Isaiah 29

[Zion] formed the city that David formerly stormed and afterwards rebuilt. Of its storming it is written, "Woe to Ariel, to Ariel"—that is, God's lion2 (and indeed in those days it was extremely strong).

Woe to Ariel, Ariel, the city which David besieged. Year has been added to year, the solemnities have rolled round. I will surround Ariel with a rampart, and it shall be sad and mourning; and it shall be to me like Ariel. And I will set as it were a ring round about you, and I will cast up a mound against you, and set up fortifications for your siege. You shall be brought low, you shall speak from the earth, and your speech shall be heard from the ground, and your voice shall be like that of a python from the earth, and from the ground your speech shall mutter. And the multitude of those who winnow you shall be like fine dust, and the multitude of those who have prevailed against you like passing ash. And it shall be suddenly, at once: it shall be visited by the Lord of hosts with thunder and the shaking of the earth, and with the great noise of whirlwind and tempest, and of the flame of devouring fire. And the multitude of all the nations that have fought against Ariel, and all who have made war and besieged and prevailed against it, shall be like the dream of a night vision. As the hungry man dreams and eats, but when he has awakened his soul is empty; and as the thirsty man dreams and drinks, but after he has awakened he is still faint and thirsty, and his soul is empty: so shall be the multitude of all the nations that have fought against Mount Zion. LXX: Woe to Ariel, Ariel, the city which David besieged. Gather the produce, eat year upon year, for you shall eat with Moab: for I will press Ariel hard, and its strength and its riches shall be mine, and I will encompass you like David: and I will throw up a rampart round about you, and set towers around you, and your words shall be brought low to the earth, and your speeches shall sink into the earth. And your voice shall be like that of those who speak from the earth, and down to the pavement your voice shall grow weak. And the riches of the ungodly shall be like dust from a wheel, and the multitude of those who have oppressed you like ash that is swept away; and it shall be in an instant, suddenly, from the Lord Sabaoth. For there shall be a visitation with thunder, and shaking, and a great noise, a mighty tempest, and a flame of devouring fire. And the riches of all the nations that have made war against Ariel, and all who have fought against Jerusalem, and all who have gathered against it and afflicted it, shall be like one who sees a dream by night. And they shall be like those who hunger in their sleep and eat, and when they rise their dream is vain; and like one who thirsts in a dream and drinks, and when he rises he will still thirst, and his soul has hoped in vain: so shall be the riches of all the nations that have made war against Mount Zion. Where we have translated Woe, in the Hebrew is written OI (הוי), which among them is sometimes used in the vocative case, so that it does not lament Ariel but calls it; although in the present place it is to be taken as a lament. Ariel too means lion of God; and for city, which Aquila translated πολίχνην, that is, little town or little village, they read in the Hebrew CARIATH (קרית), which properly signifies village, and in the Syriac language is called Cartha; whence the village of the woods too is called CARIATH JARIM (קרית יערים). Indeed above too (cf. Isa 1:21), where we read: How has the faithful city Zion become a harlot?, for city Cariath is written, that is, village: which, to express Aquila's translation word for word, we can call citylet. Therefore Ariel, that is, lion of God, is the name given to Jerusalem, once most strong; or, as others think, to the temple and altar of God that was in Jerusalem. And what follows: Which David besieged, for which Symmachus translated camp of David, and Theodotion circumvallation of David, in the Hebrew reads HANA (חנה), which the most learned of the Hebrews held to signify dwelling place. If, then, we read: which David besieged, let us refer it to that time when David took the citadel of Zion, while the blind and the lame resisted, and Joab first climbed the heights of the buildings (1 Chr 11). But if according to Symmachus and Theodotion, it is to be understood that David restored and fortified it; year has been added to year, or taken away, as Aquila translated; and the solemnities have rolled round. For when the temple was overthrown and the Jewish worship taken away, all their festivity perished.

At the beginning of this chapter too, where we have said: Year has been added to year, or taken away, they translated: gather the fruits, or produce, year upon year: eat, for you shall eat with Moab. And the sense is: before the acceptable year of the Lord, of his preaching, comes, or rather the two years, of which we read in the Canticle of Habakkuk according to the Hebrew: In the midst of two times you shall be known (Hab 3), sow for yourselves in tears, that you may reap in joy (Ps 125 [126]). It is written in the Gospel according to John that the Lord came to Jerusalem at three Passovers, which make two years (John 2:13). And what follows: For you shall eat with Moab, is not in the Hebrew. Of this we can say that, unless they gather for themselves the fruits of repentance, they will begin to eat with those who do not enter the Church of the Lord forever. The other points in which they seem to differ are plain, and from what we have expounded their interpretation is easy.

I know that I have read that Ariel means my light of God, which is far otherwise. For here the first syllable is written with ALEPH and RES (אר): but light, which in Hebrew is called OR, has between ALEPH and RES the middle letter VAU, which is not found in the present name. And they refer all that is now said against Ariel to the heretics, who reckon their own doctrine to be the light of God, and who are to be overcome by the true David: and all their solemnities are to be taken away, and their present joy changed into future sorrow; and God commands them to do penance, lest they begin to eat with the Moabites and be like the Gentiles. For he himself will overcome Ariel, and will encompass all their strength and riches with his army. And with towers, that is, with the teachers of the Church, he will bring their words low to the earth, so that they will by no means set their mouth against heaven, but will be written in the earth and speak from the earth, and become like dust shaken off by a wheel; and all the riches of the ungodly will be compared to a point and a moment of time, when he visits them in his majesty, descending in whirlwind and tempest and the fire of punishment; and they will understand that all their riches, and the pomp of their words, and the twists of their arguments, are like the dream of one who eats and drinks in vain: they who have made war against Jerusalem, the vision of peace, or against Ariel, the mightiest lion, and lastly against Mount Zion, upon which the city of the Church is set and cannot be hidden.

651. Woe to Ariel. In this part, he sets out threatening against the people or against the city, and this is divided into two parts; in the first, he threatens the punishment of temporal destruction; in the second, the punishment of spiritual blinding: be astonished (Isa 29:9). Concerning the first, he does two things: in the first, he threatens destruction; in the second, he sets out consolation of any kind: and the multitude of all nations that have fought against Ariel, shall be as the dream (Isa 29:7). The first of these is divided into two: in the first, he sets out the destruction of Jerusalem by the Babylonians; in the second, destruction by the Romans: and I will encircle you like a sphere (Isa 29:3).

652. Concerning the first, he does three things. First, he recalls their former dignity: Ariel, that is, lion of God, for by the power of God in the time of David and Solomon they feared no one, like a lion: a lion, the strongest of beasts, who has no fear of any thing he meets (Prov 30:30); or because of the altar of holocausts, which was there in Jerusalem, because, like a lion, it consumed animals, and this is understood from Ezekiel 43:15; or perhaps because of its shape, for it was situated in the manner of a lion. The city which David took: for I have taken both a lion and a bear (1 Sam 17:36).

653. Second, he sets out the destruction, setting out three things: the ending of feasts: year is added to year, as if to say: for many years; the solemnities have been unrolled, that is, they have perished: for they shall sit many days without sacrifice, and without ephod (Hos 3:4).

And the Lord says that he will surround Ariel with a rampart, with the Babylonian army, and that it will be sad and mourning when it has been destroyed by them. And again, under Jeshua son of Jozadak the high priest, and Zerubbabel son of Shealtiel, and Ezra and Nehemiah, when Haggai and Zechariah prophesied, it will be like Ariel, in that it will have the likeness of the ancient temple, but not have its magnificence and adornment.

The siege: and I will make a trench, namely, by the Chaldees: and lay siege against it (Ezek 4:2); and he intimates the taking of the city from its sadness: and it shall be in sorrow: my sighs are many (Lam 1:22).

654. Third, he sets out the reparation made under Jesus the high priest and others, about whom it is written through all of Ezra. And it shall be to me as Ariel, as if to say: retaining a shadow of its former dignity. On the contrary: great is the glory of this last house more than of the first (Hag 2:10). And to this is to be said that this is said because it had been visited bodily by the Son of God himself.

A second time also the Lord threatens that he will surround Ariel with a ring, and cast up a mound against it, and set up fortifications for its siege, and that what he himself says, lamenting Jerusalem in the Gospel, will be fulfilled: If you knew the things that are for your peace, for days shall come upon you, and your enemies shall surround you with a rampart, and besiege you, and you shall be brought low to the ground (Luke 19:42ff.). And Jerusalem shall be trodden down by the nations until the time of the nations is consummated.

655. And I will encircle. Here he threatens destruction by the Romans. And concerning this, he sets out four things. First, the siege: and I will encircle you like a sphere, that is, round about: your enemies shall cast a trench about you (Luke 19:43); he shall laugh at every strong hold, and shall cast up a mount (Hab 1:10).

For in other words the prophet now says the same thing: that, brought low, it speaks from the earth, and its speech is heard from the ground; and its voice is like that of a python from the earth, and from the ground it mutters like sparrows; so that by these words he signifies the νεκυομαντείαν of the magicians, by which they are said to call up souls and to hear the thin voices of shades, or rather of demons. Indeed for python Aquila translated magician, which in Hebrew is called CHEB (כאב), for which the Seventy translated those speaking from the earth. By these words it is indicated that the ruin of the temple will remain until the consummation of the world, so that, having collapsed into ashes, it will never be raised again.

Second, the humiliation of the besieged: you shall be humbled; and the sign of their humiliation, you shall speak out of the earth, that is, just as if you were under the earth, so shall you humbly be heard, bearing the words of the python, which chanted silently: I will take away out of the midst of you your proud boasters (Zeph 3:11); or their meriting of humiliation, accusing them of the sin of avarice: you shall speak out of the earth, and idolatry: and your voice shall be like that of the python.

And so great an army of Roman power will encompass you, O Ariel, that it will be compared to countless dust, like ash flying through the air. Hence he compares to dust and ash not the weakness of those who made war against them, but their multitude, which is equal to the countless sands.

Third, he sets out the multitude of the enemy: and the multitude of them that fan you, shall be like small dust: a nation come up upon my land (Joel 1:6), or the destruction of the enemy, as above: he shall be carried away as the dust of the mountains before the wind (Isa 17:13).

And this will be suddenly, at once, so that in the midst of peace sudden wars arise under Nero, and the Lord of hosts visits Jerusalem with thunder, and with the shaking of the earth, and with the whirlwind of tempest, and with the flame of devouring fire, by which he signifies that the temple was to be burned.

Fourth, he sets out the destruction itself: and it shall be at an instant suddenly, metaphorically, because of the ferocity of the enemy: he shall come up as a cloud, and his chariots as a tempest: his horses are swifter than eagles (Jer 4:13).

And the Romans, who, when the Jews had been overcome and Jerusalem overthrown under Titus and Vespasian, offered to the Capitol spoils from the vessels that once were God's, and thought that what they had done was the work of their own valor and of the power of their gods, not of the wrath of God, will possess all their riches as in a dream and in a vision of the night. And as one who is hungry thinks, while sleeping, that he is eating in his dreams, and one who is thirsty, his throat parched with thirst, drinks rivers, and when he has awakened his thirst becomes fiercer, having been mocked by an empty drink: so the multitude of all the nations which, subject to Roman power, fought against Mount Zion, will have their riches as in a shadow and a cloud and a dream of the night, riches which they will leave behind by an early death. In the place where we have put: all who have made war and besieged and prevailed against it, the Seventy translated: and all who have fought against Jerusalem, which is not in the Hebrew.

657. Note on the words, it shall be as the dream (Isa 29:7), that something is called a dream: first, because of vanity: the vision of dreams is the resemblance of one thing to another (Sir 34:3); second, because of brevity: as a dream that flees away he shall not be found (Job 20:8); third, because of obscurity of understanding: by a dream in a vision by night (Job 33:15); fourth, because of perversity of soul, below: sleeping and loving dreams (Isa 56:10).

656. And the multitude of all nations that have fought against Ariel, shall be as the dream. Here he adds some consolation from the punishment of the enemy, for like a vain thing, they will go into nothing, not carrying back anything advantageous from the destruction of Judea, just as someone hungry or thirsty gets nothing from food or drink he dreams of: the hopes of a man that is void of understanding are vain and deceitful: and dreams lift up fools (Sir 34:1); I will make Jerusalem a burdensome stone to all people (Zech 12:3).

Let us speak of him who thought he was happy since he was chief butler and believed that this was the summit and crown of all power, that he would give the cup to the king. This was his glory, this was his grandeur in this world; when he was deprived of this he felt sorrow, and when he was restored to it he rejoiced. But this is a dream, and all worldly power is a dream, not a reality. To be sure, he saw by way of a dream that his preeminent position was restored to him. Isaiah also says that people of this kind are such as take delight in prosperity in this world. One who eats and drinks in his sleep thinks he is filled with food and drink, but when he awakens, he begins to be more hungry; then he understands how insubstantial were that dreamer's food and drink. Just so, one who is asleep in this world and does not open his eyes to the mysteries of God, as long as he is in a deep corporeal sleep, supposes that such worldly power is of some importance, seeing it, as it were, in his dreams. But when he has awakened, he discovers how insubstantial the pleasure of this world is.

Truly, this life is a dream, a dream of riches; for when we seem to have them within our grasp, immediately they slip away. Isaiah expresses this same thought: "As when a thirsty man dreams he is drinking and awakens faint and dry," so indeed are the riches of this world; while we are reaching out for them they are gone.

But that we may know that waters and cups signify teaching, the Lord speaks to the Samaritan woman: Everyone who drinks of this water will thirst again; but whoever drinks of the water that I shall give him will not thirst for ever. Therefore whoever drinks of the waters of the Samaritan woman, that is, of the heretics, will always thirst and will not be able to cool the burning of a parched throat, as Isaiah cries aloud about this very thing: As one who is thirsty dreams that he drinks, and when he has risen he still thirsts, and his soul has hoped in vain; so shall all the nations be that fight against Jerusalem. For truly whoever drinks of the waters of the heretics, and fights against Jerusalem, the Church of God, drinks in his sleep, and his soul is mocked by empty images. And when he thinks himself satisfied, then he will have the beginning of thirst.

And those who sleep are those who, when they ought to be taking heed and watching with the soul, are not doing this. But by reason of great want of attention they are nodding in resolution and are drowsy in their reflections, such as "in their dreaming defile the flesh, and set at nothing that which is highest in authority, and rail at dignities." And these, because they are asleep, live in an atmosphere of vain and dreamlike fancies concerning realities. [They do not admit] the things that are actually true, but [they are] deceived by what appears in their vain imaginations. In regard to [them] it is said in Isaiah, "Like as when a thirsty man dreams that he is drinking, but when he has risen up is still thirsty, and his soul has cherished a vain hope, so shall be the wealth of all the nations, as many as have warred in Jerusalem."

What are we to do now, my brothers, when crushed, cast down and drunk but not with strong drink or with wine, which excites and obfuscates but for a while, but with the blow which the Lord has inflicted upon us? He says, "And you, O heart, be stirred and shaken, and gives to the despisers the spirit of sorrow and deep sleep to drink." To [them] he also says, "See, you despisers, behold, and wonder and perish." How shall we bear his convictions; or what reply shall we make, when he reproaches us not only with the multitude of the benefits for which we have continued ungrateful, but also with his chastisements, and reckons up the remedies with which we have refused to be healed?

Be stupefied and wonder: waver and stagger, be drunk, and not with wine; reel, and not with drunkenness. For the Lord has mingled for you a spirit of deep sleep: he will close your eyes; your prophets and your princes, who see visions, he will cover. And the vision of all shall be to you like the words of a sealed book, which, when they give it to one who knows letters, they will say: Read this, and he will answer: I cannot, for it is sealed. And the book shall be given to one who does not know letters, and it shall be said to him: Read; and he will answer: I do not know letters. For spirit of deep sleep the Seventy translated compunction; Theodotion ecstasy of mind; Aquila καταφορὰν, that is, heavy sleep; which in Hebrew is called THARDEMA (תרדמה), and which Scripture records was sent by God upon Adam (Gen 2), when the woman was made from the rib of his side. And Jonah snored in this same sleep in the ship (Jonah 1). And the whole prophecy after the overthrow of Jerusalem and the temple, that is, of Ariel, is against the scribes and Pharisees, who, having the key of knowledge, neither enter themselves nor allow others who wish to enter. And they are commanded to be made drunk with stupor and wonder, or rather, according to the Septuagint, with the dissolution of the whole body and ecstasy of mind, and to reel and waver: staggering not with wine nor strong drink, but with the spirit of deep sleep, or of the Lord's compunction, so that, understanding their evil, they may at some time do penance and say with the prophet: I was turned in my weakness, while the thorn is fastened in me (Ps 31 [32]:4). Know, then, O scribes and Pharisees, who are the princes of the Jews, that the Lord is repaying you in kind. For when you heard the Lord the Savior, you would not understand, and you closed your eyes lest you should see him, and made your ears heavy lest you should hear. Therefore he too will close your eyes, which are the prophets, through whom you used to see the knowledge of God. Or he will close your eyes and those of the prophets, who are your princes. For the Law and the prophets were until John the Baptist (Luke 16): so that while you do not see, those may see of whom the later passage (cf. v. 18) testifies: And in that day the deaf shall hear the words of the book, and the eyes of the blind shall see and exult. For the Lord came for judgment, that the Jews who see might not see, and that those who were blind, namely the people of the nations, might see and contemplate the Lord (John 9).

Since you are reasonable, I know that after my exhortation you will not permit yourselves to go beyond the bounds of what you need. But now it is appropriate for me to urge you not only to turn aside from drinking to excess but also to avoid the drunkenness that comes without drinking wine. For this kind is more dangerous. Don't be astonished at what I say, for it is possible to be drunk without wine. That you may know that this is possible, listen to the prophet, who said, "Woe to those who are drunk not from wine." But what is this drunkenness that does not come from wine? It takes many and varied forms. For anger makes us drunk; so too, vainglory, haughty madness, and all the deadly passions that spring up in us produce a kind of drunkenness and satiety that darkens our reason. For drunkenness is nothing more than the distraction of our minds from their natural ways, the straying of reason and the loss of our understanding.

Yes, it is possible to be drunk without wine; it is possible for a sober person to act as if he is drunk and to revel like a prodigal. If one could not get drunk without wine, the prophet would never have said, "Woe to those who are drunk not from wine"; if one could not get drunk without wine, Paul would never have said, "Do not be drunk with wine." For he said this as if there were a possibility of getting drunk some other way. And it is possible. A person can be drunk with anger, with unseemly desire, with greed, with vainglory, with ten thousand other passions. For drunkenness is nothing other than a loss of right reason, a derangement and depriving the soul of its health.

658. Be astonished. Here he threatens the punishment of blinding, and first, he foretells the blinding of the Jews; second, the conversion of the gentiles: is it not yet a very little while (Isa 29:17). Concerning the first, he does two things: first, he sets out the blinding; second, he assigns the reason for it: and the Lord said (Isa 29:13).

659. Concerning the first, he does three things. First, he foretells the blinding, setting out those things which confused the judgment of their reason: be astonished, from consideration of the guilt of the wicked or of their punishment: be astonished, O you heavens, at this, and you gates thereof, be very desolate (Jer 2:12); and wonder, from consideration of great things: wonderful are your works (Ps 138[139]:14); waver, from uncertainty in choosing: for he that wavers is like a wave of the sea, which is moved and carried about by the wind (Jas 1:6); stagger, from inconstancy of intention: your hands have confirmed them that were staggering (Job 4:4); be drunk, from anxiety of sorrows: drink you also, and fall fast asleep: the cup of the right hand of the Lord shall compass you (Hab 2:16).

If they could not believe, what is the sin of a person not doing what he cannot do? But if they sinned by not believing, then they could believe and did not.… Then what will we answer about another testimony of the prophet that the apostle Paul cites, saying, "Israel did not obtain what he was seeking, but the election did obtain it. The rest indeed have been blinded, as it has been written, 'God gave them a spirit of insensibility, eyes that they should not see, and ears that they should not hear until this present day.' "You have heard, brothers, the question proposed; you see, of course, how profound it is. But we answer as best we can. "They could not believe," because Isaiah the prophet foretold this. But the prophet foretold it because God foreknew that it would be. Why they could not, however, if it should be asked of me, I quickly answer, because they were not willing. For God foresaw their evil will and he, from whom the future cannot be hidden, foretold it through the prophet. But, you say, the prophet states another cause, not of their will. What cause does the prophet state? That "God gave them a spirit of insensibility, eyes that they should not see and ears that they should not hear, and he blinded their eyes and hardened their heart." I answer that their will earned even this. For thus God blinds, thus God hardens by abandoning and not helping; and he can do this by a hidden judgment, but he cannot do it by an evil one. The piety of the religious ought altogether keep this unshaken and inviolate; as the apostle says when he was discussing this very same, most difficult question: "What shall we say, then? Is there injustice with God? Not at all!" Therefore, if it is not at all the case that there is injustice with God, either when he helps, he acts mercifully, or when he does not help, he acts justly, because he does all things not with rashness but in judgment. Accordingly, if the judgments of the saints are just, how much more so those of the sanctifying and justifying God! Therefore they are just but hidden.

Not to recognize sins lest penance follow is the wrath of God, as it is written: "And the Lord gave to them the spirit of a deep sleep," lest they actually return and be cured and be healed by their lamentations and just satisfactions after their sins.…The first degree of felicity is not to sin; the second, to recognize the sins committed. In the former, innocence runs upright and unimpaired to save; in the latter, there follows the remedy to cure. They have lost both of these by offending God.… Or do you think, brother, that crimes against God are light matters, small and of little moment, because through them the majesty of an offended God is not sought, because the wrath and fire and day of the Lord are not feared, because, with Antichrist at hand, the faith of a militant people is disarmed while vigor and the fear of Christ are taken away?

Second, he sets out the manner of blinding: for the Lord has mingled for you the spirit of a deep sleep, that is, as if he offered mixed wine to drink; he will shut up your eyes, namely, the prophets, above: the Lord has mingled in the midst thereof the spirit of giddiness (Isa 19:14).

Sacred Scripture is compared to the water of the sea on account of the profundity of its mysteries. The sea is deep, nor can a man wade across it: so great is the profundity of the mysteries of sacred Scripture that, however illuminated a man may be and however great his industry, he cannot attain to their depth. Hence Isaiah says: "The vision of all things shall be to you as the words of a sealed book, which when they give to one who knows letters, they will say: Read this; and he will answer: I cannot, for it is sealed. And the book shall be given to one who does not know letters, and it shall be said to him: Read; and he will answer: I do not know letters." Neither the learned nor the unlearned will be able to read it. Who then will read it? I say that he who wishes to enter the sanctuary of God with pride will not be able to, even if he is learned; similarly, if a learned man wishes to enter, he would be foolish. It is necessary, therefore, that one have both learning and the spirit.

Isaiah [prophesied] that the Jews would not understand the holy Scriptures, but that they would become intelligible in the last times, after Christ had come: "And all these words shall be to you as the words of a book that is sealed, which, if you shall give to a man that knows letters to read, he shall say, I cannot read, for it is sealed.… But in that day the deaf shall hear the words of the book, and they who are in darkness and in a cloud; the eyes of the blind shall see."

For our Lord Jesus Christ did not come as it were to seal up the visions of the prophets. He rather opened and explained those that were of old obscure and sealed, tearing away so to say the seals impressed on them, and taught his disciples the meaning of the Holy Scriptures. Hence he says, "Behold, the lion of the tribe of Judah has prevailed, and he has opened the seals that were set on the book," in John's Apocalypse. What are these seals but the obscurities of the prophets? Isaiah knew them well and definitely says too: "And these words shall be as the words of the sealed book." The Christ of God did not come then to shut up the vision and the prophet but rather to open them and bring them to the light.

And that the things spoken of old by the law and the prophets were all sealed, and that they were unknown to people, Isaiah declares when he says, "And they will deliver the book that is sealed to one that is learned, and will say to him, 'Read this;' and he will say, 'I cannot read it, for it is sealed.' " It was right and necessary that the things spoken of old by the prophets should be sealed to the unbelieving Pharisees, who thought that they understood the letter of the law, and be opened to the believing. The things, therefore, which of old were sealed, are now by the grace of God the Lord all open to the saints.

But Thou, O Daniel, shut up the words and seal the book, even to the time appointed. Many shall pass over, and knowledge shall be manifold. He who had revealed manifold truth to Daniel now signifies that the things he has said are matters of secrecy, and he orders him to roll up the scroll containing his words and set a seal upon the book, with the result that many shall read it and inquire as to its fulfilment in history, differing in their opinions because of its great obscurity. And as for the statement, "Many shall pass over" or "go through," this indicates that it will be read by many people. For it is a familiar expression to say: "I have gone through a book," or, "I have passed through an historical account." Indeed this is the idea which Isaiah also expressed in regard to the obscurity of his own book: "And the sayings of that book shall be like the words of a book that is sealed. And if they shall give it to an illiterate man, saying, 'Read it,' he will reply, 'I do not know how to read.' But if they give it to a man who does know how to read and say, 'Read the book,' he will reply, 'I cannot read it, because it is sealed up.'" Also in the Revelation of John, there is a book seen which is sealed with seven seals inside and outside. And when no one proves able to break its seals, John says, "I wept sore; and a voice came to me, saying, 'Weep not: behold the Lion of the tribe of Judah, the Root of David, has prevailed to open the book and break its seals.'" But that book can be opened by one who has learned the mysteries of Scripture and understands its hidden truths, and its words which seem dark because of the greatness of the secrets they contain. He it is who can interpret the parables and transmute the letter which killeth into the spirit which quickeneth.

In the Apocalypse a book is shown sealed with seven seals, which if you deliver to one that is learned saying, "Read this," he will answer you, "I cannot, for it is sealed." How many there are today who fancy themselves learned, yet the Scriptures are a sealed book to them, and one which they cannot open save through him who has the key of David, "he that opens and no man shuts; and shuts and no man opens." In the Acts of the Apostles the holy eunuch when reading Isaiah is asked by Philip, "Do you understand what you are reading?" The man answered, "How can I, except some man should guide me?" To digress for a moment to myself, I am neither holier nor more diligent than this eunuch, who came from Ethiopia … and was so great a lover of the law and of divine knowledge that he read the holy Scriptures even in his chariot. Yet although he had the book in his hand and took into his mind the words of the Lord, no, even had them on his tongue and uttered them with his lips, he still did not know him, who—not knowing—he worshiped in the book. Then Philip came and showed him Jesus, who was concealed beneath the letter. Wondrous excellence of the teacher! In the same hour the eunuch believed and was baptized; he became one of the faithful and a saint. He was no longer a pupil but a master; and he found more in the church's font there in the wilderness than he had ever done in the gilded temple of the synagogue. These instances have been just touched upon by me (the limits of a letter forbid a more discursive treatment of them) to convince you that in the Holy Scriptures you can make no progress unless you have a guide to show you the way.

Hence he significantly did not say that the vision of all the prophets is sealed to all who read; but to you, he says, it shall be sealed, to whom I now speak, to whom I foretell that these things will come; or he will close forever the eyes of your princes, who, according to the Septuagint, boasted that they saw things hidden and secret. And all holy Scripture, he says, shall be to you closed and sealed, so that you, who suppose you know the letters of the Law and the oracles of the prophets, and meditate day and night with unwearied mouth on the volumes of the Scriptures, may not understand what you read; as it is written in the Apocalypse of John: Who is worthy to open the book and to loose its seals (Rev 5:2)? And when no one had been found to open the seals, he says that he wept, and that at last he was granted a word of God to him: Do not weep: behold, the lion of the tribe of Judah, the root of David, has prevailed to open the book and to loose its seals. The lion of the tribe of Judah is the Lord Jesus Christ, who loosed the seals of the book, not, properly, of one book, as many think, the psalms of David, but of all the Scriptures, which were written by one Holy Spirit; and therefore they are called one book. Of this Ezekiel testifies in mystical speech (Ezek 2) that it was written within and without: in the sense and in the letter. Of this the Savior too speaks in the psalms: At the head of the book it is written of me (Ps 39 [40]:8); not of Jeremiah, not of Isaiah, but in all holy Scripture, which is called one book.

[Daniel 12:4] "But Thou, O Daniel, shut up the words and seal the book, even to the time appointed. Many shall pass over, and knowledge shall be manifold." He who had revealed manifold truth to Daniel now signifies that the things he has said are matters of secrecy, and he orders him to roll up the scroll containing his words and set a seal upon the book, with the result that many shall read it and inquire as to its fulfilment in history, differing in their opinions because of its great obscurity. And as for the statement, "Many shall pass over" or "go through," this indicates that it will be read by many people. For it is a familiar expression to say: "I have gone through a book," or, "I have passed through an historical account." Indeed this is the idea which Isaiah also expressed in regard to the obscurity of his own book: "And the sayings of that book shall be like the words of a book that is sealed. And if they shall give it to an illiterate man, saying, 'Read it,' he will reply, 'I do not know how to read.' But if they give it to a man who does know how to read and say, 'Read the book,' he will reply, 'I cannot read it, because it is sealed up'" (Isaiah 29:11-12). Also in the Revelation of John, there is a book seen which is sealed with seven seals inside and outside. And when no one proves able to break its seals, John says, "I wept sore; and a voice came to me, saying, 'Weep not: behold the Lion of the tribe of Judah, the Root of David, has prevailed to open the book and break its seals'" (Revelation 5:1-5). But that book can be opened by one who has learned the mysteries of Scripture and understands its hidden truths, and its words which seem dark because of the greatness of the secrets they contain. He it is who can interpret the parables and transmute the letter which killeth into the spirit which quickeneth.

Since, therefore, the teachers of the Jews to this present day cannot read and open the seals and lay open the mysteries of the Scriptures, if you give that book to the unlearned people, who are devoured by their own teachers, they will confess that they do not know letters and therefore cannot read. And of two evils it is much lighter to confess ignorance of the Law than to boast of wisdom and not be able to know what is said.

And plainly, if we hear negligently, if we bring no zeal to erudition and understanding, not only the Scripture of the law and the prophets, but even that of the Apostles and the Gospels is covered from us with a great veil. But I fear lest, through excessive negligence and dullness of heart, the divine volumes be for us not only veiled but even sealed, so that, "if a book to be read is given into the hands of a man who does not know letters, he says: I do not know letters; if it is given into the hands of a man who knows letters, he says: it is sealed." Whence it is shown that we must not only apply zeal to learning the sacred letters, but must also entreat the Lord and "day and night" beseech him, that the Lamb "from the tribe of Judah" may come and himself, taking the "sealed book," may deign to open it. For he it is who, "opening the Scriptures," kindled the hearts of the disciples, so that they said: "was not our heart burning within us, when he opened to us the Scriptures?"

This is also why Isaiah would say to the Jews: "Behold, all of these words will be to you like the words of a sealed book." The skilled reader and the illiterate are equally said to be deprived of fruit, since one is prevented by the seal from penetrating what lies hidden within and the other is shackled by ignorance.

Third, he sets out the effect of the blinding, for they will not understand the book of the Sacred Scriptures and the visions of all the prophets: and the vision of all shall be unto you as the words of a book that is sealed: and I saw, in the right hand of him that sat on the throne, a book, sealed with seven seals (Rev 5:1).

Again the form of righteousness is described and magnified when Scripture says, "The law of his God is in his heart, and his stride will not be broken." The law of God is in the heart of the righteous. Which law? It is not the written law but the natural law, because "the law was not laid down for the righteous but for the unrighteous." The law is in his heart, not superficially, as it is on the lips of the Jews, for "he who believes with his heart is justified." The one who believes also speaks, but the one who speaks does not necessarily believe. For instance, the people did not believe about whom it is written: "This people honors me with their lips, but their hearts are far from me."

For God is necessary to all things, but nothing is necessary to him. Because, however, he loved everything he created, by the great grace of his kindness he deemed it worthy to invite the soul to come to him through the law, through trials of virtue, through sorrows of the heart, and through the greatness of human works. He gave not only the bread of angels, therefore, but also the flesh of innumerable birds to the concupiscent, even to the ungrateful. And lest their descendants fail to fear the unpunished crime of the ungrateful, "the wrath of God came upon them when their food was still in their mouths" because they did not believe in his wonders."Their days vanished in emptiness and their years in partying." Truly, as I have said, you will not desire to do good unless you are compelled by the fear of suffering evil: "When he killed them," it says, "they sought him, repented, and came to him immediately." It was then that "they remembered that God is their helper and their defense." But only those who said, "You are our God" are the ones who "lied to him with their tongues, for their hearts were not right within them." Consequently the Lord said, "This people loves me with its lips, but its heart is far from me." Why these people in particular? Because "they did not have faith in his covenant." For "without faith," said the apostle, "it is impossible to please God."

Leah, too, got children by her handmaid, from the desire of having a numerous family. Zilpah, her handmaid, is, interpreted, an open mouth. So Leah's handmaid represents those who are spoken of in Scripture as engaging in the preaching of the gospel with open mouth, but not with open heart. Thus it is written of some: "This people honor me with their lips, but their heart is far from me." To such the apostle says: "Thou that preachest that a man should not steal, dost thou steal? Thou that sayest a man should not commit adultery, dost thou commit adultery?"

"My friends and my neighbours" then "drew near and stood over against me, and my neighbours stood afar off." You understand what I said. I called those neighbours who "drew nigh," and at the same time "stood afar off." For they "drew nigh" in the body, but "stood afar off" in their heart. Who were in the body so near to Him as those who lifted Him on the Cross? Who in heart so as those who blasphemed Him? Hear this sort of distance described by the Prophet Isaiah; observe this nearness and distance at one and the same time. "This people honours Me with their lips:" behold, with their body they draw near; "but their heart is far from Me." The same persons are at the same time "near" and "afar off" also: with their lips they are near, in heart afar off. However, because the Apostles also stood afar off, through fear, we understand it more simply and properly of them; so that we mean by it, that some drew near, and others stood afar off; since even Peter, who had followed more boldly than the rest, was still so far off, that being questioned and alarmed, he thrice denied the Lord, with whom he had promised to "be ready to die."

"Lo! I will not refrain my lips, O Lord, and that Thou knowest." My lips speak; I will not "refrain" them from speaking. My lips indeed sound audibly in the ears of men; but "Thou knowest" mine heart. "I will not refrain my lips, O Lord; that Thou knowest." It is one thing that man heareth; another that God "knoweth." That the "declaring" of it should not be confined to the lips alone, and that it might not be said of us, "Whatsoever things they say unto you, do; but do not after their works;" or lest it should be said to the people, "praising God with their lips, but not with their heart," "This people honoureth Me with their lips, but their heart is far from Me;" do thou make audible confession with thy lips; draw nigh with thine heart also. "For with the heart man believeth unto righteousness; but with the mouth confession is made unto salvation." In case like unto which that thief was found, who, hanging on the Cross with the Lord, did on the Cross acknowledge the Lord. Others had refused to acknowledge Him while working miracles; this man acknowledged Him when hanging on the Cross. That thief had every other member pierced through; his hands were fastened by the nails; his feet were pierced also; his whole body was fastened to the tree; the body was not disengaged in its other members; the heart and the tongue were disengaged; "with the heart" he "believed; with the tongue" he made "confession." "Remember me, O Lord," he said, "when Thou comest into Thy kingdom." He hoped for the coming of his salvation at a time far remote; he was content to receive it after a long delay; his hope rested on an object far remote. The day, however, was not postponed! The answer was, "This day shalt thou be with Me in Paradise."

According to what the prophet says, "This people honors me with their lips, though their hearts are far from me." To them the Holy Spirit exclaims, "But to the wicked person God says, 'Why do you recite my statutes and profess my covenant with your mouth?' " It is as if he were saying it does you no good to praise God. It is profitable for those who live well to praise him, but if you praise him and do not abandon your sins, it avails nothing. Why do you praise me? Listen to the Scriptures say, "Unseemly is praise on a sinner's lips." If you live a wicked life and say good things, you do not yet praise God. Again, if when you have begun to live well you attribute it to your own merits, you do not yet praise God. I do not want you to be a robber deriding the cross of our Lord, but neither do I want you as his temple to throw away his merits in you and conceal his wounds.

The habit of sinners is … after they have achieved the aspiration of their most wicked plans, they then give thanks to the Godhead since they have attained their wish. But they in their utter wretchedness do not realize that he originates only successful aspirations that are holy. "They shall bless" not with their hearts but their mouths, the source of hypocritical utterances for the most part. As Isaiah says, "This people glorify me with their lips, but their heart is far from me."

If the fear of God is not mingled with love, he is not sought in the heart's entirety. It is certain that it is the keenest of sins for a person to say that he confesses to him with his tongue, while his heart deep down is at odds with him; does God not know all that goes on within us?… He does not hear merely what the tongue proclaims, as a human person does. It is the person who faithfully believes his testimonies who truly loves him. Fides (faith) gets its name from words uttered (quod fiant dicta). The Lord himself offers a testimony like this verse when he says, "This people glorifies me with their lips, but their heart is far from me."

Though we never withdraw ourselves from the Lord since he is wholly everywhere, we nonetheless become distant when we are displaced through the nature of our deeds.

Let us cleave, therefore, to those who cultivate peace with godliness, and not to those who hypocritically profess to desire it. For [the Scripture] saith in a certain place, "This people honoureth Me with their lips, but their heart is far from Me." [Isaiah 29:13] And again: "They bless with their mouth, but curse with their heart." [Psalm 62:4] And again it saith, "They loved Him with their mouth, and lied to Him with their tongue; but their heart was not right with Him, neither were they faithful in His covenant." [Psalm 78:36-37] "Let the deceitful lips become silent," [and "let the Lord destroy all the lying lips, ] and the boastful tongue of those who have said, Let us magnify our tongue; our lips are our own; who is lord over us? For the oppression of the poor, and for the sighing of the needy, will I now arise, saith the Lord: I will place him in safety; I will deal confidently with him." [Psalm 12:3-5]

What is this obstinacy or what is this presumption to place human tradition before the divine plan and not to notice that God is offended and angered as often as human tradition subverts and disregards the divine precepts? He cries and says through Isaiah, the prophet, "This people honors me with their lips, but their heart is far separated from me. In vain, moreover, they honor me, teaching the commandments and doctrines of men."

We heard in the Gospel the voice of the Lord saying, "Not everyone who says to me 'Lord, Lord' will enter the kingdom of heaven." To whom does this word pertain? It is doubtlessly to those to whom he had said in another place: "This people honors me with their lips, but their heart is far from me." We should be vigilant, therefore, that our lives remain consonant and harmonious with the profession of our lips, for if our works cry out to God with sincerity of conscience and probity of life, the mercy of the Lord will turn toward us whom he has heard.

God cannot be separated from his creatures by time or space but only by their iniquities. Of the iniquitous, therefore, he said, "This people honors me with their lips, but their heart is far from me." He also said, "I am a God who draws near, not a God who remains far away. If a man tries to hide, will I not see him? Do I not fill heaven and earth?" Nevertheless, blessed David himself said, "Those who distance themselves from you will perish."

The vitality and recurrent victory of Christendom have been due to the power of the Thing to break out from time to time from its enveloping words and symbols. Without this power all civilisations tend to perish under a load of language and ritual. One instance of this we hear much in modern discussion: the separation of the form from the spirit of religion. But we hear too little of numberless other cases of the same stiffening and falsification; we are far too seldom reminded that just as church-going is not religion, so reading and writing are not knowledge, and voting is not self-government.

For the speaking in this way or in that is not the cause of the thought within us; but the hidden conception of the heart supplies the motive for such and such words; "for from the abundance of the heart the mouth speaketh." We make the words interpret the thought; we do not by a reverse process gather the thought from the words. Should both be at hand, a man may certainly be ready in both, in clever thinking and clever expression; but if the one should be wanting, the loss to the illiterate is slight, if the knowledge in his soul is perfect in the direction of moral goodness. "This people honoureth me with their lips, but their heart is far from me." What is the meaning of that? That the right attitude of the soul towards the truth is more precious than the propriety of phrases in the sight of God, who hears the "groanings that cannot be uttered." Phrases can be used in opposite senses; the tongue readily serving, at his will, the intention of the speaker; but the disposition of the soul, as it is, so is it seen by Him Who sees all secrets.

Let us humor the Jews for a little while, and listen patiently to the absurdities of those among them who are called wise; and then we shall understand what are the Jewish fables, of men who, without the authority of Scripture, without any support of reason, invent certain fabulous animals; of whom Isaiah prophesied, saying: "This people honors me with their lips, but their heart is far from me. But they worship me in vain, teaching the doctrines and commandments of men" (Isa. 29:13). Approving this testimony in the Gospel, the Savior convicts them of having preferred the commandments of men to the Law of God. "For God says: Honor father and mother"; but they handed down: "That whoever says to father and mother, Whatever gift is from me will profit you, shall not honor his father and his mother" (Matt. 15:3 ff.).

And the Lord said: Because this people draws near with its mouth, and glorifies me with its lips, but its heart is far from me, and they have feared me by the commandment of men and by doctrines; therefore, behold, I will proceed to cause wonder in this people by a great and astounding marvel: for wisdom shall perish from its wise men, and the understanding of its prudent men shall be hidden. LXX: And the Lord says: This people draws near to me with its mouth, and honors me with its lips, but its heart is far from me: in vain do they worship me, teaching the precepts and doctrines of men. Therefore, behold, I will proceed to remove this people: for I will remove them, and I will destroy the wisdom of the wise, and hide the understanding of the prudent. The Lord used this testimony against the Pharisees in the Gospel of Matthew, saying: Why do you also transgress the commandment of God for the sake of your traditions (Matt 15:3). And again: Hypocrites, well did Isaiah prophesy of you, saying: This people honors me with its lips, but its heart is far from me. And in vain do they worship me, teaching the doctrines and precepts of men (ibid., 6-9). In this we ought to note what we have often pointed out: that the Evangelists and Apostles did not translate word for word, nor follow the authority of the Seventy translators, whose edition was already being read at that time, but, as Hebrews and men instructed in the Law, used their own words without loss to the sense. The people of the Jews draws near to God with its mouth and lips, because it boasts that it holds to the worship of the one God and rejects idols; but its heart is far from him, because it does not receive the Lord Jesus Christ. For he who does not receive the Son does not receive the Father. And at the same time let us learn how a person draws near to God, or becomes far from him. He speaks through Jeremiah too: I am a God who draws near, and not from afar, says the Lord (Jer 23:23 LXX). We draw near to God with the mind, not with the body; as we read of Moses too: Moses alone drew near to God; but the others did not draw near (Exod 24:2). For he prayed to God in spirit and in truth, and approached him with understanding and spirit. But these, of whom it is written that they are taken from the womb and instructed from boyhood to old age, and meditate day and night on the Law of God, do not draw near to God, because they accept the traditions of the Pharisees and scribes, which make them far from God; and they are whitened sepulchres, which outwardly appear beautiful but within are full of dead men's bones: they chose Barabbas and rejected the Lord (Matt 23:27).

For if we, when sending children to teachers, should we see them reaping no benefit thereby, begin to be severe in blaming the teachers, and remove them often to others; what excuse shall we have for not bestowing upon virtue even so much diligence as upon these earthly things, but forever bringing our tablets home empty? And yet our teachers here are more in number and greater. For no less than prophets and apostles and patriarchs, and all righteous men, are by us set over you as teachers in every Church. And not even so is there any profit, but if you have joined in chanting two or three Psalms, and making the accustomed prayers at random and anyhow, are so dismissed, ye think this enough for your salvation. Have ye not heard the prophet, saying (or rather God by the prophet), "This people honoreth me with their lips, but their heart is far from me?" Therefore, lest this be our case too, wipe thou out the letters, or rather the impressions, which the devil hath engraven in thy soul; and bring me a heart set free from worldly tumults, that without fear I may write on it what I will.

Then the Pharisees and scribes asked him, Why walk not thy disciples according to the tradition of the elders, but eat bread with unwashen hands? He answered and said unto them, Well hath Esaias prophesied of you hypocrites, as it is written, This people honoureth me with their lips, but their heart is far from me. Howbeit in vain do they worship me, teaching for doctines the commandments of men. [Isaiah 29:13] For laying aside the commandment of God, ye hold the tradition of men, as the washing of pots and cups: and many other such like things ye do. And he said unto them, Full well ye reject the commandment of God, that ye may keep your own tradition. For Moses said, Honour thy father and thy mother; and, Whoso curseth father or mother, let him die the death: But ye say, If a man shall say to his father or mother, It is Corban, that is to say, a gift, by whatsoever thou mightest be profited by me; he shall be free. And ye suffer him no more to do ought for his father or his mother; Making the word of God of none effect through your tradition, which ye have delivered: and many such like things do ye.

But he answered and said unto them, Why do ye also transgress the commandment of God by your tradition? For God commanded, saying, Honour thy father and mother: and, He that curseth father or mother, let him die the death. But ye say, Whosoever shall say to his father or his mother, It is a gift, by whatsoever thou mightest be profited by me; And honour not his father or his mother, he shall be free. Thus have ye made the commandment of God of none effect by your tradition. Ye hypocrites, well did Esaias prophesy of you, saying, This people draweth nigh unto me with their mouth, and honoureth me with their lips; but their heart is far from me. But in vain they do worship me, teaching for doctrines the commandments of men. [Isaiah 29:13]

Suppose someone says, "We are Christians too; we believe in the Lord, the Savior." But it is necessary to believe in deed and not in word, not with the tongue but with the heart, lest it also be said to us, "This people honors me with their lips, but their heart is far from me."

660. And the Lord said. Here he sets out the cause of the blinding, namely, their own sins; and first, in the affections; second, in the intellect: woe to you that are deep of heart (Isa 29:15). Concerning the first, he does two things. First, he sets out the fault of contempt of the divine: but their heart is far from me, for they cloak it with their words, with their lips; with human observances: and they have feared me with the commandment and doctrines of men: you are near in their mouth, and far from their reins (Jer 12:2); you have made void the commandment of God for your tradition (Matt 15:6).

For the preaching of the cross is to them that perish foolishness; but unto us which are saved it is the power of God. For it is written, I will destroy the wisdom of the wise, and will bring to nothing the understanding of the prudent. [Isaiah 29:14] Where is the wise? where is the scribe? where is the disputer of this world? hath not God made foolish the wisdom of this world? For after that in the wisdom of God the world by wisdom knew not God, it pleased God by the foolishness of preaching to save them that believe. For the Jews require a sign, and the Greeks seek after wisdom: But we preach Christ crucified, unto the Jews a stumblingblock, and unto the Greeks foolishness; But unto them which are called, both Jews and Greeks, Christ the power of God, and the wisdom of God. Because the foolishness of God is wiser than men; and the weakness of God is stronger than men. For ye see your calling, brethren, how that not many wise men after the flesh, not many mighty, not many noble, are called: But God hath chosen the foolish things of the world to confound the wise; and God hath chosen the weak things of the world to confound the things which are mighty; And base things of the world, and things which are despised, hath God chosen, yea, and things which are not, to bring to nought things that are: That no flesh should glory in his presence. But of him are ye in Christ Jesus, who of God is made unto us wisdom, and righteousness, and sanctification, and redemption: That, according as it is written, He that glorieth, let him glory in the Lord.

But perhaps Pelagius thinks that the name of Christ is necessary so that we may learn by his gospel how we ought to live, but not so that by his grace we may also be helped to lead good lives. At least, this consideration should lead him to admit that there are wretched shadows in the human soul, which knows how to tame a lion but not how to live. But are a free will and the natural law sufficient for us to know this? This is the "wisdom of speech" by which "the cross of Christ is made void." But he said, "I will destroy the wisdom of the wise," because that cross cannot be made void. And immediately is overthrown that "wisdom" through the "foolishness of preaching," by which those who believe are healed. For if the natural power through free will is sufficient for us not only to know how we ought to live but actually to live well, "then Christ died in vain," "then is the scandal of the cross made void." … Ignorant of the justice of God, you are seeking to establish your own justice, and you have not submitted to the justice of God. For even as Christ is the end of the law, so also is he the savior of corrupted human nature, to justice for all who believe.

It is of … those … who practice idle discourse that God's Scriptures say superbly: "I will destroy the wisdom of the wise and bring to nothing the cleverness of the clever."

Philosophers also declare that they pursue this virtue, but their patience is as false as is their wisdom, for how can anyone be either wise or patient unless he knows the wisdom and patience of God? For he himself warns and states concerning those who think that they are wise in this world: "I will destroy the wisdom of the wise, and the prudence of the prudent I will reject." … Therefore, if their wisdom is not true, their patience cannot be true either. For if that man who is humble and meek is patient, and yet we see that the philosophers are not humble or meek but very pleasing to themselves, and displeasing to God by the very fact that they are pleasing to themselves, it is evident that patience is not found where there is the arrogant boldness of an affected freedom and the shameless boasting of the proud and half-naked breast.

From my youth up until now I have spent many years in writing various works and have always tried to teach my hearers the doctrine that I have been taught publicly in church. I have not followed the philosophers in their discussions but have preferred to acquiesce in the plain words of the apostles. For I have known that it is written, "I will destroy the wisdom of the wise and will bring to nothing the understanding of the prudent," and "the foolishness of God is wiser than men." This being the case, I challenge my opponents thoroughly to sift all my past writings and, if they can find anything that is faulty in them, to bring it to light. One of two things must happen. Either my works will be found edifying and I shall confute the false charges brought against me; or they will be found blameworthy and I shall confess my error.

Therefore he threatens, according to the Seventy, that he will proceed, not to remove them to the Assyrians and Babylonians, but to scatter them through the whole world. According to the Hebrew, he says that he will cause great wonder and an astounding marvel to the people of the Jews, so as to destroy the wisdom of those who did not receive the power of God and the wisdom of God, and to hide and conceal the understanding of the prudent: that is, lest they find him who is contained in the letter. From this place the Apostle Paul, writing to the Corinthians, set down a testimony: I will destroy the wisdom of the wise, and the understanding of the prudent I will reject (1 Cor 1:19): setting out the same sense in other words; not that God is an enemy of wisdom, of which he is the father, and through whom all wisdom among men exists; but he set it down with an addition, as it is in the Hebrew: of the wise of the people and of its prudent, that is, of the people of the Jews. And truly God worked a great marvel in the people after the coming of the Lord the Savior, so that at one and the same time Jerusalem burned, and the temple fell, and all the knowledge of the teachers was taken away; fulfilling what was said above (cf. Isa 3:1ff.): Behold, the Ruler, the Lord Sabaoth, shall take away from Jerusalem and from Judah the strong man and the strong woman: all the strength of bread and all the strength of water; the giant and the man of war, and the judge, and the prophet, and the diviner, and the elder, and the captain of fifty, and the wonderful counselor, and the wise architect, and the prudent hearer, and the rest that the prophetic word wove together.

Second, the punishment: therefore behold; great, according to their reckoning, or formerly; wisdom shall perish (Obad 1:8); I will destroy the wisdom of the wise: and the prudence of the prudent I will reject (1 Cor 1:19).

He forgets the words of the Educator: "Every man that passes beyond his own bed, who says in his soul: Who sees me? Darkness compasses me about, and the walls cover me, and no man sees my sins: whom do I fear? The Most High will not remember." Such a person is most wretched, for he fears only the human observation and thinks to hide from God. "He does not know," Scripture continues, "that the eyes of the Most High Lord are far brighter than the sun, beholding all the ways of men and looking into the most hidden parts." Another time, the Educator gives warning through Isaiah: "Woe to you who made your counsel in secret and say: Who sees us?" A light that can be seen by the senses may pass unnoticed, but that which illumines the mind cannot be ignored.

Woe to you who are deep of heart, to hide counsel from the Lord, whose works are in darkness, and they say: Who sees us, and who knows us? This thought of yours is perverse, as if the clay should think against the potter, and the work say to its maker: You did not make me; and the thing formed say to him who formed it: You do not understand. LXX: Woe to those who make deep counsel, and their works shall be in darkness, and they say: Who sees us? who shall know us, and what we are doing? shall you not be reckoned as the potter's clay? Shall the thing made say to its maker: You did not make me wisely; or the thing formed to him who formed it: You did not make me? Against the same men of whom he had said above: I will destroy the wisdom of the wise, and the understanding of the prudent I will reject, or, as the prophet writes, hide, the word of God is now also directed: those who are wise in themselves and prudent in their own sight. Of whom that can most rightly be understood: They have failed, searching with searching (Ps 63 [64]); since it is written of the wisdom of God: For if anyone be perfect among the sons of men without your wisdom, he shall be reckoned as nothing (Wis 9). They think God does not know their counsels because their works are in darkness, and they say: Who sees us? and who knows us? And the wise of this world, and the teachers of the heretics, and the Pharisees of the Jews say this: that no one understands them; not remembering what is said to God: Darkness shall not be dark to you: and the night shall be lit up as the day (Ps 138 [139]:12). And: As is his darkness, so also is his light (Gen 3). Deceived by this error, Adam and Eve, hearing the sound of the feet of God walking in paradise, hid themselves under the tree in which was the knowledge of good and evil; and Cain too, saying: If you cast me out today from your face, I shall be hidden (Gen 4:14), with like folly thought that God did not know. And through Amos it is said of the ungodly and sinners: If they hide themselves from my eyes in the depth of the sea, there I will command the serpent, and it shall bite them (Amos 9:3). Hence, however wise someone may be and of the most ardent talent, if he does not have the wisdom and teaching of God, let us say of him: Unless the Lord builds the house, they labor in vain who build it. Unless the Lord guards the city, he who guards it watches in vain (Ps 126 [127]:1). And let us make a saying like it: Unless the Lord helps knowledge, he labors in vain who thinks himself wise. Unless the Lord keeps our heart with all watchfulness, he watches in vain who thinks it can be kept by his own diligence.

661. Woe to you that are deep of heart. Here he sets out their sin on the part of the intellect, for they did not believe in the providence of God, that he knew what happens among us. And concerning this, he does two things. First, the devising of error is set out, and they said this was hidden from God because of the depth of their heart, where they handled their wicked counsels; hence he says: woe to you that are deep of heart: the heart is deep above all things, and unsearchable, who can know it? (Jer 17:9); and because of the darkness of the places in which they carried out wicked deeds; hence he says: their works are in the dark: every one that doth evil hates the light (John 3:20); say not: I shall be hidden from God (Sir 16:16).

Scripture says to Pharaoh, "To this purpose have I raised you that I may show my power in you; and that my name may be declared throughout all the earth." Then, making a conclusion to both passages, he says, "Therefore he has mercy on whom he will and whom he will he hardens." Obviously he treats neither of these with injustice but both with mercy and truth; in spite of that there is an uprising of insolent weakness on the part of those who attempt to comprehend the unsearchable depth of the judgment of God according to the interpretations of the human heart. The apostle refutes this view when he says, "You will say therefore to me: Why does he then find fault? For who resists his will?" Let us imagine this as said to us. What other answer should we make than the one he made? If such ideas disturb us also because we, too, are human, we all have need to listen to the apostle saying, "O man, who are you that replies against God? Shall the thing formed say to him that formed it: Why have you made me thus? Or has not the potter power over the clay, of the same lump to make one vessel unto honor, another unto dishonor?" If this lump of clay were of such indifferent value that it deserved nothing good any more than it deserved anything evil, there would be reason to see injustice in making of it a vessel unto dishonor. But when, through the free will of the first man alone, condemnation extended to the whole lump of clay, undoubtedly if vessels are made of it unto honor, it is not a question of justice not forestalling grace, but of God's mercy. If, however, vessels are made of it unto dishonor, it is to be attributed to the judgment of God, not to his injustice—far be from us the thought that there could be any such with God! Whoever is wise in this matter with the Catholic church does not argue against grace in favor of merit, but he sings mercy and judgment to the Lord, that he may not ungratefully deny his mercy or unjustly upbraid his judgment.

This thought of yours, he says, is perverse: that you should think the maker does not know what he has made, and the Creator is ignorant of his creature; as if the clay and the work should say to the potter and its maker: You did not make me, or you did not make me well, nor do you understand your handiwork. The Apostle uses this testimony in other words in writing to the Romans, where he discusses the deep knowledge of God and seeks to refute the false charge of men: O man, who are you to answer back to God? Does the thing formed say to him who formed it: Why have you made me thus? Or has not the potter power over the same clay to make one vessel unto honor and another unto dishonor (Rom 9:20-21). In all these that rule must always be observed: the Evangelists and Apostles translated from the Hebrew into Greek as seemed good to them, without loss to the sense.

If a man seems more comely to look upon than clay, this difference was not produced by a change of nature but by the wisdom of the craftsman. Why? Because you are no different from the clay. If you refuse to believe this, let the coffins and the cinerary urn convince you. And you will know that this is the truth if you have gone to visit the tombs of your forebearers. Therefore there is no difference between the clay and the potter.

And not only this; but when Rebecca also had conceived by one, even by our father Isaac; (For the children being not yet born, neither having done any good or evil, that the purpose of God according to election might stand, not of works, but of him that calleth;) It was said unto her, The elder shall serve the younger. As it is written, Jacob have I loved, but Esau have I hated. What shall we say then? Is there unrighteousness with God? God forbid. For he saith to Moses, I will have mercy on whom I will have mercy, and I will have compassion on whom I will have compassion. So then it is not of him that willeth, nor of him that runneth, but of God that showeth mercy. For the scripture saith unto Pharaoh, Even for this same purpose have I raised thee up, that I might show my power in thee, and that my name might be declared throughout all the earth. Therefore hath he mercy on whom he will have mercy, and whom he will he hardeneth. Thou wilt say then unto me, Why doth he yet find fault? For who hath resisted his will? Nay but, O man, who art thou that repliest against God? Shall the thing formed say to him that formed it, Why hast thou made me thus? [Isaiah 29:16] Hath not the potter power over the clay, of the same lump to make one vessel unto honour, and another unto dishonour? What if God, willing to show his wrath, and to make his power known, endured with much longsuffering the vessels of wrath fitted to destruction: And that he might make known the riches of his glory on the vessels of mercy, which he had afore prepared unto glory, Even us, whom he hath called, not of the Jews only, but also of the Gentiles?

God comes down to the level of sinful men and women; the good Lord speaks with his rebellious servants; the holy one calls those who are impure to forgiveness. Humanity created out of mud addresses its Fashioner with familiarity; dust converses with its Maker. Let us, therefore, show awe when we sinners stand in the presence of this Majesty and speak. Even though we are so impure in our deeds, he draws us close to the sight of himself in the spirit; let us therefore repeat with trembling the words of the blessed prophet Isaiah: "Woe is me, for I am dazed: I am a man of unclean lips, yet my eyes have beheld the King, the Lord Almighty."

662. Second, the just rebuke is set out, this thought of yours is perverse. You made me not, for God knows a thing in as much as he is its cause, below: woe to him that gainsays his maker (Isa 45:9), below: and now, O Lord, you are our father, and we are clay: and you are our maker, and we all are the works of your hands (Isa 64:8).

Note that [Paul] taught Greeks in Jerusalem, and Jews in Damascus which is a Gentile city, even though this should signify that Gentiles were to be included in the city of God and Jews were to fall into the faithlessness of the Gentiles, in accordance with what Isaiah said, "Lebanon shall be changed into Carmel, and Carmel shall be regarded as a wasteland."

Is it not yet a little while, and a short time, and Lebanon shall be turned into Charmel, and Charmel shall be reckoned as a forest? And in that day the deaf shall hear the words of the book, and out of darkness and gloom the eyes of the blind shall see. And the meek shall increase their joy in the Lord, and the poor among men shall exult in the Holy One of Israel: for he who prevailed has failed. The scorner is consumed, and all who watched for iniquity have been cut down: who made men sin by a word, and tripped up him who reproved in the gate, and turned aside in vain from the righteous. Let the Jews answer, and the friends of the bare history alone, who seek not fruit on the tree but only the leaves and the shade of words, which quickly withers and perishes: how at the coming of the Lord the Savior (since from the times of Isaiah to the dispensation of the flesh he assumed is, compared with eternity, a short and little space of time) Lebanon, a mountain of Phoenicia, was turned and transferred into Mount Carmel, which in Hebrew is called CHERMEL (כרמל), and lies on the border of Palestine and Phoenicia, overlooking Ptolemais (though another mountain too is called Carmel in the holy Scriptures, where lived Nabal the Carmelite (1 Sam 25), a foolish and wicked man, who had as wife Abigail, who on her husband's death married David; for while he lived she could not take David as husband, lest she be called an adulteress if she were joined to another man); and how Charmel is reckoned as a forest and as unfruitful trees? Since they cannot say this, let them hear that Lebanon, which means whitening, refers to the people of the nations, which, washed in the Lord and its former filth purged away, ascending wholly clean, leans upon the Savior in the person of the Church; and of it it is said in the Song of Songs: Who is this who comes up whitened, leaning upon her kinsman (Song 8:5); and that this people is transferred into Charmel, that is, into the knowledge of circumcision, so as to recognize the mysteries of the spiritual and true circumcision, and to be in the place once held by the people of the Jews; while those who would not receive Christ are reckoned as a forest and as barren trees, which cannot praise the Lord with the fruit-bearing trees.

663. Is it not yet a very little while? Here he foretells the conversion of the gentiles, and concerning this, he does three things. First, he foretells their conversion to grace: Libanus, a gentile people, for the mountain was in the land of the gentiles; into Carmel, into grace, which the Jews had through circumcision, because Carmel means "knowledge of circumcision"; as a forest, that is, as barrenness, which the gentiles were in before, below (Isa 32:15) has the same thing.

666. Or this may be otherwise explained as concerning the prosperity that was promised to them when Sennacherib or Nabuchodonosor were destroyed: Carmel shall be esteemed as a forest (Isa 29:17), that is, the fertility of the land of the promise will be such that the fertility of Carmel will be reckoned barrenness in comparison to it.

Neither was heaven created in any six-day period and the stars illuminated and the dry land separated from the water and the trees and vegetation planted. Rather, Scripture customarily uses "day" to denote an unspecified period of time, as the apostle did when he said, "Behold, this is the day of salvation." He was not referring to a particular day but to the entirety of the time of the present life in which we labor for eternal salvation. The prophet also spoke not of one specific day but of numerous moments of divine grace, saying, "In that day, the deaf will hear the words of this book." Moreover, it is difficult to understand how in one day God made heaven and earth and all the brush of the field and every plant of every region, unless we say that all creatures were created simultaneously in formless matter, according to which it is written: "He who lives forever created all things together."

When Lebanon has been changed into Charmel, and Charmel into a forest, then those who before were deaf and could not hear the words of the prophetic book (of which we said above that all holy Scripture is called one book, as the Preacher says (Eccl 12:11): The words of the wise are as goads, and as nails fixed deep, which are given from the councils by one shepherd) shall hear, and shall speak, those to whom the Savior will say: Ephphetha, which means be opened (Mark 7). And where we translated: out of darkness and gloom the eyes of the blind shall see, whose interpretation is easy, Aquila and Theodotion and Symmachus translated: The eyes of the blind shall see darkness and gloom: to show that the mysteries of Christ were to be laid open to the people of the nations, which before was blind, according to what is said: Dark water in the clouds of the air (Ps 17 [18]:12). And in the same psalm it is written of God: He made darkness his hiding place (ibid., 12). And in Proverbs we read: A wise man hearing these things will be wiser, and the prudent will possess government; and he will understand a parable and dark speech, the sayings of the wise and riddles (Prov 1:5-6). Indeed Moses too, that he might understand and see God (Exod 20), entered into the cloud and into the thick darkness, of which it is said in the Psalm: Thick darkness under his feet (Ps 17 [18]:10).

To sacred knowledge: the deaf, namely, the gentiles, who had not heard the words of the law before: the blind see (Matt 11:5); for judgment I am come into this world: that they who see not may see; and they who see may become blind (John 9:39).

When those who were before blind have either beheld all the mystical things, or have lifted their eyes from blindness and darkness to see, so that the true light may rise for those who sit in darkness and the shadow of death: then the meek, of whom it is written: Blessed are the meek, for they shall possess the earth (Matt 5:4); or the poor, whose prince says in the psalms: This poor man cried, and the Lord heard him (Ps 33 [34]:7); and: who shall judge the poor of the people, and shall save the sons of the poor (Ps 71 [72]:4), of whom it is said to the Jews: You have despised the counsel of the poor man: these shall increase their joy in the Lord, so that he who glories may glory in the Lord (2 Cor 10); and the poor among men, or those despaired of and despised by men, who before had no knowledge of the Law, shall exult in the Holy One of Israel, who says: Be holy, for I am holy (Lev 11:44).

To spiritual joy: and the meek shall increase their joy: I will be glad, and rejoice in you: I will sing to your name, O you Most High (Ps 9:3[2]).

And there is every exultation, because he who prevailed has failed. The scorner is consumed, or the arrogant and proud one, who had said: By strength I will do it, and by wisdom; I will remove the bounds of the nations and lay waste their strength; who mocked all, so much so that the saint too said: My loins are filled with illusions (Ps 37 [38]:8). And all who watched for iniquity have been cut down, or destroyed, whose destruction, because of their evil watchings, does not slumber: who made the whole race of men sin by a word of blasphemy, so that they denied the Word of God and set their mouth against heaven. He means the demons, who, wicked themselves, made all men sin in speech, blaspheming with various dogmas; and as far as in them lay they tripped up him who reproved in the gate and in judgment, and made him turn aside from righteousness, who was in the gates of the daughter of Zion, lifted up from the gates of death; and who rebuked those who hated him who reproved in the gates. What we have understood of the devil and his angels, the Nazarenes think was said against the scribes and Pharisees: that the δευτερωταί have failed, who before mocked the people with most wicked traditions, and watched day and night to deceive the simple, who made men sin against the Word of God, so that they denied Christ the Son of God.

664. Second, he indicates the occasion or the reason of their conversion: from the fall of the devil: for he that did prevail, by power, has failed, the scorner, the deceiver by cunning, above: the wretch is consumed: he has failed, that trod the earth under foot (Isa 16:4); from the blindness of the Jewish people, that blindness in part has happened in Israel, until the fullness of the Gentiles should come in (Rom 11:25). They are cut off that watched: zeal to do evil: for they sleep not, except they have done evil (Prov 4:16).

666. Or this may be otherwise explained as concerning the prosperity that was promised to them when Sennacherib or Nabuchodonosor were destroyed: the scorner (Isa 29:20), Sennacherib or Nabuchodonosor.

That made men sin, by wicked example and teaching; that reproved them in the gate, as to contempt of instruction: they have hated him that rebukes in the gate (Amos 5:10); and declined in vain from the just, as to the vanity of sin, for that is vain, which fails to attain its end: what has pride profited us? Or what advantage has the boasting of riches brought us? (Wis 5:8).

What at the beginning of the chapter we translated according to the Hebrew: Thus says the Lord to the house of Jacob, he who redeemed once Abraham, and brought him out of the Chaldeans, and led him into the land of promise (Gen 11), is perfectly plain. But what the Seventy translated: Thus says the Lord concerning the house of Jacob, which he separated from Abraham, can be understood thus: that he separated the scribes and Pharisees, who blasphemed the Lord, from Abraham, who saw the day of the Lord and rejoiced (John 8). For if they had been sons of Abraham, they would have done the works of Abraham. And the Apostle argues that those are to be called sons of Abraham (Heb 11) who have the likeness of Abraham's faith, that is, the people of the nations, which was called the son of Abraham not from works but from faith.

Therefore thus says the Lord to the house of Jacob, he who redeemed Abraham: Jacob shall not now be confounded, nor shall his face now blush: but when he sees his sons, the works of my hands, in his midst sanctifying my name: and they shall sanctify the Holy One of Jacob, and shall proclaim the God of Israel; and those who err in spirit shall know understanding, and the mutterers shall learn the Law. LXX: Therefore thus says the Lord concerning the house of Jacob, which he separated from Abraham: Jacob shall not now be confounded, nor shall he now change his face; but when he sees his sons, my works: for my sake they shall sanctify my name, and they shall sanctify the Holy One of Jacob, and shall fear the God of Israel; and those who err in spirit shall know understanding, and the mutterers shall learn obedience; and what follows, ÷ and the stammering tongues shall learn to speak peace ⁚, is to be marked with an obelus. When, he says, the deaf have heard the words of the book, and the eyes of the blind have seen, and Lebanon has been turned into Charmel, and Charmel reckoned as a forest, so that the meek and the poor rejoice in the Lord, and the proud man and the scorner fail: then Jacob shall be confounded, who now, for the time being, is not confounded. He means the times of Isaiah. And his face shall blush, so that blushing and confusion may be an occasion of salvation, especially when he sees his sons, that is, the Apostles and apostolic men, who were of the race of the Jews, performing the mighty works of the Lord in the midst of the nations, and proclaiming the name of Christ to the Gentiles, and saying: Our Father, who art in heaven, hallowed be thy name (Matt 6:9). For they will sanctify the Holy One who sprang from Jacob, and will teach the God of Israel among the nations, so that, having abandoned idols, they say: How false are the idols our fathers possessed, and there is none among them who gives rain; and then those who now err in spirit shall know the understanding of God, and those who once murmured against the Lord in the wilderness shall learn the Law, of which before they had no knowledge. For if they had received Moses, they would have received the Lord Jesus Christ too, since Moses spoke of him.

665. Third, he sets out the conversion of the Jews at the end of the world, when he says: therefore thus says the Lord that redeemed Abraham, Genesis 11; Jacob shall not now, that is, at this time, be confounded, by a good confounding: there is a confounding that brings glory and grace (Sir 4:25).

His children, the Apostles.

666. Or this may be otherwise explained as concerning the prosperity that was promised to them when Sennacherib or Nabuchodonosor were destroyed: he shall see his children . . . sanctifying my name (Isa 29:23), the three children in the furnace of fire; or that their children will praise my name, because they themselves in their youth did not.

They that murmured, that is, who at first murmured, above: when they shall rush out from Jacob, Israel shall blossom (Isa 27:6).