Jeremiah 31

At that time, says the Lord, I will be God to all the families of Israel — or to the race of Israel — and they shall be to me for a people. Unless the thought of the Lord has been fulfilled and his fury has come to rest upon the head of the ungodly, the Lord of the universe cannot be God to the families of Israel; but this he says to the remnant, which has been saved. But if what is said is set against us: I will be God to the race of Israel or to all the families of Israel, let us take up an example: 'if you were children of Abraham, you would do the works of your father'; and the Apostle writes: behold Israel according to the flesh. From this he teaches that there is another Israel according to the spirit. That one, then, is Israel who discerns God with the mind, or is the most upright one of the Lord, and an Israel of this kind will be the people of God.

With this sense the words of Jeremiah also agree, spoken in the person of the Lord: As something warm in the desert, I found Israel with those slain by the sword (Jer 38:2 LXX; Vulg. 31:2). For when, he says, the whole world lay lifeless, wounded by the swords of idolatry, I found Israel in Abraham to have the warmth of faith, like a physician who after a battle, among the corpses of the dead, where he perceives that someone still has something of life in his beating veins, applies care to his wounds to restore him to health. For what is written ὡς θερμὸν, that is, as something warm, the Latin translator, deceived by the ambiguity of the word, rendered lupine, and in this most of the Greeks also err. And yet it should be known that in the Hebrew, for warmth, THODA (תודה) is written, which means grace: namely, that Israel was saved by the grace of God, and not by the merit of its own works.

Thus says the Lord: the people that had remained from the sword found grace in the desert; Israel shall go to its rest. LXX: thus said the Lord: I found warm in the desert with those who had perished by the sword; go, and do not kill Israel! Ridiculously, in this place the Latin codices, through the ambiguity of the Greek word, translated 'lupines' for 'warm'; for the Greek THERMON signifies both, and it is not itself found in the Hebrew. For there is written 'hen', which Aquila, Symmachus and Theodotion translated as charin, that is, 'grace'; the Seventy alone put 'warm', thinking that the last letter was 'm'. For if we read 'hen' with the letter 'n', it means 'grace'; if with 'm', it is interpreted 'heat'. Now the sense according to the Hebrew is this: the people of the Jews, which had remained from the Roman sword, or at any rate had been able to escape the wrath of the Lord's fury, found grace in the desert of the nations, so that amid the crowd of the nations it might be saved in the Church; whence Israel shall go and shall find its rest, which it had always hoped for, which the prophecies of the prophets had promised it. Further, according to the Seventy this is the understanding: the Lord found the apostles and their companions warm and living in the desert of the nations, among those who had been killed by their own unbelief and did not have the warmth of life. Hence it is commanded to the angels and to those who are in the ministry of God that they should not kill all, that Israel should not be utterly destroyed, and it is said to them: 'go, and do not kill Israel; let there be some who live, let there be those who are warm with the ardor of faith, let there be those who escape the cold of unbelief and of death, whom the Lord may find in the desert!'

From afar the Lord appeared to me — or to him — : and with an everlasting love I have loved you; therefore I have drawn you, having pity. And again I will build you and you shall be built, virgin Israel. Again you shall be adorned with your timbrels — or you shall take up your timbrels — and you shall go forth in the dance of those who make merry. Again you shall plant vineyards on the mountains of Samaria; plant plantings and gather the vintage! for there shall be a day on which the watchmen on Mount Ephraim shall cry: arise, and let us go up into Zion to the Lord our God! Because Israel had offended the Lord and had said: we have no king but Caesar, and: come, let us kill him, and the inheritance will be ours, and had withdrawn far from God, therefore the Lord after a long time appeared to him — not in the time of Zerubbabel and Ezra, after they were taken captive again —, but with an everlasting love, which will be blotted out by no end, he loved him, and drew him, having pity; for he was saved not at all by merit, but by clemency.

And again, he says, I will build you and you shall be built, virgin Israel. Let us understand this properly of the Church; for they rave who sigh for a golden and jeweled Jerusalem, consecrating their own avarice in the mystery of the Lord's city. 'Again you shall be adorned with your timbrels, so that you may sing to the Lord in the churches, all the flesh of evil works in you having been consumed, and you shall go forth in the dance of those who make merry with the crowds of the nations, you shall plant vineyards on the mountains of Samaria', not at all in the valleys and low places, but on the mountains of Samaria, which after the captivity of the people of Israel were possessed by foreigners, to whom it is said: plant plantings and gather the vintage!

Then was the day of the Lord, on which the watchmen — namely the apostles and apostolic men — cried on mount 'Samaria' and on mount 'Ephraim', of which the one sounds 'guard', the other 'fruitfulness'; but what do the watchmen of Samaria say, nay rather, what do they cry on Mount Ephraim? 'Arise, you who lie down, leave lowly things, spurn the offerings of victims' — a sacrifice to the Lord is a troubled spirit —, 'let us go up into Zion, that is, into the Church, where there is 'contemplation' and the beholding of God; and when we are in Zion, nay rather have gone up to it, we shall go up likewise to the Lord our God'.

For thus says the Lord: exult with gladness, Jacob, and neigh against the head of the nations; sound aloud, sing and say: save, O Lord, your people, the remnant of Israel! Significantly, not the whole of Israel is saved, but the remnant of Israel, the Lord commanding and saying: 'exult with gladness, you who are of Jacob, and neigh toward the head of the nations, referring all things to it, because the tail was once turned into the head; sound aloud and sing and say!' What is it that they are bidden to say? Save, O Lord, your people. Which people? Surely the remnant of Israel, which has been saved according to election, of whom Paul too speaks, taking up the testimony of Isaiah: unless the Lord of Sabaoth had left us seed, we should have become as Sodom and we should have been made like Gomorrah.

Behold, I will bring them from the land of the north and will gather them from the ends of the earth; and what follows: at the solemnity of the Passover; and it shall beget many sons, is not found in the Hebrew, but is read only in the Seventy, in place of which among the Hebrews is written: among whom shall be the blind and the lame and the woman with child and the woman giving birth together, a great church of those returning hither. The remnant of the people of Israel is gathered through the apostles and apostolic men, of whom we read above: the watchmen shall cry on the mount, and to whom it is commanded: sound aloud and sing and say, so that the remnant of Israel may be saved. And the Lord himself promises that he will bring them back from the land of the north, which is a most harsh wind, but by name is called right, from unbelief, from the cold of the Lord's love, and will gather them from the ends of the earth, not at another time, but at the solemnity of the Passover, that is, on the festal days of the Lord's passion, when the Lord was crucified and that was fulfilled which he himself promised in the Gospel: when I am lifted up, I will draw all things to myself. Then it begot a great people, so that that saying of Isaiah might be fulfilled: for a nation is born at once; for in one day three thousand and five thousand men believed. And what is written in the Hebrew: among whom shall be the blind and the lame and the woman with child and the woman giving birth together, a great church of those returning hither, although it has also been fulfilled according to the letter, in that the blind saw and the lame walked, yet it can better be understood according to anagōgēn [the higher, spiritual sense]: that those who before were blind with faithlessness afterwards believed in the Savior, and those who were lame, to whom Elijah once spoke: how long do you limp on both feet?, afterwards walked, and the people who sat in darkness and the shadow of death saw a great light, and the lame ran, and the woman with child bore sons, a great church of those returning to the faith. The Jews think that this was fulfilled when under Ezra, after the day of the Passover, they went out from Babylon to return to Jerusalem, in which there was a type and not the truth; for they will not be able to prove that at that time all the things which we have read and are going to read were fulfilled.

When Jeremiah says, "And I will gather them together from the extremities of the land in the feast day," he signifies the day of the Passover and of Pentecost, which is properly a "feast day." However, every day is the Lord's. Every hour, every time, is apt for baptism. If there is a difference in the solemnity, there is no distinction in the grace.

Be ye not unequally yoked together with unbelievers: for what fellowship hath righteousness with unrighteousness? and what communion hath light with darkness? And what concord hath Christ with Belial? or what part hath he that believeth with an infidel? And what agreement hath the temple of God with idols? for ye are the temple of the living God; as God hath said, I will dwell in them, and walk in them; and I will be their God, and they shall be my people. Wherefore come out from among them, and be ye separate, saith the Lord, and touch not the unclean thing; and I will receive you, And will be a Father unto you, and ye shall be my sons and daughters, saith the Lord Almighty. [Jeremiah 31:9]

With weeping they shall come — or they shall go out — and in mercy I will lead them back, and I will bring them through torrents of waters in a straight way, and they shall not stumble — or they shall not go astray — in it, for I have become a father to Israel, and Ephraim is my firstborn. If we read according to the Hebrew: with weeping they shall come — for this is what 'iabu' indicates —, we shall say that sometimes weeping is also a sign of excessive joy, according to that saying: I weep for joy. But if according to the Seventy, who said: with weeping they shall go out and in mercy — or in consolation — I will lead them back, we shall set down that sense which is also spoken in the Psalms: going they went and wept, carrying their seeds; but coming they shall come with exultation, carrying their sheaves. For they wept when they were led away captive, and they received the greatest consolation when they were led back by the mercy of the Lord. And the Lord brought them, through the apostles and apostolic men, full of waters and of a most abundant river, in a straight way, namely that of faith, not in the faithlessness of the Jews. And they shall not, he says, stumble in it, because they have ceased to be blind, to whom it was once said: if you were blind, you would not have sin; but now you say, We see; your sin remains. We can also understand the 'straight way' as Christ, in whom whoever walks will not stumble. I have become, he says, a father to Israel, who has been led back, and Ephraim is my firstborn; for where once sin abounded, grace abounded the more. And Scripture testifies that Ephraim is in the type of the people gathered from the nations. For he was the younger son of Joseph and stole away the birthright of Manasseh, who by nature was the firstborn; but in the mystery of the cross, the hands being crossed, he who stood at Jacob's left received the blessing of his right hand, and he who had stood at the right, blessed with the left, was reduced to the second rank. And as Jacob from Esau, so Ephraim snatched the birthright from Manasseh, and the whole people of the ten tribes was called Ephraim, because Jeroboam son of Nebat, from this tribe, was the first to obtain the kingdom in Samaria.

Hear the word of the Lord, O nations, and declare it to the islands that are far off, and say: he who scattered Israel will gather him and will keep him as a shepherd his flock, for the Lord has redeemed Jacob and has delivered him from the hand of one more powerful — or stronger —. And they shall come and shall praise on Mount Zion and shall flow together to the good things of the Lord, over grain and wine and oil and the young of flocks and of herds. Their soul shall be like a watered garden — or like a fruit-bearing tree — and they shall hunger no more. Then the virgin shall rejoice in the dance — or virgins — and young men and old together, and I will turn their mourning into joy and will console them and make them glad from their sorrow, and I will inebriate the soul of the priests with fatness — or of the sons of Levi — and my people shall be filled with my good things, says the Lord. The calling of the nations is clearly shown, Scripture saying: hear the word of the Lord, O nations, and declare it to the islands that are far off, and say! What do they declare to the islands that are situated far off? That the Lord, who scattered Israel, himself will gather him — it was not at all, then, of the power of the adversaries that they were scattered, but of the Lord's will — and will keep him as a shepherd his flock — for the good shepherd lays down his life for his sheep —, for the Lord has redeemed Jacob at the price of his own blood and has delivered him from the hand of one more powerful or stronger. By this it is shown that the adversary powers are stronger than the nature of human frailty, and, as to the strength that is in each, that they are stronger by nature, but we stronger by faith, if only we deserve to be delivered by him who can bind the strong man and plunder his house.

And they shall come, he says, — no doubt delivered from the hand of the powerful — and shall praise their deliverer on Mount Zion, that is, in the Church, and shall flow together to the good things of the Lord, the abundance of all things, which is perceived not in the fruits and foods of this flesh, but in the variety of the virtues. Over grain, he says, and wine and oil — from which the bread of the Lord is made, and the type of his blood is fulfilled, and the blessing of sanctification is shown, Scripture saying: God, your God, has anointed you with the oil of gladness above your fellows — and the young of flocks, who are the simple in the Church, and of herds, which are horned and toss the adversaries. But that we may know that these blessings do not pertain at all to the body but to the soul, there follows: and their soul shall be like a watered garden or like a fruit-bearing tree, which is planted beside the streams of waters, and the paradise of the Lord in delights. And no more, he says, shall they hunger; not at all with that hunger of which it is written: blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, but with that which is changed by satiety and shuts out the want of all things.

Then the virgin shall rejoice in the dance — of whom the Apostle writes: for I have betrothed you to one husband, to present a chaste virgin to Christ — and the young men — to whom John speaks: I write to you, young men, because you have overcome the evil one — and the old, to whom the same testifies in mystical speech: I write to you, fathers, because you have known him who is from the beginning. And I will turn, he says, their mourning into joy — so that the resurrection may gladden those whom the cross had terrified — and I will console them and make them glad from their sorrow — according to what the Lord says: blessed are those who mourn, for they shall be consoled — and I will inebriate the soul of the priests, who have the knowledge of God, from whose mouth they ask the law of the Lord, who believe in him to whom the prophet sings: you are a priest forever according to the order of Melchizedek. But what follows according to the Seventy: of the sons of Levi, is not found in the Hebrew, and it is clear that here it is not at all said of those priests who are sons of Levi, but of those in whose type Melchizedek went before. And the 'inebriation' of the priests is proved in the apostles too, when they were fervent in faith and were said to be full of new wine; whence also the place in which the Lord was seized is called 'Gessemani', which in our language sounds 'valley of fatness'. And when the priests have been made fat with the teaching of the Lord and, inebriated at the banquet of Joseph, have said: your cup that inebriates, how excellent it is!, then this too will come about which the Lord now promises: and my people shall be filled with my good things. All these things are now granted in part; but then they will be given in full, when we see face to face and the body of our lowliness has been changed by the glory of the resurrection.

Why then need I watch the rising and setting of the stars, at whose rising the fallows should be ploughed up and pierced by the hard plough-shares, and at whose setting the fruitful crop should be cut down by the sickle? One star suffices for me in the place of all others, the bright and morning Star, at Whose rising was sown the seed not of corn but of martyrs; when Rachel wept for her children, and offered in the stead of Christ her children washed in her own tears. The setting of this Star raised from the tomb not the senseless relics of the funeral pile, but the triumphant bands of the re-animated dead.

According to the oracle of Jeremiah, "A voice was heard in Ramah," that is, "on high," "of lamentation and great wailing." This clearly denotes that holy church's mourning, by which it grieves for the violent death of its members, does not, as our enemies foolishly claim, pass away into a void, but it ascends right to the throne of the heavenly judge.

Today we are celebrating the feast of all those infants who, the Gospel text tells us, were killed by King Herod, and for this reason our land, the fruitful mother of heavenly soldiers and such great virtues, should rejoice with the greatest exultation. Behold, the wicked enemy could never have helped the blessed infants as much by submission as he did by his hatred. As today's most sacred feast shows us, the grace of benediction shone forth in the blessed infants as much as cruelty against them abounded. For we heard a little while ago that when King Herod was pursuing Christ, thousands of happy boys were killed. As the prophet said, "Rachel mourns her children; she refuses to be consoled because her children are no more." The blessed mother of the triumphant, the land of illustrious warriors, rich in children, for a short time seemed to the eyes of the foolish to be bereaved. But she never was in need of consolation, nor did she bewail the sons whom she acquired with enviable sorrows, even while she lost them. Blessed are you, Bethlehem, land of Judah, who suffered the cruelty of King Herod in the death of your sons and at the same time merited to offer to God a white-clad group of peaceable, sinless infants.

"Thus says the Lord: A voice was heard in Ramah, lamentation, sobbing and weeping. Rachel is weeping for her children." In a historical sense this prophecy speaks about sons of Judah and Benjamin living in Jerusalem and Bethlehem. Jeremiah later on describes the fulfillment of this prophecy, saying that tribes of Judah and Benjamin were sent to Ramah, the city of Benjamin's tribe, and then they were sent to captivity in Babylon. But in a spiritual sense, these words were fulfilled when Herod killed infants in Ephrathah and in its suburbs. It was said that Rachel was crying in Bethlehem and her voice was heard in Ramah because her body was buried in Bethlehem. But the people of Bethlehem were captured and sent to Ramah, and from there they had to go into a foreign land, to Babylon. It is why the prophet comforts mothers of killed infants when referring to Rachel.

Then was fulfilled what was spoken through the prophet Jeremiah, saying: A voice was heard in Ramah, weeping and great wailing, Rachel weeping for her sons, and she would not be consoled, because they are not. Of Rachel was born Benjamin, in whose tribe Bethlehem does not lie. It is asked, therefore, how Rachel weeps for the sons of Judah, that is, of Bethlehem, as if they were her own. We shall answer briefly: because she was buried near Bethlehem in Ephrathah (from the inner lodging of her little body she received the name of mother); or else because Judah and Benjamin were two joined tribes, and Herod had commanded that the boys be killed not only in Bethlehem but in all its borders round about; by occasion of Bethlehem we understand that many of Benjamin also were slain. And she weeps for her sons and does not receive consolation according to a twofold understanding: either because she thought them dead for ever, or because she would not be consoled for those whom she knew would live. And as for the saying: in Ramah, let us not think it is the name of the place which is near Gibeah; but Ramah is interpreted height, so that the sense is: A voice was heard on high, that is, spread far and wide.

Thus says the Lord: a voice of lamentation was heard on high, of weeping and mourning, of Rachel bewailing her sons, and she would not be consoled over her sons, because they are not. LXX: thus said the Lord: a voice was heard in Ramah, lamentation and weeping and mourning, of Rachel bewailing her sons, and she would not be quieted, because they are not. Matthew took the testimony neither according to the Hebrew nor according to the Seventy; for we read in him, after the description of the slaughter of the infants: then was fulfilled what was spoken through Jeremiah the prophet, saying: a voice was heard in Ramah, wailing and much howling, of Rachel weeping for her sons, and she would not be consoled, because they are not. From this it is clear that the evangelists and apostles did not at all follow anyone's translation from the Hebrew, but, as Hebrews from Hebrews, expressed in their own words what they read in Hebrew. Rachel, the mother of Joseph, when she was coming to Bethlehem, was suddenly seized with the pain of childbirth and bore a son, whom the midwife, because she was dying in giving birth, called Benoni, that is, son of my sorrow; but his father Jacob changed the name and called him Benjamin, that is, son of the right hand. It is asked, then, how Matthew the evangelist transferred the testimony of the prophet to the killing of the little ones, when it is clearly written of the ten tribes, whose chief was of Ephrathah, and it is not at all in the tribe of Ephraim, but in the tribe of Judah. For this same place is also Bethlehem, diōnymos [double-named], whence also the names of both agree; 'Bethleem' is called 'house of bread', 'Ephratha' karpophoria, which we can call 'fruitfulness'. Since, then, Rachel was buried in Ephrathah, that is, in Bethlehem — as both holy Scripture and the inscription of her tomb testify to this day —, she is said to weep for the children who were killed near her and in her own regions. Some of the Jews interpret this place thus: that, when Jerusalem was taken under Vespasian, countless thousands of captives were sent to Rome by this road, by Gaza and Alexandria; others, that in the last captivity under Hadrian, when the city of Jerusalem too was overthrown, a numberless people of various ages and of both sexes was sold at the market of the Terebinth; and that for this reason it is abhorrent to the Jews to visit that most frequented market. Let them say what they will; we shall say that the evangelist Matthew rightly took the testimony for the place in which Rachel was buried and wept for the sons of the neighboring villages round about as if they were her own.

Herod sought him after his birth. He was to kill all the children in that place. And the prophet revealed this, too, foretelling it long beforehand when he said, "A voice was heard in Ramah, lamentation, mourning and much weeping, of Rachel weeping for her children and refusing to be comforted, because they are not." The Scriptures also predicted that he would come to Egypt when they said, "Out of Egypt I called my son."

Then Herod, when he saw that he was mocked of the wise men, was exceeding wroth, and sent forth, and slew all the children that were in Bethlehem, and in all the coasts thereof, from two years old and under, according to the time which he had diligently inquired of the wise men. Then was fulfilled that which was spoken by Jeremy the prophet, saying, In Rama was there a voice heard, lamentation, and weeping, and great mourning, Rachel weeping for her children, and would not be comforted, because they are not. [Jeremiah 31:15]

Ramah belonged to the tribe of Benjamin, and the tomb of Rachel is in the hippodrome of Chaphratha on the way to Ephrath. While the prophecy had its fulfillment in the time of Herod the Great, who did away with the babies in the hope of doing away at the same time with the newborn Savior, the prophet places it here in the context of the promise of good things so as to emphasize that the birth of our Lord and Savior according to the flesh was the real good and the summit of salvation, though on account of it the babies met that unjust end.

Thus says the Lord: let your voice cease from wailing and your eyes from tears, for there is a reward for your work, says the Lord, and they shall return from the land of the enemy — or of the enemies — and there shall be hope for your last end, says the Lord, and the sons shall return to their borders. This has not yet happened according to the letter — for we do not read that the ten tribes, which are in exile in the cities of the Medes and of the Persians, have returned to the land of Judea —, but according to the spirit it was fulfilled in the passion of the Lord and is being fulfilled up to now, when Israel is saved from the whole world and it is said to Rachel: let your voice cease from wailing and your eyes from tears!, and the sense is: 'cease to wail — for the Lord has looked upon your former works — and your sons shall return from the land of the enemy, and do not be held by present sorrow! for there is hope in your last end, says the Lord, and your sons shall return to their borders, which their fathers had, Abraham, Isaac and Jacob'. But we understand it better of the little ones: that they have the reward of their blood shed for Christ, and in place of the land of Herod the enemy they hold the kingdoms of heaven, and they will return to their former seat when, in place of the body of lowliness, they receive a glorious body. This is the last hope, when the righteous shall shine like the sun, and the infants, once little ones and sucklings, rise again without the increase of years and without the injuries and toil of the body. Into the perfect man, into the measure of the fullness of Christ.

Let us purify ourselves by tears, that the Lord our God may hear us when we lament, as he heard Ephraim when weeping, as it is written: "I have surely heard Ephraim weeping." He expressly repeats the words of Ephraim: "You have chastised me, and I was chastised; like a calf I was not trained." For a calf shows itself off and leaves its stall, and so Ephraim was untrained like a calf far away from the stall, because he had forsaken the stall of the Lord, followed Jeroboam and worshiped the calves, which future event was prophetically indicated through Aaron, namely, that the people of the Jews would fall after this manner. And so repenting, Ephraim says, "Turn me, and I shall be turned, for you are the Lord my God. Surely in the end of my captivity I repented, and after I learned I mourned over the days of confusion and subjected myself to you because I received reproach and made you known."

Hearing I heard Ephraim going into exile — or lamenting — : you have chastised me and I was instructed like an untamed bullock — or like a calf, and I did not learn — ; convert me, and I shall be converted, for you are the Lord my God. For after you converted me — or I was taken captive —, I repented, and after I knew — or you showed me —, I struck my thigh — or I groaned — ; I was confounded and blushed — or from the day of confusion and I showed you —, because I bore the reproach of my youth. God says what he heard Ephraim saying and lamenting. Now no one doubts that it signifies the ten tribes, over which Jeroboam son of Nebat first ruled, who also made the golden calves in Dan and Bethel, so that the people, seduced by this error, might cease to worship and adore the God of Israel. You have chastised me, he says, and I was chastised. Every correction, which for the present seems to be of sadness, profits for salvation and afterwards brings peaceable fruits. And what he says: like an untamed bullock or a calf, and I did not learn, signifies this: that he was instructed with much toil and with blows, so that he might be turned to repentance, and he did not profit. 'Convert', he says, 'me, and I shall be converted' — therefore even this very thing, that we repent, we cannot accomplish unless we rely on the help of God — ; 'for after you have converted me and I have been converted to you, then I shall know that you are the Lord my God, and not at all my errors and sins. And after you converted me, I repented'.

See how great is the help of God and how frail the human condition, that this very thing, that we repent, we are not at all able to accomplish unless the Lord has first converted us. 'And after', he says, 'you showed me either repentance itself or the knowledge of you, or I knew you, I struck my thigh.' This is the sign of one grieving and lamenting and bewailing his former error: that he strikes his thigh with his hand and confesses that he was foolish before. I was confounded, he says, and blushed or from the day of confusion. For what time is not one of our confusion, if we recall our ancient sins and call to memory all the things we have done ill? And what the Seventy said: and I showed you, signifies that, after he groaned and knew his own offenses, he then came to such progress that he even showed God to others who did not know him, according to what David too says in repentance: I will teach the wicked your ways, and the ungodly shall be converted to you. Because I bore, he says, the reproach of my youth. He says that he sinned through the ignorance of his age, so that he may more easily obtain pardon, according to what David too sings: the offenses of my youth and my ignorances do not remember! Whence also in what follows the Lord calls him 'a little one' and 'abounding in delights'; and this he says on account of the greatness of its riches and the fertility of the land, in which the tribe of Ephraim luxuriates to this day.

The Impassible speaks as if it suffered passion, and that which contains in Itself the cause of its own and all other bliss talks as though it could be in want and yearning. "Is Ephraim my dear son? is he a pleasant child? for since I spake against him I do earnestly remember him still: therefore my bowels are troubled for him."

Is Ephraim an honorable son — or beloved — to me, is he a delicate child? for, since I spoke of him — or my words in him —, I will still remember him; therefore my bowels are troubled over him; pitying I will have pity on him, says the Lord. Since Ephraim repents and says at the beginning: you have instructed me and I was instructed like an untamed bullock, and at the end: because I bore the reproach of my youth, the Lord answers, and sustains him, turned to him with his whole mind, with such an oracle: 'Ephraim is a beloved son to me, whom I loved so much from the beginning that I preferred him to his brother Manasseh.' An honorable son, who against the order of nature received the honor of the firstborn by the condescension of the Lord; a delicate child, of whom he writes: the sons of Ephraim, bending and shooting the bow, turned back in the day of battle, against whom and to whom the whole book of the prophet Hosea is addressed, whom Jacob blesses. And let us take 'delights' in this place according to what is said in the psalm: delight in the Lord, and he will give you the petitions of your heart, for which in the Greek and in the Hebrew it has: abound in delights; whence also the paradise in Eden is called the paradise 'of delights'. 'For', he says, 'there were my words in him, with remembrance I will still be mindful of him.' Lest the blessing be thought gratuitous, and to have been conferred out of the indulgence of the giver rather than by the merit of him on whom it was bestowed, therefore he says: 'I will remember him, for my words were in him, not in his mouth, not on his lips, but in the innermost affection of the heart; for which cause also my bowels are troubled over him'. To him he speaks through Hosea too: what shall I do to you, Ephraim? what shall I do to you, Israel? shall I make you as Admah and as Zeboiim? my heart is turned within me, my bowels are troubled. I will not execute the fury of my wrath and I will not destroy Ephraim. Pitying I will have pity on him, says the Lord. 'My words indeed were in him, and he received all my commandments with an eager mind and kept them in his heart; but nevertheless pitying I will have pity on him', to show that all the righteousness of men needs the mercy of God.

Set up for yourself watchtowers, put for yourself bitternesses, direct your heart into the straight way in which you walked; return, virgin Israel, return to these your cities! How long will you be dissolved in delights, wandering daughter? for the Lord has created a new thing upon the earth: a woman shall encompass a man. LXX: set up for yourself lookouts, make punishment, give your heart to your shoulders; the way in which you walked, return, virgin Israel, return to your cities mourning! How long will you turn away, despised daughter? for the Lord has created you as salvation for a new planting; in your salvation men shall go about. Where we said: how long will you be dissolved in delights?, Symmachus put: how long will you sink into the deep? Now I have set out each edition in full, in order to show that a most obscure passage, one containing the mysteries of the Church, was either unknown to or omitted by the Seventy — or whoever else translated this prophet. The Hebrew word 'sionim' is rendered either as 'lookouts' or as 'watchtowers', as Aquila and Symmachus translated. Hence I wonder what the common edition meant by putting 'Sion' in place of 'sionim', that is, 'lookouts', and so confusing the reader's understanding that he would think that after Ephraim the word of God had suddenly been addressed to Zion and to the tribe of Judah, although the discourse is continuously to Ephraim, to whom he also spoke above: hearing I heard Ephraim, and: Ephraim is an honorable son to me or a delicate child, and to whom he now also speaks: 'set up for yourself watchtowers or lookouts, to announce to you beforehand that so great a happiness of all things is coming.' And what follows, 'bitternesses', which in Hebrew are called 'themrurim', for which Symmachus translated 'changes', indicates this: that she ought to weep, either for her ancient sins or from the greatness of her joy, and to be converted to God with her whole mind, and to set or direct her heart into the way by which she set out; for by that way she will return. And what the Seventy said in place of this: give your heart to your shoulders, signifies that she ought to join her thoughts to works, or to contemplate the shoulders of those carrying her, bringing her back from captivity; which Isaiah sets out more fully in the camels and chariots and litters, asserting that they are to be brought back. 'Return', he says, 'virgin Israel, return to your cities, which you deserted when they were captive! How long will you be dissolved in negligence and wander in deep error? Look at what I am about to say, and attend diligently to whence so great a blessedness is to be hoped for by you; hear what you had never known before! The Lord has created a new thing upon the earth: without the seed of a man, without any intercourse and conception, a woman shall encompass a man in the bosom of her womb, who, according to the increments of age indeed, through wailings and infancy will be seen to advance in wisdom and age, but a perfect man will be contained in a woman's belly for the usual months.' Hence both Symmachus and Aquila translated in accordance with our edition. But what the common edition meant in this place I could say, and could find some sense, were it not sacrilege to argue about the words of God with human sense. Theodotion, however, himself also agreeing with the common edition, translated: the Lord has created a new salvation, in salvation man shall go about, putting the singular for the plural; and at the same time this too is to be noted, that the nativity of the Savior and the conception of God is called 'creation'.

A figure preceded in the woman and the man, because Jeremiah says: "A woman shall encompass a man." All of this was fulfilled in the glorious Virgin. Whence Bernard says: "What was shown to Moses in the bush and fire, to Aaron in the rod and flower, to Gideon in the fleece and dew: this Solomon clearly foresaw in the strong woman and her price; more clearly Jeremiah foretold concerning the woman and the man; most clearly Isaiah declared concerning the Virgin and her son; and at last Gabriel made it manifest by greeting the Virgin."

The word of Jeremiah concerns the woman and the man: "A new thing," he says, "the Lord will make upon the earth; a woman shall encompass a man." Who brought it about that the Virgin conceived? Certainly the Holy Spirit, who is a love fervent, fruitful, undefiled, virile, incorrupt, and deifying. That he is a virile love is signified to us in the woman and the man, because the "woman encompassed the man," that is, enclosed him on every side.

Thus says the Lord of hosts, the God of Israel: they shall still say this word in the land of Judah and in its cities, when I turn back their captivity: the Lord bless you, beauty of righteousness, holy mountain! And Judah shall dwell in it, and all its cities together, husbandmen and those who drive flocks. LXX: thus said the Lord of powers, the God of Israel: they shall still say this speech in the land of Judah and in its cities, when I bring back its exile: blessed be the Lord upon his righteous holy mountain, and those who dwell in the land of Judea and in every city of it with the husbandman; and he shall be lifted up in the flock. According to the Hebrew it is plain that at the return of Israel, its captivity having been turned back into its own land, the cities of Judah dwell, and it is said to them one by one: the Lord bless you, who is truly the beauty of righteousness and the holy mountain, in which whoever dwells will fear no snares; and Judah will dwell without iniquity in its cities, and there will be husbandmen and a multitude of cattle. This seems to have been fulfilled in part under Zerubbabel and Ezra, but let the fullness of the prophecy be referred to the times of Christ: either to the first coming, when these things were done spiritually, or to the second, when all things are fulfilled — according to us spiritually, according to the Jews and our Judaizers carnally. Further, according to the Seventy this is the sense: 'this speech shall still be spoken in the land of Judah and in its cities, when I turn back its captivity'. What shall be spoken? Blessed be the Lord upon his righteous holy mountain. The mountain which deserves to receive the name 'of righteousness and of holiness' is no other than the Savior; for the rest, it is foolish, with Jewish error, to believe an irrational and insensible mountain 'righteous and holy'. He it is of whom it is also written in what follows: and in every city of it — understood: of the Savior — with the husbandman; no doubt it signifies God, of whom it is written in the Gospel too: I am the vine, you the branches, and my Father is the husbandman; whence also the Apostle says: you are God's husbandry, God's building. And what follows: and he shall be lifted up in the flock, shows this: that in the several flocks the righteous and holy one and husbandman, the Lord himself, is lifted up, and in his servants and believers ascends to the heights.

For I have inebriated the weary soul — or for I have inebriated every thirsting soul — and every hungering soul I have satisfied — or I have filled —, therefore I awoke and saw, and my sleep was sweet to me. The change of persons makes the understanding of the prophets obscure. The Lord had said: they shall still say this word in the land of Judah and in its cities, when I turn back their captivity. And what shall they say? No doubt this, which follows: the Lord bless you, beauty of righteousness, holy mountain, and the rest. And again, while they say these things, the Lord answers: for I have inebriated the weary soul — or thirsting — and every hungering soul I have satisfied. And while he says these things, the people that had come from captivity answers: therefore I awoke and saw, and my sleep was sweet to me. For the Lord inebriates the weary or thirsting soul, and says in the Gospel: whoever thirsts, let him come to me and drink, and: whoever believes in me, as the Scripture says, out of his belly shall flow rivers of living water; and he satisfies every hungering and thirsting soul, of which thirst and hunger the same testifies in the Gospel: blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they shall be satisfied. And it is to be noted that 'inebriation' in this place is put in a good sense, of which in the Canticle too it is said: eat, friends, drink and be inebriated, dearest ones! With this inebriation Joseph too was inebriated with his brothers at midday.

Let us, then, submit ourselves to God, and not be subject to sin, and when we ponder the remembrance of our offences, let us blush as though at some disgrace, and not speak of them as a glory to us, as some boast of overcoming modesty, or putting down the feeling of justice. Let our conversion be such, that we who did not know God may now ourselves declare Him to others, that the Lord, moved by such a conversion on our part, may answer to us: "Ephraim is from youth a dear son, a pleasant child, for since My words are concerning him, I will verily remember him, therefore have I hastened to be over him; I will surely have mercy on him, saith the Lord." And what mercy He promises us, the Lord also shows, when He says further on: "I have satiated every thirsty soul, and have satisfied every hungry soul. Therefore, I awaked and beheld, and My sleep was sweet unto Me." We observe that the Lord promises His sacraments to those who sin. Let us, then, all be converted to the Lord.

For you should not be surprised if the Prophet says that his soul is disturbed, since the Lord Jesus himself said: "Now my soul is troubled." For he who took on our weaknesses also took on our emotions, in which he was sad even unto death, not because of death; for voluntary death could not have sorrow, in which the joy and refreshment of all was to come. Of this he also said elsewhere: "And I arose, and saw, and a sweet sleep came to me." Blessed sleep that made the hungry not hunger, the thirsty not thirst, for whom he prepared the sweetness of the sacraments. So how then was his soul troubled by fear, who made the souls of others not fear? Sorrowful even unto death, until grace was perfected: which is proven by his own testimony saying of his death: "With the baptism I am to be baptized, and how am I distressed until it is accomplished?"

And those who had been weary and had hungered, inebriated and satisfied, give thanks, answering: 'I awoke and saw the Lord', namely raising them up and saying: arise, you who sleep, and rise from the dead, and Christ will enlighten you. 'And my sleep', he says, 'was sweet to me, so that I might imitate the words of my Lord, who says: I slept and was put to rest; and I rose up, because the Lord sustained me'.

Behold, days are coming, says the Lord, and I will sow the house of Israel and the house of Judah with the seed of men and the seed of beasts. And as I watched over them to pluck up and to demolish and to scatter and to destroy and to afflict, so I will watch over them to build and to plant, says the Lord. In those days they shall no longer say: the fathers have eaten a sour grape and the teeth of the sons are set on edge; but each one shall die in his own iniquity; every man who eats the sour grape, his teeth shall be set on edge. 'House' and 'house', that is, the house of Israel and the house of Judah, is not in the Seventy, but only: Israel and Judah, so that it reads: and I will sow Israel and Judah. And what he added: with the seed of men and the seed of beasts, we ought to refer to the rational and the simple.

And as at the beginning of Jeremiah it was said to him: 'behold, I have set you this day over nations and over kingdoms, to pluck up and pull down and destroy and scatter and build and plant, — and I watched over them, to do what I threatened, — so', he says, 'now I will watch over them to build and to plant; God's indeed husbandry, God's building you are.' All promises of this kind are thought, according to the Jews and our Judaizers, to be fulfilled in a kingdom of a thousand years. But we, since the Apostle says: I planted, Apollos watered, but God gave the increase, and the prophet Isaiah records that the Savior is the builder of hedges and of houses, maintain that they were fulfilled spiritually at the first coming of Christ — and fulfilled in part, not in whole, because now we see in a mirror and in an enigma, and we do not know as we ought to know; but when that which is perfect has come, then that which is in part will be done away — or at any rate we believe that they are to be fulfilled at the second coming, when the Lord will appear in his majesty and the fullness of the nations has come in, so that all Israel may be saved, and not at all in part, through individuals, but that God may be all in all.

And what is brought in: in those days they shall no longer say: the fathers have eaten a sour grape and the teeth of the sons are set on edge, and the rest, we discussed more fully in the explanations of Ezekiel, when we interpreted that place: son of man, what is this parable to you among the sons of Israel, who say: the fathers have eaten a sour grape and the teeth of the sons are set on edge? As I live, says the Lord, if this parable shall be any longer in Israel! for all souls are mine; as the soul of the father, so also the soul of the son; the soul that sins, it shall die. By this we learn that it is not the Lord who makes death, but sin; for the soul that sins, it shall die. And this is said in the present place: that Israel will not at all stumble forever because of the sins of the fathers, but will be saved by its own merits and by faith in Christ after many ages. And it is to be observed that vices and sins are called 'a sour grape', so that the teeth of those who eat are set on edge and cannot perceive the sweetness of him of whom it is said: taste and see that the Lord is sweet! Whoever does not understand the Scriptures as the truth of the matter holds eats a sour grape; whence also all heretics, believing perverse things, cannot eat the bread that comes down from heaven, but their teeth are set on edge, not by the harshness of the foods, but by the fault of the teeth.

In the mean time, whom will you be able to persuade that by receiving the lapsed the whole Church hath perished? That by the admission of penitents, the people of those who admit them has been made a denier of the Faith? But even if the people here or there have been too lax, have the other peoples also who approved not of their deed, but followed custom and peace, lost the Christian name? Hear the voice of Jeremiah, In those days shall they not say, The fathers have eaten a sour grape, and the children's teeth are set on edge. But every one shall die for his own iniquity.

It is similarly impossible, he says, for children to be called to account for ancestral sins, because I promise to children the greatest blessings even when their parents sin.

How could it be shown from the testimony of the prophets, already received among the Gentiles in the New Testament, that the promise which God made to Abraham has been fulfilled through the coming of Christ? — It is written in the prophet Isaiah: “My house shall be called a house of prayer for all nations” (Isa. 56:7). But perhaps the Jews will say: The house of God, that is, the synagogue, is open to all. Nor do we object; yet in such a way that, as always, the circumcised join themselves to the Law. For their Law is that by which they were commanded, after the manner of Abraham, to be circumcised. Therefore, nothing new can seem to be signified by this example of the prophet; since anyone coming from any nation has never been forbidden from the beginning of Judaism to join himself to the Law. Nothing new spoken by the prophet can be thought, indeed it would be unessential, if the Gentiles have always been admitted to serve the God of Abraham and are never found to have been forbidden. And this is true, because those who submit themselves to the Law are never found not to have been received. If, therefore, these things are so, it seems needless that the prophet admonished about what, once handed down, has always been observed. And could anyone so dull be found as to say that the prophet spoke something unnecessary and empty? I do not know for whom it would be safe even to hear this and not oppose it. For since the Jewish people, on account of the sins which they committed against God, seeking help from idols, were often rebuked by the prophets but refused to enter upon the path of repentance so as to return to God, God, in reproach of them, indicated that He would open His house to all nations to pray, so that, the Jews being cast off, He would show that He would place others in their place. For if the nations have always been admitted to the Law, as was said above, how could the prophet say that this would happen in the future, unless he meant something different from what had been previously commanded? He could not speak of a thing which was done daily as though it were going to come. Therefore it is clear that this tends to the ruin of the Jews, to whom the prophet shows that, with them removed, others were to be called and were to receive the house of God’s grace, which had been promised to the Jews. What that promise is, the prophet Isaiah teaches, saying: “There shall come out of Zion one who shall deliver and shall turn away ungodliness from Jacob; and this shall be my covenant with them” (Isa. 59:20–21). Therefore this covenant is the removal of sins. This is the New Covenant, which was promised through Jeremiah, who says: “Behold, the days are coming, says the Lord, and I will accomplish for the house of Israel and the house of Judah a new covenant, not according to the covenant which I arranged for their fathers on the day when I took them by the hand to lead them out of the land of Egypt; for they did not continue in my covenant, and I neglected them, says the Lord” (Jer. 31:31–32). This is their transgression, when they made the image of a calf; then they corrupted His covenant. Therefore also the tablets on which the Law had been given were shattered under the mountain (Exod. 32:4, 19), because they deserved to receive more severe precepts. But because God is mild and merciful, He promised through the prophets that He would change the Law, so as to give another Covenant, which would differ from that which He had given before: that not only what was burdensome might be changed, but also those things which were given in figure, that is, the sabbath and circumcision; so that, since they had long been oppressed, being relieved in all things, they might give grateful thanks to God as petitioners. And because, persisting in their fathers’ transgression, they refused to turn their minds away from idols, He testifies that the nations, together with the remnant who kept the faith, will enjoy the Covenant which He had said would come: so that the faithless Jews might be tortured in a twofold way. For they were burdened for a time by the precepts, and in the future they will pay fitting penalties, because they were found faithful neither in the Old nor in the New Covenant. So He said that He would give a New Covenant, so that the Old, which had been given to the Fathers, would cease. And therefore, whoever serves God in this Covenant does not observe the sabbath, nor new moons, nor circumcision, nor distinctions of foods; but has only the fear of God in faith: because he will not be justified by the Law, but by faith, as the prophet Habakkuk says: “For the righteous shall live by faith” (Hab. 2:4); so that he no longer uses many precepts to gain favor with God, but few. Isaiah again, speaking with the same meaning, says: “Though the number of the sons of Israel be as the sand of the sea, a remnant of them shall be saved. For the Lord shall accomplish and cut short His word in righteousness, because the Lord will make a short word upon the whole earth” (Isa. 10:22–23). For the remnant who will persevere in the faith of the promise, while the others do not believe, He shows the shortened word of the Law: this is the New Covenant which He promised. It would not otherwise be called a Covenant, unless in a similar way this too were confirmed by the witness of blood, just as the Old Covenant, so that both might have one and the same name: but in the Old, many precepts, in the New, however, few, as He promised. So that, since He had said that Abraham would be the father of many nations (Gen. 17:4–5), in the same way the sons might be justified as the father had been justified: so that, once those things ceased which began after the faith of Abraham, those who receive the faith by which that same Abraham was justified might be sons of Abraham, as was said by the Lord. And this is neither strange nor unheard of, that men should be justified without care for the sabbath and circumcision and the rest of the commandments of this sort. For Enoch did not please God by this, that he might be translated; nor was Noah found righteous in the flood by observing this alone; nor was Abraham himself justified after he was circumcised: “Abraham,” it says, “believed God, and it was reckoned to him as righteousness” (Heb. 11:5, 7, 8; Rom. 4:3). Then he was circumcised, so that there might be in him a sign that, though he was old, he believed that he would have a son. Therefore it is not circumcision that commends Abraham, but faith. And so, for those who believe, faith is sufficient for justification, that they may be sons of Abraham in faith, not in circumcision, because they have no need of circumcision. For what Abraham believed is not what is believed in their case. But the Jews were therefore ordered to be circumcised, so that they might have the sign of Abraham’s faith, not of their own faith, but so that they might be known as his sons according to the flesh. Yet if they believe, they will be his sons also in justification. For what advantage is it to be called the son of a powerful man if one is powerless, except that it is even more harmful? For it is a disgrace to be the son of a noble and glorious man without honor. Indeed, bodily circumcision is so far from being a merit that God says through the prophet Jeremiah that He will take vengeance on all the circumcised in foreskin, if they are not circumcised in heart (Jer. 4:4). Yet He is not angry with those who are circumcised in heart but uncircumcised in flesh, because no one has ever pleased God without the circumcision of the heart. Whoever, therefore, are circumcised in the flesh signify the lineage of Abraham according to the flesh; but those who are circumcised in heart signify the lineage of God according to faith, because, being circumcised from all worldly error, they confess God as their Father. What then does the circumcision of the flesh profit, if, when faith is lacking in the Jew, he cannot attain to the merit of Abraham? Or what harm is there in foreskin, when no one attains to his righteousness except the one who has followed the faith of Abraham? They therefore glory in the circumcision of the flesh in vain, since they see that it has no merit before God. And since, as has been shown, it is better to have faith than circumcision, the Gentiles are better than the Jews; for the Gentiles have faith, the Jews have circumcision. And whom do you think He recognizes more as sons of Abraham: those who are like him according to the flesh, or those who are like him in faith? But the faith of Abraham bears witness. And therefore he glories not in the flesh but in faith. For this reason he has received as sons those whom he sees to be imitators of his glory. For how can he call those sons from whom he sees a shrinking back from that by which he pleased God and was justified? He will therefore be able to judge them not as his sons, but as his enemies. For they appear to be envious of him, despising the faith through which he was glorified. Nor is it surprising if the Jews are found untrusting, not at all accepting the New Testament, when we know that they were not faithful even in the Old. They were always rebellious and disrespectful against God, and therefore they received such commandments by which their necks, which were unbending, might be pressed down. For they never wished to hope for good things from God, whose such great benefits and such wondrous powers they had come to know. Therefore it is that, among other things, the prophet Ezekiel says: “I lifted up my hand to them in the desert, that they should be scattered among the nations and dispersed in the lands, because they did not perform my ordinances and rejected my commandments.” And in what follows: “I gave them laws that were not good, and judgments whereby they should not live in them” (Ezek. 20:23–25). He shows for what reason such great and so harsh commandments were given to them: because they proved ungrateful for such great benefits, and, justice dictating, they were to be pressed by more severe precepts. Therefore He called them “not good,” although they are just: because they did not lead them to justification, but to destruction; and although a punishment rightly inflicted, yet for the one who suffers it, it is not a good. After these things, however, because God is merciful, He promised that He would give the New Testament, in which the shortening of the Law would justify believers, just as Abraham was justified: so that, with new moons and the sabbath and circumcision and the other precepts ceasing, not those that belong to the natural law, that is, murder, adultery, and such things, they might be justified as Abraham was. For, with the faith of Abraham renewed, He willed that all things should cease, so that the time might be such as it was when Abraham believed. But perhaps the Jews say: “If those things that were given by Moses are said to cease through the shortening of the Law, was circumcision given by Moses so that it should cease? And therefore we have the sign of our father, because we are the sons of Abraham, a sign which, for the sake of the testimony of our lineage, ought not to cease.” Circumcision indeed had to be observed in its time, that is, before the New Testament which had been promised was given. But when, by the grace of God, the burdens of the Law were ordered to cease, what need is there of circumcision? Therefore a new Law was given, that is, a spiritual one, so that carnal things might cease, and those who received it might accept its sign: so that just as in the Old Testament they had the sign of Abraham, from whom the Old Testament began, so also in the New they might have the sign of the Savior, who is the institutor of the New Testament. For just as from Abraham they were called Hebrews, so from Christ they are called Christians. Whoever, therefore, are still called Hebrews have not received the New Testament which God promised, bringing to nothing the kindness and mercy of God: for He no longer wished His people to be designated by the name of a man, but agreed to establish them under the name of His Son. With what courage, then, do the Jews say that we do not use our Law but theirs, when David says, “I will give thanks to you among the nations” (Ps. 17:50), and again, “Rejoice, O nations, with his people”? And to the prophet Jeremiah the Lord says, “Before I formed you in the womb, I knew you; and before you came forth from the womb, I sanctified you; and I appointed you as a prophet to the nations” (Jer. 1:5). Judaism certainly has its own particular signs: for this people is signified either in Jacob, or in Samaria, or in Jerusalem, or in Judea, or in Israel. As for the nations, however, it is clear that He signifies them in a different way than He does the Jews. Therefore Jeremiah is our prophet. For although in all the Prophets God showed that the nations would share in His gift, yet to Jeremiah in particular He says that He has given him to us as a prophet. For he signified that the New Testament would come, which would profit the Gentiles more than the Jews, as now appears clearly. For since the preaching of the New Testament is spread over the whole earth, a faithful Jew is so rarely and with such difficulty found that all the Churches of the New Testament are called “of the nations,” as it was said in the prophet Hosea: “I will call that which is not my people, my people; and her that was not beloved, beloved” (Hosea 2:24; Rom. 9:25). Therefore, the Jews having been rejected, He calls the nations with the same mercy and grace with which He agreed to call Abraham. For Abraham did not come to know the Lord without being called. Therefore, He who agreed to call Abraham likewise agreed to call the nations. Why then do they say, “The Law is ours,” when it is clear that the gift of God is for all who are willing? Let this careless violation cease, since the grace of God is common to all. With what shame do they deny that our Christ was promised in the Law, when they see in Him all the signs which the Law foretold as to come? For both according to the promise made to Abraham all nations are justified by believing in Him (Gen. 22:18); and according to the prophet Isaiah He was born of a Virgin (Isa. 7:14) in Bethlehem from the tribe of Judah, as was promised, from the seed of David (Micah 5:2); and in accordance with what Jeremiah prophesied (Jer. 31:31–32), He proclaimed the New Testament which God then promised would come; and after all the signs of power had been shown, He humbled Himself, according to the words of the Prophets; and having suffered all that had been foretold, He rose on the third day, as it is written in the prophet. And if they inquire about the time of the promise, as it is shown in the prophet Daniel (Dan. 9:24 ff.), they will find it fulfilled in the time when Christ was born and suffered: for from the first year of Darius, king of the Persians, down to the birth and passion of the Lord and the destruction of Jerusalem, which was carried out by Vespasian, chief of the Roman Empire, the seventy weeks were completed, which are four hundred and ninety years, a reckoning made clear through the kingdoms and the successors of the empire. Therefore also it is found calculated by Tertullian in the book which he wrote against the Jews; but, lest this should backfire to his disadvantage, although he calculated correctly, we have passed it over in silence. And who can doubt this number, when now about three hundred years are found in addition to that number? It is therefore shameless, after so many years have been added beyond the time of the coming of the Saviour, to say, “He has not come.” Under the Apostles, or at the time when the Lord was living among men, hatred opposing the truth could still hide itself; so that, although it saw all the signs of the Christ who had been promised in the Savior, it could say that it doubted about the time, to conceal its unbelief. But afterwards, when many years began to exceed the promised number, what shamelessness it is to deny that He has come, whose coming is known to have been fulfilled both by signs and by times! For when something is full and does not overflow, a combative person may say that it is not full; but overflow closes the mouth of the argumentative. So the Jews, in the time of the Saviour, could say, though deceitfully, that the calculation from the time of Darius to the Lord Christ was not correctly made, so that He might not be acknowledged as the one who had been promised. We are mistaken, they might say, in the years and in the months and in the days of the emperors, and we do not make an exact reckoning. But when the times have extended beyond the prescribed number of years of the promised Christ, no excuse can be put forward to deny that He who has come is the Christ, unless, which God forbid, the one who promised is said to have lied. For when the time of the promise has elapsed, and it is denied that the one who was promised has come, what else is charged against the promiser but falsehood? Yet that He who made the promise is truthful, all the signs teach which were foretold in Christ and are known to have been found in Christ. The Jews, however, while they are ashamed to change themselves, do not consider that there will be a judgment to come. For nothing is worse than for someone to deny that a thing is true when he understands that it is not a lie.

IF THE LAW AND THE PROPHETS WERE UNTIL JOHN, HOW IS IT THAT THE SAVIOR SENDS THE LEPER TO THE PRIESTS TO HAVE OFFERINGS MADE FOR HIS CLEANSING (Matt. 8:4; Mark 1:44; Luke 5:14)? — This was done not because of the time, but for the condemnation of the Jews: so that when they did not understand that the summit of truth, belonging to a better time, had been established for the gain of their salvation, Truth might bend down instead to their accusation. For since they regarded the Savior as an enemy of the Law, because for the sake of mercy he wished to free them from the burden of the Law, just as had been foretold by the prophet Jeremiah, for he says among other things, “And I will give them a new covenant, not like the one I gave to their fathers” (Jer. 31:31–32), then the Savior, so that he might not appear, as they thought, to be an enemy when preaching new things, sent the man who had been cleansed from leprosy to the priests to offer gifts for his cleansing, as Moses had commanded (Lev. 14:2). And to show that this was to serve for their accusation, he said, “For a testimony to them,” so that this matter might be a witness against them in judgment, they who were saying that the Savior was an enemy of the Law. The apostle Paul followed this as well: for although he preached that circumcision was no longer necessary, he himself circumcised Timothy because of the scandal of the Jews (Acts 16:3); for he preferred to do something unnecessary rather than have an uproar stirred up by false brothers; and this in fact contributed to the Jews’ error. Enough was done for them for the moment, through which they might err forever.

What say we to this? One nowhere, or hardly anywhere, except in this passage of the prophet, finds in the Old Testament Scriptures any mention so made of the New Testament as to indicate it by its very name. It is no doubt often referred to and foretold as about to be given, but not so plainly as to have its very name mentioned. Consider then carefully, what difference God has testified as existing between the two testaments - the old covenant and the new.

It is then on account of the offence of the old man, which was by no means healed by the letter which commanded and threatened, that it is called the old covenant; whereas the other is called the new covenant, because of the newness of the spirit, which heals the new man of the fault of the old. Then consider what follows, and see in how clear a light the fact is placed, that men who bare faith are unwilling to trust in themselves: "Because," says he, "this is the covenant which I will make with the house of Israel; After those days, saith the Lord, I will put my law in their inward parts, and write it in their hearts."

Finally, that we may not be disturbed by the words I have quoted and many others of like importance, about returning the sins of the parents on the children—words written truthfully, yet that might be thought contrary to this prophecy—he solves this very vexed question by adding, "Behold, the days shall come, says the Lord, and I will make a new covenant with the house of Israel and with the house of Judah, not according to the covenant that I made with their ancestors." In this new covenant through the blood of the Mediator, the paternal decree having been cancelled, humankind by rebirth begins to be no longer subject to the paternal debts that bind them at birth, as the Mediator says: "And call no one on earth your father," inasmuch as we but shall live forever with the Father.

For we find in the Scriptures, as the Lord says, "Behold, I make with you a new covenant, not as I made with your ancestors in Mount Horeb." He made a new covenant with us. For what belonged to the Greeks and Jews is old. But we, who worship him in a new way, in the third form, are Christians. For clearly, as I think, he showed that the one and only God was known by the Greeks in a Gentile way, by the Jews Judaically and in a new and spiritual way by us.

The same prophet again says: Lo! the days are coming, saith the Lord, and I shall make a new covenant with the house of Israel and with the house of Judah. etc. This passage is cited by the Apostle in the Epistle to the Romans.

All things therefore are of one and the same substance, that is, from one and the same God; as also the Lord says to the disciples "Therefore every scribe, which is instructed unto the kingdom of heaven, is like unto a man that is an householder, which bringeth forth out of his treasure things new and old." He did not teach that he who brought forth the old was one, and he that brought forth the new, another; but that they were one and the same. For the Lord is the good man of the house, who rules the entire house of His Father; and who delivers a law suited both for slaves and those who are as yet undisciplined; and gives fitting precepts to those that are free, and have been justified by faith, as well as throws His own inheritance open to those that are sons. And He called His disciples "scribes" and "teachers of the kingdom of heaven;" of whom also He elsewhere says to the Jews: "Behold, I send unto you wise men, and scribes, and teachers; and some of them ye shall kill, and persecute from city to city." Now, without contradiction, He means by those things which are brought forth from the treasure new and old, the two covenants; the old, that giving of the law which took place formerly; and He points out as the new, that manner of life required by the Gospel, of which David says, "Sing unto the Lord a new song;" and Esaias, "Sing unto the Lord a new hymn. His beginning, His name is glorified from the height of the earth: they declare His powers in the isles." And Jeremiah says: "Behold, I will make a new covenant, not as I made with your fathers" in Mount Horeb. But one and the same householder produced both covenants, the Word of God, our Lord Jesus Christ, who spake with both Abraham and Moses, and who has restored us anew to liberty, and has multiplied that grace which is from Himself.

Behold, days are coming, says the Lord, and I will strike — or I will dispose — for the house of Israel and the house of Judah a new covenant — or testament — not according to the covenant — or testament — which I made with your fathers on the day when I took their hand to lead them out of the land of Egypt, a covenant — or testament — which they made void; and I ruled over them — or I neglected them —, says the Lord. And this will be the covenant — or testament — which I will strike with the house of Israel after those days, says the Lord: I will put my law in their inward parts — or in the mind — and in their heart I will write it, and I will be to them for God and they shall be to me for a people. And they shall no longer teach, each one his neighbor and each one his brother, saying: know the Lord, for all shall know me, from the least of them to the greatest, says the Lord, for I will be propitious to their iniquity and of their sin I will be mindful no more. The apostle Paul — or whoever else wrote the epistle — used this testimony to the Hebrews, and all churchmen after him say that all things were fulfilled at the first coming of the Savior, and that the New Testament, that is, the Gospel, succeeded to the Old Testament, and that from it the law of the letter has been exchanged for the law of the spirit, so that all the sacrifices too, and circumcision, and the sabbath, might be fulfilled spiritually. But that we put 'pactum' [covenant] for 'testamento' [testament] belongs to the Hebrew truth, although a testament too is rightly called a covenant, because in it is contained the will and the attestation of those who enter into a covenant. When Israel was led out of the land of Egypt, so great was God's familiarity with that people that he says he took it by the hand and gave a covenant, which they made void; and therefore the Lord neglected them.

From this it is clear that, according to the understanding of this perikopēs [passage], the foregoing is to be understood of the first coming of the Savior, when both peoples, Israel and Judah, were joined to each other. But if it raises a scruple for anyone why he said: I will dispose for the house of Israel and the house of Judah a new covenant — or testament — not according to the covenant which I made with your fathers, let him understand that the first Church of Christ was from the Jews, and that the Lord Savior came to them and said: I have not come except to the lost sheep of the house of Israel, and that the apostles confirmed this very thing: it was necessary that the word of God be spoken first to you; but since you reject it and judge yourselves unworthy of eternal life, behold, we turn to the nations. For it was not right to give the children's bread to dogs; but because the sons were unwilling to receive the father coming into his own, he gave to all the power that those who received him should become sons of God.

From the prophets I will prove that the Old and New Covenants have one Lawgiver. And so, what does Jeremiah say? "I will give you a new covenant." Do you see Jeremiah's prophetic reference to a new covenant that shines forth brilliantly for so many years before Christ's coming? "I will give you a new covenant." But how does it seem that he gave even the Old? When he said, "I will give you a new covenant," he added, "not like the covenant that I gave to your ancestors."

See ye not how their reasoning comes round to the very contrary? how the God of the old covenant, whom they call cruel, will be found mild and meek: and He of the new, whom they acknowledged to be good, will be hard and grievous, according to their madness? Whereas we say, that there is but one and the same Legislator of either covenant, who dispensed all meetly, and adapted to the difference of the times the difference between the two systems of law. Therefore neither are the first commandments cruel, nor the second hard and grievous, but all of one and the same providential care. For that He Himself gave the old covenant also, hear the affirmation of the prophet, or rather (so we must speak), of Him who is both the one and the other: "I will make a covenant with you, not according to the covenant which I made with your fathers."

He conveyed to us, of course, many prophecies on the same point: first, that there is one Lawgiver for the two covenants; then, the incompleteness of the former covenant, since there would be no need for the second one if the former had been adequate.

The number seven is passed away, the octave is arrived. Yesterday is gone, to-day is come, that promised day wherein we are admonished to hear and follow the word of God. That day of the Old Testament is passed away, that new day is come, wherein the New Testament is perfected, whereof it is said, "Behold, the days come, saith the Lord, when I will make a new covenant with the house of Israel, and with the house of Judah; not according to the covenant that I made with their fathers in the day when I took them by the hand to lead them out of the land of Egypt." He adds too the reason why the Testament was changed, "Because they continued not in My covenant, and I regarded them not, saith the Lord." The priests of the Law, the tribunals of the Law have passed away; let us draw nigh to our new High Priest, to the throne of grace, to the guest of our souls, to the Priest, Who is not made after the law of the carnal commandment, but elected after the power of an endless life. For He took not this honour to himself, but was chosen by the Father, as the Father Himself saith, "Thou art a Priest for ever, after the order of Melchisedech." Other priests offered for themselves and for their people; this Man, not having sin, that He should offer for Himself, offered Himself for the whole world, and by His own blood entered into the Sanctuary. He then is the new Priest and the new Victim, not of the law but above the law, the universal Mediator, the Light of the world, Who said, "Lo I come," and came.

Learn, all of you—learn! What better law of God is there, after all, than the holy gospel? It is the law of the New Testament, about which you heard, when the prophet was read, "Behold, the days are coming, says the Lord, I will perfect on the house of Jacob a new testament, not like the testament that I laid down for their ancestors when I led them from the land of Egypt." The testament (or covenant) is promised there, delivered here. It is promised through the prophet, delivered through the Lord of the prophets.

"But I," he says, "hold on to what God handed over to Moses." Listen to what God says through the prophet. What is God telling Jeremiah? "Behold, the days are coming, says the Lord, I will confirm on the house of Jacob a new covenant." Leave the old aside, take up the new, and you can see that you ought to leave aside circumcision, and unleavened bread taken literally, and the sabbath taken literally and the sacrifices taken literally. Listen to how the new covenant is promised: "Behold, the days are coming, says the Lord, I will confirm for them a new covenant, not like the covenant that I gave to their ancestors when I brought them out of the land of Egypt," when the law of commandments was given, when the people were led through the desert. It is not like that that I will give the new covenant. So do not go on wearing the old tunic. That was what crucified Christ. Your parent crucified him; you hate him. He by his own hand, you in your heart, both of you have carried out the crime. Therefore be displeased with what your parent did, and listen to what your Lord has done.

For the grace of the law, which has passed away, we have received the abiding grace of the gospel, and, instead of the shadows and figures of the ancient covenant, truth has come by Jesus Christ. Jeremiah also prophesies in the person of God: "Behold, the days shall come, says the Lord, when I will make a new covenant with the house of Israel and with the house of Judah; not according to the covenant that I made with their ancestors, in the day that I took them by the hand to bring them out of the land of Egypt." Notice what he says, that it is not to the people of the Gentiles, with whom he had not previously made a covenant, but to the people of the Jews, to whom he had given the law by Moses, that he promises the new covenant of the gospel, so that they might no longer live according to the ancient letter but in the newness of the Spirit.

There was a law, and there is a law. ("For the law of the Spirit of life hath made me free.") There was a service, and there is a service. ("To whom pertaineth the service"; and again: "Serving God in the Spirit.") There was a covenant, and there is a covenant. ("I will make with you a new covenant, not according to the covenant which I made with your fathers.") There was a sanctification, and there is a sanctification: there was a baptism, and there is a Baptism: there was a sacrifice, and there is a Sacrifice: there was a temple, and there is a temple: there was a circumcision, and there is a circumcision; and so too there was a "grace," and there is a "grace." But the words in the first case are used as types, in the second as realities, preserving a sameness of sound, though not of sense. So in patterns and figures, the shape of a man scratched with white lines upon a black ground is called a man as well as that which has received the correct coloring; and in the case of statues, the figure whether formed of gold or of plaster, is alike called a statue, though in the one case as a model in the other as a reality.

Isn't the finger of God to be understood as being the Holy Spirit? Read the gospel, and see that where one Evangelist has the Lord saying, "If I with the Spirit of God cast out demons," another says, "If I with the finger of God cast out demons." So if that law too was written by the finger of God, that is by the Spirit of God, the Spirit by which Pharaoh's magicians were defeated, so they said, "This is the finger of God." So if that law too, indeed because that law too was composed by the Spirit of God, that is, by the finger of God, why can it not be said of it, "For the law of the Spirit of life in Jesus Christ has delivered you from the law of sin and death"?… So, the "law of the Spirit of life," written on the heart, not on stone, in Christ Jesus, in whose person was celebrated the ultimately real and genuine Passover "has delivered you from the law of sin and death."

What are you asking about, you see, is what special thing God is keeping for the good, if he generously bestows so many things on both good and bad. When I said, "What eye has not seen, nor ear heard, nor has it come up into the heart of people," there is no lack of people to say, "Can you think what it is?" Here is what it is that God is keeping for the good alone, though it is he who has made them good. Here is what it is. Our reward has been very briefly defined by the prophet: I will be their God, and they shall be my people. I will be their God. He has promised us himself as our reward.

Accordingly, in our prophet likewise, whose testimony we are dealing with, this is added, that in God is the reward, in Him the end, in Him the perfection of happiness, in Him the sum of the blessed and eternal life. For after saying, "I will be their God, and they shall be my people," he at once adds, "And they shall no more teach every man his neighbour, and every man his brother, saying, Know the Lord: for they shall all know me, from the least even unto the greatest of them."

Here, God is Jerusalem's reward. Its highest—its entire—good is to possess him and to be possessed by him.

I have acted thus, not as a finished master but as one needing to be perfected with his pupils, excellent lady, daughter deservedly honored and cherished in Christ. Indeed, even in the subjects that, one way or another, I know, I am more anxious for you to be learned than to be in need of my learning, for we ought not to desire the ignorance of others in order to teach what we know. It surely is much better for all of us to be ready to be taught of God what will certainly be perfected in that country on high when the promise will be fulfilled in us, that a person shall not say to his neighbor, "Know the Lord, for all shall know him," as it is written, "from the least of them even to the greatest."

You should not write the creed out in any way, but, so as to hold the exact words of the creed, learn it by listening. Not even when you have learned it should you write it down, but, rather, always hold it and cherish it in your memory. For whatever you will hear in the creed is contained in the inspired books of the Holy Scriptures. The fact that it is not permitted to write down what has been thus collected and reduced to a definite form comes about in memory of the promise of God in which, predicting a New Testament, he said in the words of the prophet: "This is the covenant that I will make with them after those days, says the Lord, by setting my law in their minds, I will write it also in their hearts."

God proposes the most direct norms. Hence, the Apostle and Jeremiah say: "I will put my laws into their mind, and upon their hearts I will write them." For He inscribed them first in human nature, then in industry or progress, third in grace, and fourth in glory. In every state, He puts forth His rules: wherefore by necessity He must possess them within Himself.

It was probable, however, that the holy apostles would perhaps think these things difficult to put into practice. Therefore he who knows all things takes the natural law of self-love as the arbiter of what any one would wish to obtain from another. Treat others, he says, such as you wish them to treat you. If you would have them harsh and unfeeling, fierce and wrathful, revengeful and ill-disposed, treat them this way. But if, on the contrary, you would have them kind and forgiving, do not think it a thing intolerable to be so yourselves. And in the case of those so disposed, the law is perhaps unnecessary, because God writes on our hearts the knowledge of his will. "For in those days," says the Lord, "I will surely give my laws into their minds and will write them on their hearts."

For the law having a shadow of good things to come, and not the very image of the things, can never with those sacrifices which they offered year by year continually make the comers thereunto perfect. For then would they not have ceased to be offered? because that the worshippers once purged should have had no more conscience of sins. But in those sacrifices there is a remembrance again made of sins every year. For it is not possible that the blood of bulls and of goats should take away sins. Wherefore when he cometh into the world, he saith, Sacrifice and offering thou wouldest not, but a body hast thou prepared me: In burnt offerings and sacrifices for sin thou hast had no pleasure. Then said I, Lo, I come (in the volume of the book it is written of me,) to do thy will, O God. Above when he said, Sacrifice and offering and burnt offerings and offering for sin thou wouldest not, neither hadst pleasure therein; which are offered by the law; Then said he, Lo, I come to do thy will, O God. He taketh away the first, that he may establish the second. By the which will we are sanctified through the offering of the body of Jesus Christ once for all. And every priest standeth daily ministering and offering oftentimes the same sacrifices, which can never take away sins: But this man, after he had offered one sacrifice for sins for ever, sat down on the right hand of God; From henceforth expecting till his enemies be made his footstool. For by one offering he hath perfected for ever them that are sanctified. Whereof the Holy Ghost also is a witness to us: for after that he had said before, This is the covenant that I will make with them after those days, saith the Lord, I will put my laws into their hearts, and in their minds will I write them; And their sins and iniquities will I remember no more. [Jeremiah 31:31-34] Now where remission of these is, there is no more offering for sin.

But now in the Gospel, after the cross, the resurrection and the ascension, he promises that he gives a covenant not on tablets of stone, but on fleshly tablets of the heart, and that, when the testament of the Lord has been written in the mind of believers, he himself is to them for God and they are to him for a people, so that they do not at all seek Jewish teachers and the traditions and commandments of men, but are taught by the Holy Spirit, if only they deserve to hear: you are the temple of God and the Spirit of God dwells in you. The Spirit, however, breathes where he wills, and has diverse graces, and the knowledge of the one God is the possession of all the virtues. 'And this', he says, 'will come about because I will be propitious to their iniquity and their sin I will remember no more.'

If we are asked why we do not worship God as the Hebrew fathers of the Old Testament worshipped Him, we reply that God has taught us differently by the New Testament fathers, and yet in no opposition to the Old Testament, but as that Testament itself predicted. For it is thus foretold by the prophet: "Behold, the days come, saith the Lord, when I will make a new covenant with the house of Israel, and with the house of Judah; not according to the covenant which I made with their fathers when I took them by the hand to bring them out of the land of Egypt." Thus it was foretold that that covenant would not continue, but that there would be a new one. And to the objection that we do not belong to the house of Israel or to the house of Judah, we answer according to the teaching of the apostle, who calls Christ the seed of Abraham, and says to us, as belonging to Christ's body, "Therefore ye are Abraham's seed."

You do not say, "Let man be made," but, "Let us make man." Nor do you say, "after his kind," but after "our image" and "likeness." Because, being renewed in his mind and beholding and apprehending your truth, a person does not need another person as his director so that he may imitate his own kind. By your direction he proves what your good, acceptable and perfect will is. You teach him—now that he has been made capable—to perceive the Trinity of the Unity and the Unity of the Trinity. Therefore this being said in the plural, "Let us make man," it is yet followed by the phrase in the singular, "and God made man." This is said in the plural, "after our likeness," followed by the phrase in the singular, "after the image of God." Thus humankind is renewed in the knowledge of God, after the image of him who created them. Being made spiritual, he judges all things—all things that are to be judged—"yet he himself is judged by no mortal."

The teachers of the Word come and go, and others follow in the succession of those who pass away. But the sacred Scripture remains for all time without ever being abolished, until the time when the Lord shall appear at the end of the world. Then we shall have no further need for the Scriptures or for those who interpret them, since there will be a long-awaited fulfillment of that promise of the Lord that says, "And they shall not teach their neighbor and brother saying, 'Know the Lord,' for they shall all know me, from the least of them to the greatest."

He hath changed sunset into sunrise, and through the cross brought death to life; and having wrenched man from destruction, He hath raised him to the skies, transplanting mortality into immortality, and translating earth to heaven-He, the husbandman of God, "Pointing out the favourable signs and rousing the nations to good works, putting them in mind of the true sustenance;" having bestowed on us the truly great, divine, and inalienable inheritance of the Father, deifying man by heavenly teaching, putting His laws into our minds, and writing them on our hearts. What laws does He inscribe? "That all shall know God, from small to great;" and, "I will be merciful to them," says God, "and will not remember their sins." Let us receive the laws of life, let us comply with God's expostulations; let us become acquainted with Him, that He may be gracious.

In Jeremiah, we read concerning the future kingdom …, "They shall all know me, from the least to the greatest of them." The context of this passage clearly shows that the prophet is describing the future kingdom. But how can there possibly be in it a least or greatest, if all are to be equal? The secret is disclosed in the Gospel: "Whoever shall do and teach, he shall be called great in the kingdom of heaven; but whoever shall teach and not do shall be least."

Consider how easy it is for people to obey. For Jeremiah said, "They shall no more teach every man his neighbor, and every man his brother, saying: 'Know the Lord.' For all men will know me from the least of them to the greatest." And Isaiah showed how indestructible the Church would be. "For in the last days the mountain of the Lord will be conspicuous, and the house of the Lord will be on top of the mountains and will be exalted above the hills. And to this mountaintop will come many peoples and many nations."

Let me beg you to consider then this simple and single-hearted man, and take notice of him in the affairs of life, and you will see him a pattern of the utmost scrupulousness, such that if he would have shown it in spiritual matters he would not have been overlooked: for the facts of the truth are clearer than the sun. And wherever a man may go, he might easily lay hold of his own salvation, if he were minded, that is, to be heedful, and not to look on this as a by-work. For were the doings shut up into Palestine, or in a little corner of the world? Hast thou not heard the prophet say, "All shall know Me from the least even to the greatest?" Do not you see the things themselves uttering the truth? How then are these to be excused, seeing as they do the doctrine of the truth spread far and wide, and not troubling themselves?

To show the rapidity of the change and the facility with which they would embrace Christ's teaching, the prophet went on to say, "And they shall no more teach everyone his neighbor and everyone his brother, saying, 'Know the Lord,' for all will know me, from the least of them to the greatest of them." On his coming, Christ would also pardon the transgressions of all people and no more remember their sins. What could be clearer than this? By these predictions the prophet revealed the calling of the Gentiles, the superiority of the new law over the old law, the ease of access, the grace possessed by those who have believed and the gift given in baptism.

The adulterous woman whom the law prescribed to be stoned was set free by him with truth and grace when the avengers of the law, frightened with the state of their own conscience, had left the trembling guilty woman to the judgment of him who had come "to seek and save what was lost." For that reason he, bowing down—that is, stooping down to our human level and intent on the work of our reformation—"wrote with his finger on the ground," in order to repeal the law of the commandments with the decrees of his grace and to reveal himself as the One who had said, "I will give my laws in their understanding, and I will write them in their hearts." This indeed he does every day when he infuses his will into the hearts of those who are called and when with the pen of the Holy Spirit the Truth mercifully rewrites on the pages of their souls all that the devil enviously falsified.

Obviously, those who have heard the gospel and refused to believe are all the more inexcusable than if they had not listened to any preaching of the truth. But it is certain that in God's foreknowledge they were not children of Abraham and were not reckoned among the number of them of whom it is said, "In your seed all the tribes of the earth shall be blessed." He promised them the faith when he said, "And no one shall teach his neighbor and no one his brother, saying, 'Know the Lord.' For all shall know me, from the small among them even to the great." He promised them pardon when he said, "I will forgive their iniquities, and I will remember their sins no more." He promised them an obedient heart when he said, "I will give them another heart and another way, that they may fear me all days." He promised them perseverance when he said, "I will give my fear in their heart, that they may not revolt from me, and I will visit them, that I may make them good." Finally, to all without exception he promised the faith when he said, "I have sworn by myself, justice alone shall go out of my mouth, and my words shall not be turned away. Every knee shall be bowed to me, and every tongue shall confess to God."

The future life achieves the fulfillment of these words. In that life we shall no longer need instruction from one another, since everything will be patently obvious. Sufferings will be at an end, bodies will be incorruptible, souls will be immune to change. Now it is customary with the divine Scripture to mix prophecies together. It connects prophecies about his repeated call to Israel with those about the captivity, and the Lord in the sacred Gospels cites at the one time the sayings about Jerusalem and those about the consummation.

"If laws of day and night cease to speak before my face, says the Lord, then the descendants of Israel cease to be a nation forever." It is impossible that the world order established from the beginning would change, that is, movement of stars, change of seasons. Therefore, without doubt, the promise given to David would not be left unfulfilled, and his kingdom and his seed would not cease before God's face. Although this prophecy was fulfilled in its own time for Zerubbabel, who ruled over David's kingdom, it was more completely fulfilled in our Lord, as even the angel said, "The Lord God will give him the throne of his father David. He will reign in the house of Jacob forever, and his kingdom will have no end."And the prophet repeats and confirms later on what is said here about the spread and eternity of Christ's kingdom by saying, "Just as the heavenly stars could not be counted and the sands of the sea could not be measured, so I will increase the seed of David," that is, the seed of his Word (Logos), son of David, priests and the Levites of the new covenant. According to their dignified status, the prophet depicts the gospel and the church of Christ in the image of the powers of heaven (stars) and their spread in the image of the sands of the sea, because thus it should be that the gospel and the church would become known to all the ends of the universe and that all nations would believe in them.

Thus says the Lord, who gives the sun for the light of the day, the order of the moon and of the stars for the light of the night, who troubles the sea and its waves sound; the Lord of hosts is his name. If these laws — or these statutes — cease before me, says the Lord, then the seed of Israel too shall fail, so as not to be before me all the days. And at the beginning of Genesis we read that the sun was set in the heaven for the light of the day, and the moon too and the stars for the light of the night, and in the psalm: day to day utters the word and night to night shows knowledge, in that day and night succeed one another in turn. 'As', he says, 'the order of things, and especially of the heavenly stars, cannot be changed, and the waves of the sounding sea roll to the shores, and the terrible roar of the gulfs and of the swelling waves is heard, and it cannot advance further than has been prescribed by the command of God, according to that saying: you have set a bound which they shall not pass over, nor shall they turn back to cover the earth, so', he says, 'the seed and race of Israel will by the will of the Lord be perpetual and will never fail.' But 'laws' here are not to be understood as the Mosaic ones, but as the constitution and order of nature. Let us ask the Jews: 'if the heavens shall perish and all shall grow old like a garment, and it is said to God: but you yourself are, and your years do not fail, how can the seed of Israel be perpetual?' For either, when the heavens perish, the seed of Israel too will perish, or, if it is perpetual, then neither will the heavens perish. But if Scripture cannot lie and the heavens are going to perish, then the seed of Israel too will perish, especially since Jacob too says to his sons: come, and I will declare to you what is to come in the last days; and when it is said: in the last days, then the world will cease to be and another dispensation of things will come about. This against them. For the rest, for our own people the Gospel too shows that this world is not perpetual, saying: heaven and earth shall pass away, and: behold, I am with you all days, even to the consummation of the age. Let us also say it otherwise: that as long as this world lasts, the seed of Israel and the Jewish nation will remain, not in those who are now unbelieving, but in those who believed with the apostles and through the apostles, so that a remnant might be saved.

Thus says the Lord: if the heavens above can be measured and the foundations of the earth beneath searched out, I too will cast off the whole seed of Israel for all that they have done, says the Lord. LXX: thus says the Lord: if the heaven is raised higher and if the floor of the earth is lowered beneath, I too will not reject the race of Israel, says the Lord, for all that they have done. In this place the Hebrew differs much from the common edition. Let us speak first according to the Hebrew: 'if the heavens above can be measured and their height known, or the foundations of the earth searched out and their extremities comprehended by reason, I too', he says, 'will cast off the whole seed of Israel for all that they have done, says the Lord. But as that is impossible, that we should know the summits of the heavens and the foundations of the earth, so this too will be impossible, that I should cast off the whole seed of Israel. But if I cast off the whole seed of Israel, then the summit of the heavens and the extremities of the lands will be measured'. This syllogism is woven in the Gospel too, when an impossible thing is compared with an impossible one: a camel will more easily enter through the eye of a needle than a rich man into the kingdoms of heaven. For as that cannot happen, so neither will this be able to happen; but if this happens, then that too will happen which was thought impossible. Those err, then, who expound this place otherwise, citing also that testimony, that the Son could have asked the Father and brought twelve legions of angels to his aid. The Seventy translated the contrary of this sense, saying: if the heaven is exalted higher and the floor of the earth lowered beneath, I too, he says, will not reject the seed of Israel, says the Lord, for all that they have done. If this is so, the nation of Israel will be rejected; for as the heaven cannot be higher than what it is, nor the earth lower than what it is, so too the race of Israel will by no means be able to be approved. If we see the Jews glorying in this testimony according to the Hebrew, let us agree with them that the whole seed of Israel has not been cast off; for not all have been cast off, but only those who were unbelieving.

Calling, therefore, upon the Lord Savior, who has the key of David, who opens, and no one shuts, and who shuts, and no one opens, who also opened the sealed book of Isaiah and of all the prophets, and whom the twenty-four elders holding harps adored, because he alone could unlock the divine mysteries, let us approach the building of the city to which the prophetic word is directed: glorious things are spoken of you, city of God, and: the rush of the river gladdens the city of God. The Church, then, is built from the tower 'of obedience' or 'of grace' and 'of the gifts of God' — for this is what Ananehel means — to the gate of the corner; which, though it seems to have a lofty beginning, yet as long as we abide in this flesh we cannot possess the straight line of truth, but we stand in the corner and in broken lines; and the line of measure goes out further, over against it, that is, against the gate of the corner, upon the hill Gareb, which in our language is rendered either 'sojourning' or 'scab', so that they may teach us that we are strangers and pilgrims, and itching in our ears, and readily giving consent to the novelty of the worst doctrines. And it shall go round, he says, Goah, for which the Seventy translated: round about with chosen stones, which are rolled upon the face of the earth and are bound together by the corner stone, as the apostle Peter says: and you yourselves, as living stones, be built up, a spiritual house, a holy priesthood, offering spiritual sacrifices acceptable to God through Jesus Christ.

Behold, days are coming, says the Lord, and the city shall be built for the Lord from the tower of Hananel to the gate of the corner. And the rule — or, according to Symmachus, the line — of its measure shall go out further, over against it, upon the hill Gareb, and it shall go round Goah — or, according to the LXX, of chosen stones — and all the valley of ruins — for which Theodotion put the Hebrew word itself, Phagarim — and the ashes and all Asaremoth — which we better read Asademoth, for which Aquila translated suburbs — to the brook Kidron and to the corner of the eastern gate of the horses, the holy place of the Lord; it shall not be plucked up and shall not be pulled down for ever. Those who accept a thousand-year reign of Christ in the land of Judea, namely the Jews and our Judaizers, try to point out the tower of Hananel and the gate of the corner and the hill Gareb and Goah and the valley Phagarim and all Asademoth and the brook Kidron and the place of the corner of the eastern gate of the horses, and there, they say, the sanctuary of the Lord, that is, the temple, is to be founded and is to remain in perpetuity. And because they cannot show it fulfilled after the captivity, in the times of Zerubbabel and Ezra, they pass to the times of Christ, who they say will come at the consummation of the world, so that a golden and jeweled Jerusalem, according to the Revelation of John, may descend and be built round about in this space of land, that is, from that place to that place. And they catch at this little breeze for their supposition: that from the tower of Anathoth, which today is called Jeremiah's, three miles distant from Jerusalem, as far as the brook Kidron — which is recorded in the Gospel and is in the valley of Jehoshaphat, where there was a garden in which Judas the betrayer handed over the Savior — the foundations of the city are to be laid. 'We are going to read', they say, 'in what follows that Anamehel, son of Shallum, was the cousin of Jeremiah, whose field he bought; and this is the tower of Ananehel', ignorant of the Hebrew truth; for here according to the Hebrew is written: from the tower of Ananehel, namely with 'nun' as the middle letter, but there: behold, Anamehel, son of Shallum, your cousin, will come to you, with 'm' as the middle letter.

And all, he says, the valley Phagarim — which means of ruins — and the ashes — 'it shall go round' is understood —, so that, although we seem to ourselves to be on hills, we may yet always fear ruins and consider ashes and, repenting, say with David: for I have eaten ashes like bread and mingled my drink with weeping. Whence also it is said to those who lie fallen: does not he who falls rise again?, says the Lord. And the whole, he says, Sademoth, which we render as the region of death, dividing one name into two words: 'sade', which is called 'region', and 'moth', which means 'of death', for which Aquila rendered 'suburbs' or 'fields' and 'countryside'. But the 'region' 'of death' is the region of sinners, and the 'suburbs' the region of pleasures, which goes on to the brook Kidron — where the Lord was betrayed —, which means 'darkness'. See how many places the Church has, and that that apostolic saying: 'that it be without spot and wrinkle', is reserved for the future and for the heavenly places. You hear of corners, you hear of scab, you hear of ruins and ashes and the region of death and darkness, and you boast of your virtue and sinlessness! Then follows: and to the corner of the gate. Here too is a corner, so that no true righteousness, no sure victory may be shown in this world. The corner of the gate itself too, though it is 'eastern', whence the light comes forth, is yet called 'of the horses', to teach us that we need running and contest, and that at last we may deserve to hear with the Lord: you mounted your horses, and your riding is salvation. In the eastern gate, in the gate of the four-horse chariots, is the sanctification of the Lord, so that we may think ourselves perfect then, when we have said to the Lord: the chariot of God is ten-thousandfold, thousands of those rejoicing; the Lord is among them. A building of this kind, which is set upon the foundation of Christ, of which the Apostle too speaks: as a wise architect I laid the foundation, is never pulled down, but will remain in perpetuity. Obscure and difficult things must be discussed more broadly, so that we may run through plain things more briefly.