Isaiah 28

Woe to the crown of pride, to the drunkards of Ephraim, and to the falling flower of the glory of its exultation, who were on the summit of the most fertile valley, going astray from wine. Behold, the strong and mighty one of the Lord, like the onrush of hail, a whirlwind that shatters; like the onrush of many waters overflowing and sent forth upon a spacious land. With feet shall the crown of pride of the drunkards of Ephraim be trodden down. And the falling flower of the glory of its exultation, which is upon the summit of the valley of the fat, shall be like an early fruit before the ripeness of autumn, which, when the beholder has looked upon it, as soon as he has taken it in his hand, he will devour it. LXX: Woe to the crown of insolence, the hirelings of Ephraim: a flower falling from glory upon the summit of the fat mountain, you who are drunk without wine. Behold, the wrath of the Lord is strong and harsh, like hail that is borne headlong, having no shelter, which falls violently like a multitude of waters dragging the soil along and making room for itself: with hands and feet shall the crown of insolence, the hirelings of Ephraim, be trodden down. And the flower that falls from the hope of glory on the top of the lofty mountain shall be like an early fig, which whoever sees it will long to devour before he takes it in his hand. Let us speak first according to the history, then according to tropology, and lastly according to the prophetic prediction. The divine word speaks against the ten tribes who reigned in Samaria and who, on account of Jeroboam, who was of the tribe of Ephraim, were called Ephraim. And it calls them a crown of pride, because, compared with the two tribes that were called Judah, they were loftier both in number and in strength. And it calls them the drunkards of Ephraim, since they did not understand their Creator, but in place of the Lord worshiped the golden calves in Dan and Bethel. These were once in the flower of the Lord, and in glory, when they were ruled by David and Solomon and, among the twelve tribes, worshiped God in the temple of Jerusalem; they were on the summit of the most fertile valley, which in Hebrew is called GE SEMANIM (גיא שמנים). This signifies the place where the Lord was betrayed; above the summit of this valley the temple of the Lord is situated. These men were made drunk with the wine of error and madness, which Jeroboam mixed for them. Therefore the Lord threatens them with punishment: that, as a whirlwind of hail shatters all things, and the onrush of overflowing waters sweeps away whatever it finds in its path, so they would be destroyed by the army of the Assyrians, and whatever remained would be carried off to the mountains or cities of Media. He compares the glory of the ten tribes to a crown of varied flowers, which had such beauty that, just as someone who, before summer and autumn come, sees a πρόδρομον fig on the tree, devours it as soon as he has taken it in his hand, so too the Assyrian, when he saw the ten tribes, would lay them waste and devour them, and leave nothing at all of the former people in Samaria. Let this have been said briefly according to the history. Let us pass to allegory. According to our exposition of the prophet Hosea, in which we referred Ephraim and Joseph and Samaria and the ten tribes, which were cut off from the body of the twelve tribes and abandoned the temple of the Lord, to the heretics, these are truly, according to the Septuagint edition, a crown of insolence: they blaspheme the Lord, and do everything for the sake of payment, and have fallen from the glory of the Lord; nor do they follow the slenderness of the manna and the humility of the Church, but they dwell on the most fertile mountain, drunk without wine. Therefore the strong and harsh wrath of the Lord, which is going to punish them, is compared to headlong hail, which falls not on roofs but on the heads of mortals, and to the floods of many waters, which drag along whatever they find in their way. This crown of insolence, the hirelings, are called Ephraim, who, according to the Apostle, for the sake of base gain have fallen from the flower and the hope and the glory of their former faith, and dwell in pride, and are the sweetest food of the devil, who devours them daily (1 Pet 5). According to the prophecy we can say this: that he calls the scribes and Pharisees, who blasphemed the Lord, a crown of insolence. And they were called the hirelings of Ephraim on account of Judas, who, of the tribe of Ephraim and of Iscarioth, a village of that same tribe, sold the Lord for a price; he truly, the flower of apostolic glory, fell upon the most fertile mountain, of which we think it was said: Jacob ate and drank and was filled, and grew fat, and the beloved kicked (Deut 32:15). Or, according to the Hebrew: upon the valley of the fat, that is, Gessemanim: in which the name of the place is also signified in which Judas betrayed the Lord. And it is called the fat valley, or the valley of the fat, on account of its fertility, and on account of the scribes and Pharisees who seized the Lord there: of whom it is written in the psalm: Fat bulls have besieged me (Ps 21 [22]:13). This valley of the fat, that is, Gessemanim, is named a second time in this chapter; and I wonder how the Seventy first called it a fat mountain and afterward a lofty mountain. The betrayer was drunk not with wine but with avarice and the incurable fury of asps, and with the food of the devil, who entered into him after the morsel (John 13), and he was utterly devoured, because his prayer was turned into sin, and not even his repentance had the fruit of salvation. The Hebrew word SACCHORE (שכורי) is ambiguous, and means either drunkards or hirelings. Hence Issachar too means there is a reward; and SACHAR (שכר) is μέθυσμα, that is, drunkenness. And the rest translated drunkards: the Seventy alone translated hirelings.

633. Woe to the crown. In this part, he threatens against those who disdain the predictions of the prophets, and first, against those who disdain in the present, second, against those to come in the time of Jeremiah, woe to you, apostate children (ch. 30). The first of these is divided into two parts. In the first, against those from the ten tribes; in the second, against those from the two tribes: but these also (Isa 28:7).

634. Concerning the first, he does three things. First, he denounces the sin of pride: woe to the crown, for they were proud of their multitude, which is the crown or glory of a king (Prov 14:28); second, the sin of gluttony: to the drunkards of Ephraim, Nahum: with glory you have made me drunk, to the fading flower the glory his joy, who were on the head of the fat valley, who, in the time of David and Solomon, coming from the heat, established tents of idolatry in the valley of Gethsemane; staggering with wine, namely, idolatry: the rod has blossomed, the almond tree has budded (Ezek 7:10).

641. Note also on the words, crown of pride (Isa 28:1), that both the wicked and the good are crowned. The wicked are crowned first with the crown of vain joy: let us crown ourselves with roses (Wis 2:8); second, the crown of the things of wealth, above: who has taken this counsel against Tyre, that was formerly crowned? (Isa 23:8); third, of worldly power: he has stripped me of my glory, and has taken the crown from my head (Job 19:9); fourth, of superstitious observances: when the feast of Bacchus was kept, they were compelled to go about crowned with ivy in honor of Bacchus (2 Macc 6:7).

642. The saints are also crowned: first, with a nuptial crown, below: as a bridegroom he has decked with a crown (Isa 61:10); second, a triumphal crown: he will not be crowned, except he strive lawfully (2 Tim 2:5); third, a royal crown, below: you shall be a crown of glory in the hand of the Lord (Isa 62:3); you, O Lord, have set on his head a crown of precious stones (Ps 20:4[21:3]); fourth, a priestly crown: and a crown of gold upon his head wherein was engraved holiness (Sir 45:14[12]).

635. Second, he threatens punishment: behold the Lord is mighty; and concerning this, he does two things. First, he sets out the strength of the enemy: behold, mighty, as to the strength of the enemy, whom he will send in; as a storm of hail, as to their multitude, above: nations shall make a noise like the noise of waters (Isa 17:13).

Second, he sets out the inflicting of the punishment, namely, the casting down of pride: the crown of pride shall be trodden under feet: in your anger you will tread the earth under foot (Hab 3:12).

And the emptying of glory, and the flower shall be as a hasty fruit, that is, ripe or early fruit, above: for before the harvest it was all flourishing (Isa 18:5); all your strong holds shall be like fig trees with their green figs (Nah 3:12).

The prophet expounds on the destiny of those in Israel who believed in Christ, because Israel did not perish completely, as the remnant of Israel was saved, according to the prophecy. Quite a number of people believed in Christ, and his apostles were, so to speak, the first fruit. Therefore at that time the Lord of hosts will be as a crown of hope and a diadem of glory to the remnant of his people. The Lord of hosts will crown the believers with hope and glory, that is, with hope of future blessings and with glory because they will reign with him. They will become the recipients of the highest honor and will be worthy of adoration and glory. What glory can be compared with that received in the kingdom of Christ? In another passage Isaiah also says, "You shall also be a crown of glory in the hand of the Lord and a royal diadem in the hand of your God," since Christ will crown those who believe in him with unending glory and bless them with the most joyous hope. And the remnant of Israel will participate in all of this after the others, the Gentiles, are received in Christ. Realizing their glory in Christ, they cry to their heavenly God and Father, "O Lord, crown us with the shield of your favor." For when it pleased their God and Father, he revealed himself as an unbroken shield and became the Christ who defends us from the arrows of the evil one and keeps his people.

In that day the Lord of hosts shall be a crown of glory and a garland of exultation to the remnant of his people, and a spirit of judgment to him who sits upon judgment, and strength to those returning from war to the gate. But these also have not known because of wine, and have gone astray because of drunkenness; the priest and the prophet have not known: they are swallowed up by wine because of drunkenness, they have gone astray in drunkenness: they have not known the seer, they have been ignorant of judgment, or wonderfully. For all the tables are filled with vomit and filth, so that there was no more room. LXX: In that day the Lord Sabaoth shall be a crown of hope, which is woven of glory, for the remnant of the people. They shall be left in a spirit of judgment upon judgment, and strength forbidding to kill. For these have been deceived by wine: they go astray because of strong drink; the priest and the prophet have lost their minds because of strong drink; they are swallowed up because of wine, they have staggered, that is, φάσμα; a curse shall eat this counsel: for this counsel is for the sake of avarice. After the whole land of Samaria, that is, of the ten tribes, has been destroyed by the Assyrian's flood, and the crown of pride of the drunkards of Ephraim has been trodden underfoot and devoured like an early fig, then the Lord himself shall be a crown of victory to the remnant of the people of Israel, that is, of the two tribes, Judah and Benjamin; and a spirit of judgment to him who sits upon judgment, doubtless to Hezekiah king of Judah; and the strength of those who, when the whole region had been ravaged, returning from battle, shut themselves up in the city. This we shall read in this same prophet (below, Isa 37), when one hundred and eighty-five thousand armed men of the army of the Assyrians were destroyed by the stroke of an angel. But these also, that is, Judah and Benjamin, were made drunk with the wine of idolatry, and, despising the worship of the temple, venerated the images of demons, and did not know the Lord, the seer, who beholds all things. For all their tables, and their whole worship, were filled with vomit and filth, so that not only in the temple but on the tops of the mountains and in wooded places they filled everything with the filth of idolatry, and the Lord had no place of habitation among them. Let this have been said according to the letter. Further, according to tropology, let us follow the former understanding, and not leave the Seventy translators untouched. For when the heretics, who have climbed the most fertile mountain of pride, have been devoured by the mouth of the devil, the Lord shall be a crown of glory to those who dwell in the Church and who, compared with the multitude of the many who go astray, are few in number. And he shall be in a spirit of judgment upon judgment, because the Lord will wash away the filth of the sons and daughters of Zion by the spirit of judgment. But if anyone has blood, he will be purged not by the spirit of judgment but by the fire of burning; and he shall be strength to the people, and shall forbid it to be killed by those who are drunk with the wine of dragons and have gone astray because of strong drink. We have often said that wine is what is made from vines; but strong drink is every drink that can intoxicate and overturn the state of the mind, which Aquila properly translated drunkenness, whether it is made from wheat or barley or millet, or from the juice of fruits, or from the fruit of palms, or from any other kind. Therefore the priests and prophets of the heretics have lost their minds because of strong drink, and are swallowed up because of wine, such as were Prisca and Maximilla and their chief Montanus: and they did not know what they were saying. They are made drunk with wine when they misunderstand and pervert the holy Scriptures; with strong drink, when they misuse worldly wisdom and the snares of the dialecticians, which are to be called not so much bonds as phantasms, that is, certain shadows and images that quickly perish and dissolve. A curse shall possess the counsel of such men, who suppose that godliness is gain, and do everything for the sake of avarice. Of this phantasm the Apostle too spoke: Giving heed to spirits of error and doctrines of demons, speaking lies in hypocrisy (1 Tim 4:1-2). The third explanation is that, after the Lord has overthrown the scribes and Pharisees, and their associate Judas the betrayer, who had been a thief from the beginning, for he himself carried the purse of the money for the poor (John 12 and 13), he then becomes a hope and a crown of glory to those of the Jews who believed in the Lord; doubtless he means the apostles, whom he reserved for the preaching of the Gospel and did not allow at once to shed their blood for Christ. For all the scribes and Pharisees were made drunk with the wine and strong drink of which we spoke above, the priests as well as the false prophets. But their snares and plots came to nothing, since both Judas himself, who betrayed him, did it for money, and the priests, who corrupted the betrayer with money, did it out of fear of their own rejection. For he himself, making a scourge of cords, cast out of the temple those who sold oxen and sheep, and by his own authority overturned the seats of those who sold doves and the tables of the money-changers, saying to them: It is written: My Father's house shall be called a house of prayer, but you have made it a house of trade, or a den of robbers (Matt 21:13).

636. Third, he sets out the glory of the just, namely, of the just of the two tribes: in that day, namely, in the time of Ezechias, when the ten tribes had been destroyed; as to three things. As to the joy of the people, a crown, which is of gold or silver, in contrast to the crown of pride; a garland, of flowers, in contrast to the fading flower, below: and I will give them a crown for ashes (Isa 61:3).

As to the justice of the king: and he, the Lord himself, shall be a spirit of judgment: a king shall reign, and shall be wise: and shall execute judgment and justice in the earth (Jer 23:5). As to the might of their soldiers: and strength, for the Lord will fight for them, above: because you have been my strength (Isa 25:4).

In fact, our fathers passed their lives in hunger, thirst and great mortification, by which they acquired purity. Above all they fled the wine habit, which is full of every evil. Troubles, tumults and disorders are caused in our members through the abuse of wine; this is a passion full of sin, it is sterility and the withering of fruit. For sensuality in unquenchable thirst stupefies the understanding, makes conscience overbold and snaps the rein on the tongue. Total joy is when we do not grieve the Holy Spirit, or become deranged by sensuality. As it is said, "The priest and the prophet were deranged by wine." … Therefore, all who have prepared to become disciples of Jesus should abstain from wine and drunkenness.

637. But these also. Here he threatens against those among the two tribes who disdain the predictions of the prophets; and first, against the princes, second, against the city or against the people, woe to Ariel (ch. 29). The first of these is divided into two parts. First, he sets out the threat; second, the consolation: give ear (Isa 28:23). Concerning the first, he does two things. First, he denounces the sin and threatens destruction at the same time; second, he excludes remedy: wherefore hear the word of the Lord (Isa 28:14). Concerning the first, he does two things. First, he denounces their lack of knowledge; second, their contempt of teaching: for command (Isa 28:10).

638. Concerning the first of these, he does two things. First, he denounces their fault, first setting out the error of them all together: but these also have been ignorant through wine: wine, and drunkenness (Hos 4:11), make one to fall away from God; second, the fault of their teachers: the priest and the prophet have been ignorant, as to ignorance of what is to be believed; they have gone astray, as to ignorance of what is to be done; him that sees, that is, God who sees all things. Hence the explanation of this can be found in: her priests have despised my law, and have defiled my sanctuaries (Ezek 22:26).

640. Note on the word, drunkenness (Isa 28:7), that the wicked are inebriated on the wine, first, of material liquor: be not drunk with wine, wherein is luxury (Eph 5:18); second, of carnal delight: come, let us be inebriated (Prov 7:18) with wine; third, of spiritual error, above: they have caused Egypt to err in all its works, as a drunken man staggers and vomits (Isa 19:14); fourth, of divine punishment: he has inebriated me with wormwood (Lam 3:15). The saints are also inebriated, first, with the tears of compunction, above: I will inebriate you with my tears (Isa 16:9); second, with the chalice of suffering: your chalice which inebriates me, how goodly is it (Ps 22[23]:5); third, with the incentive of love: eat, O friends, and drink, and be inebriated (Song 5:1); fourth, with a torrent of happy delight: they shall be inebriated with the plenty of your house (Ps 35:9[36:8]).

According to the anagogy, that Hebrew text in which we said: For all their tables are filled with vomit and filth, so that there is no more room, can be referred to the heretics, and to the scribes and Pharisees, in this way: that we say all their teaching and all their mysteries are full of vomit and filth, since they do not digest the food of the holy Scriptures nor make it life-giving to the whole body, but void it unripe and stinking, so that God finds no place in them. But I wonder what Theodotion meant, that for the Hebrew word called CISOA (קיאצאה), for which Aquila translated vomit of filth and Symmachus simply vomit, he should say ἐμετὸν δυσαλίας, that is, vomit of dysalia, a word I have not been able to find read anywhere among the Greeks, unless perhaps he coined a new name for a new thing. Indeed among the Hebrews too it is a compound, since vomit is called CI, and SOA filthy. Whatever, then, causes nausea and vomiting can be called δυσαλία.

Third, he sets out the manner of their ignorance: for all the tables were full of vomit, for they gorged themselves in their temples until they vomited, as if they were devoted entirely to idols; and filth, namely, of all their shameful vices: as a dog that returns to his vomit (Prov 26:11), and the sow that was washed to her wallowing in the mire.

"Whom shall he teach knowledge, and whom shall he make to understand the message? Those weaned from milk and drawn away from the breasts." We dispose ourselves to receive the gift of understanding through holiness of life. Milk signifies the sweetness of carnal delights, by which sweetness the carnal and the infantile are nourished, that is, those who follow infantile impulses. And as long as a man is joined to these carnal consolations, he is called a nursing infant and is not fit to receive the solid food of life and understanding. If we wish to bless God and receive this gift, it is necessary that we be drawn away from these consolations and separate ourselves from the milk of concupiscences.

Whom shall he teach knowledge, and whom shall he make to understand what is heard? Those weaned from the milk, those drawn from the breasts: for command, command again; command, command again; wait, wait again; wait, wait again; a little there, a little there. For with speech of lip and with another tongue he will speak to this people, to whom he said: This is my rest; refresh the weary, and this is my refreshment, and they would not hear. And the word of the Lord shall be to them: command, command again; command, command again; wait, wait again; wait, wait again; a little there, a little there; that they may go and fall backward, and be broken, and be snared, and be taken. LXX: To whom shall we announce evils, and to whom shall we announce tidings? those who are weaned from the milk, who are drawn from the breast. Expect tribulation upon tribulation; wait for hope upon hope; yet a little, yet a little: because of the mockery of the lips, because of another tongue with which they will speak to this people, saying to them: This is the rest for the hungry, and this the crushing, and they would not hear. And the word of the Lord shall be to them: Tribulation upon tribulation: expect, expect; hope upon hope: yet a little, yet a little; that they may go and fall backward, and be broken, and be endangered, and be taken. Who, he says, is worthy of the teaching of the Lord, who, by the words of the Savior, who says: He who has ears to hear, let him hear (Matt 11:15), understands with the heart what he has taken in with the ears? Who these are the following verse shows: Weaned from the milk, drawn from the breast: those who are no longer fed with the milk of infancy but eat solid food; who are drawn from the breast with Isaac, for which joy Abraham made a great feast (Gen 21); these deserve to hear the mysteries of the Lord and to understand what the priest and the prophet do not know, drunk and swallowed up by wine, who went astray and did not know the seer, because all their tables were filled with vomit and filth. These, when the prophets announced what was to come and threatened torments unless they did what had been commanded, used to say in mockery: Command, command again; command, command again, that is, give orders, give orders, command what we ought to do. And since they abused the patience of God, who defers his wrath in order to show mercy, they used also to say this, jesting, in the person of the prophets: Wait a little while, wait a little, the things we have foretold will come. All this they said among the people, because they did not believe the words of God; and at once the prophet adds: God will no longer speak to you in these words, to command what you ought to do and that you should wait for what is to come, but he will speak to you in present fury, he who had earlier said to the people: This is my rest, refresh the weary: I have labored a long time, in nothing have I found rest. The foxes have holes, and the birds of the sky nests; but the Son of Man has nowhere to lay his head (Matt 8; Luke 9). And this is my refreshment, that I may at some time rest in you. They would not hear, and despised my warnings; wherefore what they used to say to the prophets in jest: Command, command again; command, command again: wait, wait again; wait, wait again: a little there, a little there, mocking my patience, since they thought I was threatening things I would never do: let them feel it fulfilled in fact, so that they go to destruction and fall backward with an incurable ὀπισθοτόνῳ; and may never advance to the things before, nor be able to say with the Apostle: Forgetting the things that are behind, we stretch forward to those that are before (Phil 3:13); but may they be broken and snared, and be taken either by the Babylonian or by the Roman army. Where we have said: Command, command again; command, command again: wait, wait again; wait, wait again; a little there, a little there, in the Hebrew it is written thus: SAU LASAU, SAU LASAU; CAU LACAU, CAU LACAU: ZER SAM, ZER SAM; and a most unclean heresy is accustomed to misuse these words among simple and deceived people, to cause terror by the novelty of the expressions: namely, that whoever has learned these words and remembers them in their intercourse will pass without any doubt into the kingdom of heaven. We read in the Apostle: In other tongues and with other lips I will speak to this people, and not even so will they hear me, says the Lord (1 Cor 14:21). This seems to me taken from the present chapter according to the Hebrew; and we have observed this in the Old Testament (apart from a few testimonies which Luke alone uses, who had a greater knowledge of the Greek language): wherever anything is cited from the old instrument, they set it down not according to the Septuagint but according to the Hebrew, following no one's translation, but rendering the Hebrew sense in their own language. Symmachus, Theodotion and the Seventy understood this place differently, and because it is long to speak of them all, let us run briefly through the Seventy translators, who are read in the churches. The people of the Jews having been rejected, the priests and prophets who were drunk with strong drink and went astray, and the curse having eaten up the counsel they formed for the sake of avarice, to whom shall we announce the tribulations to come for Christ's sake? to whom the evils in return for which the crown of virtues is prepared? Surely to those who are weaned from the milk, who are drawn from the breast: doubtless he means the apostles: Expect tribulation upon tribulation. He is speaking to the company of the apostles and of all believers, that each should prepare himself not for one tribulation but for many, so that when he has been afflicted and pressed down he may hope again, and have hope upon hope. And if what has been promised delays a little, let him not be unbelieving: for a little, a very little, and what has been promised will come. For tribulation works patience; patience, proof; proof, hope; and hope does not confound (Rom 5:3-5). And this very tribulation will be doubled by the detraction of lips, and by the blasphemies of the persecutors, with which they rage with rabid mouth against the people of God. Further, the apostles and apostolic men will speak to the people of the Jews, saying: This is the rest for the hungry for righteousness, and this the crushing and the narrowness that leads to life. When they preached this, the ungodly would not hear. Hence what was said to the people of God: Endure tribulation, endure tribulation; expect hope, expect hope: yet a little, yet a little, will be turned into punishment for those who would not hear the word of the Lord, so that they fall and go backward, and run into the peril of siege and death, and are taken with no end of miseries. That the Seventy alone translated the Hebrew word DEA, which all rendered knowledge, as evils is an evident error. For the first letter, DALETH or RES, are distinguished by a small stroke. If, then, it is read DEA (דעה), it means knowledge; if REA (רעה), malice: not from the evil that is the contrary of good, but from distress.

639. Second, he threatens the punishment of blindness: whom shall he teach? Hence the question is first set out, whom shall he teach knowledge? As if to say: why have you spurned knowledge? The hearing, namely, what I heard from the Lord. Second, the answer is set out: them that are weaned from the milk, that is, the humble and simple little ones: you have hid these things from the wise and prudent, and have revealed them to little ones (Matt 11:25); or all of the good who are separated from the milk of concupiscence.

643. Note also on the words, them that are weaned from the milk (Isa 28:9), that there is a certain milk that ought to be abandoned, and this is manifold: first, the milk of carnal concupiscence, above: the weaned child shall thrust his hand into the den of the basilisk (Isa 11:8); second, of imperfect justice: the child grew, and was weaned (Gen 21:8); third, of rudimentary doctrine: as unto little ones in Christ, I gave you milk to drink (1 Cor 3:1–2). There is also a milk that ought to be embraced: first, of a pure conscience: whiter than snow, brighter than milk (Lam 4:7), because of its brightness; second, of sound doctrine, because of its sweetness: honey and milk are under her tongue (Song 4:11); third, of eternal glory, because it easy to swallow: possess their land flowing with milk and honey (Lev 20:24).

"My conscience is at rest, and I know that it is not from any fault of mine that I am suffering; moreover affliction in this world is a ground for expecting a reward hereafter." When the enemy was more than usually forward and ventured to reproach her to her face, she used to chant the words of the Psalter.… When she felt herself tempted, she dwelt upon the words of Deuteronomy.… In tribulations and afflictions she turned to the splendid language of Isaiah: "You that are weaned from the milk and drawn from the breasts, look for tribulation upon tribulation, for hope also upon hope. Yet a little while must these things be by reason of the malice of the lips and by reason of a spiteful tongue." This passage of Scripture she explained for her own consolation as meaning that the weaned, that is, those who have come to full age, must endure tribulation upon tribulation that they may be accounted worthy to receive hope upon hope.

We read in the book of Job how, while the first messenger of evil was yet speaking, there came also another; and in the same book it is written, "Is there not a temptation"—or as the Hebrew better gives it—"a warfare to man upon earth?" It is for this end that we labor, it is for this end that we risk our lives in the warfare of this world, that we may be crowned in the world to come. That we should believe this to be true of people is nothing wonderful, for even the Lord was tempted, and of Abraham the Scripture bears witness that God tested him. It is for this reason also that the apostle says, "We glory in tribulations … knowing that tribulation works perseverance; and perseverance, character; and character, hope. Now hope does not disappoint." And in another passage [we read], "Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? Shall tribulation or distress or persecution or family or nakedness or peril or sword? As it is written, 'for your sake we are killed all the day long; we are accounted as sheep for the slaughter.' " The prophet Isaiah comforts those in a similar case in these words: "You who are weaned from the milk, you who are drawn from the breasts, look for tribulation upon tribulation, but also for hope upon hope." For, as the apostle puts it, "The sufferings of this present time are not worthy to be compared with the glory which shall be revealed in us."

644. For command. Here he sets out their contempt of teaching, and first, through the blasphemy by which they derided the prophets, saying, command, for they used these words in threatening, above: I will command the army of heaven: I will command the clouds (Jer 3); expect, here, in promising: if it make any delay, wait for it: for it shall surely come (Hab 2:3).

Follow after charity, and desire spiritual gifts, but rather that ye may prophesy. For he that speaketh in an unknown tongue speaketh not unto men, but unto God: for no man understandeth him; howbeit in the spirit he speaketh mysteries. But he that prophesieth speaketh unto men to edification, and exhortation, and comfort. He that speaketh in an unknown tongue edifieth himself; but he that prophesieth edifieth the church. I would that ye all spake with tongues, but rather that ye prophesied: for greater is he that prophesieth than he that speaketh with tongues, except he interpret, that the church may receive edifying. Now, brethren, if I come unto you speaking with tongues, what shall I profit you, except I shall speak to you either by revelation, or by knowledge, or by prophesying, or by doctrine? And even things without life giving sound, whether pipe or harp, except they give a distinction in the sounds, how shall it be known what is piped or harped? For if the trumpet give an uncertain sound, who shall prepare himself to the battle? So likewise ye, except ye utter by the tongue words easy to be understood, how shall it be known what is spoken? for ye shall speak into the air. There are, it may be, so many kinds of voices in the world, and none of them is without signification. Therefore if I know not the meaning of the voice, I shall be unto him that speaketh a barbarian, and he that speaketh shall be a barbarian unto me. Even so ye, forasmuch as ye are zealous of spiritual gifts, seek that ye may excel to the edifying of the church. Wherefore let him that speaketh in an unknown tongue pray that he may interpret. For if I pray in an unknown tongue, my spirit prayeth, but my understanding is unfruitful. What is it then? I will pray with the spirit, and I will pray with the understanding also: I will sing with the spirit, and I will sing with the understanding also. Else when thou shalt bless with the spirit, how shall he that occupieth the room of the unlearned say Amen at thy giving of thanks, seeing he understandeth not what thou sayest? For thou verily givest thanks well, but the other is not edified. I thank my God, I speak with tongues more than ye all: Yet in the church I had rather speak five words with my understanding, that by my voice I might teach others also, than ten thousand words in an unknown tongue. Brethren, be not children in understanding: howbeit in malice be ye children, but in understanding be men. In the law it is written, With men of other tongues and other lips will I speak unto this people; and yet for all that will they not hear me, saith the Lord. [Isaiah 28:11-12] Wherefore tongues are for a sign, not to them that believe, but to them that believe not: but prophesying serveth not for them that believe not, but for them which believe. If therefore the whole church be come together into one place, and all speak with tongues, and there come in those that are unlearned, or unbelievers, will they not say that ye are mad? But if all prophesy, and there come in one that believeth not, or one unlearned, he is convinced of all, he is judged of all: And thus are the secrets of his heart made manifest; and so falling down on his face he will worship God, and report that God is in you of a truth.

These gifts were first bestowed on us the apostles when we were about to preach the Gospel to every creature, and afterwards were of necessity afforded to those who had by our means believed; not for the advantage of those who perform them, but for the conviction of the unbelievers, that those whom the word did not persuade, the power of signs might put to shame: for signs are not for us who believe, but for the unbelievers, both for the Jews and Gentiles. For neither is it any profit to us to cast out demons, but to those who are so cleansed by the power of the Lord; as the Lord Himself somewhere instructs us, and shows, saying: "Rejoice not because the spirits are subject unto you; but rejoice, because your names are written in heaven." [Luke 10:20] Since the former is done by His power, but this by our good disposition and diligence, yet (it is manifest) by His assistance. It is not therefore necessary that every one of the faithful should cast out demons, or raise the dead, or speak with tongues; but such a one only who is vouchsafed this gift, for some cause which may be advantage to the salvation of the unbelievers, who are often put to shame, not with the demonstration of the world, but by the power of the signs; that is, such as are worthy of salvation: for all the ungodly are not affected by wonders; and hereof God Himself is a witness, as when He says in the law: "With other tongues will I speak to this people, and with other lips, and yet will they by no means believe." [Isaiah 28:11; 1 Corinthians 14:21] For neither did the Egyptians believe in God, when Moses had done so many signs and wonders; nor did the multitude of the Jews believe in Christ, as they believed Moses, who yet had healed every sickness and every disease among them.

Just as sometimes all the utterances of the Old Testament together in the Holy Scriptures are signified by the name of the Law. For the apostle, in citing a text from the prophet Isaiah, where he says, "With divers tongues and with divers lips will I speak to this people," yet prefaced it by, "It is written in the Law." And the Lord Himself says, "It is written in their Law, They hated me without a cause," whereas this is read in the Psalm.

They spoke with strange tongues and not those of their native land; and the wonder was great, a language spoken by those who had not learned it. And the sign is to them that do not believe, not to them that believe, that it may be an accusation of the unbelievers, as it is written, "With other tongues and other lips will I speak to this people, and not even so will they listen to me, says the Lord." But they heard. Here stop a little and raise a question. How are you to divide the words? For the expression has an ambiguity, which is to be determined by the punctuation. Did they each hear in their own dialect so that if I may so say, one sound was uttered but many were heard; the air being thus beaten and, so to speak, sounds being produced more clear than the original sound? Or are we to put the stop after "they heard" and then to add "them speaking in their own languages" to what follows, so that it would be speaking in the hearers' own languages, which would be foreign to the speakers? I prefer to put it this latter way; for on the other plan the miracle would be rather of the hearers than of the speakers; whereas in this it would be on the speakers' side. And it was they who were reproached for drunkenness, evidently because they by the Spirit wrought a miracle in the matter of the tongues.

Someone might well ask how the apostles drew to themselves all these people. How did men who spoke only the language of the Jews win over the Scythian, the Indian, the Sarmatian and the Thracian? Because they received the gift of tongues through the Holy Spirit. Not only did the apostles say this but also the prophets when they made both these facts clear, namely, that the apostles received the gift of tongues and that they failed to win over the Jews. Hear how the prophet showed this when he said, " 'In foreign tongues and with other lips I shall speak to this people, and in this way they shall not hear me,' says the Lord."

And he adds the punishment: for with the speech of lips, and with another tongue, that is, you shall so lack understanding of the prophets as if someone were speaking to you, with only the movement of the lips, and in a foreign tongue; or right away he will inflict wounds on you. And of this kind of speaking: let us examine him by outrages and tortures (Wis 2:19).

645. Second, as to disobedience, to whom he said. Hence he first sets out the precept, this is my rest, refresh the weary: because you did it to one of these my least brethren, you did it to me (Matt 25:40); second, their contempt, and they would not hear: but the house of Israel will not hearken to you: because they will not hearken to me (Ezek 3:7).

Third, he threatens destruction: and the word shall be to them, that is, they will suffer this punishment for their own words: by your words, I judge you, you wicked servant (Matt 12:37); that they may go, to destruction.

When you renounce Satan, trampling underfoot every covenant with him, then you annul that ancient "league with hell," and God's paradise opens before you, that Eden, planted in the east, from which for his transgression our first father was banished.

Therefore hear the word of the Lord, you scornful men, who rule over my people that is in Jerusalem. For you have said: We have struck a covenant with death, and with hell we have made a pact: when the overflowing scourge passes through, it shall not come upon us, because we have made a lie our hope, and by a lie we are protected. LXX: Therefore hear the word of the Lord, you afflicted men and princes of this people that is in Jerusalem: Because you have said: We have made a testament with hell, and a pact with death: if the passing tempest rushes on, it shall not come upon us, since we have made a lie our hope, and by a lie we shall be protected. What we said above, that the princes of the Jews used to say to the prophets with mockery: Command, command again; wait, wait again, and other things like these, by which it is shown that they in no way believed the words of the prophets but held their prophecy in contempt, the present chapter shows, in which they are called scornful men. These are the scribes and Pharisees, who rule over the people of God in Jerusalem, whom the Seventy call afflicted men and princes of the people of Jerusalem. For they said, not in word but in deed: We are like the other nations too: we have a pact and a covenant with hell and with death: we have despaired of salvation once for all. Surely the captivity will come a long time hence, since you say: Yet a little, yet a little: wait, wait again. So when we are dead we shall not feel this scourge of captivity and this tempest. For once for all we have believed a lie, that is, we have had hope in God and in his Law in vain. And therefore we are protected by a lie, because, being dead, we have escaped the threatening captivity. The Hebrew word SOT (שוט) Aquila and Symmachus translated scourge, the Seventy tempest; CHASAB (כזב) too all translated lie, in which the Jews hoped, whose father, according to the Evangelist John, is the devil.

What, then, are the burdens that he censures? None but those which they were accumulating of their own accord, when they taught for commandments the doctrines of men; for the sake of private advantage joining house to house, so as to deprive their neighbor of his own; cajoling the people, loving gifts, pursuing rewards, robbing the poor of the right of judgment, that they might have the widow for a prey and the fatherless for a spoil. Of these Isaiah also says, "woe to them that are strong in Jerusalem!"

646. Wherefore. Here he excludes remedy. And first, he sets out two remedies; second, he excludes both from them: and I will set (Isa 28:17). Concerning the first, he sets out two remedies.

"He has become my help and my protector unto salvation." They are said to be helpers who grant us their cooperation through specific acts. Protectors, however, are those who defend us with their power. Protection can take a variety of forms. For some, God is a protection, but deception becomes a protection for others, who lie about themselves, as Isaiah said: "We have established deception as our hope, and we are protected by lies."

One in which they trusted, namely, a covenant with idols; hence he places the covenant: we have entered into a league with death, that is, with the devil: will he make a covenant with you, and will you take him to be a servant for ever? (Job 40:23); and the fruit of the covenant: the overflowing scourge, that is, persecution; we have placed our hope in lies, that is, in idols, because you prophets tell lies: they are not in the labor of men: neither shall they be scourged like other men (Ps 72[73]:5).

Wherefore laying aside all malice, and all guile, and hypocrisies, and envies, and all evil speakings, As newborn babes, desire the sincere milk of the word, that ye may grow thereby: If so be ye have tasted that the Lord is gracious. To whom coming, as unto a living stone, disallowed indeed of men, but chosen of God, and precious, Ye also, as lively stones, are built up a spiritual house, an holy priesthood, to offer up spiritual sacrifices, acceptable to God by Jesus Christ. Wherefore also it is contained in the scripture, Behold, I lay in Sion a chief corner stone, elect, precious: and he that believeth on him shall not be confounded. Unto you therefore which believe he is precious: but unto them which be disobedient, the stone which the builders disallowed, the same is made the head of the corner, And a stone of stumbling, and a rock of offence, even to them which stumble at the word, being disobedient: whereunto also they were appointed. [Isaiah 28:16] But ye are a chosen generation, a royal priesthood, an holy nation, a peculiar people; that ye should show forth the praises of him who hath called you out of darkness into his marvellous light: Which in time past were not a people, but are now the people of God: which had not obtained mercy, but now have obtained mercy.

The foundation of justice therefore is faith, for the hearts of the just dwell on faith. And the just man that accuses himself builds justice on faith, for his justice becomes plain when he confesses the truth. So the Lord says through Isaiah: "Behold, I lay a stone for a foundation in Zion." This means Christ as the foundation of the church. For Christ is the object of faith to all; but the church is as it were the outward form of justice; it is the common right of all.

Therefore, with the exception of this cornerstone, I do not see how people are to be built into a house of God, to contain God dwelling in them, without being born again, which cannot happen before they are born.

To the one group, the infant at birth is shown as the chief cornerstone announced by the prophet; to the other group he is manifested at the very outset of his career. He has already begun to weld together in himself the two walls originally set in different directions, bringing shepherds from Judea and magi from the East.

A stone anointed; why a stone? "Behold, I lay in Zion a stone, elect, precious; and he that believes on him shall not be confounded." Why anointed? Because Christ comes from "anointing" (chrisma).

Here is what one believes with the heart unto justice and makes confession of with the mouth unto salvation. But you're afraid to confess it, in case people taunt you with it; and not ones who have not come to believe, because they too believe it inwardly. But in case those who are ashamed to confess it should taunt you with it, listen to what comes next. For Scripture says, "Nobody who believes in him shall be put to shame." Reflect on all this; stick to it all. This is prey, food not for the belly but for the intelligence.

Christ is the foundation of this faith. For other foundation no one can lay, but that which has been laid, which is Christ Jesus. For He is the cornerstone of which Isaiah and Peter speak: See, I am laying a stone in Sion, a stone that has been tested, a precious cornerstone as a sure foundation. And the Apostle: You are built upon the foundation of the apostles and prophets with Christ Jesus Himself as the chief cornerstone.

Was his tomb made with hands? Does it rise above the ground, like the tombs of kings? Was the sepulcher made of stones joined together? And what is laid upon it? Tell us exactly, O prophets, about his tomb also, where it lies, and where we shall look for it. But they answer, "Look upon the solid rock which you have hewn," look and see.… I, who am "the chief corner stone, chosen, precious," lie for a while within a stone, I, who am "a stone of stumbling" to the Jews but of salvation to them that believe.

And again the prophet says, "Since as a mighty stone He is laid for crushing, behold I cast down for the foundations of Zion a stone, precious, elect, a corner-stone, honourable." Next, what says He? "And he who shall trust in it shall live for ever." Is our hope, then, upon a stone? Far from it. But [the language is used] inasmuch as He laid his flesh [as a foundation] with power; for He says, "And He placed me as a firm rock."

Who can the cornerstone be other than the one who is the living and precious stone supporting two structures with his teaching making them one? He established the building of Moses, which was to remain until his day, and then he joined on to one side our building of the gospel. This is why he is called the cornerstone.

Jacob also, hastening to seek a bride, met Rachel unexpectedly at the well. And a great stone lay upon the well, which a multitude of shepherds were wont to roll away when they came together, and then gave water to themselves and to their flocks. But Jacob alone rolls away the stone, and waters the flocks of his spouse. The thing is, I think, a dark saying, a shadow of what should come. For what is the stone that is laid but Christ Himself? for of Him Isaiah says, "And I will lay in the foundations of Sion a costly stone, precious, elect:" and Daniel likewise, "A stone was cut out without hands," that is, Christ was born without a man. For as it is a new and marvellous thing that a stone should be cut out of the rock without a hewer or stone-cutting tools, so it is a thing beyond all wonder that an offspring should appear from an unwedded Virgin.

Therefore thus says the Lord God: Behold, I will lay in the foundations of Zion a tried stone, a corner stone, precious, founded with a foundation: he who believes, let him not hasten. And I will set judgment in the weight, and righteousness in the measure: and hail shall overthrow the hope of falsehood, and waters shall overflow the protection. And your covenant with death shall be blotted out, and your pact with hell shall not stand; when the overflowing scourge passes through, you shall be trodden down by it. When it passes through, it shall take you away: for in the morning, at daybreak, it shall pass through, in the day and in the night, and vexation alone shall give understanding to the hearing: For the bed is straitened, so that one must fall out, and a short cloak cannot cover both. LXX: Therefore thus says the Lord: Behold, I will put into the foundations of Zion a precious stone, chosen, a corner stone, honorable, in its foundations; and he who believes shall not be confounded. And I will set judgment in hope, and my mercy in the weight; and those who trust vainly in a lie, since the tempest shall not pass through us, and shall not take from us the testament of death, also your hope in hell shall not remain. If the coming tempest passes through, you shall be trodden down by it: when it passes through, it shall take you in the morning, in the morning it shall pass through: by day and by night there shall be a most evil hope. Learn to hear, you who are in tribulation: We cannot fight, and we ourselves are too weak to be gathered together. I had said to you, he says: Hear the word of the Lord, you scornful men, or afflicted princes of my people, and do not have a covenant with death nor a pact with hell, you who, despising my precepts, have made a lie your hope, and, boasting, or rather despairing, say: by a lie we shall be protected. Therefore the Lord, who is merciful and compassionate, patient and abounding in mercy (Ps 144 [145]), says that, against your will, he will lay in the foundations of Zion a stone chosen and tried and precious and a corner stone. Of this the Apostle too speaks: As a wise architect I have laid the foundation (1 Cor 3:10); and again: For no one can lay another foundation than that which is laid, which is Christ Jesus (ibid., 11). This stone is truly, and a second time, called a stone, just as in Leviticus man, man is said twice; and a corner stone, because it joined together the peoples of the Circumcision and of the Gentiles, of which it is said in the psalm too: The stone which the builders rejected has become the head of the corner (Ps 117 [118]:22). These are the builders and masons who are now called scornful men and princes of the people that is in Jerusalem. Of this stone we read in Daniel too, that it was cut from the mountain without hands and filled the whole world (Dan 2): because the dispensation of the divine offspring took a human body, and the fullness of the Godhead dwelt in it bodily. Upon this stone, which by another name is called the rock, Christ built the Church, and, according to the Hebrew, founded it with a firm foundation; in which whoever believes shall not be confounded, or, according to the Hebrew, let him not hasten: that is, lest the coming of Christ should seem slow to him. For if he delays, according to Habakkuk, let no one despair: because he will surely come, and will fulfill his promises (Hab 2).

Your stone is one that ruin follows and the disastrous collapse of tumbling towers; but our stone, laid by the hand of God, builds up, strengthens, lifts, fortifies and adorns the grace of the restored work with the splendor of everlasting immortality.For Isaiah says of this at the behest of the Holy Spirit: "Thus says the Lord: Behold, I lay a stone for the foundations of Zion, a precious stone, elect, a chief cornerstone, honored, and he that shall believe in it shall not be confounded."

If at any time in reading the Scripture you stumble at something which is a fair stone of stumbling, and rock of offence, blame yourself; for you must not despair of finding in this stone of stumbling and rock of offence thoughts to justify the saying, "He that believeth shall not be ashamed." First believe, and thou shalt find beneath what is deemed a stumbling-stone much gain in godliness. For if we really received a commandment to speak no idle word, because we shall give account of it in the day of judgment; and if we must with all our might endeavour to make every word proceeding out of our mouths a working word both in ourselves who speak and in those who hear, must we not conclude that every word spoken through the Prophets was fit for work? and it is no wonder if every word spoken by the Prophets had a work adapted to it. Nay, I suppose that every letter, no matter how strange, which is written in the oracles of God, does its work. And there is not one jot or tittle written in the Scripture, which, when men know how to extract the virtue does not work its own work.

Therefore, brothers, we should be careful neither to give scandal to others nor to take it ourselves when another gives it. It is scandal that troubles the senses, perturbs the mind, confuses our judgment otherwise sharp. It is a scandal that changed an angel into the devil, an apostle into a traitor; that brought sin into the world and allured humankind to death.… Scandal tempts the saints, fatigues the cautious, throws down the incautious, disturbs all things, confuses all people.… He uttered a warning to keep anyone else from coming to this, by saying, "It is impossible that scandals should not come; but woe to him through whom they come! It would be better for him if a millstone were hung about his neck and he were thrown into the sea, rather than that he should cause one of these little ones to sin."Why a millstone and not an ordinary stone? Because, while a millstone is grinding the grain, and pouring out the flour and separating the bran from the meal, it is simultaneously furnishing bread to those who are dutifully toiling. Rightly, therefore, is a millstone tied to the neck of the person who chooses to be a minister of scandal rather than of peace; the very same thing that should have drawn him to life may drag him down to death. For [such a person] has changed those senses given to aid him toward life into a stumbling block bringing death. Then they persuaded him to see something else, and hear, feel and relish something else than was in Christ and in his saving knowledge. In this way he has encompassed the cornerstone, the stone symbolizing help, the stone cut out without hands, that is, Christ, and he has turned it into a stumbling for the weak.

And it is seemly for us first of all to uproot wickedness, and then to lay in ourselves the foundation of the edifice of virtues, in order that the rock may receive our foundation, as it is written, and that on a sure stone may be our building, even as it is said. And in this respect we should be like unto the physicians of our nature who, until they have removed and cleansed the matter from the sore, do not lay upon it the plaster which buildeth up and maketh to grow the living flesh; and so must it be with us also when we have uprooted the matter of the lust of the belly, and have made accusations against its filthy and loathsome forms.

Isaiah wrote, "Behold, I lay a cornerstone in Zion as its foundation, elect and precious; he who believes in it will not be ashamed." The cornerstone is Christ, who, when Nathaniel came to him, explained what Jacob had seen in his dream: "You will see the heavens opened and the angels of God ascending and descending upon the Son of man." For the Christ who descended "is the same one who ascends above all the heavens that he might fill everything." But he lays a narrow path that leads to life.

For Moses describeth the righteousness which is of the law, That the man which doeth those things shall live by them. But the righteousness which is of faith speaketh on this wise, Say not in thine heart, Who shall ascend into heaven? (that is, to bring Christ down from above:) Or, Who shall descend into the deep? (that is, to bring up Christ again from the dead.) But what saith it? The word is nigh thee, even in thy mouth, and in thy heart: that is, the word of faith, which we preach; That if thou shalt confess with thy mouth the Lord Jesus, and shalt believe in thine heart that God hath raised him from the dead, thou shalt be saved. For with the heart man believeth unto righteousness; and with the mouth confession is made unto salvation. For the scripture saith, Whosoever believeth on him shall not be ashamed. [Isaiah 28:16] For there is no difference between the Jew and the Greek: for the same Lord over all is rich unto all that call upon him. For whosoever shall call upon the name of the Lord shall be saved.

Second is the remedy which God prepares for the saints, namely Christ: behold I will lay a stone in the foundations of Zion: the stone which the builders rejected; the same is become the head of the corner (Ps 117[118]:22); he that believes, let him not hasten, but wait for it: if it make any delay, wait for it (Hab 2:3), and this against the blasphemies of the wicked.

The Judge wishes to have mercy on you and to share his own compassion, but on condition that he finds you humble after sin, contrite, lamenting much for your evil deeds, announcing publicly without shame sins committed secretly, begging the brothers to labor with you in reparation. In short, if he sees that you are worthy of pity, he provides his mercy for you ungrudgingly. But if he sees your heart unrepentant, your mind proud, your disbelief of the future life and your fearlessness of the judgment, then he desires the judgment for you. [This is like] a reasonable and kind doctor [who] tries at first with hot applications and soft poultices to reduce a tumor. But, when he sees that the mass is rigidly and obstinately resisting, casting away the olive oil and the gentle method of treatment, he prefers henceforth the use of the knife. Therefore [God] loves mercy in the case of those repenting, but he also loves judgment in the case of the unyielding. Isaiah says some such thing, too, to God: "Your mercy in measure." For he compares the mercy with the judgment of him who gives compensation by scale and number and weight according to the deserts of each.

Discourse awhile on our present heavy blow, about the just judgments of God, whether we grasp their meaning or are ignorant of their great depth. How again "mercy is put in the balance," as holy Isaiah declares. For goodness is not without discernment, as the first laborers in the vineyard fancied, because they could not perceive any distinction between those who were paid alike. [Perceive] how anger, which is called "the cup in the hand of the Lord" and "the cup of falling which is drained," is in proportion to transgressions, even though he shows mercy to every one according to what they are due and dilutes with compassion the unmixed draught of his wrath. For he inclines from severity to indulgence toward those who accept chastisement with fear, and who after a slight affliction conceive and are in pain with conversion, and bring forth the perfect spirit of salvation. But nevertheless he reserves the dregs, the last drop of his anger, that he may pour it out entire upon those who, instead of being healed by his kindness, grow obdurate, like the hard-hearted Pharaoh, that bitter taskmaster, who is set forth as an example of the power of God over the ungodly.

God promises also to set in it the judgment of the weight: For the Father judges no one, but has given all judgment to the Son (John 5:22). And righteousness, or mercy, in the measure, so that he may render to each according to his works, and temper righteousness and mercy each by the other, according to what we read in the psalms too: Mercy and truth have met each other: righteousness and peace have kissed (Ps 84 [85]:11). Your hope also, he says, and your lie, that is, the devil, the father of every lie, the hail of my punishments shall overthrow.

And the protection under which you thought you would be safe, a mighty tempest and a multitude of waters shall destroy, so that the friendship and covenant you had with death and with hell, that is, with the devil, shall perish forever. And the scourge, or tempest, of which you had said: When the overflowing scourge passes through, it shall not come upon us, shall come, and you shall be trodden down by it, that is, you shall suffer all the torments which, in your despairing mind, you thought you would never suffer.

647. And I will set. Here he excludes both of these remedies, and first, the first remedy, second, the second remedy: for the bed is straitened (Isa 28:20). Concerning the first, he does three things: first, he sets out the just judgment of exclusion: I will set judgment in weight: you have made all things in number and measure (Wis 11:21); second, he excludes the covenant, and hail, of tribulation, shall overturn the hope of falsehood; and he sets out four things against all that had been mentioned above: the hope of the hypocrite shall perish (Job 8:13).

Every time is suitable for your ablution, since any time may be your death. With Paul I shout to you with that loud voice, "Behold now is the accepted time; behold now is the day of salvation";56 and that now does not point to any one time but is every present moment. And again "Awake, you that sleep, and Christ shall give you light," dispelling the darkness of sin. For as Isaiah says, "In the night hope is evil," and it is more profitable to be received in the morning.

Now righteous people conceive a dread of God before his indignation is stirred up against them; they fear him at rest, lest they should feel him as moved. But, on the other hand, the wicked then for the first time fear to be smitten when they are under the rod, and terror then rouses them from the sleep of their insensibility when vengeance is troubling them. And hence it is said by the prophet, "And only the vexing alone shall supply understanding to the hearing." For when they have begun to be stricken in vengeance for the contempt and neglect of God's precepts, then they understand the thing that they heard.

For it will always rush upon you, and in prosperity as in adversity you will feel the wrath of the Lord, and cruel death will lay you waste. What shall I say of the punishments? The mere dread of punishments and the fear of torments will correct you unto salvation, and will make you understand your evils. And when you have been vexed, then you will know that my prophets spoke the truth.

Further, as for what is read in the Seventy: Learn to hear, you who are afflicted: we cannot fight, and we ourselves are too weak to be gathered together, what sense it has, and how it is connected with what goes before, I am entirely ignorant. Unless perhaps the divine word is speaking to the princes of the people and exhorting them to have hope in God and not in death and hell, and to learn to hear the oracles of the prophets; and they answer that, for the weakness of their strength, they cannot fight against the opposing powers, nor be gathered together among the people of God.

Third, the fruit of the exclusion, and vexation alone, above: Lord, they have sought after you in distress (Isa 26:16).

And what follows: For the bed is straitened, so that one must fall out, and a short cloak cannot cover both, has the sense we read in the Apostle: You cannot drink the cup of the Lord and the cup of demons. You cannot be partakers of the table of the Lord and of the table of idols (1 Cor 10:20-21); and elsewhere: What participation has righteousness with iniquity? What fellowship has light with darkness? What agreement has Christ with Belial? What part has the believer with the unbeliever? What consent has the temple of God with idols (2 Cor 6:14-15)? He speaks under the metaphor of a most chaste husband, who says to an adulterous wife: One little bed cannot hold me and the adulterer with you, and a short cloak cannot cover both the husband and the paramour. O Jerusalem, then, to whom he speaks in Ezekiel too under the person of a fornicating wife (Ezek 16:21), and whom at the beginning of Hosea he calls a harlot and an adulteress (Hos 3), if you wish to be joined in my embraces, cast away your idols: if you serve idols, you cannot have me. This according to the Hebrew.

And the glory of the God of Israel was there, not because it took delight in such a neighbor, but so that by its presence it might destroy the idol of jealousy and the temple; hence the overthrow of the city and of the temple also follows after a short time; and it is written in Isaiah that a narrow bed can by no means hold two, and a short cloak cannot cover both, Scripture signifying that saying of the Apostle: What agreement has Christ with Belial? The temple of God with an idol?

648. For the bed is straitened. Here he excludes the second remedy. And first, he sets out the impediment, which makes it so that the remedy will not profit them: straitened; he speaks according the likeness of an adulteress, who cannot have her husband and her lover in the same bed; just so, they cannot maintain the worship of idols and obtain divine help: you cannot be partakers of the table of the Lord and of the table of devils (1 Cor 10:21).

Hence Isaiah, contemplating our salvation and [Christ's] passion, well said: "That he may do his work, his strange work; that he may perform his work, his work is strange to him." For the work of God is to gather the souls that he created and call them back to the joys of the eternal light. But it is not the work [of] God in his essence to be flogged, to be smeared with spittle, to be crucified, to die and to be buried, but this is the work of a sinful person who deserved all these things for his sins. But [Jesus] himself bore our sins in his own body on the tree. And he who in his own nature always remains incomprehensible deigned to be comprehended in our nature and to be flogged, because if he had not assumed the attributes of our weakness he could never have raised us to the power of his fortitude.… And he does his strange work that he might do his proper work, because insofar as he bore our sins in infirmity he led us who are his creatures to the glory of his fortitude in which he lives and reigns with God the Father in the unity of the Holy Spirit, God, through ages of ages. Amen.

For as on the mountain of divisions the Lord shall stand, as in the valley of Gibeon he shall be angry, that he may do his work, his strange work, that he may perform his work, his work is foreign to him. And now do not mock, lest perhaps your bonds be tightened. For I have heard from the Lord God of hosts a consummation and a cutting short upon the whole earth. LXX: As a mountain of the ungodly the Lord shall rise up, and he shall be in the valley of Gibeon; with fury he shall do his works, a work of bitterness, and his fury shall deal as with strangers: and his bitterness is strange. And do not you rejoice, lest your bonds be strengthened, since I have heard from the Lord God Sabaoth things completed and cut short, which he will do upon all the earth. The Lord promised that he would lay a precious stone in the foundations of Zion, so that hail might overthrow the lie and the hope of the ungodly, and a mighty tempest might blot out the covenant with death and the pact with hell. Since the scornful princes would not receive it, just as once, when David reigned, the Lord cut down his adversaries against the Philistines on the mountain of divisions, which in Hebrew was called PHARASIM (פרצים), from which the place also took its name; and as in the valley of Gibeon, under Joshua the leader, when, in the confidence of God dwelling in him, he said: Let the sun stand still at Gibeon, and the moon over against the valley of Aijalon (Josh 10:12), and the sun stood still for the space of one day, and many of the foreigners perished: so the Lord shall be angry against the ungodly and the scornful, that he may do his work. For it is not the Lord's work to destroy those whom he created, but to do a strange work, which pertains to cruelty rather than to mercy. And again he repeats the very same thing in other words: that he may perform his work. It is not his work to punish sinners, but foreign and strange to him that he who is the Savior should punish.

According to the Seventy, the Lord himself is said to be about to rise like a mountain of the ungodly and to be in the valley of Gibeon, that he may do his works, which are all one work of bitterness: and this should by no means seem blasphemous. For it does not say that the Lord will be a mountain of the ungodly, but like a mountain, which seems most heavy to the ungodly and those who bear it. Just as a negligent son and a sick man may think a father and a physician cruel if they restore them to health with blows and with the cautery of discipline. For the Lord will rise up and will be in the valley of Gibeon on account of those who, though for their sins they stand in a low place, are lifted up into pride by the swelling of their mind. For Gibeon means hill: that he may do his works, which are works of bitterness, when he is compelled to change his clemency and, instead of sweet, becomes bitter.

Second, he sets out the coming of the liberator, as in the mountain of divisions. He refers to the history which is found in 2 Kings 5; as in the valley, Joshua 10. Third, he excludes the help of mercy: that he may do his work, that is, that he may have mercy on us, as he did then, spoken interrogatively; and he responds: strange work: his tender mercies are over all his works (Ps 144[145]:9).

They do not understand that God grants to each period of time what is appropriate. As he commanded marriage in the law, so in the gospel does he recommend virginity. In the law, an eye is to be offered for an eye, but in the gospel, the other side of the cheek is to be offered to one's assailant. The former arrangement was for a weak people, whereas the latter is for the perfect. Nevertheless each order was adapted to its proper time. Yet it is not to be believed on the basis of this change that God is mutable. Instead, it should be proclaimed a miracle that while remaining immutable himself, God gave to each era its own distinctly appropriate order.Sins were of lesser guilt under the Old Testament because only a shadow of the truth, not truth itself, was present therein. For the higher precepts of the New Testament reveal that we are to forsake some of those things to which the people of the shadow of truth were bound. Previously, for instance, fornication and the taking of retribution for injuries were permitted without punishment. In the New Testament, however, they are condemned with severe punishments. The creed and the Lord's Prayer replace the whole law in sufficing to obtain the kingdom of heaven for the little ones of the church. For the entire breadth of Scripture is contained briefly in the Lord's Prayer and the creed. Thus does the prophet Isaiah say, "I heard from the Lord God of hosts about an abbreviation upon all the earth."

Since, then, the Lord is going to rise up from his patience and will by no means spare, just as he did not spare on Mount Pharasim and in the valley of Gibeon, I warn you, O scornful men, by no means to laugh at my prophets, nor to think that what they announce will not come, lest, if you persist in mocking, the bonds of your sins be tightened (For each one is bound fast by the cords of his own sins (Prov 5:22), or the time of captivity come upon you. For what the Lord was postponing in time, the bonds, the captivity and the punishments, or the last day of judgment, he is now about to fulfill in fact, and to consummate and cut short. Therefore I, the prophet, announce to you the things I have learned from the Lord God almighty are to come upon the whole earth, so that you may forestall the impending wrath by repentance.

Therefore you who are one day to suffer these things, do not now rejoice with that joy with which the rich man too rejoiced, clothed in purple at his banquet and neglecting the poor man Lazarus (Luke 16), lest perhaps your bonds become stronger. For what the Lord is going to do, and to fulfill his sentence in fact, this I have both heard and announced to you in full. And as for what he added: Upon all the earth, according to the history understand the borders of Judea; according to the anagogy, of the whole world.

649. And now do not mock. Here he draws, as a conclusion, sound and wholesome counsel, and first, he prohibits mocking: do not mock; bonds, of captivity: he shall scorn the scorners (Prov 3:34); and he assigns the reason: for I have heard of the Lord the God of hosts a consumption and a cutting short upon all the earth.

Give ear and hear my voice: attend and hear my speech. Will the plowman plow all day that he may sow, will he break up and hoe his ground? When he has leveled its surface, will he not sow gith, and scatter cumin, and put wheat in rows, and barley, and millet, and vetch in their borders? And he will instruct him in judgment; his God will teach him. For gith shall not be threshed with saws, nor shall the wheel of the cart go round over the cumin; but gith shall be beaten out with a rod, and cumin with a staff: but bread shall be crushed. Yet the thresher shall not thresh it forever, nor shall the wheel of the cart vex it, nor shall he crush it with its hoofs. And this has gone forth from the God of hosts, that he might make his counsel wonderful and magnify righteousness. LXX: Give ear and hear my voice: attend and hear my words. Will he who plows plow all day, or will he prepare the seed before he prepares the ground? When he has leveled its surface, will he not then sow gith and cumin, and again sow wheat, and barley, and millet, and spelt in your borders, and you shall be instructed by the judgment of God, and shall rejoice? For gith is not cleaned with harshness, nor does the wheel of the cart go round over the cumin; but gith is beaten out with a rod, and cumin is eaten with bread. For I will not be angry with you forever, nor shall the voice of my bitterness trample you down; and these portents have gone forth from the Lord. Take counsel, exalt a vain consolation. He is now speaking also to the same men to whom he had said above: Hear the word of God, you scornful men, who rule over my people that is in Jerusalem; and he commands them to hear his voice and attend diligently to his speech.

650. Give ear. Here he sets out consolation. And first, he arouses their attention: hear: hear, O you heavens, the things I speak (Deut 32:1).

I praise wedlock, I praise marriage, but it is because they give me virgins. I gather the rose from the thorns, the gold from the earth, the pearl from the shell. "Does the plowman plow all day to sow?" Shall he not also enjoy the fruit of his labor? Wedlock is the more honored, the more what is born of it is loved. Why, mother, do you grudge your daughter her virginity? She has been reared on your milk, she has come from your womb, she has grown up in your bosom. Your watchful affection has kept her a virgin. Are you angry with her because she chooses to be a king's wife and not a soldier's? She has conferred on you a high privilege; you are now the mother-in-law of God.

Will the farmer, he says, always plow so that he may cast the seed? Will he not first break up the ground and turn over the furrows with the plowshare, and break the lumps lying there with rake and hoe, so that when he has leveled the surface of the earth and first softened the hard fields, he may then scatter gith or cumin, and sow wheat, and barley, and millet, and spelt in their borders, according to the variety of the land and of the seasons: for all things are not sown at once. For spelt, which the Greeks call ζέαν, some understand vetch.

God dispenses the human race in various ways: now he punishes, now he has mercy; now he rebukes, now he defends; that is, now he plows, now he sows, now he reaps the ripe fruits, and when they are reaped he threshes them on the floors, and governs his world as he will. Gith and cumin, that is, all the nations that did not receive the knowledge of him nor have the precepts of the Law, he corrects with a rod and a staff; but the wheat, that is, the people of the Jews, he will torment with great punishments. For to whom more is entrusted, from him more will be required. And the servant who knows the will of his lord and does not do it shall be beaten with many stripes (Luke 12:47); and in another place it is written: The mighty shall suffer torments mightily (Wis 6:7). Yet he will not torment them forever. For it is one thing to be ungodly, another to be a sinner. What we have interpreted of the nations and the Jews, others expound of the people and the priests: that the unlearned common people in the day of judgment will be chastised like gith and cumin with a rod and a staff, but the priests, who had the key of knowledge, will be tormented with great punishments; and that this happens by the judgment of the Lord, who shows in all things his wonderful counsel and the truth of his righteousness, so that from those who have received more, more is required.

Second, he sets out the consolation under the likeness of a farmer: shall the ploughman plough all the day, through which he shows three things, namely, the intention of God to punish like the ploughman, that they might bear fruit, to sow. Gith, a kind of legume similar to cumin.

And God by his judgment instructs the farmer himself, that is, the sower, by nature, and teaches him to know what cultivation to apply to which seed.

Second, the discretion of his judgment, for he punishes some in one way and others in a different way, just as a farmer beats out wheat in one way and cumin in another, and he indicates this where it says: for he will instruct him in judgment. Bread, that is, grain.

Then, when the time of reaping has come, gith and cumin, which are the weaker seeds, are not ground by the wheels of the carts, which, made of iron like saws, are driven round and dragged over the reaped crops; but they are beaten out with a rod and a staff, which are commonly called flails.

Where we have translated: gith shall be beaten out with a rod, and cumin with a staff, the Seventy, meaning I know not what, translated: but cumin is eaten with bread. Indeed the old Greek translators too, in rendering the Hebrew, were silent about this expression, perhaps because they had nothing to say.

But bread, that is, the wheat from which bread is made, is ground by iron wheels, and all its stalk is crushed into chaff. Yet it is not always vexed and ground, nor at all times crushed by the hoofs of the wheels; for which in the Hebrew it says by their horses: so that, since he had spoken of the hoofs of the wheels, he might keep the metaphor in the rest. Some would have it that, because he named hoofs and horses, herds of mares are meant, which are usually let into the threshing floors to tread out the grain; but Scripture could not say what the province of Judea did not have.

And that passage in which we, according to the Hebrew, have put: Yet the thresher shall not thresh it forever, nor shall the wheel of the cart vex it, nor shall he crush it with its hoofs, the Seventy translated not word for word but according to the sense: For I will not be angry with you forever, nor shall the voice of my bitterness trample you down: showing that refreshment is to come to sinners after torments, and that these things have gone forth from the Lord as portents and wonders. Hence sinners who are afterward to be punished are commanded to take counsel and exalt their consolation, by no means a vain one, as was added by the Seventy, but consolation absolutely. For God would never command them to exalt their vain consolation, which would be of no profit to them.

Third, the ending of punishments as to those who are corrected: but the thrasher shall not thrash it for ever: he that ploughs, should plough in hope, and he that thrashes, in hope to receive fruit (1 Cor 9:10).

But this, that is, that gith and cumin are beaten out with a rod and a staff, while wheat and barley and spelt, and perhaps millet too, are ground by iron wheels, not forever, is the judgment of God, who in all things shows his wonderful counsel and displays the greatness of his righteousness in all. These things we have said παραφραστικῶς, so that we may more easily understand the sense for which they are said.

Third, he sets out the explanation: this also is come forth from the Lord God of hosts, to make his counsel wonderful: wonderful are your works (Ps 134[135]:14).