the hedgehog, and pools of waters: and I will sweep it with a broom, grinding it, says the Lord of hosts. LXX: And I will make Babylonia desert, says the Lord, so that hedgehogs dwell in it, and it will come to nothing. And I will make it a gulf of mud, for destruction. When the Lord of hosts has destroyed the name of Babylon, and its remnant, and its offshoot, and all its offspring, he will not be content with its destruction unless he gives it as a possession to the hedgehog, and as pools of waters, and sweeps it, not lightly and casually, but grinding, so that nothing of its old filth remains in it. In the Acts of the Apostles it is written (Acts 10 and 11) that in that linen vessel which, let down by four corners, hung from heaven, all kinds of four-footed beasts and creeping things and birds were contained; which the Apostle afterward explaining says: God has shown me that I should call no man unclean. The characters of men, therefore, were shown in the various animals, just as the Pharisees and Sadducees are called a brood of vipers because of their wickedness, and Herod is called a fox because of his deceits (Luke 3 and 13); and the luxurious and those prone to pleasure are called horses, mad after women (Jer 5): and, Do not become like the horse and the mule, in which there is no understanding (Ps 31 [32]). On the contrary, the innocent are called doves and sheep. Therefore, according to the teaching of the Lord the Savior, who called the cares of this world and the seduction of riches thorns, the hedgehog seems to me to be he who, according to the Apostle, rejoices in the uncertainty of riches (1 Tim 6), and trusts that he is armed, not with the armor of God, but with the thorns and sins of this world, to whom that word of the Gospel is most rightly said: Fool, this night your soul will be taken from you; and what you have prepared, whose will it be (Luke 12:20)? Such inhabitants has Babylon, deserted of virtues, where there is no well-watered field to bear the fruits of various seeds, but barren pools, slimy and muddy, in which animals that delight in mire creep. For this reason the most merciful Lord swept it, grinding most vehemently, and as with a kind of drag-net cleansed it down to the bare ground, so that the Babylonian seeds might perish and it might be inhabited by hedgehogs alone. When we see anyone sunk in the mud of riches, and, as the Seventy translated, in the gulf, that is, in a deep whirlpool, and surrounded as it were by a miry pool, let us not hesitate to call him a hedgehog, an inhabitant of deserted Babylon.

As to it being inhabited by beasts: I will make it a possession for the hedgehog, below: there has the hedgehog had its hole, and brought up its young ones, and has dug round about (Isa 34:15). As to the destruction of its walls: I will sweep it, so that nothing will remain but pavement, like a house that has been cleansed with a broom.

The Lord of hosts has sworn, saying: If it is not so, that as I have thought, so it will be, and as I have pondered in my mind, so it will come to pass, that I will crush the Assyrian in my land, and tread him down upon my mountains: and his yoke will be taken from them, and his burden will be removed from their shoulder. He returns to the present, that is, to Sennacherib king of the Assyrians, who laid waste Samaria and Judea and, Jerusalem excepted, destroyed everything round about; and he joins things near at hand to things that are to come long afterward, so that the fear hanging over them may be removed: because those who heard could say: We are enduring a siege now, and this man promises things that will come many ages later. This, then, is the order of the prophecy: although Babylon is to be destroyed after very many years, and the whole seedbed of the stock of the Assyrians and of Chaldea is to be utterly destroyed, nevertheless, so that you may not fear the captivity close at hand, the Lord swears (who is to be believed even when he does not swear) that his judgment is not mistaken, and that what he has conceived in his mind will not be made void. And he speaks this with human feeling, namely that he who cannot be deceived is not deceived: I will crush, he says, the Assyrian in my land, and upon my mountains I will tread him down. For in one night one hundred and eighty-five thousand of the army of the Assyrians were destroyed, the Angel laying them waste (2 Kgs 19). And from those who were besieged in Jerusalem his yoke will be taken away, and the heavy dominion that hung over all, and the weight by which they were pressed down, will rather be thrust back upon himself. For when the king of the Assyrians fled into his own land, Hezekiah went out free with the remnant of the people.

The Lord of hosts has sworn, saying: Surely as I have thought, so shall it be, and as I have purposed in my mind, so shall it come to pass: that I will crush the Assyrian in my land, and on my mountains I will trample him. And his yoke will be taken from them, and his burden will be removed from their shoulder. After the hedgehog has dwelt in deserted Babylon, and in place of well-watered and fertile fields pools have covered everything, so that nothing of the former seed and abundance remains in Babylon, the oath of the Lord will be fulfilled, and what he purposed in his mind will come to pass: that the Assyrian is crushed in his land and trampled on his mountains. For the reckless enemy hastens to seize not only the land of God and all its lower places, but also those who in the service of God have so advanced in virtues that they are compared to mountains, and it is said of them: Its foundations are on the holy mountains (Ps 86 [87]:1). And note the propriety. In the land he is crushed; on the mountains of God he is trampled by the Lord himself. For when all enemies have been put under the feet of Christ, so that the last, death, is destroyed, then the most heavy yoke of the Assyrian, with which he had formerly weighed them down, will be taken from the saints, and the burden, or, as the Seventy translated, κῦδος, that is, glory, will be removed from their shoulder, so that, the yoke of the Assyrians having been taken away, they may see rest, that it is good, and the land, that it is most fruitful, and may put their necks under the yoke of Christ for labor, and become men who till the soil. Hence also Issachar, which means there is a reward, received his name from the virtues. And in the Prophet we read: There is a reward for those who serve the Lord (Jer 31:16); and in another place: Behold the Lord, and his reward is with him (Isa 40:10), who will render to each according to his work. And that the Assyrians, that is, the hostile powers, are crushed and trampled, that word of the Gospel also teaches: Behold, I have given you power to tread upon serpents and scorpions, and upon all the power of the enemy (Luke 10:19). And the words of the Apostle bear witness: God will crush Satan under your feet swiftly (Rom 16:20).

Second, he sets out the divine purpose to destroy the Assyrians, that it might set an example. And first, he sets out the oath: the Lord of hosts has sworn, that is, immovably established, surely as I have thought, that is, established: the Lord has sworn, and he will not repent (Ps 110:4).

Second, the place of destruction: in my land, for the army of Sennacherib was destroyed near Jerusalem, below: and the Lord of hosts shall make . . . in this mountain, a feast of fat things (Isa 25:6).

Third, he describes the fruit of the punishment, his yoke shall be taken away from them, above: for the yoke of their burden, and the rod of their shoulder, and the scepter of their oppressor you have overcome (Isa 9:4).

This is the counsel which he has purposed upon the whole earth, and this is the hand stretched out upon all the nations. For the Lord of hosts has decreed, and who will be able to weaken it? And his hand is stretched out, and who will turn it back? For the whole earth the Seventy translated the whole world, at the end of the burden, or vision, against Babylon. What lay hidden is opened: that God purposed his counsel upon the whole earth, that is, the whole world, and not only against the land of the Chaldeans and the Assyrian and Chaldean king; and that his hand is stretched out, or raised, upon all the nations, and not upon the one Babylonian nation. From this it is shown that all the things which have been said pertain not specifically to one province, but generally to the whole world.

This is the counsel that I have devised upon the whole earth, and this is the hand stretched out upon all the nations. For the Lord of hosts has decreed, and who will be able to weaken it? And his hand is stretched out, and who will turn it back? In this place some think that the prophecy is general, against the whole world, and that the devastation of Babylon and of the Assyrian city is a type of the consummation of the world. We by no means contradict them, so long as we know that here the whole land of the Assyrians is properly signified, and that all the nations allied with the Assyrian king are pointed out. Whatever has been decreed by the Lord is prevented by no one's power. And his hand, stretched out and ready to strike, no one will be able to hold back.

Third, he places the divine purpose to destroy all peoples: this is the counsel, that I have purposed upon all the earth, to destroy it, as to deliberation; his hand, that is, his power, as to execution: take the cup of wine of this fury at my hand (Jer 25:15). Or the counsel, that I have purposed upon all the earth, to protect it from the Assyrians; and this is the hand that is stretched out, which was destroyed. And thus the fruit of the punishment will be in all nations.

And what is said: Who will be able to weaken it, and who will turn it back? we ought to take not as of something difficult, as that is read: Who is wise, and will understand these things (Ps 106 [107]:43)? And: Who, do you think, is the faithful and prudent steward (Luke 12:42)? and other things like these; but as of something impossible. For no one will be able to weaken the counsel of the Lord, and to turn back his hand, stretched out or lifted on high, from striking.

They were ready to expose him [Joseph] to death, or to sorrow, or to slavery—to the uttermost ills. But the overruling God used the wickedness of the conspirators for the trial and approval of him who was sold and betrayed. In order that this result may not be thought to arise from any casual coincidence or accidental revolution of things, God, by means of the very men who opposed it, brought to pass the very result which they opposed, using His enemies for the approval of His servants, in order that you may learn, that what God has willed no one will hinder, and that none will turn aside His high hand; in order that whenever you are plotted against, you may not stumble or be downcast, but be enabled to know that the plot will result in good in the end, if only you bear your lot well.

They did not realize that if human hands had put an end to those things, then human hands could get them back for them. But it was God who destroyed their city, and no human power could ever change what God had decreed. "For what God, the Holy One, has planned who shall dissipate? His hand is stretched out; who will turn it back?" What God has reared up and wishes to remain, no man can tear down. In the same way, what he has destroyed and wishes to stay destroyed, no man can rebuild.

For the Lord of hosts. Here he shows the support of the divine purpose, both as to the decree of wisdom: he has decreed, and as to the fulfillment of power: and his hand is stretched out: and who shall turn it away? He is alone, and no man can turn away his thought: and whatsoever his soul has desired, that has he done (Job 23:13).

In the year in which King Ahaz died, this burden came. We read that four kings of Judea are placed at the head of the Prophet's title: Uzziah, Jotham, Ahaz and Hezekiah, each succeeding the other in order and by descent; of whom we read above that Uzziah had died, as Isaiah relates: In the year in which King Uzziah died, I saw the Lord sitting upon a throne high and lifted up. From this we understand that both the Vision of the Lord seated and the things enjoined upon the Prophet, up to the place where it is written (Isa 6): Like a terebinth and like an oak that spreads out its branches: the holy seed will be its shoot, were prophesied under King Jotham (ibid., 7). The third to succeed is Ahaz, son of Jotham, son of Uzziah king of Judah, under whom Rezin king of Syria and Pekah son of Remaliah, king of Israel, went up to Jerusalem to make war against it, and the rest that Scripture records. We know, therefore, that all that is placed in between, up to the present place which we are now striving to expound, was prophesied under Ahaz; and when he died, the fourth, that is, the last, Hezekiah, succeeded, under whom the whole book is woven to the end.

In the year in which King Ahaz died, this burden came. Do not rejoice, all you Philistia, because the rod of him who struck you has been broken. For out of the root of the serpent will come forth a basilisk, and its seed swallowing the bird. And the firstborn of the poor will be fed, and the poor will rest confidently, and I will make your root perish with famine, and I will slay your remnant. LXX: In the year in which King Ahaz died this word came: Do not rejoice, all you foreigners, for the yoke of him who struck you has been broken. For out of the seed of the serpent will come forth the offspring of asps, and out of their offspring will come forth winged serpents: and the poor will be fed through him, and poor men will rest in peace. But he will slay your seed with famine, and will kill your remnant. When Ahaz, who is interpreted κατάσχεσις, that is, holding, or possession, whom we read was a most ungodly king, had died, this weight, or word, comes upon the Philistines. For while he lived and reigned among sinners, neither a weight against the foreigners nor the word of God could come to the Prophet. Indeed I remember having said this above too, when, Uzziah having died, Isaiah saw the Lord sitting upon a throne high and lifted up. And in Exodus we read (Exod 2:23) that after the king of Egypt died, the children of Israel groaned from their works, and cried out, and their cry went up from their works, and the Lord heard their groaning. For unless what was said were mystical, they ought rather to have cried out while he was reigning, when they were slaving at mud and bricks.

In the year. Here he threatens against the enemies who were rejoicing over the affliction of the Jews, and first, against the Philistines, who were rejoicing over their reduction by the death of Ezechias; second, against the Moabites, who were rejoicing over their destruction by the Assyrians or the Chaldeans: the burden of Moab (Isa 15:1).

The first of these is divided into two. In the first, the time of the threat is set out: in the year, in the time when the Philistines had occupied certain cities of the kingdom of Judea, as it says in 2 Chronicles 28, and yet Achaz resisted them, and therefore they were delighted in his death, as though they might more freely attack the Jews. Second, the threat is set out: rejoice not you. And first, he threatens the affliction which they suffered from Ezechias, second, the destruction which they suffered under the Assyrians, where it says, howl (Isa 14:31).

But because this Leviathan is called in another place not merely a serpent, but also a basilisk, because he rules over unclean spirits, or reprobate men, as Isaiah says, Out of the serpent's root shall come forth a basilisk, we must attentively observe how a basilisk destroys, that by the doings of the basilisk, his malice may be more plainly made known to us. For a basilisk does not destroy with its bite, but consumes with its breath. It often also infects the air with its breath, and withers with the mere blast of its nostrils whatever it has touched, even when placed at a distance.

Do not rejoice, all you Philistia, because the rod of him who struck you has been broken: for out of the root of the serpent will come forth a regulus, and its seed swallowing the bird. What we say is natural: when the king of a hostile nation dies, his enemies always rejoice, expecting from the new state of things civil wars and seditions and inexperience in ruling. When Ahaz the sinner died, therefore, who had walked in the ways of the kings of Israel and had been joined to them by kinship, we understand that the Philistines, from close by, rejoiced and mocked Israel, because, having lost a king of mature years, they were subject to the young Hezekiah. Now by Philistines, as we said above, he means the Palestinians, whom the common edition writes as foreigners, although this is the term not for one nation but for all foreign nations. Do not, he says, rejoice, O Philistia, do not mock my people because the rod of Ahaz who struck you has been broken; because the staff which used to strike you seems crushed by death; because the serpent has been slain. For in his place a more harmful one will be born, Hezekiah the regulus, which the Greeks call the basilisk, who will kill you with his gaze and slay you with the breath of his mouth. For just as no bird can pass the gaze of the regulus unharmed, but, however far off it may be, is sucked into its mouth, so you too will perish wholly at the sight of King Hezekiah. And he has kept the metaphor beautifully: for since he had named a serpent and a regulus, he says that birds are devoured by its mouth and breath. And that none of the kings of Judah struck the Philistines as Hezekiah ravaged them, hear the book of Kings: He struck the Philistines as far as Gaza, and as far as its borders: from the tower of the watchmen to the fortified cities (2 Kgs 18:8). And for what we have translated swallowing the bird, where in the Hebrew is written SARAPH MOPHETH (שרף מעופת), it can be interpreted a flying serpent: so that the sense is: from the root of the serpent a regulus will be born, and its fruit, that is, the regulus's, a flying serpent, so that you understand a flying dragon.

It is commanded, therefore, to the Philistines, whom they now call Palestinians, and whom the Seventy always translate ἀλλόφυλοι, that is, foreigners; and it is said to them that they should not rejoice nor be glad because they have broken the rod, or the yoke, of him who struck them (Heb 12:6). For whom the Lord loves he rebukes, and he chastises every son whom he receives. And God instructs us as sons when he visits our iniquities with a rod and our sins with scourges, so as not to take away his mercy from us (Ps 88 [89]). This is the rod of which it is written in another Psalm: Your rod and your staff, they have comforted me (Ps 22 [23]:4). This is the rod, and this the yoke, which the Savior wishes to lay upon the necks of all, so that, having put off the yoke of Nebuchadnezzar, they may bear the yoke of Christ. But if anyone throws it off and breaks it, at once out of the seed or root of the serpent, who is the crooked serpent, will come forth the basilisk and asps, and out of the asps will go forth flying serpents, or those that swallow birds. For when the yoke of God has been thrown off and the discipline of the Lord broken, first the seed of the serpent takes root in our thoughts; secondly, from the most evil seed is born the basilisk, which is the king of serpents and is said to kill men by its breath and its look; or the offspring of asps, of which it is said in the Psalm: The poison of asps is under their lips (Ps 13 [14]:3; and 139 [140]:4), which are the various sins, and they burst forth from the most evil treasury of thoughts into evil works. And when they have reigned in foreign men, who are estranged from God, at once winged serpents come forth; so that it is not enough for them to have thought and done what is evil, unless they also seek a defense of their evil works and fashion various heresies. I think the winged serpents are those who exalt and lift themselves up against the knowledge of God and set their mouth against heaven: or those who swallow birds, that is, who with poisoned mouth devour in their jaws all who desire to fly and rise to the heights. And this, for the present, concerning the wicked.

Concerning the first, he does three things. For first, he excludes foolish joy: rejoice not you, over this, namely, that the rod, that is, the power, of him that struck you, that is, Achaz, is broken in pieces, by death: laughter I counted error (Eccl 2:2).

Second, he threatens an increase of the punishment: for out of the root of the serpent shall come forth a basilisk, as if to say: as the basilisk does more harm than another serpent, for even with its sight and breath it kills not just land animals, but also flying birds, just so, Ezechias, the son of Achaz shall afflict you more than others: my father put a heavy burden upon you, but I will add to your burden (1 Kgs 12:11).

And the firstborn of the poor will feed, and the poor will rest in confidence. When the regulus has struck you, and the flying dragon has laid waste your borders, you will by no means lie in wait for Judah, nor terrify my poor little people with your treachery; but, hard pressed by your own straits, you will weep over your calamity. And the humble and the poor, who trusted not in riches and in power but in my name, will rest in secure peace, and will dread the onslaught of no enemy.

And I will make your root perish by famine, and I will slay your remnant. He speaks entirely in figures. And the sense is that, while the people of God rest in confidence, the root of the Philistines is dried up, and all its remnant will be consumed.

But those who have not broken the rod and yoke of him who struck them, but have submitted their neck to the Lord, and are poor in spirit, will be fed, and will say: The Lord feeds me, and I shall lack nothing (Ps 22 [23]:1). And they will hear from the Lord: In most rich pastures I will feed them (Ezek 34; John 10); and they will go in and go out and find pasture. And the poor will be fed through him who strikes them in order to amend them: and they will rest in peace, or, with a careful shepherd, they will live confidently and will rest with Lazarus in the bosom of Abraham (Luke 16). But those who have broken the yoke and rod of him who struck them will suffer perpetual famine, so that they are not nourished by the word of God: but all their remnant will perish, lest anything sprout from the evil seed.

Third, he foretells the effect of the punishment, in all things as to the fruitfulness of the land: and the firstborn of the poor shall be fed, that is, the Jews, about which it says in Exodus 4:22: Israel is my firstborn; and as to the security of peace: shall rest with confidence, below: my people shall sit in the beauty of peace, and in the tabernacles of confidence (Isa 32:18); and the effect on the Philistines by the opposite of these, namely, famine, against the first: I will make your root perish with famine, that is, those also who ought to furnish nourishment to others; and killing, against the second: and your remnant, left by Ezechias, I will kill, through the Assyrians and Chaldeans, below: my servants shall eat, and you shall be hungry: my servants shall drink, and you shall be thirsty (Isa 65:13).

Howl, O gate, cry out, O city, all Philistia is laid low: for smoke will come from the north, and there is none who escapes its column. He says the gate for those who are in the gate, and the city for the inhabitants of the city. And he directs his speech to the cities of the Palestinians, that they should wail and mourn as Sennacherib comes and lays everything waste like a torrent. For under King Hezekiah the Assyrian came, and among the other nations laid waste the Philistines. To them Jeremiah speaks: Behold, waters will rise up from the north, and they will be like an overflowing torrent: and they will cover the land and all that fills it, the city and its inhabitants (Jer 47:2). For from the north came the Assyrian, and those who went forth from its heat, subjugating Nineveh and the other nations. At the time when these things were being sung, the smoke was rising on high, that is, a rumor was spreading among the peoples, through the whole range of the nations, that the Phoenicians too and the Palestinians were to be laid waste.

Howl, O gate; cry out, O city: all Philistia is laid low. For smoke comes from the North, and there is none who escapes its column. And what will be answered to the messengers of the nation? That the Lord has founded Zion, and in him the poor of his people will hope. For messengers, that is, Angels, which Symmachus alone translated, all have translated kings, deceived by the ambiguity of the word, because, except for the one letter ALEPH, which is added in the word for Angels, kings and Angels are called by the same name among the Hebrews, that is, MALACHE (Kings מלכי, Angels מלאכי). In the book of Hebrew Names I have found that Philisthiim means falling by the cup. Those, therefore, who have been made drunk with the cup of Babylon and have drunk the wine in which is debauchery, and, among the other vices, have not obtained the kingdom of God because of drunkenness, according to the Apostle (Eph 5), are commanded that their gate should howl and their city cry out. The gate I take to be the mouth of the heretics, with which they blaspheme; the city, the soul, which is a treasury of evil thoughts. This ought to howl and lament, because it is wholly laid low and cast down to the ground, and there is nothing in it of sound understanding and of the wisdom of God. Why does the gate howl? for what cause does the city cry out? because all Philistia is laid low. And why it is laid low the following verse shows: Smoke comes from the North, and there is none who escapes its column. This smoke is raised by the burning darts of the devil; it is harmful to the eyes and contrary to light, and it rises from the North, from which in Jeremiah the pot is set on fire (Jer 1:14), and from which evils blaze forth upon all the inhabitants of the earth, who cannot say: I am a sojourner and a stranger, as all my fathers were (Ps 118 [119]:19); but they dwell in the earth. Hence in Proverbs too it is read: The North is a harsh wind (Prov 25:23; Sir 43). But by another name it is called the right-hand wind; for although of itself it is harsh and left-handed, and with a most hard neck will not receive the yoke of God, it is called right-handed by those who put sweet for bitter and bitter for sweet; who put darkness for light and light for darkness. And there is no one who escapes the column of this smoke; for no one is without sin, not even if his life be of a single day (Job 25).

Howl. Here he threatens destruction by the Assyrians. And first, he threatens their destruction; second, the liberation of the Jews: and what shall be answered? (Isa 14:32).

Concerning the first, he sets out three things. First, he threatens universal destruction: gate, that is, the judges sitting in the gates: a voice was heard in the highways, weeping and howling of the children of Israel (Jer 3:21); and the multitude of the enemy: smoke, stirred up by the multitude of the army on account of the dust, from the north, because of the location of the Assyrians in relation to the Philistines: from the north shall an evil break forth upon all the inhabitants of the land (Jer 1:14); third, the impossibility of escape: and there is none that shall escape: there was none in the day of the wrath of the Lord that escaped (Lam 2:22).

What will be answered to the messengers of the nation? That the Lord has founded Zion, and in her the poor of his people will hope. Because he had said, There is none who escapes its column, Judah too seemed to be included in the general statement. If, he says, the messengers of the Assyrian nation ask why Judah alone has escaped, answer them that the Lord has founded Zion, and has himself protected the humble people by his power. For messengers (מלאכי) the Seventy translated kings (מלכי), misled by an error over a single letter, ALEPH.

And when Philistia has fallen, and its smoke has penetrated all things, so that no one can escape it, what will be said to the Angels who preside over the several nations, who wonder and desire to know why Zion alone, set on a watchtower and on the heights, has escaped the bitterness of this smoke? What, then, will be said to them? Surely what follows: That the Lord has founded it, and he himself is its foundation. And he has founded it upon the foundation of prudence, righteousness, fortitude and temperance, under which names Christ is understood, of whom the Apostle also says: For no one can lay another foundation besides that which has been laid, Jesus Christ (1 Cor 3:11). But he who is foolish, and speaks foolish things, and whose heart understands vain things, builds his house upon the sand, which has no foundation. In this Zion, therefore, which has been founded by the Lord, the poor, or the meek and humble of his people, will hope, of whom it is said: Blessed are the meek, for they shall possess the land (Matt 5:4): and who have heard the Lord saying: Learn from me, for I am meek and humble of heart (Matt 11:29). They have been humbled before glory, and have heard the apostle Peter saying (1 Pet 5:6): Humble yourselves under the mighty hand of God, that he may exalt you in the time of visitation. And these are the poor of whom we read above: The firstborn of the poor will be fed, and the poor will rest confidently.

And what shall be answered. Here he promises liberation. And first, he sets out the inquiry: messengers, angels placed over the different provinces or asking anxiously of their state; or messengers sent to consult with Isaiah, like we read of in Jeremiah 37:3.

Second, the response is set out: that the Lord has founded Zion, that is, he has strengthened it by his protection, below: behold I will lay your stones in order (Isa 54:11).