Isaiah 55

He then who is wise is free, bought with the price of the heavenly oracles, with that gold, that silver of the Divine Word; bought with the price of blood (for it is no small thing to acknowledge one's Redeemer;) bought with the price of Grace: he who heard and understood the words, Ho every one that thirsteth, come ye to the waters, and he that hath no money, come ye, buy and drink and eat.

How can they purchase, yet receive gifts without paying? Well, because we accept the payment in faith from Christ, and we pay for none of these things with short-term or perishable goods. For it says, "I said to my Lord, 'You are my Lord since you have no need of goods from me.' " By way of gifts and honor to Christ we offer to Christ the confession of faith in him. So without money and payment comes this drink and bountiful gift of spiritual charisms. For what could we offer and what price could we pay for such a drink? For those drinking the living water are those enriched with grace through the Holy Spirit through participation in him and purchasing this through faith, since they are sharers of the wine and suet, that is, of the holy body and the blood of Christ.

Aquila translates "like wine and milk" so as to say not only water but also wine and milk are promised to the thirsty. "Water" is clearly the gospel message that flows from the spring of the Savior, but "wine and milk" hymn the mystery of the rebirth in Christ.… One should be mindful of the fact that according to the old covenant mystical milk is given to those reborn in Christ along with the body and blood of the new covenant. It is said to be kept even now as a custom in some churches, if not in a bodily at least in a spiritual way, in that the mystical blood is provided for those deemed worthy of the new life in Christ in the form of wine and milk. If with the Septuagint we read "and suet"—the fat and richness and nourishment of the spiritual food that is in Christ is here praised, just as our Savior revealed, saying, "Unless you eat my flesh and drink of my blood, you shall not have life in you." So just as in Isaiah his body is called "suet" and as the blood is called wine, we understand the suet to mean his incarnate economy and the wine to mean the mystery of his passion.

"Ho, everyone who thirsts, come to the waters," that is, you, who are deprived of any kind of good, run to the fear of God, because you will be educated through the doctrine that comes from me; even though you possess nothing better, at least pay "the price," which is repentance, and buy the virtue of the fear of God thanks to the generosity that [comes] from his mercy. This is what the words "without money and without price" mean.

All you who thirst, come to the waters, and you who have no money, hasten, buy and eat: come, buy without silver and without any exchange wine and milk. Why do you weigh out silver not for bread, and your labor not for fullness? LXX: You who thirst, go to the water, and as many as have no money, go, buy, and eat, and walk, and buy without money and without price wine and fat. Why do you buy with money, and your labor not for fullness? The Hebrew word OI (הוי), of which I had said above, in the prophecy against Ariel (cf. Isa 29), that it was ambiguous, and signified either the interjection of one calling or woe, set here at the beginning of the passage, is read not with the feeling of one lamenting but of one calling. Since, then, he had said that every vessel fashioned against the Church is to be broken, and that every voice and tongue that had armed itself against the knowledge of God is to be overcome, he summons the believers to the river of God, which is filled with waters, and whose stream gladdens the city of God, that they may drink waters from the fountains of the Savior, who says to the Samaritan woman: If you knew the gift of God, and who it is that says to you, Give me to drink, you would have asked Him, and He would have given you water. The water that I shall give him shall become in him a fountain of water springing up into life eternal (John 4:10, 14). Of these waters He cried out in the Temple: If anyone thirsts, let him come to me and drink. He who drinks of the water that I shall give him, out of his belly shall flow rivers of living water (John 7:37, 38), signifying the Holy Spirit, whom those who believed were to receive, and of whom the Prophet sounded forth in mystical speech: My soul has thirsted for the living God (Ps 41 [42]:2); and again: With you is the fountain of life (Ps 35 [36]:10). He Himself spoke of Himself: They have forsaken me, the fountain of living water, and have dug for themselves broken cisterns, which cannot hold waters (Jer 2:13). These waters the clouds sprinkle, to which the truth of God reaches, as it is written: And the clouds sprinkle righteousness (Isa 45:8, LXX). And the thirsty are commanded by no means to drink the muddy waters of Sihor and the swelling floods of the Assyrians, but to go to the waters of Siloam, which go with silence; and not to fear poverty of speech if perhaps they have no silver (Isa 45; Jer 2), but to hear the Apostle saying: By grace you have been saved (Eph 2:8); and the Lord saying to the disciples: Freely you have received, freely give (Matt 10:8). And in a wonderful manner they buy waters without money; and they do not drink them, but eat them. For He is both water and the bread which came down from heaven (John 6). Therefore what is read in some copies, Buy and drink, was changed by unskilled copyists, who thought it more consistent if the waters were drunk rather than eaten. But there is also a most wicked money, or silver, which the Scripture rejects, saying: Money that is given with deceit shall be reckoned as a potsherd (Prov 26:23, LXX); and in another place: Your silver is reprobate (Jer 6:30). And there is a silver which is compared to the utterances of God: The utterances of the Lord are pure utterances: silver tried in the fire of earth, purified sevenfold (Ps 11 [12]:7). Spurning, then, that silver and those moneys with which we cannot buy the waters of the Lord, let us go to Him who, holding the cup of the Sacrament, said to the disciples: Take and drink; this is my blood, which shall be shed for you for the remission of sins (Matt 26:27, 28). This wine Wisdom too mixed in her bowl, summoning to drink all the foolish of the world and those who do not have the wisdom of the world; and so that we may buy not only wine but also milk, which signifies the innocence of little children: a custom and type which is kept to this day in the Churches of the West, that wine and milk are given to those reborn in Christ. Of this milk Paul also said: I gave you milk to drink, not solid food (1 Cor 3:2). And Peter: As newborn little children, desire the rational milk (1 Pet 2:2). Hence Moses too, understanding the wine and the milk of the passion of Christ, testifies in mystical speech: His eyes are lovely with wine, and his teeth white with milk (Gen 49:12). For milk in the present passage the Seventy translated fat; of which holy David says in the psalm: Let my soul be filled as with fat and fatness (Ps 62 [63]:6); and in another place: He fed them with the fat of wheat, and with honey from the rock He satisfied them (Ps 80 [81]:17). These fats denote nothing other than the mystical flesh, to which the Lord exhorted the disciples, saying: Unless you eat my flesh and drink my blood, you shall not have life in you (John 6:54). Hence also He was betrayed in Gethsemane, which means valley of fat, or most fertile.

As long as the virtues are found before us and are sold cheaply, let us take from the munificent One, let us grasp, let us purchase.… As long as the festival lasts, let us buy alms, or, better yet, let us purchase salvation through almsgiving. You clothe Christ when you clothe the poor.

Second, he sets out the promise, promising future abundance in necessities: all you that thirst, that is, you among the Jews, who were thirsty because of your poverty, buy, without price, eat, bread and other necessities: if any man thirst, let him come to me and drink . . . and out of his belly shall flow rivers of living water (John 7:37–38); and in delights: come, buy, as if to say, take as if you were buying, or without money, that is, less than a just price, wine and milk: I have drunk my wine with my milk (Song 5:1).

Note on the words, all you that thirst, come to the waters (Isa 55:1), that divine doctrine is first called water:

and this is first because it heals the sick: she shall give him the water of wisdom to drink (Sir 15:3);

second, because it cleanses the filthy: I will pour upon you clean water, and you shall be cleansed from all your filthiness (Ezek 36:25);

third, because it satisfies the thirsty: if anyone shall drink of the water that I will give, he shall not thirst for ever (John 4:13).

Second, it is called wine:

and this is first because it stings in argument, above: your wine is mingled with water (Isa 1:22);

second, because it inflames in exhortation: the word of the Lord inflamed him (Ps 104[105]:19);

third, because it inebriates in consolation, below: that you may be inebriated with the breasts of her consolations (Isa 66:11).

Third, it is called milk:

and this is first because of its beauty: Nephthali, a hart let loose, and giving words of beauty (Gen 49:21);

second, because of its sweetness: let your voice sound in my ears: for your voice is sweet (Song 2:14);

third, because of the ease with which it is taken: as newborn babes, desire milk (1 Pet 2:2).

And at the same time he rebukes those who follow worldly wisdom and the perverse and feigned doctrines of the heretics, and the traditions of the Pharisees, and all knowledge falsely so called which is lifted up against God, and who at great prices and with unceasing labor weigh out silver for a discipline in which there is no bread, and sweat for foods in which there is no fullness. From this it is shown that the wisdom to be pursued is the one which lies not in the leaves and flower of words but in the marrow and fruits of meanings; which does not fly past the ear but refreshes the mind. To learn it we do not cross the seas, nor do we need great expense, but the word is near, in our mouth and in our heart.

Hear, you who hear me, and eat what is good, and your soul shall delight in fatness. Incline your ear, and come to me: hear, and your soul shall live. And I will strike with you an everlasting covenant: the faithful mercies of David. LXX: Hear me, and eat good things, and your soul shall delight in good things. Attend with your ears, and follow my ways: and hear me, and your soul shall live in good things. And I will establish for you an eternal testament, the faithful holy things of David. Lest anyone think that the hearing to which the divine word exhorts those who are to hear is of the flesh and not of the mind, it promises them good things not of the flesh but of the soul. For if, he says, you hear me, you shall eat the good things of the land (Isa 1:19). Or the good: He who says, I am the good shepherd (John 10:11). And your soul shall delight in good things and in fatness. Therefore the good things promised to the soul are not riches, and health of body, and the dignities of the world, which even the philosophers call indifferent, that is, neither good nor evil, and which vary according to the quality of those who use them; but those are to be believed good to which God exhorts us: Turn aside from evil, and do good (Ps 36 [37]:27). But if honesty and the virtues are called the good things of the soul, then evils too are to be taken to be not poverty, and infirmity of body, and low birth, but all the vices, which are truly evil. In short, Abraham did not have good things because he was rich, but because he used his riches well (Gen 13). And Lazarus, who afterward rested in his bosom, did not endure evils because he suffered the torments of diseases together with want; rather, through what were thought evils in the world, he obtained true goods. Hence too that rich man clad in purple received his good things in his lifetime, which were good to him who thought them good (Luke 16); and of Lazarus it is not said, conversely: He received his evil things in his lifetime; but: he received evil things in his lifetime, which seemed evil not to him who suffered them but to others. An example of both is given us by blessed Job, who was overcome neither by the goods nor by the evils of the world, but bore all things with equal firmness of mind (Job 2). Wherefore Solomon prays to God: Give me neither riches nor poverty. But appoint for me what is necessary and sufficient for my living, lest, being full, I become a liar and say: Who sees me? or, being in want, I steal and forswear the name of the Lord (Prov 30:8, 9). And if he prays for this, to have neither riches nor poverty but only the necessaries of living, of which the Apostle also says: Having food and clothing, with these we are content (1 Tim 6), it is clear that riches and want, health and sickness, pleasure and torments, are neither good nor evil, but become good and evil according to the difference of those who bear them. Therefore it is not, as the χιλιαστὰς would have it, abundance of wealth, and dainty foods, and fatness of body, pheasants and stuffed turtledoves, mead, unmixed wine, the beauty of wives, swarms of children, that the Lord promises to the soul, but those delights to which He summons us mystically, saying: Delight, or take your delight in the Lord, and He will give you the petitions of your heart (Ps 36 [37]:4); and elsewhere: I believe that I shall see the good things of the Lord in the land of the living (Ps 26 [27]:13); and in another psalm: Bless the Lord, O my soul, and all that is within me His holy name; who fills your desire with good things (Ps 102 [103]:1 and 5).

Behold what [Isaiah] has shown here, before indicating the road of righteousness. For it is thanks to all-holy baptism that "we are justified freely," according to the divine apostle: "by his grace through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus." It is this the prophetic text likewise allows [us] to understand: "And all that have no money, go and buy, and eat and drink wine and fat without money or price." The divine Scripture often calls righteousness "money." "The oracles of the Lord are pure oracles; as silver tried in the fire, proved in a furnace of earth." As for those who live with iniquity, "call them rejected silver, for the Lord has rejected them." …Here he rejected the sacrifices of the law.… The prophetic text teaches that these sacrifices gave no nourishment to the soul.

And he recalls their former poverty, why do you spend money for that which is not bread? As if to say: why thus far have you been spending money and from it have not been able to eat bread? You have sowed much, and brought in little (Hag 1:6). These things, however, are explained mystically of the water of divine wisdom, which is given freely to the thirsty, according to the Gloss.

Third, he enjoins preparation to obtain this promise: hearken diligently to me; and first, he rouses their attention; second, he sets out the exhortation: seek the Lord (Isa 55:6). He rouses their attention by a threefold promise. First, he promises to those who listen abundant enjoyment of goods: eat, that is, I will restore you with various goods, if you will hear me; in fatness, as to abundance, above: if you be willing, and will hearken to me, you shall eat the good things of the land (Isa 1:19); and I will fill the soul of the priests with fatness (Jer 31:14).

Men and brethren, children of the stock of Abraham, and whosoever among you feareth God, to you is the word of this salvation sent. For they that dwell at Jerusalem, and their rulers, because they knew him not, nor yet the voices of the prophets which are read every sabbath day, they have fulfilled them in condemning him. And though they found no cause of death in him, yet desired they Pilate that he should be slain. And when they had fulfilled all that was written of him, they took him down from the tree, and laid him in a sepulchre. But God raised him from the dead: And he was seen many days of them which came up with him from Galilee to Jerusalem, who are his witnesses unto the people. And we declare unto you glad tidings, how that the promise which was made unto the fathers, God hath fulfilled the same unto us their children, in that he hath raised up Jesus again; as it is also written in the second psalm, Thou art my Son, this day have I begotten thee. And as concerning that he raised him up from the dead, now no more to return to corruption, he said on this wise, I will give you the sure mercies of David. [Isaiah 55:3] Wherefore he saith also in another psalm, Thou shalt not suffer thine Holy One to see corruption. For David, after he had served his own generation by the will of God, fell on sleep, and was laid unto his fathers, and saw corruption: But he, whom God raised again, saw no corruption. Be it known unto you therefore, men and brethren, that through this man is preached unto you the forgiveness of sins: And by him all that believe are justified from all things, from which ye could not be justified by the law of Moses.

For the law was not a perpetual and immoveable law, but it remained in force only as long as the time of its imposition. As the most wise Paul said, "For the former and ancient command has a gap whose filling is to be sought in the second, that is, the new has many things quite different from the old." …That second one is the eternal covenant, and that he fulfilled it for those approaching him by faith is confirmed when it immediately adds, "the holy trustworthy things of David." This concerns the announcements about the Savior of us all, Christ, which are declared to be given to those who are attentive among the nations, or it means the divine and sacred prophecies of Christ, who was born from the seed of David according to his humanity. These are called "holy," for they make perfect those in whom they dwell, just as the fear of God is called "pure" because it is purifying and the gospel word is called "life" because it gives life.… This is the power through Christ of these prophecies.…

Finally he adds: Hear me, and your soul shall live (Isa 55:3). The promise of all good things is life everlasting. If you are willing to hear, and your soul lives forever, I will strike with you an everlasting covenant, the faithful mercies of David. Of these the same Psalmist sang: The mercies of the Lord I will sing forever. From generation to generation I will proclaim your truth (Ps 88 [89]:1, 2). And so that we may know what these mercies are, he shows in the following words: Once I have sworn by my holy one: if I lie to David, his seed shall remain forever, and his throne as the sun in my sight, and as the full moon forever, and a faithful witness in heaven. He is called faithful for this reason, that He has fulfilled His promises. For these the Seventy translated the faithful holy things of David (Acts 13:34), which can be taken as firm and strong; as is this: All His commandments are faithful, confirmed for ever and ever (Ps 110 [111]:8). And in another place: God is faithful, and there is no iniquity in Him (Deut 32:4). And the apostle Paul: If we deny Him, he says, He remains faithful: He cannot deny Himself (2 Tim 2:13). And in another place, writing to Timothy: A faithful saying, and worthy of all acceptance (1 Tim 1:15). And this covenant which the Lord promises will not be brief and for one time, as was that of the people of the Jews, but will remain forever, so that the true David may come, and in the Gospel may be fulfilled what was promised in the person of God: I have found David my servant; with holy mercy I have anointed him (Ps 88 [89]:21); whose hand He set in the sea, and his right hand in the rivers. Him, according to Ezekiel, when David had already been asleep for many ages, He calls His servant and shepherd, saying: I will raise up for you one shepherd, my servant David (Ezek 34:23).

The Lord God, ever compassionate, is ready to bring people to good things, and he promises to give not only good things in the present but also the enjoyment of eternally good things in the hereafter. For he demands nothing other than a ready listener, one who takes in his words and is quick to respond willingly to his voice. To attend with the ears in the sense of physical hearing is only what seems to be meant here. For attending with the eyes, we are not able to hear with these, and we cannot see as we listen with our ears. The same is true in the case of the other senses. From this we can assume that we pay attention with the eyes of the mind and are able to listen with the ears. For the soul is single and with one form by nature, and with one power [it] is able to listen and to see. But the mass of your sins and ungodliness constricts you and hinders you from fleeing to him. But there would be no such great obstacle if you desire that mercy beyond words; for then such evils of yours would not defeat and overcome his compassion. For God is great in pity, and he will provide forgiveness for your sins and so will show you to be pure, so that no trace of your former sins will remain.

I will fulfill these covenants that had been made to David for them, clothing the human nature from the line of David according to the promise and bringing forth the New Testament.

Second, he promises escape from death: incline your ear: my soul shall live (Ps 118[119]:175); and also: your justifications I will never forget: for by them you have given me life (Ps 118[119]:93).

Third, he promises power. And first, he sets out a similitude: and I will make an everlasting covenant, the faithful mercies of David, that is, as I made true promises to David that his seed would remain forever, so I will also do with you.

Behold, I have given him as a witness to the peoples, a leader and teacher to the nations. Behold, you shall call a nation which you did not know: and nations which have not known you shall run to you, because of the Lord your God and the Holy One of Israel, because He has glorified you. LXX: Behold, I have given him as a testimony among the nations, a prince and commander to the nations: nations which did not know you shall call upon you: and peoples who were ignorant of you shall flee to you for refuge: because of the Lord your God, the Holy One of Israel, who has glorified you. He had summoned the people of the Jews to believe, to incline their ear and receive the everlasting covenant which the Lord had promised to David, and to Abraham and his seed, saying: In your seed the nations shall be blessed (Gen 22:18). The apostle Paul, explaining this: He did not say, he says, in seeds, but, in seed, which is Christ (Gal 3:16). And because He knew that, while they did not believe, the peoples of the nations would believe, He passes over to the nations, and says that He has sent His Son as a witness or testimony of all the nations, to announce His precepts and commandments to the peoples; who says of Himself: This Gospel must be preached in the whole world, for a testimony to all the nations (Matt 24:14). Finally, He refutes the proud Pilate with this word: For this I was born, to bear witness to the truth (John 18:37). Of Him the apostle Paul writes to Timothy: One mediator of God and men, the man Christ Jesus, who gave Himself a redemption for all, a testimony in its proper times: in which I have been appointed a herald and an Apostle (1 Tim 2:5). All that is said, then, is to be referred to Him who was led as a sheep to the slaughter, and as a lamb before the shearer did not open His mouth. Of Him it is said above: We saw Him, and He had neither form nor comeliness (Isa 53:2); and: He Himself bore our sins, and suffers for us. To Him have fled, or run, those who before did not know Him, saying: Our God is refuge and strength (Ps 45 [46]:1); and again: Lord, you have become our refuge from generation to generation (Ps 89 [90]:1). Of their faith we read above also: Those to whom it was not preached concerning Him shall see: and those who had not heard shall understand. He is the witness of all that the Father promised and bestowed on the world, whose mystery Paul gathers up in a brief word to the Ephesians: The God, he says, of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of glory (Eph 1:17); of whom it is written now as well: Because of the Lord your God, and the Holy One of Israel, who has glorified you, and that with the glory which He had before the world was made. Of it the Prophet also testifies: The glory of God shall appear (Heb 1), He who is the brightness of glory and the form of His substance, when every tongue shall confess that the Lord Jesus is in the glory of the Father (Phil 2). He answered the Son, when He asked for the glory which He had had before: I have both glorified it, and will glorify it. Of which the apostle John also says: We saw, he says, His glory, the glory as of the only-begotten of the Father, full of grace and truth (John 12:28; 1:14). Therefore, when he speaks of Him who in the beginning was with God, God the Word, He is called the Father of glory; but when of Him who says in the Gospel, Why do you persecute me, a man who speaks the truth to you (John 8:40)? He is called the God of our Lord Jesus Christ. Not that there is one and another (which is the very bad error of many), but because one and the same Son of God speaks now with the feelings of the glory of His divinity, now with those of our nature, which He deigned to take up.

Second, he explains this similitude, showing what he did for David: behold I have given him for a witness to the people: a people which I knew not, has served me: at the hearing of the ear they have obeyed me (Ps 17:45[18:44]).

For those who had never seen Christ on account of residing in gloom and darkness called on him, that is, they acknowledged Jesus as God and fled to him calling him their hope and shelter and means of salvation and called on him as God … for although according to the measure of humanity Christ was thought to be ignoble, he went back to that which was appropriate to him and divine and the highest glory—but not without his flesh.

And what may be done for them: behold you shall call nations, to fulfill your command, not by your own power, but because of the Lord, above: and they shall adore for the sake of the Lord your God, who has chosen you (Isa 49:7).

How then am I to seek for you, Lord? When I seek for you, my God, my quest is for the happy life. I will seek you that "my soul may live," for my body derives life from my soul, and my soul derives life from you.… Is not the happy life that which all desire, which indeed no one fails to desire?

And yet the prophet Isaiah testifies, that the Lord God can be found when He is sought, when he says: "Seek ye the Lord; and as soon as ye have found Him, call upon Him: and when He has drawn near to you, let the wicked man forsake his ways, and the unrighteous man his thoughts." If, then, when sought, He can be found, why is it said, "Seek ye His face evermore?" Is He perhaps to be sought even when found? For things incomprehensible must so be investigated, as that no one may think he has found nothing, when he has been able to find how incomprehensible that is which he was seeking. Why then does he so seek, if he comprehends that which he seeks to be incomprehensible, unless because he may not give over seeking so long as he makes progress in the inquiry itself into things incomprehensible, and becomes ever better and better while seeking so great a good, which is both sought in order to be found, and found in order to be sought? For it is both sought in order that it may be found more sweetly, and found in order that it may be sought more eagerly.

Seek the Lord while He can be found: call upon Him while He is near. Let the ungodly man forsake his way, and the unrighteous man his thoughts, and let him return to the Lord, and He will have mercy on him, and to our God: for He is abundant in forgiving. LXX: Seek the Lord: and when you have found Him, call upon Him. And after He has drawn near to you, let the ungodly man forsake his ways and the unrighteous man his thoughts and return to the Lord: and he shall obtain mercy: for He will abundantly forgive your sins. Since, then, as we have already said before, you would not receive the everlasting covenant and the faithful mercies of David, which, when you were unwilling to take them up, the throng of the Gentiles took up, I the Prophet warn you, my own people, and solemnly charge you: while there is time, do penance. Turn to Him who now speaks to you through the Prophets, who afterward will speak in person. Seek Him while He can be found, while you are in the body, while room for repentance is given; and seek Him not by place but by faith. How God is to be sought is said more fully in another place: Think of the Lord in goodness, and seek Him in simplicity of heart: for He is found by those who do not tempt Him, and appears to those who are not unbelieving toward Him (Wis 1:1, 2). Hence we too, knowing the word spoken of sinners, Those who withdraw far from you shall perish, let us say to the Lord: Whither shall I go from your spirit, and whither shall I flee from your face? If I ascend into heaven, you are there: if I descend into hell, you are present (Ps 138 [139]:7, 8). And let us call upon Him while He is near, lest through our vices and sins He withdraw far away. For He draws near to those who draw near to Him, and joyfully runs to meet the son returning after a long time. Wherefore the holy man sings in the psalm: But for me it is good to cleave to God (Ps 72 [73]:28). And Moses alone drew near to the Lord (Exod 20). And through Jeremiah God says: I am a God who draws near, and not from afar (Jer 23:23): drawing near to those who draw near to me by faith, and withdrawing far from those who depart far from me by unbelief. Because of this it is said to believers: Draw near to God, and He will draw near to you. And lest we should think this could suffice, he at once adds: Resist the devil, and he will flee from you (Jas 4:8). Of him it had been said above: Your adversary the devil, like a lion, going about, seeks whom he may devour. Resist him, strong in faith (1 Pet 5:8, 9).

He says, "When you who seek have found, when you have called and have found pardon, flee the former road of ungodliness and immorality and show God your face, not your back. For he will grant you mercy and give you forgiveness of sins."

Seek the Lord. Here he enjoins upon them preparation to obtain the promise. And first, he gives the divine counsel of seeking: seek the Lord, while he may be found, before adversity or death comes: seek the lord (Ps 104[105]:4); they shall rise in the morning, and shall not find me (Prov 1:28).

Let the wicked forsake his own way, in which he sins; let the unrighteous abandon his thoughts with which he despairs of the forgiveness of sins and according to the prophet's statement, "return to the Lord, for he will abundantly pardon." In this "abundantly," nothing is lacking. Here mercy is omnipotent and omnipotence is merciful. For so great is the kindness in God that there is nothing that he is unable to loose for the converted person.

Nor is it enough to seek the Lord, and to find Him while it is the time of repentance, and to call upon Him while He is near, unless the ungodly man forsakes his former ways and the old thoughts by which he had turned aside from the Lord. For then we shall return to the Lord, who will have mercy on us, and to the most clement father, who is abundant in mercies and ready to forgive, when we have forsaken our former thoughts and ways, so that afterward we may deserve to hear: Blessed are they whose iniquities are forgiven, and whose sins are covered (Ps 31 [32]:1).

Second, he teaches the manner of seeking: let the wicked, sinning against God, forsake his way, and the unjust man, sinning against his neighbor, above: take away the evil of your devices from my eyes (Isa 1:16).

Third, he sets out the fruit of returning, namely, mercy: and let him return to the Lord, and he will have mercy on him; for he is bountiful, that is, of manifold mercy, to forgive: turn to the Lord your God: for he is gracious and merciful (Joel 2:13–14).

He speaks these words clearly to the believers in the gospel that he delivered to the godless and lawless ones who were turning to him from the nations, presenting the word that was there in the beginning and is now coming down from the Father above like rain and snow in its descent to human beings, inasmuch as he makes their souls watered and fruit-bearing.… It is as though these words come out of Christ's own mouth, so that there is no need to think of the spoken word reexpressed among us, since here is a physical mouthpiece for God.

For my thoughts are not your thoughts: nor are your ways my ways, says the Lord. For as the heavens are exalted above the earth, so are my ways exalted above your ways, and my thoughts above your thoughts. LXX: For my thoughts are not as your thoughts: nor are your ways as my ways, says the Lord. But as far as heaven is distant from the earth, so far is my way distant from your ways, and your thoughts from my thought. Do not think, he says, that what I promise is difficult, and let it not seem incredible to you that the ungodly and the unrighteous can be saved, whether the people of the Jews or all those among the nations who did not know God: consider this, that there is a great difference between my counsels and yours, and as great a diversity of will as of nature (Prov 19). For many are the thoughts in the heart of a man, but the counsel of the Lord abides forever. You, as men, often repenting of a promise, have overturned your old will with a new will. For the Lord scatters the counsels of the nations, and rejects the thoughts of the peoples, and makes void the wills of princes (Ps 32 [33]); but the thoughts of His heart are from generation to generation, and whatever He has decreed cannot be changed.

God brings salvation to the human race in diverse and innumerable methods and inscrutable ways. He stirs up some, who already want it and thirst for it, to greater zeal, while other even in their resistance, he forces against their will. Sometimes he gives his assistance in the fulfillment of those things which he sees that we desire for our good, while at other times he instills in us the beginnings of holy desire and grants both the beginning of a good work and perseverance in it.… The blessed apostle, reflecting on the manifold bounty of God's providence as he sees that he has fallen into some vast and boundless ocean of God's goodness, exclaims: "O the depth of the riches of the wisdom and knowledge of God! How inscrutable are the judgments of God and his ways past finding out! For who hath known the mind of the Lord?" Whoever then imagines that he can by human reason fathom the depths of that inconceivable abyss, will be trying to explain away the astonishment at that knowledge, at which that great and mighty teacher of the gentiles was awed. For if a person thinks that he can either conceive in his mind or discuss exhaustively the designs of God through which he brings salvation to human beings, he certainly impugns the truth of the apostle's words and asserts with profane audacity that his judgments can be scrutinized and his ways searched out. The Lord also witnesses to this when he says, "For my thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways."

"For my counsels are not as your counsels." … Now if we admit to our favor household slaves when they have offended against us, on their promising to become better, and place them again in their former position and sometimes even grant them greater freedom of speech than before, much more does God act thus. For if God had made us in order to punish us, we might well have despaired and questioned the possibility of our own salvation. But if he created us for no other reason than his own good will, and with a view to our enjoying everlasting blessings, and if he does and contrives everything for this end, from the first day until the present time, what is there which can ever cause us to doubt? Have we provoked him severely, in a way no other person did? This is just the reason why we ought specially to abstain from our present deeds and to repent for the past and exhibit a great change. For the evils we have once perpetrated cannot provoke him so much as our being unwilling to make any change in the future. For to sin may be a merely human failing, but to continue in the same sin ceases to be human and becomes altogether devilish.

Do not want to be more merciful than God, or rather, if you wish it, you will not be able, not even in the least degree. How should you? As far as the heaven is from the earth, Scripture says, so far are My counsels from your counsels: and again, If ye, He says, being evil, know how to give good gifts unto your children, how much more your heavenly Father? But in fact this talk is mere pretext and subterfuge. Let us not prevaricate with God's commandments.

Fourth, he excludes the obstacle to mercy: for my thoughts are not your thoughts, as if to say: you are wicked, I am loving; you think of vengeance, I think of mercy: is it my ways that are not right, and are not rather your ways perverse? (Ezek 18:25).

Do you wish to know the difference between my counsel and yours? As far as heaven is distant in place from the earth, and the dwelling of the Angels is one thing and that of men another, so far are my thoughts separated from your counsels. For of my thoughts it is said: His judgments are inscrutable, and His ways past finding out (Rom 11:33). But of yours: They devised a counsel which they could not establish (Ps 20 [21]:12). And in another place: Whatever counsel you have entered upon shall be scattered, and whatever you have spoken shall not remain among you (Isa 8:10). Things that are clear need no interpretation; therefore they are touched on briefly rather than discussed.

"If you would," he says, "Ascend to heaven, banish cares of earth. For far as earth is distant from the sky And heaven from the world below, so far Are your vain thoughts from my eternal thoughts, Ill from good, sin from virtue, dark from light. I counsel you to shun all passing things And deem as nought all to corruption prone, For it is destined to return to nought. All earth brings forth and holds, at dawn of time I made; I decked with splendid ornaments The shining world and formed the elements, But willed that the enjoyment be confined Within due bounds, as far as mortal frame And fleeting human life may have the need, Not that humanity, by unbridled passion ruled, Should reckon good alone things sweet and vain, Which I have preordained to pass with time.

For the rain and the snow do not return to heaven but accomplish in the earth the will of him that sends them. So the word that he shall send through his Christ, who is himself the Word and the Message, shall return to him with great power. For when he shall come and bring it, he shall come down like rain and snow, and through him all that is sown shall spring up and bear righteous fruit, and the word shall return to his sender; but not in vain shall his going have been, but thus shall he say in the presence of his sender, "Behold, I and the children that the Lord has given me." And this is the voice through which the dead shall live. And this is the voice of God that shall sound from on high and raise up all the dead.

By means of diffusion, as of brightness out of light, of heat out of fire, of a river out of its headspring, of rain out of a full or humid cloud. In the first diffusion, equality is lacking, for brightness is not the same as light. In the second, closeness is lacking, for heat is not close to fire, since it is the principle neither of its form nor of its origin, but is merely an accident. In the third, simultaneity is lacking, for a spring diffuses itself by flowing, and not all at once. In the fourth, fullness is lacking, for not all of the rain is drawn out of a cloud, but only successive drops. Now, join these four conditions to a single diffusion, one of splendor having equality, of heat having closeness and substantiality, of a river or fountain having simultaneity, and of rain having fullness: and in this way, you will have a trace of the eternal generation.

Hence, the Son is sometimes compared to brightness: "Being the brightness of His glory," etc.; at other times, to a flame, as in Moses' bush which represented the person of the Son; or again, as a river or spring: "But a spring rose out of the earth. A river rose in Eden." Again, He is sometimes compared to rain: "For just as from the heavens the rain and snow come down and do not return there till they have watered the earth," etc. And, later: "So shall my word be that goes forth from my mouth," that is, from the Father's heart.

Or certainly this is to be said, that the word of the Gospel's teaching is called rain, and the showers which the spiritual clouds pour upon the good earth, the clouds to which the truth of God reaches. This rain and these showers Moses promises in the Song of Deuteronomy (Deut 32:1, 2): Let the earth hear the words of my mouth: let my speech be awaited as the rain, and let my words come down as the dew; so that those who have sown in tears may reap in joy (Ps 125 [126]). And let those who have sown in righteousness and in the spirit reap the fruit of life everlasting, and receive the bread of the Gospel's teaching, of which it is written in Proverbs and in Ecclesiastes: Open your eyes, and be filled with bread (Prov 20:13); and again: Cast your bread upon the water, for in the multitude of your days you will find it (Eccl 11:1). For it is not to be believed that those who eat are commanded that, to eat this bread by which bodies are nourished, they must open their eyes and so be filled with the bread which in Habakkuk the poor man eats in secret (Hab 3). Rather, he exhorts us to the bread of the teaching of God, which we cannot eat unless we have opened the eyes of our heart. Of this Paul too often writes to those who are nourished by the words of faith and truth (2 Cor 9). And the teacher is commanded to cast the bread of his teaching upon every water, and to pour spiritual grace upon all, and to know that if he does what has been commanded, he will receive rewards in the last time. And it would seem unjust enough that, while he who gives alms makes for himself friends of the mammon of iniquity, who may receive him into the eternal tabernacles (Luke 16), he who bestows spiritual foods, and gives his fellow servants their rations in due season, should not find them after many ages, which Ecclesiastes calls the multitude of days (Eccl 11).

And as the rain and the snow come down from heaven, and will not return thither again; but they soak the earth, and water it, and make it spring up, and give seed to the sower, and bread to the eater: so shall my word be which goes forth from my mouth; it shall not return to me empty, but it shall do whatever I willed, and shall prosper in the things for which I sent it. LXX: As if the rain or the snow should come down from heaven, and not return until it soaks the earth, and it bring forth and spring up, and give seed to the sower and bread for eating: so shall my word be which has gone forth from my mouth: it shall not return until it accomplishes what I willed, and I will make its ways and my precepts prosperous. What is said hangs on what went before, and briefly the sense is this: let the people of the nations not be incredulous that after such great crimes the ungodly man is suddenly saved. For my thoughts are not as the thoughts of men, and as far as heaven is distant from the earth, so far are my thoughts separated from the thoughts of men. For I am most clement and abundant in forgiving. Do you wish to receive another likeness also? As the rain and the snow come down from heaven, and will not return thither again, but soak the earth, and water it, and make various seeds sprout, so that from full harvests bread is produced for the use of men: so the word of my promise, which I have once pledged and which has gone forth from my mouth, will not be void, but all will be fulfilled in deed.

And as the rain and the snow. Here he shows the firmness of the promise: And first, he sets out the efficacy of the divine word: it shall not return to me void, that is, without fruit: an obscure speech shall not go for naught (Wis 1:11); he will come to us as the early and the latter rain to the earth (Hos 6:3).

By means of diffusion, as of brightness out of light, of heat out of fire, of a river out of its headspring, of rain out of a full or humid cloud. In the first diffusion, equality is lacking, for brightness is not the same as light. In the second, closeness is lacking, for heat is not close to fire, since it is the principle neither of its form nor of its origin, but is merely an accident. In the third, simultaneity is lacking, for a spring diffuses itself by flowing, and not all at once. In the fourth, fullness is lacking, for not all of the rain is drawn out of a cloud, but only successive drops. Now, join these four conditions to a single diffusion, one of splendor having equality, of heat having closeness and substantiality, of a river or fountain having simultaneity, and of rain having fullness: and in this way, you will have a trace of the eternal generation.

Hence, the Son is sometimes compared to brightness: "Being the brightness of His glory," etc.; at other times, to a flame, as in Moses' bush which represented the person of the Son; or again, as a river or spring: "But a spring rose out of the earth. A river rose in Eden." Again, He is sometimes compared to rain: "For just as from the heavens the rain and snow come down and do not return there till they have watered the earth," etc. And, later: "So shall my word be that goes forth from my mouth," that is, from the Father's heart.

According to the anagogy the understanding is twofold: the word of the Lord is either He of whom it is written: In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God (John 1:1), who will not return to Him empty unless He has done the Father's will, and fulfilled all the things for which He had been embodied, and reconciled the world to God. He is said to proceed from the mouth, and from the womb and belly: not that God has these members, but that we may learn the nature of the Lord through our own words.

We stand far apart from each other, as far as the heaven is from the earth. For you hate me, while I love you. You avoid me, while I call you. You fight me, while I work for your benefit.

The mountains are the heavenly powers that are instituted in heaven by God for the sake of those who are on the earth. For they are ministering spirits sent for the service of those inheriting the future salvation. And they also offer thanks for even one repentant sinner. … Or they could be understood to be those who have a teaching practice in the church and care not for earthly things but those that are above.… And the trees of the field can be understood as those who are perfected among the people. For the Savior has a flowering garden. And since, indeed, it flourishes there and produces good fruit, it is written in the Song of Songs of the bride, "May my beloved come into his garden."

For you shall go out in gladness, and be led forth in peace. The mountains and the hills shall sing praise before you, and all the trees of the country shall clap their hands. Instead of the saliunca the fir shall come up, and instead of the nettle the myrtle shall grow. And the Lord shall be named for an everlasting sign, which shall not be taken away. LXX: In gladness you shall go out, and in joy you shall be led forth. The mountains and the hills shall leap, awaiting you with joy, and all the trees of the field shall applaud with their branches. And instead of the στοιβὴ (that is, the most worthless stalks) the cypress shall come up: and instead of the conyza the myrtle shall come up. And the Lord shall be for a name and for an everlasting sign, and it shall not fail. My word, he says, shall not return empty, but after it has fulfilled all that I willed, and done my will on earth, then it will come to me; and that will be fulfilled which is written: The Lord said to my Lord, Sit at my right hand, until I make your enemies the footstool of your feet (Ps 109 [110]:1, 2). For you shall go out in gladness from the blood of idolatry, and you shall be led forth in peace, so that you may hear from the Apostle: Grace to you and peace (Rom 1:7). Or, you shall be led forth in joy, so that after the shadow of the Law you may learn the truth of the Gospel. For the mountains and hills, by which we can understand the Angels and the souls of the Saints, which are called mountains and hills according to the variety of their virtues, will rejoice over those who repent, and will show the gladness of their mind by leaping. This the Lord also says in the Gospel: The Angels in heaven will rejoice over one sinner who does penance (Luke 15:7). All the trees of the field also shall clap with the hand, or with their branches: those which are planted beside the running waters, which shall give their fruit in its season, and their leaf shall not fall off (Ps 1). One such tree spoke in the psalm: But I am like a fruitful olive tree in the house of the Lord (Ps 51 [52]:10). Let us ask those who follow the simple history alone and eat the flesh of the lamb boiled whether trees clap with their branches and applaud with the hand, and in what sense that which is said of the rivers is to be taken: The rivers shall clap with the hand (Ps 97 [98]:8).

Second, he sets out restraint as to their joyful release from Babylon, for you shall go out with joy: he brought forth his people with joy, and his chosen with gladness (Ps 104[105]:43); as to the congratulations of others: the mountains and the hills, the powerful and the common people, praising God in you; or this is hyperbole: your land congratulating your return.

"Instead of the thorn shall come up the cypress; instead of the brier shall come up the myrtle." The spiritual meaning of these words refers to the change of customs, which sprouted and rose up in the advent of Christ among those nations who embraced his faith. Instead of thorns, which represent the sins, and instead of the brier, which is devoid of fruits, the sweet-smelling cypress and the myrtle have risen, which are figures of the actions of virtue, purity and holiness and … are pleasing to God and delight him.

Of the abatement of this heat it is said to her by Isaiah, by promise of the Lord, "Instead of the ground willow shall come up the fir-tree, and instead of the nettle shall come up the myrtle tree." For 'instead of the ground willow there comes up in her the fir-tree,' when in the heart of the Saints, instead of the sunkenness of earthly thought, the elevation of heavenly contemplation rises up. Now the nettle is altogether of a fiery nature. But the myrtle is said to be of cooling virtue, and therefore 'instead of the nettle there comes up the myrtle tree,' when the minds of the righteous are brought from the irritation and heat of bad habits to coolness and quietness of the thoughts, while they now no longer seek earthly things, while they extinguish the flames of the flesh by heavenly aspirations.

And not only shall the mountains and hills leap and sing, and all the trees of the field which the Lord has blessed clap with their branches and applaud with their hands, but the στοιβή too and the κονύζη, or the saliunca and the nettle, shall be turned into the fir and the myrtle and the cypress. Στοιβή, according to Symmachus and the Seventy, is written in the Hebrew NESUS (נעצוץ), which Aquila and Theodotion interpreted as κονύζην. Now κονύζη is a most worthless and bitter herb, of a very foul smell. And where the Seventy translated κονύζη, the word which in the Hebrew is SARPHOD (סרפד), Symmachus rendered nettle. However the proper sense of the names stands, this is to be said: that evil things are turned into good, and virtues spring up in place of vices, that is, righteousness in place of iniquity, fortitude in place of rashness, temperance in place of luxury, prudence in place of folly. Let us give examples of our forebears: Matthew and Zacchaeus and the publicans were saliunca, and στοιβή, and useless stalks, and κονύζη of bitter taste and most loathsome smell, saying: My scars have rotted and are corrupted, because of my folly (Ps 37 [38]:6). These, suddenly changed into Apostles, became cypress and fir and myrtle, of the best fragrance and needful for various works. Paul too, the persecutor of the Church, when he heard from the Lord, Saul, Saul, why do you persecute me? It is hard to kick against the goad (Acts 9:4, 5), was a nettle, having the stings of persecution. But when he preached the Gospel in the whole world and could say, We are the good odor of Christ (2 Cor 2:15), he is rightly called a cypress and a myrtle. Harlots and publicans go before the Pharisees into the kingdom of God, and the thief passes from the cross into paradise (Matt 21). Therefore what is said in the Gospel, A good tree cannot bear evil fruits (Luke 6:43; Matt 7:18), by no means refers to a property of nature, as the heretics would have it, but to the choice of the mind. Finally it is added: Either make the tree good, and its fruits good. From this it is clear that each one by his own will makes his soul a good or an evil tree, whose fruits vary. There follows: And the Lord shall be for a name and for an everlasting sign, which shall not fail. To those who have been changed from evil into good the Lord will be for a name and for an eternal sign, so that from His name they are called Christians, and are branded with the brand of His cross. Of this sign Simeon spoke, holding the little child in his arms: This one shall be for the fall and for the rising again of many, and for a sign which shall be spoken against (Luke 2:34); and of it was said above: The Lord shall give you a sign (Isa 7:14); and the holy man sings in the psalm: Make with me, O Lord, a sign for good (Ps 85 [86]:17). And He Himself who is the sign says: When you see, He says, the sign of the Son of Man: a sign which shall not fail, nor be changed by any end, but shall pass from the present way of life into the future.

He has shown by this the change undergone by the foreign nations. For people who formerly resembled useless and rampant weeds, behold, after having had knowledge of the Savior, they have imitated the height of the cypress and the sweet aroma of the myrtle. They proclaim by their deeds the power of our God and Savior, in offering their own change as a sign [to others] and as a miracle, great, astonishing and lasting. Thus, this sign will be eternal and shall not fail.… Let us therefore offer ourselves [to others] as a sign worthy of our God and Savior, not only in adhering to the holy precepts but also in embracing the mode of life corresponding thereto, to the end that seeing our "good works" people may "glorify your Father in heaven." To him are due all glory, honor and magnificence, together with his only-begotten Son and the All-Holy Spirit, now and forever and to ages of ages. Amen.

As to the multiplied restoration of goods: instead of the shrub, shall come up the fir tree, that is, your former goods are few in comparison to what you will have: the glory of this last house shall be more than of the first (Hag 2:10[9]), above: I will plant in the wilderness the cedar (Isa 41:19). The shrub (saliuncula) from saliendo ("jumping"), which is called "hare thistle."

Third, he sets out the glory of God following from this: and the Lord shall be named, everywhere and forever glorious for your liberation, for an everlasting sign, to which they will flee as a sign of salvation, above: behold I will lift up my sign to the people (Isa 49:22).