Jeremiah 10

Hear the word which the Lord has spoken concerning you, house of Israel! Thus says the Lord: Do not learn according to the ways of the nations, and do not be afraid of the signs of heaven, which the nations fear, for the laws of the peoples are vain! He speaks properly against those who venerate the heavenly bodies and suppose that the human race is ruled by those which have been set as signs of years, seasons, months and days, and that earthly things are governed by the causes of heavenly ones. And in saying: the laws or the statutes of the peoples are vain, he shows that all human wisdom is futile and has no usefulness in itself.

For he has cut wood from the forest, the work of the craftsman's hands with the adze; with silver and gold he has adorned it, with nails and hammers he has fastened it, that it may not come apart — or may not be moved —. They are fashioned after the likeness of a palm tree and will not speak; carried, they will be lifted, because they cannot walk. Do not therefore fear them, for they can do neither evil nor good. A description of the idols which the nations venerate. He has cut wood, he says, from the forest — the material of idols, then, is cheap and perishable — the work of the craftsman's hands — since the craftsman is mortal, mortal therefore are those things too which he fashions —; with silver and gold he has adorned it, so that by the gleam of both materials he may deceive the simple. And this error has passed down even to us, so that we think religion lies in riches. With nails and hammers he has fastened it, that it may not come apart or that it may not be moved. How great is the power of idols, which cannot stand by themselves unless they are fastened with nails and hammers? Fashioned after the likeness of a palm tree, they have the beauty of metals and are adorned by the art of painting, but they possess no usefulness that would yield any fruit to the craftsman. And they will not speak — for they have nothing living in them, those of whom it is written: they have a mouth and will not speak; they have ears and will not hear —; carried, they will be lifted. Stronger is he who carries than the things which are carried; nay rather, in him there is sense, in this a shape without sense. Do not therefore fear them, for they can do neither good nor evil. For many of the Gentiles are accustomed to worship some demons so that they may do no harm, and to entreat others so that they may grant benefits; whence also that line of Vergil: a black beast to Winter, a white one to the favoring Zephyrs. Whatever we have said of idols can be referred to all the doctrines which are contrary to the truth. For they too promise mighty things and fashion out of their own heart an image of vain worship; they boast great things, and to deceive all the simple they hold fast the gaze of the unskilled with thoughts golden, as it were, and with speech gleaming with the splendor of silver, and they are raised aloft by their inventors; in them there is no usefulness, and their worship belongs properly to the nations and to those who do not know God.

But the Lord our God is the true God — all those, therefore, are lies — and he himself is the living God — so those which are fashioned are dead — and the everlasting king — the shadows of the heretics prevail for a time, but in the long run they decay —; at his indignation the earth will be shaken — those who have earthly works and fashion earthly images — and the nations will not endure: by no means the people of the Lord, but the multitude of the nations, which cannot bear God's threatening.

But if heretics deny that either the heavens or the earth were made by you, O Lord, let them take heed of the abyss into which they are hurling themselves by their own madness. The prophet writes, "Perish the gods that have not made heaven and earth." Shall he then perish, O Arian, who had found and saved that which had perished?

Who would doubt that God has made these things, who spoke through the Prophet, saying: 'Who has measured the waters in the hollow of His hand, and marked off the heavens with a span, enclosed the dust of the earth in a measure, and weighed the mountains in scales and the hills in a balance, who has directed the Spirit of the Lord, or who has been his counselor or instructed Him?' (Isaiah 40:12). We also read elsewhere: Because it holds the circuit of the earth and has made the earth as nothing. And Jeremiah says: The gods who have not made the heavens and the earth shall perish from the earth, and from under these heavens. The Lord who made the earth in His power, and established it in His wisdom, and by His understanding stretched out the heavens, and caused a multitude of waters to be in the heaven (Jeremiah 10:11). And he added: Man is made foolish by his knowledge (ibid., 14). For anyone who follows the corruptible things of the world, and from these things believes that they can grasp the truth of divine nature, how can they not be bewitched by the cunning craftiness of disputation?

In reading what is said in this Psalm of Christ and of the Church, he would find that what is there foretold is fulfilled in the present state of the world. He would see the idols of the nations perishing from off the earth, and he would find that this is predicted by the prophets, as in Jeremiah, "Then shall ye say unto them, The gods that have not made the heavens and the earth shall perish from the earth, and from under heaven;" and again, "O Lord, my strength, and my fortress, and my refuge in the day of affliction, the Gentiles shall come unto Thee from the ends of the earth, and shall say, Surely our fathers have inherited lies, vanity, and things wherein there is no profit. Shall a man make gods unto himself, and they are no gods? Therefore, behold, I will at that time cause them to know, I will cause them to know mine hand and my might; and they shall know that I am the Lord." Hearing these prophecies, and seeing their actual fulfillment, I need not say that he would be affected; for we know by experience how the hearts of believers are confirmed by seeing ancient predictions now receiving their accomplishment.

Thus therefore you shall say to them: The gods who did not make the heavens and the earth, let them perish from the earth and from those things which are under heaven! These words are to be said to the false gods and to those which have been put together by artifice — for they made neither the heavens nor the earth —, words which the fellow workers of Christ, who are called God's and the Lord's, for the most part frame through the Church's teaching.

Next, he adduces what indeed is the greatest token of divinity; "of Whom are all things." For this implies also that those others are not gods. For it is said, "Let the gods who made not the heaven and the earth perish." Then he subjoins what is not less than this, "and we unto Him." For when he saith, "of Whom are all things," he means the creation and the bringing of things out of nothing into existence. But when he saith, "and we unto Him," he speaks of the word of faith and mutual appropriation, as also he said before, "but of Him are ye also in Christ Jesus."

The Lord, who makes — or made — the earth by his might, prepares the world by his wisdom, and by his prudence stretches out the heavens. At his voice he gives a multitude of waters in the heaven, and lifts up — or brings out — the mists from the ends of the earth; he has made lightnings into rain, and brings out the wind — or the winds — from his treasuries. Every man has become foolish from knowledge; every craftsman is confounded in his carved image, for what he has cast is false, and there is no spirit in them. They are vain and works worthy of laughter; in the time of their visitation they will perish. Not like these is the portion of Jacob; for he who formed all things, he it is, and Israel is the rod of his inheritance; the Lord of hosts is his name. He who makes the earth by his might is God the Father. And he makes it by his might, that is, by the Lord the Savior; for Christ is the power of God and the wisdom of God. He himself is also the prudence in which he stretches out the heaven. For he himself spoke, and they were made; he commanded, and they were created, saying to the Son: Let us make man after our image and likeness!

The prophet of God, having taken up as it were three excellences of His—His strength, His wisdom, and His understanding—assigns to each of them a work proper to it: to the strength the earth, to the wisdom the inhabited world, and to the understanding the heaven. For listen to the passage as it says: "The Lord who made the earth in His strength, who set upright the inhabited world in His wisdom, and in His understanding stretched out the heaven." And we too, as regards our earth (for it was said to Adam, "Earth you are, and to earth you shall depart"), have need of the strength of God, and apart from the power of God we are not able to accomplish these things, all that is not according to "the mind-set of the flesh." And when "the members that are upon the earth" have been put to death, then there will be what is according to the will of the Spirit, since "by the Spirit the deeds of the flesh," according to the apostle, are put to death. "The Lord," then, "who made the earth in His strength." And if you come also to this earth, if you are able to see what is written in Job, as we found in the more accurate copies, that He set it "upon nothing," you will see that by the strength of God it lies at the very midmost point.

I come also to the inhabited world. I know of a soul that is inhabited, I know of a soul that is desolate. For if it does not have God, if it does not have Christ, who said, "I and my Father will come to him, and we will make our abode with him," if a soul does not have the Holy Spirit, it is desolate. But it is inhabited when it has been filled with God, when it has Christ, when the Holy Spirit is in it. And these things are said in the Scriptures in various and diverse ways—that the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit are in the soul of a human being. David, at any rate, in the psalm of confession, asks the Father concerning these spirits, saying: "With a governing spirit uphold me," "renew an upright spirit in my inward parts," "and take not your Holy Spirit from me." What are these three spirits? The governing one is the Father, the upright one is Christ, and the Holy Spirit is the Holy Spirit—these to establish that the inhabited world is inhabited in no other way than in the wisdom of God. For "wisdom will help the wise man more than ten rulers who are in the city." "But he who despises wisdom and instruction is wretched, and his hope is empty, and his labors are unprofitable, and his works are useless," says the Wisdom inscribed to Solomon. On this account, so far as is possible, since the inhabited world is set upright in the wisdom of God, let us ourselves also wish to have our own inhabited world set upright, which has perhaps fallen. For this inhabited world has fallen when we came to the place of affliction; this inhabited world has fallen when "we sinned, we acted impiously, we did wrong," and it needs to be set upright. It is God, then, who has set upright the inhabited world. But if you do not take "who has set upright the inhabited world" in this way, but understanding the inhabited world more commonly, seek from what condition He is the one who set the inhabited world upright, seek the fall of the inhabited world, so that having found its fall you may see its being set upright. If, then, anyone is in this inhabited world, if you understand the inhabited world in that way, before being set upright it had fallen. And if it has fallen, it is clear that it needs to be set upright, but no one who has not fallen needs to be set upright. And if it was set upright, let us see—it is clear that each of those in the inhabited world has fallen from sin. And "the Lord is the one who sets upright those who have been broken down," and "He supports all who are falling," "in Adam all die," and thus the inhabited world has fallen and needs to be set upright, so that "in Christ all" may be made alive. So then I have rendered the matters concerning the inhabited world in two ways, in one place showing with respect to each single person how each soul is either an inhabited world or a desolation, and in another place setting the discourse upon the inhabited world itself.

"And in His understanding He stretched out the heaven." It was not by chance that he took up understanding in connection with the heaven. For you will find it said in the Proverbs: "God in wisdom founded the earth, and He prepared the heavens in understanding." There is, then, a certain understanding of God, which you should not seek except in Christ Jesus. For all such things as are of God, Christ is. He Himself is the wisdom of God, He Himself the power of God, He Himself the righteousness of God, He Himself sanctification, He Himself redemption; thus He Himself is the understanding of God. But the underlying subject is one, and by conceptions the many names apply to different aspects. And you do not conceive the same thing about Christ when you conceive Him as wisdom and when you conceive Him as righteousness. For when you conceive Him as wisdom, you take up the knowledge of things divine and human; and when as righteousness, the power that distributes according to desert in the whole; and when as sanctification, that which brings it about that those who believe and are devoted to God become holy. Thus, then, you will conceive Him also as understanding, when it is the knowledge of goods and evils and things that are neither. Since, then, it is distinguished for those who dwell in heaven or for those who bear the heavenly man, having separated the evils from the goods, so that that heaven may no longer be defiled—because the heaven has been stretched out by the understanding of God—neither the one who is a righteous heaven (and the righteous man too is heaven, as has been said). "And He stretched out the heaven by His understanding."

How, then, is the heaven stretched out? By wisdom stretching it out. And it is made clear that wisdom stretches out in the words "since I stretched out words and you did not attend," and it speaks of there being a certain stretching-out of words; thus the heaven is stretched out. And in the one hundred and third psalm it is said, "who stretches out the heaven like a curtain," and our soul too, previously contracted, is stretched out, so that it may be able to contain the wisdom of God. But let us return to what is before us. We were speaking about the heaven having come to be in understanding. And we say that those who bear the heavenly man are themselves also heaven. For if it is said to the one who sins, "Earth you are, and to earth you shall depart," would it not be said to the righteous man, whose is the kingdom of the heavens, "Heaven you are, and to heaven you shall depart"? Or rather, on account of the earthy man will it be said to the one who bears "the image of the earthy," "Earth you are, and to earth you shall depart," but on account of the heavenly man, when you have borne "the image of the heavenly," it will no longer be fitting to say it—"Heaven you are, and to heaven you shall depart"? Each of us, then, has works heavenly and works earthly. Earthly are the works which bring down to the earth akin to them the one who lays them up as treasure upon the earth and does not lay up treasure in heaven. Again, to the regions akin to the works, those in heaven, they lead up the one who lays up treasure in heaven, the one who has borne "the image of the heavenly," the things done according to virtue.

At his voice he gives a multitude of waters in the heaven. For all the teaching of the Lord flows from heavenly things, as David says: A willing rain you will set apart, O God, for your inheritance, and it was weakened; but you have perfected it. And he lifts up — or brings out — the mists from the ends of the earth. The mists or clouds, which the Lord commanded not to rain a shower upon Israel, are brought out from the extremities of the earth; one of these mists said: For I think that God has displayed us apostles as last, as men destined to death, because we have been made a spectacle to this world, both to angels and to men. He has made lightnings into rain. For when the shower of teachings has come from heaven and has sated the parched hearts of men, then you will find flashes and the bright lightnings of wisdom. And he brings out the winds from his treasuries, in which are hidden all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge.

"And He brought up clouds from the end of the earth." This saying fell to us recently also in the psalm, and we were saying how God "brought up clouds from the end of the earth." Which things it is necessary to take up again—for those who know, for the clarification and reminder of what has been said, but for those who have forgotten or were not present, for the plain understanding of this, whether it be revealed and made manifest or however it may be understood. And we were saying that the saints are clouds. For the phrase "your truth is unto the clouds" cannot be referred to the lifeless clouds; but the truth of God is unto the clouds, which hear the commandment of God and know where they should send forth rain and from what places they should withhold it. For, as of clouds which exist, to which God gives command not to rain or to rain, it is written, "I will command the clouds not to rain rain upon it." Now in the case of these clouds, when there is no rain, God does not command the clouds not to rain rain upon the vineyard or upon the land, but no cloud appears at all, as is written in the third book of Kingdoms, where, during the time of the drought, no cloud appeared; but when, according to the word of the prophecy of Elijah, the rain was about to come, a trace of a cloud appeared "like the trace of a man," and it became a cloud producing the rain. But as of clouds that do exist, yet are ordered not to rain when the soul happens to be unworthy of the rain, it is said, "I will command the clouds not to rain rain upon it." Therefore each of the saints is a cloud. Moses was a cloud, and as a cloud he said: "Attend, O heaven, and I will speak; and let the earth hear the words of my mouth. Let my utterance be awaited like rain." If he were not a cloud, he would never have said, "Let my utterance be awaited like rain, and let my words come down like dew." As a cloud he says: "As a shower upon the grass, and as snowfall upon the herbage; because I have called upon the name of the Lord." Thus, as a cloud, Isaiah too says: "Hear, O heaven, and give ear, O earth, because the Lord has spoken." And since he too was a cloud, and called those who prophesied together with him clouds, he says, prophesying: "I will command the clouds not to rain rain upon it."

And if it has been understood by us who the clouds are, let us see how God is the one who brings up "clouds from the end of the earth." How from "the end of the earth"? The Savior says, "He who wishes to be first among you shall be last of all." Paul kept this commandment, and he was last in this world. Therefore he says: "For I think that God has exhibited us the apostles as last, as men doomed to death, because we have become a spectacle to the world and to angels and to men." If, then, anyone keeps the commandment of the Savior and becomes last as regards this life, this man becomes a cloud. And God brings up clouds not from the foremost of the earth, not from men of consular rank does He bring up clouds, not from rulers does He bring up clouds, not from the rich; for "blessed are the poor, because yours is the kingdom of God." Do you see how from the last God brings up and gives bodily form to the clouds? On this account, if we wish to become clouds, upon which the truth of God arrives, let us become last of all and say, in works and in disposition, "For I think that God has exhibited us the apostles as last"; and even if I am not an apostle, it is possible for me to become last, so that God, bringing up clouds from "the end of the earth," may bring me up.

"And He made lightnings into rain." Those skilled in these matters say that the generation of lightnings comes from the clouds rubbing against one another. For what happens with the fire-striking stones on the earth, so that when two stones strike together fire is produced, this they say happens also in the case of the clouds. When the clouds strike together during storms, the lightning is produced. Therefore, for the most part, the lightning occurs together with thunder, the thunder manifesting the sound of the collision of the clouds, and the lightning generating the light.

If you have understood the illustration, look with me also at the spiritual cloud. Moses was a cloud, Jesus the son of Nave was a cloud. These, indeed, converse with one another, and from their words lightning is produced. Jeremiah was a cloud, Baruch was a cloud. They discourse with one another, the lightning came from the words of Jeremiah and the words of Baruch. Thus, if you can, gather from the Scriptures in what manner the lightning comes. And in the new covenant Paul and Silvanus were two clouds. They came together, the lightning of the epistle came to be.

God, then, "made lightnings into rain, and brought forth winds from His treasuries." Are, then, these winds in treasuries? Or is not their nature apparent, when they blow upon the earth, in what manner it subsists? But there are certain treasuries of winds, treasuries of spirits: "a spirit of wisdom and understanding, a spirit of counsel and strength, a spirit of knowledge and piety," "a spirit of the fear of God," "a spirit of power and love and self-control." And you yourself can gather these winds from the Scriptures. These spirits are in treasuries; who are the treasuries? "In whom are the treasuries of wisdom and knowledge hidden"? These treasuries are in Christ. From there, then, come these winds, these spirits, so that one may be wise, another faithful, another may have knowledge, and another may have taken up whatever gift of God: "for to one is given through the Spirit a word of wisdom, to another a word of knowledge according to the same Spirit, to another faith in the same Spirit."

"He brought up," then, "clouds from the end of the earth, and made lightnings into rain, and brought forth winds from His treasuries." And we too, on account of God, hope to arrive at these treasuries. And since there are many treasuries, perhaps according to the ranks of those who are raised up there will be places of rest in the treasuries of God. What I mean is such as this. The resurrection of the dead comes about in certain ranks; for the apostle says, "but each in his own rank." And since the ranks are not jumbled together as it may chance, this rank will be in a certain treasury of God, and that rank in another treasury of God, and a third, another rank, will be in yet another treasury. All these treasuries, however, have one treasury, in which they dwell. Therefore it is said in Paul: "in whom are the treasuries both of wisdom and of knowledge hidden." And just as I acquire the "one precious pearl" through the many pearls, so I come to the treasury of the treasuries, the Lord of lords, the King of kings, when I have become worthy of the spirits from the treasuries of God; for "He brought forth winds from His treasuries."

But haply for a time as the false gods. For because they can be called gods, but cannot be so, for a time they are even called so. For what saith the Prophet, or what warneth He to be said to them? This shall ye say to them, "The gods that have not made the heavens and the earth, even they shall perish from the earth, and from those that are under the heavens." He is not such a god: for our God is above all gods. Above all what gods? "For all the gods of the nations are idols, but the Lord made the heavens." The same then is our God. "This is God, even our God."

He said, "The gods that have not made the heavens and the earth, let them perish from the earth, and from under the heaven." He said not, The gods that have not made the heavens and earth, let them perish from the heaven and from the earth; because they never were in heaven: but what did he say? "Let them perish from the earth, and from under the heaven." As if, while the word earth was repeated, the repetition of the word heaven were wanting (because they never were in heaven): he repeateth the earth twice, since it is under heaven. "Let them perish from the earth, and from under the heaven," from their temples. Consider if this be not now taking place; if in a great measure it hath not already happened: for what, or how much, hath remained? The idols remained rather in the hearts of the pagans, than in the niches of the temples.

In the second word: You shall not make a graven image, all false and superstitious inventions of errors are prohibited. Every error is nothing other than a fiction of the mind. For imagination produces error by clouding reason and making what is not appear to be. All false and superstitious inventions of errors arise either from the wicked audacity of philosophical investigation, or from a perverse understanding of Sacred Scripture, or from a disordered affection of human carnality. Concerning such men, however, who devise, or defend, or imitate these or similar errors, Jeremiah says: Every man has become foolish by his own knowledge, that is, by his own investigation and excessive philosophy; every craftsman has been confounded by his graven image: their works are vain and worthy of ridicule, and in the time of their visitation they shall perish. We must therefore stand upon what the lights of faith dictate, and whatever is opposed to this, we ought to abominate entirely as a graven image.

The first brightness, namely that of philosophical knowledge, is great according to the opinion of worldly men: but it is easily eclipsed, unless a man guards himself from the head and tail of the dragon. If anything is interposed between him and the sun of justice, he suffers an eclipse of foolishness. "Every man is made foolish by his knowledge," namely occasioned by it, not caused by it. He who trusts in philosophical knowledge and esteems himself on account of this and believes himself to be better, has been made foolish—namely, when through this knowledge without any further light he believes himself to apprehend the Creator: just as if a man should wish to see the heavens or the body of the sun by candlelight.

The psalmist writes, "Such knowledge is too wonderful for me. It is high; I cannot attain unto it." In another: "When I thought how I might know this, it was too painful for me until I went into the sanctuary of God and considered their latter end." And later in the same psalm, "I was as a beast before you; nevertheless I am continually with you." And Jeremiah says, "Every person is become brutish and without knowledge."

Every man has become foolish from knowledge. Though it be Paul, though Peter, though Moses and Abraham, in comparison with God all their wisdom will be counted as nothing; whence also the foolishness of God is wiser than men. Every craftsman is confounded in his carved image, he who has fashioned images out of his own heart, and what he has cast is false. But if every man is foolish from knowledge, everything that he has made is foolish and false. And there is no spirit in them. It should be noted that in this passage too 'wind' and 'spirit' are called by one name among the Hebrews, 'ruha'; but he means the spirit of sanctification, which cannot be found in the minds of heretics.

"Every man was made foolish from knowledge." If every man was made foolish from knowledge, and Paul too is a man, Paul was made foolish from knowledge; for "knowing in part and prophesying in part," he was made foolish from knowledge; "seeing through a mirror," seeing in an enigma, seeing and grasping a small fraction, and, if one may say so, an infinitesimal fraction of things. But you will understand from the contrary "every man was made foolish from knowledge." There are sins of Jerusalem, and sins also of Sodom, but by comparison with the worse sins of Jerusalem, the sins of Sodom are righteousness; for it says, "Sodom was justified from you." As, then, the sins of Sodom are not righteousness but injustice, yet as compared with the greater injustice it is righteousness, so, from the contrary, knowledge—the knowledge that belongs to Paul—as compared with that knowledge which is in the heavens, as compared with the perfect knowledge, is foolishness. On this account "every man was made foolish from knowledge." Some such thing, I think, Ecclesiastes was grasping when he said: "I said, I will become wise; and it withdrew from me, far beyond what it was, and a deep depth—who will find it?"

The discourse is about to venture something and to say that the one who came to sojourn in this life emptied himself, so that by his emptying the world might be filled. And if that one who came to sojourn in this life emptied himself, that very emptying was wisdom. "For the foolish thing of God is wiser than men." If I had said, "the foolish thing of God," how would the fault-finders have accused me? How would they have blamed me? How would I have been charged—while the other things said, which are reckoned even by them to be noble, were approved, but this, as they suppose, not being nobly said—because I said "the foolish thing of God"? But now Paul, as one who is wise and has apostolic authority, dared to say that all the wisdom upon earth, both that in himself and that in Peter and the apostles, all that has come to sojourn in the world, is "the foolish thing of God." For as compared with that wisdom which no place upon earth can contain, as compared with that supra-celestial wisdom, this thing that has come to sojourn is the foolish thing of God. But this "foolish thing of God is wiser than men." Than which men? I do not mean than the foolish, but it is wiser even than the wise men. And even if you name the wise men of this age, whether rulers or prophets, than the rulers of this age "the foolish thing of God," which I have expounded, "is wiser than men."

The discourse is about to say something paradoxical, that "the wisdom of the world is foolishness with God," and "God made foolish the wisdom of the world." Did He, then, in wisdom make foolish the wisdom of the world? And can the wisdom of the world contain the wisdom, so as to be proved foolish? For does the wisdom of God contend against the wisdom of the world, in order to be tested against it? But there is need of some little thing, which is the little foolish thing of God, so that by this small foolish thing of God the wisdom of the world may be made foolish and refuted; for the wisdom of this world did not endure the wisdom of God. As, for example—so that you may understand that "the foolish thing of God" "made foolish the wisdom of the world"—let it be granted that I am contending, I who seem to know many things and more, against someone senseless and uninstructed and understanding nothing and not contending on behalf of noble words of any sort whatever. Do I, then, have need of dialectic against that man, or of deeper speculations, if his notions are foolish? Do I not have need of one little word slightly sharper than his diction, so that I may be able to refute his foolishness? Thus, in order that the wisdom of this world may be made foolish, there is no need of the wisdom of God contending against it (for it itself is below), but the foolish thing of God suffices, since "the foolish thing of God is wiser than men, and the weak thing of God is stronger than men." And my Savior and Lord took up all the contrary things, so that by the contraries he might dissolve the contraries, and that we might be made strong from the weakness of Jesus and made wise from the foolish thing of God, and, being introduced through these things, might be able to ascend to the wisdom, to the strength of God, Christ Jesus, to whom is the glory and the might unto the ages. Amen.

They are vain and a work worthy of laughter. For who would not laugh when he has looked closely at the images of the heretics? For either what they say is rustic, and it is wood; or it is composed in fine speech, and it is found to be silver; or else it is feigned out of their own mind, and in vain they promise the image of gold. In the time of their visitation they will perish. Heresy prevails for a time, so that all the elect may become manifest and be proved; but when the visitation of God has come and his eye has looked upon foolish things, all things fall silent.

Not like these is the portion of Jacob, that is, of those who supplanted the Jews and daily destroy the heretics. But the portion of the saints is God, of whom the prophet says: The Lord is my portion. For he who formed all things, he it is, who made and molded all things, both in mind and in body, and Israel is the rod of his inheritance. Everyone who is 'upright in God' or 'discerns God with the mind' is the scepter of his inheritance, whose name is 'the Lord almighty' or 'of powers'; for this is what 'the Lord of hosts' means, which in the Hebrew is written 'the Lord sabaoth'.

Gather out of the land your confusion, you who dwell under siege, for thus says the Lord: Behold, I will cast far away the inhabitants of the land at this turn, and I will afflict them, that they may be found. LXX: She has gathered from outside her substance, she who dwells in a stronghold, for thus says the Lord: Behold, I will supplant the inhabitants of this land and afflict them, that they may be found. Jerusalem is commanded to gather whatever substance she has outside into the most strongly fortified city and to prepare provisions for a long siege; for he is threatening no longer, as before, about a future and distant time, but now about the captivity close at hand, which is about to come at any moment. 'Gather,' he says, 'both from outside and from the land, that is, from the fields, your substance into confusion. For whatever you have is worthy of confusion; and although you prepare these things, learn the words of the Lord concerning them: Behold, I at this turn, that is, at this time, will cast or hurl as from a sling far away the inhabitants of the land, this one'. For this the Seventy translated: I will supplant and make fall; for this Hebrew word, that is 'cole', Aquila and Symmachus translated sphendonisō [I will sling], and the sense is: 'As from a sling I will hurl them with all force, and so I will cause them to be besieged, and so I will afflict and hem them in, that all may be found in the city and be unable to escape the evil'.

Woe is me over my crushing, my most grievous wound! LXX: Woe over your crushing, your most grievous wound! According to the Hebrew, Jerusalem herself speaks, because she is grievously afflicted and bears an incurable wound; but according to the Seventy, the prophet speaks to Jerusalem and laments her over her crushing and her own wound.

But I said: Truly this is my infirmity — or my wound — and I will bear it or it has seized me. Jerusalem herself speaks: 'Whatever I suffer, I suffer through my own fault; I understand my wound, which has seized me, or I will bear the wrath of the Lord, because I have sinned against him'.

My tabernacle is established, all my cords are broken — or all my skins are torn apart —, my sons have gone out from me — or my sheep — and they are not; there is no one to stretch out my tent any more — or there is no more place for my tabernacle — and to raise up my skins. Jerusalem laments the overthrow of her city as so easy that you would think it not the razing of the walls and all the fortifications to the ground, but the taking down of a tabernacle and a tent. 'My tabernacle,' she says, 'that is, my dwelling, has suddenly been taken away. All my cords are broken — she keeps the metaphoran [metaphor] of the tabernacle — or all my skins are torn apart. My sons have gone out from me or my cattle'; this, added by the Seventy, does not stand according to the history; for in a long siege how could sheep and cattle have been carried off from Jerusalem, when, even if there had been any, famine had consumed them? 'And they do not', she says, 'subsist or they are not'; for they were not carried over into Chaldea, but a great part of them was killed and utterly destroyed. 'There is no one to stretch out my tent any more: there is no one to restore me and lay the foundations of my walls, which have been leveled to the ground'.

The Lord protested against their wickedness through the voice of the prophet, saying, "Alas for the shepherds, who destroy and scatter the sheep of my inheritance," and again, "The shepherds have become foolish and have not sought the Lord. Therefore did none of the flock understand and were scattered." Such, then, was their state. But we are under the rule of the chief Shepherd of all, even Christ, by whom and with whom to God the Father be praise and dominion, with the Holy Spirit, forever and ever. Amen.

For the shepherds have acted foolishly and have not sought the Lord; therefore they have not understood, and all their flock has been scattered. Through the metaphor of shepherds and sheep the guilt of the princes and the scattering of the people are described. For because the princes acted foolishly and did not seek the Lord, whom they ought to have sought with their whole heart, therefore they did not see the evils that were coming, or did not understand the Lord, and the whole multitude of Jerusalem has been scattered hither and thither.

He refers to the kings and priests as [stupid] shepherds because they were the guardians of this wandering people.

A voice of hearing, behold, comes, and a great commotion from the land of the north, to make the cities of Judah a desolation and a dwelling of dragons — or a lair of ostriches and, as Symmachus translated, of sirens —; for this in the Hebrew 'thannim' is set down. The words of the prophet: 'Behold,' he says, 'the sound and roaring of the Babylonian as he comes is heard, and a great commotion, or earthquake, from the land of the north, to reduce all the cities of Judea to desolation, their inhabitants slain, and to make dragons and all venomous creatures dwell in place of men, or ostriches'; this animal too is at home in desolation, and is born and nourished in deserts; or else we can understand sirens, certain monsters and phantoms of demons. All these things, which both the past and the present discourse have described, let us refer to the times of the Church's persecution, when the tabernacles of the Lord are overthrown and every dwelling of the Church is reduced to desolation. And that all these things come to pass is the fault of the shepherds, who have acted foolishly and have not sought the Lord nor understood him; and therefore the whole flock has been scattered.

"All are governed by their own free choice." What Christian can bear to hear this? For if not one, or a few or many, but all of us are governed by our own free choice, what becomes of the help of God? How do you explain the proverb that "A person's goings are ordered by the Lord?" Or "A person's way is not in himself"? Or "No one can receive anything, unless it be given him from above"? And elsewhere, "What do you have that you did not receive?"

I know, O Lord, that his way is not man's, nor is it a man's to walk and to direct his steps. Let the new preachers blush, who say that each one is ruled by his own will, when this prophet too says: his way is not man's, and David sings in a lyric song: By the Lord shall a man's steps be directed, and he will greatly desire his way. Or else this is the sense: 'What we suffer from the Babylonians comes not from dread of them, but from our desert and from your indignation'.

The saints have never claimed that their own efforts would have enabled them to find their way along the road they were traveling to perfect virtue. Rather, they sought it from the Lord, praying, "Direct me in your truth" and "direct the road I take in your sight." And someone else asserts that he grasped this not only through faith but also through direct experience of how things are: "I learned, Lord, that a person is no master of the road he takes, nor is it in man's power as he goes his way to control his steps." The Lord had this to say to Israel: "I will lead him on, like a greening fir tree, and the fruit you bear comes from me."

Unless God works in us, we cannot be partakers of any virtue. For indeed, without this Good, nothing is good. Without this Light, nothing is bright. Without this Wisdom, nothing is wise. Without this Justice, nothing is right. For the Lord says through the mouth of Isaiah, "I am, I am the Lord, and there is no one besides me who saves," and through Jeremiah, "I know, O Lord, that the way of a person is not in him. Neither is it in a person to direct his way."

Jeremiah, explaining that humankind receives wisdom from God, states, "I know, O Lord, that the way of a person is not his. Neither is it of a person … to direct his way." Again the Lord proclaims through the same prophet that God effects the conversion of a heart to him and says, "I will bring them again into this land. And I will build them up again and not pull them down. And I will plant them and pluck them up. And I will give them a heart to know me, that I am the Lord. And they shall be my people and I will be their God, because they shall return to me with whole heart."

It is clear, therefore, from what was said at first and what was added, that the verse "I know, Lord, that the people's way is not their own," neither subjects our free will to nature's enslavement nor submits our affairs to an ordained necessity. Instead, it expressly teaches us that the Lord God keeps his hand on the tiller of the universe and wisely directs it. He provides blessings but also corrects with justice whenever he perceives that despite his extended long-suffering we persist in evildoing.

Chasten me, O Lord, but yet in judgment and not in your fury, lest perhaps you bring me to nothing! Pour out your indignation upon the nations which have not known you, and upon the provinces — or generations — which have not called upon your name, for they have devoured Jacob and consumed his place, and his beauty — or pastures — they have scattered or reduced to desolation. We read this passage in the Psalm: O Lord, rebuke me not in your fury, nor chasten me in your wrath! And the sense is: 'We deserve indeed all that we endure, and we deserve much greater things than we suffer; yet this I beseech, that you chasten me as a father, not as an adversary, that you amend me as a son and do not punish me as an enemy; for you chastise every son whom you receive, and through every pain and scourge you amend Jerusalem. But the enemies, who have not known you, and the provinces or regions, which have not called upon your name, ought by no means to feel your judgment, but your indignation. For you handed us over that we might be amended. But they made their yoke heavy; they did not spare the old man and they afflicted the little ones; they ate us up and utterly devoured us, and reduced Jerusalem to such desolation that they scattered everything of both public and private buildings and killed your people'.

The inspired author knows the usefulness of discipline and understands that the Lord is exercising loving-kindness in applying it to human beings. This is the reason he asks to have a share in it. God exercises goodness in applying correction, and correction produces knowledge. Likewise the prophet Jeremiah begs, "Correct us, O Lord, but in just measure, not in anger, lest you make us few." Thus, a sick person who longs for health goes in search of a cure through cutting by steel and burning.