Jeremiah 13

Furthermore, this Paul said strongly that "the kingdom of God is not a matter of eating and drinking"—or abstinence from wine or meat—"but of righteousness, peace and joy in the Holy Spirit." Which of them goes around like Elijah wearing a sheepskin and a leather belt? Which of them wears no shoes and nothing but a piece of sackcloth like Isaiah? Or with nothing on but a linen loincloth, like Jeremiah?

The blessed John disdained sheep's wool because it savored of luxury; he preferred camel's hair and clothed himself in it, giving us an example of simple, frugal living. Incidentally, he also ate only honey and locusts, food that is sweet and with a spiritual significance. So it was that he prepared the way of the Lord and kept it humble and chaste. He fled from the false pretenses of the city and led a peaceful life in the desert with God, away from all vanity, boasting and servitude. How could he possibly have worn a purple mantle? Elijah used a sheepskin for his garment and girded it tight with a belt made of leather. Isaiah, another historic prophet, went "naked and without sandals" and often put on sackcloth as a garment of humility. If you protest and make mention of Jeremiah, he wore only a loincloth made of linen.

(Chapter 13, verse 1 onwards) Thus says the Lord to me: Go and acquire for yourself a linen loincloth (or belt) and put it on your loins, and do not bring it into water (or do not pass it through water). So I acquired a loincloth according to the word of the Lord and put it around my loins. Then the word of the Lord came to me a second time, saying: Take the loincloth (or belt) that you acquired, which is around your loins, and go to the Euphrates and hide it there in a hole in the rock. And I went and hid it in the Euphrates, as the Lord had commanded me. And after many days, the Lord said to me: Arise and go to the Euphrates, and take from there the girdle (or belt) that I commanded you to hide there. And I went to the Euphrates, and dug, and took the girdle from the place where I had hidden it, and behold, the girdle had decayed so that it was of no use. And the word of the Lord came to me, saying: Thus says the Lord: So will I cause the pride (or injury) of Judah and the great pride of Jerusalem and this evil people, who refuse to hear my words and walk in the stubbornness (or direction) of their evil hearts: they have gone after foreign gods to serve them and worship them, and they will be like this useless girdle. For as the waist is joined to the loins of a man, so have I joined to me all the house of Israel, and all the house of Juda, saith the Lord: that they might be my people, and for a name, and for a praise, and for a glory: but they would not hear. The girdle, or waistband, which is joined to the loins, is the people of Israel: they who have been taken up from the earth, and have not been softened, nor made white, and yet they have cleaved to God through his mercy. And when he sinned, because linen and a linen apron made of such material is rational, he was led across the Euphrates, that is, into Assyria, and there he was hidden, that is, absorbed in a multitude (or rather, magnitude) of great and innumerable nations, and regarded as nothing. But after a long time, the Prophet himself, as a type of God, freed the people from captivity. However, even after their return, they did not keep God's commandments; but they followed foreign gods, and in the end even laid hands on God's Son and brought about eternal damnation. Moreover, every holy man is a loin cloth of God, who, taken from the earth and from the mud of the earth, is joined in the partnership of God, and covers and surrounds, with greater diligence, those things which appear obscene in His Church, so that they may not be exposed to the bites of the Gentiles and the heretics. And if this loin cloth touches water and crosses the streams of the Euphrates, so that it is soaked with the moisture of the Assyrian region, it loses its original strength and decays, and is dissolved. And although it returns to the use of God, it cannot have its former beauty, not due to the hardness of God, but due to its own fault: because they do not want to hear His words, and they walk in the wickedness of their own heart, doing what seems right to them. But He Himself explains why He has put forth this similitude, saying: Just as the girdle clings to the loins of a man: so I have joined and made to cling to Me the whole house of Israel, and the whole house of Judah, specifically the twelve tribes, so that they would be for Me a people renowned and for praise and for glory; and for all this, they did not listen to Me, but followed their own faults. Therefore, let the one who can say: 'But for me it is good to be close to God' (Psalm 73:28), beware lest he be separated from his reins through negligence and cross the Euphrates and be given into the power of the Assyrian king, and be occupied not in the most solid rock but in the crevice of a corrupted and tainted rock, that is, be occupied with the filth and vices of heretics, and come to such putrefaction that he can no longer return to the service and the belt of the Lord.

Yet such is the order of nature. While truth is always bitter, pleasantness waits upon evildoing. Isaiah goes naked without blushing, as a type of the captivity to come. Jeremiah is sent from Jerusalem to the Euphrates (a river in Mesopotamia) and leaves his girdle to be marred in the Chaldaean camp, among the Assyrians hostile to his people. Ezekiel is told to eat bread made of mingled seeds and baked over the dung of people and cattle. He is commanded to experience the death of his wife without shedding a tear. Amos is driven from Samaria. Why is he driven from it? Surely in this case, as in the others, because he was a spiritual surgeon who cut away the parts diseased by sin and urged people to repentance. The apostle Paul says, "Am I therefore become your enemy because I tell you the truth?" And so the Savior found it, from whom many of the disciples turned back from following him because his sayings seemed hard.

We are the robe of Christ. When we have clothed him with our confession of faith, we, in turn, have put on Christ. It is the apostle who says that Christ is our robe, for when we are baptized, we put on Christ. We both clothe and are clothed. Would you like to know in what manner we clothe the Lord? We read in Jeremiah: "Go buy yourself a linen loincloth. Wear it on your loins, and go to the Euphrates. There hide it in a cleft of the rock. Obedient to the Lord's command, I went to the Euphrates and buried the loincloth. After a long interval, again I went to the Euphrates, and the loincloth was rotted, good for nothing. Then the message came to me from the Lord: 'Listen very carefully. As close as the loincloth clings to your loins, so had I made this people cling to me,' says the Lord." Why have I drawn this out to such length? To prove to you that the faithful are the garment of Christ.

The girdle, or loincloth, which is attached to the loins of God, is the people of Israel, who, like this piece of linen, were assumed from the earth unwashed and having no softness or beauty, yet were nevertheless joined to God through his mercy. When Israel sinned (which is why it was represented as a loincloth), it was led across the Euphrates and Assyria and there hidden, that is, absorbed, in a manner of speaking, into the crowd of larger and innumerable peoples and from captivity. Despite this, they did not observe the precepts of God after they were restored but went after other gods in the extreme, even raising their hand against the Son of God, and then they wasted away in everlasting perdition. God's loincloth is also every holy person who is assumed from the earth, even from the dust of the earth, and united to God as a companion, who, in a certain way, surrounds and covers with greater diligence the things that appear in God's church to be indecent, lest they become vulnerable to the stings of the pagans and heretics. Yet, as the loincloth was affected by the water of the Euphrates and was assimilated to the river's flow, so also Israel was imbued with the atmosphere of the Assyrian region, which destroyed its original strength and corrupted and dissolved it. Even though Israel returned to God's service, it was never able to regain its pristine beauty, though this was not due to any severity of God's part, but only to the Israelites' own wickedness, for they would not hear his word but did whatever seemed good to themselves and walked in the depravity of their own hearts. But this is also why the divine word itself made the following analogy, saying, "As the loincloth clings to the loins of a man, so I have fastened and joined all the house of Israel and the whole people of Judah [obviously the ten tribes and the two] to myself, that they may be a people for my name and my praise and my glory, but none of them would listen to me, following instead their own vices." Therefore, let the one who is able to say "it is good for me to cling to God," be careful lest, through negligence, he is separated from the loins of God and passes into the Euphrates and is given over to the power of the king of Assyria and becomes situated not on the most solid rock but in the cleft of that corrupt and decaying rock, which is the sordid life and the wickedness of heretics, and there encounters so grave a deterioration that he would be no longer able to return to the service and the loincloth of the Lord.

After these things let us look at what concerns the loincloth. For "Thus," it says, "says the Lord: Go and acquire for yourself a linen loincloth, and put it around your loins, and do not pass it through water. And I acquired a loincloth according to the word of the Lord and put it around my loins. And the word of the Lord came to me, saying: Take the loincloth that is around your loins, and arise and go to the Euphrates, and hide it there in the cleft of the rock." After some days he comes there, and finds this loincloth rotted through. And the Lord adds to it, giving the occasion for the interpretation of the loincloth, saying: "Just as the loincloth clings to the loins of a man, so did I cause the house of Israel and the whole house of Judah to cling to myself, says the Lord, that they might become for me a renowned people and a boast and a glory, and they did not listen to me." Therefore the prophet is taken up in the place of God, girding around his loins the linen loincloth, as God girds the people; for "I caused to cling to myself," he says, "this people," meaning that the people, as it were, becomes God's loincloth.

But why does the people become God's loincloth around his loins? Let him who is able, reading Ezekiel and beholding God, as it were, given a bodily form by the word — and in what manner the parts of him from the loins downward are fire, but the parts from the loins upward are amber — let him search out the word, why the lower part of God is fire. The things from the loins and from generation, these are fire. For all things that are in generation have need of the purification that comes from fire, all things in generation have need of chastisement. But the things above the loins and beyond generation, these are matter as in its purest and most precious state; for amber is said to be more precious than gold. Since, then, the Scripture uses these figures, that it may teach that the upper body of God is more precious and the lower body more inferior, for this reason it introduced God as composed of fire and amber. Each of us is fire while in generation; we are not the amber; but if we ascend and make progress (for it is possible to pass from being today among the lower parts, so as to become the upper body of God), then, having passed through the fire, we shall be amber, the amber about the higher body of God. He clings, then, around his loins, the linen loincloth. To what end? That it may be shown that the people is, as it were, a covering of God; for against those who wish to accuse God the people stands, and as it were shields him and does not permit anything absurd to be said in matters concerning God. But when we sin, then, just as the prophet lays aside this loincloth and condemns it to the river Euphrates that it may there be destroyed, so the sinner is cast off from the loins of God and, being cast out, is cast out into the river Euphrates, the river of Mesopotamia, where the Assyrians are enemies to Israel, where the Babylonians are, and there he is destroyed. For though there are so many rivers, the prophet is sent from Judea to the river Euphrates to transact this business and to carry away a little linen loincloth.

But why also "linen"? Because it has its origin from the earth; for it is a plant springing up from the earth, then, after being cultivated, carded and washed and scoured and worked much, that it may become such as to become a loincloth or whatever else. And we too, then, all of us have our origin as the loincloth of God, and having our origin from the earth, we have need of much working, that we may be carded, that we may be washed, that we may cast off the color of the earth; for one is the color of the linen at its origin, another that which comes from the working. For the color of the linen at its origin is rather black, but from the working it becomes most brilliant. Some such thing, then, comes upon us also who are in generation. We are black at the beginning of our believing, wherefore at the beginning of the Song of Songs it is said, "I am black and beautiful." And at the beginning we resemble Ethiopians in the soul. Then we are scoured, that we may become more brilliant, according to the words, "Who is this that comes up made white?" And we become "brilliant and clean linen"; then also we are woven into the loincloth of God, when we are worthy to cling to God. God does not lay us aside. He laid aside the first people, "the whole house of Judah" and "the house of Israel." It came to be no longer used; for he no longer girds himself with them. In their place God girded himself with us; for he did not, having cast off the loincloth, remain naked, but wove for himself another loincloth. This loincloth is the Church that is from the nations; and let it know that "if God did not spare the former ones, how much more will he not spare it either when it sins," unless it be worthy of the loins of God; "but he that clings to the Lord is one spirit" in Christ Jesus, to whom is the glory and the might unto the ages. Amen.

The reversed order, however, furnishes a clue for our exegesis. "The Lord is king, in splendor robed." The Lord is king, and he is robed in the splendor of patriarchs and prophets and a people that believes. He is robed in splendor. The patriarchs and prophets have been as the garment of Christ. They are the loincloth mentioned in Jeremiah—the girdle that he wore about his loins. Do you know that the saints are like a girdle and the vestment of God? God says to Jeremiah, "As close as the loincloth clings to a man's loins, so had I made my people cling to me." God's people are as close to him as person's clothing is to his body.

(Verse 12 onwards) You shall say therefore to them (or to the people) this message. Thus says the Lord God of Israel: Every pitcher (or vessel) shall be filled with wine. And they shall say to you: Do we not know that every pitcher (or vessel) shall be filled with wine? And you shall say to them: Thus says the Lord: Behold, I will fill all the inhabitants of this land, and the kings who sit on David's throne, and the priests and the prophets and all the inhabitants of Jerusalem, with drunkenness. And I will scatter them, man from his brother, and fathers and sons together, says the Lord. I will not spare (or show mercy) and I will not relent, nor will I have compassion, so as not to destroy them. The Hebrew word Nebel () has been translated by the Aquila's first edition as 'laguncula', by the second edition as 'nebel' itself, by Symmachus as 'crater', by the LXX as 'utres', and by Theodotion as 'vas'. All of them interpret it as a vessel that is not filled with oil, water, honey, milk, or any other liquid material, but with wine and drunkenness. This shows that we are fragile vessels, as the Apostle says: 'But we have this treasure in earthen vessels' (2 Corinthians 4:7), and that it is impossible for us not to be filled with what is written: 'For no good dwells in me, that is, in my flesh'. And again, I do not do the good that I want, but the evil that I do not want, that is what I practice (Rom. VII, 18). And then, wretched man that I am, who will rescue me from this body of death (Ibid., 19)? But by this drunkenness, where we forget the commandments of God, and every human condition is filled with vice and sin, as the Prophet says: No living being will be justified in your sight (Psal. CXLII, 2), not in comparison to God (as the ancient and new heretics claim, and the supporters of heretics), but in knowledge of Him: for man sees the face, but God sees the heart (I Sam. XVI, 7); and what may appear clean to us, is found filthy in His eyes: not only the common and lowly crowd, but also the kings of the Church, descendants or sons of David, who lie back with their heads raised and stretch their necks, and with outstretched necks, sit upon His throne. The priests themselves, the second in rank in ecclesiastical honor, and the prophets, who are thought to have knowledge of the Scriptures, and all the inhabitants of Jerusalem, are filled with a variety of sins: whether Jewish, as the Seventy have added. And when they are drunk, they are scattered from the company of their own, and fathers are separated from sons and sons from fathers, so that they are polluted by various heresies, and under the name of Christ they fight among themselves, and they fight against their mother, who gave birth to them, the Church. Where it says: I will not desire them, but I will have them in everlasting hatred: I will not spare, and I will not grant mercy, nor will I show compassion: not out of cruelty of judgment, but out of the truth of justice. For those who have slain my people, they themselves shall perish forever. This can be understood simply according to history, that kings, priests, and prophets, and all the people of Jerusalem must be made drunk with the cup of Babylon, and overwhelmed by the evils of captivity.

And these things He said, setting laws and rules for His own disciples, that when they should have to receive as disciples those of all sorts that should come from the whole world, they might deal with them very gently. "Neither do men put new wine into old bottles." Seest thou His illustrations, how like the Old Testament? the garment? the wine skins? For Jeremiah too calls the people "a girdle," and makes mention again of "bottles" and of "wine." Thus, the discourse being about gluttony and a table, He takes His illustrations from the same.

What the prophet is commanded by God to say ought to be worthy of God, [yet] it appears that it is not worthy of God so long as we remain at the level of the letter, so that someone else, on hearing the letter, might say: "These letters are folly." But it is the unspiritual man (psychikos) who will say this; for "the unspiritual man does not receive the things of the Spirit of God, for they are folly to him." Look, then, at what the wording says: "And you shall say to this people: Thus says the Lord, the God of Israel" — what "the Lord, the God of Israel" says, let it be worthy of the Lord, the God of Israel — "Every wineskin shall be filled with wine. And it shall be, if they say to you: Do we not surely know that every wineskin shall be filled with wine?" And those who answer, if they take their stand on the literal statement and say these things, claiming to have known that "every wineskin shall be filled with wine," are lying. For it is not the case that "every wineskin shall be filled with wine." There are, at any rate, wineskins filled with oil or with some other liquid substance, and some even remain empty. They lie, then; for not every wineskin shall be filled with wine. And the people answer, saying: "Do we not surely know that every wineskin shall be filled with wine?" These words will receive from us, as far as we are able, an interpretation of the following sort. If we know the differences among wines and the things said about them, then in consequence we shall see, concerning the wineskins, that it is true that "every wineskin shall be filled with wine." For whether someone is a good wineskin, so to name it, among wineskins, it shall be filled with wine according to its own goodness; or whether, in comparison with wineskins and in the judgment concerning them, it is a wretched one, it too according to its wretchedness shall be filled with wretched wine. How, then, is it possible to gather from Scripture concerning the different wines? Concerning the worse ones this is written: "For their vine is from the vine of Sodom, and their branch from Gomorrah. Their grape is a grape of gall, a cluster of bitterness to them; their wine is the wrath of dragons, and the incurable wrath of asps." But concerning the better ones: "Your cup that inebriates me, how excellent it is," and Wisdom summons to her own bowl, saying: "Come, eat my bread, and drink wine which I have mingled for you." There is, then, a wine from Sodom, and there is a wine which Wisdom mixes. And again: "A vineyard came to be for the beloved on a horn, in a fertile place," planted by God, the vine called Sorek, which is a certain Chosen and Wondrous one. And there is also a certain vine of the Egyptians, which God strikes according to what is written: "God struck their vine with hail, and their mulberry trees with frost."

Consider for me, then, that all human beings are now, figuratively, capable of holding wine. And I name them for this reason wineskins, and I say that the base man is filled "with wine of the vine of Sodom," is filled with Egyptian wine and with the wine of the enemies of Israel, whereas the holy man who has been benefited is filled with wine from the vine Sorek and with the wine concerning which it is written: "Your cup that inebriates, how excellent it is," and again the holy man is filled with wine from that which Wisdom mixed. Let these things, then, be understood by me according to vice and virtue, so that the "every wineskin is filled with wine" may be contemplated. But if we must also see the things that come through vice and through virtue — punishments through vice, but blessings and promises through virtue — let us demonstrate from the sacred writings in what manner the punishments and the promises are called wine: "Take the cup of this unmixed wine, and you shall give all the nations to drink, to whom I shall send you." Jeremiah says these things; to which he adds: "And they shall drink and vomit and go mad and fall." So then he named the punishments here unmixed wine, which those drink who are worthy of unmixed wine, that is, of unmixed punishment. But there are also others who drink a punishment that is not unmixed, but mingled; for "a cup in the Lord's hand, full of unmixed wine of mingling, he inclined from this to that; yet its dregs were not emptied out; all the sinners of the earth shall drink." And if you wish also to see a cup of blessing, which the righteous drink, that of Wisdom would indeed have sufficed, in which she said: "Drink wine which I have mingled for you"; but behold for me also the Savior going up for the Passover into "a large upper room, furnished and adorned," and keeping the feast with his disciples and giving them a cup, concerning which it is written not that he mingled it; for Jesus, gladdening his disciples, gladdens them with unmixed wine, and says to them: "Take, drink, this is my blood, which is poured out for you for the forgiveness of sins; do this, as often as you drink it, in remembrance of me," and: "Amen I say to you, I shall not drink it from now on, until I drink it new with you in the kingdom of God."

Do you see the promise, which is "the cup of the new covenant"? Do you see the punishments as a cup of unmixed wine, and another kind of punishment as a mingled cup — so that it is mixed for each according to the worth of good action mingled with wretched action, which they will drink? Understand for me, on the one hand, those who are wholly alien to piety toward God and give no heed to themselves at all, but live at random, as drinking the unmixed wine concerning which we set forth the words from Jeremiah; but on the other hand, those who have not wholly fallen away, and yet are sinners — but unworthy of the cup "of the new covenant," doing at one time more upright, at another time contrary actions — as drinking wine "of unmixed mingling." For God "inclined from this to that." Of what "this"? I behold two cups, according to what is said: "He inclined from this to that; yet its dregs were not emptied out." Understand for me the cup of your good works in the one hand of God; but if you wish me to speak more boldly, let there be in the right hand of God the cup of your good works, and then let there be your cup of sins in the left hand of God. So then, when you are about to be punished for your sins — since more upright works too have come from you — "there is in the Lord's hand a cup of unmixed wine, full of mingling. And he inclined from this to that," from that in the left hand to that in the right. For neither can you drink only the cup of good things, as one who has not done only good works, nor can you drink only the cup of sins, for some upright things have been done by you. For this reason "he inclined from this to that." According to the proportion of your works, the wrath and the punishment are mixed for you, so that the punishment may be either more watery for you or sharper and more painful. For according to the proportion, as I said before, of the sins compared with the good deeds, that which is given from the cup of wrath is somehow blunted or is not blunted, a certain amount being given for each of the sins. But if you are wholly good and virtuous, you say: "I will take the cup of salvation, and I will call upon the name of the Lord." "Every wineskin," then, whether good or wretched, "shall be filled with wine," and according to the fitness of the wineskin wine shall be cast into the wineskin, according to the account of the wineskins named here. Oil, then, is not put into the wineskins, nor any other liquid matter, but every wineskin must be filled with wine.

And showing the unchangeable nature of his wrath, God introduced these words: "I will not yearn after them, and I will not spare them, and I will not have pity on them because of their destruction," rather than "[I will not have pity on] their destruction." Then he calls their punishment drunkenness since those who fall into great misfortunes resemble those who are intoxicated inasmuch as they are not able even to mourn because they are suffering so much.

Then he teaches, on account of those who had sinned — as far as the literal sense goes — in Jerusalem at that time and in Judea, with what sort of wine God is about to fill these wineskins, the sinners. For it is written: "If they say to you: Do we not surely know that every wineskin shall be filled with wine? then you shall say to them: Thus says the Lord: Behold, I fill all the inhabitants of this land, and the kings who sit as sons of David upon his throne, and the priests." He who is about to punish spares no one. Not because someone bore the title of prophet, yet has sins, will he not be filled with the threats that are spoken. Not because someone bore the title of priest and seemed to hold the preeminence of a more honorable name among the people does God spare him, so that he should not be punished when he has sinned. But the things recorded concerning those people, the apostle says, were written for our sake, "upon whom the ends of the ages have come." If, then, anyone even among these priests (and I point to us, the presbyters), or among these Levites who surround the people (I mean the deacons), sins, he will have this punishment; just as, again, there are certain priestly blessings, concerning which, God granting it, not far off but after the examination of the prophetic word, we shall learn when Numbers is read; for concerning priests certain things are about to be said there.

"And the priests," then, "and the prophets and Judah and all the inhabitants of Jerusalem" God says he will fill "with drunkenness" and will scatter "them, a man and his brother, and their fathers and their sons." And let us understand these things also thus: the righteous God gathers together, but the sinners he scatters. For this reason, at the time when men did not move from the east, God did not scatter them; but when they moved "from the east" and "a man said to his neighbor: Come, and let us build for ourselves a city and a tower, whose top shall be up to heaven," God says concerning these: "Come, and going down let us confound their language there," and each one is confounded and is scattered to some place of the earth. And the people of Israel too, so long as they did not sin, were in Judea, but when they sinned they are scattered thereafter from the inhabited world and dispersed everywhere.

Understand something of this sort for me concerning all of us as well. There is a certain church of the firstborn who are enrolled in the heavens, where is Mount Zion and the city of the living God, the heavenly Jerusalem. The blessed will be gathered together there, so that they may be together. But in this very thing the sinners are punished, in not being with one another. I know of some in this life who, for the sake of punishment, wish to hand over to some island, and for the sake of torment scatter the household of one who has offended the kingdom — the wife here, one son here, then the other elsewhere — so that not even in their misfortune may the mother enjoy the company of the son, or the brother of the brother. Understand something of this sort also in the case of the unjust. It is necessary that you, the sinner, taste something more bitter, being managed by God, so that being disciplined you may be saved. And just as you punish the household servant or son who is punished by you, not simply wishing to torture him, but that you may turn him back by the sufferings, so also God will discipline with the sufferings that come from afflictions those who do not turn back at the word, who have not been healed. He casts about, for the sake of discipline, the things he casts about, according to what is said: "Continually with suffering and scourge you shall be disciplined, Jerusalem." So then, in order that the disciplining suffering may increase, those who suffer are scattered from one another, so that this one and that one may not be together. For the intensity of the suffering would be relaxed through the consolation of each one toward the other.

But if we must add to the discussion yet another cause of the scattering, this too I shall set forth. Wicked men, being together with one another, contemplate evils and increase them, just as good men, being together with the good, deliberate about good things. [And] therefore the evil counsel is dissolved and divided — which would have prevailed with those like it — when the wretched are scattered from one another. For this reason God arranges that the base should not be with one another, perhaps even taking forethought for them, so that their wickedness may not grow together, but may be diminished by being dissolved. These things because of the "I will scatter them, a man and his brother, and their fathers and their sons together. Says the Lord."

"I will not long for them, and I will not spare, and I will not have pity, from their destruction."

Those from the heresies pounce upon such literal statements, saying: Do you see what sort the Demiurge is? The God of the prophets, who says: "I will not spare and I will not have pity, from their destruction"? How can this one be good? But if I take as an example the judge who, for the sake of the common good, does not have pity, and the magistrate who rightly does not show mercy, I shall be able from the example to persuade that God, in sparing many, does not spare one. And I shall take as an example also a physician, showing that in sparing the whole body he does not spare one member. For instance, let this be set before a judge: to fashion peace and to prepare what is advantageous for the nation under him. And let there come forward some murderer brought to trial, fair in appearance and beautiful to behold. Let a mother come forward, offering pitiful words to the judge, so that her old age may be pitied; let the wife of this man who is unworthy to be pitied plead; let children standing around him beg on his behalf. In these circumstances, what is advantageous for the community? Is it that this man be pitied, or that he not be pitied? But if he is pitied, he will return to the same deeds; whereas if he is not pitied, he himself will die, but the community will be improved. So too God, if he spares the sinner and pities him and has compassion so as not to punish him — who will not be made worse? Which of the base, who cease from their sins even because of the fears of the places of punishment, will not be made worse, will not become worse? Such things can be seen happening in the churches too. Someone sinned, and after the sin he asked for communion. If he is too quickly pitied, the community is worn down. The sin of others grows. But if, by reasoning — not as one unmerciful nor as one savage is the judge, but as one taking forethought even for the one, and yet taking more forethought for the many than for the one — he considers the harm that will come to the community from the communion of the one and from the pardon of his sin, it is clear that he will cause the one to be cast out, so that he may save the many.

Behold for me also a physician, in what manner, if he is sparing about cutting what must be cut, if he is sparing about cauterizing what must be cauterized because of the pains that follow upon such remedies, in what manner the disease increases and becomes worse. But if he approaches the cutting and the burning somewhat more boldly, he will heal by not pitying, by seeming not to have compassion on the one who is cauterized and the one who is cut. So too God does not manage one man only, but manages the whole world, and administers everywhere the things in heaven and the things on earth. He considers, then, what is advantageous for the whole world and for all beings, and, as far as possible, he considers also what is advantageous for the one — yet not so that the advantage of the one should come to the detriment of the world. For this reason eternal fire too has been prepared, for this reason gehenna also has been made ready, for this reason there is also a certain outer darkness, of which there is need not only because of the one being punished, but especially because of the community.

But if you wish to take Scripture as a witness that sinners are punished even for the instruction of others, even if these are at some time despaired of as regards healing, hear Solomon saying in the Proverbs: "When a pestilent man is scourged, the fool will become more shrewd." He did not say that the one being scourged himself will become more shrewd and more prudent because of the scourges, but he says that the fool is changed from folly to prudence because of the scourges applied to the pestilent man; for this is what is signified here by the name of "shrewdness." And the fool is changed through seeing others being scourged. So then the punishment of others is advantageous to us, if indeed we become worthy of salvation through others being punished. And as the transgression of Israel was of profit to the salvation of the nations, so the punishment of some will be of profit to the salvation of others. For this reason, being good, God says: "I will not spare and I will not have pity, from their destruction."

(Verse 15.) Hear and perceive with your ears: Do not be lifted up, because the Lord has spoken. Because he said above, every vessel shall be filled with wine: so that even kings, and priests, and prophets, and all the inhabitants of Jerusalem may be filled with drunkenness, therefore he joins and says: Hear and perceive with your ears, both externally and internally, both in mind and body; and do not be lifted up with pride, considering your own weakness, and that there is no one who is without this drunkenness according to the extent of their sin. Where he is scattered, and corrupted, and unworthy of God's mercy, lifting himself up against Him through pride.

Now that the one section has been circumscribed, let us see also what the other teaches us: "Hear and give ear, and be not lifted up, for the Lord has spoken. Give glory to the Lord our God before it grows dark, and before your feet stumble upon dark mountains; and you will wait for light, and there will be a shadow of death there, and they will be set in darkness. But if you do not hear secretly, your soul will weep before the face of insolence, and your eyes will bring down tears, because the flock of the Lord has been crushed." He wishes these same people to hear and to give ear, being satisfied neither with their merely hearing nor with their merely giving ear. Therefore he says: "Hear and give ear." Then, after this, he commands them not to be lifted up, and teaches what must be done. What, then, is "to hear" and what is "to give ear," let us consider from the very wording. The "give ear" is "receive into the ears," and the "hear," if it is said in contradistinction to the "give ear," perhaps is "receive into the understanding." And among the things said in the Scriptures, some are more secret and more mystical, but others are useful straightaway to those who understand. Concerning the more secret things, I think, the "hear" is said, but concerning the things that are useful straightaway and able to benefit the hearer without interpretation, the "give ear"; if, then, we examine the whole of Scripture, we shall say, "having become approved money-changers": this, on the one hand, hear; this, on the other hand, give ear to.

Then, when we have heard and given ear, he commands us: "And be not lifted up." For "everyone who exalts himself shall be humbled." And the Savior too, in saying: "Learn from me, that I am gentle and lowly in heart, and you shall find rest for your souls," teaches us not to be lifted up. For along with the other human evils, this sin too is much in us — at one time when we are lifted up quite unreasonably, and over that for which one ought not to be lifted up even to any degree, but at another time with plausibility, because that over which we are lifted up is reasonable, and yet the being lifted up even over that is not sound.

What I mean will be clear thus: there are some who are lifted up because they are sons of governors and because they are of a family among those of great worldly dignities. Such men, being lifted up over a matter that lies outside their choice and is indifferent, do not have even a reasonable plausibility that is brought forward to lead them toward being lifted up. There are those who are lifted up because they have authority to put men to death, and lifted up because they have received among themselves the advancement, so called, of such a kind as to cut off the heads of men. "The glory" of such men "is in their shame." Others are lifted up over wealth — not the true wealth but the lower — and others are lifted up, for example, over having a fine house or many fields. None of these things is worthy of account; one ought not to be lifted up over any of these.

But the plausible occasion for being lifted up is when someone is lifted up because he is wise, and is lifted up conscious to himself that already from the age of ten he has not touched sexual pleasures, or even from boyhood has not touched them; and again another is lifted up because he has worn bonds for Christ's sake. There is here a plausibility suggesting that one is reasonably lifted up; yet not even over these things, as regards the true reckoning, is one reasonably lifted up. Thus it is not reasonable to be lifted up even over these things. Paul had the material for being lifted up on account of the visions, on account of the sights, on account of the wonders and signs, on account of the labors which he labored for Christ, on account of the churches which he founded, being ambitious, where Christ had not been named, to lay the foundation of a church. All these were material for him — if one must speak with the plausibility concerning being lifted up — so that it might have seemed to some that he was rightly lifted up. But nevertheless, since not even the being lifted up over such things is without danger, the good Father, as he had granted him visions and sights, so also gave him, in the portion of a gift of grace, "an angel of Satan, to buffet him, so that he should not be over-exalted." And concerning this he besought the Lord three times, that "the angel of Satan," who had been given to him precisely so that he should not be lifted up, might depart from him. And the Lord answered him (for Paul was worthy of an answer from the Lord) and said to him: "My grace is sufficient for you; for my power is perfected in weakness." Over nothing, then, ought one to be lifted up; for falling follows upon being lifted up, according to the "before crushing the heart of a man is exalted, and before glory it is humbled." Let these things suffice for the "Hear and give ear, and be not lifted up, for the Lord has spoken."

(Verse 16, 17.) Give glory to the Lord your God ((or our)) before it grows dark, and before your feet stumble upon dark (or gloomy) mountains. You will wait for light, but there will be only darkness (or according to the Hebrew, he will put it in darkness and gloom). And if you will not listen, your soul ((or mine)) will weep in secret because of arrogance (or injury). To those to whom the divine discourse had been spoken, saying: 'Listen and perceive with your ears, and do not be exalted', now it calls to repentance, so that before they are led to Babylon, and their feet stumble upon dark or gloomy mountains, they may give glory to God. Hence, it is often said to sinners: 'Give glory to God' (Psalm 67:35). And as for why Babylon and the whole region of the Chaldeans are called dark or gloomy mountains, we read in the beginning of the vision of Isaiah against Babylon, where it is written: 'Raise a signal on a dark mountain' (Isaiah 13:2), which in Hebrew is called Nesepha. Therefore, he commanded them to repent before they are led into captivity and experience the evils of slavery. And while they wait for light, they should sit in darkness. But if, he says, you refuse to listen to me in secret, near the Eagle, in darkness, your soul will weep, or according to the Septuagint, from the face of pride; so that not even a sigh or a cry may be free, so that the eyes of the conquerors may not be offended. But we can interpret this place in the following way: The Savior says: Work while it is day: the night is coming when no one can work (John 9:4). Concerning this time, there is also the prophecy of Isaiah: For the stars of heaven and their constellations will not give their light; the sun will be darkened at its rising, and the moon will not shed its light (Isaiah 13:10). Zephaniah also agrees with these words, saying: A day of distress and anguish, a day of ruin and devastation, a day of darkness and gloom, a day of clouds and thick darkness (Zephaniah 1:15). Therefore, before the time of judgement comes, and our feet stumble upon dark mountains, the opposing fortitudes, which are placed in front of us with torments and tortures, let us repent, lest while awaiting the light, we be enveloped in the darkness of night; and let us know that unless we do this, we shall refuse to hear the weeping soul, either of God or of the Prophet, because of our own arrogance. Hence, the Prophet himself also says:

Jerusalem will weep, weeping the eye pulls down a tear: for the flock of the Lord has been captured (and I cannot hide my grief with silent groans). But the cause of all torments is that the flock of the Lord has been captured. Let us say to the Jews and to our Judaizers, who only follow a simple and superficial history, unless you hear secretly, that is, in mystery or in darkness, which God has established as His hiding place (Ps. XVII), and according to Solomon, so that they may understand the parable and the obscure discourse, the soul of the Prophet will weep, or rather, their own souls from the face of pride, while they resist God through stubbornness. And so there will be weeping and perpetual tears on the hills, because the flock of the Lord has been captured and corrupted by the true Nebuchadnezzar.

And let us see also what he bids us do after these things: "Give," he says, "to the Lord our God glory before it grows dark, before your feet stumble upon dark mountains; and you will wait for light." He wishes the one who gives "glory to God" to give "glory to God" while there is light, since the glory of God cannot be proclaimed once it has grown dark and darkness has come. When, then, does it grow dark, and when does the darkening not occur? "Work while the light is in you." "The light is in" you if you have in you the one who said: "I am the light of the world." As long as this rises for you, glorify God; but know that a certain darkening can occur, and one must not let this darkening remain, but must give glory to God before it grows dark.

Perhaps we shall understand what is written by using an evangelical saying spoken by the Savior which runs thus: "Work while it is day; night comes when no one is able to work." He named there this present age "day" (but I necessarily added the "there"; for I know that in other places other things again are indicated) — he named, then, this present age "day," but darkness and night the consummation, because of the punishments. For "why do you desire the day of the Lord? And this is darkness and not light," says the prophet Amos. If you see what the gloom is after the consummation of the world, that which follows when almost the whole race of men is punished for the things they have sinned, you will see that then that which surrounds has grown dark, and no one any longer is able to glorify God, seeing that the word of God commanded even the righteous, saying: "Go, my people, enter into your chamber, shut your door, hide yourself for a little while, until the wrath of my anger pass by." And at the same time, in these words, let anyone who is able observe that he said: "a little while." But that "little while" is little for God; it is not little for a man; for one must see that for each thing there is something little and something great. And from an example I shall demonstrate that for each thing there is something little or great. For every animal such-and-such an amount of food is little in comparison with its constitution, and such-and-such an amount of food is much again in comparison with its constitution. And thus what is little for a man is great for another animal. What is little, for example, for a man is much for a child. Thus the whole time of human life is little, even the time of the long-lived man, in comparison with the whole of the entire present age. So indeed the "little" of God is much in comparison with us, and a whole age is the "little" of God. If, then, it is said: "Go, my people, enter into your chambers, shut your door, hide yourself for a little while," that "little" must be thought to be spoken not in relation to the condition of the one commanded to go and to enter into his chambers, but in relation to the condition of the one who commands these things, for whom that which is much for this man is little. For if, "until the wrath of the anger" of God "pass by," some must enter into their chambers, and there are those for whom "the sins are not forgiven, not only throughout this whole age but also throughout the whole age to come," it is clear that the "little" is extended alongside the things that have been said.

"Give," therefore, "glory to the Lord our God." How do we give glory to the Lord our God? It is not in voices and little phrases that I seek the giving of glory to the Lord our God, but in deeds the one who gives glory to the Lord God gives glory to him. Glorify God in self-control (sōphrosynē), in righteousness, in doing good glorify God; give glory to God in courage and endurance, give glory to God in piety and holiness and the remaining virtues. And if these things are so, and one glorifies God in this way, then if I state the opposite, do not think that I am blaspheming; for I will bring forward the Scripture as a witness of those things too. The self-controlled man glorifies God, the one who lives licentiously dishonors God. For, like Nebuchadnezzar, he overturns the temple of God and "corrupts the temple of God" and "through the transgression of the law dishonors God" (this too is an apostolic expression). The sinner, then, clothes God with dishonor. And questions are raised concerning providence, so that some doubt whether providence exists; but providence is nothing other than [what is questioned] on account of evil. Take away the evil, and you do not stumble against providence. But up and down those who stumble against providence say these things: why are there so many adulterers and so many effeminate men, why are there so many godless and impious people? And it is the sinners who beget dishonor for providence, stumbling-blocks against God, blasphemy against the one who created the world. Some, then, do give glory to God, but they do not give glory to God who do the things opposite to the glory of God through their sins.

"Give glory to the Lord our God before it grows dark, before your feet stumble upon the dark mountains." There are certain dark mountains, there are certain luminous mountains; but since there are both. The luminous mountains are the holy angels of God, the prophets, Moses the servant, the apostles of Jesus Christ. All these are luminous mountains, and I think it is concerning these that it has been said in the Psalms: "His foundations are in the holy mountains." But what sort of mountains are dark? Those who raise up high things against the knowledge of God. The devil is a dark mountain; the rulers of this age who are being brought to nothing are dark mountains; and the demon, the epilepsy (moon-affliction), was a mountain, and it was a dark mountain, concerning which the Savior said: "You shall say to this mountain." For when the discussion concerned the epilepsy and the disciples said, "Why were we not able to cast it out?", the Savior answers that "if you have faith as a grain of mustard seed, you shall say to this mountain," concerning which you put forward the question, concerning which you inquired, "you shall say to this mountain: Move from here to there, and it shall move." "From here" — away from the man; "there" — to its own proper place. Those, then, who stumble do not stumble upon luminous mountains, but upon dark mountains, whenever they come to be with the devil and his angels, the dark mountains.

"And you shall wait for light." Now "and you shall wait for light" can be joined to "give glory to the Lord our God." If you give glory to the Lord our God before it grows dark, before your feet stumble upon dark mountains," it is clear that, even if it does grow dark, "you shall wait for the light" and the light shall receive you in succession. But another might say (I do not know whether he is thinking soundly or not) that even those who stumble "upon dark mountains" shall wait beside the dark mountains, waiting for the light of mercy; for this is what "and you shall wait for light" would seem to mean. But when one comes upon the dark mountains, let us see what is there: "the shadow of death." Where the dark mountains are, there is the shadow of death, begotten from those very dark mountains; "and they shall be set in darkness."

"But if you do not hear in secret, your soul shall weep before the face of insolence." Of those who hear, some hear in secret, but others, even if they hear, do not hear in secret. What then is it to hear in secret, other than "but we speak the wisdom of God in a mystery, the hidden wisdom, which God foreordained before the ages for our glory"? And again elsewhere it is said that "the greater part of the works of God are in hidden things." If I hear the law, either I hear in secret or I do not hear in secret. The Jew does not hear the law in secret; therefore he is circumcised openly, not knowing that "the Jew is not the one in the open, nor is circumcision that which is in the open in the flesh." But he who hears about circumcision in secret shall be circumcised in what is hidden; he who hears in secret the things enacted by law concerning the Passover eats of the lamb Christ (for "Christ our Passover has been sacrificed"), and knowing what sort of thing the flesh of the Word is, and knowing that "it is true food," he partakes of it; for he heard about the Passover in secret. But this great mass of the Jew, for this reason, killed the Lord Jesus and is even today guilty of the murder of Jesus, since he heard neither the law nor the prophets in secret. If you read about the unleavened bread, it is possible to hear in secret, it is possible to hear the commandment openly. As many of you (for the Passover is near) as keep the unleavened bread, the bodily unleavened bread, do not hear the commandment that says: "If you do not hear in secret, your soul shall weep." And concerning the Sabbath, women who have not heard the prophet do not hear in secret, but hear openly. They do not wash on the day of the Sabbath, they return "to the poor and weak elements," as though Christ had not sojourned among us, the one who perfects us and carries us over from the elements of the law to the perfection of the Gospel.

Therefore let us take heed as we read the law and the prophets, lest we ever fall under the prophecy that says: "But if you do not hear in secret, your soul shall weep before the face of insolence." As many of you as observe the Jewish fast, as though not understanding the day of atonement, keep it after the sojourn of Jesus Christ. You did not hear about the atonement in secret, but you heard openly; for to hear about the atonement in secret is to hear how God made Jesus a propitiation concerning our sins, and that "he is the propitiation concerning our sins, and not concerning ours only, but also concerning the whole world." And even if evangelical parables are read and the hearer is of those outside, he will not hear them in secret. But if the hearer is an apostle or one of those who enter "into the house" of Jesus, he approaches Jesus, and he inquires also about the obscurity of the parable, and Jesus interprets it, and that hearer of the Gospel comes to hear it in secret, so that his soul may not weep; for the soul of those who do not hear in secret weeps.

Why, marvelously, did he not say: you shall weep, if you do not hear in secret, but rather: "your soul shall weep"? There is a certain weeping of the soul alone weeping, and perhaps the Savior teaches us that weeping when he says: "There shall be the weeping." And even if he says: "Woe to you who laugh now, for you shall mourn and weep," he speaks concerning that weeping, which the prophet here also threatens, saying: "But if you do not hear in secret, your soul shall weep before the face of insolence." For when you are treated with insolence, then you shall weep and your eyes shall bring down tears, "because the flock of the Lord has been crushed." If someone now looks at the affairs of the Jews and compares them with the ancient things, he will see in what manner "the flock of the Lord has been crushed." For this was once the flock of the Lord, and since they judged themselves unworthy, the word was turned to the nations. If, then, that flock of the Lord was crushed, ought not we, the wild olive, grafted contrary to its own nature into the cultivated olive of the fathers, to fear all the more, lest this "flock of the Lord" too be crushed? For it is destined to be crushed at some time, according to what was said by the Savior, when "because lawlessness is multiplied, the love of the many shall grow cold." For concerning whom is the word? Is not "the love of the many shall grow cold" said concerning those called Christians? Concerning whom is the word, that "yet when the Son of Man comes, will he then find faith upon the earth"? Is it not concerning us? Therefore let us take heed to ourselves in all that we do, so that day by day this flock of God may be made better, may be made healthy, may be healed, and that all crushing may depart from our souls, so that we may be perfected in Christ Jesus, to whom is the glory and the might unto the ages. Amen.

(Verse 18, 19.) Say to the king and the queen (or say to the king and the powerful): Humble yourselves, sit down, for the crown of your glory has been taken off (or has descended) from your head. The cities of the South are closed, and there is no one who will open them. All of Judah has been carried away (or all of Judah has been taken away) in complete exile (or captivity). The prophets are commanded to speak to King Jehoiachin and his mother, whom he addresses as lady and queen, that they should humble themselves and sit in the dust, for they have lost their royal dignity and must be handed over to the Babylonian king. The cities of Austria are closed, that is, the tribes of Judah and Jerusalem, which are turned towards the south near the desert, and there is no one who can open them surrounded by the siege. All of Judah, or all of Judea, has been transferred by complete migration: whether it received what it deserved, and it was fulfilled in it, as the Seventy translated. It is foolish in this place, who understands the king, Christ, and the powerful ones, the angels or apostles, as assuming the body of humility and sitting in the dust, and losing either the king or the powerful from their head the crown; and that the glory of Judah was transferred when it was fulfilled in the passion: All have turned aside, together they have become useless, there is no one who does good, not even one. The Hebrew word Gebira (). Aquila and Symmachus interpreted it as dominatricem et dominam, which the Septuagint believed to be Geburoth (), and they said potentes.

(Verse 20, 21.) Lift up your eyes and see those who come from the north: where is the flock that was given to you, your splendid flock? What will you say when they visit you? You have taught them and trained them against you, and it will come upon your own head. The inhabitants of Jerusalem are commanded to lift up their eyes and see the Chaldeans coming from the north: the city itself is questioned and asked: Where is the flock that was given to you, your splendid flock? Where is your people, whom you received from God? Where is that great and illustrious multitude, that you believed the entire province was gathered in one place? What will you say when the Lord visits you with His rod, and hands you over to the enemies of Babylon, whom you, against yourself, either on your own head, or from the very beginning, taught to flee to their help and follow their idols; who, under the pretense of friendship with you, learned by what route they should come to you. Let the Church heed this, that she herself may teach her adversaries how they can capture her in spiritual captivity and tear her flock apart with the cruelty of beasts.

(Verse 22) Do not pains seize you, like a woman in childbirth? And if you say in your heart, why have these things come to me? It is because the shameful things of your iniquity have been revealed, your plants have been defiled (or dishonored). While you do not know, like a woman experiencing sudden labor pains, so will sudden captivity seize you. And if you wish to argue and inquire why you have been handed over to the enemy, hear clearly, this multitude has brought upon you the iniquities of your own doing, so that your shame may be revealed, like that of a prostitute, with your clothes lifted and your public fornications exposed. By these things we learn to act patiently towards the Lord and to await our repentance as long as our sins are minor. But if we should desire to join sins to sins and to accumulate a heap of sins, our shameful things will be revealed and our deeds will be shown to all, either in this present age or in the future. For nothing is hidden that will not be revealed (Matth. X): when that of Daniel will be fulfilled: These will rise to eternal life, and those to everlasting shame and confusion (Dan. XII, 2).

For as the prophet speaks," If the Ethiopian changes his skin, or the leopard his spots," then will they be willing to think religiously who have been instructed in irreligion. You, however, beloved, on receiving this, read it by yourself. If you approve of it, read it also to the brethren who happen to be present, that they, too, on hearing it, may welcome the council's zeal for the truth and the exactness of its sense and may condemn that of Christ's foes, the Arians, and the futile pretenses, which for the sake of their irreligious heresy they have been at the pains to frame among themselves.

Also, he showed so much love in his religion that, leaving behind a queen's court, he came from the farthest regions of the world to the Lord's temple. Hence, as a just reward, while he sought the interpretation of something that he was reading, he found Christ, whom he was seeking. Furthermore, as Jerome says, he found the church's font there in the desert, rather than in the golden temple of the synagogue. For there in the desert something happened that Jeremiah declared was to be wondered at, an Ethiopian changed his skin, that is, with the stain of his sins washed away by the waters of baptism, he went up, shining white, to Jesus.

By the reading of the prophet the eunuch of Candace, the queen of Ethiopia, is made ready for the baptism of Christ. Though it is against nature, the Ethiopian does change his skin, and the leopard his spots.

Then immediately quickening her pace, she began to move along the old road that leads to Gaza, that is, to the "power" or "wealth" of God, silently meditating on that type of the Gentiles, the Ethiopian eunuch, who, in spite of the prophet, changed his skin and, while he read the Old Testament, found the fountain of the gospel.

(Verse 23.) If an Ethiopian can change his skin, or a leopard its spots, then you can do good, once you have learned evil. They use this testimony against the Church, those who want to assert different natures; and they say that the darkness or diversity of sins is so great that they cannot pass into whiteness and the beauty of one color: not taking into account what follows: And you can do good, once you have learned evil. For whatever is learned, it is not of nature, but of study and one's own will: which by excessive habit and love is in a certain way turned into nature. But that which is impossible for humans is possible for God (Matthew 19 and Luke 18): so that the Ethiopian and the leopard do not seem to change their own nature; but He who works in the Ethiopian and the leopard, as the Apostle says: I can do all things in Him who strengthens me, Christ (Philippians 4:13). And in a foreign place: Moreover, he says, I have labored more than all of them: not I, but the grace of God which is in me (I Cor. XV, 10). And: I am not living anymore, but Christ is living in me (Galat. II, 20). And again we read: What do you have that you did not receive? And if you have received it, why do you boast as if you did not receive it (I Cor. IV, 7)? For these reasons, let not the wise man boast in his wisdom, nor the strong man in his strength, nor the rich man in his riches, nor the virtuous man in his virtue, knowing that in all these things there is the power of Christ, not of those who boast in their own virtues.

And if, "they could not," is put, instead of, "they would not," do not marvel, for He saith also in another place, "He that is able to receive it, let him receive it." So in many places He is wont to term choice, power... And what saith the Prophet? "If the Ethiopian shall change his skin, or the leopard his spots, this people also shall be able to do good, having learned evil." He saith not that the doing of virtue is impossible to them, but that because they will not, therefore they cannot.

(Verse 24, 25.) And I will scatter them like chaff that is blown away by the wind in the desert. This is your portion and your measure from me, says the Lord (or also a part of your disobedience against me). Because by excessive habit of evils, they could not change their nature, not by the fault of the creator, but by the inclination towards wickedness, therefore I will scatter them like chaff blown away by the wind into the wilderness, according to what is written elsewhere: Like dust that the wind scatters from the face of the earth (Psalm 1, 4). And it makes an appeal to Jerusalem itself: that this is its fate, and this is the portion that it has chosen for itself, complete and overflowing, or rather, a part of its disobedience, in which it did not want to submit to God. For the measure with which it measures will be measured back to it.

(Verse 26) Because you have forgotten me, and have trusted (or hoped) in lies: therefore I will also uncover your thighs, and your shame will be revealed, your adulteries and your whinings, the wickedness (or alienation) of your fornication: The cause of Jerusalem's dispersion, because she has forgotten God, and has trusted, or hoped, in lies. Whoever trusts in worldly things besides God, forgets God. Where the thighs or buttocks are exposed, so that she may see her own shame: and what should be behind, is placed in front: so that she may observe what she has done, and her shame may be apparent not only to herself, but to everyone. Your adulteries and your lustful neighing not only show desire, but also the madness of desire, like the behavior of mares that are eager for mating, as Virgil said (Georgics III, 280-281).

. . . . Hippomanes, which the shepherds call by name, slow virus drips from the loins. Let us pray to Jesus that he may not reveal our thighs ((alternatively, loins)) in the present or in the future age, and our backsides, but that he may erase all our iniquities and not allow all sins to appear.

But if even real virgins, when they have other failings, are not saved by their physical virginity, what shall become of those who have prostituted the members of Christ and have changed the temple of the Holy Spirit into a brothel? Immediately they should hear the words, "Come down and sit in the dust, O virgin daughter of Babylon, sit on the ground—there is no throne, O daughter of the Chaldeans. You shall no more be called tender and delicate. Take the millstone and grind meal. Uncover your locks, make bare your legs, pass over the rivers. Your nakedness shall be uncovered. Yes, your shame shall be seen." Shall she come to this after the bridal chamber of God the Son, after the kisses of him who is to her both kinsman and spouse? Yes, she of whom the prophetic utterance once sang, "At your right hand stands the queen in gold of Ophir," shall be made naked, and her skirts shall be discovered on her face.

"After committing many transgressions," he says, "you were not prepared to have recourse to repentance. I shall no longer demonstrate longsuffering. Instead, I will inflict punishment." It is better, therefore, to live according to the divine laws. But since we who are human will most likely fall at some point, we ought to have recourse to the remedies of repentance, and through them placate the judge and escape the experience of the punishments he threatens. May we for our part continue to not experience them, thanks to the grace and lovingkindness of our Lord Jesus Christ.

(Verse 27) On the hills in the field, I saw your abominations. Woe to you, Jerusalem, you will not be cleansed (or because you have not been cleansed) after me, how much longer? Not only in the midst of the city of Jerusalem, but on every hill and in all the regions, I saw your idols, from which it is said to you: Woe to you, Jerusalem, because you have not been cleansed after me, to boast about following in my footsteps and proclaiming my name, yet you have never been cleansed because you have forgotten me and put your hope in lies. From where does he chastise her and say, How much longer? and what sense, how long will I wait for you? how long will I endure? how much longer will you forget me to the end, and despise my teachings? She commits fornication on the hills and in the fields, and is never cleansed, who with erect neck is not humbled by pride under the powerful hand of God, but trusts in her own sins and vices.