Isaiah 43

And now thus says the Lord who creates you, Jacob, and forms you, Israel: Do not fear, for I have redeemed you, and I have called you by your name: you are mine. When you pass through the water , I will be with you, and the rivers will not cover you. When you walk into the fire, you will not be burned, and the flame will not burn in you; for I am the Lord your God, the Holy One of Israel, your Savior; I have given Egypt as your propitiation, Ethiopia and Saba for you. Since you have become honorable in my eyes and glorious, I have loved you, and I will give men for you, and peoples for your life. Do not fear, for I am with you; from the East I will bring your seed, and from the West I will gather you. I will say to the North: Give; and to the South: Do not hold back; bring my sons from afar, and my daughters from the end of the earth. And everyone who calls upon my name, I have created him for my glory, and I have formed him, and I have made him. Bring forth the people that is blind and has eyes, that is deaf and has ears. All the nations are gathered together, and the tribes are assembled. Who among you will declare this, and will make us hear the former things? Let them bring their witnesses and be justified, and let them hear and say: Truly you are my witnesses, says the Lord, and my servant whom I have chosen, that you may know and believe me, and understand that I myself am he. Before me no god was formed, and after me there will be none. I am, I am the Lord, and besides me there is no savior. I have declared, and I have saved; I have made it heard, and there was no stranger among you. You are my witnesses, says the Lord, and I am God, and from the beginning I myself am, and there is none who can deliver from my hand; I will work, and who will turn it back? LXX: And now thus says the Lord who made you, Jacob, and created you, Israel: Do not fear, for I have redeemed you; I have called you by your name, you are mine; and if you pass through water, I am with you, and the rivers will not overwhelm you; and if you pass through fire, you will not be burned; the flame will not consume you; for I am the Lord your God, the Holy One of Israel, your savior. I have made Egypt your exchange, and Ethiopia and Syene for you. Since you have become honorable, and have been glorified in my sight, I also have loved you, and I will give men for you, and princes for your head. Do not fear, for I am with you; from the East I will bring your seed, and from the West I will gather you. I will say to the North: Bring; and to the Southwest: Do not hold back; bring my sons from a far land, and my daughters from the ends of the earth, all who are called by my name; for in my glory I have created him, and I have fashioned him, and I have made him; and I have brought forth the blind people, who have eyes and are blind, and their ears are deaf. All the nations are gathered together, and their princes have assembled. Who will declare these things? or who will declare to you the things that are from the beginning? Let them bring their witnesses, and be justified, and let them hear and speak true things. Be witnesses for me, and I am a witness, says the Lord God, and my child whom I have chosen, that you may know and believe and understand that I am. Before me there was no other god, and after me there will be none. I am God, and besides me there is no Savior. I have declared, and I have saved; I have reproached, and there was no stranger among you. You are my witnesses, and I am the Lord God from the beginning, and there is none who can deliver out of my hands. I will do it, and who will turn it back? The Hebrews interpret these things of the second coming of the Savior, when, after the fullness of the nations, all Israel is to be saved. But we in no way think that the promise is made to those to whom it was said above: Who is blind but my children, and who are deaf but those who rule over them? and the servants of God have been blinded. And again: The people has been laid waste and plundered, and things like these. Finally he adds: He poured out upon him the indignation of his fury, and strong war; and he burned him round about, and he did not know it; and he set him on fire, and he did not understand. Therefore, as we said above that there are two Jacobs and two Israels, one fleshly and the other spiritual, of those who refused to believe in the Savior and of those who received the Son of God, so this too is now to be understood: that the choir of the Apostles is summoned, and the first Church of Christ gathered from the people of the Jews, to understand its Creator and Maker, who is the founder both of its soul and of its body; and not to fear persecutors, because it has been redeemed by the blood of Christ, who has called it by his name and, out of intimacy, calls it in a special way his own people; but to preach without hesitation and to dread no dangers.

The things said here are of a quite different tenor from what was said in the previous passage about the people of the covenant, where he called them blind, deaf and plundered. Now the message here is of the better condition of those believers of the covenant who belong to a better order. For the former ones were those who were suffering. Here he addresses as "you" those who recognize their Creator and Maker. "Do listen to the one who keeps you an unblemished creation and product, for here you are fittingly called Jacob and Israel. For I made you in your soul, according to the image, and formed you, taking a body from the ground, and I provided my blood for you, buying back my own creation. You, being made worthy of these things, go by the road on which you are instructed to go and preach the good news. Although some will attack you, be encouraged that you are special. 'For behold, I am with you always, even to the end of the age.' Be followers of me, the one who wished to give my blood of redemption for you, as atonement." …"You are mine." For we are said to have been Christ's, even before the separation from God that occurred when we as sinners went out of the garden, though by nature we were always God's. But he has made us once more to be his own through the Holy Spirit making us strong through every trial. Rivers, water and flames denote the many channels of temptation. For it is written, "All who wish to live godly lives in Christ Jesus will be persecuted." And Christ says to those who believed in him, "You will have sorrow in the world."

And now thus says the Lord. Here he shows them divine love through the remedies which he granted them among their difficulties. And it is divided into three parts: in the first, he promises future remedies to show them his love; in the second, he recalls past benefits to confirm the promise: thus says the Lord, who made a way in the sea (Isa 43:16); in the third, he excludes their merits to take away their presumption: but you have not called upon me (Isa 43:22).

Concerning the first, he does three things: first, he shows the privilege of divine love toward them; second, he excludes the sharing of divine power from the promised remedies: all the nations are assembled together (Isa 43:9); in the third, he sets out the sign of his love: thus says the Lord your redeemer (Isa 43:14).

Concerning the first, he promises them three remedies. First, support in their punishments, excluding fear by the divine presence: that created you, as to the principle of their substance: is not he your father, that has possessed you, and made you, and created you? (Deut 32:6), and formed you, as to the form he gave them: and the Lord God formed man (Gen 2:7); I have redeemed you, from evils: I will deliver them out of the hand of death. I will redeem them from death (Hos 13:14), and called you, to grace: I will call that which was not my people, my people (Hos 1:9).

We are wayfarers in this life; many walk, but it is needful that we walk aright, for then is the Lord Jesus with us, as we read, When thou passest through the waters I will be with thee, and through the rivers, they shall not overflow thee; when thou walkest through the fire thou shalt not be burned. But if a man take fire in his bosom, the fire of lust, the fire of immoderate desire he walketh not through, but burns this clothing of his soul. A good name is rather to be chosen than great riches, and loving favour than silver and gold! Faith is sufficient for itself, and in its own possession is rich enough. And to the wise man nothing is foreign, but what is contrary to virtue; wherever he goes, he finds all things to be his own. All the world is his possession, for he uses it all as if it were his own.

If you watch and seek, the Lord says, "Here I am," and "If you pass through fire," I am with you "and the flames shall not consume you." If you ask through prayer, you will find, and if you knock through giving to the poor, Christ opens the doors to you in order that you may enter and possess paradise. Now if you still think that anything will remain at the end of the world, consider your own end.

"Even if we cross over, they shall not slip, says the Lord." We shall not slip into corruption, we who are crossing over into incorruption, because he himself will support us. For so he himself has said and so he has willed.

And through the prophet the Lord promises saying, "When thou passest through the waters, I will be with thee, and the rivers shall not overflow thee." For the rivers overflow those whom the active business of this world confounds with perturbation of mind. But he who is sustained in mind by the grace of the Holy Spirit passes through the waters, and yet is not overflowed by the rivers, because in the midst of crowds of peoples he so proceeds along his way as not to sink the head of his mind beneath the active business of the world.

"If thou go through fire, thou shalt not be burned, and the rivers shall not flow over thee." Faith has many times worked such things before the eyes of all creation. If knowledge were given the opportunity to attempt such things, it would in no wise be persuaded. For it is by faith that men have entered into flames and bridled the burning power of the fire, walking unharmed through the midst thereof, and they have trodden upon the back of the sea as upon dry land. All these are above nature and opposed to the modes of knowledge.

And what he adds, waters and rivers, and fire and flames, describes the onslaught and fury of the persecutors, who begrudge the salvation of the nations and do not want the word of the Gospel to be preached. The Jews, however, would have the Egyptians understood by the waters, the Babylonians by the rivers, the Macedonians by the fire, the Romans by the flame.

There is a way to the tree of life, so that it may come to pass: "If you pass through fire, the flame shall not burn you." What fire? "He stationed the Cherubim and the flaming sword that turns, to guard the way of the tree of life." So for this reason the blessed ones waited there, carrying out a dispensation and not being able to come where the tree of life is, where the paradise of God is, where God is husbandman, where the blessed and chosen and holy ones of God are.

Become guileless, and be like the guileless sheep whose wool is sheared off without their saying a word. Do not go from one place to another saying, "I will find God here or there." God has said, I fill the earth, "I fill the heavens," and again, "If you cross the water, I am with you."

Even when the compassionate God disciplines, he does not abandon mercy.… For, he says, "judge, consider, take heart." Now God strengthens those who were reduced to slavery in Babylon. And since they bore the title "the people of God," it was appropriate that God addressed the people in this way: "I have called you by your name. You are mine." He says, "You possess the name by which I have called you."

He sets out the promise: when you shall pass through the waters, the Egyptians; the rivers, the Chaldeans; the fire, the Greeks; the flames, the Romans: for they were not entirely consumed: we have passed through fire and water (Ps 66:12).

The Lord liberates his saints from the fire, of carnal temptation: it is a fire that devours even to consumption (Job 31:12); of temporal tribulation: you have tried me by fire (Ps 17:3); of eternal damnation: go, you cursed, into everlasting fire (Matt 25:41); of divine wrath: a fire is kindled in my wrath (Deut 32:22); in which are burned the lascivious: for it is better to marry than to be burnt (1 Cor 7:9); the impatient, above: their countenances shall be as faces burnt (Isa 13:8); the impenitent: the flame burned the wicked (Ps 106:18); the proud: foundations of the mountains (Ps 18:7).

And he liberates them from the waters, of pleasure: stolen waters are sweeter (Prov 9:17), in which they are suffocated by lust; of covetousness: they sunk as lead in the mighty waters (Exod 15:10), in which they are suffocated by greed; of adversity: the waters are come in even unto my soul (Ps 69:1), in which they are suffocated by impatience; of worldly power: the waters over which she sits (Rev 17:1), in which they are suffocated by pride.

And he commands them not to fear for this reason, that the Lord God, their Savior and the Holy One of Israel, is with them, who has made them preach to Egypt, Ethiopia and Syene, and to the furthest bounds of the world. For Syene the other translators put SABA (סבא), whence came the queen of the South, who came to hear the wisdom of Solomon (1 Kgs 10).

And he assigns the reason for this: for I am the Lord, above: for God himself is my savior (Isa 12:2).

Second, he promises the commutation of their punishments, namely, that he would punish others in their place; and he sets out the commutation: I have given Egypt for your atonement, that is, that I may be propitiated toward you, as though by the punishments of those who provoked you to sin by hoping in their help: Saba, a city of Ethiopia: the just is delivered out of distress: and the wicked shall be given up for him (Prov 11:8).

Therefore the choir of the Apostles has become honorable in the sight of God and beloved by him; and the salvation of all the men and peoples who have been called through them to the Gospel will also be reckoned to the salvation of their own souls.

God renders the summary of benefits in which they take pleasure. It is because I love you, he says, and because I have chosen you that you have become respected and glorious. "And I will give men for you, and princes for your life." He means to speak of the Babylonians, whom he has delivered over to Cyrus.

And he assigns the reason, namely, the love of God itself: since you became honorable, that is, I made and reckoned you honorable; I will give men for you, for your liberation: surely Ephraim is an honorable son to me (Jer 31:20).

Hence he adds and says: Do not fear, I am with you, I who say to you in the Gospel: Behold, I am with you all days, even to the consummation of the age (Matt 28:20). For from the East and from the West I will bring your sons, to rest in the bosom of Abraham; and from all parts of the world a people of my sons and daughters will be gathered, who either call upon my name or are called by my name, so that they are called Christians, to the glory of their founder.

"I will destroy those warring with you on account of the gospel, both people and leaders." He encourages them in this way. "And your children, which you have sown by God and which you have begotten throughout the world, I will gather to my heavenly city, raising up those airborne, through the air, like birds made light by the winds," that is, the angelic forces. "I shall raise up your offspring to be my children through their being reborn in the church, and all those called by my name Christians are welcomed." For Christ prophesied these things through the godly prophet.

These predictions received their fulfillment after the defeat of the Babylonians, for Cyrus commanded [the Jews] to return to Judea. At the time the latter made [their] return from the east, those who had taken flight during the war and reached the west then [also] returned to the land, probably because they recognized the peace that had come on Judea. In any case, it is with truth and precision that the text clearly indicates the people that the holy apostles have called from the entire world and who have obtained salvation. For in every city the Jews were the first to whom the apostles offered the divine teachings.

Third, he promises them every kind of liberation from tribulation. First, he promises the benefit of liberation: fear not; from the east, for they had been dispersed in every direction, above: he shall assemble the fugitives of Israel (Isa 11:12); behold I will bring them from the north country (Jer 31:8).

Thou, Master almighty, didst create all things for Thy name's sake; Thou gavest food and drink to men for enjoyment, that they might give thanks to Thee; but to us Thou didst freely give spiritual food and drink and life eternal through Thy Servant. Before all things we thank Thee that Thou art mighty; to Thee be the glory for ever.

If it is necessary for some to be marked by name, then I will make it clear to them all that they are now "those who have been called by my name." From where else did the name of Christians come than from the name of Christ? For it was he who foretold such a thing through the prophet.

Second, he sets out their fitness for liberation: and every one that calls upon my name, I will lead into my glory, that he might glorify me, and that I might appear glorious in him: every one that shall call upon the name of the Lord, shall be saved (Joel 2:32).

If they seemed to have the eyes of the soul and a human mind, they were still nonetheless blind to the deceit of idolatry. But what then happened to them provides the basis for Isaiah's message. For the former blind and deaf were gathered together into the church of God even as the rulers of the nations opposed the people of God. The prophet is amazed and tries to make sense of the prophecy that he is speaking, and so he calls out, saying, "Who can announce these things?"

And what follows, Bring forth the people that is blind and has eyes, that is deaf and has ears, many think is said of the people of the nations, who through the teaching of the Apostles began to hear and to see. But let us understand this too of scattered Israel, which was called through the Apostles and believed first; to whom Paul also says: It was necessary that the word of God be preached first to you (Acts 13:46). And the Lord himself in the Gospel: Go to the lost sheep of the house of Israel (Matt 10:6). Then follows: All the nations are gathered together, and the tribes are assembled, that is, together with the people that believed from among the Jews, so that the calling may be twofold, of the circumcision and of the uncircumcision. And what is said, Bring forth, is a word addressed to the Son. Or, according to the Seventy, the Father speaks of the Son, that he has brought forth his blind and deaf people, and joined them to the nations, and made of them many princes of the Church. And the prophet marvels that no one among the nations could foreknow these things, nor know the counsels of God, but only his people, which had received the Law and had the prophets: For God is known in Judea; in Israel his name is great (Ps 75 [76]:1).

Third, he promulgates the command of liberation: bring, O Cyrus, forth, out of the land of their captivity, the people, namely, of the Jews: hear, O foolish people, and without understanding: who have eyes, and see not: and ears, and hear not (Jer 5:21).

All the nations. Here he excludes the sharing of divinity. And first, he shows the falsehood of other gods by the manner of a judgment, setting out the consensus of the nations in idolatry: assembled together, in one error: they are all gone aside (Ps 14:3); seeking a sign of divinity: who among you, that is, which of your gods; or this is said to the idols; and he seeks testimony: let them bring forth their witnesses, let them be justified, that is, let them justly be called gods; and let the witnesses hear, future things from them, and say, testimony for you, above: there is none that shows, nor that foretells (Isa 41:26).

Second, he shows the truth of his own divinity, and first, as to knowledge, second, as to power: you are my witnesses (Isa 43:12).

If Christ is Son, Christ is certainly after God. But after God there is nothing comparable to him. Christ is therefore not comparable to God; or if he is not after God, certainly he is with God; for in no way can he be before God; therefore he is consubstantial (homoousion) … substance as substance, especially if it is a homogeneous substance that is realized in two or more individuals, which is said to be identical substance, not similar.

Or else God himself is the witness and performer of his own words, and so is his child and servant whom he has chosen. There is no doubt that he means Christ, to whom he says also above: It is a great thing for you to be called my child. And all these things will take place so that the truth may be preached to the world, and that those whose mind was before brutish and senseless may know and believe and understand that besides the one God there is no other God, neither before nor after. For the founder of the times never has a beginning, since this very word, ever, belongs to time. And as he has now said, I am a witness, says the Lord God, and the child whom I have chosen, the Lord saying this same thing in the Gospel: The testimony of two men is true. I am he who bears witness of myself, and the Father who sent me (John 8:17-18), so too we must think of his divinity: that there is no God but he who speaks and his child whom he has chosen. And beautifully, besides God the Father there is no other God, because Christ is the power of God and the wisdom of God (1 Cor 1), who says in the Gospel: I am in the Father, and the Father is in me (John 14:11). For as the one Lord Christ does not take from the Father his being Lord, so the one God the Father does not take from the Son his being God, he who in the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God; he was in the beginning with God (John 1:1-2).

And according to what he commands in another place: Be my witnesses, and I am a witness, says the Lord God, and the servant whom I have chosen, the Father with the Son and the Holy Spirit is a witness for us, so that in the mouth of two or three witnesses every word may stand. And it seems to me that the sentence stands rather in this way, and that the truth is confirmed under these three witnesses, rather than through the letter. For there were two witnesses against Susanna, and against the Lord Savior himself, and yet the word did not stand in their mouth. Against Naboth, too, almost the whole city bore witness, and the agreement of most wicked witnesses had not the firmness of truth but the conspiracy of a crime.

Still I should like to ask our objectors, what means that which is said by the Prophet, "Before Me there was no God formed, nor is there any after Me"? For if the Son is younger than the Father, how, says He, "Nor is there any after me"? Will you take away the being of the Only-Begotten Himself? You either must dare this, or admit one Godhead with distinct Persons of the Father and Son.

What then do the divine Scriptures intend to say, for example, here: "Before Me there was no God, and after Me there shall be none," and "I am, and there is no God besides Me"? Do not suppose that in these utterances the unity is applied to the God of the universe … apart from Christ, and, of course, not to Christ alone apart from God. But let us speak of this as Jesus Himself taught: "I and the Father are one."

"I have glorified you in the world." By this glory Christ has led the blind people into the light. For the sun of righteousness does not allow us to be children of the night and shadows but rather of day, as the divine apostle says. When Paul says, "They have been gathered," this in fact has not yet taken place, and he is obviously speaking prophetically, meaning "they will be gathered." For speaking of things to come as if they had happened is customary in the Scriptures; another example of such is "I have given my back to the rod" and "they divided my clothing among them."

He gives testimony, assigning men to give testimony: you are my witnesses, my servant, the people of Jacob, or Christ: you shall be witnesses (Acts 1:8); setting out the manner of knowing: that you may know, as to those things which can be known about God by natural reason, and believe, as to those things which are above reason, and thus, understand, for unless you believe, you will not understand, above (Isa 7:9), according to another reading; and setting out what is said by the witnesses, that he alone is God: that I, alone, am, God; there was no God who forms, or formed, namely, no idol: see that I alone am, and there is no other God besides me (Deut 32:39).

And what follows, And besides me there is no Savior, shows that the Son saves all things in the Father. Of him the same prophet testifies: And the Lord will send them a Savior, who will save them (Isa 19). For God, who is wise and strong, cannot be without his own wisdom and power.

It has been sufficiently demonstrated that God exists and that his essence is incomprehensible. Furthermore, those who believe in sacred Scripture have no doubt that he is one and not several. For the Lord says at the beginning of his lawgiving, "I am the Lord your God, who brought you out of the land of Egypt. You shall not have strange gods before me." And again: "Hear, O Israel: the Lord your God is one Lord." And through the mouth of the prophet Isaiah: "I am," he says, "the first God, and I am the last, and there is no God besides me. Before me there was no God, and after me there shall be none, and beside me there is none." And the Lord speaks thus to his Father in the holy Gospels: "This is eternal life: that they may know you, the only true God." With those who do not believe in sacred Scripture we shall reason as follows. The Divinity is perfect and without deficiency in goodness or wisdom or power. He is without beginning, without end, eternal, uncircumscribed; to put it simply, he is perfect in all things. Now, if we say that there are several gods, there must be some difference to be found among them. For if there is no difference at all among them, then there is one God rather than several. But if there is some difference, then where is the perfection? For if one should come short of perfection in goodness, or power, or wisdom, or time or place, then he would not be God. The identity of God in all things shows him to be one and not several.

If you want to have me as a witness to your verdict, then be the first to render witness to my truth. In this case, I will not be alone in bearing witness, but there is also my chosen servant. Now it is neither Moses nor another of the prophets who is referred to here, but Christ our Master. And he calls him a [servant], not as God but as a human being; for it is as a human being that he has named him "chosen." … We likewise find in the holy Gospels this number of two witnesses. In the course of a conversation with the Jews our Master Christ in effect declared, "It is written in your law that the testimony of two persons is true. I bear witness concerning myself, and the Father who sent me bears witness." … "I am, I am your God, and there is no other savior besides me." Again these words proclaim the one divinity. For our Master Christ is called "savior" throughout the holy Scriptures, as I think even the followers of Arius and Eunomius would concede. Now if apart from God there is no savior and if Christ is called "Savior," it is clear that he participates in the [divine] nature. If Christ does not, as the blasphemers allege, then he is not Savior.… But if he is Savior, then he shares the same essence to which alone belongs the faculty of saving.

And that he alone is Lord: I am, singularly, I am, preeminently: neither is there salvation in any other (Acts 4:12).

Since, then, I foretold from the beginning that these things would come, there will be no one who can refuse my will, nor indeed make void what I shall have done. These things are said indeed to Jacob and Israel, but they refer to the apostolic choir and to all of the people of the Jews who have been willing to believe in Christ.

I not only made the predictions; I have also brought them to their conclusion. "I reproached, and then there was no strange god among you." The three interpreters have rendered the word "I have reproached" by the verb "I have made to understand," which comes back to saying, I have born witness. The verb "I have made reproaches" also has the same sense: it is because they do not cease to sin that they suffer reproaches. Moreover, he then makes the following declaration: At the time when I gave the law, no strange god was present: "You are my witnesses, and I am the Lord God." Know clearly, he is saying, that no one else is concerned for you, but that you alone have benefited by my providence.

Second, he gives a sign of his divinity: I have declared, there was no strange one among you, by which you could know: O Israel, if you will hearken to me, there shall be no new god in you: neither shall you adore a strange god (Ps 81:8–9).

Here he shows the truth of his divinity as to power. And first, he gives the testimony: you are my witnesses: I am the beginning (John 8:25).

"I will act, and who will hinder it?" For I have accomplished the calling of the nations, he says, that is, I have saved those who were led astray. And who can alter this, or who could change things so that they did not happen? The Savior himself assures us that no one can snatch those who are being saved from the hand of God. "For my sheep hear my voice, and I know them; and they follow me, and I give them eternal life."

He gives a sign of his power in punishing: and there is none that can deliver out of my hand, as in Deuteronomy 32:39 and Job 10:7; and in working: I will work, above: the Lord of hosts has decreed, and who can disannul it? (Isa 14:27).

"I have brought down all the runaways and the Chaldeans," that is, "For your sake I will send you to Babylon" and will make the Medes rise, in order to deliver you from captivity. And when the Babylonians fly from you in every manner, through the land and the sea, they will be captured in "their ships" and be imprisoned. He calls "runaways" the Medes because of their previous weakness.

Thus says the Lord, your redeemer, the Holy One of Israel: For your sake I have sent to Babylon, and I have pulled down all the bars, and the Chaldeans glorying in their ships. I am the Lord, your Holy One, the Creator, Israel, your King. LXX: Thus says the Lord God, who redeemed you, the Holy One of Israel: For your sake I will send to Babylon, and I will rouse up all the fugitives, and the Chaldeans will be bound in ships. I am the Lord God, the Holy One of Israel, who have shown Israel your king. According to the Hebrew, the prophetic word is still directed to Israel: that their redeemer, the Lord and the Holy One of Israel, has spoken these things to them: For your sake, you who preach the Gospel with me, to whom I said above, Do not fear, for I am with you, who are witnesses of my will, and who announce my child to an unbelieving world as a second witness, I have sent my Son into Babylon and the confusion of this world. And I have pulled down all its bars, which in Hebrew are called BARIHIM באריחים, and which Theodotion translated strong ones. And the Chaldeans, he says (understand ἀπὸ κοινοῦ I have pulled down), who gloried in their ships: namely those who, like ships, were tossed about among the idols. Of the Chaldeans no one doubts that they signify demons. I the Lord have foretold these things that were to come, I who am your Creator and the king of Israel. But according to the Seventy the sense is far different: I the Lord, who have delivered you from dangers, and the Holy One of Israel: for your sake I will send to Babylon the king of the Medes and Persians, and I will make its inhabitants flee; and the Chaldeans who had taken you captive will be carried in bonds across the Caspian Sea to other nations. I the Lord have decreed these things that are to come, I who have shown that Israel would be the king of believers.

[Isaiah] predicts the defeat of the Babylonians and the enslavement of the Chaldeans. They will suffer these misfortunes because of you, he says, since they were unwilling to recognize that their victory depended on my good will and that you were made prisoners because I rejected you.

Thus says the Lord. Here he sets out the sign of his love, that he destroyed for them the Babylonians, who gloried in their ships because of the multitude of their waters: I sent, namely, my wrath: the Lord has both purposed, and done all that he spoke against the inhabitants of Babylon (Jer 51:12).

Although these things were done to the Babylonians and Chaldeans, prophetically speaking, the future things that are "not yet" shall be as if already accomplished. God has completed these by himself, comparing the present events with those that happened earlier: I showed my divinity to those in Egypt and led my people through the Red Sea. I made a way "in the mighty water" and a dry path through that same sea when I threw the chariots of Pharaoh and his forces into the sea to the bed prepared for them, sinking down to the abyss and no longer able to rise. They were like those of old who were bent like a snuffed wick in a burning flame. I worked such things among the ancients, who in turn passed on the memory of those wonders to those of old who followed. But for the present I command them no longer to be amazed at those deeds, neither those done in Babylon nor those in Egypt.

Thus says the Lord, who made a way in the sea, and a path in the rushing waters; who brought forth the chariot and the horse, the army and the strong man: together they have fallen asleep, and they will not rise again; they are crushed like flax, they are quenched. Do not remember the former things, and do not look upon the things of old. Behold, I am doing new things; now they will spring forth; surely you will know them. I will make a way in the desert, and rivers in the trackless land. The beast of the field will glorify me, the dragons and the ostriches; for I have given waters in the desert, rivers in the trackless land, to give drink to my people, my chosen one. This people I have formed for myself; they will tell my praise. LXX: For thus says the Lord, who gives a way in the sea, and a path in the mighty water; who brings forth chariots and horses and a most mighty multitude. But they have fallen asleep, and they will not rise again; they are quenched like quenched flax. Do not remember the former things, and do not consider the old things. Behold, I will do new things, which will now spring forth, and you will know them; and I will make a way in the desert, and rivers in the waterless land. The beasts of the field will bless me, the sirens and the daughters of the ostriches, for I have given water in the desert, and rivers in the waterless land, to give drink to my chosen race, my people, whom I have acquired, that it may tell of my powers. The Lord, who destroyed and cast down Babylon, and pulled down its mightiest from their power, and made captives of all the Chaldeans who were sailing prosperously on the waves of this world, he himself found a way in the rushing waters of the Red Sea, so that his people, freed from Egypt, might pass over. Or, he who made a way in the Red Sea, he himself also found a path in the rushing waters of the river Jordan, so that both the going out from Egypt and the entrance into the land of promise might have a miracle. He sank into the deep the chariots and horses and the whole army of Pharaoh, who fell asleep in perpetual sleep. They were crushed and quenched like flax, in a brief space of time, in a point and a moment. For flax, not yet caught by the fire, is at once quenched because of the lightness of its substance, and dissolves into ash.

How has he led chariots and horses? It is clear that Pharaoh pursued Israel by his own decision, for God had already spoken in this way to him: "I have raised you up as to show my power in you and so that my name might be made known throughout the earth." Thus in a marvelous way God saves those who are fleeing from the desire for earthly things as they are pursued by the devil. God shows them that the wild waves of the present life are passable and that they will not be overwhelmed by trials but will arrive securely in the desert with a stilled and purified mind. They will eat the heavenly bread and drink the water from the rock. This is to share in Christ and to go through the Jordan and gain the Promised Land.

Thus says the Lord, who made a way in the sea. Here he recalls his past benefits to confirm their hope for future benefits. And concerning this, he does two things. First, he recalls his past benefits in directing them when they came out of Egypt: in the Red sea (Exod 14); in the mighty waters, in the Arnon (Num 21), in the Jordan (Josh 3).

And as to the destruction of their enemies, who brought forth the chariot, the chariots of Pharaoh: his chosen captains are drowned in the Red Sea (Exod 15:4); as flax, cut down in a moment.

Therefore I command you this: that among my signs and wonders, by which Babylon, the mightiest city, was overthrown, and by which a way was opened for my people in the Red Sea and in the Jordan, you should in no way remember the old things, since in the Gospel I am going to do far greater things, in comparison with which past things ought to be passed over in silence. For no longer will I find a way in the Red Sea, but in the desert of the whole world. Nor will one river or fountain burst forth from the rock, but many rivers, to refresh not bodies, as before, but thirsting souls; and that will be fulfilled which we read above: You will drink waters from the fountains of the Savior (cf. Isa 12:3).

Second, he promises much greater future benefits. First, he shows the greatness of his future benefits by comparison to the former ones: remember not former things, as if to say: they are not worthy to be kept in memory in comparison with future things: forgetting the things that are behind (Phil 3:13).

But He, although He took on Him our flesh, although He was made man that He might redeem man, and recal him from death, still, as being God, came upon earth in an extraordinary way, that as He had said, 'Behold I make all things new,' so also He might be born of an immaculate virgin, and be believed to be, as it is written, 'God with us.' But from their perverse ways they are induced to say 'She was a virgin when she conceived, but not a virgin when she brought forth.' Could she then conceive as a virgin, and yet not be able to bring forth as a virgin, when conception always precedes, and birth follows?

The Word says, "Look, I am doing something new, which no eye has seen, no ear heard, no human heart felt." These are to be seen, heard and grasped by a new eye, a new hearing and a new heart when the Lord's disciples speak, listen and act in the Spirit.

But as often as water is named alone in the holy Scriptures, baptism is referred to, as we see intimated in Isaiah: "Remember not," says he, "the former things, and consider not the things of old. Behold, I will do a new thing.…" There God foretold by the prophet that among the nations, in places that previously had been dry, rivers should afterwards flow plenteously and should provide water for the elected people of God, that is, for those who were made children of God by the generation of baptism. Moreover, it is again predicted and foretold before, that the Jews, if they should thirst and seek after Christ, should drink with us, that is, should attain the grace of baptism. "If they shall thirst," he says, "he shall lead them through the deserts, shall bring forth water for them out of the rock. The rock shall be cloven, and the water shall flow, and my people shall drink," which is fulfilled in the Gospel, when Christ, who is the Rock, is cloven by a stroke of the spear in his passion; who also, admonishing what was before announced by the prophet, cries and says, "If anyone thirst, let him come and drink. He who believes in me, as the Scripture says, out of his belly shall flow rivers of living water." And that it might be more evident that the Lord is speaking there not of the cup but of baptism, the Scripture adds, saying, "But this spoke he of the Spirit, which they that believe in him should receive." For by baptism the Holy Spirit is received, and thus by those who are baptized and have attained to the Holy Spirit is attained the drinking of the Lord's cup.

For of this number I find figurative hints up and down the Creator's dispensation in the twelve streams of Elim. … Now the same number of apostles was thus portended, as if they were to be fountains and rivers that should water the Gentile world, which was formerly dry and destitute of knowledge, as he says by Isaiah, "I will put streams in the unwatered ground."

What I am going to do, he says, merits still more admiration than the things done [in the past]. He adds what will be: "And I will make a way in the wilderness and rivers in the dry land." Some have thought that these declarations relate to the return from Babylon. This is wrong, for he did not favor them at that time, while they were returning from exile, either with a strange road or with rivers. But he is calling the Gentiles "the desert" [wilderness], and the preachings of the apostles "rivers" and the course that escapes error "the way." What he has added makes it equally obvious.

"Because I have given water in the wilderness and rivers in the waterless land to assuage the thirst of my elect race; the people I have set aside for myself proclaim my virtues." The race that [Jesus] put on according to his human nature is human nature in its entirety, yet is nearer still to the Jewish race. For there is no doubting that our Lord came from Judah.

Because of the newness of these things: behold I do new things, unheard of: behold, I make all things new (Rev 21:5); and because of their determination: I will make a way, for those going to the feasts, in the wilderness, that is, the land of the Jews, which was formerly a desert; rivers, of consolation: he has turned a wilderness into pools of waters (Ps 107:35). And if these things are explained literally of the liberation from captivity in Babylon, they are called greater than the liberation from Egypt, not because of greater miracles, but because the kings from whose power he liberated them were more powerful than Pharaoh, or because they came from a more distant place; if, however, they are referred to the liberation carried out by Christ, it is evident that nothing so admirable had preceded it in past ages.

Then what never was done will be done: all the beasts and dragons and ostriches that dwelt in the wilderness of the nations, and were like beasts in the blood of idolatry and the savagery of their manners, will glorify me and praise me together. For dragons, which Theodotion alone, as it is written in the Hebrew, called THANNIM (תנים), the others translated Sirens: monstrous creatures which by their sweet and deadly song cast sailors headlong to be torn apart by Scylla's dogs. And this signifies that those who were formerly given over to pleasure and luxury are turned to the service of the Lord; although it is better to understand dragons, since ostriches are joined to them, so that, since he was speaking once of the beasts of the wilderness, he set down these animals, which are at home in the desert. They will praise me, he says, and will glorify me, the beasts of the field, and the dragons, and the ostriches, because I have given waters in the desert of the nations, and rivers in the dryness of the peoples, so that my people might drink, which I have chosen for myself, or my chosen race, and the people which I have acquired with my blood, that it might tell my praises and my powers.

Second, he shows the usefulness of these benefits for the gentiles: the beast of the field shall glorify me, that is, the gentile, living like a beast, converted to Christ, or seeing how I liberated the Jews: beasts and all cattle: serpents and feathered fowls (Ps 148:10); and for the Jews: to give drink, of teaching and consolation: the Lord your God has chosen you (Deut 7:6).

And those of them who declare that God would make a new covenant with men, not such as that which He made with the fathers at Mount Horeb, and would give to men a new heart and a new spirit; and again, "And remember ye not the things of old: behold, I make new things which shall now arise, and ye shall know it; and I will make a way in the desert, and riven in a dry land, to give drink to my chosen people, my people whom I have acquired, that they may show forth my praise," -plainly announced that liberty which distinguishes the new covenant, and the new wine which is put into new bottles, [that is], the faith which is in Christ, by which He has proclaimed the way of righteousness sprung up in the desert, and the streams of the Holy Spirit in a dry land, to give water to the elect people of God, whom He has acquired, that they might show forth His praise, but not that they might blaspheme Him who made these things, that is, God.

Third, he assigns the reason: this people have I formed for myself, namely, for my praise: the Lord has made all things for himself (Prov 16:4).

In the section we examined and read previously, he delivered a prophecy of the covenant in Christ and the graces bestowed by him, for he said that he would "make a way in the desert and rivers in the dry land," and because of this he would be blessed by "all the wild animals of the field." The praise-giving is to be understood as a spiritual sacrifice and fruit of the new covenant in Christ. In the present passage, however, he tries to assure Israel that they had been redeemed from Egypt, rescued from the slavery that they endured there and freed from such intolerable labors, not so that they would offer him calves and thus secure access to him through blood and smoke—for such things are repugnant to God, and shadow rather than reality.That is why he says: "I have not called you now, O Jacob." The word "now" ought to be understood to mean, "Not when you were offering sacrifices," that is, "I have not called you when you were sacrificing oxen and slaughtered sheep, so that you should not think that you had been redeemed as a reward for the offerings." Rather, it was when you were still in sin and guilty of defilement, for you had worshiped the gods of the Egyptians, that I deemed you worthy of mercy and love. So the gift is one of gentleness, and the fruit of loving-kindness is mercy, and the redemption came from love. The sheep of your burnt offering are nothing to me, he says, nor did you glorify me with your sacrifices. After all, how can that which is wholly unacceptable and offered in vain contribute to my glory? You did not serve me with your sacrifices. The one who pursues any good deed, he says, who achieves the character that leads to virtue, who bends his neck in submission to my decrees, who puts the teachings of the prophets into practice, could be said to serve the God who is over all. As for the one who fills the holy tent with incense, who offers oxen or sheep, or who performs successfully any of the other fine actions, that one will not genuinely glorify me. Such a person, in fact, has done nothing at all that pleases me. So then, service does not consist in offering sacrifice, but in being prepared to submit a tender neck, that willingly submits to his wishes. … Everywhere he rejected worship in shadows, leading them away from types, and drawing them to the justification which is in Christ, and teaching them to be refashioned according to the way of life taught by the gospel, by which alone it is possible to do what is pleasing to God, and come to truly blameless and sincere worship—that is, worship that is spiritual. For it says, "God is spirit, and those who worship him must worship in spirit and in truth."

For there was no mention at all of such things required from you in the laws of the new covenant that I established through my servant whom I chose. But you did not offer these things to me. If it had been necessary to say such things, you still probably would have done something contrary. "In your sins is your preference" or as the other interpreters put it, "in your sins and in your unrighteous acts you called on me."

You have not called upon me, Jacob, nor have you labored in me, Israel. You have not offered me the ram of your burnt offering, and with your victims you have not glorified me. I have not made you serve with offering, nor have I given you labor with incense. You have not bought me sweet cane with silver, and with the fat of your victims you have not made me drunk. But you have made me serve in your sins; you have given me labor in your iniquities. LXX: Not now have I called you, Jacob, nor have I made you labor, Israel. You have not brought me the sheep of your burnt offering, nor have you magnified me with your victims; nor have I made you serve with sacrifices, nor have I given you labor with incense; nor have you bought me incense with silver, nor have I desired the fat of your sacrifices; but in your sins I have defended you, and in your iniquities. While the beasts of the field, the dragons and the ostriches, praise me, you, Jacob, in no way wished to call upon me, nor afterward to labor so as to amend your sin by repentance.

But you have not called upon me. Here he excludes the merits of the Jews for attaining such benefits. And concerning this, he does three things: first, he excludes their merit; second, he gives a place for a response: put me in remembrance (Isa 43:26); third, he removes a certain way of responding: your first father (Isa 43:27).

He excludes their merit: you have not called upon me, and all this is said because they did not offer these things to God with their whole heart, but partly to God, partly to idols, or because they offered nothing to God, or because they did so in hope of temporal repayment, or because, after the coming of Christ, they were not accepted: who is there among you, that will shut the doors, and will kindle the fire on my altar gratis (Mal 1:10); shall I eat the flesh of bullocks? Or shall I drink the blood of goats? (Ps 50:13).

And as for your thinking that you have offered me victims and sacrificed rams, know that they were not accepted by me, because they were shared by me and the idols. And he repeats that sense of which he had spoken above: To what purpose is the multitude of your victims to me, says the Lord? I am full of the burnt offering of rams, and of the fat of lambs, and the blood of bulls and goats I do not want. For I have not, he says, required anything precious from you, so as to make you labor in preparing it. I have not exacted offerings from you, nor sought frankincense, nor sweet cane, nor incense and spices of various kinds, with whose smoke you might make me drunk and sate me. But obedience, which is above sacrifice, and the sacrifice of which David says in the Psalms, A sacrifice to God is a troubled spirit; a contrite and humbled heart God does not despise (Ps 50 [51]:19): these I wanted, these I sought. But you have made me serve and labor in your sins, so that I was compelled to say: I have labored in bearing; and I can no longer bear you. Hence God says the same thing also through Hosea: What shall I do to you, Ephraim? Shall I protect you, Israel (Hos 11:8)? What shall I do to you? Shall I make you like Admah, and like Zeboiim? But what the Seventy set down, but in your sins I have defended you, and in your iniquities, can be joined to what precedes thus: that it is God's labor and weariness to defend sinners.

But because sweat is usually wiped away from workers by a cloth, the labor of God can also be expressed by the name of cloth—He who indeed always remains quiet and unchangeable in Himself, yet nevertheless declares that He labors when He bears the harsh depravities of men. Whence He also says through the prophet: "I have labored in enduring." Now God appeared in the flesh, He labored from our infirmity. When unbelievers saw this labor of His passion, they refused to venerate Him. For they disdained to believe that He whom they saw mortal in the flesh was immortal in His divinity.

Second, he shows their guilt: but you have made me to serve with your sins, as if to say: you showed me to be servile when you offended me and I did not punish you, above: they are become troublesome to me, I am weary of bearing them (Isa 1:14); he speaks in a human manner.

You have blotted it out, indeed, in your hearts and minds, but the Word of God is not blotted out, the Holy Spirit is not blotted out but turns away from impious minds. It is not grace but iniquity that is blotted out; for it is written, "I am he, I am he who blots out your iniquities."

All truth is justice. In the confessing of what is the case, there is justice. He speaks the truth, that sinners who justify themselves by their faults cannot be justified. And in this way one is called truly just in that confessing one's own sin, he asks them to be accounted to himself yet begs God for mercy. For he knows that it is stated in the law, "Confess your sins, and you will be justified." What does it mean "to confess at the start of speaking" unless "to speak freely and not just when forced to"? For who (even one who fears God) is without sin, since faults get mixed into thinking and unconsciously we sin in so many ways?

Though this type of argument seems without resort and bereft of human force in court trials here on earth, before God it is invested with invincible protection. Only confession of faith can acquit the person whom no arguments defend. Such a course is permitted to those who truly repent, who in seeking pardon for themselves strive instead to condemn their own actions. This is what Isaiah too advises: "Speak first of your iniquities that you may be justified."

I am, I am he who blots out your iniquities for my own sake, and I will not remember your sins. Put me in remembrance, that we may be judged together; tell, if you have anything, that you may be justified. Your first father sinned, and your interpreters have transgressed against me. And I have defiled the holy princes; I have given Jacob to slaughter, and Israel to blasphemy. LXX: I am, I am he who blots out your iniquities, and I will not remember them. But you, remember, and let us be judged. Tell your iniquities first, that you may be justified. Your fathers sinned, and your princes have acted unjustly against me, and the princes have defiled my holy things. And I have given Jacob up to destruction, and Israel to reproach. You, he says, Jacob and Israel, have made me labor in your sins, and I could scarcely carry the burdens of your iniquities; you whom I in no way call my servants or my children, but address by the bare names of Jacob and Israel, so as to expose and reprove you as sinners. But I, for my own sake, because I am merciful and patient and of many mercies, will blot out all your iniquities in the sprinkling and the blood of the new Testament; I will blot out the old bond that was written against you; and I will no longer remember your sins, which, if you are willing to believe, I am going to forgive you in baptism.

"Forgive us our debts as we also forgive our debtors." Whoever then desires to obtain forgiveness of his sins, should study to fit himself for it by these means. Let not the stubbornness of an obdurate heart turn away any from the saving remedy and the fount of so much goodness, because even if we have done all these things, they will not be able to expiate our offences, unless they are blotted out by the goodness and mercy of the Lord, who when He sees the service of pious efforts offered by us with a humble heart, supports our small and puny efforts with the utmost bounty, and says: "I even I am He that blotteth out thine iniquities for Mine own sake, and I will remember thy sins no more."

We must always have these sins before our eyes, so we may be purified from them. And though God, by clemency, forgives you every sin, yet you, for the safety of your soul, must always have the sin before your eyes. For the memory of past sins hinders future ones; and one who is bitten by his past sins demonstrates the will to be steadfast about the next ones. For David says, "And my sin is ever before me," in order to have the past ones before his eyes and not to fall into future ones. That God demands this firm stance from us, listen to him say, "I am the one who blots out your sins, and I will not remember them; you, however, remember them, and we shall settle accounts, says the Lord. First state your sin so you may be justified." … Time does not excuse; rather, the manner of the repentant individual erases the sin.

Groan bitterly, sacrifice confession, (for, saith he, "Declare thou first thy transgressions that thou mayest be justified,") sacrifice contrition of heart. These victims turn not to ashes nor dissolve into smoke nor melt into air; neither need they wood and fire, but only a deep-pricked heart. This is wood, this is fire to burn, yet not consume them. For he that prayeth with warmth is burnt, yet not consumed; but like gold that is tried by fire becometh brighter.

God does not wait for time to elapse after repentance. You stated your sin, you are justified. You repented, you have been shown mercy. Time does not excuse; rather, the manner of the repentant individual erases the sin. One individual may wait a long time and not gain salvation, and another, who confesses genuinely, is stripped of the sin inside a short time.

For he himself now instigates us to sin, he himself also, when we have sinned, accuses. If, therefore, in this life we forestall him and are our own accusers, we escape the malice of the devil, our enemy and accuser. For so also elsewhere the prophet says: "do you", he says, "tell your iniquities first, that you may be justified". Does he not evidently show the mystery of which we treat, when he says: "do you tell them first?" — that he may show you that you ought to forestall him who is ready to accuse.

Nature is too weak to gain righteousness by works. For the human disposition is inclined toward evil from an early age, as David clearly says, "If you kept record of our transgressions, who would stand? For with you there is atonement." For I myself am merciful, and I wish that those in trouble remember their Savior and give him thanks through all things. For this is what the saints do.… And do not be ashamed to confess your sins. For the Pharisee did not do so, and he was condemned. But the tax collector did so, and he was justified. …"You transgressed against me"—this is given great force. For it is not a transgression against humanity or created nature. For the idolater rejects the divine nature as he robs the same of its transcendence and glory, which are to be worshiped. As God says in Jeremiah, "Why have you spoken to me? You have all acted unrighteously and impiously toward me," says the Lord Almighty.

Do not forget your errors, God says, but keep them firmly in your memory so that you will always recognize how great are my benefits. In this way you will avoid committing the same misdeeds. Now since he has mentioned judgment and that fear is an appropriate response, he teaches them who would learn the way of victory. "You be the first to confess your sins, so as to be justified." I do not want to overcome you, but rather I long for the opposite. Learn how it is possible for you to overcome; confess first your errors, and I will grant you pardon. I will judge you if you attempt to hide something from me. If you confess, I will forgive.

Third, he shows that the benefit is given freely: I am: for your name's sake, O Lord, you will pardon my sin (Ps 25:11); it is not for your sake that I will do this (Ezek 36:22).

And it is ours to flee to God. And let us endeavor after this ceaselessly and energetically. For he says, "Come to me, all who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest." And prayer and confession with humility are voluntary acts. Therefore it is enjoined, "First tell your sins, that you may be justified." What afterwards we shall obtain, and what we shall be, it is not for us to judge.

We are just when we acknowledge that we are sinners, and our justice depends not on our personal merit but rather on the mercy of God, as holy Scripture says: "The just is an accuser of himself in the beginning of his plea." And in another place, "State your sins, that you may be justified."

Put me, then, in remembrance: if you have anything righteous to answer me, I will gladly receive it, that we may be judged together, and you may convict me of not having done for you what I ought to have done. This sense we read more fully in Micah: My people, what have I done to you, and in what have I troubled you? Answer me: for I brought you up out of the land of Egypt, and freed you from the house of bondage, and sent before your face Moses and Aaron and Miriam. And in the fiftieth Psalm David says to God: That you may be justified in your words, and may prevail when you are judged (Ps 50 [51]:5). Tell, then, if you have anything, that you may be justified. And the sense is: I will not speak first against you, lest you say you have been overwhelmed by a multitude of words; but if you have anything righteous, speak for yourself, so that you may be seen to endure undeservedly the things you suffer.

According to the Seventy, who added on their own, Tell your iniquities first, that you may be justified, God calls them to repentance, so that they may understand their crimes and sins and obtain pardon. For it is written also in another place: The righteous man is his own accuser at the beginning of his speech (Prov 18:17).

Do you wish that I shall speak of the ways of repentance? They are many and various and different, and all lead to heaven. The first way of repentance is condemnation of sins. "First declare your sins, that you may be justified."

For so also elsewhere the prophet says: "do you", he says, "tell your iniquities first, that you may be justified". Does he not evidently show the mystery of which we treat, when he says: "do you tell them first?" — that he may show you that you ought to forestall him who is ready to accuse. "Do you", therefore, he says, "tell them first", lest he forestall you; for if you tell them "first" and offer the sacrifice of repentance according to the things which we said above are to be offered, and hand over your flesh to destruction, "that the spirit may be saved in the day of the Lord", it will be said to you also that "you have received your evils in your life, but now rest here".

Put me in remembrance. Here he gives a place for a response: put me in remembrance, as if to say: consider what I have done for you, tell if you have any thing, to excuse yourself, or to accuse me, to justify yourself, that is, that you should be judged to be just: if you have any thing to say, answer me, speak: for I would have you to appear just (Job 33:32).

We ought to put God in remembrance, as to the wonders which he has done, that we should worship: remember his marvelous works which he has done (Ps 105:5); the benefits which he has given, that we should give thanks: I remembered your mercy (Sir 51:11–12); the torments he sustained, that we should feel compassion: remember my poverty (Lam 3:19); the precepts which he gave, that we should observe them: they are mindful of his commandments to do them (Ps 103:18).

And that you may know that I have mercy on you not for your merit but for my own clemency, I will go back to your fathers and forebears, so that you may understand that you were begotten of sinners: Your first father sinned in the wilderness, namely the whole people of Israel. Or else the author of your race, Abraham, is convicted of having sinned when, as the Lord promised the land of promise to his seed, he answered: Whereby shall I know that I shall possess it? And your interpreters, he says, have transgressed against me (Gen 15:8): Aaron and Moses at the water of contradiction, who spoke as mediators between me and you (Exod 17). And that we may understand that this is not a forced exposition, there follows: And I have defiled the holy princes, of whom it is also sung in the psalm: Their judges have been swallowed up beside the rock (Ps 140 [141]:6). These he says he has defiled for this reason, that they did not enter the land of promise. And I have given Jacob to slaughter, and Israel to blasphemy, so that none of those who had come out of Egypt, except two, entered Judea, but their carcasses lay in the wilderness.

And their princes and fathers are said to have violated the holy things of the Lord, not serving the Law of God, but seeking the traditions and commandments of men; on account of whom Jacob perished, and Israel was given to reproach, cast out of his own province, an exile and a stranger throughout the whole world.

[The Lord] has proclaimed these words in addressing those who were in Babylon. It is not I, he says, who am the cause of these misfortunes, but your ancestors, and your priests, who have transgressed my laws. Their iniquity has transformed the renown of Israel to an object of shame.

Your first father sinned. Here he removes a certain way of responding. For they could allege the innocence of their fathers; but against this, he says, your first father, Adam (Gen 3), Abraham, asking for a sign of the promise of God, as though doubting (Gen 15:8); your teachers, Moses and Aaron at the waters of contradiction (Num 20).

"Your princes profaned the sanctuary." Those who were from the house of Manasseh profaned the sanctuary with the four-faced idol, which they placed inside the sanctuary. Because of those crimes, and in particular because of Manasseh's crime, "I have given Jacob to the curse, and Israel to reviling."

And I have profaned the holy princes, that is, I have allowed them to be profaned; I have given Jacob to slaughter, for they all died in the desert, except for Caleb and Joshua: we have sinned with our fathers (Ps 106:6).